After winning a cruise the worst case happened and positive covid test. Not a good outcome!

[Kev_lyndsey]

Well not having a good week.  Sat at home isolating after a positive covid pre cruise pcr test when full family should currently be sailing around the uk on the anthem of the seas.  

We were very fortunate in that my wife who works for the nhs won one of the 999 services free staterooms.  Originally to sail in july before restrictions in the uk eased but RC offered a later date to limit the numbers on the first sailings.  We jumped at this, with 2 kids, 5 and 9, this sailing in middle of school holidays was perfect.  

Well long story short, pre cruise pcr flagged one of us as positive.  An absolute kick in the teeth as we have lived like hermits the last couple of months.  No doubt caught at our workplace.  So kids absolutely in bits,  literally just about to travel 250miles to southampton and all off.  

Phoned royal caribbean and told we had 180 to reschedule.  Little bit of relief as this eased the grief of the situation.  Put on hold, guy came back to tell us because this was a complementary cruise we couldnt rebook and have lost out completely.  Another kick in the stomach! 

Really not happy.  Yes we won a cruise but then proceeded to spend nearly a £1000 on drinks packages and room upgrades. Although they are refunded why are we treated differently than a paying customer.  End of the day we won a prize in these strange days and its not being honoured through no fault of our own.  

Just want to vent a bit on here.  Seems the 999 emergency services free stateroom competition in the uk was well received, provided great publicity for royal caribbean.  But a minority of us, and theres more i tell you have been left high and dry!

[dani negreanu]

So sorry it has happened to you.

 

Sadly, a sign of the times we're living in.

 

[Jimbo]

Sorry this happened to you. Sad to say but there is  going to be more and more stories just like this for paying customers.

 

Definetly unsettled times at this time for taking a cruise vacation now.

[Kev_lyndsey]

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

Sorry this happened to you. Sad to say but there is  going to be more and more stories just like this for paying customers.

 

Definetly unsettled times at this time for taking a cruise vacation now.

Yes but my gripe is how we are treated differently to paying customers.  

 

So all good for rescheduling if paying but not if the cruise was won.  Especially as this comp was aimed at people that more or less everyone  would regard as deserving of it through these times.

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, Kev_lyndsey said:

Yes but my gripe is how we are treated differently to paying customers.  

 

So all good for rescheduling if paying but not if the cruise was won.  Especially as this comp was aimed at people that more or less everyone  would regard as deserving of it through these times.

Not sure I have the info completely right or not, I believe some people that was comped free casino cruises, when their cruises got canceled. They didn't get to book another cruise either, they just lost it.

Someone with a Casino Comp cruise will hopefully follow up with this post to say  if this is true or not.

[Travel R]

Unfortunately, reading the Terms and Conditions of this giveaway it is limited to a specific ship and sailing dates:

 

8.  Prizes shall consist of a 4-night Ocean Getaways cruise for up to two adults and two children sharing a stateroom (chosen by Promoter at its sole discretion) onboard one of the first two ‘Anthem of the Seas’ cruises from Southampton this summer, departing on July 7, 2021 and July 11, 2021.

 

and further includes a second paragraph that states that if you cannot make the date you have agreed to sail, they are not responsible for compensating you for a later cruise:

 

16. Once the date of the trip is communicated, it is irremovable, and if the winner is not available to travel on the selected dates, they will lose the corresponding prize.

 

Going by the rules, RCI is under no obligation to provide you with a future alternative cruise. When you accepted the prize, you also accepted the terms and conditions that go along with it.

 

The full T&C are available here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/terms-and-conditions/999-prize-draw-terms-and-conditions

 

However, as you Brit's say, this is "bad form."  If it was someone like me that is not on the front lines during this pandemic, I would be SOL; and chalk it up as another consequence of this pandemic, which we are all getting used to. 

 

IMHO, as a healthcare worker, one would hope that RCI would make some type of concessions and provide you and your family with a similar cruise at a future date. From a company perspective, I would think it would be the right PR move for them to offer you "something." I can see the headlines "Health Care Worker That Won Free Cruise That Got COVID Refused A Makeup Cruise By Cruise Line."

