Horrible Customer Service -- is there someone over a CSR Supervisor I can call?

[SRF]

FCC belonging to the person on the cancelled reservation is STUPID.

 

I book a cruise for my partner and myself.  I pay the fare for both.

 

We break up.  So she now owns that money?   In what world does this make any sense???????

 

FCC should belong to the person who PAID.

[Joseph2017China]

5 hours ago, SRF said:

FCC belonging to the person on the cancelled reservation is STUPID.

 

I book a cruise for my partner and myself.  I pay the fare for both.

 

We break up.  So she now owns that money?   In what world does this make any sense???????

 

FCC should belong to the person who PAID.

Not to be funny, but you gave your partner a gift.......that gift still belongs to them.  That makes sense to me.  Your ex can still go on the cruise with the gift you gave, and bring someone else!

[poocher]

6 hours ago, SRF said:

FCC belonging to the person on the cancelled reservation is STUPID.

 

I book a cruise for my partner and myself.  I pay the fare for both.

 

We break up.  So she now owns that money?   In what world does this make any sense???????

 

FCC should belong to the person who PAID.

SWA is the same.  If I pay for a flight for someone else and then cancel it, the fare is returned as travel funds in the name of the ticketed passenger not me.  Has been that way for as long as I have been using SWA.  Why I always use points to book my family’s flights.  If something happens, the points are returned to me.

[not-enough-cruising]

Is there an airline or cruiseline out there that issues travel credits in any other way than in the name of the traveler. I just always assumed this was standard procedure as it has always been the way I have experienced it. 

[SRF]

41 minutes ago, poocher said:

SWA is the same.  If I pay for a flight for someone else and then cancel it, the fare is returned as travel funds in the name of the ticketed passenger not me.  Has been that way for as long as I have been using SWA.  Why I always use points to book my family’s flights.  If something happens, the points are returned to me.

 

Even easier, don't fly SWA.  😄

 

Think about it, they advertise as low cost, but will NOT allow their fares to show on fare comparison sites like Kayak.

 

A friend was looking to fly San Diego to Minneapolis.  She was looking at SWA.  I told her to look at the others.  She commented that SWA was cheap and free bags.

 

I checked Delta, and for the same dates and about the same times, Delta was over $200 cheaper, even with paying for one checked bag AND it was a non-stop flight, versus a connection for SWA.

 

Shop around.

[SRF]

1 hour ago, Joseph2017China said:

Not to be funny, but you gave your partner a gift.......that gift still belongs to them.  That makes sense to me.  Your ex can still go on the cruise with the gift you gave, and bring someone else!

 

That is one way to look at it.

 

But I look at is as I paid for them to travel WITH me.  If they do not travel with me, they have returned the gift and the value is mine.

 

It I paid for someone to take a cruise without me, I could agree with your point.

[poocher]

47 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Even easier, don't fly SWA.  😄

 

Think about it, they advertise as low cost, but will NOT allow their fares to show on fare comparison sites like Kayak.

 

A friend was looking to fly San Diego to Minneapolis.  She was looking at SWA.  I told her to look at the others.  She commented that SWA was cheap and free bags.

 

I checked Delta, and for the same dates and about the same times, Delta was over $200 cheaper, even with paying for one checked bag AND it was a non-stop flight, versus a connection for SWA.

 

Shop around.

Not a slave to SWA, just pointing out the policy is not exclusive to RCCL.  For our most used travel route, CT to FL to visit our daughter and vacation, SWA is the best deal 90% of the time.  

[poocher]

47 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

That is one way to look at it.

 

But I look at is as I paid for them to travel WITH me.  If they do not travel with me, they have returned the gift and the value is mine.

 

It I paid for someone to take a cruise without me, I could agree with your point.

And that is YOUR POV.  Doesn’t mean it’s the ONLY POV.  I actually agree with you, if I can show I paid, the credit, refund, FCC should be mine to use.  But just because that’s what we want doesn’t make it so.

[DeanD]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

That is one way to look at it.

 

But I look at is as I paid for them to travel WITH me.  If they do not travel with me, they have returned the gift and the value is mine.

 

It I paid for someone to take a cruise without me, I could agree with your point.

While I understand the sentiment and don't completely disagree, it's the way a judge would look at it.  It's no different than if you bought them a car and put it in their name, it's legally theirs.  Hopefully you can get a resolution.  While not as big as your situation, we had a person who could not go and had a room credit. Since the credit was person specific, we lost the credit and paid for the cabin for the person who could not go.  We did get the port taxes refunded and avoided the gratuities.  

[brillohead]

22 hours ago, SRF said:

 

That is one way to look at it.

 

But I look at is as I paid for them to travel WITH me.  If they do not travel with me, they have returned the gift and the value is mine.

 

It I paid for someone to take a cruise without me, I could agree with your point.

 

20 hours ago, DeanD said:

While I understand the sentiment and don't completely disagree, it's the way a judge would look at it.  It's no different than if you bought them a car and put it in their name, it's legally theirs.  Hopefully you can get a resolution.  While not as big as your situation, we had a person who could not go and had a room credit. Since the credit was person specific, we lost the credit and paid for the cabin for the person who could not go.  We did get the port taxes refunded and avoided the gratuities.  

