Problem on RCCL - What type of Compensation do I expect? (merged)

[madforcruising]

Clarkk W Griswald][/b]

Doesn't RCI own Celebrity?

 

 

Actually, they don't.

 

Well johnjen, you are right RCI (Royal Caribbean International) does not own Celebrity, but this is more than trying to be hyper correct.

 

OK but here it goes how it is:

 

RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD.) Stock symbol RCL

 

owns the two brands

RCI - Royal Caribbean International

and

X - Celebrity Cruises

[madforcruising]

 

 

While your suggestions may have merit, it appears that the OP had no idea of procedures available for reporting problems. Nor had he any idea of the command structure in the Vessel & Hotel operation. Do cruise lines provide this information to passengers? Is it printed in the contract? Posted onboard? I've never seen it. Perhaps someone can point me to cruise line procedures for onboard problem reporting and resolution.

 

 

The above comment made my wonder if there is anywhere in print some organizational chart of what the positions are onboard a ship. I.E. rank of control within the dinning rooms, cabins, etc. I would love to see this organization chart should one exist in the event of possible future problems we might have in the future.

 

As others have said there is a flyer introducing all the higher ranks onboard witing for you in the cabin upon boarding. Also the pictures and positions with names of all these persons are displayed somewhere in the centrum area near the public relations desk.

 

Also at the Welcome aboard Party you have the chance to meet all these persons and the Captain is introducing all of them with their names, titles and responsibilities.

 

I think this is all information you need without having a chart.

[broberts]

 

As others have said there is a flyer introducing all the higher ranks onboard witing for you in the cabin upon boarding. Also the pictures and positions with names of all these persons are displayed somewhere in the centrum area near the public relations desk.

 

 

Knowing who the top brass is good. What about an outline of problem reporting and resolution procedures?

[Swabb3]

Here's my 2cents for what it's worth. The OP said the first day that they noticed the wet carpet but thought it would dry and then reported it on day 2. My question is where were the inspectors who are supposed to check they ship between cruises? That the carpet was wet on day one makes me wonder about that ship and its crew. Of course someone had to notice the problem and what about the people in the cabin on the previous cruise. Surely a carpet doesn't get wet like that in less tha a couple of hours unless there is an actual flood. Then more than just one cabin would be ruined. I'm not sure if anyone pays that much attention to the flyer and by the way do you actualy see these people during the ship except during the welcome aboard party. Which I've never had as a first night event. I do enjoy RCCL cruises and in fact am going back on Brilliance this fall but I am now going to be leary about my cabin. When I was on Navigator this spring my cabin was too warm so I just called maintenance and while I was out of the cabin enjoying lunch someone came and fixed the problem. The OP gave maintenance and housekeeping the beneift of the doubt in letting them handle the problem first before going over their collect heads. Now with all the publicity and over 11 thousand people reading the thread, the problem needs to be resolved by Miami. Noone should be sticking up for RCCL staff BRian and Darren. They were totally wrong in how they handled this problem and should be taken to the gangway and thrown overboard. They don't even have the huiman decency to treat anyone with respect and as a person who has handled people at their worst (sick and dying), I can tell you that all people want is to be treated with respect. Brian and Darren don't even have the right to be busboys or housekeeping personel onboard any ship on any line. :mad:

[madforcruising]

I'm not sure if anyone pays that much attention to the flyer and by the way do you actualy see these people during the ship except during the welcome aboard party. Which I've never had as a first night event.

 

I didn´t say the welcome aboard party is a first night event. I just listed the possibilities to inform yourself about people in charge.

You say that nobody pays attention to the flyer, well then I would say the people wouldn´t pay attention to an orginazation chart either.

 

 

 

Noone should be sticking up for RCCL staff BRian and Darren. They were totally wrong in how they handled this problem and should be taken to the gangway and thrown overboard. They don't even have the huiman decency to treat anyone with respect and as a person who has handled people at their worst (sick and dying), I can tell you that all people want is to be treated with respect. Brian and Darren don't even have the right to be busboys or housekeeping personel onboard any ship on any line. :mad:

 

I agree with you that comments like the ones stated by the OP coming from Brian and Darren are absolutely inacceptable. And I absolutely agree that all people should be treated with respect.

For exact this reason I´m not going to judge them here. I have not been there and I only know one side. I´m not defending or judging either side here but treating human beings with respect should include Brian and Darren and as nobody from us was there besides the OP, Brian and Darren I think that a comment like "taking them to the Gangway and throw them overboard" or "they don´t even have the right to be busboys or housekeeping personel" is not only disrespecting them, but also disrespecting all the hardworking busboys and housekeeping people. Aren´t those all human beings too and don´t they deserve our respect too???

