Cruises cancelled by Royal - general question

[earn]

Does anyone have experience of what exactly they mean by cruise fare rate being protected for the cancelled cruise?  I assumed the rate pppn paid for the original cruise but on another group someone said that wasn’t honoured and they are paying the same total price, which is ridiculous, as it was a 13 night cruise and now 9 nights.  We have just returned from a Celebrity cruise in Asia over Christmas, which was cancelled 3 times due to Covid.  Each time we got to keep the pppn rate, so I assumed Royal would do the same, as this time, no matter the reason, it is their fault.

 

[Mum2Mercury]

I kinda have some experience with this, but it's not quite the same as your situation -- nothing to do with Covid:  

 

- We booked a 7-night cruise, and months later Royal reduced it to a 6-night -- something about needing that extra night, as the ship was moving to a new port.  

- They sent us a letter offering us three options:  1) accept the shorter cruise for whatever we'd already paid.  2) full refund.  3) transfer to another specified cruise (same week, different ship, but a different port city) without any change in price.  They gave us about a month to decide, but we had a deadline.  

 

I was not happy with the situation at all, but I did think the choices were fair.  

 

You're talking about a cruise that was cancelled because of Covid -- how long ago was that?  Things can't go on forever and ever.  

[smokeybandit]

It just means you won't pay more for the same room category on the alternate cruise. With the alternate cruise being shorter, that may not be a deal.

But if the alternate cruise is cheaper, just take the refund and then book the new cruise.

Edited January 27 by smokeybandit

[Starry Eyes]

Sorry, but I don’t think they will pro-rate the shorter alternative cruise price by number nights.  I suspect you will find you may either have the shorter alternate cruise at the original price or you may take a refund.  The cruise contract says they can cancel the cruise and refund your money, so there’s little point arguing that the cancellation their fault.

Edited January 27 by Starry Eyes

[alfaeric]

21 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It just means you won't pay more for the same room category on the alternate cruise. With the alternate cruise being shorter, that may not be a deal.

But if the alternate cruise is cheaper, just take the refund and then book the new cruise.

It also can be a big deal- we recently got canceled, and rebooked to the same ship on the same itinerary.  But given the option to change, they let us move from a basic NE cruise to a TA that added Iceland.   So it's possible they give you an option that is better.

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

Isn't it possible the 9 night cruise might actually be more expensive (in total) than the 13 night?  The ship and the itinerary, to say nothing about the cabin, affect the cost, doesn't it?  

[earn]

8 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I kinda have some experience with this, but it's not quite the same as your situation -- nothing to do with Covid:  

 

- We booked a 7-night cruise, and months later Royal reduced it to a 6-night -- something about needing that extra night, as the ship was moving to a new port.  

- They sent us a letter offering us three options:  1) accept the shorter cruise for whatever we'd already paid.  2) full refund.  3) transfer to another specified cruise (same week, different ship, but a different port city) without any change in price.  They gave us about a month to decide, but we had a deadline.  

 

I was not happy with the situation at all, but I did think the choices were fair.  

 

You're talking about a cruise that was cancelled because of Covid -- how long ago was that?  Things can't go on forever and ever.  

Hi, that is slightly different but I still think it is terrible to charge you the same for less nights.  The cruise which royal have cancelled wasn’t due to Covid.  That was a previous cruise with Celebrity and they adjusted the fare to the number of nights, so I assumed that is what Rotal would do.  Seemingly not.  The current cruise Royal have cancelled in Quantum Vancouver to Hawaii.  They are offering a 9 night cruise instead of a 13 night one and it has no ports instead of 4.  

[earn]

8 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

It just means you won't pay more for the same room category on the alternate cruise. With the alternate cruise being shorter, that may not be a deal.

But if the alternate cruise is cheaper, just take the refund and then book the new cruise.

That is appalling customer service.  They have decided to change a cruise only 10 months out and we have already booked flights, so we are going to lose a lot of money whichever way we cut it.

[earn]

8 hours ago, alfaeric said:

It also can be a big deal- we recently got canceled, and rebooked to the same ship on the same itinerary.  But given the option to change, they let us move from a basic NE cruise to a TA that added Iceland.   So it's possible they give you an option that is better.

The option they have given us is a 9 night cruise with no ports instead of a 13 night cruise with a great itinerary.  They will be very lucky if the can sell this cruise, it is so crap.  Not a great option.