Lesson learned:  Book all partners/friends/family as "TBD" (or book solo/single supplement) and do a name change closer to the sail date when it's more of a sure thing. 

 

[bouhunter]

22 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Even easier, don't fly SWA.  😄

 

Think about it, they advertise as low cost, but will NOT allow their fares to show on fare comparison sites like Kayak.

 

A friend was looking to fly San Diego to Minneapolis.  She was looking at SWA.  I told her to look at the others.  She commented that SWA was cheap and free bags.

 

I checked Delta, and for the same dates and about the same times, Delta was over $200 cheaper, even with paying for one checked bag AND it was a non-stop flight, versus a connection for SWA.

 

Shop around.

Yep.  And sometimes SWA is the best deal.

[DeanD]

56 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

Lesson learned:  Book all partners/friends/family as "TBD" (or book solo/single supplement) and do a name change closer to the sail date when it's more of a sure thing. 

 

Obviously with the current situation and the FCC, things are totally different than usual.  Historically one can book and cancel with a full refund up until 75-90 days prior to the sailing.  That gives some protection for such issues along with many others.  TBD might reduce your exposure after that but there still are often charges to make changes though I know sometimes you can get them waived.  If the ship has reached the capacity limit they've determined for that cruise, would you still be able to convert to a double?  

[Iamcruzin]

On 7/22/2021 at 3:29 PM, boilachicken said:

For something created during an unprecedented time.

We booked our first cruise pre-pandemic. None of us could predict a pandemic would occur and cancel that. So either make the FCC endless with no expiration or allow the owner to transfer it. 

We provided them with money and they are making rules on if it can actually be used in a specific period of time after they cancelled the cruise. 

How can the owner of the FCC be held responsible for any of that?

You could have taken a cash refund when they cancelled the original cruise. The FCCs always had an expiration date. There have been so many issues with them over the past 18 months.

[boilachicken]

50 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

You could have taken a cash refund when they cancelled the original cruise. The FCCs always had an expiration date. There have been so many issues with them over the past 18 months.

We did the FCC because we booked a new cruise for a year later hoping the pandemic would be gone.

 

then that one got cancelled and they sent us new FCC’s with no option of refund. 
 

at that point he could still cruise. Now he can’t. 
 

the burden shouldn’t be on the customer to be able to use money they spent with a company. We didn’t cancel the cruises. They did. 

[DeanD]

2 minutes ago, boilachicken said:

We did the FCC because we booked a new cruise for a year later hoping the pandemic would be gone.

 

then that one got cancelled and they sent us new FCC’s with no option of refund. 
 

at that point he could still cruise. Now he can’t. 
 

the burden shouldn’t be on the customer to be able to use money they spent with a company. We didn’t cancel the cruises. They did. 

Did you have insurance on the original cruise, if so, there's a possibility it would cover this situation.

[CruisingHogFan]

On 7/22/2021 at 2:27 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

Those have been the restrictions for the past 16 months. 

And the terms are clearly on the website and in the email when you accept the FCC. 

 

 

[Jasukkie]

Is part of the problem here that the room will get repriced? Passenger A can't go and wants a refund. Passenger B booked in this room is still going, but will be repriced and charged 200% as a single in a double room?

 

Can you find a new Passenger A? If so, can you just change the name on the booking and privately pay off the original Passenger A?

[Iamcruzin]

51 minutes ago, boilachicken said:

We did the FCC because we booked a new cruise for a year later hoping the pandemic would be gone.

 

then that one got cancelled and they sent us new FCC’s with no option of refund. 
 

at that point he could still cruise. Now he can’t. 
 

the burden shouldn’t be on the customer to be able to use money they spent with a company. We didn’t cancel the cruises. They did. 

I don't understand why you couldn't get a refund after the second cancellation if they canceled the cruise. There should have been a choice.

[baileymouse]

I'm having a similar problem.

 

I had booked Adventure of the Seas, 10/31/20 and it was obviously canceled. I used the Future Cruise Credit to book Freedom of the Seas, 10/9/21. That cruise was canceled when RCCL decided to move Freedom from Bayonne to Miami.

 

I chose a lift & sift for the same Bermuda cruise next year, on Adventure on 10/8/22. It took some wrangling and a lot of hold time with the travel agent & Royal but I did it. However, the future cruise credits didn't credit. I was told they would if I waited and that they would be applied to the new cruise. 

 

I received the FCC certificates and called the TA. They couldn't apply them because they have a sale by date of April, 2022. The TA called Royal, they had us on hold for a long time. The RCCL agent couldn't do it and said he had to escalate it up the food chain. It's 48 hours later, they aren't applied, and I'm feeling a bit miffed. I didn't cancel the cruise, the Port Authority of NY & NJ didn't cancel the cruise, pandemic rules didn't cancel the cruise, Royal did. Like many of you, I've had three cruises canceled over the past 16 months, and I'm tired of the rebooking game.

