Worst canelation policy in the cruise industry

[HBE4]

5 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Because then you could have a resale market for cabins - RCI has enough competition from other cruise lines - they don't want their cabins resold.

 

Oh Well, there goes my money making scheme of developing a website similar to Stub Hub, except instead of tickets for concerts and sporting events, it was going to be for cruise ship cabins, hotel rooms and airline seats.

[ryano]

41 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

The OP didn't leave any info that might have clarified time frames etc, not that it matters.  

 

That is the problem with these "never again" threads.  The OP generally never returns to them with any details whatsoever nor to read everyone's suggestions.  Its as if this is just a place to come vent their anger and frustration out to strangers.

[A&L_Ont]

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Which brings us back to the original point of the OP.  In his experience, Carnival was more flexible with their cancellation policy than Royal is. End of story. 

 

Correct.

 

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Interestingly  enough,   Royal was willing to allow one name change so someone else could sail in his place. But his wife would still have to go on the cruise with that person.

 

Just out of curiosity, why not allow both name changes so the OP could allow someone else - a neighbor, coworker distant cousin, whomever - to go on the cruise? Seems like it would be a win-win for both the cruise line and the OP.

 

@Ourusualbeach any speculation on why this is?  Prevent cabin selling by individuals as the prices escalate?🤷‍♂️ 

 

It isn't something they seem to need to do, with people having the ability to buy insurance.  Not to mention the reduced refund amounts as the time gets closer to the sail date.  To me it seems pretty straight forward to get your money back, if one does what they should do to guarantte their investment.  

 

The name change seems to be one extra step of goodwill by the cruise line.  If you can't get someone you know to go with you, then too bad is their philosophy . 

 

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

Hmmm, interesting thought. Maybe if Royal can resell the cabin, then - and only then - do they refund the cruise or issue the FCC.  And if the cabin sells for less than what the OP purchased, then he only gets a partial FCC.

 

Again, a win-win for all those involved.

 

And what if they sell it much lower and the original cabin holder gets a minamal FCC.  I don't see that working well, and nor does RC have to prove any validity to their pricing.  This could bring about bigger debates between guests and the cruise line.  

 

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

I'm pretty sure that was his entire point of this  thread and he made it clear where his loyalty lies.

 

Yes indeed, it lies with his dollar and not choosing to protect it accordingly.

[cruising sister]

To the op, I am very sorry for your loss and all you have to deal with at this time.  Everyone wants to shame you for feeling abandoned by RC with their should haves/could haves. We all make decisions and hope for the best every day . Unfortunately this was not the best day for you. Hopefully with time you hurt feelings will heal and feel like traveling again. Take care of yourself at this sad time in your life.

[A&L_Ont]

11 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Oh Well, there goes my money making scheme of developing a website similar to Stub Hub, except instead of tickets for concerts and sporting events, it was going to be for cruise ship cabins, hotel rooms and airline seats.

 

LOL, not a bad idea just not feasible. Didn't some baseball teams get in trouble for selling their own tickets on Stub Hub?  Blue Jays come to mind.  Don't give RC any ideas.😀

 

2 minutes ago, ryano said:

That is the problem with these "never again" threads.  The OP generally never returns to them with any details whatsoever nor to read everyone's suggestions.  Its as if this is just a place to come vent their anger and frustration out to strangers.

 

Perhaps Cruise Critic wasn't the best name when this group was created.  

 

Maybe there should be a web page called Cruise Blast, where lines just get taken down/out on a daily basis.😂

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

@Ourusualbeach any speculation on why this is?  Prevent cabin selling by individuals as the prices escalate?🤷‍♂️ 

Exactly this.  Without that feature there would be a secondary market. All cruise lines are the same.

[rusty nut]

1 hour ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Really? You can’t think of any reason? If their ship sails full, and someone cancels at the last minute, they now have a room that they basically “refunded” and can’t resell (because they’re transferring money from the cancelled room to a new room on a different ship at a later time). Assuming they always sail full (as you said), then they are now sailing less-than-full, and losing money on that room for that sailing.

