Royal Caribbean ruining our Spring Break in an unbelievable way!

[PCHENG]

I always thought that by putting down a cruise deposit you don't have a contract, but merely an option to a contract. Just as I can cancel my reservation and get a full refund anytime before final payment, the cruise line is free to do the same and charter the boat out.

 

In any event, something similar happened to me a few years ago when Carnival replaced the Valor out of San Juan with the Liberty. I was booked in a 6K cabin which is not available on the Liberty. After I rejected the cruise line's offer to move me to a balcony cabin, I was offered the option of either a full refund or sail on the same week in any 7 day Carribean cruise, balcony or lower, for same price as my Valor booking.

 

If RCCL could not offer you an acceptable resolution, just make it a 7 day tour of Puerto Rico. The island is beautiful and can sure use some tourist dollars now as it tries to rebuilt.

[time4u2go]

I always thought that by putting down a cruise deposit you don't have a contract, but merely an option to a contract. Just as I can cancel my reservation and get a full refund anytime before final payment, the cruise line is free to do the same and charter the boat out.

...

They can cancel any time, including after final payment.

[kknorr0320]

I was booked on the same cruise for the same reason, it’s my daughters spring break. I had an aft corner balcony. There’s no way I’ll get one of those again this close to the sailing. We were going to the ABC islands, can’t do that from Florida on a 1 week cruise. I almost bought our airline tickets last weekend, I’m glad I didn’t do that. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, I’ve got a week to decide.

Can you do the 9 night Southern Caribbean out of Miami? Our kids' Spring Break lines up with the Navigator 9 night as they have off the Friday before as well as the week. We did this last year and we're going again next year.

 

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[rukkian]

It’s about time they knocked this **** on the head.

You sell a cruise date. It’s sold end of story.

 

No way should they be able to resell to a charter.

 

Maybe a solution would be for possible charters to book before the open market.

 

 

 

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Charters are not usually willing to put down the kind of money it takes that far in advance. Unless they started not opening up booking until less than a year out, that will probably not happen.

 

While I understand the frustration of the op, I personally try not to get too worked up about things I cannot change. Cruises will be chartered, it is going to happen and passengers are not going to change that, at least not at the prices of the main lines. I am guessing you see less of this type of thing in the luxury lines, but you also pay allot for those.

 

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[Snit13]

I've never heard of a cruise being cancelled due to a charter.

 

Where have you been? It happens all of the time at most if not all of the major cruise lines. There have been numerous threads on the CC boards on this topic. Believe it or not, it is not the end of the world. Find another cruise line that fits your vacation time and enjoy.

[rimmit]

This happens not just to cruises. I have total flights cancelled 3 months from a vacation. All i get back is my money, they try to reaccomodate you on another flight, but nothing would work due to their flight schedules. I live in a rural area and already had a room prepaid with nonrefundable deposit to secure lowest fare. Because we have to fly out of several different airports, And the original airport no longer had any flights that worked with our schedule, we lost the deposit on the room as we had to fly out of a different airport.

 

I’ve have had flights changed and many have as we I am sure, such that subsuquent connections are impossible. Due to the change within a month of the flight, flight prices have increased significantly, and I had to pay a ton more to get a flight that would work as there were ZERO flights that would work with the connection and no amount of code sharing with any airline would make it work. I spent hours trying to get the airlines to find something that would work, but alas, nothing.

 

The point here is many other posters seem to be convinced the airlines are better and due to regulation you are more protected. Maybe... but I have not seen any protection outside of overbooking compensation. The airlines change flights all the time, and not due to mechanical failure or weather. They do it likely for cost savings. One of the flights was not close to being fully booked and suspect they cancelled as t was going to lose money. They cancel flights all the time. Often a month or two out and that really puts you in a bind. At least the cruise line charters are typically with a more reasonable notice and not 1-2 months from departure.

[SeaHunt]

OP sorry this happened to you. It's so disappointing. I know it's no help, but at least you were told about the charter - sometimes people notice their ship and sailing date is being pulled for new reservations and have to try and find out just what is going on. Hopefully you will be on something even more wonderful in the end!

