Denied Boarding at Port, with PITIFUL Compensation

[2and2]

Even Judge Judy would throw the book at defendant Royal Caribbean. All cost associated with the cancelled cruise includes cruise cost, motel, airfare, milage and gas, planning  time, miscellaneous. 

    In addition money/cash  in the total 100 percent amount of the cruise cost to be used for another cruise on a different cruise line  or used as desired.

     Ahhh is not an answer.

[not-enough-cruising]

6 minutes ago, 2and2 said:

Even Judge Judy would throw the book at defendant Royal Caribbean. All cost associated with the cancelled cruise includes cruise cost, motel, airfare, milage and gas, planning  time, miscellaneous. 

    In addition money/cash  in the total 100 percent amount of the cruise cost to be used for another cruise on a different cruise line  or used as desired.

     Ahhh is not an answer.

No, Judge Judy would look at the conditions of carriage and shrug her shoulders. 

[Cruising89143]

Good Morning America just had a piece on this story. They interviewed the one couple that was not allowed to board. Also, named the cruise line and ship. Not the kind of attention that any cruise line would want. 

[SRF]

On 12/3/2023 at 1:05 PM, S.A.M.J.R. said:

As I understand it, especially at busy airports, it's not easy to change runway directions when the winds change.  I was told that by a flight instructor.  How true it is...?

 

It can be a big deal, as they have a steady stream of planes for one runway.

[gordiej]

On 12/4/2023 at 11:12 AM, cruisingator2 said:

Good Morning America just had a piece on this story. They interviewed the one couple that was not allowed to board. Also, named the cruise line and ship. Not the kind of attention that any cruise line would want. 

Yeah, whoever made the initial compensation offer (and the person who replied on Twitter) should lose their jobs. I suppose it says something that they don't even have a standard denied boarding compensation package, because it probably happens almost never.

[kitkat343]

On 11/29/2023 at 12:01 AM, Husky1987 said:

 

 

 

Not a great situation all around, but full refund plus 100% FCC free cruise and free deluxe drinks package sounds like a pretty fair compensation package.  Hardly something to be ashamed of.

But if they'd offered that in the first place to enough cruisers, someone would have happily taken it.  It was involuntarily bumping someone instead of making a generous offer to everyone that created the problem.  

[HappyTexan44]

I wonder if sometimes the victims just go quietly into the night, and don't complain on social media.  Or if they do, only their friends see.  Royal would consider that a win. In this case it was only the one person's story that took off, and many people had been denied.  For me it was the pathetic resignation that I noticed.  

 

[time4u2go]

37 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I wonder if sometimes the victims just go quietly into the night, and don't complain on social media.  Or if they do, only their friends see.  Royal would consider that a win. In this case it was only the one person's story that took off, and many people had been denied.  For me it was the pathetic resignation that I noticed.  

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there are people that don't complain, or at least don't complain loudly, that we never hear about.

[SRF]

2 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

But if they'd offered that in the first place to enough cruisers, someone would have happily taken it.  It was involuntarily bumping someone instead of making a generous offer to everyone that created the problem.  

 

Since most people already boarded, and you are talking about thousands, how are you going to make the offer? 

[cruisin from florida]

 

40 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Since most people already boarded, and you are talking about thousands, how are you going to make the offer? 

IF the IT were set up to do so, an email could be sent to anyone who has not yet boarded, with an offer link. First X number to accept the offer gets it. 

 

Again, there may have been folks with circumstances that made them want to switch their booking but it was too late. 

Even without IT, a paper with the offer could have been handed out in the boarding area. 

20/20 hindsight is easy. Someone made a bad call under time pressure.

 

[SG65CB]

3 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Since most people already boarded, and you are talking about thousands, how are you going to make the offer? 

 

Usually they recognize in advance that they are overbooked and they send out an email to passengers with several options / offers. They send it a couple of weeks in advance asking for volunteers, and then they accept volunteers as needed. These have been posted on this forum several times. 

 

The email goes to many passengers, not just those without assigned cabins. Usually they limit it to people who live within driving distance of the port so they don't have to deal with flight and hotel reimbursements. 

 

[kitkat343]

On 12/11/2023 at 11:40 AM, SRF said:

 

Since most people already boarded, and you are talking about thousands, how are you going to make the offer? 

Today, you can quite easily.   Prior to smartphones, not so much.   You have everyone's email address, and also their emergency contact information.  If you realize on the day of boarding that you don't have enough cabins, you send out a mass email.  The ones sent out in the past very clearly disclosed that the first people to take the offer would get it.  So you can email everyone with an interior cabin and offer them a generous move over offer, and it seems quite possible that someone might take it.  

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, kitkat343 said:

Today, you can quite easily.   Prior to smartphones, not so much.   You have everyone's email address, and also their emergency contact information.  If you realize on the day of boarding that you don't have enough cabins, you send out a mass email.  The ones sent out in the past very clearly disclosed that the first people to take the offer would get it.  So you can email everyone with an interior cabin and offer them a generous move over offer, and it seems quite possible that someone might take it.  

