RCI IT department puts me in my place

It is always interesting when something happens that has never happened before and today was my lucky day; this has never happened to me before. I have read many comments on RCI’s IT department so I know they have some issues. However, I had no idea that the problems were so acute. The problems must be severe because today I was told that my issue was given to the IT department a month and a half ago, prioritized by the department and would be handled when they got to the assigned priority. I was also told that my issue was assigned a very low priority. First, it is hard to be told that “your” issue doesn’t matter to the company and has been given the lowest priority. OK, hard to take but I do understand working on really serious issues first and I can live with that. MY issue deals with a matter of convenience for me, nothing earth shattering, the sun is still going to come up tomorrow if the problem is not corrected.

The issue-------I booked eight cruises on board the Navigator in May. Two are as they should be but six of them have a small problem. The bookings remain with RCI, they were not nor have they been assigned to a Travel Agent (TA). I should be able to get in the booking and make a payment and see where I stand on payments made and payments remaining. One reason I don’t care for some TAs is not being able to make payments on line, see a current status, see a detailed cost breakdown and not being able to get a hold of them on weekends and holidays. I have never had an issue when I kept the booking with RCI; until now. Something unknown happened when the six booking were input into their system. The only thing they do know is the bookings are assigned to RCI, however every other function in the system operates like it is assigned to a TA. I was told that until IT can get into each booking and re-load all of the data, my only option is to call RCI for payments or any other issue. Not a real issue at the moment, I was only on hold five minutes this morning. However, last month and the month before many people were on hold well over an hour. I really do not think I should be put on hold for an hour just to give RCI money. Yes, I know I have options and yes I know I am in no way special and no I do not expect special treatment. I understand the IT department is swamped with work and they will get to my issue when my assigned priority pops up. My problem – I was led to believe that my issue is such a low priority that I should not expect resolution before final payment is due and that I should just plan on calling each time I want to make a payment. The first of the six cruises is April 2015. Low priority – what an understatement.

Back to my original statement,” this has never happened to me before”. I have never been told that I and my problems (it’s not really my problem, it is their problem) are so insignificant that I should just live with it because they have no intention of working on resolving the issue. Good thing I don’t have an inferiority complex. Sometimes I can be placated with a nice smile, a gentle voice, and a well delivered load of BS; this is one of those times. Sometimes the truth, “you really don’t matter to us”, is not what I want to hear.

Duane

I recognise your pain.... I specifically hate the auto email replies.... the one that says :

Our representatives will reply to your inquiry in the order in which it was received.

But no time scale given......

And the one that says :

We are reviewing your comments and one of our team will contact you in due course. We aim for this to be within 21 days.

That one was back in May...... the technical issue that arose was to do with a cruise that has since been and gone...... they never did answer the question nor deal with the issue.

Had that exact same issue with my Dec 2013cruise. I notified RCI about the issue in March 2013 and they said they would work on it. Cruise came and went and it did not get fixed. Good luck.

I'm having the same issue with my 2 cruises.

I booked one on line and one over the phone. I was able to see payment information on both.

Since it's a back to back, I'll called to get switched to a room that was available on both legs and since I did that, I can not make a payment online nor can I see how much I've paid or what I still owe.

I called in to see why and was told the only way to see that info was if I booked online and that I'd have to call in to make all my payments.

Ok, I am a former IT guy and the last thing I want to do is defend RCI's IT dept having spent way too much time on their slllooowww web site. Having said that, I completely understand their situation. Your issue stems from a very unusual situation: you booked eight cruises at the same time on board. There was obviously something different about the two that worked and the six that didn't. Its going to take a skilled analyst a while to work through the details to figure that out. Why spend that much effort on a situation that doesn't occur very often? They absolutely have bigger fish to fry. I do feel your pain though. Why didn't customer service just cancel and rebook so you could access your reservations?

Finally, it sounds like you're upset that they told you the truth! I'm reminded of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: "You can't handle the truth!"

Hope it all works out for you.

No one has been able to make payments on line or see the payment info for a long time unless that cruise was booked on line. If you book it on the ship or over the phone, you have no option other than to make payments over the phone. That you have no travel agent is irrelevant. This is not an IT issue. It is just the way it is.

If you can access two of them to make payments and see the payment info, those are the two that are messed up.

