cgncruiser

26 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

In what country are you asking about?  Laws vary in different countries.

USA

Thanx, but your post does not answer my question. 

1 hour ago, swooldri said:

Please show us what "law" states this.   Thanks

 

Thats what I am asking.

I am awaiting since 30 days my refunds and FCCs for RCI-cancelled cruises. 

At least the taxes and port fees they collected with full payments supposed to be refunded immediately. 

Is it illegal to withhold federal/state taxes and port fees when cruises are long time cancelled or will definitely not take place?

Last-ditch-calls-to-arms.

His message to TAs "stay in touch with your clients"

-----yea it is great to stay in touch with customers who ask again and again  " where is my refund."

Customer: I was notified by RCI to expect my refund within 3-5 business days, After 5 business days, they told me "expect the refund within 10 business days". After 10 business days, they told me "expect the refund within 30 days"....

A CEO shall convey integrity and take his customers serious. But instead he begs for the first class A action....

Timelines are unpredictable in these times. But one thing is sure: Europeans have learned their share and mistakes hopefully will not repeated: the pandemic incrementally moved from East to West with the center of the pandemic now overwhelming the USA.

So the situation most likely will improve in Europe before it does in the USA.

Certainly Europe (w/o UK) will ban foreign national US citizens from entering Europe as long as the pandemic rages in the US, especially when Europe is recovering (before the US).

The political discussions here in Europe also clearly are trending against the cruise industry re starting business until a vaccine is developed. Just check the news when football stadiums are re-opened -the cruise industry will be allowed to follow suit.

So forget the summer cruise season in Europe (and Florida), and if they resume ops - yes, most likely its a Europe first (but w/o US foreign nationals). So for European cruise lines like MSC, Aida TUI, Costa etc it is more easy to fill ships, with US foreign nationals restricted entry, companies like RCI cannot fill their ships here......

Nobody wants your darn rare Australian ventilation machines. Crew and guests only wanted to fly home immediately. A convoy to the airports would have done Australia and NZ a better deal. Now the world has seen your inhumanity and ugly government which you have elected.

Tourists are being refrained from repatriation and are locked in a country they do not want to stay in. My air force was standing by and my national carrier on the expense of my government were not allowed to land in Australia and NZ to pick up stranded tourists and crew. The air force had converted 2 A310 to ICU version to get the sick home- Australia did not allow. 15000 of my countrymen in Australia and 10000 in NZ are locked up even 3 weeks after the outbreak. 

Yesterday finally NZ allowed 3 national A380 and 3 B747 to land and pick up  tourists after a long diplomatic spat.

So do not wine about your ventilation machines just let the people fly home and that includes the crew that has pampered you guys during the happy day sailings.

Australia is a shame and it takes a long time to re-build reputation.

Well stated Kbonner.

I only believe in the statistics that I have falsified myself😁

So does the seventh district USCG admiral want the ships sail to i.e. to New York to have them disembarked and fly home?

Here are the 7th district boundaries:

The Seventh Coast Guard District, with district office in Miami, Florida, is comprised of: South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, Except west of a line from the intersection of the Florida coast with longitude 83-50'West due north to a position 30-15'North, 83-50'West; thence due west to the position 30-15'North, 84-45'West; thence due north to the intersection with the south shore of Jim Woodruff Reservoir; thence along the east bank of the Jim Woodruff Reservoir and the east bank of the Flint River upstream to Montezuma, Georgia; thence to West Point, Georgia; the Panama Canal Zone; Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; the U.S. naval reservations in the islands of the West Indies and on the north coast of South America; and the ocean areas that are encompassed by a line bearing 122 degrees True from coastal end of the Fifth and Seventh Coast Guard District land boundary of the National Maritime Search and Rescue Region; thence along the eastern and the offshore boundary between the Seventh and Eighth Coast Guard Districts that is defined as a line that extends 199 degrees True from the coastal end of the Seventh and Eighth Coast Guard District land boundary; thence along this line to the coast.

