RC Customer Service

[vetteguy91]

I booked my first cruise a few weeks ago through the RC web site and then two weeks ago sent RC an email with a question. It took over a week to get a response that didn't really answer my question, tonight I decided to change our dinner reservations from 6pm to MTD but when I called RC I got a message that the wait time was going to be "more than 30 minutes". I have 2 questions, is there a better way to try to communicate with these people, and is this the kind of service and response I will get on the ship?

[sleepybert]

I would suggest trying to call back later or in the morning. I have called numerous times over the years and have never had to wait that long, they must be swamped or something. Also, if you get somebody that doesn't help - call back and the next person will probably be much more helpful.

[bigkauhuna]

The only time we have been put on wait is when they are checking with another person to see if you can get what you want.

[maureencruiser]

Did you try to change your dining on the website? If you can, that would be so much easier. I do NOT recommend trying to call them tomorrow morning as that is when the Tuesday sale is and they will probably be swamped. Have you tried calling late at night, I believe they are open 24 hours - call them when everybody else is asleep! :p

[MikeKool]

Did you try to change your dining on the website? If you can, that would be so much easier. I do NOT recommend trying to call them tomorrow morning as that is when the Tuesday sale is and they will probably be swamped. Have you tried calling late at night, I believe they are open 24 hours - call them when everybody else is asleep! :p

 

You must be confusing RCI with Carnival. RCI is NOT open for reservations 24hrs. Many times lately RCI has had me "on hold" for very extended periods of time. Personally I don't think they have enough staff and overall I've never been real happy with their customer service. I have sailed with them over 15 times.....but I'm NOT "Loyal to the Royal. LOL.

[xxHadleyxx]

You probably hit a very busy time, I would just try again later. I've had that same thing happen when I call Disney, Princess, etc--just about any large travel related business will have times where you hit a big call queue.

 

And, no, I do not think that is indicative of the service on board.

 

You must be confusing RCI with Carnival. RCI is NOT open for reservations 24hrs. Many times lately RCI has had me "on hold" for very extended periods of time. Personally I don't think they have enough staff and overall I've never been real happy with their customer service. I have sailed with them over 15 times.....but I'm NOT "Loyal to the Royal. LOL.

 

What are their hours then? We have called the US line from Germany in our morning hours, which are the middle of the night US time, and always gotten an answer. Usually on Sunday mornings if we have a question (you cannot talk to the German office on Sundays, or after 6:00 pm, etc).

[lady_cruiser]

I hear that canned "30 minute wait, call back later" on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival all the time. I continue to hold and usually have a live person within 10 minutes. I only hang up if I have to wait after 12 minutes.

[uksimonusa]

You must be confusing RCI with Carnival. RCI is NOT open for reservations 24hrs. Many times lately RCI has had me "on hold" for very extended periods of time. Personally I don't think they have enough staff and overall I've never been real happy with their customer service. I have sailed with them over 15 times.....but I'm NOT "Loyal to the Royal. LOL.

 

In the US and Canada they are open 24/7

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/contactUs.do?cS=NAVBAR&pnav=5&snav=1

[cruisinfanatic]

I booked my first cruise a few weeks ago through the RC web site and then two weeks ago sent RC an email with a question. It took over a week to get a response that didn't really answer my question, tonight I decided to change our dinner reservations from 6pm to MTD but when I called RC I got a message that the wait time was going to be "more than 30 minutes". I have 2 questions, is there a better way to try to communicate with these people, and is this the kind of service and response I will get on the ship?

As others have said, call when it's not peek time. Would rarely be 30 minutes even if the recording says that. Service on the ship has nothing to do with this issue.

 

I believe the added wait time lately is because of all the Carnival cruisers flocking to Royal Caribbean

[TEXASMUNK]

Converdation ended with, "call us anytime, we are open 24 hours a day"

I was surprised, used the tthink they closed around 9 pm central time.

