Terrible Experience

[Tin can]

Sounds like a mess up but we had a very different experience with the only time we went beyond final payment date.

 

We are UK based and lose our deposits so didnt think to actually cancel when our plans changed. To my surprise we received a call from Miami (bearing in mind we are UK based) asking if we had missed it in error and would we like to pay, this was two weeks after the payment date.

 

Like someone else suggested an email to Michael Bailey seems to get passed to a department who sort things properly.

[lovesthebeach2]

I don’t understand the “certificates”. Was it shareholder credit? If so, that’s usually added in a day or two and you will see it in the cruise planner. 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I don’t understand the “certificates”. Was it shareholder credit? If so, that’s usually added in a day or two and you will see it in the cruise planner. 

OP stated a few posts back they they were AARP gift certificates. 
 

IMHO Royal Caribbean gift certificates are FAR more trouble than they are worth, did that once - NEVER again. 

[Moltar]

16 hours ago, rklo said:

Like I said, the final payment date will be October 7 - that is what it says on the invoice.

 

And like he asked when is your sail date?

[Moltar]

I had a sale date of December 30, 2022 my due date was Oct. 1st. Looks like they screwed up on the invoice your final payment date should’ve been September 25.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Moltar

[retird]

When did you make the reservation and how much of a deposit did you pay at time of booking.   Im confused that your cut and paste says. Deposit due date 7 oct 2022 and final payment due date 7 oct 2022.    Did you not make a deposit when booking.   Can you post a copy of the actual booking confirmation you received at time of booking ( with personal info blacked out of course) That may answer some questions.

Edited October 1, 2022 by retird

[rklo]

43 minutes ago, Moltar said:

And like he asked when is your sail date?

And like I later posted, December 24th. None of which changes the stated due date of October 7. Nor does it change the fact that their email canceling the reservation (9 emails actually) stated that the October 7th date had passed (obviously not the case). Nor does it change the fact that their subsequent service has been horrendous.

[rklo]

To answer others questions. Yes, I paid the deposit of $500 at the time of booking.

There is no “it was your fault all along” in this situation if that’s what people are looking for, other than not knowing to never book directly with their site. But that’s a bit like saying, I should have known how much they will screw up.

Edited October 1, 2022 by rklo

[Big_G]

Sorry this happened to you. If you've never had a Royal landside screw-up you then you're lucky. Fortunately their ship experience makes up for their landside screw ups most of the time.

[meg1021]

19 hours ago, rklo said:

I’m new to these boards. I’ve cruised 3 times prior and my recent booking will be my 4th. Thought I would relay a terrible experience I am having with Royal Caribbean.

 

My family booked a cruise on Harmony for a December departure. At the time of booking I was given an October 7th payment date. I was waiting to pay until the certificates I submitted 3 weeks earlier could be deposited (note:they still have not been deposited, but that’s only part of the problem). Last night, September 29th, I received 9 emails saying my reservation has been canceled by RCI because my October 7, 2022 payment date had passed. Huh, yesterday was September 29. Further, all of the packages that I booked had also been canceled and the amount I was being refunded was $0.

 

I spent the first 3 hours of the day just getting my reservation reinstated and using the pre-existing reservation number so that it could be used when eventually (if ever) my certificates that I submitted 3 weeks ago get approved. I also received assurances, but no email follow thru that I would actually be refunded for the packages.

 

I spent another hour working on figuring out why they approved my certificates, they sent me an email 6 days ago, but are refusing to deposit the amount into my account (I received “assurances” that they would get to it on Monday).

 

I spent an additional 2.5 hours just trying to get the packages that I had paid for added back to my reservation. They wanted to charge me 25% more to do so and were unwilling to even make me whole with on board credits. I had to tell them that what they were doing was illegal (canceling a reservation in order to charge me more) before they eventually caved and gave me just enough credits to make me whole, but nothing more.

 

In total, 6 hours on the phone arguing with them just to get me back to where I was yesterday before they incorrectly canceled my reservation and no offer of additional on board credits, no apology, nothing. For all I know, they’ll cancel my reservation again tonight - they couldn’t even say why it had happened in the first place, though I pressed them repeatedly to find out why lest it happen again.

 

Could not be more dissatisfied with my RCI choice at this moment.

I had a similar customer service experience with RCI, although my problem was of a different nature, but also caused by RCI.  When RC redeployed ships, and our trips went from Enchantment to Brilliance,  we were assigned to 4 different cabins on our B4B segments, instead of the same cabin, which we originally booked.  In addition, although the email from RC stated that our cruise fare would be price protected, we were charged an additional $900, including a $100 change fee, even though RC originated the change!  It took many hours on the phone, including several times of being disconnected, to try to fix these issues.  I emailed Michael Bayley's office, and did receive a response, but unfortunately, did not seek the correction to the problem that I asked for.  I was told that they could not fix the cabin situation, even though they caused it.  When I responded that RC created the problem, but chose not to correct it, the response from the executive office was an apology, and that they were "disheartened" that I felt this way.  On the positive side, after several hours on the phone, the fare was adjusted to my original booking amount. I was told that the "computer added the charges automatically".  I'm not in IT, but can understand that the computer was just programmed to automatically add the charges.  We are Diamond + on RC, so have sailed them many times.  I'm not sure whether they cut staffing too severely during the pandemic, and have a lot of new people in Customer Service, but the decline has been very noticeable.  I sincerely hope that you are able to resolve the issues once and for all, and are able to enjoy your cruise.  Keep checking your invoice just to be sure though!

[Morecruisesplz]

18 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

It is so very odd that your invoice states final payment date of october 7th for a sailing on december 24th.    Your final payment date should have been Sunday September 25th.   

