sheilsy4949

All I can say is thanks for all the replies (even the critical ones) maybe time to draw a line under this matter for now, as its all getting a bit tedious, many lessons learnt for myself (once bitten and all that), however as I earlier posted, I am going to pursue this (Dog with a bone , LOL) will post the resolution once established....... and once again thanks for your interest

Keep up with what? You got on a ship without a drink package, went to GS to get two, and then you never checked the whole week to make sure they didn't charge you for them. I'm thinking I'm not the one that needs to keep up. :rolleyes:

Read my first post...... I got on the ship BELIEVING I WAS ENTITLED TO THEM, led to believe by the purser, that I was indeed entitled to them, who subsequently issued them, without asking me or my wife to sign any documentation (which is usually standard procedure for any charges applied to your account) APOLOGISED for all the inconvenience and then went on to explain that gratuities due would also be taken off the onboard account!! later in the day I CHOSE to upgrade one of the Select Packages to Premium for a cost of an additional $104, which is the only cost I charged to my account whilst on board, so once again I had no reason to check the account thereafter......... however my overall point is being lost, RCI customer services post cruise is questionable to say the least......

POSTED BY OPPurser politely listened, apologised for any inconvenience we may have suffered, took our boarding cards, and applied two 'Standard Drinks Packages' and advised that gratuities would also be paid.

 

 

The reason I think you were charged is because YOU upgrade to another package.

I am not disputing the cost of the upgrade, which worked out at approx $104 and that is what I was led to believe i was signing for when I upgraded one of the packages from select to premium. :)

To save yourself the frustration that you are going through now.

But I did not expect any onboard charges, so why would i want to check the onboard account? it would be like walking into a supermarket and asking what my bill is before I have purchased anything... nonsensical IMO, however hindsight is a wonderful thing ;)

Because you admittedly weren't when you boarded and if you didn't check for the charge sometime during the cruise, you must be way more trusting than I.

But I was once I had been issued with the 2 select drinks packages by the purser once onboard!!.... c'mon fella keep up! ;)

Just to clarify my cruise was on the 'Splendour of the Seas' which does not have the facility to check your onboard account on the TV (as stated by a few posters) and once again, why would I spend my holiday queuing up to check my onboard account, when I was on an all-inclusive package :confused:

anyway once again, thanks for all your reply's, I will keep you all informed of the outcome of my complaint, but be patient as I somehow think this will take a while :rolleyes:

And the fact that right under his join date it say his location is the UK. That is a fairly substantial clue too.

Only added the 'UK' after my initial posting....;)

If you would have cancelled, the new booking would be the whatever the going price was for the cruise at the time the new promotion was offered. Which may or may not have been more than your original booking, but I would guess more though. So you would have been out £50, +/- whatever the new rate was.

and again thereafter I could have made a 'considered choice' rather than have a 'Drinks Package' covertly pushed upon me... ;)

I apologize for the gender mixup. I do wonder, if someone from RCI was telling this story would the "facts" match?

 

I'm not saying you're intentionally embellishing or lying, but generally there are three sides to every story... 'his', 'theirs', and (usually somewhere in the middle) the 'truth'.

 

If you look back at your story, are their points where you MIGHT have misunderstood an RCI rep? Is there somewhere the RCI rep MIGHT have misunderstood you?

 

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise. And thanks for coming back and clarifying.

.....and that is what I am trying to achieve 'a middle ground' a compromise, I am not in the habit of complaining, I have only provided a synopsis of events, but surely broken promises of call backs and being kept on phone lines for excessive periods of time is not good customer service ;)

I definitely will be mindful, thanks! Also, if you don't mind my asking, what ship was it?

The Ship was the 'Splendour of the Seas' and although an ageing ship (this was actually its last cruise season before being sold to Thomson Cruises') the staff were great very friendly and accommodating, and I cannot fault the cruise or the itinerary, only slight criticism would be the size of the cabin..... it was like camping in a very small caravan, that apart and my current complaint, everything was great...

Although clearly I am fairly new to the community, it seems simple to me what has transpired.

