Ticked off at RCCL...

[CruisingDaddy]

This will mostly be a rant because our itinerary changed on our upcoming AOTS Jan 19, 2020 cruise.  Here's why I feel ticked off this time around and I have to take on some of the blame... long story but stay with me on this one.  So my saga started back in January 2019. We were about to sail on the OOTS when one of our friends got ill and they had to cancel the cruise.  So we decided at the time to push our cruise out by a year, after paying $200 to move the booking due to non-refundable deposits... I knew about the fee if we needed to change and am ok with it.  We changed the cruise to Feb 2, 2020 and still on the OOTS then a few months back I get a lovely email from RCCL advising the have charted the OOTS and I would need to either change ships, change sail date or cancel and get a refund. 

 

After looking at their website, I found the itinerary for the AOTS worked for us.  So I call up RCCL to make the change and they were accommodating on doing the changes without any hassle.  They even gave us like $100 OBC or something like that for our inconvenience.  In locking up the new sail date and ship, I then needed to make changes with work to move my vacation days as well as start looking for a new hotel since the date and port was different.  It was a bit of inconvenience, but hey, I was lucky enough to find something suitable for the 4 of us and no big deal.

 

Here's where my ticked off part starts coming into play.  A few months ago, I saw messages that the AOTS were having propulsion issues and the ship was going at a slower pace and they needed to modify like 25 cruises because of it... and I only found out after I had made the changes.  The good news was that ours was not going to be affected... Hurray right!!  But last night I get the dreaded email saying that due to ongoing propulsion issues we need to modify your itinerary.  It says, instead of going to St. Thomas for a day, we'll be stopping in San Juan instead for 6 hours (7am to 1pm).  Our option was again to keep this cruise, cancel and get a refund but not for our flights (so no good to us) or change cruises again.  I thought, ok, let's take a look to see if anything comes up that would still work with our flight schedule because I really don't want to go to San Juan especially with all that's happening there right now.  So I call RCCL and asked them to move my cruise. they said sure, we can do that for you but I will need to pay for the difference in price.  I'm like really?? It's like double the price of what I have now and no way I'm going to pay double.  I asked for some OBC or discount at least if I keep this cruise and again they said no....

 

Am I being unreasonable in asking for something?  I normally don't ask and I know in our cruise contract it does say that they can change the itinerary for any reason but I feel this issues was in their control and it could have been remedied.  They have a broken ship and they choose to not fix it and affect all their next cruises until they bring her into dry dock.  I mean if we were our to sea and something happens to the ship and we miss a port it's one thing, or unrest in a port like in San Juan I'd have no issues with changing our ports of call, but this I feel should fall on them.  What do you guys think?  Am I crazy in asking for something in return?  I would like to get your thoughts on it.  Thanks

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, CruisingDaddy said:

Am I being unreasonable in asking for something? 

For your particular scenario, I think so. BTW, there should be no more issues in San Juan by the time of your sailing.

[Merion_Mom]

2 minutes ago, CruisingDaddy said:

This will mostly be a rant because our itinerary changed on our upcoming AOTS Jan 19, 2020 cruise.  Here's why I feel ticked off this time around and I have to take on some of the blame... long story but stay with me on this one.  So my saga started back in January 2019. We were about to sail on the OOTS when one of our friends got ill and they had to cancel the cruise.  So we decided at the time to push our cruise out by a year, after paying $200 to move the booking due to non-refundable deposits... I knew about the fee if we needed to change and am ok with it.  We changed the cruise to Feb 2, 2020 and still on the OOTS then a few months back I get a lovely email from RCCL advising the have charted the OOTS and I would need to either change ships, change sail date or cancel and get a refund. 

 

After looking at their website, I found the itinerary for the AOTS worked for us.  So I call up RCCL to make the change and they were accommodating on doing the changes without any hassle.  They even gave us like $100 OBC or something like that for our inconvenience.  In locking up the new sail date and ship, I then needed to make changes with work to move my vacation days as well as start looking for a new hotel since the date and port was different.  It was a bit of inconvenience, but hey, I was lucky enough to find something suitable for the 4 of us and no big deal.

