Quantum of the Seas Overbooking

[Hlitner]

16 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

It is a shame it happens, but I think the letter is quite reasonable providing the various options. Of course for some people none of the options would suit.

I do wonder how much in advance the letter was sent. If it was only a few days, that may rule out some options for more people who do not live close to the ships home port.

Are you serious?  What if a couple had flown 10,000 miles, to Brisbane, for that cruise?  Perhaps they paid thousands of dollars for their air.

[MicCanberra]

Just now, Hlitner said:

Are you serious?  What if a couple had flown 10,000 miles, to Brisbane, for that cruise?  Perhaps they paid thousands of dollars for their air.

I did write that for some people none of the options would suit. Yes, if they had flown into Brisbane for the cruise, they would be more than disappointed.

[NSWP]

2 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Are you serious?  What if a couple had flown 10,000 miles, to Brisbane, for that cruise?  Perhaps they paid thousands of dollars for their air.

If the cruise line won't cover air fares etc, then travel insurance claim would apply.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

Surely the cruise lines would use some common sense in these cases. Is it last ones booked, first ones off? I can't see them putting off people who have flown thousands of miles. What absolutely bad PR and they'd never hear the end of it. They'd choose locals first surely and I for one would be quite happy to go another time if there was something decent in it for me.

[Aus Traveller]

11 hours ago, arxcards said:

I rang our T/A one day about a Pacific Sun cruise, to get a name change done because Barb wasn't well enough to travel. She said, too late, but she had a move-over letter in front of her. So, full refund and a free cruise it was, which was fantastic news at the time. This was OK because it was all done over the phone at home two days before departure.

 

Alas, our free cruise was on Pacific Jewel, and it was the worst cruise we have done. Fait to say, we got what we paid for. 😁

We never liked the Jewel. My husband called it the Pacific Zirconia. He even photo-shopped a pic of the ship with the name change. 😁

[Aus Traveller]

34 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Are you serious?  What if a couple had flown 10,000 miles, to Brisbane, for that cruise?  Perhaps they paid thousands of dollars for their air.

I see the point you are making, but it isn't likely that anyone flew 10,000 miles for a P&O cruise. They don't market their cruises outside Australia/NZ.

[boeckli]

17 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I see the point you are making, but it isn't likely that anyone flew 10,000 miles for a P&O cruise. They don't market their cruises outside Australia/NZ.

 

But this was not a P&O cruise, it was Royal's Qantum OTS

[Aus Traveller]

9 minutes ago, boeckli said:

 

But this was not a P&O cruise, it was Royal's Qantum OTS

Sorry. Sorry. I was mixing up the two events currently under discussion. No excuse. I should have put brain into gear before posting. 😁

Edited November 29, 2023 by Aus Traveller

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

If the cruise line won't cover air fares etc, then travel insurance claim would apply.

You assume that everyone has travel insurance.    Another issue is that many cruisers are still among with working and take valuable time off for their vacations.  To then have a cruise line say, oops sorry, is not a nice thing for somebody who may have used their entire vacation for that cruise.

[MicCanberra]

Out of the 12 or 13 couples selected, how many were actually  from out of town? How many took up one of the offers?

From what I have read so far, only one couple didn't take up any of the offers and complained further. They received a full refund, 100% FCC and drinks package on their next cruise, no matter the length.

[Hlitner]

11 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Out of the 12 or 13 couples selected, how many were actually  from out of town? How many took up one of the offers?

From what I have read so far, only one couple didn't take up any of the offers and complained further. They received a full refund, 100% FCC and drinks package on their next cruise, no matter the length.

Ok, so I guess you condone this kind of behavior on the part of your chosen cruise line.  So you have no problem if a line overbooks (substantially) and routinely denies boarding to anyone who happens to show up at a port.  

 

Lets put this in proper perspective  That ship has over 2000 cabins.  Folks that book those cabins are required to pay, in advance, and are not entitled to any refund if they fail to show-up for the cruise.  If the ship was entirely full, why would the cruise line need to sell more cabins than they have?  Any no shows has paid and is not entitled to a refund..  But RCI is obviously selling cabins they do not have!  That is simply greed.   There is no reason for any cruise line to oversell cruises!    The sad thing is that RCI is depending on some no shows, RCI will keep what those folks paid, and they will also sell those same berths to others.  The cruise line is simply selling the same product more than once!  Some would call that fraud.  The cruise line would say it is good business?

 

Hank

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

Ok, so I guess you condone this kind of behavior on the part of your chosen cruise line.  So you have no problem if a line overbooks (substantially) and routinely denies boarding to anyone who happens to show up at a port.  

 

Lets put this in proper perspective  That ship has over 2000 cabins.  Folks that book those cabins are required to pay, in advance, and are not entitled to any refund if they fail to show-up for the cruise.  If the ship was entirely full, why would the cruise line need to sell more cabins than they have?  Any no shows has paid and is not entitled to a refund..  But RCI is obviously selling cabins they do not have!  That is simply greed.   There is no reason for any cruise line to oversell cruises!    The sad thing is that RCI is depending on some no shows, RCI will keep what those folks paid, and they will also sell those same berths to others.  The cruise line is simply selling the same product more than once!  Some would call that fraud.  The cruise line would say it is good business?