 

I read on the Crystal board that one of the ships was chartered for a swinger's cruise. Yikes!

 

They are on RCI (and Celebrity) also - checking http://themecruisefinder.com/ for RCI sailings (searching by "Lifestyle-Alternative Theme Cruises" it shows that the Independence of the Seas November 11-17, 2018 and Navigator November 8-15, 2019 sailings are full ship "Bliss" charters. Info from that site says:

 

"Open decks and pool areas are clothing optional"

"Multiple play areas to meet your level of comfort and interest"

No prude here, but it does make me wonder what the cruise staff thinks while serving LOL;)

[AnonomissX]

1) OP scheduled to sail out of San Juan, PR. Unless they live in San Juan, they have probably purchased airfare on non-refundable tickets. It's not like they can drive to another port w/in 1-200 miles

 

 

2) Alternatively, the NCL Dawn is sailing on the SAME DAY. A cursory glance at April 2019 out of San Juan, PR shows the lowest price on the same ships on the same dates through out April are close enough.

 

 

3) OP states they would be "paying approximately $2,000 more for similar rooms". Can you be more specific as to the kind of cabin on the Freedom of the Seas vs the NCL Dawn? Perhaps someone can give you some suggestions on how to bring that cost down, or change cabin class to make it still worth your while.

 

 

Sorry you had this happen, but it does happen.

Edited June 8, 2018 by AnonomissX
Truth, clarity and chocolate

[smplybcause]

I can't understand why people seem to think it unreasonable for someone to be upset when after contracting with a company for a cruise the line sells your vacation out from under you. "Oh, just book another fruits". As the OP said, the price has now gone up. The better afternoons are not available. Lots of reservations need to be changed. Hours of p!and are now worthless. Would i let it ruin my life? Or course not. It would also be a L O N G time before I did biz with the company that treated me that way.

I have had airlines candle flights but the difference is that they have bent over backwards to get me on a flight that works for me, even when they had to book me on another airline and always at the same price.

 

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Airlines can do that easier because 1) it's 10% or often quite less than the number of people a cruise boat can be 2) even if they only fly to your destination a few times a week that's more often then a ship makes its journey and 3) they have more competitors in the same price point more or less.

 

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[juju2454]

Who’s chartering a whole ship?

Cost must be astronomical.

Maybe find out who’s chartering it and asking to join them.

 

 

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It is booked for lularoe, they get a group discount and you win a spot by selling their clothing as a retailer....

[Tapi]

1) OP scheduled to sail out of San Juan, PR. Unless they live in San Juan, they have probably purchased airfare on non-refundable tickets.

 

 

The cruise is approximately 10 months from now. Major airlines open their booking window usually 11 months out, and most low cost carriers haven’t even opened their bookings that far out yet. So there’s a good chance that the charter was announced before the OP had a chance to purchase airfare. Maybe they can come back and tell us if they had done so.

 

 

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[lbjen]

It is booked for lularoe, they get a group discount and you win a spot by selling their clothing as a retailer....

 

Given how many of those people I see going out of business every day, I doubt the ship will be full.

[Brewster]

Although I have never been cancelled due to a charter, I can certainly empathize with the original poster. Chartering the boat under a year during a typical family break where a lot of people have limited flexibility due to set vacations (school calendars) is just poor customer service/public relations on the part of RCCL. I get that this is capitalism at its best but it still does not make the situation right. An additional $200.00 OBC (with such short notice) in my opinion is not adequate compensation here.

[SRF]

basically, THROWN off the ship and vacation that the customers have paid for.

 

In this case, about a year out, how much have you paid for???????

[Magnetchief]

Paid for it or not.

 

https://youtu.be/4T2GmGSNvaM

 

 

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[SRF]

If your definition of proper compensation is extensively more than what the lines currently offer, enacting that rule would likely cause the cruise lines to delay release of itineraries. Most charters are probably not done more than 12 months out, but are likely quite lucrative. So an easy solve would be to not release itineraries until after a time period where most charters are booked.

 

Unintended consequences. :D

 

Like the law about how long you can sit on board an airplane. Done because of a single high profile incident.