[tneah]

If I am given a long wait time, I just put them on speaker phone until I hear a live person. I do other things while waiting.

 

Twice when i called them, I expected to wait 20 minutes. I figured while I was waiting that I would get my papers and questions in order. At another time, I had just put something in my mouth. Nope! They answered right away. Try those tricks first.:D

[vetteguy91]

My frustration level has almost reached the boiling point. I finally got thruough to RCCL only gto be told that I did not book my reservation thruogh their web site, even though I know that I did. They told me I had to call a travel agency that I had never heard of Holiday In Motion. I called these people only to get a message telling me that the only way to contact them was to leave a message and they would call me back. 3 hours later they called me back while I was in a meeting, but they let me another number to call. When I called it, all I got was a message telling me to leave a message and they would call back. RCCL customer serve has to be the worst on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!

[cruisenfever]

My frustration level has almost reached the boiling point. I finally got thruough to RCCL only gto be told that I did not book my reservation thruogh their web site, even though I know that I did. They told me I had to call a travel agency that I had never heard of Holiday In Motion. I called these people only to get a message telling me that the only way to contact them was to leave a message and they would call me back. 3 hours later they called me back while I was in a meeting, but they let me another number to call. When I called it, all I got was a message telling me to leave a message and they would call back. RCCL customer serve has to be the worst on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!

If you booked your cruise through RCI on line you should have received a booking number. You said that you sent an email an you did finally get a response. Who sent you the email?

[SoCA6ft5]

My frustration level has almost reached the boiling point. I finally got thruough to RCCL only gto be told that I did not book my reservation thruogh their web site, even though I know that I did. They told me I had to call a travel agency that I had never heard of Holiday In Motion. I called these people only to get a message telling me that the only way to contact them was to leave a message and they would call me back. 3 hours later they called me back while I was in a meeting, but they let me another number to call. When I called it, all I got was a message telling me to leave a message and they would call back. RCCL customer serve has to be the worst on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!

As someone who has experienced cruiseline customer service at its worst (at least in my opinion/experience) I can sympathize. However, I would suggest stepping back a bit to figure out what's happened. Since it seems it wouldn't make financial sense to unilaterally transfer your reservation to a TA (and have to pay a comission), when you booked were you responding to an offer in an email? I ask because quite often emails from travel agents look deceptively like they are from the cruiseline itself.

I recently transferred a reservation made online with RCI to a TA in order to get an OBC the TA was offering. I checked and the options to select dining preferences is no longer on my cruise web page, so indeed you will need to make the change through the TA. I've found this to be the case with any cruiseline I've sailed.

As for RCI's customer service, my experience has been positive. I just came off the Oasis recently and was impressed with the phone service rep I contacted before the cruise and RCI's response to the reduced staffing by US Customs (RCI employees were everywhere during embarkation helping folks find the shortest lines, such that the line never stopped moving).

I hope this gets solved quickly for you so you can get back to looking forward to and having a great trip!

[maureencruiser]

You must be confusing RCI with Carnival. RCI is NOT open for reservations 24hrs. Many times lately RCI has had me "on hold" for very extended periods of time. Personally I don't think they have enough staff and overall I've never been real happy with their customer service. I have sailed with them over 15 times.....but I'm NOT "Loyal to the Royal. LOL.

:mad: Hell, no!! MikeNOTKool!! Them is fightin' words where I come from! From the Royal Caribbean website -If you are in the US or Canada:

Reserve your Royal Caribbean Vacation

by calling our Certified Vacation Planners

Call us anytime! We are available 24/7

[Merion_Mom]

My frustration level has almost reached the boiling point. I finally got thruough to RCCL only gto be told that I did not book my reservation thruogh their web site, even though I know that I did. They told me I had to call a travel agency that I had never heard of Holiday In Motion. I called these people only to get a message telling me that the only way to contact them was to leave a message and they would call me back. 3 hours later they called me back while I was in a meeting, but they let me another number to call. When I called it, all I got was a message telling me to leave a message and they would call back. RCCL customer serve has to be the worst on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!

