Denied Boarding at Port, with PITIFUL Compensation

[SG65CB]

Quantum of the Seas sailing out of Brisbane, Australia. A person on Reddit posted a letter he received when he arrived at the port yesterday to board the ship. He had booked a GTY cabin but was never assigned a cabin number, and at the port was told a cabin was not available. 13 couples received the letter and were put on standby for a cabin. 2 couples were eventually assigned a cabin, the other 11 were denied boarding and were left behind when the ship sailed. 

 

As you can see from the attached letter the compensation offered for being denied boarding at the port is pitiful. This was an 8 night cruise, these people took over a week of vacation from work and now have lost their vacation cruise. 

 

I guess "Guarantee" doesn't really mean a cabin is guaranteed. Maybe they need to change the name. 

 

He can choose another cruise and sail without additional charge or compensation, or receive a refund plus 25% FCC. These offers are way below what others have been offered when given advance notice of a possible overbooking. 

 

There is no mention of compensation for flights or hotel, but the OP lived locally to the port. He was probably selected to be bumped for this reason, so flights would not need to be reimbursed. 

 

I'll post the link to the original source if anyone can confirm links to Reddit are allowed here. 

 

 

[SG65CB]

Here is the original post:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/royalcaribbean/comments/185ni0s/overbooking_on_the_day/

 

[HappyTexan44]

Wow!

 

[sgmn]

Mmmm, when is a Guarentee  not a Guarentee .....

We've got a cruise ex Singapore in a few months with a guarentee. Won't be too happy if we fly half way round the world to get bumped at the port 

[Another_Critic]

In 1992, I received a call (not sure how far in advance) asking if I wanted to switch my cruise* to a different sailing.  I had an assigned interior cabin for 3.  Was offered a full refund and a cruise a month later for port/taxes (Was ~$50pp at the time).  I said sure.  🙂  

 

Obviously a different case than being denied boarding at the port.

 

* Nordic Prince 7-night NY to Bermuda

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Another_Critic

[Tree_skier]

Horrible!!

[twangster]

Note to self... avoid GTY.

 

It seems like they used to count on certain numbers cancelling or upgrading last minute but now that isn't happening.  Maybe with higher fares folks just don't cancel like they used to.  Ships are full with fewer upgrade opportunities.  Time to update the GTY algorithms to be more conservative.  

[little britain]

19 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Mmmm, when is a Guarentee  not a Guarentee .....

We've got a cruise ex Singapore in a few months with a guarentee. Won't be too happy if we fly half way round the world to get bumped at the port 

I’ve got b3b outta Sydney next month.. gty on the final leg.. check regularly to see if it’s been assigned yet 😬 but there are lots of cabins still for sale so I’m relaxed. Really I’m relaxed ( not!) 

[ZoeyVictoria]

I understand making cutbacks due to pandemic losses, but it has gone way too far when it includes Royal making a huge mistake and failing to compensate affected guests. 

[The Fun Researcher]

Pathetic!  .

 

We've never sailed with a GTY cabin and this makes it even more unlikely we'll ever do so.

[BND]

We would never book a gty.  If someone had flights and a hotel and NO insurance, then they should pursue this with Royal.  If they had insurance, they need to pursue that.    I'm betting it has to do with expected cancellations vs real ones.  The formula they use obviously didn't work this time.  I wonder what Aus law says about something like this.

Edited November 28, 2023 by BND

[bucfan2]

33 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

We've never sailed with a GTY cabin and this makes it even more unlikely we'll ever do so.

Indeed.  We've never traveled on a partially booked vacation, nor will we ever.

Edited November 28, 2023 by bucfan2

[soremekun]

19 days until Anthem.  Booked a GTY balcony.  I personally wouldn't mind being denied boarding and having the option to choose another cruise such as Icon.  It would be an inconvenience but the upgrade would be worth it.

[HappyTexan44]

I think it goes beyond expected versus real cancellations.   If it were just that, they could have been informed before they got to the port.  It sounds like they miscalculated the number of no-show cabins.  Apparently there were 2 and they were hoping for 13.  I can understand them not wanting to sail with empty rooms.  But, they could have informed the people before they left their home.  Said something like Looks like we might not have a cabin for you.   If you'd like to go to the port and maybe get a cabin based on no-shows, then you can sale for ports/taxes.etc, and we'll refund the rest.  Or you can change ...    

Some people have a flexible vacation schedule (like me) and our departure port is a reasonable drive away.  Other people would basically be out a vacation.   

I don't know how much travel insurance would help in this case.   Royal will refund the cruise.  

 

[cruisin from florida]

I've just booked 2 guarantee suites, both of which will require international flights. Like everyone else, I have assumed that guarantee means guarantee. This is very concerning.

