Cancelled by RC - chartered ship cancels cruise

[Sail n Snow]

This just happened to us 2 weeks ago.  Yes it’s a bummer but the compensation Royal provides is pretty good.  It was a Repositioning cruise Tokyo to Hong Kong during the olympics and we had a grand suite. 

The first option was a pick of 3 other sailings, 300 obc (100 for canins, 200 for suites and 50 for the 3rd and 4th person) and price protected.  Second was any other cruise but not price protected and 300 obc.  The third option was a 30% future cruise credit based off your cabin price, no obc. 

 

All 3 also gave you a refund for airfare (if you had already purchased and it was non refundable)

 

I almost took the credit as it would have given us ~2000 credit and we could have essentially done a 4 day sailing for free. We needed up on Spectrum of the seas on a larger 1 bedroom Grand Suite and didn’t have to pay the $6000 difference.  
 

As long as RCL continues to look after those affected by the cancellation to me it’s not ideal but ok. 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Sail n Snow

[bandjwayne]

We had this happen to us too.  We were locked into the dates so we ended up switching from the Oasis to the Harmony.  A better ship, but the price match wasn't guaranteed for this ship/itinerary so we ended up paying more.  The part that I was most annoyed was the fact that I had written down what the Harmony cruise cost when I originally booked the Oasis & Royal wouldn't match that price.  It seems like Feb. & Nov. have this happen a lot, but maybe that's just what I've payed attention too.  Good luck!

[SRF]

16 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I don't see how is this going to work. 

 

Easy.  Don't open bookings until 6 months before the cruise.

 

Then people will complain about not having enough time to plan and coordinate. 😄

 

[LilBlackDress]

19 hours ago, Peaches54 said:

Not only was our week cancelled due to the Charter, also another week in November 2020 was cancelled!  How many people now are scrambling to re-book a cruise with Royal?! After 2-3 hours of telephone conversations with our travel agent, who was corresponding with Royal, we had to cancel the Family vacation.  Why can't Royal Caribbean let the Chartered cruises plan years in advance and not disrupt cruises already booked?!  Very sadly disappointed in a this cruise line that we've been loyal to.  The "loyal to Royal" means nothing to me anymore. 

 

19 hours ago, Peaches54 said:

Let me know your opinion when YOUR Holiday Family vacation is cancelled.

 

19 hours ago, Peaches54 said:

I agree totally.  I've been on chartered cruises before and now I hate to think that my chartered cruise could have caused problems for others.  Oh well, nothing I can do about all this now.  Just wondered what others thought.  

I'm very confused. You are angry when it happens to you but you say Oh well, nothing I can do about all this now when you did it to other people. And by the sounds of it, you have been on more than one Charted Cruise. 

 

Don't get me wrong, it does suck to plan a vacation and have it taken away. But Royal does try and find other arrangements for people. 

Take a deep breath and try and find another cruise that your family will enjoy

[CP3o]

IMHO they should give those already booked the option to stay on the chartered ship, warning them of the reasons they may want to reschedule and offering them the same insentives to do so if they can.  The charter can be told there will be some straglers b/c you didn't book it early enough.  Holland America did this and a handful of lucky husbands got to go on the Oprah girlfriends cruise and enjoy their minority status.  

[molly361]

9 minutes ago, CP3o said:

IMHO they should give those already booked the option to stay on the chartered ship, warning them of the reasons they may want to reschedule and offering them the same insentives to do so if they can.  The charter can be told there will be some straglers b/c you didn't book it early enough.  Holland America did this and a handful of lucky husbands got to go on the Oprah girlfriends cruise and enjoy their minority status.  

Not sure if the Atlantis group getting on the Oasis today would like that very much

[SRF]

10 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Not sure if the Atlantis group getting on the Oasis today would like that very much

 

Nor would many people that had booked it prior to the charter.

 

Same with many other chartered cruises.

 

There are several I would love to do, but others, NO WAY.

[hallux]

18 minutes ago, CP3o said:

IMHO they should give those already booked the option to stay on the chartered ship,

It may not be that simple. The chartering group may need the entire ship, which is why this often happens with the small and mid-size ships more than the Oasis-class.  I've also seen posts on here that people were on a ship that also had a large group, but not one large enough to charter the entire ship.

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, hallux said:

I've also seen posts on here that people were on a ship that also had a large group, but not one large enough to charter the entire ship.

This is, in some ways, worse than having your cruise cancelled. We have had HORRIBLE experiences on ships with “partial charters”. You are almost treated  as a second class passenger; with routine restrictions about what venues will not be available to you. 

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

This is, in some ways, worse than having your cruise cancelled. We have had HORRIBLE experiences on ships with “partial charters”. You are almost treated  as a second class passenger; with routine restrictions about what venues will not be available to you. 

I guess it depends on the group, ship and how large it is.  We have been on a couple that had 500+ guests and other than seeing a lot of matching shirts you wouldn’t have even noticed they were there.  Put those same 500 people on a vision class ship and I could certainly see issues. 

[MississippiMom]

2 hours ago, CP3o said:

IMHO they should give those already booked the option to stay on the chartered ship, warning them of the reasons they may want to reschedule and offering them the same insentives to do so if they can.  The charter can be told there will be some straglers b/c you didn't book it early enough.  Holland America did this and a handful of lucky husbands got to go on the Oprah girlfriends cruise and enjoy their minority status.  

