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Royal Carribean denied boarding


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My friend was denied boarding on a Royal Carribean ship. Her 9 friends (reunion) boarded. She was left behind without a proper explanation - to do with her passport. She called RC and tried to find out why this happen. They told her several lies and she now has proof that they lied about their reasoning.

Can anyone direct me to an ombudsman or an organization that would help us get a fair resolution.

Thanks

Linda

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RCI would not have denied her boarding for no reason. Nor would they have any reason to tell her "lies". We cannot make any recommendations without more information. What was wrong with her passport? Expired? Damaged? Issued in a name other than the one she used to book? Is she a citizen of a country where the countries on the itinerary require a visa? If any of those are true she has no recourse. Proper travel documentation is solely the passenger's responsibility.

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Her passport was fine. When she was denied boarding they told her to wait (5 hrs) and someone would come tell her why. They said they looked for her but she left. She didn't. An employee saw her sitting there and the ship was sailing and by coincidence lived near her and she drove her home. She was devastated. So were her reunion friends. She has been travelling with the same passport for years, including on many cruise lines and has never had a problem. She called Border Patrol and spoke to a customs officer and they said they have nothing to do with boarding on the cruise lines but did say and has written her that there was no reason to deny her.

I have seen her documentation, her passport is clean. I just want to get her an email address or phone number so she can see what her options are

thanks

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According to the cruise contract your friend must resolve all disputes with the cruise line through arbitration, not litigation. By an arbiter of the cruise line's choosing. She can try travelling to the next port at her own expense (which may be reimbursed if she has travel insurance) and demanding to be allowed to embark. Failing that all she can so is start the process of trying to obtain a refund by proving negligence on RCI's part. Good luck with that. Note that the ambulance-chasing law firms that advertise their specialty in suing the cruise lines usually only take cases involving violations of maritime law and/or alleged torts committed while at sea. The aforementioned cruise contract states that the passenger assigns very wide latitude to the cruise lines in interpreting their rules, including the arbitrary denial of boarding.

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Her passport was fine. When she was denied boarding they told her to wait (5 hrs) and someone would come tell her why. They said they looked for her but she left. She didn't. An employee saw her sitting there and the ship was sailing and by coincidence lived near her and she drove her home. She was devastated. So were her reunion friends. She has been travelling with the same passport for years, including on many cruise lines and has never had a problem. She called Border Patrol and spoke to a customs officer and they said they have nothing to do with boarding on the cruise lines but did say and has written her that there was no reason to deny her.

I have seen her documentation, her passport is clean. I just want to get her an email address or phone number so she can see what her options are

thanks

 

People need to really be proactive in their lives. If told to wait ... find someone every 30 minutes or so and ASK ASK ASK what is going on. PUSH PUSH PUSH ... the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

 

I know this doesn't help your friend, but maybe it'll help another cruise pax.

 

I have to agree with above poster, cruise line would not randomly refuse someone boarding for no reason. Something was wrong, somewhere.

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First you wrote that it had to do with her passport, then you replied that they told her to wait and somebody would tell her why she was denied boarding. Somebody gets denied boarding on every ship that sails and they are told up front precisely what is the problem. No reason for it to be a mystery.

 

You were not there and is she telling you the whole story? Something is missing here. Cruise lines do not randomly deny boarding.

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If her passport was indeed clean as you say then I can only guess that there was something in her history that precluded her being allowed to board (such as a criminal charge or something that happened on a previous cruise). Otherwise there is no reason for not allowing her to board. I am also of the mindset that in such a situation I am not going to just sit there, I will be asking for frequent updates.

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Sounds like we don't have the whole story.

Not even close to all of it.

What possible reason would Royal have for denying boarding to someone with the proper documentation, thus costing them on board revenue? We are not getting the entire story, not by a long shot.

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When does her passport expire? If less than six months it is possible that one of the countries on the itinerary requires at least six months.

 

She could ask Christopher Elliot to look into it.

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I'm following along just because I am curious of what more information comes along and the outcome, if any. Something is definitely missing here. I find it odd that the OP comes here asking for contact information rather than a simple Google search.

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and why isn't your FRIEND doing all the necessary work to obtain the answers? were you standing in line with her at the embarkation port when she was denied?? I bet no. which means you have NO IDEA what the reason why she was denied boarding. there is much more to it than just having a valid passport.

 

you come on here, give us practically zero information and expect everyone to rally to your cause?

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Cruise lines are not at the pier looking for an excuse to deny someone from boarding. It cost them income in the form of on board spending. Even if they are justified (and I suspect in virtually all cases they are) it is bad publicity for them. This rejected passenger has gone home complaining about her treatment by RCI.

 

The cruise line also has no reason to not tell the passenger why they are being denied boarding. Maybe the passenger could rectify the problem. If the passport is invalid, the passenger may have a BC and photo ID that would work.

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My friend was denied boarding on a Royal Carribean ship. Her 9 friends (reunion) boarded. She was left behind without a proper explanation - to do with her passport. She called RC and tried to find out why this happen. They told her several lies and she now has proof that they lied about their reasoning.

Can anyone direct me to an ombudsman or an organization that would help us get a fair resolution.

Thanks

Linda

 

I know your intentions are good, but this is an incomplete story being passed to us by a third person. Without hearing from her directly and knowing exactly what happened, there's no way we can be of assistance.

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When does her passport expire? If less than six months it is possible that one of the countries on the itinerary requires at least six months.

 

She could ask Christopher Elliot to look into it.

 

 

 

Plus 1. Google Christopher Elliott. However, you'd better have more info than what is being posted here.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Conde Nast Traveler magazine's ombudsman has a good record of getting resolution for people with legitimate travel complaints. Another advocate, associated with National Geographic Traveler magazine, is http://www.elliott.org/.

 

 

 

Yes, this is the Chris Elliott mentioned in other posts on this thread.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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