 

Now- they’ve also lost the opportunity to sell the room on the new sailing to someone different because this customer has transferred their payment to the new ship, taking up a room someone else could have paid money for. This one person’s payment for 1 room has now taken up 2 rooms, when RC could have sold 2 rooms and made twice the money if they had not allowed the transfer. 

 

This is basic accounting 101. If you can’t see any reason for them to deny 1 customer the ability to take up 2 rooms for 1 payment, you need to re-visit basic math. 

I guess you haven't seen my most recent post. See #80

[S.A.M.J.R.]

1 hour ago, blackshirt said:

just pointing out that Royal gets paid twice if they are able to resell.

That's a big IF.  Depends on when the cancellation happens and where the cruise is leaving from.  Three months out?  Sure, no problem.  The week of?  While yes, they'll probably try to sell the cabin, there's no guarantee. 

[dodgestang]

2 minutes ago, rusty nut said:

I guess you haven't seen my most recent post. See #80

 

We all saw it ;).

 

Business don't stay in business long by playing the "maybe we can fill it" game.  The room was reserved, payment received and then cancelled outside of agree to policy.

 

Make any hotel reservation at any hotel on the planet.  When you make the reservation they tell you the cancellation policy.  If you cancel the room at a point past the cancel period....you are still charged....regardless of if they find someone to fill the space or not.  Everyone of us when we make the reservation for a cruise are told the basic summary level info of the policies and also have more detailed version supplied in writing. 

 

Some of us chose to pay extra for insurance some of us don't.  If you opt NOT to pay for the insurance in the event something happens then you are stuck with no recourse other than to rely on the discretion of the company.  Sometimes the company will bend/break policy for you, other times they don't.  But in all cases they don't have to.  It doesn't help/hurt that RCCL just agreed to front full refunds for anyone who didn't show up to board the Anthem based on a Corona Virus scare, it doesn't help that RCCL just comped EVERYONE on a cruise last year because of a noro virus outbreak on board, it doesn't help that RCCL sold the drink package for $18 last year, it went viral, and they sold a crap ton of them and opted to honor their pricing mistake....they've shown time and again they are willing to bend the rules and negatively impact their bottom line in doing so. 

[DesireeC03]

So sorry about your Mom!

[Tapi]

15 hours ago, BigHouseFootball said:

Most of the responses on here make me sick. Yet soooo predictable. Yes, let’s defend the billion dollar company. God forbid they show any sort of compassion.
 

What does RC lose if they issue a future cruise credit? That’d be absolutely nothing. They lose nothing. They still keep their precious money, and could probably sell that cabin again and thus they make more money. 
 

But no, let’s defend the company and scold people for not buying insurance. We shouldnt have to buy insurance. 

We can all agree that the OP’s predicament is awful. But here’s the thing. Royal could “show some compassion“ to the OP. Absolutely true. But should Royal also show some compassion for every single cruiser who travels without insurance and who has a situation that prevents them from cruising? Where should the cruise line draw the line? What makes the OP more deserving of an exception than other cruisers with equally (or more) terrible situations, and who need to cancel their cruise at the last minute? 
 

The sad truth is that, odds are that on every single cruise there will be a number of people who will not be able to make their cruise because of a last minute emergency. If the cruise line opens that door where they allow one person to reschedule, then the “fair” thing would be to allow every single person to reschedule. That’s one heck of a slippery slope for all businesses involved.

Part of the reason why we don’t pay more for a cruise vacation is because of cancellation policies and because the added cost of insurance is optional. If the cruise lines make it a practice to loosen these policies rendering purchasing insurance unnecessary, ultimately that extra cost will be passed on to ALL customers in the form of higher cruise fares, regardless of whether they normally buy insurance or not. 
 

