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[dlong1969]

We had a great cruise on the Freedom of the Seas on September 16th. We had been looking forward to the cruise for 12 months. We booked it as soon as we got back from the Freedom of the Seas in September 2011. To our utter surprise and joy, we were able to secure cabin 1400! No aft balconies appeared online, so I called C&A, since sometimes you can't see all the cabins. While I was talking to the rep, 1400 suddenly freed up... so I told her "GRAB IT!!! GRAB IT NOW!!"...

 

Needless to say, daydreams of watching the beautiful sunset over the wake from our balcony from this cabin cost me a LOT of time at work over the course of the year.

 

3 days before we left our hometown, I printed our set-sail pass... cabin 1400 listed in wonderful letters! So excited! The night before we left our town, I get a call from Customer Loyalty at RC, thanking me for cruising with them so often and wishing me a wonderful trip.

 

When we get to check in, I hand her my set sail pass, and she goes off to get our SeaPass cards... she is running back and forth, looking confused... she comes back and apologizes and tells me she cannot find our cards.... interesting. My gut sinks... I suspect that since we are diamond, they probably upgraded us... but I specifically stated in my preferences NO UPGRADES without notification... so SURELY that cannot be the case, can it? They wouldn't give away the cabin I waited an entire YEAR for, would they?

 

She returns and says "Found you! It would help if I looked in the right place! You are not in cabin 1400, you are in cabin 1602".... great. I check my phone real quick (RC app) and see that 1602 is a Junior Suite, on the side of the ship, towards the front. NOT WHAT I WANTED.... I try to reason with the check in desk, and they tell me there is nothing they can do, that I need to talk to the Customer Relations desk on the ship.

 

Fine. I get on the ship, go to Guest Services and try to figure out what we can do about getting my cabin back. They state that I am still in 1400... what?? Ship didn't get updated with the information yet. Apparently I was upgraded at the pier. Nice. They tell me that the only way I can get my cabin back is if the people who now have my cabin agree to switch. WHAT?? I HAD IT FIRST! And those guests had not yet arrived, so we would have had to wait and hash it out when they got there. I told guest relations that we would just take the cabin, but they should send us a bottle of wine for our troubles. "No problem, Mr Long... we certainly will do that. We apologize for the mixup, welcome back"... oh, and BTW, your luggage is still going to 1400, so we will have to get that figured out too. (bottle of wine never showed up either, btw)

 

Ok, the cabin was nice. The cruise was great... but it wasn't the view I had selected and paid for....

 

Fast forward coming home... I check our points to see if we at least got double points for the Junior Suite. That is the least they could do since they forced us into an upgrade we didn't want... nope. Single points.

 

I call C&A to try to negotiate the points. I go through the entire story with 3 different people to try to get some satisfaction. I am told that they cannot give me the points since it is a complimentary upgrade, but they can give my wife and I each 50 dollars OBC to be used within a year. (which I still have not seen, btw). They told me that the call I received should have informed me about the upgrade (which it did NOT.. I checked with my wife, as I put the call on speakerphone so she could hear it too... and she agreed, no notification) and that my preferences did not state that we needed notification. I KNOW THEY DID, I SET THEM ON PURPOSE after reading about nightmares like this on these boards. I checked my preferences... all of my preferences were gone. They had been wiped out. GIft preference, bed preference, dining preference, upgrade preference, everything.

 

While I appreciate the gesture of 100.00 in onboard credit, I feel like I was probably under-compensated due to the total impact of our vacation, not to mention the amount of money I have spent with the company. We had been looking forward to cabin 1400 on the Freedom of the Seas for a solid year, only to have this cabin taken from us at the dock with no real recourse available. Yes, we were upgraded.. but my preferences CLEARLY state NO UPGRADES without approval. This did not happen. We were upgraded without notification. We LOVE aft facing balcony cabins. We LOVE being able to watch the wake. That is one of our favorite parts of cruising and we will choose ships/itineraries/dates based on the availability of such cabins. To have this cabin taken away from us after 12 months of anticipation was a very large disappointment. Another thing that I didn't realize, but my wife mentioned, was that the Royal Caribbean robes were not placed in our cabins either.

