I now have a beef with RCL

[buckeyefrank]

I have not cruised on RCL before but we do have 2 cruises booked at the moment... one in September this year and the Icon next September.  The standard customer service and special needs departments have been great, but the casino group, not so much.  It's not a huge issue and obviously won't stop us from cruising with them, but it does leave a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I booked this cruise at the beginning of August, after final payment was due and it's paid in full.  When I booked it, I knew that I had MyRewards points and was able to get $100 obc from the casino department.  After I booked the cruise, I went ahead and redeemed the MyRewards, got my voucher and sent it in.  I heard nothing for over a week, so I resubmitted it and haven't heard in about another week.  So I decide to call them.  Crown and Anchor actually kind of gave us an upgrade on our service without us even asking.  She was great, but then she transferred me to the casino dept.  Casino dept says we can't use the MyRewards because it is after final payment...  There is no mention of this in their t&c.  The main restrictions are only 1 per sailing, must be redeemed within 30 days and within 30 days of booking, and finally sailing must be within a year.

 

Is this true?  Is there anything I can do to get this OBC?  Are they like Carnival in that the answer depends on the rep that answers the phone?  Or am I just left with a little bad taste in my mouth?

 

TIA

[mets123]

Just call again and ask the same question. Call center reps don't have all the answers. And if you still need help, ask for a supervisor.

[boscobeans]

Who gave you casino OBC? Casino Royale (Club Royal) ? We have never had a problem with them?

Are also a member of Crown and Anchor? An upgrade? Is it a reciprocal membership through Celebrity?

Edited August 21, 2023 by boscobeans

[ticketsunlimited]

42 minutes ago, buckeyefrank said:

I have not cruised on RCL before but we do have 2 cruises booked at the moment... one in September this year and the Icon next September.  The standard customer service and special needs departments have been great, but the casino group, not so much.  It's not a huge issue and obviously won't stop us from cruising with them, but it does leave a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I booked this cruise at the beginning of August, after final payment was due and it's paid in full.  When I booked it, I knew that I had MyRewards points and was able to get $100 obc from the casino department.  After I booked the cruise, I went ahead and redeemed the MyRewards, got my voucher and sent it in.  I heard nothing for over a week, so I resubmitted it and haven't heard in about another week.  So I decide to call them.  Crown and Anchor actually kind of gave us an upgrade on our service without us even asking.  She was great, but then she transferred me to the casino dept.  Casino dept says we can't use the MyRewards because it is after final payment...  There is no mention of this in their t&c.  The main restrictions are only 1 per sailing, must be redeemed within 30 days and within 30 days of booking, and finally sailing must be within a year.

 

Is this true?  Is there anything I can do to get this OBC?  Are they like Carnival in that the answer depends on the rep that answers the phone?  Or am I just left with a little bad taste in my mouth?

 

TIA

You cant combine casino offers if you booked the cruise through Casino royal.  If you got the casino rate and tried to use a My rewards certificate they will not allow it.  that has been my experience in the past.

[buckeyefrank]

16 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

Who gave you casino OBC? Casino Royale (Club Royal) ? We have never had a problem with them?

Are also a member of Crown and Anchor? An upgrade? Is it a reciprocal membership through Celebrity?

The cruise was booked directly through the RCL website and the credit was offered by Casino Royale through MyVegas rewards.  The rep in casino denied the obc because we booked after final payment.  That is not stated as a requirement anywhere.

[buckeyefrank]

4 minutes ago, ticketsunlimited said:

You cant combine casino offers if you booked the cruise through Casino royal.  If you got the casino rate and tried to use a My rewards certificate they will not allow it.  that has been my experience in the past.

We are booked directly through the website.  Denied because we booked the cruise after final payment was due

[ticketsunlimited]

Just now, buckeyefrank said:

We are booked directly through the website.  Denied because we booked the cruise after final payment was due

Ya, it should be honored I would think.  It meets the definition of a new booking.

[JessyCruises]

Do you mean MyVegas rewards? 

[buckeyefrank]

9 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

Do you mean MyVegas rewards? 

Yes.

[silentbob007]

Those rewards have been finicky with me.  They should be able to determine it is a "new booking" without relying on if it is past final payment.  I've had a couple randomly refused though one was because my TA booked me into a group rate and I didn't realize it.

