Royal Caribbean cruise - misleading "offer"

simonlangford

Over the weekend I spent a long period of time researching cruises for a holiday next July. I selected Royal Caribbean on the strength of its "buy 1 get one half price" offer which they heavily promoted. Their website pushed the fact that this was a limited time promotion and the T&Cs stated that it would end on 3rd September. Their website had a prominent countdown banner yesterday stating that the promotion would end in a matter of hours and encouraging bookings before the end of the day. I made the booking yesterday morning, on the last day of the promotion.

This morning I noticed an email in my Inbox from Royal Caribbean inviting me to "view latest offers". When I follow the link, their website is now advertising the exact same cruise but, to my surprise, another "buy 1 get 1 half price" offer is running and furthermore any new bookings made under this new offer are inclusive of the Deluxe drinks package. For my party of 4, this is worth $1800!

I immediately contacted the agent that I booked with to complain that I had been misled, and they have in turn spoken with Royal Carribean who have refused to do anything about it.

I now feel completely ripped off as I will need to spend $1800 extra on drinks packages when onboard compared to what I would have to pay had I booked today, after the end of the “promotion” which they were flogging yesterday.

I believe the way the cruise element of the holiday product was marketed may be in breach of The Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (amended 2014), and/or The Misrepresentation Act 1967. It’s illegal to “Falsely state that a product will only be available for a very limited time, or that it will only be available on particular terms for a very limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision and deprive consumers of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice.”

Grateful for any thoughts. Thank you in advance.

shaun_from_Africa

simonlangford wrote: »

Their website pushed the fact that this was a limited time promotion and the T&Cs stated that it would end on 3rd September. Their website had a prominent countdown banner yesterday stating that the promotion would end in a matter of hours and encouraging bookings before the end of the day. I made the booking yesterday morning, on the last day of the promotion.

The "buy one, get one half price" promotion finished when it was meant to finish and a new promotion "Buy one get one half price plus free inclusive drinks" has started up so as it's two promotions offering different things, then legally, I don't think that Caribbean Cruises have done anything wrong.

bris

Do you believe DFS when they say there 365 days a year sale is ending soon?


These companies prey on the gullible, there's always an offer. Buy it now or miss out type deals have been about a long time and will continue to be because they get away with it.

Aylesbury_Duck

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

The "buy one, get one half price" promotion finished when it was meant to finish and a new promotion "Buy one get one half price plus free inclusive drinks" has started up so as it's two promotions offering different things, then legally, I don't think that Caribbean Cruises have done anything wrong.

I agree. It's always a gamble with these things. Dare you hold off in the hope a better deal comes along or do you book whilst there's an offer that might not be repeated? I assume they didn't get enough bookings from their original promotion and have started a new deal to sell more tickets. I expect you will encounter people on your cruise that paid full whack and will be annoyed that you got a half price deal on the second ticket.

I've stopped looking at prices for anything once I've bought it, it's annoying when something gets cheaper after you've bought it but that's life so don't invite the irritation. It's a bit like choosing a queue at the supermarket checkouts. Always choose a queue on the end of the till row. That way you've only got to look at one queue moving faster than yours rather than one on each side.

George_Michael

simonlangford wrote: »

I believe the way the cruise element of the holiday product was marketed may be in breach of The Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (amended 2014), and/or The Misrepresentation Act 1967. It’s illegal to “Falsely state that a product will only be available for a very limited time, or that it will only be available on particular terms for a very limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision and deprive consumers of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice.”

As the promotion that enticed you to make the purchase with the terms relating to the half price offer was only available for a limited time then CC (& their agent) were complying with the UTR's.
Yes, another promotion with some of the same terms as the previous offer started soon afterwards but not all of the terms were the same so it is a different offer and not an extension of the original one.

lincroft1710

simonlangford wrote: »

I now feel completely ripped off as I will need to spend $1800 extra on drinks packages when onboard compared to what I would have to pay had I booked today, after the end of the “promotion” which they were flogging yesterday.

You are not obliged to spend $1800 on drinks packages!

stragglebod

I suppose there's no cooling off period allowing you to cancel and rebook on the better terms?

It would seem strange if the Regulations could be that easily defeated merely by tweaking the terms of the new offer slightly, but I can't find any guidance on the topic, even on the ASA website.

happyandcontented

Had you booked via a TA in the US you could have cancelled and re booked without penalty up to the date of final payment. This is one of the reasons we always book cruises that way, another is they are usually much cheaper and more flexible with changes to the booking.

daveyjp

One offer was made and ended. RCI have a new offer.

Nothing on a cruise is free. I tracked the price of a cruise a few years ago and everytime a new 'freebie' offer appeared the price increased. It was cheapest when there were no freebies whatsoever.

Have you actually priced the cruise to check that it is cheaper with the new offer? It may not be.

simonlangford

Thanks for the answers so far. I get that it's "buyer beware", etc, and that DFS always has a sale, but I think that DFS switch the inventory when transitioning from one sale to another. In this case I was misled into buying a product on the understanding that the particular offer was "too good to miss" (their words). In actual fact, as soon as the offer expired -- not even a few hours later, it was immediate -- the offer was changed to make it much more attractive. So the offer I fell for (yes, fell for, it was a trick) was certainly not "too good to miss", I would actually have been $1800 better off if I'd missed it.

daveyjp - I initially thought the same as you but on checking the base price of the cruise has actually decreased slightly with the new offer. Not enough to worry about but it's more salt into the wound!

lincroft1710 - drinks on board are $10-$12 each. There are 4 of us and it's a 10 day cruise, so the drinks package pays for itself at only 4 drinks each per 24 hours. We're not serious boozers but would like a couple of drinks per meal and a few after dinner (it is a holiday after all!), plus it includes soft drinks through the day and tea/coffee. So we will need to spend the $1800.

stragglebod - no, there's no cooling off period. I can cancel but would lose £600 deposit. It's an option but I still feel robbed.

reason2

so if cancelling costs 600 and you re-book the cheaper new offer and get the £1800 drinks package you are still over £1200 better off...

seems like thats your answer