Royal Caribbean doesn’t want to take my money. How odd.

[bcarney]

A vent:

Last year over Thanksgiving we took a cruise on the then-unfinished-from-refurb Adventure of the Seas.  Because the ship’s attractions weren’t completed, we were given a pair of future cruise credits totaling $825 (we had two rooms, so two separate certificates that can't be combined).

We now have a reservation November 18 of this year on Adventure.  We booked two connecting interior rooms at $1750 each, totaling $3500.  After the $825 FCC was applied, the out of pocket cost was $2675.

A few days ago I found a balcony with a connected interior that would be ideal for us, for $4200.  Despite the uncertainty about sailing out of San Juan after Hurricane Maria, we thought we’d double down and book the rooms.

I contacted my TA for this booking, and she says that RC will only allow us to carry over the $2675 cash paid to the new reservations, not the full $3500 which included the FCC.  So I’d lose the $825 in future cruise credit.

RC insists this would be a “new” reservation, so I lose the FCC – even though this is the same ship, on the same sailing date, with the same customers in the same number of rooms.  We went back and forth several times, and RC will not budge from their “policies”.

I have absolutely no problem paying the $700 to upgrade from the two interiors we have now – it’s why I contacted the TA in the first place.  But I’m sure as heck not going to pay an additional $1525 by losing that FCC.

So, way to go, Royal Caribbean.  You had a chance to earn an additional $700 from me - at absolutely no additional cost to you - but due to your insistence that this would be a “new” reservation, you lost that opportunity.

(edited to correct math, was looking at the wrong spreadsheet when composing message)

[monorailmedic]

This is peculiar indeed.  I'd put it under the "call back and ask someone else" category, but perhaps your TA already has.  Do let us know if anything changes.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Hmm...that is interesting info...thank you for sharing. Might be worth another call back. I have noticed over the last few weeks prior to booking my next cruise that a lot of these agents on the phone still are unfamiliar with the policies. They had to put me on hold and "find out" quite a few times.

[bcarney]

I booked through a TA so Royal won't communicate with me directly (and frankly, with everything post-Hurricanes related, they've got worse things to deal with).  But I know my TA tried several times to get them to budge, and they will not.

[BrianAlt]

Sorry to hear.  Seems like an odd situation.  

[Matt]

Interesting.  I wonder if you'd have better luck individually upgrading each room, rather than two at a time?

I assume you're past final payment, or you could cancel and get money back, right?

In the case of either room, are you paying more for each?  

Technically, there are no changes past final payment date without incurring cancellation, but as we have seen, if you want to spend more money, they usually allow it.  I can only think that because there's 2 rooms, that's the issue.

I'd have your TA try again.  If you're paying more for each room than what you had paid before, I don't understand why RC would have an issue. It's been done time and time again.

[Boston Babe]

That does seem odd, as we are booked on a sailing to Bermuda, I wanted to know if we could change to a New England/Canada cruise (new date, new booking and more money) and RC said no problem! and our Bermuda booking is on a non-refundable basis.  I would follow the others and call back again.

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I agree.  I would have the TA call again.  This doesn't sound righ, especially with the cancellations that have been such a mess lately.  I would think they would jump on a chance to take your money to upgrade !  Good luck, Bill

[PRC]

Wow...

 

[RoyalLaker]

Mostly likely the issue here is the Future cruise credit. once you redeem them thats it. non transferable or refundable. Best bet would probably be the resolution desk if they still have it.

[Lovetocruise2002]

bcarney...you need to call back.  I just got off the phone with RC about a similar (but not identical issue) and I took the opportunity to ask ask about the FCC.  They told me that if you are not changing the ship or sail date and if the FCC has not expired then they reapply all the time for customers who are upgrading.  It would require a supervisor to do so but it is done frequently.

[bcarney]

To close this - I escalated, and escalated, and escalated until there was no one higher up to escalate it to ... and finally they agreed.  It took what I consider an inordinate amount of time for them to accept my additional money, but they did.  Now I'll have a balcony for 7 days to replace the 3 days in Old San Juan that we'll have to forgo pre-cruise due to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.  To top it off, my airline waived the change fees so that we fly in the day of the cruise, so all in all this was a good Monday. :)

[Matt]

Glad it worked out!

[rjac]

2 hours ago, bcarney said:

To close this - I escalated, and escalated, and escalated until there was no one higher up to escalate it to ... and finally they agreed.  It took what I consider an inordinate amount of time for them to accept my additional money, but they did.  Now I'll have a balcony for 7 days to replace the 3 days in Old San Juan that we'll have to forgo pre-cruise due to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.  To top it off, my airline waived the change fees so that we fly in the day of the cruise, so all in all this was a good Monday. :)

Sounds like it's time for a beer or two!

[Lovetocruise2002]

4 hours ago, bcarney said:

To close this - I escalated, and escalated, and escalated until there was no one higher up to escalate it to ... and finally they agreed.  It took what I consider an inordinate amount of time for them to accept my additional money, but they did.  Now I'll have a balcony for 7 days to replace the 3 days in Old San Juan that we'll have to forgo pre-cruise due to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.  To top it off, my airline waived the change fees so that we fly in the day of the cruise, so all in all this was a good Monday. :)

Awesome news! So happy it worked out for you!

[WAAAYTOOO]

Sooooo glad to hear the good news !  Persistence pays off !  Never accept the first, second, third or fourth answer if you  don't like it !  Very proud of you for sticking to your guns !  With all of the cancellations they've had lately you'd think they would be thrilled to take a paid upgrade !  What were they thinking ?

[monctonguy]

9 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Sooooo glad to hear the good news !  Persistence pays off !  Never accept the first, second, third or fourth answer if you  don't like it !  Very proud of you for sticking to your guns !  With all of the cancellations they've had lately you'd think they would be thrilled to take a paid upgrade !  What were they thinking ?

Especially since their policy is now to NOT offer last min discounts or deals within 90 days of sailing or something....

 

Kinda hoping they sail with lots of empty cabins for awhile..maybe make them re-think that superior attitude that either you pay what we want or go elsewhere. If too many people actually do what they think people wont do........

[DocLC]

1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

Especially since their policy is now to NOT offer last min discounts or deals within 90 days of sailing or something....

 

Kinda hoping they sail with lots of empty cabins for awhile..maybe make them re-think that superior attitude that either you pay what we want or go elsewhere. If too many people actually do what they think people wont do........

Apparently they did initially, but from what I heard from their last financial call the strategy has paid off with people now booking farther out and not relying on the last minute discounts. 

[jticarruthers]

Glad you get it straightened out bc.