COMPLETELY PO'd at RCCL!

[boatclub1]

No, originally the kids were in one cabin so they're only allowed 2 bottles.

 

Kids can bring on wine??? I am confused!!

[griffy116]

There is not a credit card charge ANYWHERE to ANYONE that gets refunded immediately. He's trying to find a way to carry more wine onboard to share with friends, finds a "loophole," thinks he's pretty clever and uses it. I'm pretty sure he didn't explain why he is switching names around and that he and his wife are actually going to be sharing the same cabin and hauling 4 bottles of wine into their cabin. He's breaking the rules and I don't think anyone here cares if he does this, so seriously, what is it that he's "PO'd" about?

[LMaxwell]

Kids can bring on wine??? I am confused!!

 

Two bottles per room; someone in room must be over age 21.

[Joebucks]

The people on this forum that defend the cruise line to the very end amaze me. “It’s in the contact” so what?!?!?! My god. This is tourism and hospitality. Those “rules” are made by the line and absolutely can be broken by then with not costing the company anything. The only two industries I have found to hold people to the contract that it is law are cruise lines and airlines.

 

This is why I travel with Disney so much. They go above and beyond almost always and break the “rules” that they have in place for great customer service.

 

Perfect example my wife and I did the Disney Marathon in January. We waited too long to order pictures from the event. Disney only holds them for 45 days. Now on their website they say they charge an expiration extension fee of like $25 and this can only be done once. We called and they reinstated the photos for us immediately and NEVER brought up the fee (Royal would of charged the fee in a heartbeat).

 

So we buy the photos for $70 but whoops, I’m an idiot and I don’t download them from the site to my computer soon enough and they were deleted. I called yesterday and after 45 seconds on the phone with a cast member I had my photos reinstated a second time with no mention of the fee.

 

Now Disney could of charged me $25 the first time and then told me there was nothing they could do the second time because remember their rule is not to extend twice. But they did. Why? Because they actually care about guest service.

 

I say all this because these rules are made by these industries and can be so easily not enforced. It’s about putting guest service above profit.

 

So I should book Disney at 2-3x the fare because you once got them to waive a $25 fee? Still not worth it to me by a longshot.

 

You're correct, my TA should have mentioned that to me and advised. I'm not trying to cheat the system to bring more wine aboard, its my right, according to the rules that I can bring 2 bottles per state room. I just wanted to maximize my allowance without any issues by going by the rules and having a 21+ person in each state room to justify without getting in trouble.

 

You had mentioned above about excursions.....my two children were booked on an excursion prior, and their reservation stayed the same, attached to the NAME, not the cabin, strange?

 

So the rules should only apply when it benefits you, right?

[Starry Eyes]

Kids can bring on wine??? I am confused!!

No kids cannot bring wine. Op has two connecting cabins for his family of four. If someone 21 or older is booked in each cabin, they may bring four bottles.

 

Booking this way is not cheating or circumventing rules. In fact, I think it is the often the smarter way to book, wine allowance aside. Let’s say one of the children could not go (say a conflicting educational opportunity popped up). Then one of the adults would be booked as a solo, so would get double points. Or if after final payment an upgrade opportunity presented itself; with one adult per cabin, the family could decide whether or not to peruse the upgrade based on their good judgement/upgrade cabin size/kids maturity etc, without violating booking rules (for example, changing to a balcony (or suite) plus an inside cabin ten feet away vs straight across the hall might be a very reasonable choice for some families)

[boatclub1]

The rule is 2 bottles per cabin, no matter how many adults are in it.

 

 

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Oh, Ok I didn't know that.

Thanks,

[grapau27]

I've seen many groups of people checking in together and have never noticed them being checked for wine and who belongs to what bottles and what cabin their in.

 

Sorry this doesn't seem like that big of a deal. You're not really loosing anything are you? That credit will be refunded to you in no time at all. Processing a refund shouldn't incur this much stress on your part. Agree your TA (friend) should have explained the process to you completely....if you're going to be "PO'd" with someone ...start there.

 

Calm down and have a drink...Cheers

This makes sense to me.

It just seemed a complicated way for someone to try get one over RC.

[grapau27]

Seriously, this is the lamest indignant rant I've seen here in a while. This guy says he deals with fine wine, this isn't even a fine "whine"!

