Port of Tampa fog this morning....

[Folk Singer]

Thanks for the information.

[MadManOfBethesda]

You went to a port for a cruise. The cruise wasn't ready. You waited until a final decision was made. They should cover the time you are waiting. Choice Air or not.

In the end they made the correct decision as the fog continued.

I'm usually against giving compensation for the slightest thing but this time it is justified.

 

But it was a weather-related delay, not anything RCL was responsible for. An "act of God" in insurance parlance. If you've taken a trip somewhere and you go to the airport to catch your return flight home, but the flight is cancelled due to a snowstorm so you have to spend the night in a hotel, the airline is not responsible or liable for paying your bill or reimbursing you for same. Why would this situation with Royal be any different?

[GTO-Girl]

I do understand this was weather related that is not the problem. The problem was the wrong information given to us by Royal employees at the port.

 

They were shoving papers with a list of hotels and the 800 # for Royal telling us to "go get a room for tonight and Royal will pay for it". This was late Monday on the first day of delay. So 2200 people were scrambling to get rooms. We were also told by multiple people at the port that when we boarded on Tuesday (which never happened) we could take the hotel vouchers and they could credit us onboard.

 

We saw many families that really didn't know what to do or where to go but got hotel rooms thinking what they were told would be honored. On Tuesday our hotel lobby looked like the airport with people who had to give up their rooms sitting around with all of their luggage. The cruise was not cancelled until 3:00pm and by then all the hotels in the area we were in were already full.

 

We saw one family who had driven from Ohio and had two small children plus their elderly parents with them. They had sat around all day on Tuesday hoping to board. When that didn't happen we saw them getting into their van (Grandma was in a wheelchair) to begin the drive back to Ohio. I really felt bad for them.

 

It is very easy to be "armchair quarterbacks" and say what people should have done or could have done. Over the course of those two days we met many who had saved all year for that one cruise and had driven from very far away. They got their hotel room (as Royal told us to do) with the hope they would be able to board and be reimbursed......only to wait again, in a hotel lobby ALL day on Tuesday.

 

Royal should honor what their employees said! If they were not going to do that then it should NEVER had been stated.

[Cruzaholic41]

Obviously, you have no way of knowing, but you absolutely have to put the C&A numbers on the reservation to get credit. My understanding is that all of that can be managed through My Cruises on the RCI website since you get a standard RCI booking number even when booking through a charter.

 

The last full charter I did on a RCI ship, I did not get C&A credits. Partial charter, yes. Full charter, no. I did not have a RCI reservation number. My reservation number was through the charter company, which was a different format.

[nolesrule]

The last full charter I did on a RCI ship, I did not get C&A credits. Partial charter, yes. Full charter, no. I did not have a RCI reservation number. My reservation number was through the charter company, which was a different format.

 

So are you saying there were no Cruise Docs with an RCI reservation number, no RCI registration and Set Sail that had to be filled out? No way to book specialty restaurants, excursions, etc. on the RCI website?

 

You still have to get into RCI's ship reservation system to be able to board their ship. Sounds to me like the charter company was obfuscating the process.

 

The exact responses I got when I looked into charter (from 2 separate TAs booking the same charter) were:

 

Yes, the chartered cruises do qualify for credit on your Crown & Anchor Society. When you complete the online check-in process you will have the opportunity to enter your membership number for credit.

 

and

Yes you get credit for cruising the same as any RCCL ship however you cannot use those credits to buy space on our charters. When you book with us, Royal Caribbean actually issues the reservation number and you log onto their site to get your “set Sail” passes and buy excursions etc.

[jamon]

BIGECK: On one of your previous posts you mentioned that you had travel insurance, but that they were wanting you to fill out a bunch of paperwork and someone asked what company you used. This would be useful information for those of us looking into travel insurance to have. Never saw an answer. So, what is name of company???

[TravelerThom]

Both RCI and sister line Celebrity have had a number of times in which they have stonewalled on paying legitimate expenses on disrupted cruises. Whether they had to offer to pay for hotels is arguable, but when they did say that they would pay (and it has been reported here by multiple people who heard it from different employees [at the pier and over the phone]) they should pay. In most of the previous cases the company endured a month of bad publicity and ended up eventually paying. Sort of the worst of all worlds for the company - bad publicity AND monetary expense. IMO if you keep the heat on, RCI will eventually pay.

[Boytjie]

Why is it expected that cruise lines pay for any costs incurred due to circumstances beyond their control while airlines are not?

Edited February 26, 2015 by Boytjie

[Boytjie]

The last full charter I did on a RCI ship, I did not get C&A credits. Partial charter, yes. Full charter, no. I did not have a RCI reservation number. My reservation number was through the charter company, which was a different format.

 

That's interesting. We have been on charters on four cruise lines (RCI not being one of them) and in each case we had a booking number with the charter company and we also got a reservation number from the cruise line close to sailing. That enabled us to check in online, print luggage tags, book excursions etc. How did you check in and get luggage tags?

