RCCL- Vacation = Ruined

[cyclenut]

Thank you for sharing your story. I have heard the "advice" from folks saying you have to fly in the day before, but as a family of 6, which always requires two hotel rooms, the cost is often prohibitive. Some here don't seem to understand that there are many different family situations that don't always provide much flexibility. Furthermore, cruise lines really make you feel comfortable (despite what the advice from message boards say) that when they make the arrangements, you have nothing to worry about. The only "fault" you have is trusting that. I have a real hard time with those posters who seem to feel that the fault is yours for putting your trust in the promise made by RCL.

 

Once the problem occurred (missing the ship) I would have expected much better treatment from the cruise line. To me, that is the real issue, and it seems that is your view as well. When they provide you the assurance that someone will be there to greet you and take care of you every step of the way, and the fail to live up to that, it deepens the disappointment. That the room steward didn't make sure your room was completely ready for you (i.e. dealing with the flowers) is a further disappointment. It would have been a very easy and nice gesture to have had someone meet you when you finally arrived and they missed that too.

 

The message I take away from this entire chain of events is that the line really doesn't care what happens with their passengers. It is easy for a company to look good when everything goes well. You can really tell the character of a company by how they respond when things fall apart. RCL failed.

[time4u2go]

Whenever an airline changes a schedule, and if it doesn't coordinate with a connecting flight, you have the option to call the airline direct, give them your Reservation Confirmation Number, and they have to put you on a flight close to what you had originally booked at no additional cost to you....or at least get you to your final destination at approximately the same time as originally booked.

 

Where did you hear this? All they have to do is get you to your destination at no additional cost. There is no law/rule/requirement that states that they have to "get you to your final destination at approximately the same time as originally booked". In many cases, they simply can't, due to flights being full.

[lori450]

I am the Mom that Jenstar is referring to and just want to clarify a few points.

 

1. I have cruised numerous times with RCCL and have been a big supporter of that cruise line.

2. As customers we did what we were supposed to do as a matter of fact I double checked all our arrangements and I was the one who noticed the original scheduale change and notified RCCL when it should have been the other way around.

3. I now find myself in the postion of feeling that I let my family down because they followed my lead and booked with RCCL instead of another cruise line

 

Hopefully RCCL will make things right If not my husband and I will never sail RCCL again

 

Well said. This is not about entitlement as some others say. nor is this about the family doing something wrong. This is simply about terrible customer service, which is ultimately, RCI's business. If I bought a coffee maker from ABC company and the coffee maker broke or didn't work, I would simply buy a coffee maker from XYZ company. I do not hear this family saying anything other than, "why should I continue to purchase a product from a company who has shown to be of inferior quality. There are plenty of other companies who make coffee makers, I'll just try one of those". I'm not hearing that they expect RCI owes them anything. I'm hearing that they would rather not sail with a company who has such poor customer service. It's not them wanting something from RCI. It is whether RCI wants to try to earn their business back. That's all. They are simply waiting to see if RCI wants their future business.

I buy many more things from Amazon than any other online company simply because they stand by their products and will provide excellent customer service. Sometimes it's worth paying a little more to get that customer service. RCI has taken responsibility for dropping the ball. Let's see if they want this family's future business. Plain and simple. No judgements anywhere.

[cruisenfever]

Where did you hear this? All they have to do is get you to your destination at no additional cost. There is no law/rule/requirement that states that they have to "get you to your final destination at approximately the same time as originally booked". In many cases, they simply can't, due to flights being full.

What you said is what I meant to say.........but it didn't come out that way. :o

 

However, our experience has been that they have booked us on more expensive flights, or even put us up in a hotel for a night due to scheduling changes just so that we could arrive when we were originally scheduled to. It all depends on the airline and just how far they are willing to go to keep your business.

 

Because Choice Air is a relatively new service, people think that, like Custom Air, when air arrangements were made, if there were scheduling changes, they were handled by the Custom Air Dept. I do not believe that is how Choice Air works.

[ravenraisin]

My heart goes out to you and your family what a mess that was and YES RCCL failed you and your family.

You deserve to be reimbursed for everything spent and compensated for your time that is THEIR fault.

At the very least all should be given a free cruise as you missed half of it! Just terrible.

[CruisinGerman]

In nearly every other jurisdiction in the world, the laws protect the consumer in this circumstance, and RCCL knows this.

