Floridado2020

Just to update everyone , Lorenzo from executive office was very helpful and got my parents penalty refunded after review of the case . Kudos to him . Everyone else they would speak to on the phone (customer service) had no clue of what to do . He even gave them a discount coupon on a future cruise . My parents are very grateful to him . Positive ending to this story , I hope no one has to go through a situation like this ever of ending up in a hospital and missing out on your vacation 

I wanted to thank you all again , without your ideas and suggestions this positive outcome would not have happened . 
happy travels everyone !

My booking for thanksgiving week only shows 1 complementary restaurant available for one of my days , nothing else of out of the other 3 MDR or specialty restaurants shows available reservations. I have anytime dining . Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be for holiday sailings I am not sure . First time on celebrity 

2 minutes ago, WiscGram said:

I love how helpful everyone is on this cruise critic RCI board.  You have helped encourage me to get problems resolved with RCI with success, as you are helping here.  RCI does care, you just need to get to the right person who can help.

 

Cruisecritic forum is the best ❤️

5 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

so does this mean Royal is going to reimburse your parents for the $1882?

Don’t know yet they have to call to inquire what this means 

45 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I wish you the best in your battle with  refund.   Truly sad to see you have to struggle for something that should be easy.

Thank you ! At least I have something in writing from them saying they are elegible for refund due to medical emergency . My parents will call rcl today to see how the refund process works 

thanks to everyone here for all the suggestions and comments 🤗

5 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Maybe they consider their pax cargo.

HaHAHAHAHAH lol 😂 

1 minute ago, Ret MP said:

I don't believe that this has been mentioned.  But, wouldn't there be medical bills, receipts, an Explanation of Benefits, or something like that with the patient's names, dates of service, procedures, etc etc.  Wouldn't that help with the claim?  I would hope so.

We have all hospital records now and we will submit to the travel insurance company . My dad has Medicare so the hospital has not billed him yet but he has all the records from the hospital stay . The day of the incident my mom only had a letter from the hospital because he was just getting admitted and she turned it in to the ship. They had to pay out of pocket to fly back home on the day of hospital discharge so we will submit that too . We were just trying to gather all the proper receipts together 

thanks 😊 

19 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I hope that is real.  Tough grammar in that email, which is usually a red flag, but we have received emails like that in the past from Royal Caribbean.  She does have a linkedin account but Royal Caribbean is spelled wrong on it.  That is a real phone number.  

 

Hope it works out.

It looks legit because Mr Bayley’s assistant also just emailed us saying the care team would be looking into it. 🤞

Good news , After my parents replying back to Mr Bayleys assistant  inquiring about what happened to the medical waiver request that they said they would apply for (my mom turned in a letter from the hospital to the ship that day as proof of hospital admission ) ,I just received this response :

Hello,

CareTeam has received information regarding your penalty for disembarkation during your illness in Key West.

Please be assured that this cost will be reimbursed to you.  We have included the invoice.  Actual refund may be completed by contactingRoyalguestrelations@rccl.com or phone 800 256-6649.  For your convenience, we have enclosed a copy of the invoiced charge.

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean for your journey.  Our best wishes for your full recovery.

Regards,

Wendy

Pls always Cc: CareTeam@RCCL.com

Wendy Hilt

Specialist, CareTeam

Royal Caribbean Group

Pronouns: she/her/hers

53 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I don't see that as anywhere near adequate of documentation from RC, especially since they say "make sure you have travel insurance." That's the point, trying to get documentation to submit to travel insurance.

 

I mean miscellaneous could be paying for a TV that you broke. No insurance would take that.

Lol or a $941 drunken bar charge 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

That says it was charged on board and was documented as to what.

The OP says it was charged after the fact with no documentation.

As you can see the on board receipt does not have my mom or dad signature so apparently they just charged the fee that same day but my mom did not see the charge on her card until a week later . She was never given a copy of this receipt until today that was emailed to us. All she was emailed previously was the folio . I grayed out their name and folio for privacy 

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

The email explains what the charge was so file a claim with you insurence and attach the final statement and the email communication.

Yes we will do so ! I’ll save the entire email as a PDF file including the generic receipt fingers crossed 🤞 

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

 

The OP got a receipt. They just don’t like the receipt. So they got it again and still don’t like it. 

The receipt says guest service charge and the signature line for my mom and my dad is BLANK . How would the travel insurance company know is a customs fee and not onboard spending ??do you think a travel insurance company would give you $1800 back with such receipt ? That was my point !

at least now we can attach their email reply to the receipt so the travel insurance company verifies is a legit charge . Hopefully they won’t deny it will see 

58 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

That says it was charged on board and was documented as to what.

The OP says it was charged after the fact with no documentation.

Yea they did not give them anything that day ,no receipt or any paperwork . They never told my mom they would charge her that day , they said they would charge them if CBP denied the medical exemption . But either way it they don’t seem to care to discuss the medical exemption request . I guess if it ever gets granted they will just keep the money 

2 minutes ago, Floridado2020 said:

Thank you

i just received a reply from Mr bayleys assistant . It just says the ship told us about the charge ,here is a copy of your receipt . But is the same receipt we already have that does not list what the charge is for . Also he did not answer my question about the status of the medical exemption request . This is so frustrating !!! 

if we can’t get any proper receipt we may just have to file a claim with the insurance and attach his email communication as proof of what the charge is .

thanks 

15 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I just want to be sure that you used the correct email address.

