Royal Caribbean changing cruise price after paying

[Mum1976Mum]

So, we have just about scraped the money together for a holiday in July. Lots of holidays out of our price range but managed to book a 7 day cruise around Norway for 2.7k - 2 adults, 2 kids. Booked it yesterday morning, paid in full, all good. I booked the hotel, parking, pet sitter etc. yesterday afternoon all non refundable. Got an email at 9pm last night to say price was wrong on website, price would not be honoured and offering me $100 in onboard credit (which we don’t need).

So this morning they still haven’t got in touch to tell me how much more I will have to pay if I don’t cancel. I phone up, it’s £1500 extra!!! I’ve now been on hold to speak to a supervisor for an hour but they say they won’t be able to do anything.

What on earth do we do? If we cancel we are £500 out of pocket. Any advice welcome. I’m so sad.

Yeah this would be my plan too.

Are you sure the email was genuinely from them ?

Repeating - ask MNHQ to move this to Legal Matters, you will get help there.

we are doing a cruise to Norway and it’s £3500, that’s 2 cabins though so would be cheaper with just one, on P and O, so price doesn’t sound way out.

OP can you see what availability P and O have? It departs on a Saturday instead of a Thursday but will hopefully be comparable to what you thought you’d be paying with RC?

Screenshot this, showing the time and date in laptop where possible, if not the picture info should be enough.

[email protected] president/ceo email

OP P and O are selling the same holiday I am
on in July for £1600 for an inside cabin for 2 adults and 2 kids. Have a look on their website and you might get one on comparable dates and mitigate the out of pocket expenses you’ve already incurred.

What an awful company! Could you cancel it and rebook a holiday elsewhere with the same dates so that you don't lose out on the cost of pet sitter etc.. I wouldn't want to pay them the extra even if I could afford to.

Have they taken your money and have they sent a confirmation email and/or receipt?

If so you have a contract which should be binding.

There may be an E&OE clause. This means if they have made an obvious error and omission they may be able to rectify it.

However for that to be the case they would have to demonstrate that the error was very obvious. You paid £2700 but what should you have paid?

Web deals these days are so complex that it is difficult to tell what a real price is making it hard to enforce the E&OE clause.

Write to them by email stating that there is a contract in place and that you expect them to honour it. Request a confirmation email in 48 hours otherwise you will see redress via the small claims courts for ALL your losses.

I would definitely do this.

If you find yourself out of pocket, either with additional costs for the holiday, or lost parking fees/pet sitter etc, then take them to the small claims court.

Now they are taking the piss. If it's a genuine pricing error, then they need to know the price it should have been sold at. A 55% price increase suggests a pricing error, 15% increase and they should be sucking that up - you wouldn't have known a £2700 holiday should have been £3000.

Well they are now on my list of companies to never book a holiday with.

probably one of those posts where you’d like the DailFail to pop it online I’d say.

hope you get it sorted ok OP.

I will also be avoiding Royal Carribean. A family member was in the process of booking with them and is now going elsewhere

I would take to Twitter and tag them in. Firms don't like bad publicity.

This! Include and RCCL Facebook pages and Instagram

Screenshot all examples of them listing the holiday at the current price. Surely this is false advertising?

@Mum1976Mum Anything bought online, you have 14 days cooling off period.

As I understand it: Under contract law, they have already agreed to the amount they offered by accepting your money, meaning they have entered into a legally binding contract. They cannot ask you for more money now as it is no longer under an invitation to treat (the company inviting you to make an offer). They will need to cancel the contract outright and give you a full refund, then start the contract process again under the new terms (if you agree to them). Keep all evidence and speak to trading standards if you need to.

This is outrageous. I'm really sorry you are going through this, but I am so thankful you have brought this issue to light. I have been comparing different cruises for later this year and I won't be touching Royal Carribean now. I can't take the chance of them changing the price. I really hope you can get reimbursed for your costs.

Jesus?? Talk about pressure selling

Mistake fares do not have to be honoured legally. It’s very greedy of them to not honour it though. Sorry this happened OP.

I will also be avoiding Royal Caribbean.

Same, they sound like a bunch of cowboys.

Some humour from their website:

"The partners chose the name “Royal Caribbean” – with the connection to royalty signifying the high standards of service guests could expect from the new company."

https://www.royalcaribbeangroup.com/our-history/

I'd contact a newspaper journalist - "consumer affairs" is the usual area. What a joke!

@Mum1976Mum

Have added guest details and website is happy to let me proceed to payment at that price … absolutely shocking that they haven’t addressed this.

People always say this about easyjet every year

and then following year when they see a tasty deal… they book 😂

A lot depends on whether a final contract was made, and that is quite complex with online booking. Because these things are subject to error, and because they can't check before you send the money, some companies make it clear that the contract isn't finalised till they have confirmed the booking and they will refund monies if for any reason they can't confirm it - which alerts you to the fact that you shouldn't make any other arrangements till you have confirmation. You need to check RC's small print very carefully.

I received the confirmation email though. Surely that is confirmation of the booking? Else when is anyone supposed to start booking anything?