Just got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise

[jdapowers]

Spent 1 hour and 52 minutes on phone with RC "customer service" Spoke to 4 different people. Got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise.

 

Got off Freedom yesterday. There was a price drop today, $38.00 so I called and got a lady who had no clue. First she told me I'd lose my onboard credit, which was from booking onboard. I told her that was wrong. She called her supervisor, but accidentally had me on a conference call. THAT WAS INTERESTING. She adjusted the price, but told me insurance went UP, because price went DOWN???? I said fine, because it was still a $20 difference. I get my booking confirmation. She removed the insurance, and the price went UP by $20(with insurance removed). Had to call back...blah, blah, blah. Anyway, she added cruise insurance back and told me it would be same original price. Oh, and SOMEHOW, she changed my cabin number from 9540 to 9542, but nobody can tell me how or why that happened.

 

I feel bad I have to tell my husband I cancelled. We are diamond members, and enjoyed the Freedom very much, but might be going back to Carnival or try another line.

 

THANKS for listening to the rant. My Monday am back to work is now 2 hours late, and worse than usual

[marci22]

There are many very good phone reps but there are a few who really should not be answering calls and the only thing you can really do is hang up and try again.

 

I wonder if you can just call back and ask them to reinstate your obc and cabin since you just got back.

[winter11]

WOW!

I just cancelled a cruise night night after my 45 minutes with "customer service". I thing RCCL may have outsourced their call center. May I suggest you try Princess? The product is better for a comparablr price.

[coldflame]

WOW!

I just cancelled a cruise night night after my 45 minutes with "customer service". I thing RCCL may have outsourced their call center. May I suggest you try Princess? The product is better for a comparablr price.

 

Princess, unfortunately, is not comparable at all if you travel with family/kids.

[jdapowers]

Gave them the complaint. She did offer to reinstate it at original price, original room with OBC. However, I told her I was too aggravated, had posted on Cruise critic negative comments, and I just wanted her to know. They spend so much money advertising, then they have a loyal customer and make me mad.

 

It probably means nothing to them, but I told her when they go over complaints, tell them my story, and that although I had a wonderful time on Freedom, they just pissed me off enough to cancel my cruise.

 

It is just my husband and I, occasionally my 20 yo son or our friends join us, so I may just try Princess for our next one. Thanks for listening to me complain. I feel better now, and really have to get to work.

[Overtyme]

They really are going down the crapper when it comes to being in touch with their customers.

They have gone the complete opposite direction.

[StolidCruiser]

Truly sad you had to cancel over $38. Thanks for letting us know.

[squadron]

Spent 1 hour and 52 minutes on phone with RC "customer service" Spoke to 4 different people. Got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise.

 

Got off Freedom yesterday. There was a price drop today, $38.00 so I called and got a lady who had no clue. First she told me I'd lose my onboard credit, which was from booking onboard. I told her that was wrong. She called her supervisor, but accidentally had me on a conference call. THAT WAS INTERESTING. She adjusted the price, but told me insurance went UP, because price went DOWN???? I said fine, because it was still a $20 difference. I get my booking confirmation. She removed the insurance, and the price went UP by $20(with insurance removed). Had to call back...blah, blah, blah. Anyway, she added cruise insurance back and told me it would be same original price. Oh, and SOMEHOW, she changed my cabin number from 9540 to 9542, but nobody can tell me how or why that happened.

 

I feel bad I have to tell my husband I cancelled. We are diamond members, and enjoyed the Freedom very much, but might be going back to Carnival or try another line.

 

THANKS for listening to the rant. My Monday am back to work is now 2 hours late, and worse than usual

 

Call again if you wish and rebook. There are rules about changes and what OBC is included etc. In the big picture of life $20 was not worth all this upset. As the song in Frozen says - let it go. You are giving up your diamond perks to move to Carnival?

 

All this even affected your Monday work. Not worth it.

[gerif]

Gave them the complaint. She did offer to reinstate it at original price, original room with OBC. However, I told her I was too aggravated, had posted on Cruise critic negative comments, and I just wanted her to know. They spend so much money advertising, then they have a loyal customer and make me mad.

 

It probably means nothing to them, but I told her when they go over complaints, tell them my story, and that although I had a wonderful time on Freedom, they just pissed me off enough to cancel my cruise.

 

It is just my husband and I, occasionally my 20 yo son or our friends join us, so I may just try Princess for our next one. Thanks for listening to me complain. I feel better now, and really have to get to work.

