RCCL Cancelled Brilliance 10-14 May 2016

[lucymorgan]

The no-name airline phrase I mention is not equivalent to the major players I use, say Delta, American, et al where it could be used to other places I frequently go to and gain benefits. The only reason I even looked at LOT and AirEuropa is they were the only ones with pricing available out of Barcelona. An example of a no-name airline would be what happened with Germanwings when lack of supervision by the airline allowed a pilot to crash the plane into a rock-filled cloud. I'd rather have a U.S. carrier. My $.02 and personal opinion.

 

Interesting opinion on airlines! And yes everyone is entitled to their opinion. For me, the only time I fly U.S carriers is within the U.S - when there isn't a choice. :)

[Paulette3028]

That is disappointing. But I'm confused. You say you were about to book airline reservations on the return when you got the call. But then you talk about airline changes. Most airlines don't allow reservations more than 8 months in advance. I'm just a little confused about all the airline talk when it is really early to book the airline 10+ months in advance. While disappointing I don't understand if you have airline reservations or not and why and how you could book them so far in advance. Even if you did, it's always smart to get insurance. One reason I use choice air and get travel insurance especially on big trips. Sorry you had one leg cancelled.

 

Interesting pick up by you.....thanks for the sharp eye.

[north29]

What a horrible mess to deal with. However, I would love to be in your shoes, flying in business or first class WOW with that kinda of money or FFM perks, I could find many happy travel adventures/expensive hotels/private tours to make my day/days enjoyable.

 

While travel is not rocket science, scheduling a ship to be some where, with 3000+- passengers booked a year or two is close to rocket science baring any unforeseen mechanical problem or political unrest. I guess the PR from a name band is more important than cruisers feelings.

[knittinggirl]

We had a cruise canceled on us too. We were taking the Rhapsody from Honolulu to Vancouver, and also had planned to book an Alaska cruise once it became available.

 

But they decided to send the ship to Asia instead. Many people that had booked that had also booked the Transpacific from Sydney to Honolulu, and an Australia cruise too. So, I think Royal must have lost a lot of bookings with their decision.

 

As it turned out, we did visit Hawaii about the same time. But we booked on Princess, not Royal Caribbean! Not only did they lose our booking income, but all the shore excursions that come with that booking!

 

Real smart Royal Caribbean!

[Cruzin-K]

That is disappointing. But I'm confused. You say you were about to book airline reservations on the return when you got the call. But then you talk about airline changes. Most airlines don't allow reservations more than 8 months in advance. I'm just a little confused about all the airline talk when it is really early to book the airline 10+ months in advance. While disappointing I don't understand if you have airline reservations or not and why and how you could book them so far in advance. Even if you did, it's always smart to get insurance. One reason I use choice air and get travel insurance especially on big trips. Sorry you had one leg cancelled.

 

Actually, I believe most airlines open bookings 330 days out. I know when I was booking flights to/from Australia I had it marked on the calendar when the 330 day mark was for my return flight so I could get the flights I wanted using my frequent flyer miles.

[knittinggirl]

Actually, I believe most airlines open bookings 330 days out. I know when I was booking flights to/from Australia I had it marked on the calendar when the 330 day mark was for my return flight so I could get the flights I wanted using my frequent flyer miles.

On our cancellation, we didn't get any airline compensation because it was still too far out.

[knittinggirl]

What really PO'd us was that they obviously knew about the cancellation at least a month before we got the letter. Because the cruise disappeared from the website.

 

But they waited until the week before Thanksgiving to tell us. And they told us we had two weeks to make the change and for the price protection or the OBC they offered in exchange for the hassle.

[MaiseyM]

This happens quite frequently. Happened to us for Oasis March 2016.

 

 

 

Why not make the best of it and spend the 4 days in Barcelona touring the city and surrounding area.

 

 

 

What week in March? We are taking oasis in March 2016 too

[MaiseyM]

Sorry about the cancellation. While this is somewhat off topic, I'm shocked that backstreet boys can fill a whole ship. I had no idea they still had that following. Good for them, but I agree that it's a bummer of a deal for you.

[Ourusualbeach]

What week in March? We are taking oasis in March 2016 too

 

It was March 12'th 2016 that was chartered. It was only chartered for 5 days so the next cruise is a 9 day cruise.

[roquejo]

I also experienced 4 cancelled cruises as well, 3 with RCCL, 1 with NCL.

 

RCCL has more compensation as they usually give $100 OBC plus up to $200 for airline reservation change fee.

 

For NCL, my 14 day cruise was cancelled, and they just offered a $50 OBC.