Lol that was a great line.

I had to read the ops question again because i thought it was unusual.

[Big_G]

You're correct, my TA should have mentioned that to me and advised. I'm not trying to cheat the system to bring more wine aboard, its my right, according to the rules that I can bring 2 bottles per state room. I just wanted to maximize my allowance without any issues by going by the rules and having a 21+ person in each state room to justify without getting in trouble.

 

I wouldn't call it 'cheating' as much as 'gaming' the system and it cost you some time. Bottom line is you shouldn't be mad at Royal. You're travel agent screwed up and they should have fixed it. I don't understand why you and not your travel agent spent 45 minutes on the phone with Royal. You should ask your TA for the $50 OBC.

[grapau27]

I agree with you. Citibank sent my cat a credit card and then expected ME to pay the balance! The audacity.

What a Cat astrophe.

[grapau27]

You are correct.

Maybe that was their motivation,they might have just wanted 1 drinks package.

All that fuss,i wonder if they stop their tips in protest.

[grapau27]

Perhaps the best advice is to let that TA friend of yours earn her commission and handle the booking for you.

Very good advice,let them have the hassle.

[grapau27]

So surprised to see this written by you, following the abuse you have given others, including Graham(grapau27). Advising people to break rules what a hypocrite.

Usually you make comments like those quoted below, why the change of heart?

Thank you Redrobo your posts are always excellent.

[Harrylinden]

You should be PO,d at yourself NOT RCCL! You and your friend TA are the one,s who decided to change names NOT RCCL. No pitty here!!! SMDH

[CruisingNole]

This would of been easy as the Royal worker clicking here, click here, hit enter here, and boom done.

 

Here's the thing. I don't think it is that easy. Should it be that easy? Of course, this is 2018. But this is Royal Caribbean we're talking about. Their technology is the most antiquated I've ever seen for a company of their size. Prior to their most recent "upgrade" to the customer login portal (which was an epic fail) using their website felt like a 20 year flashback to 1998.

 

You used Disney as a comparison. Let's look at it like this. Disney is a tech savvy business professional with a fiber optic internet connection. Royal Caribbean is a senior citizen with a dial up modem.

[LS6Caddy]

I kind of see things differently. To the OP: I would be a little upset, too, but not because of the refund issue. You bought and paid for two drink packages, then you changed your reservation. Why did RCI have to charge you again? In other words, why can't RCI simply move your drink package over to your new reservation? It makes no sense to me.

 

I am certainly not versed with their reservation software, but guessing that the best way (I probably shouldn't say "best" because I am sure software people out there could provide better information than I) to do this is the cancel and re-book method. I would think that "moving" people around within the reservation system could create just has many technical issues...like a passenger ending up in two rooms...even if for a second...that the computer would have a problem with. I could imagine with travel security and passenger manifestos and such that the software is well "trained" to spit out errors when it sees the same passenger in two different rooms. I don't think it has simple as a couple of clicks here and a couple clicks there. But what do I know...all I've done is stay at a Holiday Inn Express one night.

 

I think the "problem" here lies with RCCI IT (the booking software itself) and not as much with customer service. And it is well documented how many problems occur with their website.

 

With all that said. I do find it hilarious that all this occurred because the OP was trying to "take advantage" of the bringing your own wine policy. Especially if he is such a wine connoisseur and bringing his fine wine on board was so important, you would have thought he would have been versed the policy and just booked that way in the first place.

[Biker19]

With all that said. I do find it hilarious that all this occurred because the OP was trying to "take advantage" of the bringing your own wine policy. Especially if he is such a wine connoisseur and bringing his fine wine on board was so important, you would have thought he would have been versed the policy and just booked that way in the first place.

Or that he has a better chance of getting into an accident going to the cruise terminal than being stopped with four bottles of wine.

[topnole]

Here's the thing. I don't think it is that easy. Should it be that easy? Of course, this is 2018. But this is Royal Caribbean we're talking about. Their technology is the most antiquated I've ever seen for a company of their size. Prior to their most recent "upgrade" to the customer login portal (which was an epic fail) using their website felt like a 20 year flashback to 1998.

