OMG booked RC Cruise then found out Atlantis Events booked the rest of the ship!!!!

[marcar123]

Has this happened to anyone????

We booked RC "Independence of the Seas" sailing February 2 - 10, 2013, thought we were being proactive by booking a year in advance, friends of ours went to book and were told (from their travel agent) the boat was booked by an alternate carrier, Atlantis Events", an all gay cruise. I am totally fine with the gay lifestyle; however, I'm not sure I want to 8 nights with 4000 gay guys:) seeing as my husband and I are a straight couple. Should Royal Caribbean have called to inform us of this?

[Eng23]

Has this happened to anyone????

We booked RC "Independence of the Seas" sailing February 2 - 10, 2013, thought we were being proactive by booking a year in advance, friends of ours went to book and were told (from their travel agent) the boat was booked by an alternate carrier, Atlantis Events", an all gay cruise. I am totally fine with the gay lifestyle; however, I'm not sure I want to 8 nights with 4000 gay guys:) seeing as my husband and I are a straight couple. Should Royal Caribbean have called to inform us of this?

If you booked direct with Royal I would call them and if you booked with a travel agent contact your agent. It sometimes is common for a cruise line to charter out the ship, if this is what happened you may have been bumped to another cruise. If they only chartered a big section of the ship you may not be bumped but you may be uncomfortable like you mentioned since it is a themed cruise for people with an alternate lifestyle. Either way someone can help you sort it out, you are far enough out that changing to a different ship or taking a different sailing should not be difficult. I hope it works out for you.

[Familygoboston]

They probably haven't got around to it yet, but if it's a true charter ( and Atlantis usually is) you can't go even if you wanted to unless you book through the chartering company. For instance we had a crusie canceled for an Ohio State Charter, and even though I would be happy to travel with those folks; RCL had to cancel us. I suppose we could have contacted the Ohio State and booked if they didn't care, but we just changed our dates.

 

I don't mean to make this sound like I wouldn't be happy to sail with the folks on Atlantis...but it's definately too " party like a rock star" for me to keep up with! :-)

[Isa65]

At least you heard this on time and have plenty opportunity to alter your plans. Imagine your suprise if you boarded without knowing:D...

Have a great cruise, whatever you choose.

[The Big Booper]

Atlantis ONLY does full ship charters. The company provides extra equipment and performers and charges a premium price. You have to book thru them to get this sailing.

 

RC should contact you or your TA on this.

[vickiw0318]

When the sail date of the first cruise I booked on the Allure got chartered by Atlantis, I did indeed get a call from RCI with an offer to move me to another sail date. I imagine the OP will be getting one soon.

[Familygoboston]

You might want to go on a bit about what a huge inconvenience this is for you when they do call ( celebrating a special day, maybe?) Often times there are offers for unhappy guests, OBC, or cabin upgrades at the same price.

Let them do most of the talking, hear out what they might have to keep you happy even though you had to change plans. :D

[F27TW]

however, I'm not sure I want to 8 nights with 4000 gay guys:)?

 

Trust me ... you don't. I'm gay and I wouldn't either. I've done it in the past, and it gets ugly and embarassing when "my people" form a big group and get too carried away partying.

[lexluthor]

What does RC do if this happens and you already have your airfare booked? Will they pay the change fees?

[BillOh]

They probably haven't got around to it yet, but if it's a true charter ( and Atlantis usually is) you can't go even if you wanted to unless you book through the chartering company. For instance we had a crusie canceled for an Ohio State Charter, and even though I would be happy to travel with those folks; RCL had to cancel us. I suppose we could have contacted the Ohio State and booked if they didn't care, but we just changed our dates.

 

 

You could have, but you probably would have paid more as a portion of each cruise goes to, I think its the Stephanie Speielman fund. Google Buckeye Cruise for Cancer. A Dublin, Ohio based group does it every year. Was it Granduer this year? Looks like a lot of fun for someone who is a Buckeye Fan, lots of activities and celebrities.

[Cigar King]

What does RC do if this happens and you already have your airfare booked? Will they pay the change fees?

 

They offered to cover ours when that happened to us. Fortunately for them we had not made our air reservations yet.

[BecciBoo]

I'd rebook, only because that outfit fills the ship to capacity and it's very crowded at the pool deck. Someone posted pics of it last week boy did it seem crowded.

[Phillies14]

Has this happened to anyone????

We booked RC "Independence of the Seas" sailing February 2 - 10, 2013, thought we were being proactive by booking a year in advance, friends of ours went to book and were told (from their travel agent) the boat was booked by an alternate carrier, Atlantis Events", an all gay cruise. I am totally fine with the gay lifestyle; however, I'm not sure I want to 8 nights with 4000 gay guys:) seeing as my husband and I are a straight couple. Should Royal Caribbean have called to inform us of this?

Just curious?????....K.O. Near Philly:confused:

[Familygoboston]

Trust me ... you don't. I'm gay and I wouldn't either. I've done it in the past, and it gets ugly and embarassing when "my people" form a big group and get too carried away partying.

 

So true! I've never partied like that and wouldn't start now! All gays arent the same. My lesbian friends wouldn't be caught dead on that cruise either...like me they are suburban house moms with kids and would be happier on a family cruise!:D Just re read that...makes me sound gay...LOL, actually straight, but not narrow;-)

 

You could have, but you probably would have paid more as a portion of each cruise goes to, I think its the Stephanie Speielman fund. Google Buckeye Cruise for Cancer. A Dublin, Ohio based group does it every year. Was it Granduer this year? Looks like a lot of fun for someone who is a Buckeye Fan, lots of activities and celebrities.

