DON"T BOOK Royal Caribbean

[Honey4BeaR]

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

[rbschultz]

Welcome to Cruise Critic

[BND]

13 minutes ago, Honey4BeaR said:

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

Or, book with who you want to.

Edited August 5, 2021 by BND

[Beeline Cruiser]

18 minutes ago, Honey4BeaR said:

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

 

Seriously hear you but get ready for Pom Pons because some people are TOO LOYAL TO ROYAL to read what you have to say!!

[lenquixote66]

I never had a problem with RCI

[Eddie Wilson]

I am sorry your anniversary is a victim of Covid Ripple.

 

Yes their phone line wait today is terrible, BUT, with the massive cancellation notice yesterday they are being deluged.  I know that is not an acceptable excuse for hang ups.  

 

Customers can and always have had the option to vote with their feet on which line or lines to engage.  I do sail other lines, but RCL is my most frequent.  

 

I seem to be lucky in that my dealings with the phone CSRs (like tonight with Lisa, booking a replacement cruise for one just cancelled) in that they do a strongly professional job.  I wish I had been given the option to evaluate my experience.  

 

For the record, I am lucky in that the dinning room managers always take the number 1 waiter and asst waiter on board and always assign them to my table, and the hotel manager always assigns the number 1 room steward to my room. That has been my RCL experience for years.

 

 

 

Eddie

[Sunshine3601]

If you call during normal business hours of 9 am to 5 pm you most likely will get someone based at an US office, possibly oregon.  Usually get best service then.

If you call off hours you will end up with a rep in another country.  I've spoken with many in many countries, thailand, ecuador, etc etc.

They work from home and are set up with wifi calling so this is why calls get disconnected or dropped.  And they dont see the phone number you are calling from.  

I had a poor connection sometime in the last year and asked the rep to call me back gave them my number and they called me back from their personal cell saying their wifi connection was poor.

@Honey4BeaR I have had something like 12 or 14 cancelled  in the last 16 months and received all my refunds in 2 to 3 weeks even though the reps say up to 45 days.

If royal cancelled your cruise you can get cash refund but have to ask for it otherwise you will receive a FCC.

 

Sorry for your troubles, hopefully you will get your refund and enjoy a wonderful 10th Anniversary!  Congratulations!

 

 

[Missusdubbya]

41 minutes ago, Honey4BeaR said:

SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help

sorry this happened to you, hope you have a happy anniversary 

[cindivan]

I have spent hours on hold with various companies. I get your frustration. However this is just one more reason to get a good TA that can handle this headache for you.    Ask some friends for a recommendation. There is no financial advantage to booking directly with RC that I’m aware of. 

[matj2000]

 

Why don't you just use your credit card?

 

Then pay off the card with the RC refund when you get it in a few months.

 

Sounds pretty simple...

 

Also like the previous poster said.  

 

You should have used a Travel Agent.

 

That would have saved you all the frustration...

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by matj2000

[BecciBoo]

You came here to make that statement?  Everyone here books Royal.  Nothing you say will have any influence over that fact.  You need to make your statement to Royal, not the RCCL board.

 

I feel for your experience, welcome to the Global Pandemic and it's ramifications.  It is what it is.  No toilet paper, triple the price of beef, face diapers and angst and pain.  Really, unbelievably, but realistically, they truly are doing the best they can under the circumstances.  You will get your refund, sooner than later. Other cruise lines will also have the same results...but go ahead and try them.  Good luck and Happy Anniversary.

[RoyalC]

7 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

You came here to make that statement?  Everyone here books Royal.  Nothing you say will have any influence over that fact.  You need to make your statement to Royal, not the RCCL board.

 

I feel for your experience, welcome to the Global Pandemic and it's ramifications.  It is what it is.  No toilet paper, triple the price of beef, face diapers and angst and pain.  Really, unbelievably, but realistically, they truly are doing the best they can under the circumstances.  You will get your refund, sooner than later. Other cruise lines will also have the same results...but go ahead and try them.  Good luck and Happy Anniversary.

The best they can? Laughable

[Scottee25]

16 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

Also like the previous poster said.  

 

You should have used a Travel Agent.

 

That would have saved you all the frustration...