 

Here's where my ticked off part starts coming into play.  A few months ago, I saw messages that the AOTS were having propulsion issues and the ship was going at a slower pace and they needed to modify like 25 cruises because of it... and I only found out after I had made the changes.  The good news was that ours was not going to be affected... Hurray right!!  But last night I get the dreaded email saying that due to ongoing propulsion issues we need to modify your itinerary.  It says, instead of going to St. Thomas for a day, we'll be stopping in San Juan instead for 6 hours (7am to 1pm).  Our option was again to keep this cruise, cancel and get a refund but not for our flights (so no good to us) or change cruises again.  I thought, ok, let's take a look to see if anything comes up that would still work with our flight schedule because I really don't want to go to San Juan especially with all that's happening there right now.  So I call RCCL and asked them to move my cruise. they said sure, we can do that for you but I will need to pay for the difference in price.  I'm like really?? It's like double the price of what I have now and no way I'm going to pay double.  I asked for some OBC or discount at least if I keep this cruise and again they said no....

 

Am I being unreasonable in asking for something?  I normally don't ask and I know in our cruise contract it does say that they can change the itinerary for any reason but I feel this issues was in their control and it could have been remedied.  They have a broken ship and they choose to not fix it and affect all their next cruises until they bring her into dry dock.  I mean if we were our to sea and something happens to the ship and we miss a port it's one thing, or unrest in a port like in San Juan I'd have no issues with changing our ports of call, but this I feel should fall on them.  What do you guys think?  Am I crazy in asking for something in return?  I would like to get your thoughts on it.  Thanks

 

Your post is likely to be combined with others on this topic, but let me tell you what someone else wants to do.

 

Anthem is doing 3 11 nights cruises (Jan 5, Jan 16, Jan 27) with a Southern Caribbean itinerary.  This other poster says that the price for the 11 night is the same as for his Allure 7 night.

 

I urged him to switch.  I urge you to do the same, particularly since you have to fly anyway.  Airline change fees are a PITA, but maybe if you work on RC, they will cover those.

[Merion_Mom]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

For your particular scenario, I think so. BTW, there should be no more issues in San Juan by the time of your sailing.

 

 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90381677/as-governor-resigns-puerto-rico-assures-travelers-its-still-open-for-business

[cruisinfanatic]

7 minutes ago, CruisingDaddy said:

This will mostly be a rant because our itinerary changed on our upcoming AOTS Jan 19, 2020 cruise.  Here's why I feel ticked off this time around and I have to take on some of the blame... long story but stay with me on this one.  So my saga started back in January 2019. We were about to sail on the OOTS when one of our friends got ill and they had to cancel the cruise.  So we decided at the time to push our cruise out by a year, after paying $200 to move the booking due to non-refundable deposits... I knew about the fee if we needed to change and am ok with it.  We changed the cruise to Feb 2, 2020 and still on the OOTS then a few months back I get a lovely email from RCCL advising the have charted the OOTS and I would need to either change ships, change sail date or cancel and get a refund. 

 

After looking at their website, I found the itinerary for the AOTS worked for us.  So I call up RCCL to make the change and they were accommodating on doing the changes without any hassle.  They even gave us like $100 OBC or something like that for our inconvenience.  In locking up the new sail date and ship, I then needed to make changes with work to move my vacation days as well as start looking for a new hotel since the date and port was different.  It was a bit of inconvenience, but hey, I was lucky enough to find something suitable for the 4 of us and no big deal.

 

Here's where my ticked off part starts coming into play.  A few months ago, I saw messages that the AOTS were having propulsion issues and the ship was going at a slower pace and they needed to modify like 25 cruises because of it... and I only found out after I had made the changes.  The good news was that ours was not going to be affected... Hurray right!!  But last night I get the dreaded email saying that due to ongoing propulsion issues we need to modify your itinerary.  It says, instead of going to St. Thomas for a day, we'll be stopping in San Juan instead for 6 hours (7am to 1pm).  Our option was again to keep this cruise, cancel and get a refund but not for our flights (so no good to us) or change cruises again.  I thought, ok, let's take a look to see if anything comes up that would still work with our flight schedule because I really don't want to go to San Juan especially with all that's happening there right now.  So I call RCCL and asked them to move my cruise. they said sure, we can do that for you but I will need to pay for the difference in price.  I'm like really?? It's like double the price of what I have now and no way I'm going to pay double.  I asked for some OBC or discount at least if I keep this cruise and again they said no....

