Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Two days ago, I took advantage of the KSF offer and booked a cruise on Anthem of the Seas for March 2018. Upon booking, I asked the agent how the free gratuities offer would be applied. He told me this is applied within a week after booking by their revenue dept. and there is nothing they (agents) do from their end. Today, I logged into my cruises account and noticed that they had added on the gratuities but did not credit it back, so basically now my balance owing is higher than what I booked two days ago. Hmmm...so I got on the phone once again to RC. Spoke to an agent who was also puzzled by this, then she asked her supervisor and was told that Free Gratuities cannot be combined with KSF. I calmly told her that cannot be correct because when I booked it allowed me to select KSF and then on the next screen it said Free gratuities and then the screen after that says Fare includes: Free gratuities. So her supervisor went to ask another supervisor who also came back with the same answer, that those two offers cannot be combined. So while I was on hold I actually took a look at the Free Gratuities fine print and it does not say anywhere that those two offers cannot be combined. Even the supervisor I spoke to agreed that it is not clear in the language. I then expressed to whichever supervisor that I was speaking to that from the customer's POV this seems like false advertising to me and that RC should honour this regardless of what they are saying now. The response I got back was that they need to look into this further and they would call me back. What if they don't budge? Where am I suppose to go with this? Attaching screen shots that I took: I had to select a sail date one month prior to mine because the sailing that I am on is maxed out for 4 in a room. My sail date is not a black out date for FSF either. But even the agent said this should not make a difference in the case. Last photo is the fine print for free gratuities. rjac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Sabrinaklai, Question for you. Where did you log into your "cruises account"? I have gone to the Royal Caribbean website and logged into my cruise id for next year which takes me the the Booking Dashboard/Countdown To Cruise Page. But no where on that page is there a "cruises account" that shows what I have paid and what I owe. Can you help an old man out here? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 26 minutes ago, rjac said: Sabrinaklai, Question for you. Where did you log into your "cruises account"? I have gone to the Royal Caribbean website and logged into my cruise id for next year which takes me the the Booking Dashboard/Countdown To Cruise Page. But no where on that page is there a "cruises account" that shows what I have paid and what I owe. Can you help an old man out here? Thanks! No problem...I am assuming if you are on the Countdown to Cruise page then on the left there should be spot where it says Welcome name! If you look just below that, your name along with other guests sailing with you should also be there along with one or two blue icons that say "View". Click on that. One will give you your personal info and the other will give you the cost breakdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 25 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said: No problem...I am assuming if you are on the Countdown to Cruise page then on the left there should be spot where it says Welcome name! If you look just below that, your name along with other guests sailing with you should also be there along with one or two blue icons that say "View". Click on that. One will give you your personal info and the other will give you the cost breakdown. Ok, I found it. But, all the "view" is showing me is the personal info, no cost break down. I am going to try a different web browser and see if that makes a difference. I did book through my travel agent, but I wouldn't think that should make a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 7 minutes ago, rjac said: Ok, I found it. But, all the "view" is showing me is the personal info, no cost break down. I am going to try a different web browser and see if that makes a difference. I did book through my travel agent, but I wouldn't think that should make a difference. rjac, that might be the difference. I just checked another booking I have that I booked with an agent and I cannot pull up the cost breakdown. This is one of the reasons that I prefer to deal directly with them sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 14 minutes ago, rjac said: Ok, I found it. But, all the "view" is showing me is the personal info, no cost break down. I am going to try a different web browser and see if that makes a difference. I did book through my travel agent, but I wouldn't think that should make a difference. Also can confirm that booking with a TA makes a difference. The "relationship" is between Royal and the TA, so only the TA can see the balance and other financial-related data (and then pass that info along to you). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Yep, looks like that's the "fly in the ointment". Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Dang it all! Sabrina, you had me all excited thinking I could add free gratuities onto my October 13, 2018 Bermuda sailing on Anthem. But the week I'm sailing doesn't offer it! Would have to sail out the week before (Oct 7) to have a shot at that, and all Junior Suites are already taken. I'll take the "silver lining" view on this -- The Oct 13 itinerary was a few hundred cheaper per person than that Oct 7 date, so I probably made out about the same as i would have with free gratuities. Especially since I booked right when the itinerary was announced (at balcony rate), and did my JS upgrade a couple months later when they had a "second passenger 60% off" promo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 9 minutes ago, JLMoran said: Dang it all! Sabrina, you had me all excited thinking I could add free gratuities onto my October 13, 2018 Bermuda sailing on Anthem. But the week I'm sailing doesn't offer it! Would have to sail out the week before (Oct 7) to have a shot at that, and all Junior Suites are already taken. I'll take the "silver lining" view on this -- The Oct 13 itinerary was a few hundred cheaper per person than that Oct 7 date, so I probably made out about the same as i would have with free gratuities. Especially since I booked right when the itinerary was announced (at balcony rate), and did my JS upgrade a couple months later when they had a "second passenger 60% off" promo. Stay tuned Joe, I'm not done with them yet. I still think it needs to be honoured.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 1 minute ago, Sabrinaklai said: Stay tuned Joe, I'm not done with them yet. I still think it needs to be honoured.... Oh, you definitely have a valid claim and they should honor it. I'm just saying that in my case, the offer is only available if I'm willing to change my booking date. And that's no longer an option since I'm in a JS for my current booking, and there are no more suite rooms of any type available on the date that has the offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 32 minutes ago, JLMoran said: Oh, you definitely have a valid claim and they should honor it. I'm just saying that in my case, the offer is only available if I'm willing to change my booking date. And that's no longer an option since I'm in a JS for my current booking, and there are no more suite rooms of any type available on the date that has the offer. Keep checking maybe something will open up? Or there's always GS ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 16 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said: Keep checking maybe something will open up? Or there's always GS ? Hah! No way I can afford a GS; only reason I bumped up to the JS from regular balcony is because spread over the monthly payments, it was a pretty small bump. A GS would change that bump to a speed hump! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 5 minutes ago, JLMoran said: Hah! No way I can afford a GS; only reason I bumped up to the JS from regular balcony is because spread over the monthly payments, it was a pretty small bump. A GS would change that bump to a speed hump! Lol. In teaching we tell the students that one has to have a growth mindset not a fixed mindset. Dream big and it might happen. At least that is what I tell myself for trying out Star class one day. That or I need to know WAAAYTOOO's secret ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted October 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2017 Happy to report that after complaining and escalating to supervisors and their supervisors and being on hold forever they finally took off the gratuities. It's very sneaky and shady though because if I was not so Type A and check my account info regularly I could have totally missed it. They basically just tacked it onto your account and if you are not paying attention to your final balance owing it would be easily overlooked. Makes me wonder how many other people out there had it added on (without credit back) and if they don't call and complain would it just be left like that?.... BrianAlt and jticarruthers 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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