Quantum of the Seas Overbooking

[datone]

I would be pretty annoyed if this happened to me especially if I had taken leave, flown to the port etc.   How can they not have a cabin available?   According to a RC page, 13 couples were turned away.   Makes you think twice about choosing a guarantee cabin.   

Edited November 29, 2023 by datone

[Ondine]

There is no date on this letter.  How long prior to the trip was it sent out?

[Aus Traveller]

The letter indicates that people were advised ahead of time, but it is still awful. Presumably no-one would have flown to the port unless they took option 1 in the letter, but that doesn't mean they could get a refund of their airfare.

[Ondine]

Some years ago we got a moveover offer from Princess.  It was to be our first cruise with them.  It came 48 hrs prior to boarding and they offered a full refund and a free cruise of the same duration in a mini suite (we were in a balcony).  We took it as we live 15 minutes from the port and apart from disappointment had no other problems to sort out.

[sewgood]

I would be fairly steaming if I had booked non-refundable pre-cruise accommodation and paid parking fees, that is if I were coming from a country town far from Sydney.

Now if I was retired and living in Sydney, I would think great and take option 1 or 4.

 

I think they should have made a voluntary offer to more people and first in get the offer, that way no one if forced off the cruise.

If not enough guests respond than increase the offer ie 50% off your next cruise and a full refund for this cruise.

 

[datone]

21 minutes ago, Ondine said:

How long prior to the trip was it sent out?

From reading the posts about this over on a RC page, 13 couples were given this letter at the dock and only 2 ended up being allowed to board.   So it was not a move-over offer.   It affected those who had chosen guarantee cabins.

Edited November 29, 2023 by datone

[sewgood]

3 minutes ago, datone said:

13 couples were given this letter at the dock

After packing the suitcase and cleaning out the fridge even if I lived 15 minutes away from the cruise port I wouldn't be happy.

[MicCanberra]

It is a shame it happens, but I think the letter is quite reasonable providing the various options. Of course for some people none of the options would suit.

I do wonder how much in advance the letter was sent. If it was only a few days, that may rule out some options for more people who do not live close to the ships home port.

[bretts173]

GTY cabins have been a thing for years and years and have never seen this before so hardly a reason to panic about them. Rumour also has it the rooms will be occupied by isolating staff members. Just a rumour.

[MicCanberra]

27 minutes ago, datone said:

From reading the posts about this over on a RC page, 13 couples were given this letter at the dock and only 2 ended up being allowed to board.   So it was not a move-over offer.   It affected those who had chosen guarantee cabins.

Two of the options are essentially move over offers..

[MicCanberra]

2 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

GTY cabins have been a thing for years and years and have never seen this before so hardly a reason to panic about them. Rumour also has it the rooms will be occupied by isolating staff members. Just a rumour.

I would say it was a precautionary hold on some cabins for reasons as  you have stated.

[ceeceeDee]

Whatever the reason, it would suck big time. Sometimes people have to put in for time off from work 6 months ahead (case with us), arrange for pets to be cared for etc. etc. so it isn't all that simple to re-schedule. I may be wrong, but this seems to happen quite a bit with RCL. There was that big hoo ha when Wonder was overbooked a few months back and I believe it has happened on their other ships. (Happy for someone to correct me if I'm wrong.🙂).

One reason we don't book guarantee cabins. Admittedly our last cruise (not RCL) was a guarantee, but that was due to paying for an upgrade. We still ended up with a cabin being allocated about 6 weeks out.

[mum and son]

As a person who does live near the cruise port, for most of my cruises, and doesn't have issues with work leave etc I still think this is pretty bad. I've heard of it happening quite a bit recently on P&O as well.

 

Of course I expect a full refund for a cruise I have just been kicked off! An additional 25% cruise credit is a joke for people who have made significant travel plans, or maybe booked 12 months in advance. People are currently being offered better compensation on P&O for a changed itinerary, but this is so much worse. How are cruiselines still getting this so wrong?

[Ethel6666]

Gosh, if this happened at the port, that’s very poor compensation. I’d be pretty annoyed if it was me, considering the cost of travel to the port, accommodation overnight pre cruise, pet boarding fees, etc. Not to mention inconvenience and waste of time/leave. I hope the passengers affected are able to negotiate a better deal. 