But what I understand from the article it is not a Florida issue but a federal issue. Isn't the Coast Guard a federal, government organisation?

17 hours ago, LXA350 said:

 

My hope is for a shortend season as of July, but also this will depend on how things will develop over the comming months. I gues RCL can decide until approx end of May if they would go ahead with a shortened version in Europe or would actually even need to cancel completely.

No they can not decide until May as the transatlantic is scheduled for April 18. I am sure the decision has been made already in RCCL HQ but they remain tight-lipped. They still sell the old itineraries although they will not send the Rh to Europe anytime soon. Its all about collecting cash as long as possible and later change them into FCCs.

That is indeed a terrible transparency communication by RCCL. They still lure paying customers on Rh , knowing that Europe will not be ready until summer. Corona numbers are skyrocketing here in Europe with drastic government regulations following suit.

RCCL's game with customers is cruel as they know the European season 2020 is lost.

11 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

However, this discussion with complaints  like "I paid for an amped ship" is totally ridiculous.

Why is this statement ridiculous? You paid something according to a specific specification and you do not get it delivered.

If you bought a Saab 9-4X and received a Saab 9-3II instead what would Mr Saab444 say then? Doing nothing and waiting for Saab to become insolvent (which they actually did)?

All 2020 Allure cruises from Barcelona are still bookable (at least one minute ago). If Royal knows and decided already that the Allure is withdrawn from Barcelona and they still sell her Barcelona cruises, how shall one call that?????? Fraud????Collecting as much cash money as possible to ride out the storm?

How weird and illogical, don`t they worry then about gatherings in WJ , theatre, MDR, sundeck?

RCI still sells Brilliance transatlantic, although i.e. Ireland is closed and flights from continental Europe cannot be catered due to quarantine.

Same with Rhapsody, still going to Tarragona and Barcelona? Why did they sell me last week air from home to Venice ( for May)?

Jewel transits the Suez Canal without passengers to Athens. 

Are they trying to collect as much cash money as possible which they need for operations during possible upcoming stormy days and simply issue paper voucher FCCs. 

Is Europe really served in spring 2020?

3 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

 

Who booked them? Royal? We are on Rhapsody in May also... 🤒

Yes flights booked yesterday with Royal and we also received our flight record locator yesterday from them. 

So we are relaxed because it is Royal that has to rebook or cancel and refund the flights if Rh gets an itinerary change.....

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Curious if loyal Royal cruisers are tempted to move to Princess or other Carnival brands during this virus crisis.

 

Royal certainly appreciates returning cruisers as any business does.  Having said that we are less profitable than new to Royal cruisers.  There's a fine line between showering return guests with perks and losing money or leaving money on the table in doing so.   

 

As far as MJ goes, she was very profitable when Cuba was her destination.  With that rug pulled from under them they've had to find a place for her and operate her at much lower profit/revenue, possibly even at or nearly at a loss.  If it wasn't for Cuba MJ would be gone by now but finding a buyer won't happen overnight and maybe Cuba will be allowed in the future so it's a waiting game in the interim.

 

Margins have to be pretty tight on MJ at the moment and that was before CV. 

 

On my four MJ sailings last year before she moved to NOLA the CAS guest count amounted to less than half of all guests on board.  Historically my tracking of CAS numbers suggest typically less than 1/3 of all CAS on board are happy hour eligible (D/D+/P).  That equates to around 15% of guests on board for a typical cruise (forget repo or transatlantic/transpacific as those aren't typical).  On a small ship like MJ we aren't talking a lot of people impacted relative to other ships.

 

Royal may be faced with making changes on other ships to get through the CV issue.  If it becomes extended CAS happy hour could be the difference between losing big money and just scraping by or losing a little money on each sailing - likely what they faced with MJ sailings before CV.

 

Everyone loves cheap cruises but at some point they have to keep the business focus of maximizing profits.  At times that means trying to tame the beast that CAS has grown into.    Not all of those 15% on board that are happy hour eligible are going to run to Princess over this.  

