How Cheap Can RCL Get

[firefly333]

8 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We are a handicapped couple in our 80s  . RCL decided to cell their Oct 23rd cruise  for a charting  & notifies us that this 7 night cruise is now voided , when we first booked this cruise using a RCL planner  ,we added the Oct 30 ,2023 4 night cruise  ro make ir a B2B  . At that time the RCL cruise planner did bot tell us that the deposits were non refundable  & those bookings were made last year .

Now we are asking RCL to  help & give us a future Cruise Credit for the $200 we  paid as a deposit on the 4 night cruise  . I still can;t believe that they  said no  even though we never sailed  short cruises because one we need  to load a scooter by disassembling it  plus luggage & drive 2 hours each way to the cruise terminal 

 Personally , I feel cheated  because they will not even give us a $200 future cruise credit   . As a diamond member with RCL & Elite Plus with Celebrity , we no longer will  give them any business & will warn all our cruising friends to stay clear of this cheap company 

 We have done over 90 cruises  & never have ever faced such a cheap ,scrooge  like company  .  Be aware of whom you book cruises 

 

 

 

I had something kind of similar and my ta escalated it to resolutions and was able to get me 2 cruises in a row. One leg was cancelled and I could move it 1 week either way. This wouldnt work with a b2b and he got it fixed. 

 

Ask for resolutions.  Escalate this. Make them fix it. 

[Bloodgem]

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We would have loved to pick new cruises .The problem there was there was none except in September & we will be getting back from a one month road trip   .Thus the timing was just  too tight to jump into the RCL cruise that  was like the October cruise that RCL chartered .  November & December are holiday months  & we never will book any cruise with   the kiddies being out from school  . Ganuary we are booked on a 18 night Gawaii cruise & end of March we are booked on a 14 night Solar Eclipse  which takes us into April . We need  October of 2024 cruise that Navigator of the Seas would be doing  from LA since we no longer fly  .This would work for us but ,you can not even book that far in advance  right now  .A FCC  of $200 would   have been applied to 2024   of equal lengths ,7 day plus the 4 day  . We would book that cruise as soon as it was available as we need a  handicap cabin which sells quickly 

What I'm struggling to understand is you obviously put a great deal of planning into your cruises, because you need a handicapped cabin and would prefer cruises without too many kids. As part of your planning surely you would have mentioned to person you booked the cruise with that you needed a refundable deposit along with needing a handicapped cabin.    

[goldfish65]

I mean no offense, but is $200 worth your energy fighting for at this stage of life? It appears by your residence and the amount of traveling that you do,

that you’d be able to absorb the loss. 

Edited February 10, 2023 by goldfish65

[Big_G]

On your invoice this is where you should see NRD.

 

Right underneath it should say...

 

"The minimum deposit for this reservation is Non-Refundable. A change fee of $100 USD per guest will apply for ship or sail date changes.'

Edited February 10, 2023 by Big_G

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

BTW  are you employed by RCL . Who would know about letters NRD ? Certainly not the general cruising public  Hmmm !!

I would venture 90% plus of the general cruising public know the acronym "NRD"

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

Your lawsuit isn't going anywhere.  Royal's cruise contract requires binding arbitration for a complaint of this nature. 

Arbitration in Florida no less, NOT California

[crazyank]

16 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Fact  is I can take this issue further into a Calif small claims court if we want to  & make RCL personnel appear because Calif small claims does not allow attorneys 

Nope, 

[blondcat]

To be honest, I really sympathise with you mccruiser! I understand the contract and T&Cs and so on but if I was you I'd also hope Royal would do something here given the circumstances.  You're not asking for a refund, just the option to redeploy your funds on a different cruise!  And you wouldn't be asking for that if they hadn't have cancelled the first leg. 

 

I hope there's a happy end to the story! 

 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

1 hour ago, blondcat said:

To be honest, I really sympathise with you mccruiser! I understand the contract and T&Cs and so on but if I was you I'd also hope Royal would do something here given the circumstances.  You're not asking for a refund, just the option to redeploy your funds on a different cruise!  And you wouldn't be asking for that if they hadn't have cancelled the first leg. 

