Cruise only- When things go wrong

[ChoosinCruisin]

We'll be on the Brilliance in Dec. for Panama. How was the cruise staff and which was the favorite bar?

[bob278]

It amazes me that a company can have such good intentions and then blow it with terrible execution.

 

The OP gives RCCL credit for having a plan to help cruise only passengers but then gets totally hosed by poor execution. The net result is that the plan gets lost and everyone focuses on the execution because, after all, that's what they got.

 

Actually, this is not all that unusual. RCCL has great onboard customer service (well there were some communications issues at the end, probably caused by home office), but their shore-based people drop the ball regularly.

 

This is a great example of the value of Cruise Critic. I have been lucky and on all of our European cruises had at least one pre- and post-cruise day planned. But I'll admit it was for convenience rather than safety. It will now be a permanent part of our arrangements. And I will also look into how I can make my cell phone work internationally when I am out of the country.

 

Thanks, Doug for great information. Hope you get all your reimbursements and that RCCL does something for you.

[Pat848]

Thanks Doug for sharing your experience. We are going on the Brilliance in May 2006 as "cruise only" passengers - guess that means we are on our own. It was not what we wanted to hear but does make us more informed and we will be better prepared ie phone #'s, international cell etc.

It is the same about Air France (which we are on). I have been reading all the negative things but it also makes me more informed and better prepared.

Do keep us informed about how your insurance and RCI respond.

[CABCruiser]

If you purchase insurance offered by the cruise line at the time of booking, is this the same coverage you'd get if you buy it from an independent company? For my upcoming 8 day cruise only, I purchased RCI "Protection Plan" for $158 for DH and myself. Am I covered for any airline problems I might incur??????????

[PTarbay]

It amazes me that a company can have such good intentions and then blow it with terrible execution.

 

Actually, this is not all that unusual. RCCL has great onboard customer service (well there were some communications issues at the end, probably caused by home office), but their shore-based people drop the ball regularly.

 

QUOTE]

I have found this true of most of the cruise lines I have sailed

[TrinaLC]

Wow, Doug, I really admire your attitude - you were put through the wringer but you have great perspective.

 

Bottom line is the customer service on all lines seems to have performance issues. This was probably exacerbated by the hurricane - I know from experience that many employees had probably vacated with their families long before she hit.

 

Hope your future cruises are hassle free !

[dougp26364]

However, the New York based RCI staff were very impressive, very visible and very organized and very accomodating to us. Once we walked out of customs, we were met with the kind of treatment and communications we had expected in Barcelona but didn't receive. We wondered if they had gotten the word that this was a very tired and frustrated group of passengers.

 

This really just depends on who you were as to the presecption of the NY based staff.

 

For instance, we were sent to the wrong hotel where much of the luggage was unloaded, and then had to be reloaded before we could be driven to the correct hotel.

 

We were not given our connecting flight information by the NY based staff. Instead, we were given a phone # and told to call it at 06:00 AM with the 06:00 AM underlined. It was the WRONG phone # as no one answered that number until 09:05 AM. When we did get through, we were told it was the wrong number at that there had been people there at 07:00, not 06:00. So, the NY based staff not only gave us the wrong information but also gave us the wrong time to begin calling.

 

Other missteps in NY included a husband who was booked to St. Louis (as it should have been) but his wife was booked on a flight to Syracuse.

 

There was another group of elderly ladies who rode the shuttle with us to get on an American Airlines flight, only to learn once they got to the airport that the NY based reps had written down the wrong airline. AA had no record of them. I recognized the flight time and the flight (non-stop to KC, MO) as a Continental flight, NOT an AA flight. One of these ladies was handicapped and had troube getting around. They were now going to have to go to another terminal at the far end of the airport on short notice. I have no idea how they were going to make what was going to be a long trip for them with a ton of luggage.

 

There was also a large family traveling together on an air/sea package deal. RCI had dropped the name of one of their daughters off of every list for flights home, including at NY.

 

I'm sorry, but while the NY based staff was a little better than the rest, they still did not have it together for a number of us.

 

I have finished my compliant letter and it will go out in todays mail. By the time I was finished, it reached SEVEN pages long. Unfortunately, based on things I've read on these forums, I do not expect much of a responce if we get one at all.

