Royal Kicked Us Off!!!

[Pushka]

Thank You. I was trying to find this rule on their webpage. If the OP cruised 31 times, and I believe she has, she should have known this rule before booking this cruise. And her TA should have known this too and mentioned this to her.

 

Her TA was Royal Caribbean as she booked with them direct.

 

Goodness, this issue with 21 year olds is interesting for Australians who want to book as 18 year olds have full adult entitlements here. There is no difference between an 18 year old and a 21 year old. Now, I know people will say this is RCL policy, but if Australians (or similar citizens from similar countries) had this dilema then it begs the question of age discrimination. You can have any policy you want, but not if it contravenes issues of discrimination. Wonder how RCL deals with this in the Oz cruises, of which there are many. It would not even occur to any of us that 18 - 20 year olds couldnt book their own cabin.

 

Yup, wine and beer is alcohol where I come from too although that seems a contentious issue on these boards.

[LittleMissMagic]

Her TA was Royal Caribbean as she booked with them direct.

 

Goodness, this issue with 21 year olds is interesting for Australians who want to book as 18 year olds have full adult entitlements here. There is no difference between an 18 year old and a 21 year old. Now, I know people will say this is RCL policy, but if Australians (or similar citizens from similar countries) had this dilema then it begs the question of age discrimination. You can have any policy you want, but not if it contravenes issues of discrimination. Wonder how RCL deals with this in the Oz cruises, of which there are many. It would not even occur to any of us that 18 - 20 year olds couldnt book their own cabin.

 

Yup, wine and beer is alcohol where I come from too although that seems a contentious issue on these boards.

 

Yes, I have been on cruises where I met 18-20 year olds from Canada, England, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and South Africa - and they were all very upset that they couldn't drink on their vacation, when they are allowed to drink at home.

 

For cruises leaving from anywhere on Royal Caribbean and most other cruiselines, passengers must be 21 or older to travel alone. I guess it's the United States's fault for having a weird and high drinking age. I still have no idea the significance of '21.'

[Cruisin Kay D]

So many incongruities in these rules and I am not talking about "alcohol" but about occupancy!! 2 married 18 year olds can book & cruise!! Oh, but they have to present a marriage license -- so what does that piece of paper prove? Why is it assumed that 2 married 18 yr olds will behave more responsibly than 2 single 18 year olds??

Another RIDICULOUS cruise rule: Also single military 18 year olds can book & cruise -- but can 1 in the military cruise with a friend who is not??

Why should they be judged better than 4 responsible top 10% high school Christian girls, some of whom won't even date a guy that drinks!!! These girls had unrelated adults with them -- me & my husband, both age 70 but not dottering old fools!!!

No condo/hotel/timeshare treats our travels like this!!

[Beachin2]

Everyone understands that it is against Royal's policy. The issue here is that the OP didn't know that it was against policy because she had never encountered that situation before, and the RCI rep let her book three staterooms that went against their policy (perhaps by intentionally entering one of their birth dates incorrectly). The reservation was even flagged, but RCI did not contact the OP telling her that there was a problem with her reservation.

 

Were they planning on contacting her? Or were they going to allow her to arrive at the terminal with four underage girls who would then be denied boarding?

 

Booked direct = they record the booking call. If the OP is 100% accurate in the whole story - the booking tape backs this up.

[praline3001]

6 weeks would put us in the first week of April. Out of curiosity could it have been 7 weeks ago that you booked?? The last week of March, ie. the last week of the 1st quarter?

 

It strikes me as odd that someone who's job it is to enter bookings would make an unintentional mistake with the birthdates like that. Sounds to me like a: take the booking, have it count towards their 1st quarter numbers, who cares if it gets cancelled later on in May.

 

I would agree except that very thing happened to my 15 year old when we first booked our cruise. They had him as 35 years old! I hadn't noticed until I called about another issue. When she was making sure all of our other things were set she mentioned his age. Yup, we had it fixed pretty quickly though he was upset as he thought it would be his chance to drink on the ship HA HA

[Cruisin Kay D]

oops typed on wrong thread!!

[rubrrick]

To the OP. I have read all the way thru this thread, and truly believe that, the fact that you initiated the call, where you were told that due to an error of age, you could not, at this point, travel on their line, is so out of line on Royal Caribbeans part, because your reservation had been flagged, yet they never took the initiative to contact you, and I also believe that you might well have arrived at the pier, just to find that AT THAT POINT.......you would have been turned away.

