Sad story.

[Hypo]

Did I say Royal Suite? I meant to say Royal Family Suite. Lol. Anyway, it was the stern port side corner of the ship. I am getting old and senile, and sometimes my fingers don't always type what my brain is thinking.

 

 

Mark

[dianelevene]

I have a hard time believing that the person who wrote this letter did not check his cruise documents. However, if you book at the last minute don't you pick up your documents when you get to pier? If that is the case then the writer would not have known about the problem until they tried to board the ship.

 

I can sympathize with the frustration the writer felt when dealing with RCI and trying to settle his problem. Last year we were booked to cruise on Radiance. We had booked three cabins and made our final payments. A month before we were supposed to leave, I was diasnosed with locally advanced breast cancer. It was a real shock because I thought that I was completely healthy and I was only 37! I called RCI and asked to be able to change the date of my cruise. I just wanted something happy to look forward to when I was done with chemo. A friend had no problem doing the exact same thing when she had been scheduled to sail on HAL and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We encountered many rude and mean people in RCI's customer service department. One woman even told me that it did not matter if I was dieing, they were not going to give us a refund or change the date of our cruise. I had at least three phone calls that ended up with me in tears. They had my doctor write a letter about my health and then told me that they did not care what my doctor said. My husband finally found a woman's who had the title "Vice President of Total Customer Satisfaction" and called her on his cell phone while sitting next to me in chemo. Within half an hour the whole thing was settled and the cruise line gave us future cruise credits to use. We still have some very bad feelings about what happened with the cruise line since they added to much stress and unhappiness to a bad time in our lives. But we are scheduled to go on Splendour this January. My husband did not want to go on any RCI ship after what happened but I talked him into it. I just could not justify throwing away so much money. Plus, I have heard such nice things about the ships and the children's program that I think we will have a good time. This cruise is a celebration for us. My husband is calling this vacation the "IT'S 2005 AND DIANE IS STILL ALIVE TOUR".

[Globaliser]

A month before we were supposed to leave, I was diasnosed with locally advanced breast cancer. It was a real shock because I thought that I was completely healthy and I was only 37! I called RCI and asked to be able to change the date of my cruise. I just wanted something happy to look forward to when I was done with chemo. ... We still have some very bad feelings about what happened with the cruise line since they added to much stress and unhappiness to a bad time in our lives.

I'm glad that things are now working out for you on this, and there's never any excuse for companies to be rude or insensitive.

 

But there's one thing you have to remember, which is that getting sick is always a risk in life. Normally we bear that risk ourselves, which includes the risk of losing money as a result of being sick. The cruise line specifically says that they do NOT take on the financial risk of you being sick, but if you want to you can get another company to take on that risk instead. That is why insurance is offered to you, as is repeatedly said here. Otherwise, those of us who buy insurance would end up subsidising those who don't, through the financial losses the cruise line would incur from accommodating late changes, and the consequent higher fares.

[dianelevene]

Actually the cruise line did not end up losing any money on my illness. The cruise we were to go on was sold out and they re-sold our cabins at a much higher price than we had booked them for (I know this because my travel agent checked for me). Also, we were not asking the cruise line to refund our money. We were asking them to change the date of our cruise. We were actually hoping to go on a cruise at a less popular time of year once I was finished with my chemotherapy. I wanted to have something happy to look forward to during each round of chemo. Having to deal with rude and insensitive people during a personal crisis was terribly stressful. We have taken at least one cruise each year for the last 8 or 9 years. Any cruise line that alienates us stands to lose a lot of money over the many years we will be taking vacations. We love cruising and this was our first negative experience with any cruise line.

[Globaliser]

Actually the cruise line did not end up losing any money on my illness. The cruise we were to go on was sold out and they re-sold our cabins at a much higher price than we had booked them for (I know this because my travel agent checked for me). Also, we were not asking the cruise line to refund our money. We were asking them to change the date of our cruise.

If it were the case that a late change means that the original cruise sails with an empty cabin, then the revenue is at risk even if it's a change rather than a refund. That's why the rules about late changes are there, that's why insurance is offered against the risk, and that's why those of us who do buy insurance against that risk think it's unfair for those who don't to expect to be given the same benefits.

 

But it sounds like the line was prepared to accommodate you in your case because it could re-sell the cabins. Even so, it would have been much simpler to claim on an insurance policy. But I'm glad it all worked out for you.

 

Nevertheless, there's no excuse for rudeness and insensitivity at a time like that - nobody should have had to deal with that. And I don't think anyone would disagree.

[POLSON]

I booked a trip direct the RCCL for the Jewel on Nov 20th. I called back to see if any balcony rooms had opened up and to my shock they had booked me on the wrong ship! It does happen. I had even gone over it twice. I had not received my docs yet so I had nothing to look at. They fixed it right away. I guess it could happen if you did a last minute booking and had to get your docs at the port... I would have been really upset had I not called back and the docs arrived with the wrong cruise.

 

Pamela