Ocean View Guarantee Not Honored by RCCL

I think the OP should complain about being claustrophobic. Tell them that you couldn't sleep. That they ruined your vacation.

Better you explained that then me! I personally cannot stay in an interior cabin, because it just might start a panic attack! I was on NP in an interior and it was the worst time EVER! This is why I book a balcony or higher cabin now!

And follow up with a complaint to the BBB. As these complaints are publicized, & the business notified, RCI would be obligated to respond to your complaint.

jayblue RCCL cruiser

And follow up with a complaint to the BBB. As these complaints are publicized, & the business notified, RCI would be obligated to respond to your complaint.

 

jayblue RCCL cruiser

The Better Business Bureau is the most spineless, toothless organization there is. They will give you an "F" rank, but if you mail them a check they will rank you "A". If you are a consumer with a problem, BBB just sends a letter and asks the two parties to work it out. The BBB is a joke.

I saw Amex pop up here and there in this thread. Amex has a resolutions department second to none; they take excellent care of their card holders. That is who I would deal with if Royal continued to ignore the situation at hand. The ship has not sailed yet, Royal has the ability to make things right. Why they have not done so yet is something I can not answer.

The price really of no consequence. If the OP booked when I did it was $109 pp for an OV guarantee. And the remaining cabins were insides at $109. When I booked I would have taken the guarantee but got an inside close to the elevator, so I took that.

if the OP only paid $109 pp and would rather have a refund than a downgrade, then Royla Caribbean should just politely give them the refund with an apology if that is still what the OP prefers. The amount of money is low, and a number of us who are disturbed by this situation. Word of such poor business practice will cost the company far, far more than a $218 refund. This story will live on for years at cruise critic; ow is the time for the company to decide how they want this story to end.

I would go to Facebook and Twitter ASAP. I am so sorry this happened to you. You are right, the $150 is insulting!! Good luck.

If the OP goes the FB/Twitter route, we might help them along by demanding that RCI do something to accomodate their customers.

jayblue RCCL cruiser

Seems like RCI hit the sale panic button too late (almost all inside and OV cabins, including the Y GTY rates dropped to $109 for this sailing on Monday 8/25) and brought too many people off the sidelines without enough inventory. Should be interesting to see what happens.

If the above post is correct, the OP only paid $109 for the cruise. An OBC of $150 and this is a cruise that is costing $34 person. I am not sure what more to expect from RCL. It would have been great if this was not a holiday weekend and they could have refunded his money. But holiday weekends happen.

Even if the OP is claustrophobic, he will probably manage quite nicely because how many people spend a lot of time in their cabin anyway. My DH is claustrophobic in elevators but he is fine in an inside cabin . He wakes up, goes to the fitness center, and we are out and about most of the day. OP will probably be talking about this inexpensive cruise and the great time he had for years to come.

If the above poster is incorrect, please disregard this post.

A TA should not be needed. They booked direct and are being treated like their money doesn't matter. A good TA might help, a bad TA would be useless too, so your comment is just salt in the wound. You must be a TA.

Agreed!

We've been left to fend for ourselves twice by a supposed "good" TA, and got better outcomes for ourselves.

Also, some TAs would also be closed for the long weekend.

The Better Business Bureau is the most spineless, toothless organization there is. They will give you an "F" rank, but if you mail them a check they will rank you "A". If you are a consumer with a problem, BBB just sends a letter and asks the two parties to work it out. The BBB is a joke.

 

I saw Amex pop up here and there in this thread. Amex has a resolutions department second to none; they take excellent care of their card holders. That is who I would deal with if Royal continued to ignore the situation at hand. The ship has not sailed yet, Royal has the ability to make things right. Why they have not done so yet is something I can not answer.

It has worked for me in the recent past. I kept getting the runaround from a highly visible corporation until I went to them. My issue was on its way to being resolved within two days. I had MY refund by the end of the week.

p.s. I'd heard that about the BBB. I just don't buy into everything corporate news sells.

jayblue RCCL cruiser

If the above post is correct, the OP only paid $109 for the cruise. An OBC of $150 and this is a cruise that is costing $35 a person. I am not sure what more to expect from RCL. Even if the OP is claustrophobic, he will probably manage quite nicely because how many people spend a lot of time in their cabin anyway. My DH is claustrophobic in elevators but he is fine in an inside cabin where he does not sit on the edge of the bed and look at the wall. He wakes up, goes to the fitness center, and we are out and about most of the day. OP will probably be talking about this inexpensive cruise and the great time he had for years to come.

 

If the above poster is incorrect, please disregard this post.

