UNFAIR Lift and Shift Practice

[Ocean Boy]

6 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

No, not stupid, RCCL will sell that cabin at a higher price next year. 

That was the typical attitude around here before the image of the cruise industry hit the fan. Maybe the cabin will sell for a higher price and maybe it won't sell at all. It will be awhile before the cruise lines can have the smug attitude that there will aways be someone to take the place of anyone who leaves.

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Most people pay zero attention to the plane when they are booking a flight.

Not because I am worried about getting on a Max but I always look at what type of plane I am booking. I am just somewhat of an aviation enthusiast. I even have a computer flight simulator. The only plane I never really wanted to get on was the DC-10. I would take a Max over that thing.

[atanac]

7 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

 The only plane I never really wanted to get on was the DC-10. 

That is the point I was trying to make. Still to this date the DC-10 is remembered as a plane

with a terrible reputation. I can't help but believe the 737-Max might suffer the same stigma.

 

Princess took a huge hit with the fiasco in Japan with the Diamond Princess and things

escalated from there. The image of the cruise industry has "hit the fan" and the residue

in the minds of the non or occasional cruiser will be revealed after all these FCC's have been

used and companies access the reality of how new bookings compare with pre pandemic

levels. 

[cured]

11 hours ago, Dave & Mel said:

I found that RCI has a Lift and Shift policy for cruises canceled by COVID. But I was surprised that the earliest cruises eligible were ones cancelled on 20 May 2020 or after. I was a little surprised to see this cutoff date because my cruise was cancelled by RCI on 13 March 2020 for the same reason. I requested that RCI grandfather my cruise into this program because like I said, RCI cancelled my cruise for the same reason, COVID-19. 

They refused to allow me to use the Lift and Shift! I am not trying to get something that no one else has, I just want the same as others received! I believe this is UNFAIR! 

Lift and Shift was announced the first week of May.  Just curious. Prices were at an incredibly low price at that time. Why didn't you book a cruise in May and then lift and shift it right away. If you would have booked for the beginning of May 2021, with the 4 week before and after, you could have gotten within 2 weeks of your canceled cruise. And then applied your FCC to the lifted cruise.

 

It is not like it was it was a secret. I learned about it here and immediately booked a ridiculously priced 2020 cruise and then lifted it to 2021 the same day.  I now have 7 people in 2 CL suites for under the usual price of 1 CL suite.

 

I can understand Royal not honoring a request almost 4 months after the L&S program started and almost 6 months after a canceled cruise. It sucks so I also understand your frustration.   But it makes sense.  Sales and promotions in any business are never retroactive.  In fact most businesses go out of their way to make sure their policy of previous purchased items are excluded from any new promotions is well published.  

 

Just keep watching the prices. I don't think they can sustain these high prices next year. I am watching the CL suites on my lifted cruise and they haven't sold a single one since May when I L&S.  Supply and demand will win out.

[John&LaLa]

17 minutes ago, cured said:

Lift and Shift was announced the first week of May.  Just curious. Prices were at an incredibly low price at that time. Why didn't you book a cruise in May and then lift and shift it right away. If you would have booked for the beginning of May 2021, with the 4 week before and after, you could have gotten within 2 weeks of your canceled cruise. And then applied your FCC to the lifted cruise.

 

It is not like it was it was a secret. I learned about it here and immediately booked a ridiculously priced 2020 cruise and then lifted it to 2021 the same day.  I now have 7 people in 2 CL suites for under the usual price of 1 CL suite.

 

I can understand Royal not honoring a request almost 4 months after the L&S program started and almost 6 months after a canceled cruise. It sucks so I also understand your frustration.   But it makes sense.  Sales and promotions in any business are never retroactive.  In fact most businesses go out of their way to make sure their policy of previous purchased items are excluded from any new promotions is well published.  

 

Just keep watching the prices. I don't think they can sustain these high prices next year. I am watching the CL suites on my lifted cruise and they haven't sold a single one since May when I L&S.  Supply and demand will win out.

 

Royal Up will thrive

[Sunshine3601]

12 hours ago, Dave & Mel said:

I found that RCI has a Lift and Shift policy for cruises canceled by COVID. But I was surprised that the earliest cruises eligible were ones cancelled on 20 May 2020 or after. I was a little surprised to see this cutoff date because my cruise was cancelled by RCI on 13 March 2020 for the same reason. I requested that RCI grandfather my cruise into this program because like I said, RCI cancelled my cruise for the same reason, COVID-19. 

They refused to allow me to use the Lift and Shift! I am not trying to get something that no one else has, I just want the same as others received! I believe this is UNFAIR! 

Policies change on a regular basis for many businesses.  To ask for them to revise the policy they had in place in march to current policy is unrealistic.

Not unfair of them.

You had choice of refund or fcc and you elected the fcc.   There have been some great sales on future cruises this summer.  I booked 4 for 2021 with great cabins and great prices.  

Were you watching any of the sales in the last couple months or just now looking when prices are going up?

Maybe refund is what you should get now.

[xpcdoojk]

3 hours ago, Ashland said:

Ummm...I actually do because of seating and configuration.

Of course you do.  Said with complete understanding.

 

jc

[The_Big_M]

12 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

NOT unfair. Their company, their rules. 

 

The fact a company can make their own rules doesn't automatically make them fair.

[Iamcruzin]

8 hours ago, dodgestang said:

Discussion doesn't make sense to me.

 

The FCC was for 125% so you took that and could easily book another cruise with it.

Now you are asking for full refund of your 100% paid cruise

And complaining you can use lift and shift.

 

I can only assume the following happened....you took your 125%, looked at cruises, found out that demand pushed prices up a bit and you may have to out of pocket a little more, so you decided to just cancel it all, take the refund and worry about it later.  Then they started lift and shift.

