Bumped/Dumped off of RCCL Vision of Seas

RCCL has a history of cancelling cruises and re-positioning its ships to different itineraries. Thankfully, we've only been affected once.

RCCL has a history of cancelling cruises and re-positioning its ships to different itineraries. Thankfully, we've only been affected once.

So, I guess it was bad luck on our part. First and possibly only time with RCCL.

I feel that we have been baited and switched. When I brought that up to the agent on the phone she got very testy with me and told me that if I was going to use "legal terms" the conversation was over.

Some cruise lines tell their agent that any use of legal terms or threat is a red flag and the agent can't even touch the reservation at that point, until the customer or travel agent takes back the threat. They are very strict about it.

We have been dumped by RCCL on our August 30, 2018, cruise aboard the Vision of the Seas. Apparently, they

have chartered the entire ship and left us adrift. We have been given two sail dates to choose from, the problem for my

husband and I is the selection of cabins are less than what we have sailed in the past. We were in an Owners Suite and have sailed past cruises in the Royal Suite. We aren't willing to accept at best a Jr. suite or an ocean view room on the two sail dates that are offered.

 

Our other option is a refund. What really angers me is that RCCL is offering a 30% discount plus a few other trinkets on two dates but won't give us even the same price or better on other dates. Cruising for us isn't just the ports of call but enjoying a nice suite with all the amenities. We are both Diamond members for what that's worth.

I feel that we have been baited and switched. When I brought that up to the agent on the phone she got very testy with me and told me that if I was going to use "legal terms" the conversation was over.

 

Any suggestions on how we can obtain an acceptable cruise and a suite that works for us and still pay the rate that we originally paid last year?

First off - I would find a NEW travel agent - they are supposed to be working FOR YOU. Second - did you know that RCCL has a "charter list", and that any ship at any time can be "purchased" for a charter? The pricing is based upon a number of factors, including the season and the class of ship. They say money can't buy you happiness, but is CAN buy you a chartered cruise. And, the loyal Royal customer is screwed........

An email to the president has worked for some: mbayley@rccl.com.

I hope that works for them, it did for me. I thought the OP did a good job of outlining the situation. To criticize the term bump in the title seems absurd, if someone read the thread title and didn't come into the thread, where is the harm? My only comment is if Royal creates the situation and makes an offer, the offer shouldn't be as limited in terms of which ship and date, as they frequently are. The offers are frequently good, but commonly limited to just a few cruises.

I've been bumped off the same cruise.

 

Unfortunate timing, as the email arrived two days after my wife and I booked return flights to Barcelona from London, and a hotel for the night before the cruise. These are paid for and cannot be cancelled. There are no other suitable RCI cruises so we will have to cancel the cruise and won't be refunded the cost of the flights and hotel.

 

I'm hoping that RCI will give us some compensation towards the additional expenses, as we have entered the period within which people could reasonably be expected to book flights etc. Not sure I hold out much hope of that, having read about the experiences of others.

Do European cruises/flights have some kind of package protection thing?

Having your cruise cancelled because they decided to charter the ship is very frustrating, so I have no problem at all with whatever words/metaphors the OP wants to use to describe it. I hate how the cruise lines do this.

Having your cruise cancelled because they decided to charter the ship is very frustrating, so I have no problem at all with whatever words/metaphors the OP wants to use to describe it. I hate how the cruise lines do this.

100% agree. I do not get why people insist on being nasty toward someone venting their valid reason for being frustrated.

What expenses? They are out nothing

Airfare? They are out quite a bit. Did you read their post?

It is very frustrating to have your cruise chartered and cancelled. That said, it seems to happen with most major lines in the industry (it happened to us with Disney). Having had it happen i now realize that the better bargain a cruise is, the less it is selling and the more likely it seems to be to be chartered (probably offered at a "bargain"). We still book the deals but remain aware that we might well need to be flexible.