The OP wanted the promo that was available to new bookings only. We've all been there probably. However, we know in the UK, you will lose your deposit if you cancel your cruise and rebook. This would cost more than (2) select drink packages. The OP was simply NOT eligible for the package. If the OP did get some kind of reassurance from a purser, it was a mistake. RCI has made these errors in the past...just look at the free refreshment pkg debacle.

If you got the sticker, that may have been because someone put a note on your file and someone else screwed up thinking you actually had the pkg...again RCI and the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

When 'upgrading to premium', the computer saw you never paid or were not entitled to the select drink pkg and charged you for the premium you wanted for yourself and the select you wanted for your partner.

So, unless the free drink pkg was for prior bookings the OP was NEVER entitled to it...PERIOD. If it was, forget everything I just wrote..:o

 

 

I do understand the OPs concern if he/she was told by an RCI official that they should have the select pkg. Even though it was RCI's mistake, they should stand by what they tell the passenger.

Can I just clarify that I had only paid £50 deposit to book the cruise at the time of the promotion, and had I been given a definitive answer by RCI, I would have happily forfeited the deposit in favour of the cost of two drinks packages at a joint price of $598.00, or does the price of the cruise go up when offered a free drinks package..... mmmmmm I wonder!!

To the OP: As a fellow UK cruiser, I am very sorry to hear about the trouble you have had. As someone who has just booked an all-inclusive deal, I will be sure to keep an eye on the charges made on our account during our cruise. Thank you for telling us of your experiences. Despite how some of the users on this forum have made you feel since your posting, you can rest assured that your post has definitely had an impact on me and will definitely keep an eye when I get on board. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Thank You, and have a great cruise, which we did incidentally just a pity it was soured by this incident, but do be mindful of anything you sign and make sure no additional noughts are added to your bill (particularly after a few drinks) ;)

Exactly my point. I could write out a big message, stating certain assumptions about details left out by the OP, but if they are not going to read it then why bother? There are plenty of people with questions here on CC that read their replies and respond back. (I think CC to me is becoming Cruise Cynic :p)

 

We don't get as many "trolls" here as other types of message boards, but there are also a lot of people out there who think posting their story all over "social media" is a way to get others to solve their problems, rather than take the proper steps to correct it.

Your assumption being I am not taking the proper steps to correct my complaint?

Which incidentally I am :)

Can I take this opportunity to 'Thank' everybody who has taken the time to respond to my initial post, I can understand the level of cynicism expressed by some posters, however I am simply sharing my dissatisfaction with an element of my experience (which incidentally overall was great, which I also commented) I do intend to pursue this complaint using every available avenue open to me, I have only posted a 'summary' of the events, as I am aware most people don't want to read pages and pages of 'waffle' so apologies if my summary was not clear, as requested by forum member WpgCruise I have attempted to answer some questions my post has raised these include:

I do intend to pursue these unauthorised charges with my credit card provider

We had no reason to check our onboard account daily, as we had purchased an ‘all-inclusive package, hence any onboard spending was minimal.

Yes I am in the UK and I stand corrected, Standard Package, should have read ‘Select Package’

Yes I am a first time ‘contributor on the forum' but weren't we all at some point?

The Invoice WAS checked prior to boarding the ship and did not include the said ‘Drinks Packages’ which was the basis of my complaint, simply put, my understanding based on the promotion was that it should have included two 'Select Drinks Packages' as the holiday (vacation) was booked prior to January 31st as stipulated in the promotion, however as I had already booked RCI would not or could not commit themselves prior to the cruise, the only advice offered was to pursue ONCE onboard the ship, which is what we done

Thank you to posters ‘chrisb74’ & ‘ kwbound’ ‘Jenibor’ who all summarise my feelings very succinctly

S.A.M.J.R. Makes the comment ……… (despite we only have her version of what happened with her built in bias)? Her is a he, and what I have posted is ‘fact’ not bias.

