I booked two excursions for our trip. I noticed today that there was a price drop. i chatted in, asked about a price match. I was told that i have to completely cancel them and rebook. however, a refund can take up to two weeks. I do not have $400 to spend in addition to the $400 i just spent already booking the excursions. i asked if i could just get an onboard credit for the difference but was told no. the online representative told me i could call in and may get different options. so i call in. There was no difference. This is really disappointing. Royal offers best price guarantee for the cruise itself, in the form of an onboard credit. Why is this not offered for excursions?! to be honest, all of these excursions are expensive, as expected, so to expect people to just pay again while waiting for the refund to get a sale price is honestly a bit ridiculous. This is my first cruise with Royal, and this is so far not a great experience. On a side note, i normally cruise with Carnival, and this minor type of thing, has never been an issue.
Royal- refusing to honor their own excursion prices
2 Answers
I book a lot of cruise ship excursions, sometimes a year and a half in advance. I know that prices may drop, and the process will mean I will have to cancel and rebook, no matter the cruise line. Yes, I sometimes look to see if the excursion will go on sale and wait until then before even booking, but if it is an excursion that I really, really want, I am willing to pay the price asked just to ensure I am confirmed. I just returned from a cruise, and two of my excursions had been sold out in advance, and the prices never dropped. In the end, it is really about supply and demand. Best wishes!
Royal is known for playing pricing games and for some passengers that's part of the "fun" of the pre-cruise experience to hunt down the best prices by monitoring the Cruise Planner and pouncing on the better deals before the Dynamic Pricing kicks in to increase again (sometimes within hours). To others it's a pain in the backside because of constant yo-yo pricing and the need to cancel to repurchase then wait for the refund instead of calling in for a reprice.
Also reread that Best Price Guarantee, for most passengers it's only good for the first 72 hours after making their booking after that to get the reprice you also tend to need to cancel the booking, possibly losing your deposit because the self-booking website defaults to a non-refundable booking to give you the best price. If you don't opt-in and pay more for the refundable deposit you generally can't use that online form without penalties.