 

Hank

Of course not, I think you are reading too much into it. From what I have read, they had not necessarily sold  more cabins than the ship has, but rather more cabins than they had for that particular cruise.  I.e something has happened which has put around 13 cabins out of service. This happens all the time with hotels and cruises ships.

[Bubbeh]

20 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The letter indicates that people were advised ahead of time, but it is still awful. Presumably no-one would have flown to the port unless they took option 1 in the letter, but that doesn't mean they could get a refund of their airfare.

Travel Insurance?  We once made a claim on our complimentary TI for something and then claimed the Excess back also via VISA as we'd booked using our CC.  I think we were out of pocket about $5 which was the fee to use our CC.  

[Bubbeh]

49 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Of course not, I think you are reading too much into it. From what I have read, they had not necessarily sold  more cabins than the ship has, but rather more cabins than they had for that particular cruise.  I.e something has happened which has put around 13 cabins out of service. This happens all the time with hotels and cruises ships.

And flights too.  Where necessary, I was pay a little extra for specific seats when flying to ensure our place on the plane, as much as to get the seats we prefer.

[Bubbeh]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

Alas, our free cruise was on Pacific Jewel, and it was the worst cruise we have done. Fait to say, we got what we paid for. 😁

Every silver lining has a dark cloud.  😉

[Ondine]

Maybe they could use the excuse Qantas made about selling seats for flights that had been cancelled.  Namely that they are selling seats to fly and not guaranteeing a particular flight or day or destination!!!

[Aus Traveller]

32 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Maybe they could use the excuse Qantas made about selling seats for flights that had been cancelled.  Namely that they are selling seats to fly and not guaranteeing a particular flight or day or destination!!!

Over-selling on flights is common practice in the airline industry. (I don't mean what Qantas did.)

[mr walker]

20 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

 I just got off Brillance and I didn’t have hot water in my cabin,which was a annoyance

not a big problem .

I just had a bit of a widge when paying my bill and Royal is giving me a full refund on the cruise. 

 

I'll give that a go tomorrow when we board BR for the Cruisin' Country charter 😉 I'm sure I can find something wrong 🙂 

 

How was Brilliance Chilli?

 

It's going to be hard having to pay for drinks on RC - advice is that D drinks etc do not apply on the charter cruise 😦 No OBC and no freebies!!!!!!

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

I'll give that a go tomorrow when we board BR for the Cruisin' Country charter 😉 I'm sure I can find something wrong 🙂 

 

How was Brilliance Chilli?

 

It's going to be hard having to pay for drinks on RC - advice is that D drinks etc do not apply on the charter cruise 😦 No OBC and no freebies!!!!!!

I heard you don’t get the diamond vouchers.

Brillance was good, old ship ,I think it’s older than some P&O ships but very clean and well presented.

Old ships like that are big maintenance and inefficient but it’s a change from Ovation.

 

Unfortunately the food was pretty hit and miss,I’m not vegetarian or anything but I found the gluten free food was good.  They did a Indian mushroom curry and man it was good.

If you see it Neil give it a go with some rice.

Also the roasts were outstanding.

[Cruisers47]

22 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I find that hard to believe,there must be another side to the story.

 

 I just got off Brillance and I didn’t have hot water in my cabin,which was a annoyance

not a big problem .

I just had a bit of a widge when paying my bill and Royal is giving me a full refund on the cruise. 

 

Wow chilli…is that because you know certain RC people.

 

Eileen

[Chiliburn]

24 minutes ago, Cruisers47 said:

Wow chilli…is that because you know certain RC people.

 

Eileen

No one special Eileen .it’s the difference between Carnival and RCG.

 

[Aus Traveller]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

You assume that everyone has travel insurance.    Another issue is that many cruisers are still among with working and take valuable time off for their vacations.  To then have a cruise line say, oops sorry, is not a nice thing for somebody who may have used their entire vacation for that cruise.

The Quantum of the Seas cruise in question is going to Noumea. Travel insurance is compulsory or passengers are not permitted to board the ship.

 

I agree with your comment about vacation time off work being an issue.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Aus Traveller

[Cruisers47]

18 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

No one special Eileen .it’s the difference between Carnival and RCG.

 

Sorry Chilli but I have to ask….did your shower..ha ha.

[Cruisers47]

Just now, Cruisers47 said:

Sorry Chilli but I have to ask….did your shower..ha ha.

Regarding travel insurance issue.    I have the Christmas celebrity cruise  to NZ booked.  My bankwest cc now does not cover cancellation. I paid it with that credit card. My husband has found he has a very serious illness and is in hospital for 6 weeks.  Had to cancelled.   Just got a note from my TA.  I am getting a 25% refund although it’s less than 30 days from the cruise.  I am actually happy with that.   On our Mediterranean cruises this year  I took out extra insurance but didn’t bother with the Celebrity.   My fault but in the situation in the world I accept it.   That’s why I have now got a ANZ credit card which does now include cancellation and he does make the Brilliance cruise around OZ in February I will be able to claim.   Just hope Husband has recovered as I so miss cruising!   Anyway you live and learn.

 

Eileen

[cheznandy]

40 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

No one special Eileen .it’s the difference between Carnival and RCG.

 

We got exactly the same worded letter except  25%.....forgot to add in post above that deck 3 aft was definately poop deck, they were always spraying it with Eucalyptus spray as it stunk of sewer.

Stewards told us that there had been many leaks, so they just keep spraying.

Edited November 30, 2023 by cheznandy