Complaint of the week

[teajak]

People paid for a warm water cruise, they should get a warm water cruise. I don't get the attitude that we owe RCL, or any company for that matter, anything because it's blatantly obvious that they don't feel the same way about us.

I don't understand what more you want them to do, please explain.

[OKH]

I don't understand what more you want them to do, please explain.

 

There are other warm water ports besides Mexico, no? Hit those up. Sure, you still won't make everyone happy, but at least you're in the ballpark of what they paid for.

 

And to a certain extent, you're correct - it's NOT RCCL's fault that there was an outbreak and it was also the correct choice not to go to the Mexican ports - from a business/legal standpoint and from a public health one as well. I guess I just don't understand the whole "You should be quiet and accept what RCCL gives you" attitude. People who maybe get two weeks vacation a year and maybe only get to go away on vacation less than that paid money for something that they're not getting. The reason they're not getting it is understandable. RCCL's arrogance in waving a contract in their faces isn't.

[Merion_Mom]

There are other warm water ports besides Mexico, no? Hit those up. Sure, you still won't make everyone happy, but at least you're in the ballpark of what they paid for.

 

And to a certain extent, you're correct - it's NOT RCCL's fault that there was an outbreak and it was also the correct choice not to go to the Mexican ports - from a business/legal standpoint and from a public health one as well. I guess I just don't understand the whole "You should be quiet and accept what RCCL gives you" attitude. People who maybe get two weeks vacation a year and maybe only get to go away on vacation less than that paid money for something that they're not getting. The reason they're not getting it is understandable. RCCL's arrogance in waving a contract in their faces isn't.

 

Just where do you think a cruise ship can sail to from Los Angeles??????

[TRadle]

I would be thrilled. I have been wishing I was booked on that cruise, I even tried to talk my DH into going, what a great itinerary. Any cruise is a great boat ride. I won't state my reasons as no one is interested but the old adage that life is short live for today is a good one.I really believe in making lemonade.

 

I've been thinking the same thing. Oh, I wish we had booked this cruise because the new itinerary is great and I would love to see these places. It is not an itinerary I could ever sale to my DH, but a change....oh I'd be so there.

 

I did book us on the "broken ship" hoping it turns into 9 days at sea!:D

[cinnamon]

No complaining here, we are in a hotel in San Francisco, doing the laundry before boarding Serenade.

 

WE ARE GOING ON A CRUISE :) :)

[BTSEN5]

I don't understand what more you want them to do, please explain.

 

 

If you want to go on to Mexico and you contracted swine flu because of it, would you then be upset also? Like I said, either way you would have something to complain about. The quote above is a valid question. What would you rather have them do? If not you, then others would complain that they were not doing enough to keep them safe from this outbreak. Either way someone will not be happy.

[dbushwa]

No complaining here, we are in a hotel in San Francisco, doing the laundry before boarding Serenade.

 

WE ARE GOING ON A CRUISE :) :)

You have the right idea why I started this. But it's turned into complaining. To quote Bobby Mcfarlen I think Don't worry be happy:D:D:D

[relaxandenjoy]

I'm guessing many people will actually benefit from this. I'm thinking Travel Insurance will kick in, RCCL will provide refunds and allow you to book future cruises with OBC.

 

Sure, I'd be bummed if I was scheduled to go to Mexico right now and couldn't. But, it's a situation out of my control so I'd find a way to enjoy life anyway.

[temple1]

Just where do you think a cruise ship can sail to from Los Angeles??????

 

LOL - Exactly - We were on Enchantment about 2 hours out of Key West when Captain Been came on and made the announcement we would not be stopping in Cozumel but would have a day at sea before going to Belize. I knew our DH's were concerned about us going to Cozumel so I took my free internet time coupon down to Guest Relations to get set up so I could start emailing. There was a woman in line behind me - b****** and moaning and planning to give the Guest Relations folks holy heck about the change. She worked in the airline industry and she had been on the receiving end of complaints and irate customers for years and she was going to strike back! :rolleyes: I'm not really sure what she wanted from RCl. It is not as if it were a jet and can be rerouted to another port.

 

They refunded our port charges and fees and our excursion fees right away.