 

Am I being unreasonable in asking for something?  I normally don't ask and I know in our cruise contract it does say that they can change the itinerary for any reason but I feel this issues was in their control and it could have been remedied.  They have a broken ship and they choose to not fix it and affect all their next cruises until they bring her into dry dock.  I mean if we were our to sea and something happens to the ship and we miss a port it's one thing, or unrest in a port like in San Juan I'd have no issues with changing our ports of call, but this I feel should fall on them.  What do you guys think?  Am I crazy in asking for something in return?  I would like to get your thoughts on it.  Thanks

There is not going to be unrest in San Juan months from now so tha's not a valid excuse. I'd rather go to St Thomas than San Juan, but wouldn't cancel a cruise because of it, Just go and forget about your worries

[doones2]

What kind of bothers me about cutting our time in San Juan is that they could have cut our time in Labadee instead but they would lose money.  Drinks, excursions all go to RCCL.  Not necessarily so in San Juan

[cruisegirl1976]

I actually was on the OOTS sailing and moved over to the AOTS.. now I already had my hotel booked in Miami.. and decided not to change it cause of the AOTS is in FLL.. and my flights are already booked.. and I am not really upset about the port change at all.  We were scheduled to go to San Juan originally on the OOTS..(which I preferred that itinerary) so to me it is really no big deal.  Schedules change, port changes happen... it is nothing new.. , I make the best of it, cause things could always be worse., like the entire cruise could of been canceled.  I am not going to let a port change ruin my vacation.  🙂

[CruisingDaddy]

11 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Your post is likely to be combined with others on this topic, but let me tell you what someone else wants to do.

 

Anthem is doing 3 11 nights cruises (Jan 5, Jan 16, Jan 27) with a Southern Caribbean itinerary.  This other poster says that the price for the 11 night is the same as for his Allure 7 night.

 

I urged him to switch.  I urge you to do the same, particularly since you have to fly anyway.  Airline change fees are a PITA, but maybe if you work on RC, they will cover those.

Thanks but I definitely don't want to leave from Cape Liberty on Anthem in the middle of winter.  I'll pass on this one.  I'm from Canada and trying to get away for winter 🙂

[DancerMama25]

I think just chill. It’s all good.  I know you’re angry about the change and are blaming Royal for not just “fixing the ship,” but that is a lot easier said than done.  They MUST have the ship in dry dock for this particular fix.  There are only so many dry dock spaces worldwide in which this repair can be made, and therefore there is literally no place for them to do this repair ahead of when it’s already scheduled.  The only other option, which most certainly wouldn’t help you nor thousands and thousands of other passengers, would be to take the ship out of service until it has been repaired.   Just let it go, have a great time.

[HBE4]

22 minutes ago, CruisingDaddy said:

Am I being unreasonable in asking for something?  I normally don't ask and I know in our cruise contract it does say that they can change the itinerary for any reason but I feel this issues was in their control and it could have been remedied.  They have a broken ship and they choose to not fix it and affect all their next cruises until they bring her into dry dock.  I mean if we were our to sea and something happens to the ship and we miss a port it's one thing, or unrest in a port like in San Juan I'd have no issues with changing our ports of call, but this I feel should fall on them.  What do you guys think?  Am I crazy in asking for something in return?  I would like to get your thoughts on it.  Thanks

 

You're not unreasonable. Royal knowingly sold you a cruise that they are unable to provide on a broken ship. They gave you the option to switch to a different cruise, but since it's not price-protected and double the price, they really have NOT giving you an option.  At the least, they should throw some OBC your way or complimentary dining at a Specialty Restaurant.

 

As others have said, the situation in SJ should be over by the time you get there so enjoy the cruise.

 

BTW, in the spirit of the customer survey thread, I'd give Corporate Royal in Miami a 0 in this instance.....maybe even a -5.

[torpeedo]

How about changing to the Adventure out of Ft. Lauderdale?  Has some nice and a variety of itineraries.  It's a very nice ship.  We were on in June and loved it.  I know it's not an Oasis class but it is a great ship.

[time4u2go]

Which AOTS?  There's 3.

[cruisegirl1976]

27 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Which AOTS?  There's 3.

Allure 

[nelblu]

1 hour ago, CruisingDaddy said:

Thanks but I definitely don't want to leave from Cape Liberty on Anthem in the middle of winter.  I'll pass on this one.  I'm from Canada and trying to get away for winter 🙂

I was skeptical the first time I sailed on Quantum from Bayonne.  Since then, I've taken 2 11 niters and I convinced myself that I will still get 6-7 days of sunny weather and being from NJ, avoid airfare price shock and airport hassle.  By the way, I've got an 11 niter coming up in late January and looking forward.

Edited July 26, 2019 by nelblu

[Paelos]

You're not unreasonable to ask for something. You're likely unreasonable if you actually expect anything.

 

After moving things around, and then trying to move things around again, at some point you just have to play the hand you're dealt. Short of them cancelling Coco Cay on me right after the reno, I can't think of a port that would ruin my entire 7 day cruise.