 

So now, they just cancel the flight. And since the cancellation is due to weather, all you get is rebooked on a later flight. NOTHING ELSE.

 

Yeap, that fixed things.

[SRF]

Well said!

In my everyday life, if I sell something, it is sold. I can't come back months later and say I had a better offer so our contract is void, give it back and I will give you a small token to make you feel better. How come that doesn't apply to cruiselines? To say well, they all do it, is no answer or consolation to the OP who booked this months ago. Just because they all do it doesn't make it OK or legal, does it?

 

That is the point, the contract ALLOWS for this.

 

And you accept the contract by booking the cruise.

 

It IS legal.

 

Have you read the contract on the software you installed on your computer? In most cases, if you read it, you do not own it. And the software company retains all rights to modify or remove it from your computer.

[SRF]

It’s about time they knocked this **** on the head.

You sell a cruise date. It’s sold end of story.

 

If it actually sold, maybe they should require payment in full upon booking.

[rukkian]

That is the point, the contract ALLOWS for this.

 

And you accept the contract by booking the cruise.

 

It IS legal.

On top of that, it is not like you boarded the ship, them they kicked you off, this would be a whole different conversation at that point. The argument that you bought something, got it, them were told to return does not apply here.

 

It is sad that the vacation got cancelled, it at least changed. It is one of the risks if booking early. You get lower rates, but there is more change of it being chartered (fill out partial), or cancelled, or changed. Many people have complained about partial charters and wanting to know why they didn't just let them out of the contract.

 

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[SRF]

If RCCL could not offer you an acceptable resolution, just make it a 7 day tour of Puerto Rico. The island is beautiful and can sure use some tourist dollars now as it tries to rebuilt.

 

While I agree with the idea, PR ALWAYS needs to be rebuilt. They get hit by hurricanes a LOT. :D

[smplybcause]

Unintended consequences. :D

 

Like the law about how long you can sit on board an airplane. Done because of a single high profile incident.

 

So now, they just cancel the flight. And since the cancellation is due to weather, all you get is rebooked on a later flight. NOTHING ELSE.

 

Yeap, that fixed things.

And they might even save more money with not having to deal with so many itineraries at once. Probably cut them down by a third! Not to mention the delays if a company hasn't quite signed yet but is close, look at those itineraries for the month only going out 6 months before!

 

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[SRF]

I read on the Crystal board that one of the ships was chartered for a swinger's cruise. Yikes!

 

One couple here in CC stated they do swingers, nudist and LBGT cruises because there are NO KIDS. :D

 

And you do not have to participate. :D

 

They mentioned the LGBT cruises are great fun, as the groups really know how to party. :D

[rukkian]

One couple here in CC stated they do swingers, nudist and LBGT cruises because there are NO KIDS. :D

 

And you do not have to participate. :D

 

They mentioned the LGBT cruises are great fun, as the groups really know how to party. :D

While you don't have to participate in swingers or LGBT,I am guessing it is hard not to say things you don't want on a budget cruise.

 

I can definitely see how a lgbtq cruise could be fun, but could also see plenty of kids. We went to Disney world during the lgbtq week a few years ago, and there were still tons of kids. We actually choose the parts that the celebration was at (one each day officially) as many people avoided it, and the lines were less, with great people around.

 

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[internetwhiz]

I've never heard of a cruise being cancelled due to a charter.

 

 

Wow, have had several friends who have had cruises cancelled for charters. Not all of them have been on RC. Isn’t there anything else to move to that week?

[smplybcause]

While you don't have to participate in swingers or LGBT,I am guessing it is hard not to say things you don't want on a budget cruise.

 

I can definitely see how a lgbtq cruise could be fun, but could also see plenty of kids. We went to Disney world during the lgbtq week a few years ago, and there were still tons of kids. We actually choose the parts that the celebration was at (one each day officially) as many people avoided it, and the lines were less, with great people around.

 

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Difference is, they don't buy out Disney. With them buying the whole boat I'm betting it's minimum 18+ but likely 21 so no one has to worry about ages.

 

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