[nimbex1970]

It seems you are correct, it's a new booking done through RCCL, not the casino. Because it is a casino reward, I would go back through them and head to a supervisor.  The hold times can be long.  It seems they are going to make you fight for this reward, so that's why a supervisor is your best bet.  Let us know how it plays out!

 

[buckeyefrank]

5 hours ago, nimbex1970 said:

It seems you are correct, it's a new booking done through RCCL, not the casino. Because it is a casino reward, I would go back through them and head to a supervisor.  The hold times can be long.  It seems they are going to make you fight for this reward, so that's why a supervisor is your best bet.  Let us know how it plays out!

 

I was able to call back this morning and talked to a gentleman who was actually able to assist me.  I explained the situation and told him I didn't think it was fair to not honor the OBC because of their arbitrary policies that contradict the terms and conditions.  He put me on hold for about 10 minutes and came back and said it was applied.  Persistence won out today I guess.  I don't see it online yet, but I do have an updated invoice from RCL

[tustin3]

I thought this was going to be about food lol

[Reina del Mar]

Interesting !

 

I was under the impression you couldn’t be a Crown and Anchor Member until after your first RC cruise.

[RedIguana]

1 hour ago, Reina del Mar said:

Interesting !

 

I was under the impression you couldn’t be a Crown and Anchor Member until after your first RC cruise.

I believe you can sign up before your first cruise, just won't actually be a "gold" member. Of course, if linking to a member or have reciprocal from Celebrity you will be a member.

Edited August 24, 2023 by RedIguana

[shellunderwater]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:14 PM, silentbob007 said:

Those rewards have been finicky with me.  They should be able to determine it is a "new booking" without relying on if it is past final payment.  I've had a couple randomly refused though one was because my TA booked me into a group rate and I didn't realize it.

Yes, they can be finicky.  I can say we've redeemed over $1k of OBC with them, never spent $1 on the game.

Knowing the T&Cs are important.  My biggest issues have been booking more that 1 year and booking more than 2 in one year.  But those are in the T&Cs usually.

FYI, I have found that some rewards have/had different T&Cs than other rewards offered at the same time.  Didn't make sense, but help my TA get OBC applied for me once.

[buckeyefrank]

42 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

I believe you can sign up before your first cruise, just won't actually be a "gold" member. Of course, if linking to a member or have reciprocal from Celebrity you will be a member.

Yeah we're actually showing as pre-gold right now.

 

 

[buckeyefrank]

3 hours ago, tustin3 said:

I thought this was going to be about food lol

LOL.  I don't think I'll be complaining about the food after we sailed MSC... ugh.

[kitkat343]

On 8/23/2023 at 10:50 AM, buckeyefrank said:

I was able to call back this morning and talked to a gentleman who was actually able to assist me.  I explained the situation and told him I didn't think it was fair to not honor the OBC because of their arbitrary policies that contradict the terms and conditions.  He put me on hold for about 10 minutes and came back and said it was applied.  Persistence won out today I guess.  I don't see it online yet, but I do have an updated invoice from RCL

Glad it all worked out - I've found the phone reps on all the cruise lines to generally be less impressive than I've hoped for.  Hopefully, you will have a lovely cruise.

[buckeyefrank]

20 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Glad it all worked out - I've found the phone reps on all the cruise lines to generally be less impressive than I've hoped for.  Hopefully, you will have a lovely cruise.

Assuming we get to go, we will have a great time.  With the exception of the one casino rep, I have actually been impressed with the CS thus far.

[buckeyefrank]

3 hours ago, shellunderwater said:

Yes, they can be finicky.  I can say we've redeemed over $1k of OBC with them, never spent $1 on the game.

Knowing the T&Cs are important.  My biggest issues have been booking more that 1 year and booking more than 2 in one year.  But those are in the T&Cs usually.

FYI, I have found that some rewards have/had different T&Cs than other rewards offered at the same time.  Didn't make sense, but help my TA get OBC applied for me once.

I've redeemed for rewards in Vegas before but never for a cruise until now.  I'm really close to having enough points right now for a free cruise that are offered occassionally.  Def looking forward to that.