Voyager cruise-CHARTERED - What to expect?

[sandgrand]

I can't say for sure but it looks like my cruise on Voyager of the Seas for March 20, 2011 out of Galveston has been chartered - I'm not sure what to expect...... can anyone help?

 

We can't find out what gourp or how large they are but the reservations show the entire ship "not available" ~~ Will RCCL contact us to re-book, let the few that have already booked sail with the group, shut off certain areas during the cruise for private parties, at least let us know "what group" we will be sailing with.....?????

 

So many questions and no one will answer them - I have tried and they will not release any information. Does anyone know which group is sailing this week? Thanks for any and all help! :)

[cb at sea]

If it's a true "charter", expect a call booting you off.

Generally, every cruise sails with groups aboard...most times, you won't even be aware of it!

[fireflygal]

My DH and I were booked on a HAL ship for November 2009 and we got bumped due to charter. No apologies either. Got our deposit back and that was it.

 

fireflygal

[captainannoyed!]

Same thing just happened recently on the Serenade 3/20/11 sailing. You will get a call from where ever you booked, and if like my experience they will offer to hold your rate on select sailings of their choice but offer an OBC. In my case it was $400 for a suite, or $200 for a standard cabin.

 

While I understand their point of view as a business, and even think the offer was fair, it created complications for me. I really wanted to stay with the Serenade, and the only other date offered with the exact same route was sold out of GS so an apples to apples switch wasn't possible. I am C+A Plat. and countered that I would rather an upgrade to an OS (since they were available and GS wasn't) at the same price without the OBC. That was essentially laughed at by an RCCL rep. "Nice ry, though," was the quote my TA said the rep said. :mad: So I downgraded to JS and took the alternate ship (which I am not thrilled with but overall worked best of my available options). I also cancelled another cruise I had booked, which I warned I would do if I didn't get the upgrade (though I probably would have considered a counter offer of meeting half way on the difference in fare for the OS).

 

So, don't expect them to offer anything more than the OBC on select sailings of their choice. Welcome to RCCL customer care! Anyway, I am now considering switching to SilverSea because I feel that loyalty to RCCL doesn't really pay. :mad:

[Alexis]

I can't say for sure but it looks like my cruise on Voyager of the Seas for March 20, 2011 out of Galveston has been chartered - I'm not sure what to expect...... can anyone help?

 

We can't find out what gourp or how large they are but the reservations show the entire ship "not available" ~~ Will RCCL contact us to re-book, let the few that have already booked sail with the group, shut off certain areas during the cruise for private parties, at least let us know "what group" we will be sailing with.....?????

 

So many questions and no one will answer them - I have tried and they will not release any information. Does anyone know which group is sailing this week? Thanks for any and all help! :)

 

Do not cancel anything on your own until you hear from RCCL. If you do that, you will not receive any compensation from them.

It happened to me last year and if you wait to hear from them, they will try to work with you as far as putting you on others ships and dates, plus some OBC.

If you had air booked already, tell them. Ask for the amount toward the airline charges to change the tickets. You may get it, you may not.

If the cruise is canceled, the time they cancel before the cruise is what determines what they do for you.

Wait to hear from RCCL is most important.

[aggie1]

They could be just totally booked because of Spring Break!! That week may be spring break in Texas.

[emdia43]

From another thread- there is this large group onboard.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116505221717753&index=1

[aggie1]

Just looked on our school districts website and spring break for us is 3/14-18 but othe districts and colleges could have week before or week after.

[TPKeller]

From another thread- there is this large group onboard.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116505221717753&index=1

OP sails in March, that group is May.

 

ETA: Or is it... the Facebook page has two different dates, one May 20, one March 20. Someone needs to be more careful when setting up a Facebook Event page!

 

Theron

[sandgrand]

Thanks for the suggestions .... It is so hard to wait because I always book so early to get AFT CABIN ... maybe they will offer upgrade :D

 

I really don't mind sailing with smaller "groups" but do not want to sail with a massive group onboard....Decisions~Decisions~Decisions

[geoblond]

Don't know but guessing spring break. We took our son on that cruise last year (March 21st) and we were packed! with Arkansas spring breakers. It was a good group.

[ARCruisinNana]

From another thread- there is this large group onboard.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116505221717753&index=1

 

Thanks for the link to the Hair Show At Sea. I can't imagine that they would charter the entire ship. Hope I get to keep my great aft JS.