We all know that $109 is not $109.

OP is from Delray Beach. That is a 3 hour drive to Port Canaveral. Then you have to pay parking. Do not forget port taxes, gratuities, trip insurance, etc. I bet when all is said and done you are much closer to $700 for two people than the $109 come on rate would first make it appear to be. If they were forced into My Time Dining due to a late booking they can not even use the OBC for gratuities. "Gee, thanks for the money I have to spend on stuff I may not need or want, this sure makes up for stiffing me on the cabin you promised."

It does not matter if OP paid $59, $109, $599, or $2999 for the cruise. They booked what RC offered, paid in good faith, and now are being told TOO BAD we won't let you talk to anyone that can help, here is OBC. Why is this acceptable? How can you possibly defend the cruiseline in this situation. How do you know OP will have a great time and talk about it for years to come? That's the most apologist statement I've read on this site today, and this site is full of cheerleaders and apologists.

OP has offered to switch to a different departure date in order to get WHAT THEY CONTRACTUALLY were promised and RC doesn't even want to meet them on that.

When this happens to YOU we will see which tune you sing.

Bottom line, OP deserves what they paid for and not to be ignored and treated second class by the company. The OBC is an insult.

It has worked for me in the recent past. I kept getting the runaround from a highly visible corporation until I went to them. My issue was on its way to being resolved within two days. I had MY refund by the end of the week.

 

p.s. I'd heard that about the BBB. I just don't buy into everything corporate news sells.

 

jayblue RCCL cruiser

I am glad that using BBB worked for your situation and you are getting it resolved. Two companies ago (A small start up that I ran) I got a complaint letter in the mail and BBB told us they would publish us with an F ranking unless we mailed them (BBB) a check. They would NOT publish the complaint and give us an A rating. Decided BBB had no integrity.

My wife and I booked an Ocean View Guarantee stateroom on the 9/1/2014 Enchantment of the Seas. This afternoon (8/29/2014, 3 days before the cruise) we received a call from RCCL and were told that no Ocean View staterooms were available and that we were being placed in an inside stateroom. They gave us a $100 on-board credit for "the inconvenience". I told them that I would rather reschedule the cruise or cancel it altogether for a refund. They responded that those options were not available because the cruise date was too close. However, they were the ones who failed to honor their own guarantee when the cruise date was close. What does "guarantee" mean if it is not to be honored?? I consider this completely unprofessional and, even though we are Diamond members (and within 20 points of Diamond Plus), we will cruise on other lines in the future, not on RCCL!

Since you are a Diamond Crown & Anchor call the Loyalty Ambassor @ (800) 526-9723. They are open from 10:00 am - 8:00 pm on SAT and SUN

Since you are willing to switch cruise dates, to get the cabin category that you want, I feel they should let you switch. Some one at RCI should be available to make that happen, even on a Holiday weekend. There should be an on call supervisor that can give the ok.

It isn't fare to guarantee you a certain category, and then say, "sorry, we don't have any left." If they are going to do this to people, then they need to change the wording from "guarantee" to "a chance of".

I hope that it works out for you!

We all know that $109 is not $109.

 

OP is from Delray Beach. That is a 3 hour drive to Port Canaveral. Then you have to pay parking. Do not forget port taxes, gratuities, trip insurance, etc. I bet when all is said and done you are much closer to $700 for two people than the $109 come on rate would first make it appear to be. If they were forced into My Time Dining due to a late booking they can not even use the OBC for gratuities. "Gee, thanks for the money I have to spend on stuff I may not need or want, this sure makes up for stiffing me on the cabin you promised."

 

 

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$109 is a bargain and who in their right mind would have taken out insurance. If they drive to port it's a really cheap weekend no where near your estimate.

All that aside it's outrageous that taking a GTY is not a GTY. I also think that the OP might have been offered a refund but didn't want it because it was such a cheap cruise and RCL won't change the date because the following week might cost a whole lot more. RCL is essentially giving them the cruise for free but the OP might not want a free cruise in an inside cabin, I know I wouldn't.

RCL has lost credibility when they don't honor their contract and is concern for worry to anyone who takes a GTY.

$109 is a bargain and who in their right mind would have taken out insurance.

Medical evacuation for a slip and fall, medical emergency, etc., does not care if your cruise was cheap or not. You are insuring for unforseen expensive events. Who in their right mind leaves the United States for travel without some sort of insurance for medical expenses?

Medical evacuation for a slip and fall, medical emergency, etc., does not care if your cruise was cheap or not. You are insuring for unforseen expensive events. Who in their right mind leaves the United States for travel without some sort of insurance for medical expenses?