[LMaxwell]

Why is it expected that cruise lines pay for any costs incurred due to circumstances beyond their control while airlines are not?

 

The cruise line created the expectation by communicating that exact thing to people.

[CruisinCrow]

Why is it expected that cruise lines pay for any costs incurred due to circumstances beyond their control while airlines are not?

 

Royal Caribbean told people they would reimburse for hotels. If they weren't going to do it, they shouldn't have said they were going to. I hope enough people will speak up that they will honor their word.

 

If the airlines told people they would pay for hotels, then they should do it too.

[mark290]

Why is it expected that cruise lines pay for any costs incurred due to circumstances beyond their control while airlines are not?

 

Cruise ships don't fly and airplanes don't float (for very long).

 

Why do hotels let you cancel the day of and not charge you ?

Why do car rental companies let you reserve a car without any money

paid and if you don't show up you don't pay ? Why can you make

a reservation at a restaurant and not have to pay if you cancel or don't show up ?

[Boytjie]

Cruise ships don't fly and airplanes don't float (for very long).

 

Why do hotels let you cancel the day of and not charge you ?

Why do car rental companies let you reserve a car without any money

paid and if you don't show up you don't pay ? Why can you make

a reservation at a restaurant and not have to pay if you cancel or don't show up ?

 

Not sure what any of those have to do with cruise lines having to pay for something beyond their control.

 

BTW, if RCI said they'd pay for Monday's hotels then they should. Should they have to pay for any costs incurred beyond that for something they had no control over? No. That is what travel insurance is for, or if you so chose, gamble and not buy insurance.

 

From what I remember reading, RCI apparently said it would pay for Monday and people were given vouchers. Has that been reneged? (I apologize if I missed some of that info posted)

Edited February 26, 2015 by Boytjie

[CruisinCrow]

BTW, if RCI said they'd pay for Monday's hotels then they should. Should they have to pay for any costs incurred beyond that for something they had no control over? No. That is what travel insurance is for, or if you so chose, gamble and not buy insurance.

 

From what I remember reading, RCI apparently said it would pay for Monday and people were given vouchers. Has that been reneged? (I apologize if I missed some of that info posted)

 

Yes, according to GTO-Girl they reneged on paying for the hotel. She also had travel insurance, which doesn't want to pay either. See GTO-Girl's comments below. I think she's been remarkably positive throughout the whole situation and I really hope RC honors their word. People made decisions based on what they were told by RC.

 

On Monday when they told us we would not be sailing that day they gave out lists of hotels and told us to "get a room and Royal would pay for it". This was stated more than once by the people at the terminal. We were even given slips of paper with the RCCI number to call for reimbursement.

 

Now Royal is saying that is not the case and only those who booked their air through them would have their room comped!!! I try to be positive in all situations but we feel like we were mislead at the port just to get rid of us.

 

To add insult to injury my Trip Insurance doesn't want to pay for the extra expensives we incurred by having to stay in Tampa for the extra time. They "may" pay for a very small portion but only if I provide them with a ridiculous amount of paperwork. I may not even bother because what she said they would pay os not really worth my time!!

Edited February 26, 2015 by CruisinCrow

[Cindy]

I think RCI made the hotel offer on Monday fully believing they would sail Tuesday. If indeed the statement was made that the cruise line would pick up the tab for lodging on Monday night, then they need to stand behind what their representatives told people. Yes, I know the port employees don't technically work for RCI, but they are representing them, are wearing a nametag that looks just like the ones on the ship, and they are only passing on the information they have been given.

 

Once the cruise was cancelled, I disagree with those who are saying Royal Caribbean should have continued to pick up the cost of hotels. This was a weather event, not a mechanical problem that is within the circle of things RCI can control. At the point the cruise was cancelled, passengers need to either rely on their insurance for reimbursement or if they chose not to insure, chalk it up to "ship happens."

 

Could Royal Caribbean have communicated better? Absolutely! Beyond the communication problems, I think over all the incident was handled correctly -- a 25% FCC was generous for an act of God. I've read about many cases where the compensation for a mechanical problem was no more than that. There's no amount of money that can make up for the disappointment of a lost vacation.

[bigeck]

BIGECK: On one of your previous posts you mentioned that you had travel insurance, but that they were wanting you to fill out a bunch of paperwork and someone asked what company you used. This would be useful information for those of us looking into travel insurance to have. Never saw an answer. So, what is name of company???

 

It wasn't me. I think when Gto Girl quoted me, my name come up instaed.

It happened a couple of times

[relic937]

Not sure what any of those have to do with cruise lines having to pay for something beyond their control.

 

BTW, if RCI said they'd pay for Monday's hotels then they should. Should they have to pay for any costs incurred beyond that for something they had no control over? No. That is what travel insurance is for, or if you so chose, gamble and not buy insurance.