 

Here in Europe, if you book your flights and cruise with RCCL it is considered to be a "package". If any element of your package fails (such as missing the ship because of air problems), RCCL is responsible for either getting you to the ship, or getting you home and refunding the cost of the entire trip, or getting you home and offering you an equal or better trip in lieu of a refund, PLUS covering your out-of-pocket costs and indemnifying you an additional 5% or more of what your vacation cost, depending upon the country where you live. The customer is always given the choice and is never imposed a certain solution.

 

RCCL knows all of this -- they themselves admit in their annual reports that nowadays more than half of their business comes from Europe and other non-U.S. jurisdictions.

 

So if RCCL knows that, by law they have to act a certain way in half the world, why are they so stubborn and obstinant when it comes to their passenger mishandling in the U.S. and Canada?

 

The law might dictate how they must act in Europe, but the law is really no more than a compulsory imposition of LOGICAL good customer service, so I don't understand what RCCL's problem is.

 

I believe the original poster and family suffered a terrible time and should be offered far better compensation than what RCCL appears to be offering.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[toocruisin2]

In nearly every other jurisdiction in the world, the laws protect the consumer in this circumstance, and RCCL knows this.

 

Here in Europe, if you book your flights and cruise with RCCL it is considered to be a "package". If any element of your package fails (such as missing the ship because of air problems), RCCL is responsible for either getting you to the ship, or getting you home and refunding the cost of the entire trip, or getting you home and offering you an equal or better trip in lieu of a refund, PLUS covering your out-of-pocket costs and indemnifying you an additional 5% or more of what your vacation cost, depending upon the country where you live. The customer is always given the choice and is never imposed a certain solution.

 

RCCL knows all of this -- they themselves admit in their annual reports that nowadays more than half of their business comes from Europe and other non-U.S. jurisdictions.

 

So if RCCL knows that, by law they have to act a certain way in half the world, why are they so stubborn and obstinant when it comes to their passenger mishandling in the U.S. and Canada?

 

The law might dictate how they must act in Europe, but the law is really no more than a compulsory imposition of LOGICAL good customer service, so I don't understand what RCCL's problem is.

 

I believe the original poster and family suffered a terrible time and should be offered far better compensation than what RCCL appears to be offering.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

You have it exactly right, and I feel really badly for the OP, as do many others on this thread. My hope is that RCCL does the right thing and makes them happy future cruisers, which in my opinion is an offer of a free cruise for all, with air and hotel, total cost inclusive. Paul

[debache]

I hope that RCI will come back to you with an offer of at least 50% off your next cruise. I understand that that RCI is not responsible for the airline company having a 4 hour delay, just like if you booked through your own TA they would not be responsible if the Airline was delayed. But they are def responsible for not meeting you in Mexico and making sure you were taking care of. I would have been livid and worried if they left me there totally clueless of what was happening.

On a side note, just to let you know when you arrived at 3:40 at the airport and the ship is suppose to leave at 4:30, you are not making that ship (something to do with Homeland security). You need to be on X amount of time before schedule departure, even though the ship did not actually leave port until 6ish.

 

Good luck and I hope RCI makes this good. We all make mistakes, it is what we do to fix the mistakes that counts.

[Marie51]

You have it exactly right' date=' and I feel really badly for the OP, as do many others on this thread. My hope is that RCCL does the right thing and makes them happy future cruisers, which in my opinion is an offer of a free cruise for all, with air and hotel, total cost inclusive. Paul[/quote']

 

Free cruises with air/hotel included for 7 people is probably not going to happen.

 

I think a percentage off a future cruise plus reimbursement for their out of pocket expenses would be fair.

[Maraprince]

This is a case of when something goes bad, it really goes bad!

 

 

 

Probably, if RCCL had someone meet them at the airport as they were originally told they MIGHT have made the ship since it left later than scheduled. It seems that after that point things just snowballed and continued to go right down hill.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[cruisenfever]

This is a case of when something goes bad, it really goes bad!

 

 

 

Probably, if RCCL had someone meet them at the airport as they were originally told they MIGHT have made the ship since it left later than scheduled. It seems that after that point things just snowballed and continued to go right down hill.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

Yep, when it rains it pours.:(

 

The ship was originally scheduled to depart at 4:30 which means they would have to have been checked in by 3PM....which would have complied with being checked in 90 minutes prior to departure. With the ship leaving closer to 6, I still don't believe that they would have made it since they landed at 3:40.