OP---I think it is worth calling to see if you can get a discount on a cruise at a time when you want or with a like cabin available---I thin if you have a specific, reasonable request (rather than throwing around terms like "bait and switch" and just complaining about mistreatment) you will have far better chances of succeeding.

To the PP who already bought air: the suggestion to check for coverage via your credit card is a good one.

Barring that, perhaps do what we did when our 7 night Disney sailing out of BCN was charted---look for another ship on another lines going same dates so you can still use that airfare. SO many cruises go out of BCN. We replaced our Disney Magic sailing for an RCI Liberty sailing---exact same embarkation and debarkation and almost identical ports. That's actually what really got us started with RCI (we had sailed them once before but had a bad experience).

Airfare? They are out quite a bit. Did you read their post?

You are not reading the posts correctly. The OP and the one that brought up this thread today had not yet booked airfare.

Doesn’t sound like a sustainable business model.

And yet they are growing year after year and the stocks are on the rise.

Must be doing something right.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nasdaq.com/article/heres-why-investors-may-find-royal-caribbean-attractive-now-cm941497/amp

You are not reading the posts correctly. The OP and the one that brought up this thread today had not yet booked airfare.

They were reading correctly. If you follow the quotes that that post stemmed from, you will see it was referring to a post about a person who had already booked hotel and airfare.

We were booked on the June sailing of VOTS, and had our booking canceled as well. We, fortunately, had not booked flights or hotels - but the dates of the cruise we were offered discounts for were not at times we could sail. I will wait until after our cruise in July to decide whether we will sail with RCI again or not. I seriously considered canceling and moving to another cruise line. I have found RCI to be unfriendly, and little understanding of how the changes affect customers - and seriously lacking in the area of compensation.

I believe all of the cruise lines do this with similar compensation.

Having your cruise cancelled because they decided to charter the ship is very frustrating, so I have no problem at all with whatever words/metaphors the OP wants to use to describe it. I hate how the cruise lines do this.

Not only frustrating but wrong that they continue to book, knowing there is a charter.

Once again, OP is asking for advice and receives several snarky, uncalled for replies. How about everyone on here following the Golden Rule and treat others the way you want to be treated, it's really not asking too much.

They gave OP the option to rebook at a discount on certain other cruises, or to get a refund. OP is accusing them of committing a crime. The reactions are because of OP's unreasonable approach.

I understand that it's frustrating to have your cruise cancelled, but sometimes bad things happen. As long as the company makes you whole (i.e., puts you on another sailing or gives you your money back) then you have not been legally wronged. You have been disappointed. There is a difference.

It is entirely understandable that the agent threatened to end the call when OP started accusing Royal of committing crimes. Customer service agents are trained to end calls immediately when people start down the road of threatening legal action, because anything they say might be used against them if a lawsuit does happen. CSA's aren't lawyers and shouldn't be in the position of debating legal matters.

I'm not saying OP doesn't have reason to be frustrated, but there are ways to approach frustrating situations, and flying off the handle is rarely the best option.

Barring that, perhaps do what we did when our 7 night Disney sailing out of BCN was charted---look for another ship on another lines going same dates so you can still use that airfare. SO many cruises go out of BCN. We replaced our Disney Magic sailing for an RCI Liberty sailing---exact same embarkation and debarkation and almost identical ports. That's actually what really got us started with RCI (we had sailed them once before but had a bad experience).

It's mind boggling to me that some company was willing and able to pay what must have been an exorbitant amount of money to charter a DCL ship! On a positive note, you must have saved quite a bit by sailing on the Liberty vs. the Magic. It was the huge difference in price between Med cruises on the two lines that pushed us to RCCL (where we have happily remained).

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Find out what group chartered the cruise and see if you can get your room back :)

Feel your pain.

I don't think charters should be scheduled less than a year out. It rude to do this to folks who have air purchased. And no the answer is not to use their air program.

If a ship is not selling well then offer deals. To have a large group dangle money at RCI seems wrong unless more than a year out.

I know it is part of industry but under a year is just wrong.

