HORRIBLE Customer service -- On the Majesty NOW!

[kc320]

Other than your horrible experience with the Purser's desk & your room key how is the Majesty?

 

I just booked my 1st Solo cruise on her for Dec. 6th, sure hope it wasn't a misteak. We had sailed the Sovereign several times & loved her but she won't be back in Service the week I wanted to go.

[DetroitMike]

Well, here goes...

 

Locked out again!!!! This time out of the other room! Got a new key immedately from the purser's desk. Asked to speak with the Hotel Manager but they tell me he is unavailable. I simply give up....

 

I'll write a full review when we get home! Thanks again!

[MRIrene]

Hey cruiseman_tx,

 

We are practically neighbors! :D We lived in Longview for quite a few years before moving to Kilgore. I am a MRI Technologist.

 

DetroitMike,

I feel so bad for you. What should have been a nice relaxing vacation has turned into a major aggravation! We were on the Majesty in May and had no problems, thank goodness. It was our first cruise and would have been our last if DH had the problems that you are having. He has very little tolerance for these things. Hope that RCI gives you something to compensate for all of the stress you are dealing with.

 

Irene

[davidaperryman]

Doesn't that seem like more than just a coincidence to you? You are obviously doing something to demagnatize the cards. It sounds like you are blaming all of your problems with the card on RCL when it is something that you are doing that causes the problem. The same problem with two different rooms is too much of a coincidence.

[Erie Dave]

Hey JC, thanks.

 

The card didn't work at the exit either....that means something is clearing the card. I am curious if the card has worked for purchases, or have the personell been entering things manually. I have had this problem, it is a magnet or something magnetic that is clearing your card.

[Nitra]

Find any staff member in the white suits.. they are engineers usually but ask them to get you the Staff Captain or Hotel Manager IMMEDIATELY.. or go to the loyalty ambassador and ask them to get someone for you. The purser knows you are going to get him in trouble so will do nothing to get someone for you so find someone else. There are a lot of folks on that ship that can get one of those people for you. Even ask your cabin steward if they will get one of them for you.

[abridalmaven]

That happened to me several times on the Legend. But funny, it did not happen to my husband's card. But I was lucky to have the cabin steward let me in and the other times got a new card. It must have been my magentic personality.:rolleyes:

 

But you know there may be something to that. I know people who have problems with watches ... some sort of magnetic field they generate. But anyhow the house keeping crew can let you into the room...especially if they have gotten to know you

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Unbelievable!.......For sure you deserve a voucher for a free cruise plus a refund for this one.

keep us posted.

 

 

***

[Sheffie]

Mike, I just saw your address. My daughter used to live in Walled Lake. Moved far away to Wixom last year! I probably have bumped in to you at Kroger when I visited. Small world.

 

Hope your cruise experience is going better. I am one of those people who cannot wear a battery operated watch. Won't work on me at all. Will take it off and it will work lying on the counter. Hubby watched a tv show about people who have been struck by lightning or in vehicles that were struck by lightning and they have this phenomenon. I was in a car once that was struck by lightning. Were you? Just curious.

 

Michelle

[DetroitMike]

Sheffie -- Small world! And no, I was never struck by lightning. Glad you were OK!

 

Davida -- According to the staff, they finally found that the problem was on the door of the first room. Too late for me, but it was found. The second was demagnetized (not sure how, I didn't have keys, watch, cell phone, etc...). However, About 2/3 of the people that I spoke with had a de-magnetizing problem at one point or another. I can understand that -- Certainly not their fault, if it happens once... My problem was them not fixing the door when it continued, and the bad service at that point. The fact that it happened again at the end was just an irritant on top of injury -- Probably not their fault, but the timing was just too much for me!

 

Cruiseman -- Do you have that email address that you can share? Either through here or at mikenachman@msn.com -- Either way works. Thanks again!

 

Final result -- Although I had been asking for the hotel manager since the start, he was finally made aware of this problem on the last evening, and agreed to sit down and speak with me. He did seem concerned about the problems, and was going to address them from his side. He did give us a $200 credit... Certainly a nice gesture. For me, his apology and promise to act was probably enough to get me to give them another shot. For my wife, it was not enough at this point... She is still pretty upset. I guess we go back to Disney or try out someone new!

 

Thanks again for everyone's help and concern! I am going to post a review of the NON-problem issues if anyone is interested in a seperate thread...

 

Mike

[cruiseman_tx]

DetroitMike,

 

richardfain@rccl.com

[voyagerfl]

DetroitMike - Have you been locked out of your stateroom all night? :eek:

Surely they could send somone to let you in your cabin !

 

Plenty of staff have Pass Key's....like the Room Stewards !

[DetroitMike]

DetroitMike,

 

richardfain@rccl.com

 

 

Thanks!

[captbill]

Mike,

Hope you're not standing in the hallway jiggling the handle to your cabin door right now!

 

Thought I'd share my wife's theory on this. She's guessing it's either the detergent or fabric softener you've been using in your laundry all these years. She claims it's a fairly common problem at one of the stores she frequents, and the solution is to "encase" the card in a plastic bag before swiping.

 

Might not be as crazy as it sounds ... If you're anything like me, you don't carry a loose card in your pocket at home (it's always in my wallet). If she knows what she's talking about, you could just place the card in an envelope before putting it in your pocket.

 

Good luck!

