Decline in RCI Customer Service?

[Elizanessie]

Just wondered if any other UK cruisers have read the latest issue of the Crown and Anchor magazine. There is an interview with Stuart Leven, the new managing director UK and Ireland. They ask him about the relocation of the call centre to Guatemala and his reply "the move has been seamless and if you notice a difference at all, it will be a good one"

 

I think he is living in cloud cuckoo land! Unfortunately they do not give any contact details for him, I would certainly like to reply.

 

Julie

 

sleven@rccl.com

 

Didn't get the C&A magazine :(

[kernow]

sleven@rccl.com

 

Didn't get the C&A magazine :(

 

 

Thanks for the email.

 

My magazine only arrived in the post yesterday morning so yours may be on its way:)

 

Julie

[peteukmcr]

Just wondered if any other UK cruisers have read the latest issue of the Crown and Anchor magazine. There is an interview with Stuart Leven, the new managing director UK and Ireland. They ask him about the relocation of the call centre to Guatemala and his reply "the move has been seamless and if you notice a difference at all, it will be a good one"

 

I think he is living in cloud cuckoo land! Unfortunately they do not give any contact details for him, I would certainly like to reply.

 

Julie

 

Only got mine yesterday and didn't read the article. Perhaps he needs to talk to Sam Murdoch who is the executive I was referring to in my earlier post. He definitely admitted that the move to Guatemala had not been seemless!

[yolanda1]

Just wondered if any other UK cruisers have read the latest issue of the Crown and Anchor magazine. There is an interview with Stuart Leven, the new managing director UK and Ireland. They ask him about the relocation of the call centre to Guatemala and his reply "the move has been seamless and if you notice a difference at all, it will be a good one"

 

I think he is living in cloud cuckoo land! Unfortunately they do not give any contact details for him, I would certainly like to reply.

 

Julie

 

 

 

 

Oh dear :( I wonder if he genuinely isn't aware of the problems that many UK customers have been experiencing recently, or if he is just choosing to ignore them.

 

I have to say neither situation would give me much confidence :rolleyes:

 

 

 

.

[peteukmcr]

The issues with Guatemala and RCIs call centre operation has made the travel trade press. Stuart Leven has admitted things haven't been good since they removed the UK support team sent there to train staff back to the UK.

 

As a result 7 support staff are being sent back to Guatemala to provide more training and 3 of these will stay there permanently. He says basic queries aren't the issue, it's the more complex issues that are the problem and he said it is going to get better as they are committed to it and are throwing a lot of additional expense and money at it.

[SammiC72]

Yes, definitely a decline in my experience. I finally managed to book, but it wasn't easy. I usually enjoy booking my cruises, but this time was a nightmare. I need a holiday to recover! :D

 

Yep me too after 2 hrs and 30mins on the phone with different Royal reps I finally got my booking although I was told mid ship and the rooms are actually forward. I havent had my on board booking bonus OBC applied and I am yet to have my Balcony discount applied. I am pissed. The whole thing is a nightmare now and drove me crazy.

 

There is no consistency in responses from staff and it leaves us as the person on the outside when it's our booking grrrr :mad:

 

Frustrated to the Max and frankly I can take my money elsewhere....

[DebJ14]

At least when you use a TA they have a Sales Manager that they can go to if needed. I know our TA has contacted her DSM's on several cruise lines to go to bat for her clients and they always managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

[cruisenfever]

Yep me too after 2 hrs and 30mins on the phone with different Royal reps I finally got my booking although I was told mid ship and the rooms are actually forward. I havent had my on board booking bonus OBC applied and I am yet to have my Balcony discount applied. I am pissed. The whole thing is a nightmare now and drove me crazy.

 

There is no consistency in responses from staff and it leaves us as the person on the outside when it's our booking grrrr :mad:

 

Frustrated to the Max and frankly I can take my money elsewhere....

Balcony Discount can only be applied by C&A, this is standard procedure. After you have booked, your reservation is sent to C&A where the appropriate balcony discount is applied.

 

OBC normally appears about a week after booking.

[peteukmcr]

Balcony Discount can only be applied by C&A, this is standard procedure. After you have booked, your reservation is sent to C&A where the appropriate balcony discount is applied.

 

OBC normally appears about a week after booking.

It appears there's another inconsistency in process. In the UK my C&A balcony discount has never been automatically applied, I've always had to call by phone to request it.

[Jackamama]

I sent an enquiry by email yesterday and I had a response within an hour :)

 

Hopefully this could be a sign that things are finally settling down after the relocation and we can get back to enjoying good customer service as it used to be :D Fingers crossed!

[carofil]

I found their customer service to be surprisingly awful recently, both by telephone and email, when I tried to book a summer cruise. Never had a problem before.

 

Looks like it's only the UK customers who are getting bad service though? :(:(

 

No, it's not limited to the UK....Celebrity service comes out of the same office and it is equally bad!! The real issue seems to be a lack of staff to now handle the worldwide load of customer service needs. My last phone conversation with a representative by the name of David was very satisfactory and he was most helpful and went out of his way to do everything he could for me. The problem now is that my TA cannot get a fast response from Guatemala. He told me that it can take many months to receive a reply if they get it at all!!