 

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy regardless of circumstances with your fam or friends.

[taglovestocruise]

Oasis Class is really about the ship, not the ports. 

[nalatrixie74]

im bummed we're losing st kitts, and only going to be in san juan a short time, but i am so glad the cruise didn't get cancelled all together to get fixed early! 

[time4u2go]

They'll probably figure out a way to make you go to Coco Cay.

[Milwaukee Eight]

Unfortunately, the drydock that was big enough to handle the Azipod  repairs on Oasis Class, was damaged during OOTS attempt to repair an Azipod.  It’s my understanding that at this time, there is no facility on the Eastern US that is big enough. 

 

It would be great if Royal can invest in a facility for the future as the ships are not getting smaller. 

[negc]

TO THE OP.........

 

I am on the same cruise, and St. Thomas is still on the itinerary. St. Kitts was changed to San Juan, at least according to the information I have.  I understand your frustration with the port change, but it can, and does, happen frequently for many different reasons.  Since we have been to St. Kitts many times, I may not be as upset with the change as you are, but you are still going to St. Thomas, at least that's what my info says.

 

[Arzeena]

4 hours ago, CruisingDaddy said:

Thanks but I definitely don't want to leave from Cape Liberty on Anthem in the middle of winter.  I'll pass on this one.  I'm from Canada and trying to get away for winter 🙂

Too bad! The Anthem is a cold weather ship with all the bells and whistles. You should try it.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Arzeena

[flukemaster]

Let me add my 2 cents worth on this. We just found out they changed our trip also, no big deal right? They stated that they have the right to change it, I get that. But I'm really pissed because I called RCCL not once or twice, but 3 times over a course of 1 and a half months after hearing that they have been changing ports, trying to confirm that ours has not changed. Each time I was told by them we were all good. We booked the trip for the November sailing back in February. But after seeing posts in here about the pod being down, I called to see if it affected us and each time I was told no. Here is where I have a problem, our deposit ( for 10 people, 5 cabins) was due on 7-22-19, on 7-18-19 I called RCCL to confirm that no changes were made, and again I was told we were good to go.( had we known we would have changed the ship and sail dates) All of our cards were charged the deposits on 7-22-19. We then book the fights and we are all set. 3 days later I receive a VM ( and so did the others) that they changed the port because of the pod being down. They offered us the option of cancelling or rebooking on another cruise,.... great, but we cannot cancel the flights or we lose Thousands of $$ and we cannot change the sailing date because of the flights. So I call RCCL to complain, that I was told by them 2 DAYS earlier that no changes were made, but yet after the deposit came due, Bamm, now the change. The stupidvisior I spoke with, could care less and would not even offer any of us anything, no OBC, a dinner, nada,  just said  they were sorry, but you can cancel and we have people waiting to take your cabins.(and yes, I called my TA and they said they have been getting ALOT of complains about this, but nothing they can do about it, even thought they are one of the largest TA's)

The bottom line is they just do not care about their customers. You would think that since this effects ALL of the cruise dates until dry dock in February of 2020 they would tell everyone NOW about it, but NO they still have the same ports were booked with on their website as of today, total false advertising! I am going to file a complaint with US transportation dept, but I know it will not do any good, but I will fell better.

RCCL.....NEVER AGAIN! Customer service at its worst! If I ran my job like they do there, I would not have one. The ships are full so why care about anyone as long as they is someone to replace you.

 

As I said I did not have a problem if they had to change the port, but to tell all of us that we were good to go and right after they get our money and we book flights (2 days) ( non refundable) is total BS, Yes we are going, we have no choice or we lose the airfare money or put it towards another flight, but there is a $200 change fee for each person plus any change in the ticket price, so for 10 people that adds up to $2000 plus more for another 10 with new fares.

Yes I'm pissed, so are the others.

[motheroftwocats814]

The unrest in PR is over. The Governor resigned. While I understand your issue..just go and enjoy yourself. You're on a cruise. These are first world problems! Have a great cruise. 

[papaflamingo]

3 hours ago, flukemaster said:

If I ran my job like they do there, I would not have one.

I'm curious, what profession are you in? 

[mayleeman]

When RCCL issued the first set of itinerary changes, they only listed ones through the October cruises. I don't recall any statements that itineraries on cruises after October would not be changed. But I also recall no statements regarding a scheduled repair to the pods before the March 2020 drydock.

 

Anyone concerned enough to check about November-February, but feeling reassured no changes would be made, must have had faith that repairs would be completed in October. How?