[Chiliburn]

I find that hard to believe,there must be another side to the story.

 

 I just got off Brillance and I didn’t have hot water in my cabin,which was a annoyance

not a big problem .

I just had a bit of a widge when paying my bill and Royal is giving me a full refund on the cruise. 

 

[ExPhotog]

I would like to think this is due to a major maintenance event such as a toilet zone not workin or HVAC issues. Not much point giving someone an unusable cabin.

[arxcards]

If it was for something unforeseen, it is dreadfully unlucky and I would hope that they are looked after with any out of pocket expenses. If it was from intentional overbooking, knowing that a % always cancel, it needs to be outed even if it was just an error from their booking systems. Even though the letter has a few options, being handed out at the wharf suggests it was because of something unforeseen.

 

I have seen this happen for a large number of passengers on Pacific Star out of Brisbane many years ago. One of their lifeboats failed an inspection and they had to lose some passengers in a hurry. They mostly received enough volunteers, but some passengers had to be disembarked before they could sail. P&O get bagged for their compensation, but in this type of instance it was a full refund PLUS a N/C move-over cruise of any of same length/departure port/cabin type. The compo applied equally for the volunteers and those given no option.

[MMDown Under]

I think it is time for Govt regulation.  It is just not acceptable for cruise lines to spoil people's holidays.  In USA they just keep upping the offer until enough people accept.  My daughter was flying via Chicago  so hoped the offer would be enough for her to visit US Uni friends in Chicago.

I've had nothing but good experiences with guarantine cabins, but thought they were good as gold, just no cabin number.  Reminds me of my grandmother saying "I give you an inch, you take a mile",  Is there a body which regulates cruise lines worldwide?  They are certainly loosing good will in Aust recently.

[cheznandy]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

I find that hard to believe,there must be another side to the story.

 

 I just got off Brillance and I didn’t have hot water in my cabin,which was a annoyance

not a big problem .

I just had a bit of a widge when paying my bill and Royal is giving me a full refund on the cruise. 

 

Chilli, we had non working fridge, air con that hardly cooled down and the noisiest cabin ever on Brilliance. Trolleys being wheeled overhead from about 4am.

They didn't even question our complaints, just gave us 25% off next cruise. I would have been happy for them to fix the issues for the next guests, cabin was very unclean, we found tablets under bed.

There was glitter over the floor which was never vaccumed up.

[buchhalm]

I never imagined that something like this could happen! Wow.

So much for "guarantee " cabin, eh?

[MicCanberra]

Move over offers happen all the time, on booked cabins or on Guarantee cabins.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

I think it is time for Govt regulation.  It is just not acceptable for cruise lines to spoil people's holidays.  In USA they just keep upping the offer until enough people accept.  My daughter was flying via Chicago  so hoped the offer would be enough for her to visit US Uni friends in Chicago.

I've had nothing but good experiences with guarantine cabins, but thought they were good as gold, just no cabin number.  Reminds me of my grandmother saying "I give you an inch, you take a mile",  Is there a body which regulates cruise lines worldwide?  They are certainly loosing good will in Aust recently.

I know of several occasions on Princess and on P&O where passengers are offered a 'move-over' to free up cabins for people who booked on a guarantee. The mover-over offer is usually a full refund PLUS a free cruise of a similar length some time in the future.  

[arxcards]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I know of several occasions on Princess and on P&O where passengers are offered a 'move-over' to free up cabins for people who booked on a guarantee. The mover-over offer is usually a full refund PLUS a free cruise of a similar length some time in the future.  

I rang our T/A one day about a Pacific Sun cruise, to get a name change done because Barb wasn't well enough to travel. She said, too late, but she had a move-over letter in front of her. So, full refund and a free cruise it was, which was fantastic news at the time. This was OK because it was all done over the phone at home two days before departure.

 

Alas, our free cruise was on Pacific Jewel, and it was the worst cruise we have done. Fait to say, we got what we paid for. 😁

[MicCanberra]

We have taken a move over offers once, it wasn't a full refund per se, but it was a full amount as refundable OBC on the free cruise that we picked, similar length. Our offer was done a week prior.

[NSWP]

I am guessing they want the cabins for isolation - Covid.