For a 3 day cruise I don't think many people take insurance.

If they drive to port it's a really cheap weekend no where near your estimate.

109 X 2 = 218

Port Charges = Probably $100 per person (that's what it was when I did a 3 nighter on Majesty which is Nassau and CocoCay, the same ports as the 4 night Enchantment cruise); so another 200. Up to 418.

Gratuities are going to be $48 per person, so that's another $96. Now we are up to $515. Insurance will be $30 per person. So now we are at $575. Parking is going to cost probably $30 - $40, so we are a bit over $600 now, before you factor in the cost of fuel to cover the 180 miles each way from Delray to Port Canaveral. Like I said, just about $700. Do the math. Very simple.

For a 3 day cruise I don't think many people take insurance.

Well, that's pretty stupid. If something happens out of country it costs the same for medical care whether it is a 3 day cruise or a 20 day cruise, now doesn't it?

Seeeeeeeee YOU'ALL onboard AND at the bar!

For a 3 day cruise I don't think many people take insurance.

OP is going on a 4 day cruise on EN if they are leaving Monday. Cruise Care through RCI is $29pp for cruise fare of $0 to $500. Very reasonable IMHO.

Doesn't matter about insurance or cruise cost, really. If it is so cheap, it should be very easy for Royal to offer a refund. But they didn't.

The important point is that OP paid for a guarantee and Royal said, when it was too late for a 'normal' refund, 'we'll give you $100 obc'. OP had to be persistent to get the extra $50, when Royal should have just REFUNDED them the money in the first place.

Royal offered a guarantee that they couldn't deliver, for whatever reason, and now they are arguing with the customer. It's preposterous.

And this is the second complaint that we have heard here, recently. I would be very careful about booking guarantees in the future.

 

Royal offered a guarantee that they couldn't deliver, for whatever reason, and now they are arguing with the customer. It's preposterous.

 

Yes, that is the bottomline. Everything else is noise. Royal needs to make it right. They CAN, they are CHOOSING not to.

This sucks.

Not only did they fail to provide you with what you've paid for, but they called you last minute on the holiday weekend knowing there wouldn't be any way you could get it fixed before the sail date.

IMO the ball should be in your court at this point, they screwed up - not you. They should either offer to transfer you to another date, or your money back considering it's their fault (regardless of how soon the sail date is). I'd be calling every number possible and posting this all over their social media pages.

No, at this point I would not hope that it works out for the following week. As I see it, our options are either the show up for the room that as assigned or to be a no-show and dispute the American Express charge on the grounds that RCCL did not deliver the product that was charged to the card. We are still not sure which of those options we will take because, if we show up, it will no longer be possible to dispute the charge.

If you show up, you can still dispute.

Whether you go or not, you paid for an outside and DID NOT get it.

Doesn't matter about insurance or cruise cost, really. If it is so cheap, it should be very easy for Royal to offer a refund. But they didn't.

 

The important point is that OP paid for a guarantee and Royal said, when it was too late for a 'normal' refund, 'we'll give you $100 obc'. OP had to be persistent to get the extra $50, when Royal should have just REFUNDED them the money in the first place.

 

Royal offered a guarantee that they couldn't deliver, for whatever reason, and now they are arguing with the customer. It's preposterous.

 

And this is the second complaint that we have heard here, recently. I would be very careful about booking guarantees in the future.

I agree -- what the OP paid for this cruise has no bearing at all on the fact that they had a contract with RCI and Royal Caribbean isn't willing to do one of two things: a) honor the contract or b) let the OP change dates without penalty.

I often think some of the things people complain about on here are petty and there are way too many people looking for "compensation", but this isn't one of those times. In my opinion, Royal Caribbean is the one who's reneging on the contract, and they should be bending over backwards to make it up to the customer. They don't allow customers to back out without penalty at this stage of the game, yet the customer is supposed to be OK with them backing out without reasonable compensation?

If the above post is correct, the OP only paid $109 for the cruise. An OBC of $150 and this is a cruise that is costing $34 person. I am not sure what more to expect from RCL. It would have been great if this was not a holiday weekend and they could have refunded his money. But holiday weekends happen.

You'll never convince me that a company like RCI can't refund him in this situation simply because it's a holiday weekend. They can do it, they have staff available - may be short staffed but available nonetheless. The OP is getting the runaround and deserves his money back because RC didn't hold to their end of the bargain.

I can't imagine they don't have another room available for an upgrade - they do reserve 1 or 2 often for prizes on board, etc.