 

As for our CC being billed, as of Saturday no charges had shown up. I am confident that they will at least bill us once for the tickets and I suspect, with the powers of organization RCI has shown me so far, it will end up being billed three times.

[Ali-in-Texas]

When will RCI learn that you cannot lie to customers and hope for the best. It would be much better telling us the truth even if that means saying that we have no idea what is going on but will let you know when we know.

 

I will take anything they say with a grain of salt.

[jbond]

The cruise itself was fantastic........don't let this turn you off from doing a Med cruise! The trip is port intensive but you get so much in twelve days and Barcelona is a great place if you do a pre or post cruise.

This strike was just something that the cruise line had no way of anticipating, just like weather delays due to hurricanes etc.

I agree with you, the cruise itself was fantastic. The weather could have co-operated a little more, but we had a great time and did some really neat excursions. The ship was as beautiful as ever, our third Med cruise on Brilliance and I thought that the food in the main dining room was better than any we have had on the past several cruises. Service was up to it's usual impeccable standard.

I think the biggest problem we all had was a communication breakdown.

This is where I disagree with you. There was no communication breakdown. They just flat out LIED. They did nothing but arrange for hotels, and they didn't do that too well.

Cruise Critic is a great way to learn about all of the things that can go wrong as well as all the things that go right!

We won't give up cruising because of this incident, but we will make sure we know what is going on.

One think that helped us considerably was having an international cell phone, something I learned from these boards. We won't give up cruising either, because of this incident, but we may change our allegiance.

I have e-mailed Richard Fain and Adam Goldstein at RCI with my account of our woes. I will be interested to see if they respond. By the Doug, my e-mail was only three pages long. :) Unlike you, once we finally arrived in New York the transition was very smooth, lots of RCI operatives, very friendly and quite efficient. Transferring from the International terminal to the Domestic was almost painless.

sandy19644, as I said earlier the cruise was great. I prefer the Brilliance to Coral and I thought that the food was much better than Coral, especially in the dining room.

CABCruiser, if you purchased your air with RCI, you will be covered. If you are purchasing your own air, you will NOT be covered.

[dougp26364]

By the Doug, my e-mail was only three pages long. :) Unlike you, once we finally arrived in New York the transition was very smooth, lots of RCI operatives, very friendly and quite efficient. Transferring from the International terminal to the Domestic was almost painless.

 

Jbond, I think I saw that you arrived home on Sunday. By then they may have had the kinks worked out a little bit. We were on that first charter out of BCN on Friday. Since it left after 3 PM rather than at the original departure time of 10:45, they had to cancel all connections, put us up in a hotel and rebook everything. The problems mostly centered around dropping guests names off the list so no connections were booked. I am aware of a few people who still got bad information but, on the whole, most seemed to be given correct information and made the transition from the NJ hotel to their flights home without incident.

[sailor moon]

All I can say is "wow". We are air/cruise for our Greek Isle cruise next June. I will be buying insurance at final payment. I will fly in a day ahead and leave a day later. My BIL said to buy prepaid AT&T international phone cards.

[dougp26364]

jbond,

 

Can share those E-mail adds. for Richard Fain and Adam Goldstein. I can't seem to locate them.

[tinkerme1]

Wow, what an experience for you folks . I always say, you have to take matters into your own hands or you're asking for trouble. Of course RCCL should have their "act" together to help when things go south, and obviously they "thought" they did. It boggles my mind how they don't take these incidents seriously.

 

It does point out some very BIG MUST DOs if you travel outside the 48 contiguous US:

 

1) Always have a backup plan for everything, including your airfare to and from your destination point. I actually look up all the flights that may be an option for the next three days after disembarkation in case of an emergency. An OAG is excellent traveling material!

 

2) Always travel with an international phone. Can't tell you how many times this made our life better while traveling in England, Scotland, Norway, and Ireland. Changing dinner times, calling friends, checking on transportation and private tours.

 

3) ALWAYS PURCHASE INSURANCE....and not just any insurance, but one that covers your airline and lost luggage.

