Disappointed with RCCL

[Big_G]

That would mean that each and every RCI rep would have to board each and every RCI ship and inspect each and every cabin category to be properly informed of their contents.:eek:

 

The reps go by the planning guide, the same planning guide that Travel Agents and Loyalty Ambassadors use when someone books a cruise on board. If the guide is wrong it certainly isn't the reps fault.

 

Beside being false, it's a rather silly statement.

 

I'm not sure why you would say that. If the deck plans are wrong, how else would they know what was in each cabin? It's still Royals fault but it doesn't fall on the reps.

[Big_G]

Sorry OP. That just plain out sucks. I've never seen one of these chairs. Does anyone have a pic?

[cruisenfever]

If the planning guide were correct it wouldn't be a problem for anyone. The planning guide is prepared by Royal Caribbean. The entire fault of false and misleading information related to information contained therein belongs to Royal Caribbean. No other entity is capable of generating the needed information in an accurate and timely manner.

 

One might think given that millions of people receive advice and make significant purchase decisions based on this information each year, Royal Caribbean would take reasonable steps to insure its accuracy and completeness. Apparently this is not the case.

You are correct, the planning is prepared by RCI......not by the reps!:rolleyes: The rep is only providing the information that has been given to them.

Edited May 11, 2013 by cruisenfever

[Keith1010]

Sorry it didn't work out for you.

 

Keith

[klingoncruiser]

I can well understand your disappointment. I hope you get a chance to make this right in the future with RCL.

[cruisenfever]

Laura you need to email agoldstein@rccl.com and give him the same detailed report as you have given us. Make sure to include that you were working with Special Needs. Also, include a phone number where you can be reached.

 

Mr. Goldstein is very concerned with those that book cruises with special needs, especially when things do not go as planned.

[funfamilyof6]

laurac22 we are booked into a different accessible cabin on the Oasis and I too thought we would have a sofa bed like in the video below. Is this what you had or was it different? Thanks

 

 

No, she did not have a sofa, she had a chair, so the video is not what she had. If you have a 2 person cabin I wouldn't be concerned (but would still call RCCL to be sure if this is an issue for you). If you have a cabin meant for MORE than 2 people I would think that you would get a chair and not a sofa.

 

I think the problem lies with handicapped accessible cabins that accomodate MORE than 2 people. In order to keep up with the handicapped room measurement standards, it is probably not possible to have a full sofabed completely opened up and be able to get around with a wheelchair.

 

In the following link you will be able to find specifics about your cabin (exactly how many people your room accomodates). If you have a diamond and your cabin only fits 4, you will have have a chairbed not a sofabed since a diamond indicates that your room also has a pullman made for 1 person.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ports/accessibilityFeatures.do?pagename=accessible_staterooms_popup_OA

 

As I said in a previous post, I do think there should be another symbol put on the deckplans for Oasis/Allure to indicate that the sofa is a chairbed NOT a sofabed. Most people think of a sofabed being bigger than a chair size.

[Cruising89143]

OP sooty that you had issues but agree that this falls on RCI. The reps can only go by the same information that we see. RCI needs to do a better job on getting the correct information in the system.

[whitshel]

No, she did not have a sofa, she had a chair, so the video is not what she had. If you have a 2 person cabin I wouldn't be concerned (but would still call RCCL to be sure if this is an issue for you). If you have a cabin meant for MORE than 2 people I would think that you would get a chair and not a sofa.

 

My guess the chair/sofa in the video is what she did have. They were looking for a full size sofa not a love seat type chair. It looks like the same size sofa that are in the E1 and E2 cabins, D1, D2 and D3 have the full size sofas in them. Technically still a sofa bed, just not a 2 person sofa bed. It sucks that ruined their cruise enough to not sail RCCL again.:(

[kendevjay]

On our Allure cruise two years ago we also had an accessible cabin on deck 14. My mother has mobility issues and needed to use a scooter. There were four of us and I also understood that we had a sofa bed. We arrived and found the small "chair bed" that unfolded into a less than twin size "bed". I was surprised but it didn't cause a problem for our situation. I could see where it would be a problem for your situation. I was the lucky one to sleep on that thing. :(

 

I don't know why RCCL wouldn't just call it a chair bed instead of a sofa bed. It's probably something they don't think about in the course of everything else involved in running the company. The sales reps, which may have never even seen the inside of the RCCL ships, are going by what they read on a screen. I'm sure they don't realize that there is a difference in sofa and chair beds. They assume the sofa beds are all the same size. They need to do better with these small details that have a big impact on someone's vacation.

 

I can understand your frustration. I will say, however, it is very possible that you may experience a situation like this no matter what cruise line you choose. Now a days, with anything, you have to become a certified detective to get the right info.

Edited May 11, 2013 by kendevjay

[SECdawg]

I am sorry your cruise did not go as planned. I have become very frustrated with RCCL's website description of the cabin's. I have had cabin's showing sofas on the website that could not possibly accommodate a sofa. We have had sofa bed's that were a large chair/loveseat. Royal really needs to be upfront and honest about the accommodations in the rooms. I know alot of the descriptions are vague and state that your room may not be as depicted...but it should be close. I agree that you need to email Adam. I feel it is even more important when dealing with a special needs guest that the details be spelled out so that the guests know exactly what they will be dealing with. Hopefully you can get some satisfaction through your emails and will sail RCCL again, If not hopefully your family will find another cruise line or vacation that works well for your family.

[39august]

Please contact Adam Goldstein's office as crusinfever said. You will be doing a real favor for others with special needs. I expect that if you do contact his office, there will be changes made to the description of these cabins, or they will actually have sofa beds in the future. Additionally, I also expect that you will be offered much more compensation toward a future cruise, or a reimbursement from your cruise. So sorry this happened to you. This is really unforgivable.