 

I hope there's a happy end to the story! 

 

 

I agree it would have been a better PR move for Royal to work with the OP.  However, it sounds like they were working within their T&C.  It's the buyers responsibility that if there's something on the paperwork they don't understand (ie: "NRD") to ask questions.  

 

When I saw the "small claims court" statement, I immediately thought that won't work.  That contract (and that is what you've agreed to) either says you need to go to arbitration first and/or any court filings need to be done in Florida.  

 

OP would have been better served by either asking for a supervisor or even asking on here for advice and getting suggestions on how to make things work.  

 

I find it hard to believe there are NO cruises that same week.  Maybe there's cruises the OP doesn't want. 

[Starry Eyes]

This thread is a good reminder to all of us considering B2B or S2S cruises and such that segments can be canceled for various reasons, including a charter or mechanical issue.  Before booking, think about the impact of the cancellation of one segment on your trip.  Consider if you want to mitigate against that risk (perhaps refundable deposit or cancel for any reason insurance) or if you would go ahead with the remaining segments regardless of any cancellations/itinerary changes.

[Baron Barracuda]

OP has alternatively indicated he booked direct through Royal and he used a TA.  Which was it and whose  confirm is he referencing?  TA confirm may not indicate whether deposit was refundable.  Can't blame Royal if TA confirm.

[MommaBear55]

23 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

This is going into small claims court  .The process has been started  ,RCL personnel must appear .If not I win hands down 

Are you prepared to go to Florida? That's where you'd have to place your claim. 

[Cigar King]

23 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

This is going into small claims court  .The process has been started  ,RCL personnel must appear .If not I win hands down 

It easy to see why you were at the top of your class in both law and charm school.  Kudos to you my friend.

[Longford]

On 2/10/2023 at 12:46 PM, mcrcruiser said:

What letter of the law are you speaking . Here is that letter , We always   book refundable because of our ages , This personal cruise consultant   ,woman ,with RCL dod not tell us this was a non cancerable deposit   . what makes us very angry is the way RCL turns away from people who have done many cruises with them &  just because  of the issues that they themselves started  we get screwed . This does not make us feel warm & fuzzy with RCL   . 

 now I am thinking to make a issue with them that they will have yo appear in small claims court with no attys permitted   .This in itself will give us some part satisfaction  .Of course non of this needs to happen if  they will just give a $200 FCC   .

   In over 90 cruises we never seen a cruise line do this to a customer & I have been active with Cruise Critic a long time as well 

 

Always, there are at least two sides to a story.  None of us reading the discussion know all of the facts involved in your dispute.  We're reading just one side.  As for legal action:  it's highly unlikely the claim would / will gain traction because: you (apparently) accepted the terms and conditions of the contract, you have extensive prior travel experience with RCL and will be deemed to have more than a passing familiarity with the terms and conditions of RCLs contracts, and you used a qualified professional cruise agent to represent you in the transaction. 

 

If you've mentioned it, I overlooked your comment:  what compensation, if any, are you entitled to under the travel insurance policy you purchased for the trip?

[mcrcruiser]

Although I could not get to first base   withRCL personnel  our Travel Agency  pursued this issue for us & reported back that RCL is going to give back the full credit  . Our TA took over  both bookings some time ago   .This ends now 

[zoepipes]

23 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Although I could not get to first base   withRCL personnel  our Travel Agency  pursued this issue for us & reported back that RCL is going to give back the full credit  . Our TA took over  both bookings some time ago   .This ends now 

Thank God.

[crzndeb]

48 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Although I could not get to first base   withRCL personnel  our Travel Agency  pursued this issue for us & reported back that RCL is going to give back the full credit  . Our TA took over  both bookings some time ago   .This ends now 

I’m glad it worked out, but if you had a Travel Agent (TA), Royal will never talk to you. All communication has to go through the TA. 