[Jacquelyn11]

What detergent and fabric softner does your family use??

 

Jacquelyn :D

[DetroitMike]

ROFL!

 

Appreciate the thought! However, the problem was indeed found to be the door. Most of the time, the cards were kept in the envelope / map that they give you when you check in... Other times, they were never even put into my pocket... Simply handed to me, I walked up, and one worked / one didn't...

 

Thanks, though!

[anniversary_cruisers]

But then today:

10:00 AM -- Tried to exit the ship. Alarm sounds and I am told that I have an invalid card! Thankfully, the same security personnel were called and they recognized me and were aware of the problem. The told me to go, enjoy the island, and they would fix everything, but to ask to be manually checked in upon return.

 

2:00 PM -- Tried to re-board. The gentleman at the check in area remembers us, and tells us to put in our cards. We remind him that we need to be manually checked in. He says "No, I've fixed it... Please go ahead". You can see the rest coming.... Alarms go off, etc... HOW HUMILIATING!!!!!

 

Just curious, Mike. Since it appears the door lock was the problem, how do you explain these difficulties you had with the card, getting off and on the ship? Coincidence?? :confused:

[darchibald]

I hope this isn't catchy. We will be on Majesty on November 15th, Deck 10, JS, Room 1588. GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR... I feel your pain and hope they fix it fast AND REFUND you some of your money. That is just ridiculous!

[DetroitMike]

Just curious, Mike. Since it appears the door lock was the problem, how do you explain these difficulties you had with the card, getting off and on the ship? Coincidence?? :confused:

 

What they told me is that they have two seperate systems in their computers... One for the financial end (charging items, door locks, etc...) and one to track you on and off of the ship. Apparently, when a duplicate card is issued (and we had MANY issued), they strike the old one from the system and they must take steps to also update the other side of the system. If they don't update the second part of their system (the part that tracks people on and off of the ship), then when a new card is presented that isn't anticipated, alarms go off, etc... Not sure if that is the truth, but that is what they told me!

[anniversary_cruisers]

What they told me is that they have two seperate systems in their computers... !

Having worked with computer systems as long as I have, I find this explanation totally understandable. Very few organizations are able to keep all their applications in synch without manual intervention, and that's where many of them fall down.

[Starspangle1]

It's just plain and simple, the whole card idea is stupid, if it gives that many people a problem then they should think of something else. It's just like that stupid spinning wheel sign they put out in front of everyones door on the Dawn to tell you when someones out or if the room should be made up. Anyone walking by like darling teenagers (which we did see) can spin them around to change the message. How about putting a device in the door lock, when your in your cabin you always turn the lock, why can't that trigger an enclosed out, in, make up room, welcome sign, just like when you're on a plane in the bathroom, you turning the lock triggers occupied (dah). As far as the room keys, how about when you check in they instead of taking your picture take a print of your finger & have a small screen on your door for you to place your finger on and how about that, the door opens. Problem solved about magnet, no more room keys to hold on to and homeland security is increased. Same thing when you order a drink or buy something on the ship, registers have the screen too & don't tell me about how difficult or expensive these ideas can be because that's bull, my tanning salon has the finger print thing going so it can't be all that much, just think about how much money they waste on all of that plastic and picture taking.

[madforcruising]

What they told me is that they have two seperate systems in their computers... One for the financial end (charging items, door locks, etc...) and one to track you on and off of the ship. Apparently, when a duplicate card is issued (and we had MANY issued), they strike the old one from the system and they must take steps to also update the other side of the system. If they don't update the second part of their system (the part that tracks people on and off of the ship), then when a new card is presented that isn't anticipated, alarms go off, etc... Not sure if that is the truth, but that is what they told me!

I´m sure the explanation is correct. When you go on and off the ships they scan the bar code on the back of the cards they don´t use the magnetic stripe for this. For all other purposes like expenses on the ship, door key, .... the magnetic stripe is used. So even if your card is demagnetized you can still use it at the gangway as you need the barcode at this point.

 

To starspangle:

Fingerprint scanning is not a good idea in my eyes. It can even cause many more problems than the now used cards. This is no a well working thing so far. And I don´t want a cruise line to have any biometric data of me. That would be a security issue in my eyes.

[Starspangle1]

Your sign and sail card has so much information on it that you would be amazed, starting with your ss#. Anybody at the front desk with access to the computer can see that information and more now. You already have a passport so they can do any check that they want on you and if your boarding a plane or a ship they have the right to know just who they are transporting, I have nothing to hide so I don't have a problem with it.

[madforcruising]

Your sign and sail card has so much information on it that you would be amazed, starting with your ss#. Anybody at the front desk with access to the computer can see that information and more now. You already have a passport so they can do any check that they want on you and if your boarding a plane or a ship they have the right to know just who they are transporting, I have nothing to hide so I don't have a problem with it.

I know that they have plenty of information about me and like you I have nothing to hide, but I still care about the security of my personal data and I think there are personal data there is no need a cruise line has to have it. The more people get access to these personal data the higher is the possibility it´s abused.

But I don´t want to argue about this and it´s for sure not the topic of this thread. So it´s just we have different opinions about this. I respect yours, but mine is different.

[Starspangle1]

I respect your opinion, I'm sure one thing that we can agree on is that they really do need to come up with a better idea for opening the door, someone haninging out in the hallway being locked out of their room for hours at a time is unaceptable.