[smokeybandit]

7 minutes ago, earn said:

That is appalling customer service.  They have decided to change a cruise only 10 months out and we have already booked flights, so we are going to lose a lot of money whichever way we cut it.

It happens.  Just like flights get canceled last minute.

 

I doubt RC simply said "nah, we're not doing it." There was probably some legit reason.

[earn]

8 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Isn't it possible the 9 night cruise might actually be more expensive (in total) than the 13 night?  The ship and the itinerary, to say nothing about the cabin, affect the cost, doesn't it?  

No the 9 night is cheaper but not as cheap per night for our grade as the 13 night one.  It also had a great itinerary and this one basically has no ports.   We’ll also need to spend 4 extra nights in hotels to fit round our already booked flights.  We are D+ with Royal but this has really shown me their true colours and my 5 free drinks a 2 days WiFi might not be enough to keep me 😂

[earn]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

It happens.  Just like flights get canceled last minute.

 

I doubt RC simply said "nah, we're not doing it." There was probably some legit reason.

Perhaps for them but not legit for their customers.  Instead of Quantum doing 13 nights Vancouver to Hawaii, it is now doing 14 nights from Seattle to Tokyo.   The itinerary of the alternative cruise they offered has also changed since they emailed on Thursday.  

[Ourusualbeach]

9 hours ago, earn said:

Does anyone have experience of what exactly they mean by cruise fare rate being protected for the cancelled cruise?  I assumed the rate pppn paid for the original cruise but on another group someone said that wasn’t honoured and they are paying the same total price, which is ridiculous, as it was a 13 night cruise and now 9 nights.  We have just returned from a Celebrity cruise in Asia over Christmas, which was cancelled 3 times due to Covid.  Each time we got to keep the pppn rate, so I assumed Royal would do the same, as this time, no matter the reason, it is their fault.

 

Royal has never honored it on a pppn basis.  It is slways voyage fare. 

[earn]

Thanks for your input folks.  Interestingly, one of the people on the original cruise is from Germany and his letter specifically said that his price would be protected pppn.

[not-enough-cruising]

35 minutes ago, earn said:

The option they have given us is a 9 night cruise with no ports instead of a 13 night cruise with a great itinerary.  They will be very lucky if the can sell this cruise, it is so crap.  Not a great option.

So take the refund 

[taglovestocruise]

Trip Insurance, always seems expensive until you need it.  

[Starry Eyes]

49 minutes ago, earn said:

Thanks for your input folks.  Interestingly, one of the people on the original cruise is from Germany and his letter specifically said that his price would be protected pppn.

From what I have read over the years it seems countries have different laws, have different booking rules and pay different fares.   Unless you are also booking from Germany, that German cruiser never had the same deal as you and never will.

Edited January 28 by Starry Eyes

[earn]

36 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

So take the refund

We've got flights booked, which makes that a bit more difficult.

[Starry Eyes]

3 minutes ago, earn said:

We've got flights booked, which makes that a bit more difficult.

Did you buy travel insurance to cover cancellation and other risks?  A decent policy should cover your flights.
 

 

Edited January 28 by Starry Eyes

[not-enough-cruising]

38 minutes ago, earn said:

We've got flights booked, which makes that a bit more difficult.

Travel insurance comes into play 

[cruisegus]

48 minutes ago, earn said:

We've got flights booked, which makes that a bit more difficult.

Every time we have had a cruise canceled within the 11 month booking window for flights, there as been paragraph after offered option that allows for Royal to reimburse $100 change fee for Domestic flights and $200 for international.

 

That's just been our experiance

[cj_one2000]

1 hour ago, earn said:

We've got flights booked, which makes that a bit more difficult.

If you didn’t purchase travel insurance but paid for the airline tickets with a credit card, see if you have coverage from your credit card for expenses incurred due to Royal Caribbean’s change. It might cover flight change fees. 

[Coralc]

If it is far enough in advance, we just go for the refund. We would rather have our money to spend as we wish. 

 

During Covid, the airline cancelled our Europe flight, and Delta changed our domestic flight by enough that we were able to have them both refunded, too. 

 

And then they continued to cancel other deposited cruises (with options). (lost out on double points) And we just took refunds on everything., Our opinion of RC has dropped considerably. 

Edited January 28 by Coralc