[Ali-in-Texas]

I would definately go to my credit card and dispute the charges.

 

Not sure it would work but it is worth the try.

[AFT_LOVER]

as we saw a lovely steward taking a large machine that was an odor ionizer into his rooms to clear out smoke, beer, puke & other horrible odors before new folks moved in. He had us be his "nose" and we walked in to a cigar infested stateroom. He then put the machine on high with the door shut & cleaned 4 other rooms. We came back in 20 minutes & we walked into a very clean smelling room & even dust was gone! So it went to another to do its job.

 

RCCL doesn't have on all ships?

 

Rich: You keep at them. And NO WAY do they give you a bottle of wine for telling the room steward that the cabin stinks of smoke. I did this immediately for the inside cabin where my kids were on Mariner. He got a spray to spray. This did not work. He then took down all the curtains in the room and cleaned them( so he said) and still the odor was there. I have a children who are very sensitive to odors and this bothered them sooo much. They could not stand it. By the end of the first night they offered nothing but a plug in refresher for the air. Now reading all this, I also assummed going to the steward is what to do. NOPE, next time I will take it to the front desk and complain. So we all learned something here. DO not wait a moment. We all do since we do not want to start a vacation ( and if we were all rich we would be on Radison or the all inclusive lines)complaining. The comment by Brian that now the cruises are so affrodable is nonsense. Cruising is still a big chunk of money to shell out and no one should have a mildewed carpet. This would not be acceptable in any hotel.

[AFT_LOVER]

on the opening day or next I believe.

 

 

 

As others have said there is a flyer introducing all the higher ranks onboard witing for you in the cabin upon boarding. Also the pictures and positions with names of all these persons are displayed somewhere in the centrum area near the public relations desk.

 

Also at the Welcome aboard Party you have the chance to meet all these persons and the Captain is introducing all of them with their names, titles and responsibilities.

 

I think this is all information you need without having a chart.

[AFT_LOVER]

since you didn't see your stateroom in advance, it was by photos on a web site to what you expected. But a soaking wet carpet then from the bathroom into the closet is far more than 2 X 2 (sorry airheads in the wrong department).

 

List every day what you did & what they didn't do. Promises made & not kept & the final insults by those who are to assist. Hotel Director had no time for you either.

 

They will get them good! They want you to talk great about them as AMEX does for me many times & now VISA trying but MBNA has axed plenty of VISA services, so we are now only using that card for RCCL purchases.

 

 

 

I would definately go to my credit card and dispute the charges.

 

Not sure it would work but it is worth the try.

[sdear]

just totally amaze me. Now blaming the whole crew for this blah blah blah.

 

Let me repeat...THIS IS THE INTERNET ! :eek:

 

We have only heard one side of the story !

 

For all we know, this could be a Carnival employee writing the whole darn story !

 

If it is true, my sympathies to him, and we have learned alot ! (on who to go to )

 

No reputable business would intentionally try to tick off their customer !

 

Do we REALLY know what was offered to him ? Do we REALLY know what happened?? NO we don't !

 

We only see TYPING on the INTERNET !

 

All I am trying to say is we need to quit blaming RCI, the WHOLE staff of the ship, and just wait and see how he resolves his problem.

 

Sure, it may have been handled wrong on BOTH sides...but how do we REALLY know that ???? :confused:

 

I could come on here tomorrow under a different nic name and tell you all sorts of things that are happening to me, but is it worth getting all worked up over??

 

Just my two cents. ;)

[jrk23]

I want to say, I am really surprised at how many people are turning this incident into it being my fault.

 

I am not an experienced cruiser. This is my 2nd cruise.

 

I am not disputing any charges. Maybe they are expecting me to do so.

 

Room change offered the day before the carpet change (day 5).

 

I am sick of defending myself here. I have had some positive feedback, but the same 3 or 4 people keep coming on to say how wrong & the lack of common sense, etc. I guess in this situation, maybe I lacked the common sense. I suppose telling Maintenance, then the room stewart wasnt enough.

 

I started this thread to get advice, hence, I had no idea what to do. I got some good advice & also some people who insist on telling me this was my fault. I am feeling a little attacked.

 

Again, I stayed because they kept saying it was fixed.

 

To those saying if I got a 100% refund, I would have said it is not enough - you dont know me. That was not what I was looking for. Its also no where near what was offered.