 

I suggest that you contact your credit card company and initiate a dispute on the charge that Royal Caribbean has taken, because of THEIR cancellation. Do not let them try to use this money for a future cruise, although they may try, saying the mistake was yours, not theirs, in the age error.

 

I have cruised with Royal Caribbean many times, and since Mr. Goldstein's turn at the helm, customer service has slowly deteriorated.

 

It's very sad to see what you have had to deal with here, and I commend you for keeping a cool head, and figuring out an alternative, where I hope that everyone will enjoy themselves.:)

 

I'm not sure if you can do more, because I know that today, Royal Caribbean does not keep notes on reservations taken, as they once did. They no longer take responsibility for their errors (in this case, not trying immediately to get back to you with the age problem), or trying, on a ship that is not full, to accomodate you and all of those with you, in a different cabin.

 

Thanks for telling us your story. I wish you the best! ;)

 

Rick

[suzyed]

That might have been the policy many, many years ago but it definitely is not the current policy for sailings from the US. The current alcohol policy is available on the cruiselines website and you can not sign a waiver for anyone under 21 for a sailing from a US port.

 

Not "many many" years ago...maybe 6.

[suzyed]

Well, that's no longer true, then. From any ship leaving from the US or sailing in US waters, you must be 21 or older to consume alcohol. (btw - beer and wine contain alcohol. Perhaps you meant hard liquor? :D)

 

Two hole punches = under 18 years of age

One hole punch = under 21 years of age (can gamble, can't drink)

No hole punches = 21 years of age or older

 

Of course, hard liquor is what I meant. :rolleyes:

[Cruisin Kay D]

rubrrick -- thank you for your support and kind words. It was poorly handled by RC.

[compman9]

My sincerest sympathies are with the OP. It is a disgraceful way to treat loyal customers.

 

It does raise a question though.

Is RCI's policy legal?

 

All cruise ships are registered in different countries. Presumably so they can avoid tax, like all big companies do.

 

If the laws in these countries consider an 18 year old legally an adult, surely their policies relating to 21 year olds etc., can be contested.

 

After all, all their European cruises have completely different rules. So, it is clearly a flexible company policy.

 

Just asking...

 

And I hope the OP enjoys here condo stay.

[Esmerelda]

As far as I can see from their "policy", you were within it. You were all 3 in a row of cabins with you and your husband in the middle. That is exactly how their policy is worded. As I said before, my kids were always in their own cabin from the booking through the sailing and they started at 10 and 13. I sent an email to RC yesterday inquiring of this "new policy change" to 18 yr old's sailing. I will let you know the response I get. If I'm going to have possibly 3 with me July of 13, I need to know all of this now. I'm not good with surprises. :rolleyes:

[celle]

As far as I can see from their "policy", you were within it. You were all 3 in a row of cabins with you and your husband in the middle. That is exactly how their policy is worded. As I said before, my kids were always in their own cabin from the booking through the sailing and they started at 10 and 13. I sent an email to RC yesterday inquiring of this "new policy change" to 18 yr old's sailing. I will let you know the response I get. If I'm going to have possibly 3 with me July of 13, I need to know all of this now. I'm not good with surprises. :rolleyes:

 

No, that is not what their policy says. And it is not a new policy.

[DonnaK]

As far as I can see from their "policy", you were within it. You were all 3 in a row of cabins with you and your husband in the middle. That is exactly how their policy is worded. As I said before, my kids were always in their own cabin from the booking through the sailing and they started at 10 and 13. I sent an email to RC yesterday inquiring of this "new policy change" to 18 yr old's sailing. I will let you know the response I get. If I'm going to have possibly 3 with me July of 13, I need to know all of this now. I'm not good with surprises. :rolleyes:

 

The policy is worded that YOUR kids can stay in their own cabin.

 

The children that the OP is traveling with are NOT her own kids.

 

Therefore, she is not within the policy.

 

 

Q:* What is Royal Caribbean International's Age Policy?

 

A:* No Guest younger than the age twenty-one (21) will be assigned to a stateroom unless accompanied in the same stateroom by an adult twenty-one (21) years old or older. A guest's age is established upon the first date of sailing.

 

This age limit will be waived for children sailing with their parents or guardians in connecting staterooms; for underage married couples; and for active duty members of the United States or Canadian military.

Certain other restrictions and conditions will apply; such as compliance with the age twenty-one (21) alcohol policy, and proof of marriage for underage couples or proof of active duty military status.required).