[Bigtex1622]

I guess the girls in the Salon will have that week off !

 

Can you say Free hair color for Everyone!..

 

:rolleyes:

[critterchick]

I've been on a couple of cruises where all categories show up as N/A, only to have them pop back up in a couple of weeks. Once it was when they were tweaking the Radiance San Diego sailings, and another time there was no apparent reason. The really frustrating thing is that they don't tell the customer service reps anything, so they only see the ship as sold out. Hang tight and you'll find out something, eventually...

[Jimnbigd]

If your cruise is cancelled and you already have non-refundable flights booked to Houston for the cruise, you might consider the March 20 Carnival Conquest. I don't think it is as good a ship as the Voyager, but it still give you a 7-day cruise from Galveston. FYI...Spring break in Texas is March 13; that's why the cruise rates are much higher then.

[thelion]

It is not chartered. They are doing inventory control. The sailing is closed until further notice.

[Cruzaholic41]

March 20? That is the height of Spring Break. There's your answer. Have fun with that one.

[xxoocruiser]

Locking out catagories does not mean the cruise has been chartered out. It can mean those catagories have sold out, the cruise line is doing inventory control and/or a large group has blocked out certain catagories. This is not the same a Charter Cruise.

 

Chartered Cruise .... The organization has bought out the entire ship . Not just certain catagories. The cruise line than in turn cancels everyone else that's not by of the Chartered Cruise .

 

Group Cruise ... Means that a group has booked and blocked out certain cabin catagories. Just about every cruise has some sort of group bookings on board. If fact it may have several group bookings for the same cruise.

 

Don't cancel. Just wait and see what happens.

[happyapple]

Several of us have been watching this sailing as well. We contacted Customer Care several times about the N/A status. The first rep said it was most likely an inventory update and to wait a few days. When we called several days later, they said they would check on it and call us back. We received a call back last Thursday saying the cruise had been chartered.

 

I know Customer Care folks aren't always in the know; all I know for sure is what they told us. The fact that it took them several days makes me think they did some checking as opposed to giving an educated guess. If it was me, I'd wait a while before I canceled anything.

 

I'm still trying to imagine the group or groups involved in chartering a ship the size of Voyager. That's a lot of people! Talk about a block party! :D

[MCC retired]

The cruise line will not hesitate to tell you it's charterted (if it is).

After all , they still want you aboard one of their other cruises.

(thus the incentives to rebook)

When a ship is 100% chartered , the company doing the charter specifies the itinerary and all activities.

They also may split a 7 day charter into 3 & 4 day cruise.:rolleyes:

[ARCruisinNana]

Hair show at Sea web site lists it as a 7 day cruise with the identical itinerary as original. It offers $100 discount for the first 150 cabins booked. It is open to the public. Again, it's hard to believe they will take all 1557 cabins.

[Dem920]

Last Summer we were scheduled to be on Mariner of the Seas and Nickelodeon chartered the same cruise. We were offered compensation if we chose another sailing within specific dates. We ended up on Mariner the next week and then due to Swine Flu outbreak got even more compensation. They paid us to take the cruise. LOL. Not a bad deal. If they do charter it, they will call you once the contracts are all signed with the charter company and tell you what your options are. If it is chartered, you will not be allowed to sail with the charter unless you rebook through the charter company usually and it is usually more expensive.

 

Don't sweat it and wait ans see what happens. Our cruise showed as N/A for about 3 weeks before we got the call. They will not verify it is chartered until all the contracts are sold and even then it is a special group at RCCL that will call you. The regular reservation agents usually don't know anything about it and certainly won't be able to tell you about any compensation. If you booked through a TA, let them know that it is showing as N/A and they can keep an eye on it and they will actually get the call from RCCL.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Teresa

[allesonwonderland]

That's a huge bummer. Here I was prepared that I just wouldn't see any price drops, not that we'd get booted altogether. Worst part is for once our spring break didn't line up with Texas', so the cruise was a good price...looking ahead to 2012 our breaks line up again so the Mariner out of Galveston and Voyager out of NOLA are both $500 more pp...an extra 2 grand to change from this year to next. *sigh*

[tmq2766]

We are also the unlucky ones booked on this cruise... Trying to be patient to find out what the compensation is going to be.... My biggest problem is that we our non refundable air booked. UGH

[CruisinManiac]

It appears that your assumption is correct. :(

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1232275