 

Overall we enjoy our experiences with Royal Caribbean and intend to continue to cruise with the company... however this sort of thing is a black mark in our memories. We no longer can count on being excited about a particular cabin, as Royal Caribbean may arbitrarily move us without notification. It doesn't seem like it is valuable to book early any longer, since prices often drop after final payment and no adjustments can be made, and cabin selection does not appear to be guaranteed any longer.

 

Moral of the story: Check your preferences, they may have been wiped out.

[gmacruiser418]

I've been in 1700 before, I agree with you, an upgrade to a regular JS is not worth giving up the corner aft. it's actually about the same size as the JS and has the great wake view. I go into my preferences before each cruise to ensure that what we have is what I want for that particular cruise. I did mess up on a cruise recently because we were sailing 3 weeks apart, I had to register my DH because we were in separate cabins and his stated do not move because we were traveling with others. mine said we could move. I was disappointed when we didn't get the upgrade on another cruise which I know they offered upgrades to diamond members and we're D+. but I do think it's good to register both members because that's when I started getting double gifts.

[The Sunset Glow]

That's just awful!! We have an aft balcony booked on Navigator for February - cabin 1388. I do NOT want an upgrade of any kind. On RCI website the preference choices are 1) upgrade automatically or 2) upgrade but with restrictions. But none of the restrictions seem to suit my situation. There's no "do not upgrade" choice. Does anyone know how I go about making sure they do not upgrade us?:confused:

[dchillis]

I just checked my preferences and I don't see a "contact me for upgrade" box to check.

[dchillis]

That's just awful!! We have an aft balcony booked on Navigator for February - cabin 1388. I do NOT want an upgrade of any kind. On RCI website the preference choices are 1) upgrade automatically or 2) upgrade but with restrictions. But none of the restrictions seem to suit my situation. There's no "do not upgrade" choice. Does anyone know how I go about making sure they do not upgrade us?:confused:

 

Now that is strange I have that option but I don't have the contact me for upgrade option, just the upgrade restrictions.

 

Now this comment is really out there but, I'm wondering Rccl is selling the Aft rooms for a higher price and then upgrading people that had the cabin originally into a JS that didn't sell. Aft cabins are probably one of the most prized cabins on the ship. Oh conspiracy :eek:

[Trekker954]

We had a great cruise on the Freedom of the Seas on September 16th. We had been looking forward to the cruise for 12 months. We booked it as soon as we got back from the Freedom of the Seas in September 2011. To our utter surprise and joy, we were able to secure cabin 1400! No aft balconies appeared online, so I called C&A, since sometimes you can't see all the cabins. While I was talking to the rep, 1400 suddenly freed up... so I told her "GRAB IT!!! GRAB IT NOW!!"...

 

Needless to say, daydreams of watching the beautiful sunset over the wake from our balcony from this cabin cost me a LOT of time at work over the course of the year.

 

3 days before we left our hometown, I printed our set-sail pass... cabin 1400 listed in wonderful letters! So excited! The night before we left our town, I get a call from Customer Loyalty at RC, thanking me for cruising with them so often and wishing me a wonderful trip.

 

When we get to check in, I hand her my set sail pass, and she goes off to get our SeaPass cards... she is running back and forth, looking confused... she comes back and apologizes and tells me she cannot find our cards.... interesting. My gut sinks... I suspect that since we are diamond, they probably upgraded us... but I specifically stated in my preferences NO UPGRADES without notification... so SURELY that cannot be the case, can it? They wouldn't give away the cabin I waited an entire YEAR for, would they?

 

She returns and says "Found you! It would help if I looked in the right place! You are not in cabin 1400, you are in cabin 1602".... great. I check my phone real quick (RC app) and see that 1602 is a Junior Suite, on the side of the ship, towards the front. NOT WHAT I WANTED.... I try to reason with the check in desk, and they tell me there is nothing they can do, that I need to talk to the Customer Relations desk on the ship.