Gina

No one has been able to make payments on line or see the payment info for a long time unless that cruise was booked on line. If you book it on the ship or over the phone, you have no option other than to make payments over the phone. That you have no travel agent is irrelevant. This is not an IT issue. It is just the way it is.

 

If you can access two of them to make payments and see the payment info, those are the two that are messed up.

 

Gina

I guess mine are all messed up.

I have 8 reservations that were all made over the phone using NCC's and I can make a payment and view payment details on all 8 of them.

I guess mine are all messed up.

 

I have 8 reservations that were all made over the phone using NCC's and I can make a payment and view payment details on all 8 of them.

If they are allowing this, it is very new. This was the only disadvantage to booking anyway other than on line for years.

I booked all shows on an upcoming cruise and was shown a screen telling me that if I got this screen they are having issues and to try again later. There was never a confirmation screen. Minutes later I received an email confirmation. They do have IT issues so consider yourself lucky.

I know of no one who has been able to pay for a cruise on line without booking it on line for years.

Of course you appear to be i Canada, so maybe the rules are different there.

Gina

I guess mine are all messed up.

 

I have 8 reservations that were all made over the phone using NCC's and I can make a payment and view payment details on all 8 of them.

Not really. My upcoming Independence was made with an NCC and I've made one on-line payment too.

If they are allowing this, it is very new. This was the only disadvantage to booking anyway other than on line for years.

 

I booked all shows on an upcoming cruise and was shown a screen telling me that if I got this screen they are having issues and to try again later. There was never a confirmation screen. Minutes later I received an email confirmation. They do have IT issues so consider yourself lucky.

 

I know of no one who has been able to pay for a cruise on line without booking it on line for years.

 

Of course you appear to be i Canada, so maybe the rules are different there.

 

Gina

My last eight cruises have all been booked over the phone, along with the two upcoming cruises, once I receive the email confirmation I go online to my cruises, and take ownership of the reservation, I am then able to pay online, I have never had a problem doing it this way.

If they are allowing this, it is very new. This was the only disadvantage to booking anyway other than on line for years.

 

I booked all shows on an upcoming cruise and was shown a screen telling me that if I got this screen they are having issues and to try again later. There was never a confirmation screen. Minutes later I received an email confirmation. They do have IT issues so consider yourself lucky.

 

I know of no one who has been able to pay for a cruise on line without booking it on line for years.

 

Of course you appear to be i Canada, so maybe the rules are different there.

 

Gina

I've never booked online and always have been able to make payments online.

Agreed. My last cruise and upcoming one were booked by phone. I deal with payments and reservations online. No problems so far. This last one had to be booked by phone due to room tyoe everything they did showed online immediately.

I just don't want to deal with any of this. All my 38 cruises have been booked with the same brick and mortar TA

I have always booked my RCCL cruises over the phone with RCCL and have always been able to pay online.

I am with most of you on this. I have booked at least 18 cruises in the last two years either on board a ship or by phone and have never had a problem making payments on line. So in my opinion the two bookings that I can access are correct and the six are incorrect.

Grab007 – I love that Jack Nicolson line and actually thought about it while typing my comment. I can handle the truth; it’s just sometimes I would rather follow the old adage “ignorance is bliss”. I can understand “Sorry sir, but we are working on the problem and I will call when we have identified the problem and developed a solution”. Or, ‘the problem is something new and we are not sure how we are going to fix it, but we will keep trying, please be patient.” I am actually smart enough to read between the lines and know that in some cases those comments actually mean “go pee up a rope, we will get to it when we get to it”. The issue that I have is being told that, yes we know you have a problem, and yes it originates within our IT department, but your problems are not important enough for us to even look at or address. For some reason that just doesn’t sit well with me. Just as an aside, my last 16 years in the working environment (ended two years ago), I worked for the Network Enterprise Technology Command. NETCOM is in charge of the entire Army’s IT infrastructure and IT development among many other things, so my understanding and knowledge of IT as an enterprise is somewhat more advanced than Jonny on the street. If I received a report from a unit in Afghanistan or Iraq that they could not access data that was required, or they could not communicate, or the software had a glitch my response was never: we will get to it when we get to it. Or even worse, we know you have a problem but we are too busy to address it.

I'm waiting on their IT department to fix an issue with my profile I raised with them Feb this year. Can't change or save anything to it - it comes up with a false, nonsensical error, but also prevents me from doing other things with my profile.

