Jen and Ashwin
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 28, 2015
Ok...so I'm seriously considering a cruise I found for next winter,RCCL. I would like to use a combo of CSR TC or UR to pay for this.... SHould I just call in to book,using the price I'm quoted directly from the RCCL site itself? Or do the UR reps find the dates etc and quote a price? I see two discounts applied to my choices,will the UR reps apply those also,or should I expect a different number? And... say the total is $2000 (it's not) what would the UR cost be? And..... could I call in, book, use TC + UR for deposit amount? Combine them,I mean? (I'm also considering the option of using ALL UR for this,and using the TC for something else. Thank you cruise experts! (it seems according to RCCL website that they have a pretty good cancel policy, up to about 2 months before with no penalty? Can that be right?)
I would book it through the Royal Caribbean website to use the travel credit, then call Chase and initiate a transfer of your booking over to them. You will have to pay some of the deposit cost OOP this way, but it ensures the greatest flexibility in your booking. Then you can wait until closer to the final payment date to call Chase and have them apply UR points to the final payment of the cruise. They will only let you apply UR points once and once you make final payment (pay the bill in full), then you can't make modifications to your reservation. This also allows you to take advantage of any drops in the cruise fare price. If it drops, you would have to call Chase and have them make the adjustment, but anytime the fare drops, you are allowed to match the lower price as long as they still have any availability for your specific cabin. Just make sure that you don't spend the URs that you are planning to use for your final payment or else be prepared to pay cash for whatever the shortfall is.
The cancellation policy for RC depends on the type of cruise fare that you purchase. It used to be fully refundable. Now they have a fully refundable fare or a fare that can be canceled in full minus the cruise deposit fee. You are also able to change your booking to another date for a $100 per person change fee. We did that for our cruise coming up this spring. We had originally planned to cruise in the Caribbean but decided to switch to Europe since I am hoping to be pregnant and didn't want to worry about Zika.