 

I'm glad you feel better but don't you think you cut off your nose to spite your face?

[LuvWilliam]

Truly sad you had to cancel over $38. Thanks for letting us know.

 

 

I have to say- I agree... I get frustrated with customer service reps all of the time. However, you aren't dealing with them but 1-3 times before a cruise. The on board service is great and that's all I care about.

[boonert]

Unfortunately this is the way most companies are today. This is not just a Royal Caribbean problem.

My wife and I bought cell phones yesterday from Verizon and changed our plan. The guy on the store screwed up our account. The first person we spoke to on the phone screwed it up even worse. We had to call 2 more times before we got someone on the phone who knew what they were doing.

 

This is how things are anymore unfortunately. I doubt Carnival or any other cruise line have better customer service.

[cruisinfanatic]

Spent 1 hour and 52 minutes on phone with RC "customer service" Spoke to 4 different people. Got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise.

 

Got off Freedom yesterday. There was a price drop today, $38.00 so I called and got a lady who had no clue. First she told me I'd lose my onboard credit, which was from booking onboard. I told her that was wrong. She called her supervisor, but accidentally had me on a conference call. THAT WAS INTERESTING. She adjusted the price, but told me insurance went UP, because price went DOWN???? I said fine, because it was still a $20 difference. I get my booking confirmation. She removed the insurance, and the price went UP by $20(with insurance removed). Had to call back...blah, blah, blah. Anyway, she added cruise insurance back and told me it would be same original price. Oh, and SOMEHOW, she changed my cabin number from 9540 to 9542, but nobody can tell me how or why that happened.

 

I feel bad I have to tell my husband I cancelled. We are diamond members, and enjoyed the Freedom very much, but might be going back to Carnival or try another line.

 

THANKS for listening to the rant. My Monday am back to work is now 2 hours late, and worse than usual

It's the reason some swear by using a TA.

Those that "want to be in control" don't like it so much some times.

I wouldn't dream of cancelling a cruise because of a poor experience with a rep on the phone.

[blackshirt]

I sure can understand the frustration but to cancel a cruise over $20, all I can say is wow. Some people are better at their jobs than others and let's face it, everyone's customer service be they cruise line or cable tv or cell service or whatever have reps that don't know what they are doing. That is one reason I use a TA so they can deal with Royal and I don't have to.

[TC1957]

While the amount is certainly small, part of me can understand being so frustrated with customer service that the OP would bail on a company. Little things start to add up.

 

The level of service, attitude of the crew and quality on our last cruise was noticeably worse than the cruise before that. They have a history of their on-line presence being sketchy at best. They recently raised the amount of the deferred charges they hit you with during the cruise (some refer to this as a tip) so you have to look cheap to the crew or pay it.

 

All those really add up to paying more for less. When you add an unhelpful and borderline incompetent customer service you can easily get to the point of not wanting to put your leisure dollars at risk.

 

Just a thought.

[330searay]

Great Point TC.

[Sherri914]

I hope it all works out for you. I can understand the frustration level - especially having just come back from vacation to work. Canceling seems a bit extreme though - especially over such an insignificant amount, but it's certainly your prerogative. I think it's the principal for you more than the dollar amount, and I know I've been there myself. I've been to the edge with customer service agents, and when I feel myself about to jump, I tell them that I'm going to call back at another time.

 

I do hope it works out for you that you can still go. I think poor or insufficiently-trained customer service is not just an industry-wide standard, but it's now everywhere unfortunately.

[legaljen1969]

I continue to be amazed at what terrible experiences people have with customer service at RCCL.

 

I took a cruise on Freedom in April. I booked in mid-February. This was the first time I had ever booked directly with Royal. It was by far the smoothest experience I have ever had. All of my OBC was right. My C&A points were handled correctly. I was concerned about the cabin I had booked and wanted to change. I got on the phone with customer service and the entire process took less than 10 minutes- and that was with being on hold for a few minutes.

 

Every time we have done a cruise with my family, my parents end up hitting some little snag before we leave.

 

Based on my last experience booking directly with Royal, I would have no hesitation whatsoever in doing a direct booking again.

 

I do find it a little sad that this much aggravation and headache for the OP came over $38. But I guess everyone has their breaking point.

[Sherri914]

I continue to be amazed at what terrible experiences people have with customer service at RCCL.

 

.....

 

Every time we have done a cruise with my family, my parents end up hitting some little snag before we leave.

