Ocean View Guarantee Not Honored by RCCL

[richardb]

.......... However, in this case giving the OP an Ocean-view would have meant taking an Ocean-view from another passenger. What is the right thing?

 

The right thing would have been to a full refund, which the OP was willing to accept, because Royal couldn't deliver on it's end. We ALL understand that mistakes happen......over booking. But you admit your mistake and make it right and move on.

[KLCruiseFan]

If anyone else would like to post regarding a Future Cruise Credit promised in writing by the captain that RC is refusing to honor, I shamelessly plug my thread :D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2088341

[Dave85]

OP requested a refund or a future cruise in his category. Seems simple enough.

 

The right thing would have been to a full refund, which the OP was willing to accept, because Royal couldn't deliver on it's end. We ALL understand that mistakes happen......over booking. But you admit your mistake and make it right and move on.

 

Agree 100%. RCI's actions are unreasonable, not the OP's. These recent issues with guarantees pretty much guarantee that I will never book one... Which is RCI's loss, since the only guarantee I've ever considered is a W Suite Guarantee, which is almost always more expensive than the pre-assigned standard balcony cabins we always sail in.

[CMurph]

I'm very interested in seeing how this plays out, as I have a guarantee booked for September. I was encouraged to do so by the RCI Rep. She said "it is the way to go! Oceanview is the lowest category they will put you in...and perhaps they will assign you a higher one....but it will not go lower". I already have my cabin assignment...I am assuming the OP had theirs also, as it is so close to sail date. This means they took the OP's cabin and gave it to someone else.....WHY? What justifies bumping someone from their cabin for another passenger? I would be demanding an answer for that, along with their reason for refusing to let them cancel & rebook or offering them much better compensation for not honoring the guarantee.

[LetsGoToDisney]

I agree, I need to see how this plays out since we book Gty alot:rolleyes:

[Ourusualbeach]

I'm very interested in seeing how this plays out, as I have a guarantee booked for September. I was encouraged to do so by the RCI Rep. She said "it is the way to go! Oceanview is the lowest category they will put you in...and perhaps they will assign you a higher one....but it will not go lower". I already have my cabin assignment...I am assuming the OP had theirs also, as it is so close to sail date. This means they took the OP's cabin and gave it to someone else.....WHY? What justifies bumping someone from their cabin for another passenger? I would be demanding an answer for that, along with their reason for refusing to let them cancel & rebook or offering them much better compensation for not honoring the guarantee.

 

The OP booked an Oceanview and was assigned an inside. They were never assigned an Oceanview or had it taken away. Cabins can be and have been assigned right up until the time you show up at the pier.

[richardb]

I'm very interested in seeing how this plays out, as I have a guarantee booked for September. I was encouraged to do so by the RCI Rep. She said "it is the way to go! Oceanview is the lowest category they will put you in...and perhaps they will assign you a higher one....but it will not go lower". I already have my cabin assignment...I am assuming the OP had theirs also, as it is so close to sail date. This means they took the OP's cabin and gave it to someone else.....WHY? What justifies bumping someone from their cabin for another passenger? I would be demanding an answer for that, along with their reason for refusing to let them cancel & rebook or offering them much better compensation for not honoring the guarantee.

 

I got the impression, and its nothing more than a hunch, that the OP booked last minute for a great rate. I also have the impression that they didn't have a cabin assignment and that Royal called them to advise there were none available.

 

I sure hope the OP returns to give us the correct story and the final outcome. He has not been back for over a day now to give an update.

[redspain]

I got the impression, and its nothing more than a hunch, that the OP booked last minute for a great rate. I also have the impression that they didn't have a cabin assignment and that Royal called them to advise there were none available.

 

I sure hope the OP returns to give us the correct story and the final outcome. He has not been back for over a day now to give an update.

OP has a typo on the date booked, but I am thinking it was about a month before the cruise. I think the best way to deal with this is to dispute with credit card company and not to board the ship. If they board they can't really claim. At least they couldn't on this side of the Atlantic.

Edited August 31, 2014 by redspain

[Starry Eyes]

I agree, I need to see how this plays out since we book Gty alot:rolleyes:

 

same here.

Up until now, we have been comfortable booking gty as we are flexible about cabin location. But if they are not going to fulfill their end of the bargain, we will be far less comfortable booking gty. Furthermore, if something exceptional and unexpected occurs (such as IT glitch or last minute mechanical issue taking cabins out of service), I want to see a company do much more to please the inconvenienced customer.

