Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

RCCL stole my onboard credit :(

Dashofpepper
 Share

Recommended Posts

Dashofpepper

Dashofpepper

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hey folks; just wanted to share.

 

I booked my first RCCL cruise on July 29th (for a Nov.4-11 sailing), using a buy one get one 50% promotion, which gave $75 in onboard credit based on our inside stateroom booking (since there were no balcony staterooms available).

 

I called two nights ago (8/5) to get advice on whether I should book my January cruise now, or wait until after my first sailing in November to establish a sailing history, and the friendly RCCL rep advised me to wait. While we were on the phone, we were talking about my November sailing, and he noted that there *were* balconies available...inside balconies, but no ocean-view balconies, and it was a ~$200 upsell.

 

I took it, paid for it, was glad I called.

 

 

Today I got an e-mail (ad) from RCCL about another BOGO promotion, and I noticed in the fine print that on-board cash was $100 for a balcony booking. Since the Cruiseplanner wasn't showing our onboard cash value, I called RCCL to find out whether my $75 onboard cash had been upgraded to $100 for upgrading to a balcony, and it turns out that I have NO onboard cash.

 

Apparently, RCCL changed promotions on August 1st. My July 29th booking was made with one promotion, which I lost access to when I changed my booking on August 5th. At the same time, the August 1+ promotion is only for cruises 6+ months out, so I'm not eligible for it.

 

After an hour and 15 minutes of back and forth with the reservation specialist and a resolution manager, and some three-way chats on their end with Casino Royale, there's nothing they can do for me. I had booked a refundable ticket, which irritatingly passed its refundable period YESTERDAY. I could revert my reservation or keep my new one, and since the balcony reservation has an included lunch at one of the specialty restaurants that has a $35 cover charge, its technically comparable.

 

By way of apology for making me have to be on the phone for 75 minutes trying to get resolution for this, they've promised to deliver a free bottle of wine and a fruit basket to my room.

 

Which is no consolation really; I eat for free and given my gambling, drink for free on every cruiseship I've been on.

 

I'm not upset over losing $75 or $100 on a cruise that cost us $2400 where I'm going to bring $4-$10k to gamble with, but I *AM* pissed that this misfire isn't an easy, "Our bad, we've manually re-added it to your cruise."

 

Grr. NCL's worsening service is caused me to look for a new cruise line; we're off to a rocky start.

Edited by Dashofpepper
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dashofpepper

Dashofpepper

Posted
  • Author
Posted
“4-10K to gamble with”

 

Geez, good luck at the slots/tables.

 

European roulette, single zero. I canceled a Vegas vacation to cruise, and had an epic search for a week or two where I called every cruise line trying to figure out which cruise ships in which fleets had at least one European roulette table. Turns out there's 12, and RCCL has 10 of them (Cunard has the other two). Carnival, Celebrity, Azamara, NCL, and the rest are apparently all chump casinos. =p

 

I was going to wire $10k to the Oasis for gambling, but their table is $5 - $1000, and Club Royale (and the current Oasis Casino Manager, whom another poster here helped me track down) said they wouldn't raise the table limits for me without some play history. I'll probably end up bringing less because there's no point bringing a bunch of cash if they won't let me gamble with it - a $5 - $1000 table takes $2k to bankroll, and if the double the table limits, still only $4k to bankroll.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DCT61

DCT61

Posted
Posted

And it’s not just RCCL. A couple years ago we booked a window suite on the Grand Princess. We were given $25 cabin credit to use onboard. A month later we paid about $1800 to upgrade to a full suite. They took our $25 away. We had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. But “thems the rules”

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dashofpepper

Dashofpepper

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Your CP balcony room comes with a bottle of wine as well as the lunch at the specialty restaurant...hopefully that is not the bottle of wine they promised you for your inconvenience.

 

I can imagine someone going and raiding the fruit buffet, then delivering a basket of it to my room. I read somewhere that there is a two-bottle cap on bringing your own wine, and I'm a wine snob (give me any Amarone della Valpolicella, any vineyard or year, but if it isn't a Corvina grape Amarone, give me water). :cool: I'm thinking about bringing a couple bottles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thorben-Hendrik

Thorben-Hendrik

Posted
Posted
Hey folks; just wanted to share.

 

I booked my first RCCL cruise on July 29th (for a Nov.4-11 sailing), using a buy one get one 50% promotion, which gave $75 in onboard credit based on our inside stateroom booking (since there were no balcony staterooms available).

 

I called two nights ago (8/5) to get advice on whether I should book my January cruise now, or wait until after my first sailing in November to establish a sailing history, and the friendly RCCL rep advised me to wait. While we were on the phone, we were talking about my November sailing, and he noted that there *were* balconies available...inside balconies, but no ocean-view balconies, and it was a ~$200 upsell.

 

I took it, paid for it, was glad I called.

 

 

Today I got an e-mail (ad) from RCCL about another BOGO promotion, and I noticed in the fine print that on-board cash was $100 for a balcony booking. Since the Cruiseplanner wasn't showing our onboard cash value, I called RCCL to find out whether my $75 onboard cash had been upgraded to $100 for upgrading to a balcony, and it turns out that I have NO onboard cash.