 

From what I remember reading, RCI apparently said it would pay for Monday and people were given vouchers. Has that been reneged? (I apologize if I missed some of that info posted)

 

We have sailed with trip insurance from insure my trip on every cruise except the first two ,then we didn't know any better . Never filed a claim ,but with this fiasco on the foggy banks of Tampa we decided to file with the company (soon to be named ) that we had our insurance with . WOW we got about as much help from them as people are getting from Obama Care . It's the old tap dance pay our rates but don't use our insurance !

[caladezi]

The people who work inside the cruise ship terminals are NOT employees of the cruise lines. They work for a private company who contracts their service. If the information that you received was from them I wouldn't necessarily consider it to be fact but rather what THEY THINK will be done. If someone has the reimbursement printed information that they say was handed out and it is on RCCI letterhead,will you please copy and post it.

[GTO-Girl]

Sorry guys I completely overlooked that someone had asked the name of the insurance company.

 

I booked through Insure My Trip dot com as always but the insurance company is Insure Assist - TravCan Premier.

 

They stated I "may" can get my room reimbursed for Monday night but that is all they want to pay, no food, no parking....nothing else.

 

This has been a learning experience for sure!!l

[CruisinCrow]

Sorry guys I completely overlooked that someone had asked the name of the insurance company.

 

I booked through Insure My Trip dot com as always but the insurance company is Insure Assist - TravCan Premier.

 

They stated I "may" can get my room reimbursed for Monday night but that is all they want to pay, no food, no parking....nothing else.

 

This has been a learning experience for sure!!l

 

Thanks for posting the insurance company's name. I'll be sure not to use them!

 

Weird that they might pay for the hotel but not other expenses. I thought those policies usually cover any expenses up to a certain dollar amount for trip interruption or cancellation.

[Boytjie]

We have sailed with trip insurance from insure my trip on every cruise except the first two ,then we didn't know any better . Never filed a claim ,but with this fiasco on the foggy banks of Tampa we decided to file with the company (soon to be named ) that we had our insurance with . WOW we got about as much help from them as people are getting from Obama Care . It's the old tap dance pay our rates but don't use our insurance !

 

We once had a break in at our apartment and I called our insurance company just to find out what the procedure would be if we had a claim (which we did not do since the deductible was almost as much as what was lost) but they upped our premiums anyway - just because of an inquiry. And that was during the Bush years! (Not that he had anything to do with it... much like Obama has anything to do with travel insurance. :D )

[GTO-Girl]

Thanks for posting the insurance company's name. I'll be sure not to use them!

 

Weird that they might pay for the hotel but not other expenses. I thought those policies usually cover any expenses up to a certain dollar amount for trip interruption or cancellation.

 

LOL....I thought so too! She acted as if she didn't know whether this was considered Trip Interruption, Trip Delay or Trip Cancellation.

 

I know insurance policies are tricky things, but I told her I would NEVER incurred these extra expenses if we had not been stuck waiting on a cruisr that was cancelled. So do you have a category for that???

 

I will probably call them again and try to get some kind of explanation. Right now I am not getting the "insurance song and dance" excuses they are doling out.

Edited February 26, 2015 by GTO-Girl

[jp30338]

LOL....I thought so too! She acted as if she didn't know whether this was considered Trip Interruption, Trip Delay or Trip Cancellation.

 

I know insurance policies are tricky things, but I told her I would NEVER incurred these extra expenses if we had not been stuck waiting on a cruisr that was cancelled. So do you have a category for that???

 

I will probably call them again and try to get some kind of explanation. Right now I am not getting the "insurance song and dance" excuses they are doling out.

 

 

boohoo! Its life, deal with it.

 

Unless your a VIP, rich and powerful, or an Ohio state football player dont expect anything above and beyond. :rolleyes:

[cruzin lady]

We use Travel Guard, and have been very pleased with their paying and the time frame in which they pay. Yes, we have had several claims, as have friends in our

group.

 

Each of us has had to cancel a cruise due to hospitalization, and one was

a claim for trip delay (They paid hotel, food, etc.)

 

Be sure you read the company's policy on pre-existing conditions. Most will

cover them if you purchase the policy within a set # of days, usually about

14 days after booking, but all have different "fine print."

Hope this helps.

[TravelerThom]

The people who work inside the cruise ship terminals are NOT employees of the cruise lines. They work for a private company who contracts their service. If the information that you received was from them I wouldn't necessarily consider it to be fact but rather what THEY THINK will be done. If someone has the reimbursement printed information that they say was handed out and it is on RCCI letterhead,will you please copy and post it.

How about the person that was told on the phone by a RCI EMPLOYEE (or are the people on the RCI 800 # not employees either) that they were covered for a hotel. Were they supposed to get that info on letterhead? I agree that the people at the pier are probably under contract, but they wear official RCI name badges and represent RCI. When you issue someone a company uniform, it is more than a little disingenuous to claim you have no responsibility for their actions. Yep - I predict that RCI will stonewall claims, get tons of bad publicity and eventually pay anyway - the worst of all worlds for the company.

 

Thom