 

It is small consolation, but I (and most others) appreciate thank your wife and all the other health care workers out there for their service.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Travel R

[Kev_lyndsey]

2 minutes ago, Travel R said:

Unfortunately, reading the Terms and Conditions of this giveaway it is limited to a specific ship and sailing dates:

 

8.  Prizes shall consist of a 4-night Ocean Getaways cruise for up to two adults and two children sharing a stateroom (chosen by Promoter at its sole discretion) onboard one of the first two ‘Anthem of the Seas’ cruises from Southampton this summer, departing on July 7, 2021 and July 11, 2021.

 

and further includes a second paragraph that states that if you cannot make the date you have agreed to sail, they are not responsible for compensating you for a later cruise:

 

16. Once the date of the trip is communicated, it is irremovable, and if the winner is not available to travel on the selected dates, they will lose the corresponding prize.

 

Going by the rules, RCI is under no obligation to provide you with a future alternative cruise. When you accepted the prize, you also accepted the terms and conditions that go along with it.

 

However, as you Brit's say, this is "bad form."  If it was someone like me that is not on the front lines during this pandemic, I would be SOL; and chalk it up as another consequence of this pandemic, which we are all getting used to. 

 

IMHO, as a healthcare worker, one would hope that RCI would make some type of concessions and provide you and your family with a similar cruise at a future date. From a company perspective, I would think it would be the right PR move for them to offer you "something." I can see the headlines "Health Care Worker That Won Free Cruise That Got COVID Refused A Makeup Cruise By Cruise Line."

 

It is small consolation, but I (and most others) appreciate thank your wife and all the other health care workers out there for their service.

Very good valid points that i have read over in the t and c's.  

 

As for clause 8, they already changed our cruise to august 7th.  As to limit numbers on the july ones.

 

That brings us to clause 16.  We were available to cruise but their and the government guidelines prevented us from cruising.  Fair enough if we were late qnd missed the boat.  

 

This leads me to claus 23

 

23.       In the event that, for reasons beyond their reasonable control, Promoter is unable to award the Prize as described in these Terms and Conditions, Promoter reserves the right to award a prize of a similar nature and an equivalent value, or at its sole discretion, the cash value of the Prize. Promoter also reserves the right to award a prize of a similar nature and an equivalent value, or at its sole discretion, the cash value of the Prize if in its reasonable discretion it is appropriate to do so.

 

Either way im taking this further as the whole situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  The competition was all over the press and internet and provided no end of good publicity for the company.  To think it celebrated people in the emergency services and then just brushed off is downright disgusting.

 

[MR_T]

I guess in these strange times that’s one of everyone’s biggest worries leading up to the cruise, I know for sure we will be crossing everything possible until we get the results back for the the required test. 
 

hope you and your family get through it ok and manage to have some fun times/days even if it is at home. 
 

 

[Jasukkie]

I'm sorry this happened to you and your family. I won a healthcare worker cruise on Virgin that I have about 1% faith will actually happen. Businesses don't do this for fun, it's marketing. I hope you can get through to someone in resolutions that can make this right for you. 

[billslowsky]

1 hour ago, Travel R said:

I can see the headlines "Health Care Worker That Won Free Cruise That Got COVID Refused A Makeup Cruise By Cruise Line."

I don't think Royal will worry about it.  Opens up to other people wanting exceptions.  And he didn't say that the "health care worker got COVID", he said "pre cruise pcr flagged one of us as positive".

 

Disappointing outcome, but not Royal's fault either.  "Free stuff" isn't unrestricted.

[The_Big_M]

Yes, RCL got the good marketing for the free cruise - that they gave to those who won the prize and took it.

 

While it's not your fault you can't go, it's also not their fault. And as per the terms, they're not obliged to then give you another prize. The only reason they handle those who paid differently is that they _have_ paid something. Otherwise they'd just be taking people's money without delivering the product, and in this situation are willing to allow alternative dates so that people don't feel they've taken their money without offering anything, and it affects many people. Here they haven't taken anything of yours.

 

I can understand you're disappointed, but that's one of those unfortunate situations - the same as if you got a severe (non-covid) sickness in normal times a week before your cruise and were no longer able to take it.