[elleluv]

 

The senior VP was really talking about compensation to avoid losing a valued customer or to avoid damages to the companies reputation. We don't know the particulars of this case or whether RCI ultimately made the OP happy. However, in this case giving the OP an Ocean-view would have meant taking an Ocean-view from another passenger. What is the right thing?

 

 

There really was an easy solution to this problem that would have been the right thing... Royal Caribbean could have contacted passengers who booked an OV cabin and offered them the $150 OBC to move to an inside cabin and then given the vacated OV to the OP. Based on the number of people on this thread who've said they would be happy with that deal, you'd think that someone would have been happy to take them up on that offer.

[emdia43]

I got the impression, and its nothing more than a hunch, that the OP booked last minute for a great rate. I also have the impression that they didn't have a cabin assignment and that Royal called them to advise there were none available.

 

I sure hope the OP returns to give us the correct story and the final outcome. He has not been back for over a day now to give an update.

 

Probably on the way to the ship - they sail tomorrow...

[GBfromOz]

I have never booked a guarantee before, but this would certainly make me pause before booking, particularly with the suite option. It is a logical progression. Would anyone accept a balcony or lower if a suite guarantee was purchased?

 

The OP should get what they paid for, regardless of the initial cost or potential loss to Royal.

 

My two cents.

[Coralc]

I have never booked a guarantee before, but this would certainly make me pause before booking, particularly with the suite option. It is a logical progression. Would anyone accept a balcony or lower if a suite guarantee was purchased?

 

The OP should get what they paid for, regardless of the initial cost or potential loss to Royal.

 

My two cents.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic GB. You picked one of the more interesting threads to join! :D

[rhuntington3]

I can't see the benefit of booking a guarantee cabin. We always choose the specific cabin we want.

 

And yes, the OP is likely on their way to their cruise so we may not hear back until they get back.

[Clarea]

I can't see the benefit of booking a guarantee cabin. We always choose the specific cabin we want.

 

And yes, the OP is likely on their way to their cruise so we may not hear back until they get back.

Many times the price of a guarantee is significantly less expensive than booking a specific stateroom.

[LMaxwell]

Maybe, maybe not. Port of embarkation is only 3 hours from OP's home. Would seem cost prohibitive to rent a room for 1 night during a holiday weekend just to save such a minimal amount of morning drive time. Who knows? I would like to know how this is resolved.

 

One thing is for certain; no blame can be assigned to OP for choosing a guarantee over a specific room.

[GBfromOz]

Welcome to Cruise Critic GB. You picked one of the more interesting threads to join! :D

 

Thank you for the warm welcome!

 

I must confess though that I am not entirely new to CC. I mostly lurked under the previous username snooze'n'cruise. It turned out to be quite similar to another user who has been posting recently. So, to avoid any confusion I decided to pull a Prince and change up my moniker.

 

Please note the new signature :)

[tarheelmjfan]

Maybe, maybe not. Port of embarkation is only 3 hours from OP's home. Would seem cost prohibitive to rent a room for 1 night during a holiday weekend just to save such a minimal amount of morning drive time. Who knows? I would like to know how this is resolved.

 

One thing is for certain; no blame can be assigned to OP for choosing a guarantee over a specific room.

 

We live 10 minutes from PE & 20 minutes from POM. It can be cheaper for us to book a hotel room that allows us to park for free while on a cruise & provides free transportation to the port than pay to park at the ports or take a cab. For a shorter cruise, that wouldn't be the case, but paying a little more to spend the night at a hotel would extend the vacation & add to the fun. I'm not saying that's what the OP did, but it would be a possibility from a local's perspective.

 

ETA: When we're on vacation, we leave our computers at home. The OP may do the same.

Edited September 1, 2014 by tarheelmjfan

[Justmekaren918]

There really was an easy solution to this problem that would have been the right thing... Royal Caribbean could have contacted passengers who booked an OV cabin and offered them the $150 OBC to move to an inside cabin and then given the vacated OV to the OP. Based on the number of people on this thread who've said they would be happy with that deal, you'd think that someone would have been happy to take them up on that offer.

To expand on this RCI should look into rewarding a few of their productive CS's and create a mini crisis team to handle stuff just like this and segment off blocks of the category that has an issue, and create a template email and send out emails or phone calls, and have clients call that dedicated team back if they will accept. Just keep going til you have the correct amount of takers. This wouldn't take that much time, but a way better organized way to handle this stuff than einy miney moe your moved take it, and coming from revenue.