 

You assume that the OP is well traveled and would have known a TA could have gotten them a refund sooner. But then again, there are people like me who won't use TAs because we are too OCD. We like having control over our bookings and don't want to work around a TAs work hours if we want to make a change now 🙂 

[smokeybandit]

Thanks for the advice. I'll go book Carnival right now!

[rtazz17]

1 hour ago, Honey4BeaR said:

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

Love these posts.   Come on with one intent,to bad mouth company. We have only your side to gauge with. Guaranteed there is some missing information or something you easily couldve done to avoid this. Posting here with this intent does no good for you at all.

 

we had a horrible time getting our refund from last march. But I never came on here a crapped all over royal. Sh%$ happens especially now. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by rtazz17

[shippmates]

We had several cruises canceled in 2020 and again this year.  The latest being our 50th anniversary cruise.  It took 3.5 hours today to get my canceled cruise moved to a new booking.  The representative Sigrid was great to work with.  It was taking so long that they took my number and called me back once the change was made.  

 

The other person should use a travel agent and let them handle all the hassles of this pandemic.

[Cali82]

2 hours ago, Honey4BeaR said:

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this and such an important milestone. I understand your frustration and I think we’ve all (or most) have been there. Take a deep breath and try to find a solution to what you can change. Make your anniversary as special as you possibly can with the resources you have. Again, I’m so sorry.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

Come on folks. This is not a seasoned cruiser like many of you. A cruise was booked for their 10 year Anniversary which is a very nice thing to do. They did everything they were supposed to do. It's now been canceled and they want/need their funds back to enjoy their anniversary. Only to experience a bad time on the phone seeking help. Frustrations have set in. Have a bit of compassion. 

 

To the OP... take a deep breath. Happy Anniversary. 

[3kidsncats]

3 hours ago, matj2000 said:

 

Why don't you just use your credit card?

 

Then pay off the card with the RC refund when you get it in a few months.

 

Sounds pretty simple...

 

Also like the previous poster said.  

 

You should have used a Travel Agent.

 

That would have saved you all the frustration...

 

Not everyone has the advantage of a credit card to make an unexpected expenditure of a few thousand dollars.  Many have to save for a while, to afford a special anniversary trip. And a travel agent would not have been able to keep their trip scheduled, so they would still be dealing with sadness and stress.

[3kidsncats]

4 hours ago, Honey4BeaR said:

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

Very sorry to hear your anniversary trip was cancelled, and that you will not be able to replan something else until you get your refund.  The times are certainly challenging in too many ways.  When you are ready, I hope you can plan something lovely for your special day, and start planning a replacement trip for a future time.  Happy Anniversary to you and your spouse

[Bloodgem]

Sorry this has happened to you. But bad mouthing a company on social media, whilst you are anger, will not help you to get over the anger and disappoint that you are feeling. It will only prolong your feelings every time someone posts anything on your thread.

 

I'm not sure if you can gain any comfort from knowing that there will be others that are or have been in your situation. Your situation is not unique at the moment. 

[Pandamonia]

5 hours ago, matj2000 said:

 

Why don't you just use your credit card?

 

Then pay off the card with the RC refund when you get it in a few months.

 

Sounds pretty simple...

 

Also like the previous poster said.  

 

You should have used a Travel Agent.

 

That would have saved you all the frustration...

 

 

Why should she given them an interest free loan of her money? All royal has to do is press a button and the money gets refunded. How about stop selling cruises they know have no way of sailing and collecting final payments... How about start acting like a decent company instead of a bunch of fraudsters hiding behind T&C's. 

[PolytheneGirl]

9 hours ago, Honey4BeaR said:

DON't Book Royal Caribbean. They will screw with you reservations. They will not give you a refund. IF you do get any type of refund you must wait 45-65 days for a refund!!!!!!!!

They put you on hold for hours, hang up on you and generally don't care about their guest. 

I was on hold for 1 hour only to finally talk to someone who hung up on me 30 mins into trying to figure something out. 

Got not phone call back. Called back myself waited 45 mins on hold and then the call disconnected. Asked me if I wanted to talk a customer survey and nothing. 