If you consider higher prices fair, then let’s get this controversy over with and just roll the cost of insurance into the cruise fare for everybody and loosen up cancellation policies.  

Edited February 12, 2020 by Tapi

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, dodgestang said:

Some of us chose to pay extra for insurance some of us don't.  If you opt NOT to pay for the insurance in the event something happens then you are stuck with no recourse other than to rely on the discretion of the company.  Sometimes the company will bend/break policy for you, other times they don't.  But in all cases they don't have to.  It doesn't help/hurt that RCCL just agreed to front full refunds for anyone who didn't show up to board the Anthem based on a Corona Virus scare, it doesn't help that RCCL just comped EVERYONE on a cruise last year because of a noro virus outbreak on board, it doesn't help that RCCL sold the drink package for $18 last year, it went viral, and they sold a crap ton of them and opted to honor their pricing mistake....they've shown time and again they are willing to bend the rules and negatively impact their bottom line in doing so. 

 

I do agree with you that it's up to Royal to bend their rules when they see fit.  In the cases you listed, they are going to lose millions - not out of the goodness of their heart - but to avoid bad PR. 

 

Perhaps it's the selectively enforcement (or bending) of the rules that created an expectation - perhaps unrealistic - that the OP thought the company  would work with him.  If they are going to give 6,000 people a refund - many who did not have travel insurance - and lose millions, perhaps they would work with him and his measly $5,000 (or whatever) in FCC. After all, his mother is about to pass away. It's not like he missing the cruise because he broke his foot, caught a pneumonia   or had a weather related flight delay.

 

In my opinion, which seems to be in the minority.

[dodgestang]

1 minute ago, HBE4 said:

 

I do agree with you that it's up to Royal to bend their rules when they see fit.  In the cases you listed, they are going to lose millions - not out of the goodness of their heart - but to avoid bad PR. 

 

Perhaps it's the selectively enforcement (or bending) of the rules that created an expectation - perhaps unrealistic - that the OP thought the company  would work with him.  If they are going to give 6,000 people a refund - many who did not have travel insurance - and lose millions, perhaps they would work with him and his measly $5,000 (or whatever) in FCC. After all, his mother is about to pass away. It's not like he missing the cruise because he broke his foot, caught a pneumonia   or had a weather related flight delay.

 

In my opinion, which seems to be in the minority.

 

Hence why "It doesn't help/hurt"  😉

 

Yes it sets expectations that sometimes the company with bend/break rules. 

 

Creates good will for the people who directly benefited (as well as others) because of being swept in a large impact event that was evaluated at the highest levels of the company and a decision made to bend/break rules. 

 

Creates butt hurt for individual one off cases when they won't bend/break the rules specifically for your personal reason(s).

[shofer]

Hubby & I were scheduled to board Symphony last Saturday.  We planned to fly to Miami on Friday for one day pre-cruise.  On Thursday, he started becoming ill w/fever, chills, diarrhea.  By Friday, he was so ill we went to the ER and any chance of making the cruise evaporated.  Elevated cardiac enzymes confirmed his admission and we were done.   

Yes, we had purchased the insurance through RCI and cancellation d/t illness is a covered benefit, as is death/illness of a close family member.  The rep I spoke with as I tried to cancel while in the ER  was very supportive and reassured me that we would receive a complete refund.  The only problem was that our TA had made the reservation so she had to be the one to cancel it.  This would not impact our insurance coverage.   We would be marked "no-show".  

Although the intended cruise is still at sea, I am compiling the necessary documentation to file our claim as soon as DH sees the doctor next Monday.  

Right now, our only loss is the hotel room as we did not cancel before midnight.  Flights through Southwest are good until the day purchased, so hopefully we can use the credit.  Everything else was cancellable w/o penalty.

We have been purchasing the insurance always with the idea of (originally) our parents becoming ill.  Now we are the old ones and have always been in good health.  