Sounds like your reservation was messed up from day 1.    did you book direct with royal by phone or online?

Yes. We made final payment on January cruises last week.

[Moltar]

3 hours ago, rklo said:

And like I later posted, December 24th. None of which changes the stated due date of October 7. Nor does it change the fact that their email canceling the reservation (9 emails actually) stated that the October 7th date had passed (obviously not the case). Nor does it change the fact that their subsequent service has been horrendous.

Yeah you could keep ranting raving but the point is royal Caribbean made a mistake on the invoice. Enjoy your cruise if you can. Everyone’s agreeing with you that Roy made a mistake especially on the invoice and you’re still giving an attitude….have a good one….

Edited October 1, 2022 by Moltar

[JupiterTwo]

I have not had any of these problems personally, but for once I would like to hear someone from RCL HQ admit that 1) they are aware of rampant quality control problems in their customer-facing order processing systems, and 2) for business reasons they have intentionally deprioritized resolving these issues, choosing instead to handle them manually on a case-by-case basis as they arise. 

[Tree_skier]

Reason 427 why I use a great TA. 

[c-leg5]

8 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Reason 427 why I use a great TA. 

Wouldn’t help in this case.

[mjkacmom]

46 minutes ago, Moltar said:

Yeah you could keep ranting raving but the point is royal Caribbean made a mistake on the invoice. Enjoy your cruise if you can. Everyone’s agreeing with you that Roy made a mistake especially on the invoice and you’re still giving an attitude….have a good one….

I agree, it was an IT error, no one is saying it’s the OP’s fault. Things happen.

[Moltar]

16 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I agree, it was an IT error, no one is saying it’s the OP’s fault. Things happen.

What more does this person want us to do? Pay for their cruise?

[Airbear232]

22 hours ago, klfhngr said:

Jump ship, Carnival treats you better! 😉

Oh, you are a jokester!

[Airbear232]

22 hours ago, rklo said:

I’m new to these boards. I’ve cruised 3 times prior and my recent booking will be my 4th. Thought I would relay a terrible experience I am having with Royal Caribbean.

 

My family booked a cruise on Harmony for a December departure. At the time of booking I was given an October 7th payment date. I was waiting to pay until the certificates I submitted 3 weeks earlier could be deposited (note:they still have not been deposited, but that’s only part of the problem). Last night, September 29th, I received 9 emails saying my reservation has been canceled by RCI because my October 7, 2022 payment date had passed. Huh, yesterday was September 29. Further, all of the packages that I booked had also been canceled and the amount I was being refunded was $0.

 

I spent the first 3 hours of the day just getting my reservation reinstated and using the pre-existing reservation number so that it could be used when eventually (if ever) my certificates that I submitted 3 weeks ago get approved. I also received assurances, but no email follow thru that I would actually be refunded for the packages.

 

I spent another hour working on figuring out why they approved my certificates, they sent me an email 6 days ago, but are refusing to deposit the amount into my account (I received “assurances” that they would get to it on Monday).

 

I spent an additional 2.5 hours just trying to get the packages that I had paid for added back to my reservation. They wanted to charge me 25% more to do so and were unwilling to even make me whole with on board credits. I had to tell them that what they were doing was illegal (canceling a reservation in order to charge me more) before they eventually caved and gave me just enough credits to make me whole, but nothing more.

 

In total, 6 hours on the phone arguing with them just to get me back to where I was yesterday before they incorrectly canceled my reservation and no offer of additional on board credits, no apology, nothing. For all I know, they’ll cancel my reservation again tonight - they couldn’t even say why it had happened in the first place, though I pressed them repeatedly to find out why lest it happen again.

 

Could not be more dissatisfied with my RCI choice at this moment.

One opportunity for RCI is to update their systems.  These errors are happening with greater frequency and the staff is not trained/empowered to resolve quickly.  You think with the cost of a new ship over a billion, they’d have a few M to upgrade their reservations system which is bread and butter. 

[blueslily]

Yep, the October 7 date was an error. Sounds like somewhere in the system The correct date was being activated which caused the cancellation to occur. I guess no one wanted to say that aloud since it seems confusing that the error would happen. Sounds frustrating for sure. 

 

Not sure I would stop sailing Royal in this situation since the on ship experience and staff is separate from staff that are part of this process.  But, it's your choice of course. Good luck. 

[Morecruisesplz]

5 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Wouldn’t help in this case.

Sure it would!

[smokeybandit]

People blame IT too much.  RC books hundreds of cruises per day.  There's not some piece of code that said "oh I'm going to give this reservation a random payment and deposit date"

Still seems like something we don't know (not that it's the fault of the OP)

[clskinsfan]

5 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Wouldn’t help in this case.

? Wait I can spend 6 hours of my Saturday on the phone fixing Royals F up. Or I can have my TA do it? I think I know which one I would choose. 

[Qextor]

3 hours ago, Airbear232 said:

You think with the cost of a new ship over a billion, they’d have a few M to upgrade their reservations system which is bread and butter. 

A ship is something they want, so they will pay for it.  Better customer service? As long as their ships get filled, they have other things to worry about.  I remember the time when Princess stopped selling Drink packages, because of new tech they had that would deliver a drink to you wherever you were on the ship. So many pax actually cancelled their cruise, or at least threatened to, that drink packages were reinstated.  That's what it takes to get through to Corporate - a big enough uprising that they have to listen or lose revenue.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Qextor

[CanHardlyWait4NextYear]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

People blame IT too much.  RC books hundreds of cruises per day.  There's not some piece of code that said "oh I'm going to give this reservation a random payment and deposit date"

Still seems like something we don't know (not that it's the fault of the OP)

I disagree. Royals IT department would be better run by a comple of 16yr Olds. It's an endless s#$/ show of problems.