Complaint against Royal Caribbean

[traceintx]

Hi Friends!  I was scheduled to do a land and sea tour back in August on Royal Caribbean for Alaska.  We did the 3 days of land tour and then when we got on the ship, we were told the ship could not travel and the sea part of the cruise was cancelled.  We were told we would get a refund for the unused part of the tour and a credit for a future cruise.  We received a partial refund and for the 3 different people in my room, we have all received very different amounts.  Instead of refunding back to the cards that were charged, I believe that RCI likely completely refunded one person while the other two only received partial refunds.  I have been trying to get a breakdown of the cruise fare between land and sea and have called RCI many times and sent many emails.  All to be told 3 different amounts we should have been charged with a promise to receive additional refunds that have yet to be received.  I have also asked many times for a breakdown and have now been told that they cannot provide a breakdown or receipt.  I have even sent an email to the president of RCI and still am getting nowhere.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what I can do next?  I have emails from RCI promising us to receive additional refunds, but when I don't receive it when they say I will, they tell me that the previous person who sent me the email was wrong and give me a different amount.  This has been going on for nearly 4 months and is the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever encountered!  Any help is greatly appreciated!

[klfrodo]

Sounds very frustrating. Sounds to me like you've been very patient.

The only thing I can think of is:

1. File a claim with your travel insurance under Trip Interruption.

2. Go to your State Attorney Generals website to file a complaint against Royal. I would also file a complaint to the Florida State Attorney General

3. Social Media (TikTok, FB, YouTube, Threads) has had very good corporate response to viral videos.

4. Contact a consumer advocacy group like Elliott.

Edited December 19, 2023 by klfrodo

[Saoa0318]

44 minutes ago, traceintx said:

Hi Friends!  I was scheduled to do a land and sea tour back in August on Royal Caribbean for Alaska.  We did the 3 days of land tour and then when we got on the ship, we were told the ship could not travel and the sea part of the cruise was cancelled.  We were told we would get a refund for the unused part of the tour and a credit for a future cruise.  We received a partial refund and for the 3 different people in my room, we have all received very different amounts.  Instead of refunding back to the cards that were charged, I believe that RCI likely completely refunded one person while the other two only received partial refunds.  I have been trying to get a breakdown of the cruise fare between land and sea and have called RCI many times and sent many emails.  All to be told 3 different amounts we should have been charged with a promise to receive additional refunds that have yet to be received.  I have also asked many times for a breakdown and have now been told that they cannot provide a breakdown or receipt.  I have even sent an email to the president of RCI and still am getting nowhere.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what I can do next?  I have emails from RCI promising us to receive additional refunds, but when I don't receive it when they say I will, they tell me that the previous person who sent me the email was wrong and give me a different amount.  This has been going on for nearly 4 months and is the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever encountered!  Any help is greatly appreciated!

What was your original invoice vs what you have received? Most often its never an even per person split for the vacation? I would be interested in what has been received vs what you think you are owed. I am sorry you missed this experience as Alaska is amazing.

[traceintx]

@Saoa0318 1 person in our room received a 90% refund, person 2 received a 34% refund and person 3 received a 79% refund.  The amount still outstanding is $4757 - whatever the land tour should have cost of which Royal will not provide a receipt that breaks this cost out.  They have confirmed in writing on 3 different occasions that we were owed the full $4757 back with their latest communication stating we are only owed $607 of which we still have not received any of this additional refund.  

[ARandomTraveler]

I would keep fighting for the refund, but in the meantime, maybe the friends should agree to take the total refund and distribute it equally amongst you. 

[A&L_Ont]

OP, this sounds like you should be communicating with the RC Corporate office. Someone here can provide the proper email address. 

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

OP, this sounds like you should be communicating with the RC Corporate office. Someone here can provide the proper email address. 

mbayley@rccl.com

[nelblu]

6 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I would keep fighting for the refund, but in the meantime, maybe the friends should agree to take the total refund and distribute it equally amongst you. 

The big question is when the invoice was paid, how was it allocated to the trio.  Usually, when booked via RCL the invoice shows a cost per person.  Assuming the cabin was occupied by the trio.

[traceintx]

The original receipt showed the first two cost per person to be the same with the third being cheaper.  So those two guests should have received the same amount at least and then we could have paid back the third guest.  I think RC gave most of the credit back to one person (the one that got 90% back) but I can’t get them to give me a breakdown of the land vs sea to see what we actually should have paid.  

[lovesthebeach2]

6 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

mbayley@rccl.com

 

9 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Sounds very frustrating. Sounds to me like you've been very patient.