 

Being a former CS getting off main line CS calls was a major reward.

[Dave85]

I can't see the benefit of booking a guarantee cabin. We always choose the specific cabin we want.

 

And yes, the OP is likely on their way to their cruise so we may not hear back until they get back.

 

 

I would only consider a suite guarantee because it would (theoretically) guarantee a suite at a lower than usual rate, and suites are not usually in terrible locations. Not a bad deal at all, but only if I could trust RCI to hold up their end of the bargain, which is not a given these days.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[tarheelmjfan]

DH & I were discussing this at dinner tonight. Being Florida residents, we're now leary of Royal Caribbean in general. If they would do this to those with guarantee cabins, there's nothing that says they wouldn't do this to those with assigned cabins also. We're not sure we would trust RCI, until they get it together. In the immediate future, we'll be looking at other cruise lines. Hopefully, someone will come to their senses & see this is no way to conduct business.

[WestfieldTraveler]

DH & I were discussing this at dinner tonight. Being Florida residents, we're now leery of Royal Caribbean in general. If they would do this to those with guarantee cabins, there's nothing that says they wouldn't do this to those with assigned cabins also.

 

Well, Royal switched cabins on us, but perhaps for good reason. We had three adjacent B1 Boardwalk balconies, but as one of our party could not go, we went from three people in a cabin that could hold four down to two. As there were almost no cabins below a suite available that could hold four, I guess Royal decided that they needed the cabin for four to book more parties of that size, so they moved us to a new cabin with a capacity of two down the hall that was not adjacent to the rest.

 

I moved our party to what I think ended up being a better set of cabins (including a xx329 cabin) on a secret balcony floor, so i was not that unhappy about the cabin, but just the way they did it. No email to us, no message in our cruise planner, and the TA has no record of the alleged message sent to them - if so, they would have changed the record on their invoice and emailed us a new one. If I did not happen to notice the change on Royal's cruise planner in time to move cabins, I would have been really pissed about the change.

 

Royal has the technology, and certainly the staff, to do the right thing. It just is not a priority for them. No WOW there.

Edited September 1, 2014 by WestfieldTraveler
clarity

[Starry Eyes]

Well, Royal switched cabins on us, but perhaps for good reason. We had three adjacent B1 Boardwalk balconies, but as one of our party could not go, we went from three people in a cabin that could hold four down to two. As there were almost no cabins below a suite available that could hold four, I guess Royal decided that they needed the cabin for four to book more parties of that size, so they moved us to a new cabin with a capacity of two down the hall that was not adjacent to the rest.

 

I moved our party to what I think ended up being a better set of cabins (including a xx329 cabin) on a secret balcony floor, so i was not that unhappy about the cabin, but just the way they did it. No email to us, no message in our cruise planner, and the TA has no record of the alleged message sent to them - if so, they would have changed the record on their invoice and emailed us a new one. If I did not happen to notice the change on Royal's cruise planner in time to move cabins, I would have been really pissed about the change.

 

Royal has the technology, and certainly the staff, to do the right thing. It just is not a priority for them. No WOW there.

When the TA cancelled the third person from a cabin with a capacity of four, did the TA warn you that the cruiseline might well change the cabin number whena larger party needed the cabin capacity? No? Too bad, as you could have faced the issue right then rather than waiting to discover it later.

[RocketMan275]

DH & I were discussing this at dinner tonight. Being Florida residents, we're now leary of Royal Caribbean in general. If they would do this to those with guarantee cabins, there's nothing that says they wouldn't do this to those with assigned cabins also. We're not sure we would trust RCI, until they get it together. In the immediate future, we'll be looking at other cruise lines. Hopefully, someone will come to their senses & see this is no way to conduct business.

 

Most cruise contracts are almost identical. All cruise lines reserve the right to switch your cabin at their discretion. Switching cruise lines will not protect you from this practice.

[Peterbilt Driver]

If this is factual.

And RCI gets away with it

The next step will be to downgrade balcony to ocean view or ocean view to inside with no notice if the price increases to higher than you paid and they have demand at the higher prices

BTW in the cruise contract you have with them they are allowed to do this

RCI is losing all public confidence with these tactics

As a shareholder this disturbs me!