Would love to know statics on who does it the most.

Op try Elliott.org they will list more contacts within the company besides Mr.Bayley. I don’t subscribe to the suck it up, get over it, I’m a corporate doormat mentality

Really need a “like” button here.

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It's mind boggling to me that some company was willing and able to pay what must have been an exorbitant amount of money to charter a DCL ship! On a positive note, you must have saved quite a bit by sailing on the Liberty vs. the Magic. It was the huge difference in price between Med cruises on the two lines that pushed us to RCCL (where we have happily remained).

 

 

 

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That was the last year before DCL pricing went through the roof. When my kids were little DCL was the cheapest line for us to sail as a family (not counting Carnival, we quit even pricing them after one particularly bad experience)---Princess occasionally had deals that out it close, but normally CL won hands down in the pricing.

It's hard to believe these days, with their absolutely insane rates!

That trip ended up being quite the amazing two weeks. My in laws already had airfare to Europe from the US---but had bought 10 days prior to the cruise to come visit us in Germany first. We got the Liberty cruise (should season, great pricing). we only had 2 flights booed from Germany to BCN as we could dive with the other four.

DCL offered to move us to the sailing one week prior and DH was eventually able to get that time off work---they still had space and moved us and we got 500 usd obc per room (three rooms) which we figured more than offset changing two outbound fights to a week earlier.

So, in the end we sailed DCL one week sooner, got off, walked to the next ship on the dock (Liberty) and went around to the ports again in the week we had originally planned (even keeping a private shore excursion weh ad booked before DCL was chartered). What started off as a very frustrating an unforeseen change (until then I had no idea that cruises could be charted after made available for bookings to the public) turned into a particularly delightful trip.

I've been bumped off the same cruise.

 

 

 

Unfortunate timing, as the email arrived two days after my wife and I booked return flights to Barcelona from London, and a hotel for the night before the cruise. These are paid for and cannot be cancelled. There are no other suitable RCI cruises so we will have to cancel the cruise and won't be refunded the cost of the flights and hotel.

 

 

 

I'm hoping that RCI will give us some compensation towards the additional expenses, as we have entered the period within which people could reasonably be expected to book flights etc. Not sure I hold out much hope of that, having read about the experiences of others.

You bought one way tix from London to Barcelona?

In my experience that doesn't seem like a great deal of money

I paid $75 per tix for one way paris to Rome in high season so what exactly did you pay?

Also why would you buy non refundable hotel? Was the savings worth it?

By your post it sounds like you live in Europe

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We had an RCI cruise cancelled a couple of years ago when they decided to redeploy the ship, they did offer us other dates but when you have to plan vacation time well in advance it's not always possible, We are also on Ovation next month on a b2b2b from Hong Kong and recently found out that the last part has been partially chartered (so luckily we are still onboard) but we have to disembark in Hong Kong and then reembark in Shenzen which now requires a Chinese Visa, RC are apologetic and are helping with the Visa and OBC but it doesn't make it any less frustrating to have something disrupted that you spend months planning.

Sorry this happened to you

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I've been bumped off the same cruise.

 

Unfortunate timing, as the email arrived two days after my wife and I booked return flights to Barcelona from London, and a hotel for the night before the cruise. These are paid for and cannot be cancelled. There are no other suitable RCI cruises so we will have to cancel the cruise and won't be refunded the cost of the flights and hotel.

 

I'm hoping that RCI will give us some compensation towards the additional expenses, as we have entered the period within which people could reasonably be expected to book flights etc. Not sure I hold out much hope of that, having read about the experiences of others.

You bought one way tix from London to Barcelona?

 

In my experience that doesn't seem like a great deal of money

 

I paid $75 per tix for one way paris to Rome in high season so what exactly did you pay?

 

Also why would you buy non refundable hotel? Was the savings worth it?

 

By your post it sounds like you live in Europe

 

 

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Wearing your reading glasses?:confused: London is in Europe.