[ziggypup]

GEE. Lets see. I live in Louisiana and since I do not fly my only options are to cruise out of New Orleans (which does not have a RCL ship) or Galveston so basically my only choice is limited to the Western Caribbean. RCL calls me, tells me that a cruise I booked on is not going to its usual Western Caribbean ports but Key West and the Bahamas instead. What should I do? I guess I have only one choice here, say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the person on the other end of the telephone

 

I think that the OP is trying to get everyone to try and make the best of a bad situtation and look for that little silver lining in those storm clouds.

 

Either you go or you don't go. If you don't like the new itinerary, don't go. I don't like to fly, but I have to in order expand my options. Learn to fly.

[mojitodiva]

People paid for a warm water cruise, they should get a warm water cruise. I don't get the attitude that we owe RCL, or any company for that matter, anything because it's blatantly obvious that they don't feel the same way about us.

 

 

We did a cruise in November to the Western Caribbean however it was cold all week. No swimming, no sun and pools were closed. :eek: Had to stay inside of the ship wearing long pants and long sleeve shirt and put the heat on in the cabin at nite. :eek:

The week prior they had beautiful warm weather. :rolleyes:

 

When booking vacations (Cruise or Land) never assume you will get wonderful weather. In addition to that with a cruise never assume you will visit the ports you booked. :p

[Happy ks]

There are other warm water ports besides Mexico, no? Hit those up. Sure, you still won't make everyone happy, but at least you're in the ballpark of what they paid for.

 

And to a certain extent, you're correct - it's NOT RCCL's fault that there was an outbreak and it was also the correct choice not to go to the Mexican ports - from a business/legal standpoint and from a public health one as well. I guess I just don't understand the whole "You should be quiet and accept what RCCL gives you" attitude. People who maybe get two weeks vacation a year and maybe only get to go away on vacation less than that paid money for something that they're not getting. The reason they're not getting it is understandable. RCCL's arrogance in waving a contract in their faces isn't.

 

 

If you take a look at a map of the world, you will notice that the only foreign ports available on the Pacific Coast are Mexico and Canada. It would be impossible to go any further than that given the 7 day itinerary. The only other possibility would be to cruise down to Mexico and have no port days at all and I think many people would scream even louder about that.

 

Since the only warm weather port would be Mexico and that is out of the questions, they have no other choice other than Canada.

 

There's no being unreasonable, no arrogance and if you read carefully, RCI is giving options and not enforcing the original contract agreed to.

 

This too shall all pass in a few weeks and people will forget about it (except those sffected) and move on to the next horror story.

[BroncosFan2010]

Hmmm. complaining about complainers......Productive thread here...:rolleyes:

 

LOLOL

 

My thoughts exactly!!

[norcalal]

We live in northern California. We have a balcony on the may 31st Marnier.

When I first got word of the change...I thought...wow what an experience it will be to sail under the Golden Gate on this ride! Then they told me that they would give me a 350 obc AND a 350 cc !.. In addition to that they told me that if I did not like the options offered, they would give me a FULL refund upon cancelling without penalty. I believe that they are more than generous.:D

[negc]

Since you are not affected, you can relax and say what you want. But what if RCL called you up and told you that instead of warm sunny Mexico, you would be going to Seattle and British Columbia. Oh and don't forget your warm clothes (wink).

Don't tell me you wouldn't complain!!!!

Given the situation that caused the cancellation of port calls in Mexico, I would exercise my options to cancel or to find an alternative cruise, and I would say thank you to the cruiseline for not exposing me and my loved ones to the swine flu.:) Perhaps you would rather have gone to warm, sunny Mexico and contracted a contagious disease. Life is filled with disappointments, and this one, relatively speaking, is a minor one.:rolleyes:

[cruisinfanatic]

Given the situation that caused the cancellation of port calls in Mexico, I would exercise my options to cancel or to find an alternative cruise, and I would say thank you to the cruiseline for not exposing me and my loved ones to the swine flu.:) Perhaps you would rather have gone to warm, sunny Mexico and contracted a contagious disease. Life is filled with disappointments, and this one, relatively speaking, is a minor one.:rolleyes:

To all those who keep quoting my first post on this thread.

I'm NOT EVEN ON THIS CRUISE. IT DOES NOT AFFECT ME!

I was simply noting the disappointment that I'd have if this happened to me.