 

Fine. I get on the ship, go to Guest Services and try to figure out what we can do about getting my cabin back. They state that I am still in 1400... what?? Ship didn't get updated with the information yet. Apparently I was upgraded at the pier. Nice. They tell me that the only way I can get my cabin back is if the people who now have my cabin agree to switch. WHAT?? I HAD IT FIRST! And those guests had not yet arrived, so we would have had to wait and hash it out when they got there. I told guest relations that we would just take the cabin, but they should send us a bottle of wine for our troubles. "No problem, Mr Long... we certainly will do that. We apologize for the mixup, welcome back"... oh, and BTW, your luggage is still going to 1400, so we will have to get that figured out too. (bottle of wine never showed up either, btw)

 

Ok, the cabin was nice. The cruise was great... but it wasn't the view I had selected and paid for....

 

Fast forward coming home... I check our points to see if we at least got double points for the Junior Suite. That is the least they could do since they forced us into an upgrade we didn't want... nope. Single points.

 

I call C&A to try to negotiate the points. I go through the entire story with 3 different people to try to get some satisfaction. I am told that they cannot give me the points since it is a complimentary upgrade, but they can give my wife and I each 50 dollars OBC to be used within a year. (which I still have not seen, btw). They told me that the call I received should have informed me about the upgrade (which it did NOT.. I checked with my wife, as I put the call on speakerphone so she could hear it too... and she agreed, no notification) and that my preferences did not state that we needed notification. I KNOW THEY DID, I SET THEM ON PURPOSE after reading about nightmares like this on these boards. I checked my preferences... all of my preferences were gone. They had been wiped out. GIft preference, bed preference, dining preference, upgrade preference, everything.

 

While I appreciate the gesture of 100.00 in onboard credit, I feel like I was probably under-compensated due to the total impact of our vacation, not to mention the amount of money I have spent with the company. We had been looking forward to cabin 1400 on the Freedom of the Seas for a solid year, only to have this cabin taken from us at the dock with no real recourse available. Yes, we were upgraded.. but my preferences CLEARLY state NO UPGRADES without approval. This did not happen. We were upgraded without notification. We LOVE aft facing balcony cabins. We LOVE being able to watch the wake. That is one of our favorite parts of cruising and we will choose ships/itineraries/dates based on the availability of such cabins. To have this cabin taken away from us after 12 months of anticipation was a very large disappointment. Another thing that I didn't realize, but my wife mentioned, was that the Royal Caribbean robes were not placed in our cabins either.

 

Overall we enjoy our experiences with Royal Caribbean and intend to continue to cruise with the company... however this sort of thing is a black mark in our memories. We no longer can count on being excited about a particular cabin, as Royal Caribbean may arbitrarily move us without notification. It doesn't seem like it is valuable to book early any longer, since prices often drop after final payment and no adjustments can be made, and cabin selection does not appear to be guaranteed any longer.

 

Moral of the story: Check your preferences, they may have been wiped out.

 

we booked an aft corner balcony on the radiance and booked it 19 months in advance. 9 months out C&A called us to offer us a JS as they wanted our cabin for a b2b. We declined as there is NO WAY a JS would have been better than our aft. We told them maybe for a GS, but that wasn't the offer. I am so grateful they checked first as I hear more and more that they don't.

[mrsdoc3]

That's just awful!! We have an aft balcony booked on Navigator for February - cabin 1388. I do NOT want an upgrade of any kind. On RCI website the preference choices are 1) upgrade automatically or 2) upgrade but with restrictions. But none of the restrictions seem to suit my situation. There's no "do not upgrade" choice. Does anyone know how I go about making sure they do not upgrade us?:confused:

 

I have the same issue. Have an aft balcony booked on Navigator in December (my first), and probably wouldn't want to upgrade (especially if it's just to a D1 from an E1). I may reconsider for any type of suite, but I would like to make the decision -- I wouldn't want RCI to make it for me.

[rajacks]

I just looked at my upgrade preferences on the RCI website, and don't see a 'Do not upgrade' or 'Contact to upgrade' option. How can you avoid an upgrade without your approval? We have 7388 on the Mariner booked in March and I would NOT be happy if they moved us. Does it do any good to call C&A? Can they put a note on the account?

[dchillis]

I am so grateful they checked first as I hear more and more that they don't.