 

Ours was a longish story...I had booked it and a 5 day right after, never intending to B2B, but just to hedge my bets for airfare. When they called I had already pretty much decided I was doing the 5, so no loss! I just figured the Buckeye cruise would be pretty family friendly/ alumni sort of thing if I really had to stick with those dates!

 

Just curious?????....K.O. Near Philly:confused:

Don't have to be gay...or even curious; quite a few straights like to party this hard and would probably love a cruise like this.;) That's the beauty of cruising, something for everyone!

[critterchick]

What does RC do if this happens and you already have your airfare booked? Will they pay the change fees?

 

I believe that the OBC they usually offer is meant to cover the change fees and that they won't normally give you any more than that. If they happen to change the cruise before you've booked air, then you make a little money on the deal.

[PH8]

I believe that the OBC they usually offer is meant to cover the change fees and that they won't normally give you any more than that. If they happen to change the cruise before you've booked air, then you make a little money on the deal.

My friends and I booked the JW for April 2012 last year.......the date we had was eventually chartered and redeployed.......even though none of us had airfare(ok,I dont need it,but they did) they gave us $100OBC..Plus price protection for another JW that month..

[riclop]

has this happened to anyone????

We booked rc "independence of the seas" sailing february 2 - 10, 2013, thought we were being proactive by booking a year in advance, friends of ours went to book and were told (from their travel agent) the boat was booked by an alternate carrier, atlantis events", an all gay cruise. I am totally fine with the gay lifestyle; however, i'm not sure i want to 8 nights with 4000 gay guys:) seeing as my husband and i are a straight couple. Should royal caribbean have called to inform us of this?

good luck!

[GXmanDC]

Is it possible to book airfare this far in advance? I looked into buying plane tickets for next February and they haven't yet opened the reservations. I looked on USAirways, Continental, American and JetBlue.

 

One comment about the Atlantis party boat- While there are people on board who stay up all night, there are a lot of us who are asleep by midnight, too. :)

[Bloom9]

I'd rebook, only because that outfit fills the ship to capacity and it's very crowded at the pool deck. Someone posted pics of it last week boy did it seem crowded.

 

There are parties on the pool deck a couple afternoons and usually a night time party at 11 pm, but alas not everyone onboard is a party animal. It is one fun week with awesome entertainment.

[05mak05]

We were booked on the Jewel out of Tampa for the last week in April. Through the roll call, I picked up on the fact that the itinerary had disappeared. No one knew anything for a month it seems. When all was said and done, we were told it was a charter and given $100 onboard credit for a future cruise (using that same booking number.)

[addicted2]

We booked the same cruise in November last year. The charter is news to us. We haven't heard anything from Royal about changing anything. I will wait and see if they call. We booked it that far in advance for the chance to sail on the Indy and that it is my birthday that week, so they better offer us some compensation if we have to change our sail date.

[kidnk9]

Has this happened to anyone????

We booked RC "Independence of the Seas" sailing February 2 - 10, 2013, thought we were being proactive by booking a year in advance, friends of ours went to book and were told (from their travel agent) the boat was booked by an alternate carrier, Atlantis Events", an all gay cruise. I am totally fine with the gay lifestyle; however, I'm not sure I want to 8 nights with 4000 gay guys:) seeing as my husband and I are a straight couple. Should Royal Caribbean have called to inform us of this?

 

 

This happened to us 1 year ago. We were booked on Serenade out of San Juan. Booked 1 year prior to sail date. Approximately 9 months prior to sailing, heard a rumor that our sailing had been chartered by Atlantis. Royal contacted us approximately 2 weeks after our sailing disappeared from their site and from when we heard the rumor. As much as I love Royal, I was highly disappointed in their compensation offer! They offered a small OBC and would pay a set amount to change our air reservations. They also stated that they would honor our price paid towards any other sailing EXCEPT the mega ships. Unfortunately I teach and was locked into my Spring break dates and we had already purchased air. The cost to change our air was more than Royal offered to reimburse us for (Our problem and our dime for the difference). Any other sailing really did not work for us since we had purchased our air to San Juan and would lose money to rebook that, plus air had gone up considerably since we had booked. My calculations figured we would loose approximately $1000 if we changed our plans to a Sunday to Sunday cruise out of San Juan instead of our original Saturday to Saturday.

Long story short.......to avoid losing a large sum of $$$$ we booked on Celebrity going out of San Juan the same dates as the Serenade so we would be out no money (could not transfer the OBC offer for the inconvenience either switching to Celebrity). We did not like Celebrity as much as our sailings with Royal. It was disappointing.....but nothing we could do. It was out of our control. Good luck and I hope things work out for you! Please post once you hear from Royal!

Karyn :(

[Sunny_Skipper]

Thank goodness you found out before the trip although as some here have said it probably would not matter since the whole ship is chartered and your reservation would be cancelled anyway.

 

I saw some pictures of one of those cruises too like another person was saying and I would never want to be on or anywhere near one of those sailings!

 

Best,

Sunny

:p

[Sunny_Skipper]

I hope you're able to book something comparable without too much difficulty and that you are reimbursed properly!

 

Best,

Sunny

[welshrich]

I wish Royal would show a bit more loyalty to their customers, don't they realise that once we make a booking it's set in stone and everything falls into place around that so we don't need them taking it away once they see the dollar signs from another company. We had a similarish experience onboard Oasis last year, we got on and suddenly realised there was a 'quacker cruise' taking over a lot of the ship too, couldnt escape it or the constant quacking, although once we'd booked airfare etc it would have been too expensive to change.