[easyshi]

The problem is not the people that hadn't left port yet and have an option, the problem is people who boarded the ship, were told they would be going to Mexico and then switched during the cruise eventhough the same travel alert was in effect when they left LA and did not change while they were at sea. Some like to think that you should just make the best of it and go with the flow. Maybe next time I can just give RCI a check for a couple of grand and tell them to put me on a ship a take me where they want (oh, I'm just so lucky and happy to be on a cruise). Don't tell me they didn't have a choice, they had a choice, they always have choices. The ones that didn't get a choice were the paying customer (the one that is the reason RCI & Carnival exists). The people that caused a ruckus were at least trying to stand up for themselves on Carnival. The cruise lines botched it and they hope that can walk away unscathed, and you know what, they probably will, because they really did the best they could (yeh, RIGHT).

[cruisinfanatic]

The problem is not the people that hadn't left port yet and have an option, the problem is people who boarded the ship, were told they would be going to Mexico and then switched during the cruise eventhough the same travel alert was in effect when they left LA and did not change while they were at sea. Some like to think that you should just make the best of it and go with the flow. Maybe next time I can just give RCI a check for a couple of grand and tell them to put me on a ship a take me where they want (oh, I'm just so lucky and happy to be on a cruise). Don't tell me they didn't have a choice, they had a choice, they always have choices. The ones that didn't get a choice were the paying customer (the one that is the reason RCI & Carnival exists). The people that caused a ruckus were at least trying to stand up for themselves on Carnival. The cruise lines botched it and they hope that can walk away unscathed, and you know what, they probably will, because they really did the best they could (yeh, RIGHT).

Well. You obviously know all the answers.

What should the cruiselines have done?

[luckyprincess]

Would I have wanted to go to Mexico and possibly get sick? No! would I want to go up to Canada? - maybe in August - I live in NJ and am sick of the brisk weather right now. I would have probably canceled, booked something for next year and spent a week in AC with my boyfriend instead with our paid vacation week from work. I would certainly be disappointed, but not lay blame anywhere but in the miraculous nature of virus' to evolve.:p

That being said, I get pretty tired of people whose answer for anything and everything that goes wrong on a cruise that affects someone's enjoyment (that's up to their perception, not yours) is "You're on a cruise somewhere - what could be better? :rolleyes:Who cares if your balcony neighbors are rude, loud, drunk or thoughtless? Who cares if obnoxious teens are diving off the sides and into the adult pool? So what if your tablemates look ready for a ho-down on formal nights and make your formal table picture look like Halloween for both couples? Why complain about sewage smells, bad food, rude guests? You might die tomorrow! Just be happy with whatever crappy events take place because - you're on a cruise!

Sorry for the rant, but I haven't posted in a while and right when I come back its like the same arguments all over again!!

:o

[easyshi]

They should either continued on the itinerary that they started out on. Everyone that got on the ship knew what the travel restriction was when the ship left and I repeat, it did not change, so in my opinion we were willing to take the risk. If the cruise line got different information while we were at sea they should have said it. The cruise lines all make the same decision on the same day, wow what a coincidence. They had plans in place didn't tell anyone. They had every right to change the itinerary and if that is the case and we all probably agree that is there right, but in the same vain the customer has a right to be compensated or given an option. Still no swine flu at any of the ports. Think about it, thousands of dollars spent and you have no option, most people saved for months for this cruise. What else would you accept? The solution is to give every passenger on the cruise a credit equal to at least half of the cruise, they will be giving away that much on lost revenue for the itinerary change with lost bookings and bad will. When people get so mad that they get off before the cruise is over like on Carnival why would you think the move was one a good one by the cruise company. Over 1/3 of the passengers on the RCI May 3 sailing canceled. That should tell you that the change was bad. Again, simple solution is to make it right for the passengers that got the shaft (credit on a future cruise or partial refund).

[Ocean Boy]

That being said, I get pretty tired of people whose answer for anything and everything that goes wrong on a cruise that affects someone's enjoyment (that's up to their perception, not yours) is "You're on a cruise somewhere - what could be better? :rolleyes:Who cares if your balcony neighbors are rude, loud, drunk or thoughtless? Who cares if obnoxious teens are diving off the sides and into the adult pool? So what if your tablemates look ready for a ho-down on formal nights and make your formal table picture look like Halloween for both couples? Why complain about sewage smells, bad food, rude guests? You might die tomorrow! Just be happy with whatever crappy events take place because - you're on a cruise!

Sorry for the rant, but I haven't posted in a while and right when I come back its like the same arguments all over again!!