 

Again, poke fun at me all you want for the wet carpet, if it happened to you, on your vacation, I can assure you, it wouldnt be funny.

 

Clark - Thanks for your comments, hopefully nothing happens to you on your cruises.

 

By the way, I also had no idea how to handle things, but I am now an expert as well. I know that a wet carpet, doesnt mean it was just cleaned & I should immediately run to the desk for a new room should that happen again. Its easy for you to say I choose to deal with it. They kept telling me they fixed the problem. What could I do but beleive them.

 

I keep reading thread after thread of people saying this was my fault because I chose to accept the cabin

 

 

The offer to change rooms was NOT made until the 5th day. Get it straight people. On day one there was that sign that said they were full, while hindsight is 20/20, for me this was not an obvious solution.

 

Sailaways - "The OP is an experienced cruiser - stating this was her 12th! She undoubtedly has some "Wisdom" in this arena." Ok, this is my 2nd cruise EVER and my wifes 3rd (her first was 9 years ago at age 20 & her second was with me on my honeymoon 2 years ago). I am not an experienced person & the name "RICH" is a male name. If you want to give me 10 more cruises, feel free.

 

Again, to be clear they offered me $300 (not 500) OR 20% off a future cruise.

 

Alright folks, I am going to log in again when I get home. This last reading (pages 8-12) were a bit disturbing & I would rather not get more upset about this.

 

I have had no other contact from Darren or Brian.

 

I am not a carnival employee, I am a jerk who tried to come on this forum to get help. I got some help, enough bashing me personally.

 

I quit.

 

Thanks,

Rich

[sdear]

I don't think anyone called you a jerk ! And I certainly wasn't bashing you. I was merely pointing out to some of these people that are getting a little carried away that they can't blame the WHOLE ship, and you should always listen to BOTH sides of the story before you are ready to HANG someone !

 

Like I stated, if it did happen, then we all learned alot on who to go to and not to go to.

[sdear]

the whole thread from when it started. I was merely saying that there are always two sides to every story, and that people shouldn't be so harsh on the whole cruise line or ship due to what one person posts.

 

Like I said, if this did happen, I sure have learned who to go to and who not to go to on the ship.

 

Have a great day :)

[sdear]

I will move on from this post lol. I just don't understand the hatred and how mean people can be over this topic.

 

Thanks for enlightening me.

[torbs]

The Hotel Director is the top guy on board besides the Captain. Cruise director has no power.

 

Not really, there is a Staff Captain who is typically in charge of all employees. He is on board in addtion to the Master Captain.

[Reijo]

I am sailing on Mariner in September and I certainly plan to talk with my TA to determine procedure if ANYTHING like this happens.

 

I can't believe that RCCL didn't offer to at least give you a 50% credit toward a future cruise. They did this last year with the cruise that was affected by one of the hurricanes. EVERYONE was given a shipboard credit AND the 50% off a future cruise.

 

I would not have stayed in the cabin with wet carpet and mildew and smells. I would have moved to the inside cabin and then requested the difference between the balcony and inside. I believe that along with a shipboard credit for the trouble would have been sufficient. It wouldn't have been the cruise that you wanted BUT Royal Caribbean would have given you your money back (for the balcony cabin) along with a little something FOR YOUR TROUBLE. It only makes good business sense to me.

 

Best of luck to you. Hopefully RCCL will see that people DO read these boards and will reconsider cruising with them.

[Dockman123]

Excuse me for stating the obvious but had the OP gone to report the problem the moment he realised there was one, and made a formal complaint at the time...ie day 1 before unpacking...he probably would have been given another cabin.

 

He waited and faffed about so in the eyes of the cruise line, the problem was portrayed as not that bad by the OP.

 

The OP basically did report it but not to the front desk. He tried working through housekeeping and maintenance with promises that it would be taken care of. After those promises werent met he then went to the front desk to complain. Some people try and go through channels others go straight to the top. Housekeeping and Maintenance were aware of the problems and could of informed the HD what was going on and obviously didn't. So the problem was reported, just maybe not to the right person.

 

I know the OP was a lot more patient then I would of been, but Iv've been known to have a short fuse and as my DW has told me many times I tend to shoot the messenger.:) I personally don't think the OP was looking for compensation when this started, but as time went on and based on how he was treated that then became an issue.