Luckily Hubby did not have a heart attack and had a nasty intestinal bug.  Even though, he was so ill, I'm sure he wouldn't have even been allowed on the plane had we tried to fake it.   We are sorry for the loss of our trip but the cost of the insurance is <10% of the cost of the cruise and was well worth it.

Edited February 12, 2020 by shofer

[pink845]

The same people I have found that do not buy life insurance do not buy travel insurance and then they triumphantly tell me (look at all the life insurance premiums you have wasted and you are still alive).   They get back from a trip and say, look you wasted your money on travel insurance.  You never used it.  These people will never learn and they will be the first ones to say the cruise lines are not compassionate when something goes wrong in their lives prior to a cruise and scream bloody murder at cruise line when cruise line say no = no money back.  

[BND]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

I do agree with you that it's up to Royal to bend their rules when they see fit.  In the cases you listed, they are going to lose millions - not out of the goodness of their heart - but to avoid bad PR. 

 

Perhaps it's the selectively enforcement (or bending) of the rules that created an expectation - perhaps unrealistic - that the OP thought the company  would work with him.  If they are going to give 6,000 people a refund - many who did not have travel insurance - and lose millions, perhaps they would work with him and his measly $5,000 (or whatever) in FCC. After all, his mother is about to pass away. It's not like he missing the cruise because he broke his foot, caught a pneumonia   or had a weather related flight delay.

 

In my opinion, which seems to be in the minority.

Maybe because everyone who does something like this, doesn't buy insurance and has an issue thinks their case is special or should be an exception.  I just don't get how some people think when it comes to insurance. 

Edited February 12, 2020 by BND

[BND]

3 minutes ago, pink845 said:

The same people I have found that do not buy life insurance do not buy travel insurance and then they triumphantly tell me (look at all the life insurance premiums you have wasted and you are still alive).   They get back from a trip and say, look you wasted your money on travel insurance.  You never used it.  These people will never learn and they will be the first ones to say the cruise lines are not compassionate when something goes wrong in their lives prior to a cruise and scream bloody murder at cruise line when cruise line say no = no money back.  

Yep, and after 28 cruises, we did use it and it paid for itself.  No one owes anyone anything if they choose to take the risk and not get insurance.

[twins_to_alaska]

4 hours ago, cruising sister said:

To the op, I am very sorry for your loss and all you have to deal with at this time. 

No loss yet, his mom was still alive when he posted...

 

I learned about travel insurance in my early 20s when a bunch of coworkers were flying to Bolivia for the total solar eclipse. One of my coworkers was coming down his stairs with luggage and his cat was on the stairs so he tried to 'step over' it and ended up falling down the stairs and breaking his ankle - the cat was fine. Luckily, he was slightly older and much wiser than me and had bought travel insurance.

 

It was a good learning lesson for me.

[ARandomTraveler]

4 hours ago, rusty nut said:

I guess you haven't seen my most recent post. See #80

I saw it (and just re-read it), and don’t agree with it. There’s no guarantee they’ll resell that cabin, and since they can’t guarantee it, we can’t expect them to take a loss on letting someone cancel in hopes they’ll get their money back. I see what you’re saying in theory- that they have the opportunity to resell it and make themselves whole, but you’re assuming that they absolutely will resell it and you just can’t make that assumption. 

Edited February 12, 2020 by ARandomTraveler

[mr walker]

8 hours ago, JennyB1977 said:

Hope OP will come back and answer my questions...

1) did you have insurance?

2) when is your sail date?

3) how long was the cruise?

 

 

I don't think they're coming back, as they didn't get the 'support' they sought on here.

[cruising sister]

1 hour ago, twins_to_alaska said:

No loss yet, his mom was still alive when he posted...

 

I learned about travel insurance in my early 20s when a bunch of coworkers were flying to Bolivia for the total solar eclipse. One of my coworkers was coming down his stairs with luggage and his cat was on the stairs so he tried to 'step over' it and ended up falling down the stairs and breaking his ankle - the cat was fine. Luckily, he was slightly older and much wiser than me and had bought travel insurance.