[laurac22]

laurac22 we are booked into a different accessible cabin on the Oasis and I too thought we would have a sofa bed like in the video below. Is this what you had or was it different? Thanks

 

No sorry it is different. I saw this same video, and was expecting a sofa just like that one. What we had in the cabin was just a single chair, not at all a sofa. If you are expecting a sofa please make sure you contact RCCL and make sure of what you are getting. I was told that NONE of the accessible balcony cabins had sofas, but they sure did in this video.

 

Would you please keep me posted on what you find out and what your cabin had.

 

Thanks

[laurac22]

My guess the chair/sofa in the video is what she did have. They were looking for a full size sofa not a love seat type chair. It looks like the same size sofa that are in the E1 and E2 cabins, D1, D2 and D3 have the full size sofas in them. Technically still a sofa bed, just not a 2 person sofa bed. It sucks that ruined their cruise enough to not sail RCCL again.:(

Actually no it was not a "love seat" It was a single chair, less wide than a twin size mattress, hard as a rock with velcroed on cushions. There was also plenty of room for a sofa bed to be pulled out at night and put back in the morning. That is exactly what we had on Freedom of the seas several years back.

[laurac22]

Please contact Adam Goldstein's office as crusinfever said. You will be doing a real favor for others with special needs. I expect that if you do contact his office, there will be changes made to the description of these cabins, or they will actually have sofa beds in the future. Additionally, I also expect that you will be offered much more compensation toward a future cruise, or a reimbursement from your cruise. So sorry this happened to you. This is really unforgivable.

Thank you, I will contact his office in hopes that something is done about this, so hopefully no one else has this issue. However I don't have a lot of confidence that it will get fixed, because as I stated earlier I have found complaints about this misleading information dating back to 2009 and nothings been done to fix it. C&A actually told me... thank you for coming by today I learned something new!! I'm glad she could learn something at our expense.

[laurac22]

Laura you need to email agoldstein@rccl.com and give him the same detailed report as you have given us. Make sure to include that you were working with Special Needs. Also, include a phone number where you can be reached.

 

Mr. Goldstein is very concerned with those that book cruises with special needs, especially when things do not go as planned.

Thank you, I will contact him.

[laurac22]

Sorry OP. That just plain out sucks. I've never seen one of these chairs. Does anyone have a pic?

I have a picture on my phone, I just have no idea how to post it on here. If someone can walk me through it, I would be happy to share. My husband isn't here and he always handles it techy stuff.

[funfamilyof6]

No sorry it is different. I saw this same video, and was expecting a sofa just like that one. What we had in the cabin was just a single chair, not at all a sofa. If you are expecting a sofa please make sure you contact RCCL and make sure of what you are getting. I was told that NONE of the accessible balcony cabins had sofas, but they sure did in this video.

 

Would you please keep me posted on what you find out and what your cabin had.

 

Thanks

 

This statement does not apply to handicapped accessible cabins that are only meant for 2 people or for cabin 11158 which is a special handicapped accessible family cabin meant for 5 or 6 people which RCCL would have not allowed you to book since you had only 3 people

 

The posted video is from handicapped accessible cabin 9162 made for 2 people. Your cabin 12166 accommodated 3 or 4 people.

[Merion_Mom]

I have a picture on my phone, I just have no idea how to post it on here. If someone can walk me through it, I would be happy to share. My husband isn't here and he always handles it techy stuff.

 

Email the picture to yourself from your phone. Open the email on your computer. Download it. Upload it to a photo-sharing website such as photobucket or smugmug. They give you easy directions for posting in a message forum like this.

 

If there is any easier way (not that I think that this is difficult), someone else will post it, I'm sure.

 

:)

[laurac22]

Email the picture to yourself from your phone. Open the email on your computer. Download it. Upload it to a photo-sharing website such as photobucket or smugmug. They give you easy directions for posting in a message forum like this.

 

If there is any easier way (not that I think that this is difficult), someone else will post it, I'm sure.

 

:)

Thank you I will give that a try.

[emeraldcity]

I'm really sorry this happened to you and I admire your professional approach to informing the CruiseCritic Community. I hope that all those who take the time to read this will post their support for you, because nothing catches RCIs eye faster than a viral post.

[cruisnseas]

I think, as you can probably see here, when the complaint is valid people don't tend to attack posters for criticizing the cruise line. In your case, I would have been livid. Heck, I worked for them for a long time and I NEVER heard of a pull out chair on Oasis/Allure (on other ships, yes).

 

As for those saying RCI compiles their deck plans...yes and no. They allow heavy editing by a third party marketing group. Why is beyond me. And trust me, the agents know the plans are not right but are prohibited from going off anything but the plans. It is absolutely a disaster waiting to happen.

 

I can't count the number of times a deck plan would say a room holds 4 but the internal system says it holds 2 and the ship comes back and says 2. Or worse, the internal system says it holds 4 so we book 4 and they get to the ship and find it holds 2.

[laurac22]

I hope this works.

 

Here should be a picture of what we were told was a full size sofa bed by RCCL rep. On deck plans this is described as a pull out SOFA bed

 

 

[laurac22]

I'm really sorry this happened to you and I admire your professional approach to informing the CruiseCritic Community. I hope that all those who take the time to read this will post their support for you, because nothing catches RCIs eye faster than a viral post.

Thank you for you kindness.

[jmak315]

I hope this works.

 

Here should be a picture of what we were told was a full size sofa bed by RCCL rep. On deck plans this is described as a pull out SOFA bed

 

 

 

I feel terribly sorry for this entire situation. After seeing this picture, I find it insulting that RCI would expect ANYONE to sleep on that for 7 days. Again, I am so sorry and I hope an email to the higher up's of RCCL gets the description of that chair corrected.