 

I can tell you since I have lift/shifted 2 cruises....there are still price changes in play.  I lucked out...and my lift and shifts into the same room on different sailings netted small decreases....but in both cases the customer service operator was attempting to set my expectation while doing the lift and shifts that port fees might change so it might not all work out exactly......

 

That's just me making assumptions...not an assault.

Lift and Shift wasn't available at the time of the OP's cancelation which was early on during the start of the Pandemic in March. At that time people were thinking that cruising would be resuming  again by June so the  125% FCC offer seemed attractive. As time went on and cruising failed to resume the romance with the 125% FCC offer was wearing off so Royal had to come up with lift and shift in order to stop the bleeding of cash refunds.  OP just requested to be able to use lift and shift and was denied.  Now he/she is taking the money and moving on. Lift and Shift seems to be a good option for those who are eligible anyone else should just take the money and lift and shift to another vacation choice.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Iamcruzin

[yogimax]

Sorry for asking this as I'm certain there is an easy answer...

 

Can I now book a cruise for January 2021 and then immediately LIft & Shift to January 2022?

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Sorry for asking this as I'm certain there is an easy answer...

 

Can I now book a cruise for January 2021 and then immediately LIft & Shift to January 2022?

Absolutely. 

[yogimax]

18 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Absolutely. 

Thanks for a concise answer!

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Thanks for a concise answer!

Lots of great deals out there.

[firefly333]

3 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Royal Up will thrive

I'm hoping so and that they give some good royal up rates

 

Actually I've been curious if anyone has been getting any royal up offers lately. 

[PhillyFan33579]

14 hours ago, atanac said:

If you're a civilian who has never taken a cruise or perhaps has done it once the fear generated

by passengers quarantined will certainly put the brakes on choosing this type of vacation for

sometime.

I have heard from numerous friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. that they will never go on a cruise because of what is currently going on. Unfortunately the media has been very successful conveying the “dangers” associated with cruise ships. The fact that cruise ships are currently not sailing from US ports helps reinforce that mentality. 

[bigrednole]

Unfortunately, the same goes for the $18 drink package. We should all be entitled to it because it was offered to some. All drink packages should be $18 from now on.

[Iamcruzin]

14 hours ago, atanac said:

That is the point I was trying to make. Still to this date the DC-10 is remembered as a plane

with a terrible reputation. I can't help but believe the 737-Max might suffer the same stigma.

 

Princess took a huge hit with the fiasco in Japan with the Diamond Princess and things

escalated from there. The image of the cruise industry has "hit the fan" and the residue

in the minds of the non or occasional cruiser will be revealed after all these FCC's have been

used and companies access the reality of how new bookings compare with pre pandemic

levels. 

Even before this pandemic began co-workers, friends and family would question why we would go on a cruise where everyone was always getting sick. This was based on a news report of a Celebrity ship in the 90's that had norovirus. I'm still hearing about that. Forget about what happened on Princess this year. I'll be hearing about that until I die.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Iamcruzin

[Iamcruzin]

10 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I'm hoping so and that they give some good royal up rates

 

Actually I've been curious if anyone has been getting any royal up offers lately. 

I'm curious how the 1/2 capacity and other modifications will affect the algorithm of the royal up offer

[John&LaLa]

58 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

I'm curious how the 1/2 capacity and other modifications will affect the algorithm of the royal up offer

 

First they'll have to figure out what cabins folks will be in. 

 

 

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

I'm curious how the 1/2 capacity and other modifications will affect the algorithm of the royal up offer

I'd think it might be getting people off lower decks to make a area in case anyone has to be quarantined. If that's the case I'm probably not going to get offers. My lowest deck is a pr on deck 6. I think I'm on high decks for the others.

 

But if anyone on a closer in cruise gets a royal up, I hope they post. I am not booked now until end of February so it will be a while before I get one ... assuming it goes.

Edited August 27, 2020 by firefly333

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

I'd think it might be getting people off lower decks to make a area in case anyone has to be quarantined. If that's the case I'm probably not going to get offers. My lowest deck is a pr on deck 6. I think I'm on high decks for the others.

 

But if anyone on a closer in cruise gets a royal up, I hope they post. I am not booked now until end of February so it will be a while before I get one ... assuming it goes.

In the past you didn't have to wait until they sent one ... you could go on the website yourself and input your info a certain  number of days out...and the days out has varied for me it seems a couple of times.

[firefly333]

11 minutes ago, Ashland said:

In the past you didn't have to wait until they sent one ... you could go on the website yourself and input your info a certain  number of days out...and the days out has varied for me it seems a couple of times.

I missed it. Been a couple of years since I cruised. Took a break. Sure picked wrong time to want to cruise again. 

 

If someone hears of a cheap way to upgrade please post it.

[Ashland]

6 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I missed it. Been a couple of years since I cruised. Took a break. Sure picked wrong time to want to cruise again. 

 

If someone hears of a cheap way to upgrade please post it.

I've aggressively UpBid a couple of times and never got it..Oh well I always choose the cabin/category/location I'll be happy with regardless...but it was fun trying !!

[firefly333]

7 minutes ago, Ashland said:

I've aggressively UpBid a couple of times and never got it..Oh well I always choose the cabin/category/location I'll be happy with regardless...but it was fun trying !!

I'm happy with what I booked but was hoping for cheap upgrades of course. Royal up is new since my last rcl cruise.

[fundirector]

I can’t get my refund at all. I did what they told me to do. They played games and now I’m out my deposits. I get no help from customer service. I told them from the start I didn’t want FCC they said to follow their instructions and if my cruise got cancelled I’d get my cash back 

now they say no