May I take from your in-depth  knowledge of numbers and the vigorous defense for RCI in your posting that you are a Royal Caribbean employee?

Also you forgot to include the suite guests that are not included in your happy hour counting but previously were also eligible on MJ.

Do you have a count how many C&A customers and suite guests now avoid the MJ and thus further contribute in the loss making ops because of a few drinks savings? I asked on MJ what i.e. a GinTonic actually cost for Royal. The answer was ca 20cts. So you want to convey that 2 or 3 more drinks in a dedicated HH event (plus the canapees) will contribute to loosing money for MJ sailings? I rather say that cancelled or not any more considered MJ bookings harm a lot more. This is exactly bean counter thinking: we save per C&A two drinks for a total of 40cts, multiplied by 15 % C&A ........ Do the bean counters also calculate and pale the loss of MJ C&A customer/suite guests business in comparison?

Bulls Eye!

tottenhamfc

 just posted in another (coronavirus-) thread the following which exactly matches Royals self imposed Majesty Minus of the Seas C&A/suite Happy Hour event downgrade:

When do you think RCL will start to entice their Crown and Anchor customers with cheaper fares. They have not been very fair with chartered cruises and make their customers beg for compensation after bumping them with the only intent to make more profit on that cruise.. This is the perfect example where customer retention is important. This not meant as a slight against RCL it is merely intended to point out just how important loyal customers are in times of need. The chances of losing the next generation of cruisers is high because of the problem with Diamond Princes. It’s time for the cruise lines to retain customer interest by being loyal to us now. 

On 2/25/2020 at 8:43 PM, awestover89 said:

 

We're on a B2B in early May, Barcelona to Venice and round-trip Venice. Flights already purchased. Not making any decisions yet (2 months is a long time) but keeping a very close eye on things. 

We are on b2b in May on Rhapsody from Venice (THIS IS NORTHERN ITALY!!!!!) and believe it or not their flight department has booked us the flights into and out of Venice YESTERDAY😷

Yesterday RCI's flight department booked us a May flight to Venice for Rhapsody

Majesty otS

Is Red Bull allowed to bring onboard??

20 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

You guys all think anyone working for the company is your friend?  Really?  Look what happens when one tried to use a clearer head to do something nice for guests.  Shut down by a corporate bean counter.  

Shoreside bean counters yes.

But in this case rumors from onboard MJ say that present HD Rodney who is known to not "favor" the C&A program , triggered shoreside to abandon the happy hour event in VCL...........

On 1/31/2020 at 2:01 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

Pins and Suites used to be able to have breakfast in Compass Deli above the Jammer. 

 

They had an espresso machine,  but it was notoriously cold

After contacting the ship , now I know this is fake information. Nobody from guest services remembers ever having a dedicated suite/Pin breakfast section in Compass Deli, no coffee machine.

It is really not helpful to post something from the 19xxs

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Pins and Suites used to be able to have breakfast in Compass Deli above the Jammer. 

 

They had an espresso machine,  but it was notoriously cold

Could someone confirm the Compass Deli suites and Pin breakfast amenity who is currently on MJ please?

22 hours ago, icsys said:

Just a heads up for anyone onboard contemplating the RCI airport transfer.

 

The cost is $18.95 USD per person - that is AED 69 PP

The cost of a taxi from the port to the airport is between 60-80 AED dependent on traffic.

 

There were four in our party so I decided that the equivalent of AED 276 for the coach transfer was a little over priced. 😠

The taxi cost for four was AED 78

Just be aware that you are not tricked by Royal when booking the airport transfer to terminal 2: we booked the transfer onboard for  terminal 2 . In the bus we learned that the subcontracted bus company only serves terminals 1 and 3. Their promise that at terminal 1 and 3 will be a free shuttle to terminal 2 was wrong. So we had to purchase a taxi from terminal 1 to satellite terminal 2 which is located on the opposite site of the airport .