 

4) The one thing you can't purchase, but really need, is patience. Companies and people are sometimes very inept and just don't feel that "your" situation is as important as something else. Be your own champion and do it while staying calm, since getting upset just makes people want to do less for you in the end. Very hard to do, but if you're stuck, you're stuck.

 

Doug: Sounds like you did everything right and RCCL, for all their "help?" didn't do very much. I've always suspected this is the way it would be with them. Writing to RCCL is a good opportunity for you. I sure hope, that you outlined what they can do to make it better as well!

 

Thanks for sharing your adventures......

 

JBond: Where are you off to now? We miss you!

[hobo1937]

We just got home to Las Vegas at 7pm Sunday night via a RCL charter flight that was scheduled to leave Sat at 9am and left at 9pm instead. . I will post more info later on our ridiculous experiences courtesy of RCL as we are so tired after being sleep deprived for 4 days along with the jet lag.. The only thing that got us through was all the other passengers helping each other because RCL was no help at all.

[jbond]

jbond,

 

Can share those E-mail adds. for Richard Fain and Adam Goldstein. I can't seem to locate them.

 

rfain@rccl.com & agoldstein@rccl.com

 

Fain is the CEO and Goldstein is a senior VP responsible for Total Customer Satisfaction.

 

1) Always have a backup plan for everything, including your airfare to and from your destination point. I actually look up all the flights that may be an option for the next three days after disembarkation in case of an emergency. An OAG is excellent traveling material!

 

Hi Celia. We're going back to Hawaii in March, but this time on Princess, round trip out of LA. Having a list of flights wouldn't have helped too much, it's a list of available seats that was needed and they were scarcer than hens teeth. The earliest available that we found was Nov 3rd. RCI, by not canceling our flights, caused us to be no shows and so the airlines would not give any recompense for the unused tickets. Most insurances, including the one I use, require you to use the least expensive flight home, in our case, the RCI charter.

[cruiseco]

Here's a tip for those who don't always purchase travel insurance:

 

CSA will enroll you in their emergency services program for FREE. This provides the kind of help that the original poster received -- assistance with travel arrangements, phone calls to suppliers, etc --- but they do not actually pick up the tab. But for those in need of help in some faraway place it's good to have a phone number to call.

 

You can call CSA at 800-348-9505 and ask for their Traveler Hotline Card. Of course they'd like to sell you a policy but there's no high pressure. You will need to know your travel arrangements(dates, destination, etc) so they can enter it into their system.

 

The whole idea is that they hope to impress you so much with their service that you'll buy a policy next time.

[dougp26364]

 

 

RCI, by not canceling our flights, caused us to be no shows and so the airlines would not give any recompense for the unused tickets.

 

I suspected as much. RCI made it very clear on the ship that they needed all our flight information so that they could notify our airlines for us. It does not surprise me that they did not follow up on their promise to do such.

 

I've called Delta, who our flights were with, a couple of times. I was finally connected with the international desk. They were trying to get through to customer service at Delta but were having a tough time getting through. When she explained that customer service was extremely busy because of all the passengers affected by hurricane Wilma, I offered to call back in a couple of days. My case is not emergant or in need of being taken care of immeadiately right now. It can wait a couple of days.

 

Since RCI did not use the flight imformation they requested all the passengers to fill out and turn in, I'm wondering just exactly what they did actually do? Why have us fill something out and tell us they would contact our airlines if they had no intention of doing this?

 

On a positive note, I have been in contact with customer service today regarding compensation for my hotel stay which was out of my pocket. It took them a little less than an hour but they called back and said they were going to refund that amount. I am very pleased that I did not have to indian leg wrestle them to get that paid.

 

Now if the insurance company will cover the cost of the flights and the taxi fare, I'll be in good shape. I really have no meal costs as we were dumped of the ship around 8 PM, I was to busy dealing with arrangements to get home and a bed to sleep in to worry about finding something to eat at the airport (all but one place was closed anyway). By the time we got to the hotel, we were both to tired to worry about eating.

 

According to our insurance documents, meals after travel becomes possible is not covered. We did not eat again until we got to the gate to check in for our flight save for a couple of snacks purchased at the airport gift shop. In fact, our first meal was two hot dogs, french fries and a coke at an airport restaurant while waiting at the gate to board the charter flight out.