 

This has a familiar ring to it as far a travel goes. Lets see I just booked my flight to Orlando (good route, happy) but then I get an email telling me my flight has been changed (crappy route, not happy). ring a ding ding...:eek:

[Clarea]

I just looked at my upgrade preferences on the RCI website, and don't see a 'Do not upgrade' or 'Contact to upgrade' option. How can you avoid an upgrade without your approval? We have 7388 on the Mariner booked in March and I would NOT be happy if they moved us. Does it do any good to call C&A? Can they put a note on the account?

Yes, you can call C&A and have them put a "Do not upgrade" note into your booking(s).

[dlong1969]

The preferences screen has changed, and Royal Caribbean has, in their infinite wisdom, left out the option for "no upgrades without approval". This used to be a selection on the options screen. I told C&A to note my account in a very obvious way that under no circumstances am I to be upgraded without consent. My wife's account has been noted also.

 

If I don't see the OBC in the next week, I may have to escalate this and see if I can't get them to increase the compensation. The more I think about this, the more irritated I get. We really needed this vacation and really needed it to be what we had anticipated. I can see if something happens outside of Royal Caribbean's control (like bad weather in hurricane season), but this was in their control. And as Diamond members, we have spent a good chunk of change with them. We always cruise D1 or above, always spend money on the ship, etc. You would think that they would be more willing to do something for us. If the OBC comes, I will take it and be quiet, because I agreed to it.. but if it doesn't, game on.

 

Don

[dlong1969]

This has a familiar ring to it as far a travel goes. Lets see I just booked my flight to Orlando (good route, happy) but then I get an email telling me my flight has been changed (crappy route, not happy). ring a ding ding...:eek:

 

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT!!!!

 

American Airlines lost me for good! Every time I fly with them, they screw it up. We booked with American even though it was more expensive because they had a direct flight option for the times we wanted. At 4:30 AM, their bot calls me at the hotel and tells me that our 7:57 AM flight was cancelled and they had rebooked us on a flight with connections at 7:30 PM. NOT ACCEPTABLE. I call and get a warm body, and tell them that I am not accepting the change, and that they needed to get me out of ORD as soon as possible

 

They book us on a flight with a connection in MIA leaving at 7:00 AM. Had to get the wife moving and really bust butt so we could get to the airport on time. The worst part about it is this: I could have booked the flight we were stuck with for 100.00 per person less than the direct flight... but we didn't because we wanted the direct flight... SO, they still got their 100.00 per person and we still got the crappy flight with the connection in MIA...

 

Back to United for me. This is the 3rd time in a row for American to screw things up.

[dchillis]

The preferences screen has changed, and Royal Caribbean has, in their infinite wisdom, left out the option for "no upgrades without approval". This used to be a selection on the options screen. I told C&A to note my account in a very obvious way that under no circumstances am I to be upgraded without consent. My wife's account has been noted also.

 

If I don't see the OBC in the next week, I may have to escalate this and see if I can't get them to increase the compensation. The more I think about this, the more irritated I get. We really needed this vacation and really needed it to be what we had anticipated. I can see if something happens outside of Royal Caribbean's control (like bad weather in hurricane season), but this was in their control. And as Diamond members, we have spent a good chunk of change with them. We always cruise D1 or above, always spend money on the ship, etc. You would think that they would be more willing to do something for us. If the OBC comes, I will take it and be quiet, because I agreed to it.. but if it doesn't, game on.

 

Don

 

oh wow I see now I don't have the option for NO UPGRADE.

[bajathree]

You were upgraded from a D1 balcony cabin to a Junior Suite...ok so the D1 was an aft...still don't see the big deal as I would take the JS any day....then you even got them to give you compensation above that...and your still not happy.

[dchillis]

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT!!!!

 

American Airlines lost me for good! Every time I fly with them, they screw it up. We booked with American even though it was more expensive because they had a direct flight option for the times we wanted. At 4:30 AM, their bot calls me at the hotel and tells me that our 7:57 AM flight was cancelled and they had rebooked us on a flight with connections at 7:30 PM. NOT ACCEPTABLE. I call and get a warm body, and tell them that I am not accepting the change, and that they needed to get me out of ORD as soon as possible

 

They book us on a flight with a connection in MIA leaving at 7:00 AM. Had to get the wife moving and really bust butt so we could get to the airport on time. The worst part about it is this: I could have booked the flight we were stuck with for 100.00 per person less than the direct flight... but we didn't because we wanted the direct flight... SO, they still got their 100.00 per person and we still got the crappy flight with the connection in MIA...

