VERY disappointed with RCI

[trev71]

9 & 14 year olds should not be rough housing on the balcony.

 

 

I second that. Glass breaks sometimes oddly enough. Long as nobody was hurt that is the main thing. You cant worry about the what ifs. I would seriously hope as you a season cruiser that you wouldnt let something like that ruin your whole trip..

 

Also. I droped a pop tab off a pop can on my parents table, Yes a pop tab and the table shattered into a million pieces. The table wasnt even 2 years old..

Edited February 4, 2014 by trev71

[JetsFanCruiser]

I do think RCCL is taking this seriously even though they havn;t responded to your inquiry.....

[zombiehunter]

So you're mad at RCCL for an act of God? I've seen glass spontaneously shatter. It was a glass oven door. We were playing cards and it just shattered. Freakin' bizarre. But it sounds like all your concerns can be assuaged by proper parenting. No rough-housing where they can plummet to their deaths, no leaning where they can die. Simple enough to me.

 

I suppose it's important to ask: what are you looking for as far as redress goes? Do you just want an explanation or are you fishing for OBC or something?

[cb at sea]

Had a back window of a car shatter spontaneously once....while parked in a shady spot! I thought I'd been shot at or something....but no, it simply broke!

 

Yes..the safety glass is HARD to clean up, but shoes would have protected your tootsies! I wouldn't have stopped using my balcony!

[Cindy]

That is kind of scary and bizarre, but I'm not sure what you want RCI to tell you. They probably don't know, nor will they ever know why the tempered safety glass broke. As others have said, sometimes freak things just happen.

[ryansmith18]

First of all, RCI doesn't owe you an explanation. Agree 100% with everyone else here - glass happens, move on.

 

However, to the folks judging the OP for "letting" her 9 and 14 year olds, it doesn't work like that and you know it. You do remember being a kid, right? And if Mom said "don't do this or that," didn't you immediately plan on doing this or that as soon as she had her back turned? Ease up on judging her parenting, focus more on the actual story.

[Floater4life]

Sometimes worriers just need to not worry so much.

[JillinCalgary]

First let me say thank you for the responses. If RCI isn't wanting to talk to us at least you guys are lol

 

Okay, let me address some of the above responses.

 

@cruisenfever thank you very much for the email and contact suggestion. This is exactly what our next step will be!

 

@Jobeth66 thank you for your explanation as to how glass is designed to break. I agree that is what most likely happened. The first sound we heard was probably the "shattering" while the glass remained in the pane of the balcony, the second sound was the actual dropping of glass. I am not exaggerating tho, there were most definitely "shards" of glass. Slivers that remained. Of course one can argue this was glass from a cocktail or water glass breaking or something similar. Also, when I tell you my brother in law did infact step on a piece and get a glass sliver I expect the response that no one should ever step on a balcony in bare feet ;-)

 

@TKriger and @zombiehunter it is very refreshing that of all the responses that have generated so far your two were the only ones to suggest we are seeking compensation be it with a free cruise or future onboard credit. My best response to this is being the family of lawyers that we are (who knew!) if we wanted to go in this direction we are very well versed and connected. No. My above post is very clear that we would like an explanation (really what we'd like is to have our concern noted and acknowledged) and not compensation.

 

Roughhousing and leaning on the balcony.. this one makes me laugh. I knew the moment i wrote "rough housing" people were going to comment in a negative way. Relax.. I can guarantee you I was simply "painting a picture of what if's" and that my wonderful children would never do anything of the sort:)

As for leaning of the balcony.. I'm pretty sure there is no Cruise line out there that doesn't have an advertisement featuring a loving couple leaning on a balcony enjoying a glass of wine while watching the sunset. Come on people.. that criticism is laughable that balconies aren't designed to be leaned on! Ha ha!!

 

To the poster who mentioned what a big deal Cruise lines make while Cruising to "please fill in the online questionnaire".. THANK YOU! This is where my "disheartening" comment comes in. We have done everything to protocol. We have responded in a manner that RCI recommends and welcomes. We never flew off the handle and "yelled" at anyone. Or "demanded" anything. I never posted on forums such as these minutes after coming home telling stories of our "horrible cruise" or pointing fingers at RCI. No. We waited the few days to receive our email requesting feedback and filled it out accordingly. We have patiently waited almost one month for an explanation, at the very least an acknowledgement.

[Langley Cruisers]

I guess I wonder why RCI "owes" you anything in way of an explanation. Quite simply, this did not happen to you. It just didn't. I thank God that no one above was injured - this certainly could have been worse with tragic consequences. But it wasn't.

[JetsFanCruiser]

That is kind of scary and bizarre, but I'm not sure what you want RCI to tell you. They probably don't know, nor will they ever know why the tempered safety glass broke. As others have said, sometimes freak things just happen.

 

I bet they know exactly how it happened, and they further know the likelihood of it happening in the future. If you really think about it, someone can get hurt if that glass fails while someone is leaning on it...It's a risk for RCI, albeit it a small risk as it's not very likely that it will happen, let alone happen at the time someone is leaning against it....and I bet they've assessed that risk...

 

I cringe at the thought of a child leaning against the glass as it breaks.....

[macandlucy]

Well I think you deserve an explanation, OP. I sure would expect one if that had happened to me. I think your concerns are legitimate -- balconies are supposed to be safe, and as cruise ship passengers I believe the expectation of safety in one's stateroom and balcony is not an unreasonable expectation. And you can bet your bottom dollar that there'd be a problem if someone got seriously injured or fell off the ship because of an unsafe balcony railing. Who knows, maybe glass isnt the best choice for balcony walls on cruise ships.

