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Really bad experience booking a cruise onboard

Tony20

By Tony20,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Tony20

Tony20

Posted
Posted

We've taken 13 cruises with RCCL and all were booked either over the phone or with a smattering of travel agents. This past week, we decided to book our next cruise onboard the Harmony. What an experience!

 

The onboard agent made mistake after mistake. She kept coming out with different booking totals. On top of that, she inadvertently assigned it to an agency against my clear wishes that I was booking direct. At one point I had the agent, her ass't supervisor and her supervisor all hunched over the computer while they chatted with Miami in order to understand the varying totals the booking kept producing.

 

Bottomline, I was overcharged almost $200 which I'm working to resolve. To make matters worse, there were add'l credit card charges I discovered when I returned home, that takes the cost paid above even their mistaken total.

 

What a mess. I spent hours on board the ship and several hours at home trying to resolve this. It's still not fixed.

 

I love RCCL evidenced by 13 past cruises and two booked in the future. But I'm very disappointed in their performance here.

 

Has this been your experience when booking onboard the ship? Or am I just "lucky".

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tugboat

tugboat

Posted
Posted
We've taken 13 cruises with RCCL and all were booked either over the phone or with a smattering of travel agents. This past week, we decided to book our next cruise onboard the Harmony. What an experience!

 

 

 

The onboard agent made mistake after mistake. She kept coming out with different booking totals. On top of that, she inadvertently assigned it to an agency against my clear wishes that I was booking direct. At one point I had the agent, her ass't supervisor and her supervisor all hunched over the computer while they chatted with Miami in order to understand the varying totals the booking kept producing.

 

 

 

Bottomline, I was overcharged almost $200 which I'm working to resolve. To make matters worse, there were add'l credit card charges I discovered when I returned home, that takes the cost paid above even their mistaken total.

 

 

 

What a mess. I spent hours on board the ship and several hours at home trying to resolve this. It's still not fixed.

 

 

 

I love RCCL evidenced by 13 past cruises and two booked in the future. But I'm very disappointed in their performance here.

 

 

 

Has this been your experience when booking onboard the ship? Or am I just "lucky".

 

 

 

They don't make it easy anymore so I stopped booking on board.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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beachnative

beachnative

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Posted

I would estimated that about 80 of our Royal Caribbean cruises were booked on board via "Next Cruise". However, with the almost complete reduction of benefits for doing so, we plan to never book on board again. We would be happy if they switched out the space for Next Cruise for another bar or shop.

 

We booked a new cruise last week by calling Crown and Anchor and immediately transferred it to a travel agent.

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mjgep0316

mjgep0316

Posted
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We had good experiences booking on board on Brilliance in 2015 and Jewel in 2016. This past April we booked on board Anthem and the experience was horrible, similar to OP's experience on Harmony. I'm still a relative newbie to cruising (only six completed and five more booked [emoji41]) and I knew more than the RCI rep did.

 

Similar to other posters, there is very little incentive to book future cruises on board, so I doubt I will be.

 

 

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Secretlyfi

Secretlyfi

Posted
Posted

I tried booking onboard last cruise. Similar experience as OP. Clueless representative who claimed there's no balcony discount for Platinum, only higher levels.

 

I was tempted to show her the C&A webpage to educate her, but I figured she still wouldn't get the right price and didn't want to spend my vacation training RCL employees.

 

So I ended the appointment and booked it when I got home.

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Can you still get Future Cruise Certificates? If so, still any perks with them?

I believe you can, but there is no reduced deposit anymore, and the onboard credit is less than if you book a specific cruise.

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Arzeena

Arzeena

Posted
Posted
I believe you can, but there is no reduced deposit anymore, and the onboard credit is less than if you book a specific cruise.

To me, a reduced deposit was the best thing about booking on board. I know others may be of the opinion that it all has to get paid in the end, but I would rather hold my money for a cruise booked a year or more in advance, than have Royal (or any cruise line hold it for me).

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Clarea

Clarea

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To me, a reduced deposit was the best thing about booking on board. I know others may be of the opinion that it all has to get paid in the end, but I would rather hold my money for a cruise booked a year or more in advance, than have Royal (or any cruise line hold it for me).

I felt the same way.

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39august

39august

Posted
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So, do you not get any OBC any more? And no reduced deposit? Why bother? I loved these perks. If gone I won't do it anymore. I usually have 6-10 cruises booked in advance. Maybe I'll like Celebrity. They gave me $300 OBC for booking on board while on RCI.

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Clarea

Clarea

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So, do you not get any OBC any more? And no reduced deposit? Why bother? I loved these perks. If gone I won't do it anymore. I usually have 6-10 cruises booked in advance. Maybe I'll like Celebrity. They gave me $300 OBC for booking on board while on RCI.

You still get OBC, but do not get reduced deposit.

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pstone1

pstone1

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We have booked many cruises onboard and were pleased with our experiences. Unfortunately, with the new changes, we have no plans to book onboard (or perhaps at all)! Although we have been completely loyal to Royal, they have definitely given us incentives to shop around.

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xcell

xcell

Posted
Posted

Its the slow internet they get to use...prices change that quickly...

 

In any case, can't you book refundable deposit, then when the cruise changes in price, get them to change it when at home with faster internet... My upcoming cruise went down $1000 when I got home because of kids sail free promo...

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Husky1987

Husky1987

Posted
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I booked onboard Adventure a couple weeks ago. Experience couldn't have been easier. Of course, I knew exactly which cruise/cabin I wanted so I went in prepared.

 

$200 off the price ($100 for JS, $100 for over 6 months in advance, chose reduced price over OBC). In and out in less than 10 minutes.

 

My experience sounds like the exception, but I'll take a $200 price break anytime.

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yuvraj

yuvraj

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I have had one or two really bad experiences amongst some good ones.

 

Bad experiences : lengthy queues, difficult to get some simple straight answers, little or no guidance from cruise consultant, ridiculously long time to provide simple indicative quotes, feeling rushed.

 

Good experiences : no lose, low deposit deals, preferable terms on flexibility which weren't available in UK, ability to discuss complex requirements which are difficult to price / research online or with travel agent, informed guidance and advice, some really good deals especially with suites.

 

They have removed a lot of the incentives and offers so was unimpressed with my last experience.

 

I am also disappointed that the printed brochures which detail the itineraries for each ship are no longer available. I really enjoyed browsing through these.

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Merion_Mom

Merion_Mom

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Posted

My most recent book-onboard experience was excellent, but that was before the reduction in benefits.

 

And I wasn't booking on board FOR the benefits, but because a cruise that I really wanted (and so did everyone else!) opened for booking while I was on a cruise. The staff (specifically, the head of Next Cruise) stayed up all night to be sure that we got the cabins as soon as they were available. Huge Kudos to Colette and her staff (Hi, Martin!) on the Radiance of the Seas.

 

Going forward? I doubt it.

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