 

Back to United for me. This is the 3rd time in a row for American to screw things up.

 

Are you saying that they changed your flight on the day of your flight?

[dchillis]

You were upgraded from a D1 balcony cabin to a Junior Suite...ok so the D1 was an aft...still don't see the big deal as I would take the JS any day....then you even got them to give you compensation above that...and your still not happy.

 

You'd take a JS over a back of the ship Aft cabin? hmmm not me

[bajathree]

you'd take a js over a back of the ship aft cabin? hmmm not me

 

any day

[dlong1969]

Are you saying that they changed your flight on the day of your flight?

 

yep... 2.0 hours before we were due in the airport.

[dlong1969]

You were upgraded from a D1 balcony cabin to a Junior Suite...ok so the D1 was an aft...still don't see the big deal as I would take the JS any day....then you even got them to give you compensation above that...and your still not happy.

 

After you have cruised some time, you learn that you prefer certain things. There is NO WAY I would take a Junior Suite over an aft balcony D1. NEVER. The cabin is the same size as a Junior, but the view is much better, the location very quiet and private....

 

I feel compensation is in order because I did NOT get what I paid for. I don't care if they gave me what they considered "more" or not. I looked forward to this particular cabin for a year.

 

I am glad you would take the JS. I would not. And when you pay for something, you expect that it should be delivered.

[pkexton]

You'd take a JS over a back of the ship Aft cabin? hmmm not me

 

Me neither - RCCL tried to do that to us on the Empress (we had a regular balcony aft cabin) and right after final payment they called our TA to see if we wanted an upgrade to a JS - since that ship is small - the sq. footage was no different and we liked the layout of our aft - we declined. Well the day before in the morning I happened to pull up our ressie & saw they switched us to a JS (never contacted our TA) I called our TA (she was on vacation) & it took her 1 1/2 hrs to get our cabin back. They didn't offer us anything (refund, etc) and at the time the prices of the JS were LESS than what we paid for our regular balcony.

 

Pat

[Cigar King]

My assumption is that if you have NONE of the boxes checked on the upgrade profile they will NOT upgrade you automatically. Is that not the case?

[bajathree]

After you have cruised some time, you learn that you prefer certain things. There is NO WAY I would take a Junior Suite over an aft balcony D1. NEVER. The cabin is the same size as a Junior, but the view is much better, the location very quiet and private....

 

I feel compensation is in order because I did NOT get what I paid for. I don't care if they gave me what they considered "more" or not. I looked forward to this particular cabin for a year.

 

I am glad you would take the JS. I would not. And when you pay for something, you expect that it should be delivered.

 

Well if you felt that strongly...you should have had your TA call Royal and had the reservation noted NO UPGRADE. I get that that you did have checked do not upgrade without notification....but that still kind of means that you are interested in upgrading. You did get a future OBC (THAT YOU AGREED UPON)...IMO that was already being gracious... now you want to call and renegotiate...good luck with that.

[bajathree]

My assumption is that if you have NONE of the boxes checked on the upgrade profile they will NOT upgrade you automatically. Is that not the case?

 

If you absolutely do not want to be upgraded...call Royal and have it noted on the resi...I am sure they would be very happy to pass the upgrade onto someone that would be happy with it.

[Desertbelle]

I know people do go crazy over the aft balcony cabins, but I would happily take a JS upgrade over an aft or any other kind of regular balcony.

 

Too bad an upgrade was wasted on someone who doesn't appreciate it when there are hundreds of us who have never had one and who would be thrilled to get one.:(

[Cigar King]

If you absolutely do not want to be upgraded...call Royal and have it noted on the resi...I am sure they would be very happy to pass the upgrade onto someone that would be happy with it.

 

Actually, what I want is for them to call me and ASK if I want an upgrade. That gives me the opportunity to decide if the upgrade is something I want. Let's face it, some of these upgrades are little more than changing the room location. That probably doesn't interest me, since we usually pick a specific location. If you want to upgrade our JS to GS, then I might be interested.