 

mbayley@rccl.com

Thank you

i just received a reply from Mr bayleys assistant . It just says the ship told us about the charge ,here is a copy of your receipt . But is the same receipt we already have that does not list what the charge is for . Also he did not answer my question about the status of the medical exemption request . This is so frustrating !!! 

if we can’t get any proper receipt we may just have to file a claim with the insurance and attach his email communication as proof of what the charge is .

thanks 

9 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Don't wait any longer, had you sent an e mail last Sunday like I suggested this entire issue would have been resolved by now.

Thank you , you are right . We were hoping all the people we spoke to on the phone would have responded by now like they said they would but no luck . We did go ahead and sent the email today to the CEO 

9 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Don't wait a week. Do it today.

We just sent the email out to the CEO this afternoon. Hoping we can at least get a proper itemized receipt or some other resolution . Thank you everyone !

No response yet from Royal , sadly . Multiple emails and calls have been attempted . If we don’t hear back from next week I will then email the ceo as well . 

6 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

If you say so, I have no idea.  But, I don't remember reading when this incident happened.  Seems to me that the process would start at the time frame that the incident happened, automatically.  I'm sure this isn't a unique event for RCCL or others.  

Incident happened 2 weeks ago . Hopefully we hear back from RCL at some point 🙏

28 minutes ago, notscb said:

That won't suddenly absolve OP's parents of the debt.

RCL will just go directly after them via collections and as another commenter pointed out, likely get them banned from RCL in the future.

 

OP, you should write a brief email (specifics only, no feelings, no extra details) to executive relations explaining the situation and asking for a reversal of the exact amount (give them the actual number) of charges given the situation.

RoyalGuestRelations@rccl.com
Guestclaims@rccl.com

 

Wait a week for a response. If that doesn't work, work your way up- don't just email the CEO as the first line of defense- if they say "no", there's nobody else who can help you.

 

 

Thank you !! That’s our plan . Will keep you all updated 

15 minutes ago, kearney said:

If they have travel insurance...they will need documentation from the cruise line... assuming they have insurance and that it would cover this type of charge.

Yes the problem is the folio has the charges listed as “guest services” so we need a more specific receipt of the charges in order to submit to their travel insurance . Travel insurance told us they have 90 days to submit the appropriate receipts . We are awaiting for RCLs response on the charges and/or a proper receipt .

Thank you !

3 minutes ago, 3yorkies said:

Passenger falls and breaks an ankle, requiring surgery and cannot return to the ship; the companion opts to also not return. The cruise line will incur a fine of $1,524 for the two passengers because they never went to the foreign port -- they were simply transported between two U.S. ports -- Cape Liberty and Bar Harbor. It is up to the cruise line whether the charges will be passed along to the passengers via their onboard accounts.

In many cases, the cruise line can apply for and often receive a waiver from CBP for medical emergencies that require disembarkation, so it is advisable to notify the ship of an emergency in port that prevents you from returning. Be prepared to provide documentation that it is a true emergency. It may mean the difference between the fine being passed along or not.

 

Above is from a Cruise Critic article in 2020.  The line has the right to pass the cost on to the passenger..  It is currently $798 per person per government website, so not sure why the $143 difference.    There may also be an issue as to whether the medical emergency of one person required the disembarkation of the second.   But certainly it can take weeks, if not months, for a ship to be able to process a waiver/exemption request.  

 

From gov website:   

 

The Passenger Vessel Services Act
September 2019
17
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Penalty
* $300 for each passenger transported and landed on or before November 2,
2015.
* $798 for each passenger transported and landed after November 2, 2015.
* Issued to the vessel operator or carrier not the passenger.
CBP does not have the authority to settle charge disputes between
carriers that may have been issued penalties and their passengers

 

The PVSA is very detailed as to the process for "mitigation" and how it is filed and that is is ruled on as they are received.   We all know how quickly things are processed by many government agencies, so I would expect you would need to allow at least 6 months,

 

Thank you ! It was just my mom and dad in the sailing . My mom turned in a letter from the hospital that the hospital provided her to the ship on the day of the event  . We have full hospital records now to provide in case they ask for more documentation . 🙏 just hoping for the best or that at least they can give us proof of fee payment to submit to their travel insurance . Travel insurance said we have 90 days to submit claim receipts 

3 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

The latest $ amount is here:

 

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-19/chapter-I/part-4/subject-group-ECFR610bc0266d90628/section-4.80

 

"(2) The penalty imposed for the unlawful transportation of passengers between coastwise points is $300 for each passenger so transported and landed on or before November 2, 2015, and $941 for each passenger so transported and landed after November 2, 2015 (46 U.S.C. 55103, as adjusted by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015)."

Thank you for sharing . It’s good to know that at least no matter what they’re not profiting off peoples tragedies 

4 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Did you father get any treatment in the medical center on the ship? If so, is it possible the $1,800 is actually the bill for the medical treatment, not the PVSA fine?

No he did not . He tried going but they were closed in the early am hours