The only thing I can think of is:

1. File a claim with your travel insurance under Trip Interruption.

2. Go to your State Attorney Generals website to file a complaint against Royal. I would also file a complaint to the Florida State Attorney General

3. Social Media (TikTok, FB, YouTube, Threads) has had very good corporate response to viral videos.

4. Contact a consumer advocacy group like Elliott.

I agree with #4 on this list…… contact Elliot. He seems to get better results than the average person.

[Ourusualbeach]

10 hours ago, traceintx said:

Hi Friends!  I was scheduled to do a land and sea tour back in August on Royal Caribbean for Alaska.  We did the 3 days of land tour and then when we got on the ship, we were told the ship could not travel and the sea part of the cruise was cancelled.  We were told we would get a refund for the unused part of the tour and a credit for a future cruise.  We received a partial refund and for the 3 different people in my room, we have all received very different amounts.  Instead of refunding back to the cards that were charged, I believe that RCI likely completely refunded one person while the other two only received partial refunds.  I have been trying to get a breakdown of the cruise fare between land and sea and have called RCI many times and sent many emails.  All to be told 3 different amounts we should have been charged with a promise to receive additional refunds that have yet to be received.  I have also asked many times for a breakdown and have now been told that they cannot provide a breakdown or receipt.  I have even sent an email to the president of RCI and still am getting nowhere.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what I can do next?  I have emails from RCI promising us to receive additional refunds, but when I don't receive it when they say I will, they tell me that the previous person who sent me the email was wrong and give me a different amount.  This has been going on for nearly 4 months and is the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever encountered!  Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

9 hours ago, traceintx said:

@Saoa0318 1 person in our room received a 90% refund, person 2 received a 34% refund and person 3 received a 79% refund.  The amount still outstanding is $4757 - whatever the land tour should have cost of which Royal will not provide a receipt that breaks this cost out.  They have confirmed in writing on 3 different occasions that we were owed the full $4757 back with their latest communication stating we are only owed $607 of which we still have not received any of this additional refund.  

 

1 hour ago, traceintx said:

The original receipt showed the first two cost per person to be the same with the third being cheaper.  So those two guests should have received the same amount at least and then we could have paid back the third guest.  I think RC gave most of the credit back to one person (the one that got 90% back) but I can’t get them to give me a breakdown of the land vs sea to see what we actually should have paid.  

You did not mention the cabin you were in but I did a quick comparison of the cost of cruise only for 3 guests vs the 10 night cruise/tour option (3 land) for a sailing in August of 2025 on the Radiance.

 

The land portion was somewhere between $4120 to $4400 additional on  top of the cruise fare so it dies not appear Royal is that far off and probably the $607 that you were told.

 

Inside $2995 vs $7395

Oceanview $4065 vs $8185

Balcony $6303 vs $10695

 

Unfortunately Royal does not list the land portion separately on their invoices so I doubt that you will ever get a complete breakdown of the costs associated with the cruise portion vs the land portion.  The only way you would have known the true cost of adding the land would have been to do a mock booking for the cruise only on the date you booked the tour.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Ourusualbeach

[sanger727]

Is there any chance you booked under one of the BOGO sales where they mark up passenger 1 to mark passenger 2 down to 50%? Maybe everyone was supposed to get the 79% back but the 90% and 34% made up the "on paper" fare difference.

Edited December 19, 2023 by sanger727

[Saoa0318]

On 12/18/2023 at 10:22 PM, traceintx said:

@Saoa0318 1 person in our room received a 90% refund, person 2 received a 34% refund and person 3 received a 79% refund.  The amount still outstanding is $4757 - whatever the land tour should have cost of which Royal will not provide a receipt that breaks this cost out.  They have confirmed in writing on 3 different occasions that we were owed the full $4757 back with their latest communication stating we are only owed $607 of which we still have not received any of this additional refund.  

Did eveeyone split the cost evenly? I am agreement with other poster. Review what everyone received and exchange accordingly. We all learned during covid when they issued future cruise credit it was never evenly split by occupants in the room. While you may have evwnly distributed cost, the receipt wasnt broken out this way. By my math person 3 probably received close to 1/2  of what 1 and 2 got combined.

[nimbex1970]

From memory, the third person is cheaper.  Could that be what happened?

[nelblu]

1 hour ago, nimbex1970 said:

From memory, the third person is cheaper.  Could that be what happened?

Yes, for the cruise fare but don't believe for the land tour.

[brillohead]

Too late now, but this is yet another reason to use a travel agent.  

Before expecting Elliott Advocacy to take your case, you should first use Elliott's technique to fix your own consumer problem (click link for article).

 

The trick is to "keep it short and simple" -- not a big long letter to Michael Bayley, but a succinct bullet-point type letter that spells out the facts of the case.  Include attachments of any paper trail (emails, letters, invoices).  

Chances are that if you do a concise, fact-only letter to Micheal Bayley's office, you'll get a response in a reasonable period of time (allowing extra time for it being the holidays right now).