 

.....

 

I do find it a little sad that this much aggravation and headache for the OP came over $38. But I guess everyone has their breaking point.

 

 

Same here. I've only had one experience with RCCL customer service that was less than stellar. But I do read a lot of reports of poor customer service on CC though. Maybe we've just been really lucky. :)

[Palmetto Pilot]

Cancelling a cruise over $38...that seems a bit dramatic to me.

[Langley Cruisers]

...I feel bad I have to tell my husband I cancelled....

 

Uhh.... yeah. :rolleyes::(:eek:

 

I wouldn't dream of cancelling a cruise because of a poor experience with a rep on the phone.

 

Cancelling a cruise over $38...that seems a bit dramatic to me.

 

Agreed.

 

Well OP, enjoy another cruise line. I am not a cheerleader by any stretch of the imagination but I simply cannot believe what transpired today.

.

[Havingfun2010]

Spent 1 hour and 52 minutes on phone with RC "customer service" Spoke to 4 different people. Got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise.

 

Got off Freedom yesterday. There was a price drop today, $38.00 so I called and got a lady who had no clue. First she told me I'd lose my onboard credit, which was from booking onboard. I told her that was wrong. She called her supervisor, but accidentally had me on a conference call. THAT WAS INTERESTING. She adjusted the price, but told me insurance went UP, because price went DOWN???? I said fine, because it was still a $20 difference. I get my booking confirmation. She removed the insurance, and the price went UP by $20(with insurance removed). Had to call back...blah, blah, blah. Anyway, she added cruise insurance back and told me it would be same original price. Oh, and SOMEHOW, she changed my cabin number from 9540 to 9542, but nobody can tell me how or why that happened.

 

I feel bad I have to tell my husband I cancelled. We are diamond members, and enjoyed the Freedom very much, but might be going back to Carnival or try another line.

 

THANKS for listening to the rant. My Monday am back to work is now 2 hours late, and worse than usual

 

I do understand your frustration, but how in the world did it take 1 hour and 52 minutes. I know it can be frustrating, and I did try once to get a price change, that the rep, after about 15 minutes and discussing my options, and prices decided not to change. But I have to say, I never tried to get $20 OBC.

 

Now, if you think going to Carnival will increase your customer service experience? They are nothing but jokes, and good luck with getting help with their reps.

[alfaeric]

I continue to be amazed at what terrible experiences people have with customer service at RCCL.

 

I took a cruise on Freedom in April. I booked in mid-February. This was the first time I had ever booked directly with Royal. It was by far the smoothest experience I have ever had. All of my OBC was right. My C&A points were handled correctly. I was concerned about the cabin I had booked and wanted to change. I got on the phone with customer service and the entire process took less than 10 minutes- and that was with being on hold for a few minutes.

 

Every time we have done a cruise with my family, my parents end up hitting some little snag before we leave.

 

Based on my last experience booking directly with Royal, I would have no hesitation whatsoever in doing a direct booking again.

 

I do find it a little sad that this much aggravation and headache for the OP came over $38. But I guess everyone has their breaking point.

 

Same here. I've only had one experience with RCCL customer service that was less than stellar. But I do read a lot of reports of poor customer service on CC though. Maybe we've just been really lucky. :)

 

You guys are not the only ones- we have always had good situations with customer service. I think you never hear about good service, as it's just service. Bad, though, and the world hears about it.

 

We will continue to only book through our RCI rep.

[tiessa]

We all have our limits and the OP reached hers.

 

I've cruised Royal Caribbean but am trying Princess for my next cruise. I just reached my limit with their bad customer service also. I've talked to Princess several times and was very pleased with their service. Hopefully the cruise is as good.

 

OP, enjoy whatever your line you choose.

[Desert Cruizers]

This is the reason I book thru our local TA, her office watches out for mistakes and makes sure they are resolved before we leave the house. One example and not on RCCL, I went Solo as DH didn't want to go and I was checking my bookings one morning and find myself moved from a mid ship cabin to way forward. Called my TA who had justed gotten off the phone with the Rep to tell her I was to be put back in my original cabin ASAP and it was done. I bet had I booked directly and called the rep I would be still in a forward cabin.

[rjrice1]

To cancel a cruise over a few dollars...:confused:

Being put on line for a long time is the norm for most companies.

Heck if I cancel something for every time I am put on line I may not have

cable, phone, electric and other stuff..

Then to try to rebook a different one.

Hope it was worth it.