 

Also, not to speak for the OP here, but all you people that love to jump on a straw man -- she didnt say she was encouraging or even permitting her kids to rough house on the balcony -- she said "what if". I guess the rest of you posters must have those perfectly well behaved children who are never naughty and never do anything wrong.

[ryano]

As for leaning of the balcony.. I'm pretty sure there is no Cruise line out there that doesn't have an advertisement featuring a loving couple leaning on a balcony enjoying a glass of wine while watching the sunset. Come on people.. that criticism is laughable that balconies aren't designed to be leaned on! Ha ha!!

 

.

 

Adults leaning on the balcony railing which is made of steel and are a major part of the structure is MUCH different than a 3 year old leaning on the glass which is only held in by a couple brackets.

 

Im of the belief that a 3 year old should not be on the balcony unsupervised and they most certainly shouldnt be "leaning" on the glass.

 

You can disagree if you want to. Its certainly your right to do so. :)

 

I wish you the best in your search for an explanation. I wouldnt hold my breath waiting on one though.

[Langley Cruisers]

Well I think you deserve an explanation, OP. I sure would expect one if that had happened to me....

 

It didn't happen to her; it was from the cabin on the deck above them. While surprised, shocked, and maybe frightened, OP and her family were safe and uninjured.

[LetsGetWet!]

Jill - first of all, kudos for such a calm response when most of the posts (mine included) had been negative towards your opening post.

 

I do agree that from a PR perspective, RCI hasn't handled this well. If you calmly did what you said you did, certainly a letter of acknowledgement, apologizing for what happened and assuring you that such things were rare occurrences would have been helpful. It could have been carefully written and "vetted" to make sure there was no implicit acknowledgement of liability, just that they were sorry that you were frightened by the incident, and assuring you that while the exact cause may never be known (witness other accounts on this thread of glass spontaneously breaking/shattering), that it happens very rarely and the glass is safety glass meant to break into relatively safe bits, etc.

 

Had they written you a letter like that, maybe or maybe not with some nominal inducement for your next cruise, then I'd strongly argue that they'd done all that could be reasonably expected.

[Rufferto]

I thought I was special when I found a dead bird on my balcony one morning but this takes the cake! :o

[bouhunter]

No one was hurt. Choose to be "traumatized" by this if you want. If this happened to me I could care less about a letter or explanation. Whatever:rolleyes:

Edited February 4, 2014 by bouhunter

[macandlucy]

It didn't happen to her; it was from the cabin on the deck above them. While surprised, shocked, and maybe frightened, OP and her family were safe and uninjured.

 

She felt something did happen to her, and she wondered if unstable glass balcony walls are maybe a safety issue. I actually don't need anyone to interpret other people's posts for me, thanks. Or to decide whose experiences are legitimate and worthy of consideration. But thanks all the same.

[jmf123]

OP, I'm sorry for the unnerving incident, that had to be frightening, thinking of the 'what ifs'. I am glad that your family is okay. On our very first cruise (NCL:o) we came back to our stateroom to find that our large picture window was shattered into a million or so spidery pieces. (It remained intact in the frame, but we were of course, unable to see out). A call brought an engineer and one of the ship's officers- who proceded to ask "vat did you do to my sheep?!" (He was nicely joking of course). They sent a bottle of wine to our stateroom that day for the inconvenience, although it was repaired while we were on a shore excursion and we didn't feel inconvenienced. It was explained to us that sometimes a window is installed too tightly and over time this may occur.

Edited February 4, 2014 by jmf123

[Colorado Babe]

WE kind of had a similar experience on the Enchantment when we sailed right after her refurbishment last year. Our balcony glass was broke and there were debries all over the balcony hence, we could not use the balcony for what we use it for (dry out scuba gear, etc), sit out and enjoy the ocean, etc and immediately discussed the problem with the hotel director. RC acted immediately and compensated us with two bottles of wine and a 20 percent off our next cruise since they were unable to fix the balcony while we were on the cruise. If you don't feel like your situation was corrected to your liking, I agree email Adam Goldstein. His office is very quick to respond to all questions, complaints, etc.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Colorado Babe

[The-Sea-Is-Calling]

We sail 3 times a year and have never ever experienced anything like you described. I wouldn't worry about it. If someone had been injured sure...get upset. Blow it off as an experience and move on. I agree with everyone that kids should not be rough housing on a balcony. Children have to be taught to be well behaved and their are plenty of places for children to entertain themselves on a ship.

[setsail]

We once had all the ceiling out in the hall outside our cabin and pipes laid down the hall to bypass stopped up plumbing for most of an 11 day. We saw a balcony divider broken once. We saw a naked body at quest once:rolleyes::)

[pcur]

Ok, I'm not quite going to trot out my "in over 40 years of cruising...." statement, BUT this is the first time I've heard of it happening. However, I had an entire sliding glass door at home just shatter into a jillion pieces once. One little stress fracture, time, and more stress (wind), and BAM, down it went!

Edited February 4, 2014 by pcur

[LetsGetWet!]

She felt something did happen to her, and she wondered if unstable glass balcony walls are maybe a safety issue. I actually don't need anyone to interpret other people's posts for me, thanks. Or to decide whose experiences are legitimate and worthy of consideration. But thanks all the same.

Whoa! Melodramatic much? They're not interpreting other people's posts any more than you are. They're not deciding whose experiences are legitimate and worthy of consideration any more than you are. But I guess its ok for you to do it, just not for them... :rolleyes:

[ryansmith18]

We saw a naked body at quest once:rolleyes::)

 

Does this cost extra?

[PattyW]

I would be extremely disturbed if I witnessed this happen. I don't blame the OP for being upset. I understand what others say about RCCL not disclosing any information about what happened, but I don't understand why people are dismissing her worries.