[nonna5]

The outcome so far today is that (1) I have booked & paid for a condo on Daytona Beach for 4 nights + booked a timeshare unit for 2 nights in Orlando, and (2) I have not heard a word back from RC, so I am "trusting" that all the cruise fees, taxes + insurance have been credited back to DH's credit card!! (OMG, do I dare "trust" RC now??) Seriously, I am worried that RC will find some excuse not to refund $2500 to me!!! (With the condo+timeshare, I will have to do food shopping & some food prep, which I was hoping to avoid by taking a cruise!!!)

 

Hoping someone from RC has been reading this thread -- amazing to see there have been nearly 7500 views today on this, and also over 100 of you replied & have supported my frustration!!!!

 

Royal does read the boards. If you hear back or not I don't know.

 

Did you try a different cruise line? To bad Royal does not have a forum on their website like Carnival does. There are two ladies over there that handle questions and problems very quickly.

 

I hope you at least get a return call and no problem getting your cc refunded.

[johneeo]

Royal does read the boards.

 

Reading and comprehending are not one and the same, as RCI has so successfully proven.

[GJM]

Just got off Liberty last month - it was me, DH, DS and 2 of his friends. We had a balcony cabin and inside right across the hall.

 

I had to book an adult in each cabin, once on board they didn't care who was in the room. So I booked me & DS in the balcony and DH and the 2 friends in the inside cabin.

 

Once on board we went to Guest Services and got extra keys, so we had a key to the kids cabin and they had one to ours.

 

Before we left we got all the paper notarized for his 2 friends and had copies. When we checked in, they didn't even ask for any paperwork.

[bama14fan]

We will be leaving on a FOS in two weeks, and then I saw this post. So I spoke with a Royal Carribean Supervisor and she stated the same answer as this reply from DonnaK. Your room must be near your kids rooms. The key words are YOUR KIDS. This is not a new policy. We put a 21 year old in all three rooms to cover this situation. The problem is when they made the reservations someone should have stated this policy. Royal Carribean is a great organization, but like any organization nothing is perfect.

[Dave85]

So sorry to hear about this OP... if they give you any trouble with the refund make sure to dispute the charges with your credit card company (although I'm sure you already know that!)

 

Keep us posted! I'm hoping that (if nothing else) CC will do an investigation like they did for tobaccogate and post an article about this to warn people!

[HB Cruiser]

Keep us posted! I'm hoping that (if nothing else) CC will do an investigation like they did for tobaccogate and post an article about this to warn people!

 

There is nothing to warn about. They are following the policy.

 

The problem is the original reservation had the wrong birthyear of a younger passenger makine her "responsible" for that cabin. When RCCL found the mistake, actually when the OP informed them of the mistake, which was within about 10 days of the sailing, in their infinite wisdom decided this family and group of friends could not sail.

 

Sorry, I don't get it. I'm sure policy has been broken before and if there was EVER a reason to turn your back on policy, this was the time. The mistake was made by their employee, they needed to live with it.

 

I own a business and we have policies. We too sometimes have to break our policy if we have screwed up. The problem is not with the policies, it lies in the fact that an employee messed up, they are human, suck it up and go on, even if it costs the company money or not. Had RCCL done this, we all would not be posting or reading this thread. In this case it is money (her three cabin income) AND customers they are gonna lose. There are gonna be some customers read this that will never cruise RCCL again.

 

Tim

[FLACRUISER99]

Whatever happened to "Common Sense"??

[johneeo]

I own a business and we have policies. We too sometimes have to break our policy if we have screwed up. The problem is not with the policies, it lies in the fact that an employee messed up, they are human, suck it up and go on, even if it costs the company money or not. Had RCCL done this, we all would not be posting or reading this thread. In this case it is money (her three cabin income) AND customers they are gonna lose. There are gonna be some customers read this that will never cruise RCCL again.

 

Tim

 

Nicely said, and for the most part, the great majority of sane people would agree with you. What is incredible is that RCI Management would not.

 

It is incomprehensible how utterly incompetent RCI Management has to be to allow such things like this to happen on a rather regular basis.

[reallyitsmema]

Whatever happened to "Common Sense"??

Common sense is not as common as it used to be.

 

Who do you feel is lacking it? I think the OP has handled this situation much better than many on these boards would have, the cruiseline on the other hand once again has proven they have no clue.

[DCwom]

Whatever happened to "Common Sense"??

 

Unfortunately, one person's common sense isn't the same as another. That's why businesses have policies, to keep the lawyers at bay.

[Smurphy]

Sorry to the OP for this mess-up on RC's part.

 

IMHO, RC should have moved you to the Jr. Suites at no additional cost to you since it was their mistake.