 

Yes, they should have been met at the airport by a rep especially since the OP called RCI from Arkansas to let them know that they would be late.

[travelplus]

I feel sorry that you had this experience. If I knew the Continental Flight had a problem I would have asked Choice Air to endorse my ticket to another airline with better flight schedules. It would be cheaper for Choice Air to do this as opposed to paying to get you to your destination at the next port, hotel, taxi etc.

 

If I knew the schedule was so tight I would be on the phone with RCCL and explain that your Dad is in poor health and having to deal with him in a foreign country is stressful.

 

I would have expected a RCCL agent to wait for you at the airport as Choice Air monitors the flight and if the flight is 45 minutes late they could hold the ship until you arrived for an additional 30 minutes. Even if the manifest says you need to be on board 90 minutes there is leeway in situations like this.

 

RCCL could activate your Sea Pass and all you would have to do is present your Passport and Credit card at the port or on board the ship.

 

In fact it would be nice to have Kiosks at the Airport where you can take your photo for the Sea Pass, scan your Passport and Credit Card. Then you would get your Sea Pass and all you would need to do is visit guest services on board to activate the Sea Pass to access your room.

 

I would write a letter to Adam Goldstein and tell him what you posted here. Clearly Choice Air Dropped the ball.

[travelplus]

The way we have it setup is we leave SFO at 8:45 PM the evening of the 20th and arrive to Miami at 5:00 AM the next flight departs at 7:25 AM arriving SJU at 9:55 AM. This was booked through Choice Air. On the return I am booked on a 10 AM flight from Barcelona-JFK and a 12:55 PM JFK-SFO on the same day the cruise arrives in Barcelona.

 

This is the itinerary Choice Air gave us so if Choice Air wanted you to arrive the day before then they needed to provide this itinerary. The Travel Agent said this is a valid itinerary because the ship departs San Juan at 8:30 PM and arrives Barcelona at 6:30 AM. Since our transfers are booked with RCCL it is their responsibility to meet us.

 

Why doesn't RCCL provide you with the cellphone # of the Transportation Coordinator for the airport? You could have called them and said what was going on. This is the reason to get an unlocked GSM Quadband Phone and SIM Card(prepaid) for emergencies like this whether you are in Mexico, Spain or France you could call a local number using Telestal Pre Paid SIM Card to call the RCCL local office for emergencies like this.

 

If Choice Air cannot guarantee your arrival let alone charges you to change tickets when you have insurance is quite odd. I would have expected you to get a call from Choice Air to say we need to change your itinerary 1 week before the sailing if there were any doubts. They needed to hold the ship for you and bend the 90 minute Manifest Rule. All RCCL needed to do was add you to the Manifest since the flight was delayed. They have your passport# etc. So if they had to hold the ship 30 more minutes for a individual with health issues then so be it.

[DebJ14]

The OP said that 4 days out of 7 were good. I think RCI is factoring in the 4 good days they had on the cruise when coming up with the compensation of expenses + 25% off a future cruise. Considering this is RCI I think this is a generous offer. Sorry, but back in the day when I was a TA RCI was really stingy with compensation. Say what you will about Carnival, but it was always easier to get someone the compensation they deserved from Carnival than from RCI. Yes, they will refund the out of pocket expenses, but they seem more than willing to lose someone's business in the future, regardless of past passenger status. They will just replace a demanding past passenger with a newbie that won't know any better.

[cruisenfever]

I feel sorry that you had this experience. If I knew the Continental Flight had a problem I would have asked Choice Air to endorse my ticket to another airline with better flight schedules. It would be cheaper for Choice Air to do this as opposed to paying to get you to your destination at the next port, hotel, taxi etc.

 

If I knew the schedule was so tight I would be on the phone with RCCL and explain that your Dad is in poor health and having to deal with him in a foreign country is stressful.

 

I would have expected a RCCL agent to wait for you at the airport as Choice Air monitors the flight and if the flight is 45 minutes late they could hold the ship until you arrived for an additional 30 minutes. Even if the manifest says you need to be on board 90 minutes there is leeway in situations like this.

