Black Friday sales have introduced tremendous savings opportunities on a Royal Caribbean cruise, along with two particularly frustrating bugs.

Since Royal Caribbean kicked off its early Black Friday deals, there has been a coincidental introduction of two issues that have remained problematic.

There's no correlation that the issues have anything to do with the launch of the sale. Rather, the start of the problems coincides with the new promo.

If you've experienced either of these two issues, you are not alone.

Balance due error

The worst of the two problems has been a strange billing discrepancy that warns of a cancelled cruise.

A variety of different cruisers reported this bug, where the person gets an email from Royal Caribbean informing them there is a balances due on an upcoming cruises, with a reminder that failure to pay in full would result in a cancellation.

The issue is this is happening for cruises that have already been paid off in full. The first report was posted on November 12.

Skeet100 shared an example of the bug, "I canceled and rebooked a few things through cruise planner when the early Black Friday sales came up. " 

"As each of those refunds post to my credit card, they are also being subtracted by Royal from my booking.  So suddenly my paid in full booking now shows hundreds due."

The result has been cruisers spending hours on the phone in order to try to resolve the issue. " I have spent over 7 hours on the phone with various representatives trying to get this resolved. They actually charged my credit card over $1,000 without my permission to try to fix their mistakes. I'm extremely frustrated with this issue and it is still not resolved," wrote LuvsCruising.

The working theory among cruise fans is this bug occurs when someone tries to cancel and rebook a pre-cruise add-on via the Cruise Planner website.

bobbydx wrote, "I think this is validation that they have some sort of mix up when refunding and actually are refunding what you paid for your cruise instead of what you paid for planner items. That is why it turns around and says you owe money for the cruise."

To be clear, not everyone that has cancelled and re-booked something in Royal Caribbean's Cruise Planner site has experienced this issue.

Similar issues were reported on a Reddit thread.

As a result of going through this exercise, Southern Dan warned others not to bother re-pricing things to avoid this potential issue, "I got my issue straightened out.  I will no longer be repricing anything during Black Friday sales, I will just wait to purchase everything then."

If you receive an email with money owed on a cruise you know you've paid off, you'll want to reach out to your travel agent immediately to resolve it.

I would recommend getting the issue addressed as soon as possible, as some reported their entire cruise being cancelled if action isn't taken quick enough.

PRMLVM shared their experience, "Our travel agent got a balance due warning on our upcoming cruise.  She showed them that the cruise was actually completely paid off.  This was after the final payment date, even."

"But then at the end of October, we got a slew of emails canceling all of our pre-booked packages (drinks, dining, key) etc since our cruise was canceled."

Luckily their travel agent was able to confirm the cruise wasn't cancelled, but they had rebook all their add-ons at prevailing prices, re-reserve all dining venues, and lost their original check-in time.

"Many phone calls and tons of lost time fixing a problem they created.  We did get onboard credit to apply to the higher package prices, but the stress of all of it."

"And we still have not gotten our refund from their cancellations.  They said to give them a month.  Meantime, it's all  on our card still."

Spanish language change

The other notable issue with Royal Caribbean's site lately is not nearly as dire, but still annoying to users.

Some have run into inexplicable changes in the site language to Spanish.

Once again, the issue is primarily limited to the Cruise Planner site where users can purchase drink packages, shore excursions, and other extras.

The main menu and other aspects of the site change to Spanish without the user selecting that language.

"I've been having this issue for a while now.  The whole website isn't in Spanish but some of the "headers" in the Cruise Planner are," wrote WAAAYTOOO.

Tracy F added, "Same thing is happening with my app and the website all of a sudden certain things are in Spanish."

So far there does not appear to be a fix or way around it that anyone has reported.

If you've had problems logging into your Royal Caribbean account, you are not alone.

Since early last week, many readers have reported problems logging into their Royal Caribbean account suddenly.

The issues seemed to have begun on April 9 with an error when someone tries to login with the correct username and password.

Acessing your Royal Caribbean account provides access to cruises you have booked, where you can manage an upcoming sailing.  This includes being able to make payments, book shore excursions and other add-ons.

After inputting the correct login credentials, the website responds with the error, "The email or password is not correct." It further warns additional login attempts could result in the account being locked.

According to reports by Royal Caribbean Blog readers, it affects both the Royal Caribbean app and website.

Neesa shared her annoyance at the problem, "Same, android hits a snag. Directed me to change password. Still can't get on. Uninstalled and then installed again still no good...ugh, so frustrating."

U_Baz0 also wrote, "Yeah having the exact same issue, really bizarre."

The problem has continued for the following days, and our readers are still reaching out to inquire about the problem as of the posting of this article.

A screenshot from the Royal Caribbean X account indicates they are aware of the problem.

The problem also seems to be affecting sister cruise line Celebrity Cruises' website.

How to fix being unable to login

While Royal Caribbean has seemingly not implemented a fix on their end yet, many readers have reported success to get around the problem.

Instead of trying to login, first reset your password on the Royal Caribbean website.  Change the password to something else, and then try logging in again.

In my case, this strategy worked.  

Some people reported the workaround not solving the issue for them. 