 

I have an issue regarding OBC on our next cruise from Sydney to Honolulu. I have been given $50 instead of the $300 that is clearly shown on my open booking that was booked on our last Celebrity cruise to Hawaii last year on the Solstice. I'm really doubting now that we will see the correct amount, the way things are being treated by the Guatemalan office. This doesn't look good for RCI/Celebrity long term unless something happens soon!!

 

Phil

[Arzeena]

Despite my positive experiences over the years, my recent experiences of Royal Caribbean Customer Service have been very poor while trying to finalise a summer booking. Slow responses to my emails, sometimes no response at all, misinformation by reps on the telephone, and a general lack of interest in the customer. I wondered if others have experienced this recently, and if so, was it resolved satisfactorily or did you take your business elsewhere?

 

I know there have been complaints about relocation to Guatemala, but it's the UK Customer Service centre I have been dealing with (at least I think it is). I do love cruising with Royal Caribbean, but I'm happy to give my business to other companies too. Never had a bad cruise yet with any of them. Looks like NCL for us now if this is what we can expect from RCI :(

 

I was routed to the Guatemala CS center two times in the past few weeks. Both times I received EXCELLENT customer service. The reps were knowledgible, very polite and a great pleasure to talk to. They helped me out with my questions and changes to my reservation in a very professional manner.

[C U Onboard]

It appears there's another inconsistency in process. In the UK my C&A balcony discount has never been automatically applied, I've always had to call by phone to request it.

 

The C&A balcony discount is applied automatically if you login to your 'My Cruises' account prior to booking online directly with RCI.

[delirious9876]

Balcony Discount can only be applied by C&A, this is standard procedure. After you have booked, your reservation is sent to C&A where the appropriate balcony discount is applied.

 

OBC normally appears about a week after booking.

That's really good knowing that from you. Thanks.

 

But in terms of appropriate and good customer service I'd expect customers to be told that at the time of booking so they don't get frustrated and angry at little things.

 

Poor RCCL at the moment :-(

[peteukmcr]

The C&A balcony discount is applied automatically if you login to your 'My Cruises' account prior to booking online directly with RCI.

That is a new process, as long as you enter your C&A number at the start of the booking process. Never log into my cruises when researching a cruise because there was an IT 'glitch' that meant if youw were logged in you couldn't hold a cruise for 24 hours. Maybe that's been resolved.

[Cosmic Rays]

I sent an enquiry by email yesterday and I had a response within an hour :)

 

Hopefully this could be a sign that things are finally settling down after the relocation and we can get back to enjoying good customer service as it used to be :D Fingers crossed!

 

Having waited the 30 days for a 'Future Cruise Certificate' from the Front Desk Manager on Serenade of the Seas on July 9th in a letter of that date stating that, surprise, surprise I have not had the courtesy of anything in the post!!

So, last night I sent an email to customer services as suggested in the letter if nothing received within 30 days, only to receive an immediate reply stating 'we hope to reply within 28 days'. I find that to be positively appalling...............does anybody have any suggestions please?

[FLACRUISER99]

Having waited the 30 days for a 'Future Cruise Certificate' from the Front Desk Manager on Serenade of the Seas on July 9th in a letter of that date stating that, surprise, surprise I have not had the courtesy of anything in the post!!

So, last night I sent an email to customer services as suggested in the letter if nothing received within 30 days, only to receive an immediate reply stating 'we hope to reply within 28 days'. I find that to be positively appalling...............does anybody have any suggestions please?

Ring them up.

[Tapi]

We had a 4 year gap between our recent Royal cruise and our previous one, which probably would've made any decline more noticeable. I have to say that we were very satisfied and even pleasantly surprised at how wonderful everybody was.

 

We needed more customer service needs since we were applying credit card points and savings certificates, as well as requesting price drops and cabin changes, which probably would've opened up a can of worms with a bad representative, but everybody that we spoke to was very helpful, efficient and knowledgeable. So no complaints from me.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cruiser1949]

I had a problem with a booking that I booked directly with Royal. The rep told me she would have her supervisor call be back within 48 hours. After 48 hours I call back and was told the supervisor would call be back in 48 hours. I call back and was told the supervisor was working on it and it would be 48 hours. I called back and was told that a supervisor would contact me in 24 hours. That was the last straw and I put my foot down and the rep said give her 1 hour. I agreed and within 1 hour and 15 minutes finally got the problem solved to my satisfaction.

[JohnSnowGOT]

My experience has been good. The biggest problem is getting them to answer the phone. I've had long wait times.

 

Um Hello? long wait time is a big part of customer service....I've seen RC's customer service in decline for years now..................Really most customer service by big corporations has changed

[MandyMooToo]

I called RCCL this morning. I waited less than 5 minutes and had a rep on the phone who looked up my reservation and answered my question promptly. I have never experienced the long wait times but maybe it is because I call very early or very late due to work hours and those are "off times"??

[greenline]

I called on Sunday and got an agent in less than 5 min. They were very good answered all my questions.