 

I've sent a copy of my letter to C&A. I'll be forwarding a copy to the other two in a few minutes. Thanks Jbond for providing the E-mails.

[nfused2cruze]

glad you are home; thanks for sharing; we are all a bit wiser and your positive spirit is remarkable - may it continue.

[funforsun]

What did I learn from all of this?

 

#1. Travel insurance saved my bacon and was largely responsible for getting me home by helping me connect with RCI when the information RCI had given me was bad. I will NEVER travel without insurance again.

 

#2. Alway book a day after as well as a day before the cruise. If we had booked a nights stay in Barcelona with a flight out the next day, we wouldn't have had any problems at all. This may not be fool proof but it does give more leaway in the event of unforseen events.

 

#3. The air/see passengers generally fared better than us but not always. A few had as many problems as we did but most had less hassle than we had.

 

#4. NEVER believe someone when they say, "Don't worry, well take care of you." Take care of business yourself.

 

 

 

I am putting these recommendations on my computer desktop, give them to my travel agent, tell my DW, DS, DS, Dog and everyone else who will remind me when I book my next cruise, to Follow These Rules! Thanks for posting this.

[dougp26364]

There was on thing I forgot. My wife, fortunately, had take a day or two extra of her prescription medications. I was aware of at least one diabetic who ran out of his meds. There were a few others I talked with who were wise enough to bring a couple of extra days along but, if it had stretched out much longer, they would have run out as well.

 

Keep in mind that I was in the first group out on the first charter flight on Friday. I'm sure there were those still stuck in Barcelona that were facing a similar problem, but they weren't flying out until Sat. or Sunday. There were many rumors that those trying to make their own arrangements home weren't going to be able to get out until today.

 

If we had been stuck in Barcelona one more day, my wife would have been without her prescription meds. In her case, it wouldn't have been life threatening. I shudder to think what it may have been like for those who could have been affected more adversly. People such as diabetics, glaucoma pts, heart patients, those on anticoagulants and so on.

[Maggieandmoe]

Hello Everyone:

This is my first time posting on this site and I was one of the Barcelona Brilliance victims as I put it. I have had some time to think about what happened but I am still very angry with the whole thing and this is just my opinion on what happened. The strike started on Monday. We were in Rome on Tuesday and were not to arrive in port until Thursday morning. In my opening RCI should have Canceled the 3 day cruise when we left Rome. That would have given those people plenty of notice not to come to the peer. I believe that the only reason they didn’t do this is money. They didn’t want to give up the money the three night cruisers had paid them for their cruise and give them the $250.00 credit that they were offering those of us who took them up of their $700.00 airplane ticket. Worse case scenario for them would have been the strike was over when we got into port and they would have three nights to themselves and a little less money in their pocket or they would have become a floating hotel for us 12 nighters until we could have gotten rooms and flights rebooked for home and again a little less money in their pocket. I feel that want they did was not fair to anyone involved either on the 12 night or the 3 night cruises. (no matter what someone was going to come out on the short end of the stick.) They dropped the ball over and over again. The right hand never seemed to know what the left hand was doing. I know that it would have been hard to handle that many people being stranded but they have been doing this for years and should have had a better handle on it then what they did and they had 4 days warning to get ready for it. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, but that is not the way businesses run now a days. The customer doesn’t mean much anymore, money is more important. My son used to work for Quik Trip Corporation and I know that the last line or so in their core value statement states do what’s best for Quik Trip. I believe that since we have gone to these big corporations they don’t have to worry as much about customer satisfaction. Small companies are different because they need the return business to stay alive and to be able to compete against the big corporations. I guess that is the price we pay for progress. You see this everywhere including where I work in health care. Patients pay more for over worked, understaffed services and the man in charge is only concerned about the bottom line. We have lost the human aspect and caring that we once had. We are treated more like cattle everywhere we go. At the doctor, at the bank, at the fast food drive up window, the check out at the grocery store. I remember as a child when we went to the store the same people were there for years and they knew us by name. Not anymore. I am known at the bank by account number and the tellers change almost daily anymore. I’m not so sure I like what we have become because that is what allows us to push people off of a cruise ship in a foreign country with no place to go and numbers that don’t work and never giving it a second thought as to what might happen to them. They didn’t give us instructions as to what they were going to do with us over the intercom on the ship because they couldn’t afford a mass panic and there were two many people for them to deal with getting rooms and rebooking flights and still get on with the 3 night cruise. There were only so many computers for the passengers to use on the ship and could you imagine if everyone wanted to make ship to shore calls all at once not to mention at the cost of over $9.00 a minute. They knew what they were going to do and like a well oiled corporate machine they did it without a second thought. Get them off the ship as quickly as possible and then it is someone else’s problem. Sad thing of it is I don’t think it would have been any different on any other cruise line. I believe it would have happened just the same no matter who we would have cruised with. Cruising is very popular right now so worrying about having enough customers is not an issue for any of the cruise lines so like everything else you are at their mercy when something goes wrong. The best you can do is have trip insurance, a cell phone that will work anywhere in the world, enough money for several nights stay in a hotel and a second ticket home in an emergency, and if possible plan to spend one night in port on your return from the ship incase of a 24 hour delay. It was a rude awakening and reality check for me. It took a wonderful relaxing trip and turned it into the most stressful nightmare I have had in years. I was stressed from all the everyday life problems that we all have before I left and was really looking forward to coming back relaxed and refreshed but I am more stressed when I returned then I was when I left for the cruise. It makes it hard to remember the good part of the trip and it makes it seem like even Rome was a long time ago. Many parts of the trip began to run together while the end stays very vivid in my mind. It is sad when the over 2000 pictures I took seem to fall by the wayside because all you seem to want do is talk about how badly you were treated at the end of the trip. It will be the one anniversary I will probably never forget but sadly enough it wont be the sites that I remember as much as the trauma.