 

I had paid for the entire thing. If the FCC were transferrable, I'd use it to book a January break cruise for my daughter & myself. The person on the FCC doesn't get much vacation time and he would be willing to "gift" it back to me for my daughter, but they don't allow that. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[boilachicken]

8 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

I don't understand why you couldn't get a refund after the second cancellation if they canceled the cruise. There should have been a choice.

You would think so, however, as I've pointed out, I've spent over 40 hours on the phone with them so clearly customer service isn't their main priority.

When they cancelled the second one, I called and asked the options and I was told "Since you already had FCC's, they have been reissued under the same number." 

I said "One of our passengers may not be able to cruise at this point" and I was told what I mentioned above. That since the FCC already existed, it could not be refunded. To book the room, apply the FCC, change the name and it would carry over. 

They even reviewed one of the calls and noted that the agent confirmed that. 

Fwiw, two days ago they denied the request to transfer the FCC to a new person. Imagine having a call where an agent tells you something, then a supervisor denying your request. All the while you have 3 cruises and 6 staterooms booked with them. I guess they aren't hurting as bad as we thought.

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, DeanD said:

Obviously with the current situation and the FCC, things are totally different than usual.  Historically one can book and cancel with a full refund up until 75-90 days prior to the sailing.  That gives some protection for such issues along with many others.

Unless you booked at the higher refundable fare (or unless you're under a group rate, which is automatically refundable until FPD), you can't cancel with full refund prior to Fiinal Payment Date.
 

 

4 hours ago, DeanD said:

TBD might reduce your exposure after that but there still are often charges to make changes though I know sometimes you can get them waived.

 
"Often charges to make changes"??? Not with Royal.  One person from the original booking must remain on the reservation, but there is no charge (from Royal) to change the names of other people in the room.  If your Travel Agent is charging you to make changes to the booking, you need a new TA!
 

 

4 hours ago, DeanD said:

If the ship has reached the capacity limit they've determined for that cruise, would you still be able to convert to a double?  

Yes, under normal* circumstances, even if booked as a solo / single supplement, as long as the room itself is designated for double capacity (meaning, not a solo room, but any average room), they will always save that second person's spot for the lifeboat capacity limit. 

The typical problem people encounter with capacity limits is when you're trying to add a third or fourth person to a stateroom that has an extra bed in it -- if too many other people in that same muster station have already added 3rd/4th passengers to their rooms, the lifeboat limit is at capacity, even if there's technically an empty seat because there are solo/single passengers in that same muster station.  But a solo can always* add a second person to a double-occupancy room. 

*The above refers to normal, non-pandemic sailings using Royal's policies.  When a government agency abuses its authority by requiring capacity limitations (*cough*CDC*cough*), those governmental rules supersede Royal's own policies.

[smplybcause]

Companies put the credit in the name on the ticket because they don't want to get into he said she said arguments. 

 

For every person who truly did pay for the other person in the room there's someone else where one person paid the whole fare on a credit card but then the other person gave them cash for their part. I've done the latter numerous times with friends (hotels and cruises) and I'd be livid if Royal gave them all the credit because their name was on the credit card. 

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, DeanD said:

but there still are often charges to make changes though I know sometimes you can get them waived

That could be on other cruise lines however for North American residents there are no charges for changes unless it is a charge by your Travel Agent.  royal does not charge.

[mayleeman]

Are we only talking here about FCCs in the amount of the deposits?

 

I remember in the early days of the pandemic cancellations, many people were very leery of taking FCCs for uncertain cruises in the future. Refunds gave people on cancelled cruises a chance to recoup their otherwise NONrefundable deposits. But getting pax to accept FCCs instead seemed designed to pretty much defer the terms of NRFs to the future.

 

Accepting an FCC to book a cruise, instead of a refund, seems to have been a gamble that did not pay off for the OP's friend. Hopefully, if only the deposit, it is not a huge forfeiture.  When the Odyssey did not launch as scheduled, we did not receive the FCC part of a previously cancelled (pre-covid) booking that we applied to that cruise.

Edited July 25, 2021 by mayleeman

[Iamcruzin]

11 hours ago, boilachicken said:

You would think so, however, as I've pointed out, I've spent over 40 hours on the phone with them so clearly customer service isn't their main priority.

When they cancelled the second one, I called and asked the options and I was told "Since you already had FCC's, they have been reissued under the same number." 

I said "One of our passengers may not be able to cruise at this point" and I was told what I mentioned above. That since the FCC already existed, it could not be refunded. To book the room, apply the FCC, change the name and it would carry over. 

They even reviewed one of the calls and noted that the agent confirmed that. 

Fwiw, two days ago they denied the request to transfer the FCC to a new person. Imagine having a call where an agent tells you something, then a supervisor denying your request. All the while you have 3 cruises and 6 staterooms booked with them. I guess they aren't hurting as bad as we thought.

What a mess. I think you got bad information about not being able to get a cash refund after the second cancellation.  I have been following pretty closely since the start of the cancellations  last year and a full refund was always offered as one of the options if the cruise line cancelled.

Good Luck. I hope it works out in the end.