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Cabin change!


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We are going on Discovery 1 this Sunday (Feb18th) and had booked 3 junior suites picked the cabin numbers and paid for last April. Today we had a phone call saying that 2 of the cabins have to be changed as they were family junior suites and we had been moved. We had booked the cabins for the fact they were together and didn't even know that 2 of them were family cabins.......they are the same size as all the other junior suites and we are now spread about, not midship, the opposite side to what we had booked and one of them is opposite / next to the lifts !! The lady who contacted us would offer no explanation as to the move so close to the sail date and said but we will refund your £45.00 booking fee. She had an extremely poor attitude which was basically "tough" and there is nothing we can do about it and said that they did not have a complaints procedure. Does anyone know of who we can contact to complain about this late change and her poor attitude ? Never had this happen before

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Sorry to hear that this has happened to you, I did warn that this could happen if a couple booked a four cabin. We are also going on Sunday and have a JS but made certain it was a two when we booked, as we did for our cruise last year. Think I know which cabin you are talking about and it is in a good position IMO, and they are all good cabins so I hope it doesn't spoil the start of your holiday but I can understand its not what you want at this time. If you require any info on this ship just ask and have safe journey.

 

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There is only one Family Junior Suite on the ship. Cabin 8000 on deck 8 right forward on the port side. It sleeps 6 people. The Junior suites all sleep up to 4 people.

 

Your contact lady is telling lies but it might well be that she does not know this. There have been several reports of people being bumped out of cabins which they booked many months before the cruise.

 

Marella have a problem with their cabin reservations system. It is not fit for purpose and I suspect senior management know this and either don't care or are unwilling to pay for a decent system. A decent system would have booking a specific cabin as an integral part of the booking process, not what appears to be a scam to get more money out of customers.

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davecctr I think that they are not all fours, if you do a dummy booking two classes of cabin are available sometimes at different prices and I was informed that the twos are shown in the brochure with the square, double, I do think you are correct re the system but really any TA worth his/her salt should inform customers of the possibility of the outcome of booking that cabin which in some instances costs less. This is also true for the other ships I'm the fleet.

 

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davecctr I think that they are not all fours, if you do a dummy booking two classes of cabin are available sometimes at different prices and I was informed that the twos are shown in the brochure with the square, double, I do think you are correct re the system but really any TA worth his/her salt should inform customers of the possibility of the outcome of booking that cabin which in some instances costs less. This is also true for the other ships I'm the fleet.

 

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You're correct PC.

The JS capable of accommodating up to 4 are marked with a square.

We nearly booked one but the customer service lady pointed it out and said she didn't like to book those for 2 people as a booking for more than 2 could override our preference.

We've booked a stern JS for our next cruise (which I think you did) and made sure it was one not marked for up to 4.

I think they do the accommodation plan on the ship the week prior to changeover, and I think in this case 2 families have booked the 2+ without cabin number selection so hence the 'bumping'.

I agree their system is rubbish.

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its the cabins with the square plus the asterisk (*) that are fours.;)

You are right Pensioncruiser. I should have looked closer at the deck plan. The ones marked with an asterisk are designated for four occupants.

 

However the Marella site shows all junior suites as being suitable for up to 4 occupants. The 3 and 4 berths are on a sofa bed which could be in any of the cabins not just the ones with the asterisk?

 

There also appears to be conflicts when people book a holiday followed by a cruise, almost as if the cruise booking system does not recognise cabins that are already booked as the second week of a holiday and double books them.

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Unfortunately none of this helps 'Converted to cruising' who must feel terrible but are lucky in one respect that being they have been informed before they go, other cruisers have found out at the airport or onboard. I think I would contact the people in those cabins to find out when they booked and how many are in each one as you may have a case against Marella for selling a product that they could not supply, we won a case against them many years ago when our flight seats had been given to other passengers.

I feel it is the TA's fault as they can offer a cheaper price for the same cabin based on four occupancy but don't tell you why its cheaper, which is obvious when its pointed out that a cabin divided by four is less PP than one divided by two. Usually the prices are identical when the cabins are first on sale but change later on. Just a simple note on the booking informing you that you may be moved if a four required the cabin would suffice.

Sorry if that's all confusing but best I can do.:o

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Thank you everyone for your replies. Although disappointed with this late change we will not let it spoil our 2 weeks in the sun in the beautiful Caribbean. The attitude of the lady who phoned us was the thing that really was unacceptable and we will certainly bring that to the attention of the complaints dept so maybe she can receive some staff training in customer service 😂😂.......joke!! ........as I'm sure that won't happen. See you on board Pensioncruiser and safe travels to all.

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Thank you everyone for your replies. Although disappointed with this late change we will not let it spoil our 2 weeks in the sun in the beautiful Caribbean. The attitude of the lady who phoned us was the thing that really was unacceptable and we will certainly bring that to the attention of the complaints dept so maybe she can receive some staff training in customer service [emoji23][emoji23].......joke!! ........as I'm sure that won't happen. See you on board Pensioncruiser and safe travels to all.
[emoji106]

 

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Think I might contact Customer Services and ask for a supervisor/ manager.

 

We travelled with family and paid extra to choose adjacent mid ship balcony cabins. I would have been furious if they had been changed at the last minute.

 

Ask the questions :

1.Why you weren't given the opportunity to pay extra to keep the chosen cabins ?

 

2. Why were you allowed to book those cabins if they weren't suitable for two pax. ?

 

You should not have to deal with rude customer service staff, who are making huge impacts on your holiday, who have no answer to the reason for the change. Marella need to retrain staff if they are rude. After making a call about a land based holiday within the last year, I had an automated call back from Tui to grade the travel consultant. I did not give all grade 5s, so later that day I received a further call back from a person, who asked WHY I hadn't rated the agent as excellent... My reason was that I could not understand the person whose first language was definitely not English and they could not understand my questions! (That's all by the by..but they do want to know about their staff)

 

The least you should be offered is some OBC to make up for your disappointment. Or possibly change to a different cruise at no additional cost, where they are able to accommodate your requirements...probably too late for that now though.

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