Sincerely,

Maggieandmoe

[ScrappyCruiser]

I agree - do not let these posts deter anyone from cruising the Med. We had a wonderful time with this cruise, and met some absolutely fantastic people. Staff on the ship was great and the cruise critic people were super both on the computer before we left and on the boat. What a great group - and so nice to have friends to meet when you get on the ship and for almost every shore excursion! The ports of call were great - even thru rain in some - and we got to see so much. And even in the face of all this confusion and lack of control, I felt the onboard ship staff and passengers behaved with so much patience and graciousness. Everyone was pleasant and tried to keep the anxiety levels as low as possible.

The big let-down was in the communication and follow-thru with the RCCL people when we finally learned the strike had been resolved. Three hours delay to clear customs, no give or take for those with late-that-evening plane reservations (and I hope RCCL has to pay for those who lost their late evening reservations and had to make other arrangements!) and no food for us after about 1pm. We didn't get off the boat until about 10:30 pm and had to scrounge around in the Windjammer at 9pm for stray hotdogs - one of the members of our party is diabetic and needed to eat.

I agree with Doug and JBond - the lessons learned here will be something I can take with me for my next cruise. The travel insurance and international cell phone are definites. I will never cruise again without them.

Fortunately for us, we already had arrangements to arrive the day before the cruise left and to stay two days after, with hotel and air arrangements made independently. Our story is much easier than those who have already posted their ordeals. Doug and JBond - I am so glad you all made it home safely and hope the financial end of things falls into place for you soon. We very much enjoyed your company on the ship and hope to have the chance to cruise with you again soon. Jodi

[dougp26364]

Jodi,

 

Check back on the original roll call thread and read the ordeal MrCruise had to endure. I thought I had it bad but his journey home has to take the cake.

 

I hope to cruise with you again but, I'm not so sure it will be with RCI. Reaching Diamond status just doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore.

[larkwind]

before you travel internationally (even the Caribbean). We didn't and after the Cozumel purchases, the cc company put a stop on the card...we found this out before checking into a postcruise hotel and spent an hour getting it straightened out so we could stay the night. Fortunately we were in Ft L so connections were easy.

[dougp26364]

We did manage to do that before leaving. We were only going to use two CC's abroad and had called both to let them know which countries we would be in and when. So far, we've had no surprises on either card.