[Starry Eyes]

56 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Although I could not get to first base   withRCL personnel  our Travel Agency  pursued this issue for us & reported back that RCL is going to give back the full credit  . Our TA took over  both bookings some time ago   .This ends now 

If you had a Travel Agent, it was always your Travel Agent’s job to speak to Royal Caribbean.  You should not have been calling Royal Caribbean nor trying to run for first base.

[mcrcruiser]

3 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

I’m glad it worked out, but if you had a Travel Agent (TA), Royal will never talk to you. All communication has to go through the TA. 

  That is not true  RCL phone system said to press this button if you have a TA  .Then you talk with them . The problem with the cruise lines today vs pre pandemic is that most all phone contacts are off shore  , could be people in the Phillipines ,Guatemala  ,Mexico ,Caribbean  ie   .some have better understandable English than others  . 

 It was a easy transfer from RCL to our TA   .some other lines it is paper work before transferring 

[CruisingWalter]

On 2/10/2023 at 6:59 AM, mcrcruiser said:

Personally , I feel cheated  because they will not even give us a $200 future cruise credit   . As a diamond member with RCL & Elite Plus with Celebrity , we no longer will  give them any business & will warn all our cruising friends to stay clear of this cheap company 

 We have done over 90 cruises  & never have ever faced such a cheap ,scrooge  like company  .  Be aware of whom you book cruises 

 

As others have mentioned, the B2B are not one cruise, but two. So Royal doesn't owe you anything towards that second cruise. It sounds you like you booked directly vs. using a travel agent. Travel agents can always help in this situation. 

 

My advice would be to book the 7 night cruise after the short one if you have the time available to do so. At least your cruise was cancelled with plenty of notice and plenty of time to switch. Liberty of the Seas April 21 was cancelled just 10 days ago. Two months before the cruise. 

[CruisingWalter]

8 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

  That is not true  RCL phone system said to press this button if you have a TA  .Then you talk with them . The problem with the cruise lines today vs pre pandemic is that most all phone contacts are off shore  , could be people in the Phillipines ,Guatemala  ,Mexico ,Caribbean  ie   .some have better understandable English than others  . 

 It was a easy transfer from RCL to our TA   .some other lines it is paper work before transferring 

 

The phone message says to press a certain button if you ARE a travel agent. If you're working with a travel agent, always let them deal with the matter. Guests calling directly into the cruise lines tend to mess things up more than they help. Let your TA take care of things directly. 

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, WheresWalter said:

 

The phone message says to press a certain button if you ARE a travel agent. If you're working with a travel agent, always let them deal with the matter. Guests calling directly into the cruise lines tend to mess things up more than they help. Let your TA take care of things directly. 

 In this sad case it is true that it was better for TA to deal with RCL   However there can  be situations where the customer needs info to contact the cruise line   . 

[mcrcruiser]

We will be looking at RCL for a TA cruise in 2024  .Most likely the fall of the year  . We need to book early to get a handicap cabin  even on the  Oasis Class ships   .Definitely  REFUNDABLE  

[CruisingWalter]

7 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

We will be looking at RCL for a TA cruise in 2024  .Most likely the fall of the year  . We need to book early to get a handicap cabin  even on the  Oasis Class ships   .Definitely  REFUNDABLE  

 

Unfortunately some unscrupulous TAs snag the handicap cabins for their perfectly capable clients to give them the larger cabins. It's up to RCCL to demand proof that the clients really do require that cabin, but oftentimes, it's not requested. It really stinks when there is a limited supply of them and people who actually need them can't get one. 

[Longford]

1 hour ago, crzndeb said:

I’m glad it worked out, but if you had a Travel Agent (TA), Royal will never talk to you. All communication has to go through the TA. 

I would not be surprised to learn that the TA paid for the reimbursement, out of pocket ... or that RCL treated the TA request as a professional credit against future commissions paid to it.  I'm still thinking travel insurance would have reimbursed had insurance been purchased.  Just wondering.