KKcarl wrote, "We have not been able to access the app for two days. I changed the password and tried to uninstall the app at least three times. Still get the "Sorry, we hit a snag" error message.  Very frustrating."

Some readers also reported having to uninstall and then re-install the Royal Caribbean app to get it working, even with the password reset.

Call the cruise line if it's important

While Royal Caribbean works on a solution, if you have a time critical issue to handle, you can always call Royal Caribbean.

Booking entertainment, making a final payment, and taking advantage of a good promotion on a pre-cruise offer are all able to be done by contacting Royal Caribbean by phone. 

The Royal Caribbean phone number is 1-800-256-6649.

I do not recommend emailing them with any timely problems.

Royal Caribbean has rolled out an update to its Royal Gifts site, where guests can purchase items to be delivered to their stateroom.  The new update offers not only a greater array of merchandise, but also introduces the ability to ship directly to guests' homes.

The new update was rolled out on July 17th.  In the past, guests were limited to purchasing items for onboard delivery.  Now, guests have the option of having these items delivered to their homes.

Gift items include, but are not limited to T-shirts, Polo Shirts, Sweatshirts, Hats, Visors, Flip Flops, Totes, Tumbler Cups, Glass Mugs, Sunglasses, and Gift Certificates. A wide selection of gift items are fully customizable and ready for purchase.

Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley issued an apology letter to its guests for the issues related to a recent website upgrade that has resulted in many guests unable to access their account at all.

Bayley posted the letter on the Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society Facebook page.

"I know that many of you are wasting valuable time and energy migrating to our new Guest Account system. Please know that we hear you, we read everything and we have mobilized the necessary resources to fix the problems."

Bayley went on to note the root cause of the problem is a combination, "many guests having created multiple accounts over the years, the elimination of being able to select amenities and preferences online for our loyal Crown & Anchor members, and mistakes we made in developing and implementing the first release of this new capability."

To remedy the issues, Royal Caribbean has assembled a team to fix the issues.

Bayley also noted if you are continuing to have issues, we’ve also created an email account at [email protected] to reach the dedicated team.

Royal Caribbean announced today it is rolling out the first part of its enhanced Guest Digital Experience with a new Universal Guest Account.

Beginning in March 2018, Royal Caribbean will begin offering an enhanced guest account that will, "deliver many capabilities of our digital cruise experience, to simplify the guest experience online and to allow guests to quickly access features and information."

The one login can be used for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises apps and websites. It promises to bring them everything guests need from loyalty (Crown & Anchor) information, personalized itineraries and details – all with just one account login.

In addition, Royal Caribbean has simplified and strengthened the account security and password reset processes to ensure guest information is safe and accessible.

Guests may experience new functionality while it is being trialed beginning as early as March 7, 2018 who have upcoming reservations.

Royal Caribbean has also hinted that additional digital enhancements are coming in the months to follow. Other enhancements include the ability to book anything imaginable from a smart phone and more.

Royal Caribbean is inviting the public to help test their website at their corporate offices in March.

If you are interested in helping Royal Caribbean test their site's usability, and you will be in South Florida between March 12-16, you can apply to join.

Those accepted to the test will conduct the testing at Royal Caribbean's corporate offices, followed by lunch onboard a cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean has updated its website this week to make it simpler for guests to find where their staterooms are on the ship prior to reserving it.

The new feature allows guests to see staterooms in the aft, middle or forward of a ship and better understand the room's position, relative to the rest of the ship.

Guests first choose between AFT, MID or FWD and then select a deck.

Finally, they can choose a room on the selected deck.

Through each step, guests can easily see which area of the ship their room is located and also understand the difference in pricing based on their stateroom location choice.

The new feature does not appear in all web browsers yet.  We had to use Internet Explorer to see this feature.

Do you think the new booking feature makes it simpler understand where your stateroom is? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Today marks the official launch of Royal Caribbean's new marketing campaign, "Come Seek" and already its website is showing off the new branding.

A new mini-site launched today that reinforces the three main messages of the campaign: "You are not a tourist", "This is not a cruise" and "This is not the Caribbean".

The site also shows off still and moving imagery that focuses on the one-of-a-kind experiences a Royal Caribbean cruise can offer.

The "Come Seek" campaign is aimed at people that have never taken a cruise before and may have never even considered one.  Royal Caribbean is specifically going after Millenials and those that have misconceptions about what a cruise vacation is.

In addition, Royal Caribbean re-branded its Twitter and Facebook designs to match the "Come Seek" motif.

With the official launch of the "Come Seek" campaign today, Royal Caribbean will be also running ads on popular TV shows, such as the "Late Show" with Stephen Colbert, the "Tonight Show" starring Jimmy Fallon and also the reality show, "The Voice."

The first salvo of advertising will be quick five-second ads that are meant to pique the interest of a viewer, which will be followed up by more traditional 30-second spots with similar music and theme.

Ads will be seen on ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Bravo and TBS.

Later in the campaign, Royal Caribbean will launch “Come Seek Live” - a first of its kind crowd-sourced Periscope activation originating from a Royal Caribbean ship and streamed onto a series of animated billboards in major metro areas.

Is the new "Come Seek" campaign your favorite Royal Caribbean marketing campaign? Tell us in the comments!