Called back again call dropped but I could take the customer survey after 38 minutes. Finally called and they said they will give us a refund of some kind but it will take 45-65 days our trip was supposed to be for our 10 year anniversary and now we are robbed of this trip and the money. SO we have no money for our 10 year anniversary trip all because Royal Caribbean screwed us over. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!! heartless company who won't help. 

 

I feel for you, I really do. As someone who has had several attempts at getting married and subsequent honeymoon cruise over the last 18 months I understand the anger and frustration you are feeling right now 😞

Unfortunately, most, if not all, travel companies are in similar situations - refunds do take time (often down to the banks as well not just the company themselves) as they will have an SOP or procedure to follow to ensure that the correct money is refunded to the correct place with the correct authorisation which can take a few days itself, let alone the time for it to show in your account. At a guess I would say that it will be less than 45 days but the company have to cover themselves to ensure they tell you sufficient time.

As someone else said - a very very large majority of people worldwide are still working from home and CS reps will be using wi fi calling (I do in my job). If they have shaky internet then it will cut off without them knowing or being able to control it.

I know all of this doesn't help how you feel right now, but as others have said, try and plan something special for yourself and your husband for your anniversary, even if it is just something local like a nice spa or similar. Thats what we ended up doing for our honeymoon - we couldn't go away and had money tied up in the various parts of the wedding and the cruise we had booked and things so we just went to a couple of places in the UK for a few nights instead. It was about being together and celebrating. We've re-booked the original honeymoon cruise for our first anniversary instead 😉

[djefferis]

Got it - I will no longer support RCL because a stranger posted on CC telling me that their customer service is horrible.

 

OP - just 2 questions.

 

First - Which is it - did RCL refuse a refund and not allow you to take a cruise you booked - in essence stealing your money OR Did RCL change sail date/ship and offer you choice of an alternate or a cash refund in full within 45-60 days ? If they “stole” your money - file a complaint with the card issuer and your state AG for fraud - if they offered a refund in 45-60 days…accept it and move on. If you used a credit card - you simply will have less credit to use while the refund pends - if you used a debit card - it sucks losing access to a large amount of cash for 45-60 days potentially (especially when final payment is due 90 days in advance of your cruise) - but those times are worst case and I have seen refunds within 10 days recently. If you left yourself with no free cash paying for a cruise - perhaps you overspent on a cruise in my opinion. 
 

Secondly - Your not new to CC and have a few post on here - so why is the news that RCL customer service really bad (compared to their on ship teams that are overall excellent) news to you - or the potential for a change in sailings or refund time frames. If your making plans for a “specific” date/event - it’s no secret that there are no guarantees - shut downs may occur and they may cause a shift in plans. Somehow you felt that posting this on a forum was goi g to change this ?!?
 

Or were you just trolling in hopes that someone from RCL would see the post - rush in and offer you a massive compensation package and make you happy? 
 

Legally - to book a cruise you have to be an adult. Start acting like one and quit wasting bandwidth posting such meaningless post such as this. Your plans got changed - sucks but it happens. Posting to a community full of people the majority of whom saw THEIR plans and celebrations completely canceled with no options available for the last year plus - your unlikely to find a lot of sympathy. Everyone has experienced disappointments and expecting everyone to suddenly rally around you in protest isn’t going to happen. Get in line and join the protest already in process from aggrieved cruisers you like - but no need to start your own. 

[djefferis]

Let me be clear - I am not a RCL loyalist or apologist in any way.

 

I hate their customer service as much as anyone at times. Some there simply have zero clue on how to provide a positive experience it feels. 
 

I will also give credit - last time I cruised with them in 2019 - they got a lot of it RiGHT. Good communication with the ship - able to accommodate some small request and it made a positive impression on me.

 

I don’t “love” RCL or have some blind allegiance to them - I just hate “Karen’s” more and their blind beliefs that the world needs to hear more from them and rally behind their battle cry of “I demand to speak to your manager”.  
 

Don’t like RCL - go elsewhere. Don’t like cruising - pick another vacation. It’s still simple. Quit thinking people come to CC to read how bad your experience was on a cruise you haven’t even went on. People come here to feel good about their upcoming cruises, to read others reviews and photos of cruises they are on and for ideas for future cruises. 
 

If you want to share reviews of customer service  - I’m sure there’s a customer service critic forum or FB group out there who would love your input.