 

It was a good learning lesson for me.

I am appalled that you feel he has no loss when he stated she has only days to live. Give him a break. He is grieving even if she hasn’t left this earth quite yet.   I cried for days watching  parents die. Lecture’s are not appropriate at this time. We often react and say things we may not mean when confronted with stressful situations. The loss of money will pale after he gets through this painful time. 

[twins_to_alaska]

No reason to be appalled. I've actually been told I'm very empathetic. I was just pointing out that his mom was gravely ill but not dead at this point which is when "I'm sorry for your loss" is usually said... not when the person is still living. I think you and many others got confused and thought the mom had died.

[ldubs]

12 hours ago, ryano said:

 

That is the problem with these "never again" threads.  The OP generally never returns to them with any details whatsoever nor to read everyone's suggestions.  Its as if this is just a place to come vent their anger and frustration out to strangers.

 

And, unfortunately, while hopefully not intended a lot of the responses will come across as kicking someone when they are down.  It really is a tough thing to respond with a difference of opinion when you want to really empathize with the situation.  IDK, while I don't agree fully with the OP,  maybe venting is OK in sad situations like this.  

 

 

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

7 hours ago, mr walker said:

I don't think they're coming back, as they didn't get the 'support' they sought on here.

Agree. Though over last 23yrs on CC seen many one and done's...

[Maverick61]

14 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

As was discussed earlier it is a different situation.

 

On the Carnival cruise it was someone who was travelling who was ill.  On the Royal cruise the ill person was not travelling.

 

I have read of and personally been involved with situations where Royal did exactly as Carnival in the same situation.

 

This, this, this !!!!!

 

Royal is far from a heartless corporation

 

Speaking from personal experience, we have gone on a large number of cruises with various lines and never bought insurance.  This fall we were scheduled to go on a Royal cruise and a  few weeks before the cruise, I had an unexpected medical issue arise and was scheduled for two surgeries that could not be delayed until after the cruise and which would require a lengthy hospital stay.  Knowing Royal's policy and the fact we did not purchase insurance, I was likely out the full fare.  I did reach out to Royal nicely explaining my situation and asking if there was anything they could do.  They talked about me not taking the travel insurance which I understood.  But in the end, Royal gave me a partial FCC.  I was very grateful as they did not have to do so.  Sure, I still lost money but not as much as I could have.  And given it was two weeks out, Royal probably was able to resell my cabin and make out on the deal - but if so good for them.  They went above and beyond their policy because of my (the passengers) medical condition just like the OP quoted Carnival doing for them and I will always appreciate it and remember it when I book future cruises and choose which line to sail with.  But that was a medical situation directly impacting me as a passenger - not a family member not booked on the cruise.

 

Bottom line is perhaps I got lucky.  Royal certainly did not have to do what they did nor was I going to be upset if they didn't do anything.  I knew the risk of not taking insurance.  But they helped some.  And now that I have recovered, I have booked a new cruise on Royal (I was able to apply the partial FCC I had and pay the difference) - and this time, having learned my lesson, I purchased the travel insurance.

 

So again, to those people complaining - Royal is far from heartless.  

 

Now as to the OP - the question I have for him is why did he not learn his lesson from his incident with Carnival?  After experiencing an issue once and getting lucky, why did he not learn from it and buy insurance this time?  Was he really expecting that everyone will take care of him and all those people buying insurance are suckers?  I know myself, after my experience, I won't cruise again without travel insurance - or if by some chance I decide to - say for a very last minute cruise - I will do so knowing the risk.  And I would never think of asking Royal or some other cruise line for another exception to the rule.  Once is more than fair.  If you can't learn your lesson after the first incident, don't come looking for accommodation on future incidents.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Maverick61