Was told by the rep they'll have a reply the next day - ha! Have called back and get told the same thing. Yet still waiting, months later. Not expecting it to be fixed.

I'd love to know when they changed this rule back. I remember when they took the on line payment option away, soon after we started cruising, unless it was booked on line. Even the loyalty ambassadors on the ships knew that booking with them took away they ability to make payments on line. All of my bookings stopped showing the amount due. Until this thread I've never heard of anyone getting that ability back.

All I was ever able to do was to book excursions or specialty dining on line and pay for that. But all payments had to be made by phone even if no travel agents were involved.

I'd like to know if anyone I actually know has begun to be able to pay for cruises on line that were booked on board for the benefits. If so, when did this change back.

Gina

I'd love to know when they changed this rule back. I remember when they took the on line payment option away, soon after we started cruising, unless it was booked on line. Even the loyalty ambassadors on the ships knew that booking with them took away they ability to make payments on line. All of my bookings stopped showing the amount due. Until this thread I've never heard of anyone getting that ability back.

 

All I was ever able to do was to book excursions or specialty dining on line and pay for that. But all payments had to be made by phone even if no travel agents were involved.

 

I'd like to know if anyone I actually know has begun to be able to pay for cruises on line that were booked on board for the benefits. If so, when did this change back.

 

Gina

Of my 8 reservations 4 were booked this past March. 2 were booked in December last year and 2 were booked March of 2013.

Even though I have the ability on these and other past cruises to make payments on line I will still call to make my final payment. I don't mind taking a few minutes and doing it in person and have them email me an updated copy of the guest booking invoice.

Too many horror stories that make me a little hesitant to trust fully automated systems.

I would never make a payment online. Given the length of time that there have been significant IT issues, I would be afraid my payment would somehow get lost in the issues. JMO

All my reservations currently with RCCL were made on phone. All are able to pay and view details on line!

If you have any current non TA reservation you should check if you can see it! I'm in USA.

No issues viewing them!

Of my 8 reservations 4 were booked this past March. 2 were booked in December last year and 2 were booked March of 2013.

 

Even though I have the ability on these and other past cruises to make payments on line I will still call to make my final payment. I don't mind taking a few minutes and doing it in person and have them email me an updated copy of the guest booking invoice.

 

Too many horror stories that make me a little hesitant to trust fully automated systems.

Once I started booking on board or converting NCCs the payment button went away for good. Four years ago I began booking myself through cruising power so that is where I can make final payment but don't. The horror stories happen there, too. I've paid on line through cruising power and had invoices suddenly change prices saying I owe more. The only safe way now is to make the payment over the phone.

And yes, I've had them tell me that sometimes there are these "glitches". IT issues of course.

I'd still like to know when they put the payment button back for those not booking through agents. It had to have been in the past 4 years and I never read anything about it happening.

Gina

I just don't want to deal with any of this. All my 38 cruises have been booked with the same brick and mortar TA

Although I never use a TA, that is probably the biggest benefit of using one. So far I haven't tired of the customer service tango but I'm getting there.

I would never make a payment online. Given the length of time that there have been significant IT issues, I would be afraid my payment would somehow get lost in the issues. JMO

While I just did it, I was caught in a moment of fatigue and probably wouldn't risk it again. At some point between then and the last time I checked my reservation, the final payment went up. We got it straightened out with one very short phone call but this is the second RC cruise in a row where I've had a problem with the reservation.

Why we use RCI Certified Vacation Planners:

1. Emails answered within 24 hours or less

2. Their own phone extensions make correspondence and payments easy

3. I still control my own booking online

4. When informed, RCI CVPs make all necessary changes regarding price drops and or upgrades after final payment

5. More secure than dealing with an IT Dept whose accuracy seems to be questionable.

6. Cause MerionMom told us to and we are grateful for that ;)

I have 8 reseveration made onboard or using FCC's they all have this notation in red on the Booking dashboard."! Please note that only reservations made on RoyalCaribbean.com with your My Cruises account can be modified online. You can however complete your Online Check-In and make advanced reservations using our Cruise Planner." However 3 do have the green "Make a payment" button.

All of mine whether made online thru RCL or onboard have the Green make a payment button. However, only the ones that I made online have the cancel button.

If I want to cancel any of the ones made onboard I have to call them to do so.