On the Rhapsody now: Customer Service done RIGHT!!!

[pcur]

We are on the last of our b2b2b cruises on NCL, HAL, and now the Rhapsody. We will be in MI for several months after this. So, it was necessary to bring a supply of my husband's insulin with us, as Kaiser won't mail meds outside of a Kaiser area, and we didn't want to take any chances of haviing family pick it up and mail it, since the insulin needs to be refrigerated.

 

Much planning about flying with this large supply, keeping it cool, advance emails to all three cruise lines about refrigerators in the cabin. NCL-yes; HAL-no, stored it at the medical centr; RCCL-yes, BUT the fridge didn't work. We still had the insulin safely nested in an insulated lunch box with ice. But, the ice would melt, and we needed to get the meds in a fridge pronto. No storage in the Rhapsody's medical center, Housekeeping will store it. So, they came and picked it up and took it to their fridge.

 

Our amazing cabin steward got the fridge in our cabin replaced the next day, and I called to have the insulin brought back. It arrived.....FROZEN! SEVENTEEN vials of it!!

 

Freezing makes insulin unusable. We are in Key West, and it's 3pm in the afternoon, and we leave at 5:30pm.

 

Guest Services immediately contacted the ship's doctor, who said to meet him in the medical centr at 4pm. Guest Services was pretty freaked out about Housekeeping freezing the insulin, too. We were actually pretty calm (and worried) about it all.

 

That left us with no time to go by cab to the CVS to buy their 10 vials and get back to the ship in time by 5:30pm. But, we opted to talk to the doctor, anyway. Hubby had enough in his current open vial to get us to Michigan. But, then how to get the rest when Kaiser had already filled an advanced supply for the whole trip, and there are no coop pharmacies in MI dealing with Kaiser. Worst case is buy it and sort it out when we are back in CA.

 

So, to the medical center at 4pm. REALLY upset doctor, I mean REALLY. He was already planning Housekeeping's "training". He had 2 vials to give us. We said that was great, it would get us through 3 weeks after we got to MI. He was still worried about it all, because once we were off the ship, it was beyond his control.

 

Guest Services credited our account with a refundable obc for the entire cost of replacing all 17 vials at over the counter prices. Plus, they didn't charge us for the 2 bottles from the medical center, or the doctor visit.

 

The next morning we dock in Cozumel at 7am. By 7:20 Housekeeping is at our cabin door with a pharmacy bag and 4 more vials of insulin with a cold pak. I went to see my guy at Guest Services, Nesar, and he said no one (I'm assuming Doctor, Guest Services, Hotel Manager) was happy with just giving us 2 vials, so they called in advance and ordered 4 more to be delivered to the ship as soon as it docked. The pharmacy delivery person must have been waiting at the dock!

 

So, when it comes to taking care of business for their passengers, the Rhapsody crew are awesome! Our cabin steward was upset, too, because he said Housekeeping is a team, and when one of them messes up, they all feel bad about it. We never said a word about the the person that actually did this, but agreed that some extra training was called for.

 

Quick comparison of the 3 cruise lines:

 

NCL Dawn- medium. Ship design was poor, with no upper level views or places to sit anywhere on the ship to look out. They turned the beautiful equivalent of the Viking Crown into suites. Buffet was unispired, dining room was good, both service and food. Pool deck was a zoo.

 

HAL Rotterdam- good. Much more elegant and passenger-friendly design. I love their buffet. Cruising from Tampa, the ship was FULL of VERY old people. Lots and lots of walkers and scooters.

 

RCCL Rhapsody - excellent. Like coming home. Love our D+ perks. Very good food in the buffet, and I always liked the "buffet in the round" concept; much better traffic flow. Crew is amazing. Ship shows some aging, especially the surface of everything. I mean, when your sanitizing constantly, it wears on the finish of just about everything. Dining room is wonderful, both food and crew. Chops was an amazing dinner, and the key lime meringue pie is literally the BEST dessert I hav ever had in my LIFE!!

[gatour]

Nice to see a positive report on customer service from RCCL. People usually post when things go wrong. I guess in this they did but RCCL made it right.

[Snit13]

Thanks for posting your positive experience following a near disaster. So glad you received the life saving medicine your DH needed and that you were treated in such a professional manner by the staff of Rhapsody. I am looking at Rhapsody for January 2019 thus your review is a great help.

Enjoy your stay in Michigan.

[JaniceB]

Thank you for sharing.

[A&L_Ont]

Pcur, thank-you for sharing you experience with us. It was unfortunate that you had to go through it, but it did have a positive ending.

 

Safe travels.

[cruzeluver]

Great post.

 

Its not about if problems arise, its how they are handled when they do and it sounds like the crew on Rhapsody really took your situation seriously and worked together for a happy conclusion. Great job!!

[ricka47]

That's good to hear - we'll be getting on the Rhapsody as you get off this Sunday!

[Twin Dad]

As I pack my supplies for our Allure cruise this Sunday, I am thankful you were in a situation where you knew it was frozen. They could have dropped it off in your room and it may have thawed without you even knowing it. High BG's would be the only indicator and by then not much could be done to replace the insulin. I am always worried about fridge temps freezing mine so I tend to just keep it room temp or in cooling packs for my travel period. But I am only traveling with my current vial and two backups, not nearly as much as you.

 

Hard enough to remember all my pods/back-up pumps, syringes, etc. and not be able to trust the integrity of your insulin! Glad it worked out for you

[cruisequeen4ever]

Wow, what a story! So glad they remedied the situation in such a good way!

 

 

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