 

As someone who has experienced cruiseline customer service at its worst (at least in my opinion/experience) I can sympathize. However, I would suggest stepping back a bit to figure out what's happened. Since it seems it wouldn't make financial sense to unilaterally transfer your reservation to a TA (and have to pay a comission), when you booked were you responding to an offer in an email? I ask because quite often emails from travel agents look deceptively like they are from the cruiseline itself.

I recently transferred a reservation made online with RCI to a TA in order to get an OBC the TA was offering. I checked and the options to select dining preferences is no longer on my cruise web page, so indeed you will need to make the change through the TA. I've found this to be the case with any cruiseline I've sailed.

As for RCI's customer service, my experience has been positive. I just came off the Oasis recently and was impressed with the phone service rep I contacted before the cruise and RCI's response to the reduced staffing by US Customs (RCI employees were everywhere during embarkation helping folks find the shortest lines, such that the line never stopped moving).

I hope this gets solved quickly for you so you can get back to looking forward to and having a great trip!

 

This is what occurred to me, too. Did you use any sort of code that you received in the mail?

 

If you booked simply by opening up RC's website, finding a cruise, and clicking on "book this cabin", then I cannot imagine what is going wrong.

[maureencruiser]

If you booked simply by opening up RC's website, finding a cruise, and clicking on "book this cabin", then I cannot imagine what is going wrong.

I totally agree - Vetteguy, can you pull up your res on RCCL's website using your confirmation number? It sounds like you have gotten into something else. Cancel this and rebook by calling RCCL directly if you can. And no, this is not the level of service I have EVER experienced on RCCL, either on the phone or on the ship. I think you have a ghost booking. Google that travel agency and see what you find.

[maureencruiser]

And to answer my own question, I just went into my reservation through the website and you can change your dining preference with one click of your mouse......

[lilybob]

For dining issues you can also email :

RCLDining@rccl.com

 

I wanted to change the date of my Chef's Table and received a response within a few days and was able to verify that it was done through my reservation online.

 

I also had another question and it took about 10 days for them to get back to me...with an apology for the delay;)

[xxHadleyxx]

My frustration level has almost reached the boiling point. I finally got thruough to RCCL only gto be told that I did not book my reservation thruogh their web site, even though I know that I did. They told me I had to call a travel agency that I had never heard of Holiday In Motion. I called these people only to get a message telling me that the only way to contact them was to leave a message and they would call me back. 3 hours later they called me back while I was in a meeting, but they let me another number to call. When I called it, all I got was a message telling me to leave a message and they would call back. RCCL customer serve has to be the worst on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Is it possible that there was a typo or misspelling when you put in RCI's web address? I occasionally make a typo and pull up a website for a TA that tried to LOOK like you are on RCI's real site. It could be very confusing if you are not already familiar with what the site SHOULD look like to recognize that you are in the wrong place. Perhaps you thought you booked through Royal's website when in fact you were booking though the TA they told you about?

[xxHadleyxx]

I did some googling. Holidays In Motion links you directly to RCI's website to make the actual booking but you have to click that you accept being linked over to do it and are still using them as your TA. It is a VERY odd set up. But I bet that you ended up in that somehow.

[MikeKool]

:mad: Hell, no!! MikeNOTKool!! Them is fightin' words where I come from! From the Royal Caribbean website -If you are in the US or Canada:

Reserve your Royal Caribbean Vacation

by calling our Certified Vacation Planners

Call us anytime! We are available 24/7

 

Unless my last name changed.......Kool IS the abbreviation. Cool may be the temperature but please don't change my last name. At 5am today I just called the number my travel agent uses to book RCI cruises. I got a recorded message that said "All their offices are currently closed". However I see from other posters there is a 24/7 number and someone did answer that line. Don't know what kind of service one would get.....but I'm sure they'll take your order.