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, Travel R said:

IMHO, as a healthcare worker, one would hope that RCI would make some type of concessions and provide you and your family with a similar cruise at a future date. From a company perspective, I would think it would be the right PR move for them to offer you "something." I can see the headlines "Health Care Worker That Won Free Cruise That Got COVID Refused A Makeup Cruise By Cruise Line."

Maybe we could all write letters regarding that to try and help, if corporate thought this was bad PR they may try to rectify it.

[sandebeach]

Casino comped cruises that were cancelled were not eligible for Lift and Shift. Often new offers were issued to the casino player but not always. 

[Travel R]

21 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

I don't think Royal will worry about it.  Opens up to other people wanting exceptions.  And he didn't say that the "health care worker got COVID", he said "pre cruise pcr flagged one of us as positive".

 

Disappointing outcome, but not Royal's fault either.  "Free stuff" isn't unrestricted.

From a legal standpoint, I agree.  My fictional news title, was over-dramatization, which is the MO for headlines in the news.

 

On the other hand, as a few have stated above, RCI conducted this giveaway as a good will promotion.  By denying this health care worker (the OP) the prize, it would be a bad reflection on the company - if it were to go public (i.e., beyond this thread).

 

Although exceptions should not be freely given, in my opinion, I think this would be a time where that exception would be good for all. If I was RCI, I would even leak out the story to the media on how they helped this family of a healthcare worker to go on the "cruise of their dreams."  RCI gets good PR and the OP gets their cruise vacation.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Travel R

[BecciBoo]

I have just written a letter to Richard Fain and Vicki Freed, whom I have met personally, along with Michael Bayley and Jim Berra.  Hoping someone in their offices will forward it along to them or someone who can possibly help.  It only took a minute!  If some of us take the time, it could make a difference for Kev_Lyndsey.  At least I tried.

 

Thank you for all that you do as a health care worker, hope you and your family recover quickly and are contacted by RCI soon.

[BecciBoo]

53 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

I don't think Royal will worry about it.  Opens up to other people wanting exceptions. 

I also think this situation is unusual and I'm willing to give it a shot.  These corporate officers are human and do have hearts.  And the bottom line, they really do read Cruise Critic.  This would be to their great advantage since there are so many people disheartened and upset with them right now.  Anyway, for what it's worth, I tried.

[Travel R]

@BecciBoo which address(es) did you use?

[ryano]

Yet another positive test horror story  😞   So sorry. Just imagine actually being a paying customer and getting the same answer though.   We are being told IF i turn up positive before my cruise, because of my unique situation, Im out of luck.  I lose it all.       Im trying to avoid people at all costs for the next 32 days but I still have to work.  

[BecciBoo]

13 minutes ago, Travel R said:

@BecciBoo which address(es) did you use?

1050 Caribbean Way

Miami FL 33132

[BecciBoo]

3 minutes ago, ryano said:

Yet another positive test horror story  😞   So sorry. Just imagine actually being a paying customer and getting the same answer though.   We are being told IF i turn up positive before my cruise, because of my unique situation, Im out of luck.  I lose it all.       Im trying to avoid people at all costs for the next 32 days but I still have to work.  

Praying for ya Ryano...and us all.

[Travel R]

16 minutes ago, ryano said:

Yet another positive test horror story  😞   So sorry. Just imagine actually being a paying customer and getting the same answer though.   We are being told IF i turn up positive before my cruise, because of my unique situation, Im out of luck.  I lose it all.       Im trying to avoid people at all costs for the next 32 days but I still have to work.  

Good luck!

[billslowsky]

1 hour ago, Travel R said:

Although exceptions should not be freely given, in my opinion, I think this would be a time where that exception would be good for all. If I was RCI, I would even leak out the story to the media on how they helped this family of a healthcare worker to go on the "cruise of their dreams."  RCI gets good PR and the OP gets their cruise vacation.

It still invites others to demand similar exceptions, potentially leading to even more unhappy people.  

 

Now their story is "we gave away 998 trips" instead of 999.  I think they can weather it.

[silversneakers]

Does anyone know how a positive pre-board test is handled when you have previously had COVID and a positive result will show up for approx 90 days.  How is that handled?

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

How is that handled?

You get denied boarding, usually.

[BecciBoo]

😲