 

Apparently, RCCL changed promotions on August 1st. My July 29th booking was made with one promotion, which I lost access to when I changed my booking on August 5th. At the same time, the August 1+ promotion is only for cruises 6+ months out, so I'm not eligible for it.

 

After an hour and 15 minutes of back and forth with the reservation specialist and a resolution manager, and some three-way chats on their end with Casino Royale, there's nothing they can do for me. I had booked a refundable ticket, which irritatingly passed its refundable period YESTERDAY. I could revert my reservation or keep my new one, and since the balcony reservation has an included lunch at one of the specialty restaurants that has a $35 cover charge, its technically comparable.

 

By way of apology for making me have to be on the phone for 75 minutes trying to get resolution for this, they've promised to deliver a free bottle of wine and a fruit basket to my room.

 

Which is no consolation really; I eat for free and given my gambling, drink for free on every cruiseship I've been on.

 

I'm not upset over losing $75 or $100 on a cruise that cost us $2400 where I'm going to bring $4-$10k to gamble with, but I *AM* pissed that this misfire isn't an easy, "Our bad, we've manually re-added it to your cruise."

 

Grr. NCL's worsening service is caused me to look for a new cruise line; we're off to a rocky start.

Wait until they cancel your cruise for a charter or your favorite French Roulette table is actually in reality never open during your cruise ( which is highly likely ).....:rolleyes:;p

By the time you cruise they will have a new casino manager anyway......(y)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mikeandliz

Mikeandliz

Posted
Posted

If your such a CSW. How come your rooms are not comped from CAS? That would make the $100 irrelevant.

If what your saying is fact. You did not loose $100 you lost $2400. Are you not getting rated for play? Why don’t you have a casino host?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dashofpepper

Dashofpepper

Posted
  • Author
Posted
If your such a CSW. How come your rooms are not comped from CAS? That would make the $100 irrelevant.

If what your saying is fact. You did not loose $100 you lost $2400. Are you not getting rated for play? Why don’t you have a casino host?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Not relevant to this, but much talked about in the casino sub. CAS is NCL; RCCL has CR. As I mentioned, this is my first RCCL sailing. I'm not rated with CR, nor do they cross-rate with their competitors. =p My last NCL cruise was terrible - during and after, I don't want to sail with them again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
xpcdoojk "Live from...." Rare

xpcdoojk

Posted
Posted
I can imagine someone going and raiding the fruit buffet, then delivering a basket of it to my room. I read somewhere that there is a two-bottle cap on bringing your own wine, and I'm a wine snob (give me any Amarone della Valpolicella, any vineyard or year, but if it isn't a Corvina grape Amarone, give me water). :cool: I'm thinking about bringing a couple bottles.

 

As a long time Amarone lover, you are .....

 

Just sayin

 

JC

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dashofpepper

Dashofpepper

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I wish I had 10K to toss out the window.

 

I don't have $10k to toss out the window - that's super rich. It's more like I have $10k to make some calculated gambles with, and while I *could* lose it, it is unlikely - but if I do lose it, I didn't just financially ruin myself. My gambling methods involve short term sessions , risking a lot of money relatively safely to win a little money. In the long run, if you stay in the casino long enough, you'll always lose it all, but my gamble is that in my short run visits, I won't hit the streak of losses that bankrupt me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
papaflamingo

papaflamingo

Posted
Posted

You spent an hour on the phone trying to get OBC that you weren't entitled to, and considering you get a bottle of wine and free $35 specialty restaurant? So ignoring the cheap wine, you spent an hour on the phone to get $40 on a $2400 cruise? When you change rates, you are subject to the rate rules in effect. Since your cruise was less than 6 months out, NO ONE on it was entitled to a BOGO that is only in effect for cruises more than 6 months out. That's be like me complaining because the cheapest car on the lot was at a 10% discount and I wanted the discount to apply to the most expensive. Come on. Seriously? If this was so offensive to you, why didn't you just revert back to your original cabin and rate like you stated they offered?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ObstructedView2

ObstructedView2

Posted
Posted

I don't understand...

 

You created a thread that you lost $75 onboard credit.

 

You 1st reserved an (inside) stateroom.

 

Then you (claim) that you'll be gambling with $10,000 at the ships casino.

 

Just humor all of us & explain why an inside stateroom If you have $10,000 to gamble with?

 

Also, why are you concerned about $75 onboard credit when you have $10,000 to gamble with?

 

Why are you even going on a cruise, why not take your $10,000 to Vegas??

 

None of this makes any sense at all... I call BS on all of this nonsense.

 

 

:confused: :confused:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dacsmom

dacsmom

Posted
Posted

A bit dramatic aren't you? RCI did not steal your OBC, if you price match or alter your reservation you accept the terms of the new promotion. Those are the rules. You balance out whether the savings are worth it or not. I gave up $100 OBC to save $250 on a cruise fare, that was worth it to me. Know what you are buying. Many people probably would not be as harsh if your original post had not been so over the top and you had just asked why it happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
memoak

memoak

Posted
Posted

This is the case with all cruise lines - if you make changes then you get the promo currently running unless it is an upgrade or upsell initiated by the cruise line. Most cruise lines will also not allow you to combine promos - On another line I recently gave up a $400 casino rate discount to get a free $1,000+ beverage package for free (and no gratuities to be paid either).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...