[The Fun Researcher]

24 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I think it goes beyond expected versus real cancellations.   If it were just that, they could have been informed before they got to the port.  It sounds like they miscalculated the number of no-show cabins.  Apparently there were 2 and they were hoping for 13.  I can understand them not wanting to sail with empty rooms.  But, they could have informed the people before they left their home.  Said something like Looks like we might not have a cabin for you.   If you'd like to go to the port and maybe get a cabin based on no-shows, then you can sale for ports/taxes.etc, and we'll refund the rest.  Or you can change ...    

Some people have a flexible vacation schedule (like me) and our departure port is a reasonable drive away.  Other people would basically be out a vacation.   

I don't know how much travel insurance would help in this case.   Royal will refund the cruise.  

 

For sure.

 

Royal put those 11 cabins worth of people through a lot of undue stress, frustration, and loss of this vacation.  It far outweighs Royals revenue of filling a few rooms IMO.  Royal dropped the ball. Like you said, they could have handled this much earlier.  Unacceptable really. 

[Starry Eyes]

I don’t understand why Royal Caribbean wasn’t proactive by asking for volunteers in advance of this cruise.  Here on CC we saw copies of emails Royal sent for other overbooked cruises this year.  That price protection offer might have induced 13 or more people to volunteer to reschedule to another week while others might have volunteered for the refund plus 25% FCC if they’ve had a recent financial setback.  Those offers are only so-so for volunteers.  I think the offers are really poor for non-volunteers bounced the day of sailing without notice.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[wreckem2013]

I’ve never had an issue with guarantee bookings before. One time I was even upgraded from inside to a balcony on radiance.

 

But now y’all are making me nervous. I have a guarantee booking on the 12/31 Odyssey sailing and no assignment yet. Normally I have always been able to see the assignment by now even if it still shows gty.

 

There had been about 30 staterooms showing open for booking until yesterday. 2/3rds of them were balconies and jr suites. The remaining rooms were going from $2750 to $3750 pp.  now the sailing isn’t listed anywhere. I’m hoping they just pulled it from inventory to assign remaining guarantee rooms because I find it highly unlikely they booked all the horribly over priced rooms all the sudden. 

Edited November 28, 2023 by wreckem2013

[actuarian]

Often, when I book through a travel agent website, I see prices for a balcony guarantee room that are substantially lower than the price for an assigned balcony cabin. For example, a February 12, 2024 4-night cruise on the Freedom OTS out of Miami is available for $401 per person (double occupancy) for a balcony guarantee. The least expensive assigned balcony room for the same cruise is $557 pp or 39% more expensive. That makes the $401 seem like a tremendous savings for anyone who is not that particular about the location of his or her room. This thread shows all of us that that saving is about more than just room location; it is also about the risk that the "guarantee" will not be honored at all. 

 

My late wife and I booked an oceanview guarantee cabin around 8 years ago and, when we arrived, we found out that there were no oceanview rooms available. However, we did receive an onboard credit and at least we were able to cruise (in an inside room). We learned our lesson and I have not booked any guarantee rooms since then and I will never book one again.

Edited November 28, 2023 by actuarian

[John Reid]

The reason behind this downgrade in customer service???

 

Seems to correspond to so many current downgrades and pricing increases.

 

Liberty - and I don't mean Mutual!

 

 

[lovesthebeach2]

Wow!

[Biker19]

37 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

I don’t understand why Royal Caribbean wasn’t proactive by asking for volunteers in advance of this cruise.

We don't know the entire story of why the ship ended up with fewer cabins that needed - sometimes RCI takes entire blocks of cabin out of service at the last minute for various reasons (like maintenance, etc).

[richstowe]

Shame on RC . This is outrageous . The paltry compensation offers add insult to injury . The fact that these were GTY cabins should shift NONE of the blame onto the passengers .

 

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

For sure.

 

Royal put those 11 cabins worth of people through a lot of undue stress, frustration, and loss of this vacation.  It far outweighs Royals revenue of filling a few rooms IMO.  Royal dropped the ball. Like you said, they could have handled this much earlier.  Unacceptable really. 

This should read Royal managing to get double revenue on a few cabins . They already got paid once .

[swoopy2110]

Dreadful compensation offering. So sorry for those that have lost out on flights, time off work etc.

 

Reflects very poorly on RCI

Edited November 28, 2023 by swoopy2110

[Starry Eyes]

48 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

We don't know the entire story of why the ship ended up with fewer cabins that needed - sometimes RCI takes entire blocks of cabin out of service at the last minute for various reasons (like maintenance, etc).

Of course we do not know the whole story; one rarely does.  One does suspect that most cruisers and the general public reading about this event on social media would be more understanding if the root cause was a last minute maintenance issue (or some similar unavoidable last minute problem).  Note, however, letter posted on Reddit does not indicate such as issue.  The OP on that thread stated they had no prior notice and had they were unassigned gty’s (13 couples). You and I know gty’s are ordinarily assigned at least 2-3 days before the cruise.  Unassigned gty’s suggests Royal had at least 2-3 days notice…perhaps more.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Starry Eyes