GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS - Barbados - Terrible reports

[BSocial]

6 hours ago, philhar said:

The RCCL message about cancelling is very carefully worded ,it tals about refunding the cruise fare.I am booked on the 30th January and enquired about cancelling.

I was told you can cancel but your airfare is not refundable ,despite the fact that I booked it through RCCL.That is not a gesture to put people's minds at rest.

I really don't know what to do now.

wise posters told me to call Air2Sea before canceling my Barbados cruise, to see if they would waive any cancelation fees. (they did, but my final payment had not yet been paid).     
 

Try calling Air2Sea, and explain you may cancel cruise due to Royal offer to cancel for January.  Ask them if they could please refund your airfare before you call Royal to cancel cruise.    Good luck !!

[little britain]

On another site a man is reporting he is in quarantine. He had one night at HP then the remainder at a hotel called SunBay. He says Barbados are paying for the hotel as they put him

there. 

Edited January 9, 2022 by little britain

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

On another site a man is reporting he is in quarantine. He had one night at HP then the remainder at a hotel called SunBay. He says Barbados are paying for the hotel as they put him

there. 

That is what should happen under normal circumstances. HP is acting as an assessment centre so one night for tests and confirmation.  

[smally]

23 hours ago, philhar said:

The RCCL message about cancelling is very carefully worded ,it tals about refunding the cruise fare.I am booked on the 30th January and enquired about cancelling.

I was told you can cancel but your airfare is not refundable ,despite the fact that I booked it through RCCL.That is not a gesture to put people's minds at rest.

I really don't know what to do now.

They said that to us too initially. We are in the UK and had booked a package with RC for flights, transfers, 2 nights hotel stay and cruise. When we booked we specifically checked with our Travel Agent that cruise with confidence covered the airfare as well as cruise fare and they confirmed it did. When we decided to cancel RC said the airfare was non refundable (either to our credit card or in the way of future cruise credit) as it had been ticketed. We disputed this via our travel agent and ultimately RC agreed to a full refund of all we had paid. I was very disappointed that they tried to do this and that we had to argue our case. But relieved it got sorted in the end. I suggest you go back to them and ask for a supervisor and push for a refund. This whole situation has rather made me lose trust/confidence in Royal Caribbean to honour their promises and commitments to their customers to be honest.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, smally said:

They said that to us too initially. We are in the UK and had booked a package with RC for flights, transfers, 2 nights hotel stay and cruise. When we booked we specifically checked with our Travel Agent that cruise with confidence covered the airfare as well as cruise fare and they confirmed it did. When we decided to cancel RC said the airfare was non refundable (either to our credit card or in the way of future cruise credit) as it had been ticketed. We disputed this via our travel agent and ultimately RC agreed to a full refund of all we had paid. I was very disappointed that they tried to do this and that we had to argue our case. But relieved it got sorted in the end. I suggest you go back to them and ask for a supervisor and push for a refund. This whole situation has rather made me lose trust/confidence in Royal Caribbean to honour their promises and commitments to their customers to be honest.

This -  I suggest you go back to them and ask for a supervisor.  Sage advice, never take no from someone who is not allowed to say yes.  I feel for the phone reps, they are often put in difficult situations, but def speak with a supervisor or the supervisors supervisor etc.  Good luck!

[trfccruiser]

18 minutes ago, smally said:

They said that to us too initially. We are in the UK and had booked a package with RC for flights, transfers, 2 nights hotel stay and cruise. When we booked we specifically checked with our Travel Agent that cruise with confidence covered the airfare as well as cruise fare and they confirmed it did. When we decided to cancel RC said the airfare was non refundable (either to our credit card or in the way of future cruise credit) as it had been ticketed. We disputed this via our travel agent and ultimately RC agreed to a full refund of all we had paid. I was very disappointed that they tried to do this and that we had to argue our case. But relieved it got sorted in the end. I suggest you go back to them and ask for a supervisor and push for a refund. This whole situation has rather made me lose trust/confidence in Royal Caribbean to honour their promises and commitments to their customers to be honest.

Hi Smally, thanks for your useful feedback. I did book through an agent and they are pursuing it on my behalf now 

[trfccruiser]

16 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

This -  I suggest you go back to them and ask for a supervisor.  Sage advice, never take no from someone who is not allowed to say yes.  I feel for the phone reps, they are often put in difficult situations, but def speak with a supervisor or the supervisors supervisor etc.  Good luck!

Hi thanks for your good wishes,as Ive mentioned my travel agent is pursuing it now so fingers crossed 🤞 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

When I first started trying to figure out what was being required to enter Barbados I was accused of overthinking the process.  I probably was it I’d even in countries like China where the people following the rules didn’t always have the most recent uses.  And, I’d had the equivalent of TSA question items that had always been allowed when returning to the states as well as disallowing items most would consider medical equipment. 
 

This discussion has me wondering whether I should be concerned about more than just poorly trained personnel.  I had already looked up Harrison and found it was once a military facility and although Guantanamo didn’t come  to mind rundown barracks did!  From there I wondered about access to power and accessibility.

 

I'm encourage to read that there are now bailout options so I’m going to explore that more.  This cruise was booked while Florida was still arguing with the cruise lines about vaccines and appeared to be a nice itinerary with better protocols. 
 

Does anyone know if Barbados will permit you fly on a private charter flight while still testing positive but showing no critical complications?  

[Monk86]

Lots of scare  mongering on this thread! Reminds me of certain news feeds!

[LGW59]

12 minutes ago, Monk86 said:

Lots of scare  mongering on this thread! Reminds me of certain news feeds!

I wish the OP had returned and given an update on if they did in fact cruise and esp had shared pics of the cages they throw you in.  

[Benthayer Gonbak]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

I wish the OP had returned and given an update on if they did in fact cruise and esp had shared pics of the cages they throw you in.  

i always assumed the cages were moveable fenced areas designed to keep groups separated.  Of course, separation happens in most terminals anyway, I just assumed their terminal wasn’t big enough for even a average 1% separation.

 

i would have loved to know what the facilities looked like, I still wish I could have gone!  Hoping that next year will be better defined!  
 

we did cruise from a local port instead.  It was nice just wasn’t the same as the Grandeur would have been.  Our itinerary was changed as we were boarding so we got to San Juan rather than St Thomas.  Apparently that was the original itinerary, just not what we saw when we booked!  

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, Monk86 said:

Lots of scare  mongering on this thread! Reminds me of certain news feeds!

I think there were lots of issues on multiple ships right after the holidays when omni was topping. Doesnt mean they were wrong how they felt. I wouldnt have wanted to go thru what they did in Barbados. Things have quieted down a lot  now. 

 

 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

58 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I think there were lots of issues on multiple ships right after the holidays when omni was topping. Doesnt mean they were wrong how they felt. I wouldnt have wanted to go thru what they did in Barbados. Things have quieted down a lot  now. 

 

 

Lack of information often leads to worsening feelings!  I too am sure that surprises from the quickly peaking omicron outbreak wasn’t making things easier for those who thought Dec/Jan was going to be like earlier cruises.  The grandeur didn’t start until Dec and they too had to be caught off guard in some degree.