 

RCCL could activate your Sea Pass and all you would have to do is present your Passport and Credit card at the port or on board the ship.

 

In fact it would be nice to have Kiosks at the Airport where you can take your photo for the Sea Pass, scan your Passport and Credit Card. Then you would get your Sea Pass and all you would need to do is visit guest services on board to activate the Sea Pass to access your room.

 

I would write a letter to Adam Goldstein and tell him what you posted here. Clearly Choice Air Dropped the ball.

Before the introduction of Choice Air there was Custom Air where RCI actually booked flights for you and if you booked with a TA, they would only deal with the TA as far as changes made to any flight itinerary. If you wanted a specific flight you would pay a deviation fee (which was waved once for P/D?D+) members. If you didn't want to pay a deviation fee, then you let the RCI Air/Sea Dept. make the appropriate arrangements for you and if there were flight changes, Air/Sea modified the itinerary before any tickets were issued. Normally you never found out about your flight arrangements until your docs were sent to you.

 

Unfortunately, neither Custom Air nor the Air/Sea Dept. exist any longer now that Choice Air has been established. Had the OP had done Custom Air, then yes, the RCI Air/Sea Dept. would have been responsible and the people to contact when the change in schedule was discovered.

 

Choice Air did not make a schedule change........Continental did. If the change wasn't satisfactory to the passenger, which they noticed 2 months prior to leaving, it was up to them to deal directly with the airline to make a more suitable arrangement. Once the tickets were paid for and sent, they became the property of the names listed on the tickets and any changes were their responsibility.

 

That doesn't excuse RCI from not having someone at the airport to meet them.

[emerald rccl]

Whenever an airline changes a schedule, and if it doesn't coordinate with a connecting flight, you have the option to call the airline direct, give them your Reservation Confirmation Number, and they have to put you on a flight close to what you had originally booked at no additional cost to you....or at least get you to your final destination at approximately the same time as originally booked.

 

well that didn't happen this time, as a matter of fact I was told that they had no flights that day that would get us to NO at or around our original time and I was first told by Choice Air that if we changed Airlines we would have to pay the difference 3 months after we paid 7 "non refundable" fares seems fares are only " non refundable" when it suits the airline not when it suits the customer

[lori450]

In nearly every other jurisdiction in the world, the laws protect the consumer in this circumstance, and RCCL knows this.

 

Here in Europe, if you book your flights and cruise with RCCL it is considered to be a "package". If any element of your package fails (such as missing the ship because of air problems), RCCL is responsible for either getting you to the ship, or getting you home and refunding the cost of the entire trip, or getting you home and offering you an equal or better trip in lieu of a refund, PLUS covering your out-of-pocket costs and indemnifying you an additional 5% or more of what your vacation cost, depending upon the country where you live. The customer is always given the choice and is never imposed a certain solution.

 

RCCL knows all of this -- they themselves admit in their annual reports that nowadays more than half of their business comes from Europe and other non-U.S. jurisdictions.

 

So if RCCL knows that, by law they have to act a certain way in half the world, why are they so stubborn and obstinant when it comes to their passenger mishandling in the U.S. and Canada?

 

The law might dictate how they must act in Europe, but the law is really no more than a compulsory imposition of LOGICAL good customer service, so I don't understand what RCCL's problem is.

 

I believe the original poster and family suffered a terrible time and should be offered far better compensation than what RCCL appears to be offering.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Brilliant! I had no idea about this. Thank you for the information.

[CruisinGerman]

Four days out of seven makes nearly 50% of the cruise, so how can you say that 25% discount on a future cruise is generous?

 

In my opinion, adequate would be 50% off a future cruise plus all out of pocket expenses.

 

In my opinion, fair would be a free cruise plus out of pocket expenses.

 

Just my opinion.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[reallyitsmema]

well that didn't happen this time, as a matter of fact I was told that they had no flights that day that would get us to NO at or around our original time and I was first told by Choice Air that if we changed Airlines we would have to pay the difference 3 months after we paid 7 "non refundable" fares seems fares are only " non refundable" when it suits the airline not when it suits the customer

After Continental changed your flights, did you look to see what other flights there were? Had all your connections worked, what time were you actually supposed to get to NO?