 

You used Disney as a comparison. Let's look at it like this. Disney is a tech savvy business professional with a fiber optic internet connection. Royal Caribbean is a senior citizen with a dial up modem.

 

Actually Disney’s overall website and booking interface is as bad or worse than RCL. Just try booking a resort on their website. If you pick a hotel to look at and want to then view another you often have to start back at square one (including going to the link for passholders, logging in again, etc.) I swear it is far worse than royal. They spent 1 billion plus on their Magic band project. You can’t even look at lodging with the associated app.

[Tapi]

 

You used Disney as a comparison. Let's look at it like this. Disney is a tech savvy business professional with a fiber optic internet connection. Royal Caribbean is a senior citizen with a dial up modem.

 

 

Yet they haven’t come up with an interactive system that allows passengers to look up their onboard account or make reservations for shore excursions or specialty restaurants like “senior citizen” Royal Caribbean has.

 

And as someone mentioned above, Disney’s reservations website is an absolute nightmare. It’s one of the few that I almost never visit because of this. It’s limited and non-intuitive. Even when we had an active reservation for our last cruise on Disney, I avoided the website like the plague. I could set up a bon voyage call from Mickey but I couldn’t look up important details about my booking without having to call their reservations number.

 

 

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[ChipLondon]

I am a little confused, if you are paying on a credit card the chances are that your refund will be paid back to you before your credit card bill is issued to you, or you have to pay it, am I missing something ? surely they are holding onto an agreed charge rather than any actual payment from you ?

 

 

That they're making me pay and hold my money for a few days when they canceled my package.....why should they hold my money? If they said that I could call back once my refund was done and get it at the same rate, there would be NO issue...

[Paulxyz2004]

I've seen the $45pp numerous times since we booked our sailing. I purchased it at this price, and if it does get cheaper with another sale, you can always cancel it and rebook it...drink up!

 

 

You have forgotten to advise that you need to press for $50 OBC if not refunded right away.:rolleyes:

[A&L_Ont]

I am a little confused, if you are paying on a credit card the chances are that your refund will be paid back to you before your credit card bill is issued to you, or you have to pay it, am I missing something ? surely they are holding onto an agreed charge rather than any actual payment from you ?

 

Very good point.

[Paulxyz2004]

Dude, if you're getting your panties in a twist over them "holding" a modest amount of money for a few days, I really don't know what to tell you. Refunds take time, it's pretty much standard business. If money is that tight, maybe you need to rethink spending so much on a cruise. And if it's the principle, then you're basically being a tool. How much interest do you think you're going to earn on a couple hundred dollars in a few days?

 

Seriously, you're getting EXACTLY what you wanted, and you're "PO'd at RCCL" for following their policies that you AGREED TO BY BOOKING to a tee.

 

You are officially totally and completely wrong.

 

Have to fully agree with this.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Yet they haven’t come up with an interactive system that allows passengers to look up their onboard account or make reservations for shore excursions or specialty restaurants like “senior citizen” Royal Caribbean has.

 

And as someone mentioned above, Disney’s reservations website is an absolute nightmare. It’s one of the few that I almost never visit because of this. It’s limited and non-intuitive. Even when we had an active reservation for our last cruise on Disney, I avoided the website like the plague. I could set up a bon voyage call from Mickey but I couldn’t look up important details about my booking without having to call their reservations number.

 

 

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I think it's all in what you're used to. The RCCL site (and Celebrity) - when it's working - is not intuitive at all to me while I know exactly where to go for what on the DCL site.

[notladjr]

Dude, if you're getting your panties in a twist over them "holding" a modest amount of money for a few days, I really don't know what to tell you. Refunds take time, it's pretty much standard business. If money is that tight, maybe you need to rethink spending so much on a cruise. And if it's the principle, then you're basically being a tool. How much interest do you think you're going to earn on a couple hundred dollars in a few days?

 

Seriously, you're getting EXACTLY what you wanted, and you're "PO'd at RCCL" for following their policies that you AGREED TO BY BOOKING to a tee.

 

You are officially totally and completely wrong.

 

Ditto me on this post. I thought I must have misunderstood the original post but in reading all of the posts realized I had not. This reminds me why I am so thankful I don't have a job working with the public. Can you imagine the poor RCCL phone rep having to listen to a rant because they are doing what the customer requested!