:o

Lets not forget the one about how the economy is in shambles and we are all fortunate that we can afford to take a cruise.

[IMCRABBY]

People paid for a warm water cruise, they should get a warm water cruise. I don't get the attitude that we owe RCL, or any company for that matter, anything because it's blatantly obvious that they don't feel the same way about us.

 

I suppose if I paid for a warm water cruise, with reasonable likelihood that the weather in Mexico was probably going to be warm, and that I had all the new clothes I'd purchased for this likely to be warm cruise that should not have hurricanes or severe weather patterns because of the time of year, I should expect to get just that or equal.

But what Mariner 4-26 got was like booking an indoor concert of a major performer such as the Rolling Stones, but instead got a outdoor, cold and damp and foggy concert featuring the Gall Stones. ;)

 

You get what I mean. There was not equity in this for them.

 

In this case I'm happy to say it could have been me but wasn't. I was booked on this cruise once but changed it for other reasons.

[dbushwa]

So for the last few weeks it was all about how RCL screwed everyone over the changes for the C&A members. Now its about the swine flu changes. I just want to know when is everyone going to kick back and go WOW I going to be on 1 a cruise and 2 vacation and stop bi**ing about every little thing and enjoy what your going to be doing?

 

The meaning of why I started this thread seems to have got lost!!!!!!!

[wolfshadow]

I suppose if I paid for a warm water cruise, with reasonable likelihood that the weather in Mexico was probably going to be warm, and that I had all the new clothes I'd purchased for this likely to be warm cruise that should not have hurricanes or severe weather patterns because of the time of year, I should expect to get just that or equal.

But what Mariner 4-26 got was like booking an indoor concert of a major performer such as the Rolling Stones, but instead got a outdoor, cold and damp and foggy concert featuring the Gall Stones. ;)

 

You get what I mean. There was not equity in this for them.

 

In this case I'm happy to say it could have been me but wasn't. I was booked on this cruise once but changed it for other reasons.

Well, you are exactly right! I just returned from the 04/26 cruise. We did not get a choice. Before we sailed, there was no travel restriction. They just advised not traveling into the interior of Mexico. We were told that morning after pulling into Cabo that there were no restrictions to the Ports we were visiting. We were also told that there were no cases of swine flu in any of the Ports we were visiting. We had a wonderful day in Cabo and we did notice that there was a Carnival ship that arrived after us and didn't seem to stay long. So, we didn't hear the bad news until just before leaving Port. I'm sure there were many passengers that weren't too heartbroken, but we didn't see or hear from many that they didn't mind going to SF. Most everywhere we went onboard though the majority was not very happy with the decision to go to SF and not just go back to San Pedro so we could just go home since many of us had our cars there. We were just two of many, many who didn't want to go to SF. The biggest reason being that we live just a little over an hour away and can and do go there a lot anyway. The next reason being that I had no clothes to be going into cold, rainy weather. And, it was miserable all day.

 

So, until you walk the same walk we did, hold your attitudes regarding just sucking it up and realizing at least we were on a cruise. We don't get to cruise as often as many of you do. And, although I do realize that RCI supposedly did what they did to help us, I do not think that a $200 OBC and an hour and a half of free Bloody Mary's, Mimosa's and Screwdriver's, nearly makes up for missing most of the cruise we paid for. Especially when one of us doesn't drink at all and I had more than enough with one. Along with not getting to have a choice in any of it and the already stated reasons, I don't feel compensated at all. We heard about 400 people were able to leave in SF. We would have, too, except our car was down in SP! One in our group started an onboard complaint with Guest Relations and quite a few of us put our names on it. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see if we hear anything but I know most of us are writing letters of complaint to the company, as well.

 

We did think the ship was beautiful and that the crew did a great job all the way around and with having to keep us busy for an extra two days. But, we also feel that we should be offered what the cruises after ours was, with the exception of them getting a chance to at least cancel their cruise, we should get a decent future credit so that those of us who can only cruise at certain times and can pay only so much have the opportunity to book another Mexican Riviera cruise with RC the next time we can take a vacation! We don't think we're asking too much, after all, they will be able to write off much of their loss, we can't!

 

[luckyprincess]

Lets not forget the one about how the economy is in shambles and we are all fortunate that we can afford to take a cruise.

 

 

Lol, oh yeah, I didn't think about that - just another reason we're supposed to feel guilty when we're unsatisfied, huh?:p