To ‘garycarla’, we were retrospectively given (without charge) 2 ‘Select Drinks Packages’ consistent with the advertised promotion, however we were later charged for one ‘Select Drinks Package’ and one ‘Premium Drinks package’ when all I purchased was an upgrade to one of the ‘Select Drinks Packages’ that I had been given retrospectively, and yes I accept I should have checked the receipt that I signed at the time of upgrading the select drinks package' and that is exactly what I am bringing to peoples attention, MAKE SURE YOU READ EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING FOR ONBOARD, as once you have signed it, RCI seemingly can take whatever from your authorised account!!

I hope this clarifies any misunderstanding and if anyone from RCI reads this please feel free to respond as I would be very interested in a considered response

Thought I would just post a thread detailing aspects of my ongoing complaint with RCI which remains unresolved;

Booked a Mediterranean Cruise with RCI on 26th December 2014, shortly after booking a promotion campaign on TV announced 'Free Drinks Packages' for any RCI Cruise booked before 31st Jan 2015, I contacted RCI to ask them if I qualified for the promotion, they were unable to give an affirmative answer, and advised they would call me back (If I did not qualify, my logic was I would simply cancel my initial booking and rebook, thereby qualifying) time past and still nobody called me back, my wife spoke via 'Facebook' with an RCI rep who advised they would look into it and get back to us, surprise surprise, nobody called back, called 'Customer Relations AGAIN! advised to speak to purser onboard ship at Customer Services Desk, which we did, Purser politely listened, apologised for any inconvenience we may have suffered, took our boarding cards, and applied two 'Standard Drinks Packages' and advised that gratuities would also be paid....... Result you may think..... READ ON.................

Shortly after being issued with the Drinks Package, we used them for the first time, whilst at the bar I noticed the ship had a 'Premium Drinks Package' available, so I enquired with the promotion team, and upgraded my Standard Package to a 'Premium Package', thereafter the cruise was great....... however on the morning of disembarkation we received our ship board account, to find we had been charged $294 for one standard package and $399 for one premium package, unfortunately we had no time to sufficiently query this as we had to disembark.

A few days after arriving home, I contacted RCI customer service's to query my account, and after numerous emails between the ship and customer services, and numerous phone calls between RCI and myself (where invariably) I was left holding for ages, and made promises of return calls which never happened, I was told that RCI had a signed invoice from me for $294 for one standard package and $399 for one premium package, which i categorically did not order, I simply upgraded my standard package..... why would we purchase another two 'Drinks Packages'??

This matter remains unresolved and begs the following questions:

I did not request 1 standard or 1 premium package from the promotion representative onboard ship, if this had been the case why did the seller simply add a sticker on top of the SS sticker already on my boarding pass? I gave her ONE boarding pass to upgrade, so why would she charge me for 1 standard package, and one premium package!!

Prior to upgrading my Standard Package, I purchased drinks on deck nine, which will be recorded upon the ships documentation, which is documentary evidence that I had the Standard Package, and raises the legitimacy of the ‘Alleged Receipt’ why would I purchase another two drinks packages!!

Throughout my discussions with Customer Services, they refer to the ‘Ships Logs’ inferring that detailed records are kept, if that is the case I would like to see the time on the receipt and the time of my initial purchase with the Standard Package, which will clearly evidence that I purchased drinks with a Standards Drinks Package BEFORE upgrading, which then raises the question why would I then purchase another Standard and Premium Package!!

also....

If I had been given a definitive answer back in January 2015 that my booking DID not qualify for the ‘Promotional Offer’ why did I simply not cancel my booking, and rebook? Thereby qualifying without question for the promotion.

Why was I not advised of the cost of ‘Drinks Packages’ by the Customer Service Representative on board the ship, if it was not added without charge?

Why was I not asked to sign an invoice (As ordinarily EVERY chargeable transaction on-board ship generates an invoice which invariably provides RCI with proof of consent to such charge). Such an invoice was signed and agreed by myself when I upgraded one of the accounts to the ‘Premium drinks package’.

Why was I informed that any gratuities due would also be taken off the account? (This is not standard with ANY drinks package).

BEWARE, once they have secured your booking and took your money, they are not interested................