 

I think the passenger bill of rights should be amended to protect us passengers from charters made after the bookings has been offered to public. Either fine the cruise line heavily to discourage this practice, or increase the compensation significantly given to booked passengers affected by these. Or even heavily penalize the travel agent who initiated the charter knowing many will be affected with their practice.

 

This should force them to initiate charters before the sailing has gone on sale that way no one is affected.

 

I hope any of the maritime authorities read this and take this suggestion seriously.

[Ourusualbeach]

I also experienced 4 cancelled cruises as well, 3 with RCCL, 1 with NCL.

 

RCCL has more compensation as they usually give $100 OBC plus up to $200 for airline reservation change fee.

 

For NCL, my 14 day cruise was cancelled, and they just offered a $50 OBC.

 

I think the passenger bill of rights should be amended to protect us passengers from charters made after the bookings has been offered to public. Either fine the cruise line heavily to discourage this practice, or increase the compensation significantly given to booked passengers affected by these. Or even heavily penalize the travel agent who initiated the charter knowing many will be affected with their practice.

 

This should force them to initiate charters before the sailing has gone on sale that way no one is affected.

 

I hope any of the maritime authorities read this and take this suggestion seriously.

 

It's not even the cruise lines that are paying this compensation to displaced passengers. According to the charter contracts the group that charters a vessel is liable for the displacement costs for guests previously booked aboard that cruise.

[MADflyer]

While this cancellation did not affect me in a great way, I really feel the compensation should have been greater for those booked on the B2B or B2B2B and that these guests should have been offered land options covering at least 2 or the 4 nights they are now having to fill. I choose 2 nights as they night pre/post cruise at a minimum.

 

So, someone booked on the B2B should be given one night and transfer and those on the B2B2B should have been given one night after disembarkation and one night prior to their embarkation 4 nights later.

 

It is obvious that the Harmony offer a month later would not be of interest to just that subgroup.

 

RCI should have especially have arranged this if they are not even the ones paying for the compensation.

[AC Stew]

Check out the Celebrity threads. It would appear that with greater and greater frequency, Celebrity is doing the same. Particularly, with the 5 night Caribbean sailings on the Constellation. Several March 2016 (5 night) sailings are chartered. There is much discussion about appropriate compensation for those that have been displaced.

[MADflyer]

It turns out this is not just a full ship charter by NKOTB.

 

It is actually also a TV reality series that is filmed onboard the ship over 4 days. Last year's cruise resulted in 9 episodes that will air this fall on POP.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4307856/episodes?season=1&ref_=tt_eps_sn_1

 

I guess that it might in that case have even more value to RCI.

[critterchick]

[quote name='transam84']That is disappointing. But I'm confused. You say you were about to book airline reservations on the return when you got the call. But then you talk about airline changes. Most airlines don't allow reservations more than 8 months in advance. I'm just a little confused about all the airline talk when it is really early to book the airline 10+ months in advance. While disappointing I don't understand if you have airline reservations or not and why and how you could book them so far in advance. Even if you did, it's always smart to get insurance. One reason I use choice air and get travel insurance especially on big trips. Sorry you had one leg cancelled.[/QUOTE]

Many international carriers open bookings 355 days in advance; the U.S. airlines only open up 330 days in advance. When looking for FF seats, it's always best to start early, especially in BC or FC. When paying cash, it never hurts to start looking right away and pouncing on a price that one deems good, since one never knows whether they'll go up or down.

[quote name='knittinggirl']What really PO'd us was that they obviously knew about the cancellation at least a month before we got the letter. Because the cruise disappeared from the website.

But they waited until the week before Thanksgiving to tell us. And they told us we had two weeks to make the change and for the price protection or the OBC they offered in exchange for the hassle.[/QUOTE]

We were booked on the Rhapsody cruise as well. Although it was disappointing not to go, RCI did give $200 OBC for up to balcony cabins and $400 for JS and higher. That was for a cancellation 18 months out, when perhaps hotel bookings could have been nonrefundable, but nothing else would have been. I thought it was a more than generous bit of compensation, and it's more than Princess would have given under the same circumstances (pretty much anything beats nothing).

As for "real smart, RCI," believe me, they are more likely laughing all the way to the bank. The repo cruises sold well, and I'm sure that a lot more passengers booked ship excursions than would have in Hawaii.

We've had a few cruises cancelled by RCI, Celebrity and Princess. RCI treated us the best with OBC (both cruises were cancelled well over a year in advance). Princess offered us nothing. Celebrity didn't even notify us. One picks oneself up and moves on. Edited June 28, 2015 by critterchick