 

Everybody here can sit back and play Monday morning quarterback but that doesn't help the current problem. I am new to cruising having only been on 2 cruises, and I probably would of made the same mistake of contacting housekeeping first. After reading this thread I have learned how to handle a problem better. You mentioned filling out some form at the front desk. I never knew anything about that and I am sure there are a lot of others here that didn't know either. Whether or not he went about it the right way or wrong way RCI did show poor customer service and I hope everything works out in the end.

[bermudashorts]

Rich,

Don't let the bad comments bother you so much.

98% of the people are behind you and the others just have to add their 2 cents the other way.

 

Best wishes resolving this matter

[Rowtyd]

It amazes me to see how a problem like this, isn't really a problem...until it happens to them. :eek:

[cruisin from florida]

Based on what the OP and others have posted, in a similar circumstance, here's what I think I'd do (this is NOT a criticism of the OP - before I read this thread, I would have probably acted similarly, believing that maintenance would take care of the situation):

 

Initially notify my cabin steward. AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME, call the purser's desk and let them know about the problem and let them know that I had told the cabin steward. GET THE NAME OF THE PERSON in customer service.

 

Wait a couple of hours. Then if no obvious progress was being made toward fixing the problem, head down to the purser's desk, get problem documented on paper, and continue getting names of people involved along with noting what they say.

 

PERHAPS just taking notes and names (and I would continue to be very pleasant, and not act as though I didn't believe what I was being told) would help motivate the folks involved to follow through.

 

At this point (what do you think folks?) I would wait a couple more hours to see if obvious steps were being taken to fix the problem, and then very pleasantly start working my way up the ladder, continuing to take names (along with job titles) and jot down notes.

 

Best outcome? my problem is fixed quickly or another accommodation it made. And, if the problem were not solved or dealt with appropriately, I would have plenty of documentation as I went up the chain of command to get a satisfactory resolution.

 

Any additional suggestions? I'm cruising on RCCL twice in the next few months, and although our last 6 cruises with them have been problem-free, things DO happen and apparently that's when things can go downhill quickly.

[digitalgirl]

Rich,

I have been following this all day today and feel badly for you that so many people used this as a chance to complain about your actions. You asked for advice and support, and although you got some good suggestions, you got some unfair comments too. I felt you followed the correct steps and felt it would be a simple problem fixed early on.

I think the meeting with the directors was the right idea and following up with letters when you get home is a good idea. Make sure you outline what you request for compensation is. We frequently complain about situations without specifying what we are looking for, making it seem we are just venting. You need to be compensated for the state of your room as well as how you were treated by staff.

It is too bad so many don't follow the question posted at the beginning and instead use this to voice their own opinions and attack others.

I hope to someday hear how it came out. Good luck

Caly

[daveb82]

Rich - keep your chin up.

 

Hopefully, the advice you got from reading the thread, less the "noise", was useful as you learned the ropes of dealing with a problem on a cruise ship. I've been on several cruises and haven't had to deal with a problem like yours. I tried to put myself in your shoes at each step of your ordeal, and thought what would I do? I probably would have done the same thngs you did....

 

Hope that the corporate brass see the customer service faux pas that the shipboard personnel made and rectify the situation to your satisfaction. That's the least they can do.

 

Almost 13,000 hits would hopefully send them a message...

[Nliedel]

Hang tight Rich. I believe you. You're not making over the top complaints, didn't say everything was horrible and basically sound very legit. I've been around the boards awile and you don't act like a troll in my book.

 

I'm pulling for you and I *NEVER* think the cruiser is in the right. Okay, sometimes I do, but it's not often. This isn't you kvetching about something silly in the least.

[winncove]

Windjamming Say it ain't so! The HD going to the Serenade, the same ship I'll be on for my Anniversary cruise to Alaska in Sept.? Tell me he'll be the waiter for the buffets, pool cleaner..anything but the HD!

 

This has been the most unsettling thread ever. We're totally in sympathy with the OP & his wife and find RCL employees involved totally moronic & unacceptable for their positions. Hang in there Rich!

[Swabb3]

Rich, there is no way you should have been bashed by some of the posters here. I totally agree with going through channels and would have done the same things you did. Thanks for the hard learned lesson. Hopefully you and DW haven't been turned off to cruising all together. Have a safe trip home and let us know how things have been resolved even if you have to start a new thread.:)

As to the comment that I don't respect housekeeping or busboys, let me just say that what I meant was that Brian and Darren aren't fit enough human biengs to lick the dirt of those people's boots. They are the hardest working and some of the most pleasant people I have ever met onboard and by no means did I ever intend to show them any disrespect.