I agree.  In addition to email, many people have agreed to text and/or app notifications.  Those could be utilized as well and might elicit quicker responses.  Given the negative PR and the negative consequences for involuntarily bumped guests from this situation, one hopes RCI creates a contingency plan for requesting volunteers (even last minute) that can be quickly implemented if a similar situation arises.

[buckeyefrank]

On 11/28/2023 at 6:03 PM, shipgeeks said:

I'm not convinced that we know the whole story.  Are they really claiming that the letter was handed to them as they stepped up to the counter to complete checkin and board?  Or did RC try to email/text/phone them beforehand (as is the usual protocol), and they didn't receive it?

There are multiple instances in 2023 that RCL ships denied people for boarding due to overbooking.  Every single person that I've heard of did not receive a message ahead of time and just got a letter at the pier when they arrived.  It's happened on the Wonder at least 4 times this year.

[buckeyefrank]

We have been booked on the Icon OTS for next September for quite a while.  We booked a gty room and our room was assigned very quickly, like within a week of booking.  We just got an email today stating that they are going to move us because they need our room (and others) for crew...  I'm getting a little nervous because crew members don't generally get to stay in an OV room.  I'm hoping there's not more going on than being mentioned.  Has anyone else received this notification?

[micruiser2002]

49 minutes ago, buckeyefrank said:

There are multiple instances in 2023 that RCL ships denied people for boarding due to overbooking.  Every single person that I've heard of did not receive a message ahead of time and just got a letter at the pier when they arrived.  It's happened on the Wonder at least 4 times this year.

Do you have any links to all of these incidents?  I had heard of being cancelled prior to boarding but I have not heard of that many getting denied at boarding.

[buckeyefrank]

41 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

Do you have any links to all of these incidents?  I had heard of being cancelled prior to boarding but I have not heard of that many getting denied at boarding.

I'll try to find a few, but mostly on the wonder and thinking back it probably started in May 22.  It was before they started soliciting volunteers.

[micruiser2002]

19 minutes ago, buckeyefrank said:

I'll try to find a few, but mostly on the wonder and thinking back it probably started in May 22.  It was before they started soliciting volunteers.

I do not believe those were the same situation.  These people were denied boarding at the port.  I think most of the others were cancellations prior to sailing.  

[richstowe]

6 hours ago, buckeyefrank said:

We just got an email today stating that they are going to move us because they need our room (and others) for crew...

Hmm. Please tell us the outcome . Hopefully the new assigned cabin will be a higher level cabin.

Edited December 13, 2023 by richstowe

[BND]

15 hours ago, buckeyefrank said:

We have been booked on the Icon OTS for next September for quite a while.  We booked a gty room and our room was assigned very quickly, like within a week of booking.  We just got an email today stating that they are going to move us because they need our room (and others) for crew...  I'm getting a little nervous because crew members don't generally get to stay in an OV room.  I'm hoping there's not more going on than being mentioned.  Has anyone else received this notification?

As far as I know, the only times they have used guest cabins for crew was when they were still quarantining new crew before allowing them into their crew spaces/cabins.  I haven't seen this reported by anyone else.  The ship should have enough cabins for the crew so can't imagine why they'd need guest cabins for them, especially months after the inaugural sailing when everything should be settled out.

[buckeyefrank]

42 minutes ago, BND said:

As far as I know, the only times they have used guest cabins for crew was when they were still quarantining new crew before allowing them into their crew spaces/cabins.  I haven't seen this reported by anyone else.  The ship should have enough cabins for the crew so can't imagine why they'd need guest cabins for them, especially months after the inaugural sailing when everything should be settled out.

That's why we're a little concerned about the email but they are still selling rooms on our sailing, so I wouldn't think they would be overbooked already.... but then again, we did book very early and are paying less than half of the current rate.  I guess they could be telling the truth, they could need the cabin for some type of group cruise that was booked... or they're overbooked or had some booking snafu.  Guess I'll find out shortly.

[buckeyefrank]

9 hours ago, richstowe said:

Hmm. Please tell us the outcome . Hopefully the new assigned cabin will be a higher level cabin.

That's what we're hoping for :).   Honestly though we just want a room on the ship at this point.  

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

On 12/11/2023 at 7:29 AM, HappyTexan44 said:

In this case it was only the one person's story that took off, and many people had been denied.

How do we know the bolded?  Or are you saying "many people have been denied boarding"?  Sorry, I thought you meant many had been denied compensation. 

Edited December 13, 2023 by S.A.M.J.R.

[HappyTexan44]

26 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

How do we know the bolded?  Or are you saying "many people have been denied boarding"?  Sorry, I thought you meant many had been denied compensation. 

 

Boarding.   13 cabins of people got the letter at the port and 2 of those boarded.  I assume that all 13 got the same Too Bad So Sad letter.   So, of the 11, it was one that attracted attention.  

It might also be that there were so many that got the letter.  If they did one or two of those letters every so often, likely people wouldn't have noticed as much.  
 

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by HappyTexan44

[little britain]

On our RC for Ovation 1/29 someone is saying his cruise has been cancelled because RCI need the cabin.

Says he is paid in full, has a gty that has been assigned. 
RCI says they told him in October. He says if his cruise was cancelled back then how was he able to book things on his Planner in the past few weeks. 
He says he’s already gone to the press so expect this to show up again