[emerald rccl]

The OP said that 4 days out of 7 were good. I think RCI is factoring in the 4 good days they had on the cruise when coming up with the compensation of expenses + 25% off a future cruise. Considering this is RCI I think this is a generous offer. Sorry, but back in the day when I was a TA RCI was really stingy with compensation. Say what you will about Carnival, but it was always easier to get someone the compensation they deserved from Carnival than from RCI. Yes, they will refund the out of pocket expenses, but they seem more than willing to lose someone's business in the future, regardless of past passenger status. They will just replace a demanding past passenger with a newbie that won't know any better.

 

Well Deb unless they come up with a significantly better offer this is one Emerald RCCL who will have to change her name... I'll need more than 25% to entice me to sail with them again. I know I'm expected to negotiate a settlement but right now I feel that their offer was an insult.

[emerald rccl]

Yes, you can pick your flights when you book through Choice Air. I think the problems started when CO changed their schedule from what they had originally booked. I don't understand why they didn't go directly to the airline and work out a new schedule with them instead of getting Choice Air involved since their tickets were already paid for.

 

Didn't know we could do that - thought because RCCL ( Choice AIR) booked the flights they had to make the changes and they were less than helpful doing that... probably because the cost of the flights increased significantly between the time we booked & paid and when they ( the airline) changed their schedule

[Mac303]

Four days out of seven makes nearly 50% of the cruise, so how can you say that 25% discount on a future cruise is generous?

 

In my opinion, adequate would be 50% off a future cruise plus all out of pocket expenses.

 

In my opinion, fair would be a free cruise plus out of pocket expenses.

 

Just my opinion.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

 

I am in complete agreement with you!

 

If you do the math, they lost 4 days out of a 7 day cruise, so they lost 96 hours of a possible 168 hours which is better then 50% lost.

 

as I read the op's postings they were reimbursed for the expenses incurred getting to the ship, nothing about the 4 lost days. The hotel and flights catching up to the ship shouldn't enter into the discussion.

 

An offer of 25% off a future cruise is less then fair they should be reimbursed for the lost 4 days just to make them whole, plus the 25% off a future cruise (OR MORE)

[emerald rccl]

Four days out of seven makes nearly 50% of the cruise, so how can you say that 25% discount on a future cruise is generous?

 

In my opinion, adequate would be 50% off a future cruise plus all out of pocket expenses.

 

In my opinion, fair would be a free cruise plus out of pocket expenses.

 

Just my opinion.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Thanks Gunther - welcome the support and I agree with you the only problem is as a family I doubt if we are ever going to be in a postion to do this all together again... which is another reason why we are so upset

[cruisinquestions]

I think they should reimburse you for your out of pocket expenses due to the delays. However I do not think you should get a free cruise. After all it was your decision to fly in the day of the cruise (always a bad idea) and it was your decision to let RC make your airline reservations(always a bad idea).

Sorry, this is how I feel. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

 

This makes no sense to me. I thought we book with RCI to ENSURE things work out. Now we blame the OP for making that choice? Empathy is so sparse on message boards:rolleyes:

 

I am so sorry this vacation went this way for these ppl.

What a bunch of crap- stranded in Mexico? Horrible. ANY time I am told I will see a rep and dont is a total let down on their part. How I handle it becomes luck of the draw in some cases. WHY should anyone who asks for and is told they will receive help from the cruise company expect any less later when said company fails??

[cruisinquestions]

I do not agree. she made the arrangements through RCI, it was their responsibility to advise her not to fly the same day. Since they did not, the onus is on them.

 

I just wanted to say that I really admired the way you posted this. There was no malice, just balanced facts. As far as what you should get? Over the years, I have given up trying to figure out how they do it. They give less and less every year. Logically, I would think they would reimburse the percentage of the cruise you missed as well as the costs incurred. As far as reimbursement for the "pain and suffering" you were subject to (which seems more than significant), it's anyone's guess what they will do. If you were to ask me, (but no one usually does ;)) I would think that you should be given a replacement cruise. The stress of the multiple problems and especially being abandoned in a foreign country is a very serious matter. It is not just an oops. You (and RCI) are lucky that you made it to the ship unharmed. Whatever they offer, I hope you will choose to remember the part of the cruise that was successful and treasure these memories of your trip with your Dad.

 

There is so much negativity on these boards and not enough empathy I just wanted to say this is a WONDERFUL sensible post in every way. Thank you.