I am going to guess that you have NEVER had the opportunity to travel on a chartered cruise.  Allowing “randoms” to join would be a nightmare for the cruise line, actually, since they would have to sort out different dinner arrangements, entertainment, excursions, and bar tabs.

[snl2000]

We had a cruise cancelled by NCL. I was furious. It IS in your cruise contract that they can do this. It sucks but it happens on other cruise lines as well. 

[jetta8300]

It's insane that they do this, but all cruise lines do it.  I've sailed with both Norwegian and Carnival and threads exactly like this one pop up on their boards.  So while in my opinion it's a completely unethical thing to do, changing lines probably wouldn't solve the problem.  It's also very rare.  I would be seriously upset though.  I would be even more angry if I had already booked a flight.  

[LizzieandLuke]

We had a Disney cruise cancelled 5 years ago - it was the last week of August and I had booked the cruise 6 months earlier.  They would only honor the price we booked for in September as the earlier weeks in August were 'high season.'  If I booked the August dates I had to pay at least an additional $1,000.  I was furious.  It was a 4 day cruise and we were going to do 4 days on the ship and 4 days in Disney.  Instead, we booked a balcony cabin on the Freedom for a week for the same price as my inside cabin originally was on Disney for 4 days.   My family has since cruised 2 more times with Royal and I haven't been to the house of mouse since.  

[GBM]

Is there a time (month, season) when charters are more likely to occur?  

Is there a time before cruise when they are most likely to happen?  (how many months out?)  

 

 

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, GBM said:

Is there a time (month, season) when charters are more likely to occur?  

Is there a time before cruise when they are most likely to happen?  (how many months out?)  

 

 

 

Most charter cancellations seem to occur a year or more in advance of the cruise.

[cb at sea]

Well...a bird in the hand......they are there to make money...and apparently the charter booked the entire ship.  You wouldn't want to be the "odd man out" on a chartered cruise, would you?  

[KmomChicago]

23 minutes ago, cb at sea said:

Well...a bird in the hand......they are there to make money...and apparently the charter booked the entire ship.  You wouldn't want to be the "odd man out" on a chartered cruise, would you?  

I realize this thread isn’t funny but of course the idea of being on a full charter you didn’t choose for the theme could be funny In an epic fail sort of way. Gay cruise, Christian cruise, Swinger cruise, Vegan cruise, Heavy Metal cruise, Rap cruise, this could be a ridiculously horrible mismatch of passengers. You clearly wouldn’t want to be a standard family of four with two kids on an all Adult male gay party cruise. You wouldn’t want to be non religious on an evangelical/revival type cruise or, likewise, religious on a Humanist or atheist theme cruise. You might not want to be old cowboy type folk on a heavy metal or rap cruise. 
 

Still it’s crummy to book it and then have your sailing sold out from under you. I would think if it’s more than a year out airfare wouldn’t be an issue yet as they probably aren’t even available for booking?

Edited January 20, 2020 by KmomChicago

[sgmn]

I think cruise lines should insist on charters being booked by the charter at least one year before. That would solve the airfare problem as airlines normally only open for bookings 48 weeks before. Also would give people plenty of time and hopefully choice to rearrange their plans

[leisuretraveler223]

On 1/18/2020 at 8:53 AM, Peaches54 said:

How do I trust Royal Caribbean when I book a future cruise?  

 

How do you TRUST them?  I have no idea.  You buy a cruise, you agree to the terms and conditions. It's no different than a hotel room or a plane ticket.  If you're really concerned, I'd start by carefully reading those terms and conditions. Then you would discover that what happened was something you already agreed to in those T&Cs.   

 

[CP3o]

21 hours ago, MississippiMom said:

I am going to guess that you have NEVER had the opportunity to travel on a chartered cruise.  Allowing “randoms” to join would be a nightmare for the cruise line, actually, since they would have to sort out different dinner arrangements, entertainment, excursions, and bar tabs.

Nope, and I'd think most would be happy to take RCCLs offer to reschedule, I see your point, just pointing out that there are instances where other lines have done something different. 

 

The Oprah cruise was all female, except those who booked before the charter.  They openned all activities and speeches up to all onboard and the early bookers got a good deal and the men had a unique experience.  The couple I knew enjoyed it a lot.  I was surprised they didn't refund their money and tell them its been chartered.

[fliprcruiser]

It isn't just selling out to charters, years ago our cruise was cancelled because the ship was being move to NOLA for Hurricane Katrina housing. Stuff happens, instead of sailing from Galveston, we sailed from Miami on a different ship.  Still had fun.

[SeaHunt]

Charters are very popular - here's a partial list (94 full ship charters!) across different lines:

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

[Milwaukee Eight]

25 minutes ago, SeaHunt said:

Charters are very popular - here's a partial list (94 full ship charters!) across different lines:

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

Brilliance December 3, 2020. Tampa 7 Night High Seas Rally (Full Ship Charter). 
 

This wasn’t included in the link. 

[Peaches54]

On 1/20/2020 at 7:54 AM, leisuretraveler223 said:

 

How do you TRUST them?  I have no idea.  You buy a cruise, you agree to the terms and conditions. It's no different than a hotel room or a plane ticket.  If you're really concerned, I'd start by carefully reading those terms and conditions. Then you would discover that what happened was something you already agreed to in those T&Cs.   

 

thanks