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Thank you RCCL

Lizcourt

By Lizcourt,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Lizcourt

Lizcourt

Posted
Posted

Many of us (including me, I will admit) are quick to post about cruise lines nickle and diming us to death, or putting profits ahead of the customer with booking and pricing changes. I only thought it was fair to post when the cruise line goes above and beyond for the customer.

 

Back in February, my extended family of 8 booked a 10/9 cruise on the Oasis. This was a long-planned and special event -- my mother's 80th birthday and sister's 50th -- and so we decided to make it a once in a lifetime trip by booking the Royal Loft Suite and two Crown Loft Suites. Because these were suites, we were required to post double deposits of $500 each, or a total of $4000, and then paid off the remainder of the cruise in late May.

 

Last month, one of my sisters who will be on the cruise with us was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully, it was caught early and she will not require chemo, "just" a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation. We learned last week that the last week of her radiation schedule will be the week we are booked to cruise. We might have been able to have her start the course of treatment a week earlier, but that would be earlier than her doctor was recommending, and would also mean that she would have to stay out of the sun and the water during the cruise -- a bit of a handicap, to say the least, on a Caribbean cruise. After talking it over for about a millisecond, we decided as a family to move the cruise off six months, and make it a celebration of THREE happy events -- two birthdays and six cancer-free months for my sister.

 

Today I called Royal Caribbean to make the changes. Right away, because we are now in the period when the cancellation of the 10/9 cruise will cost us the deposit of $4000, the cruise consultant asked if we were insured, and I told her that we had bought the trip insurance. What I didn't tell her was that I was anticipating a long battle with the insurance company because we could have opted to move the radiation therapy up a week and still go on the cruise. She asked why we were cancelling, and I told her. I also told her we would really want the same ship, itinerary, and cabins, just six months from now.

 

She put me on hold for so long that but for the Muzak I would have thought I had been disconnected. But when she came back on the line, the wait was all worth it. Not only had she been able to book us on the same ship, itinerary and cabins six months later, but in part because of the reason we were cancelling, RCCL agreed to move the reservation to the new date with no loss of the deposit. All we had to pay was a collective total of $425 to account for the fact that the prices the week we are now sailing are slightly higher. (As it happens, the air fare, which we booked separately, is a collective $650 LOWER on the new dates, so we're actually going to be paying less for the trip as a whole.)

 

You can call this just good business sense -- and of course it is. But they didn't HAVE to forego the $4000 deposit on the first cruise. In fact, I didn't even ask the consultant to do that, understanding the deal I made when we bought our tickets. And I didn't have a travel agent fighting for me. I was just a customer, in a tough spot, and the way I see it this company went above and beyond for us. They would have been fully justified in leaving me to fight this out with the trip insurer. But they didn't. And its not just money. Their actions mean that my sister won't have to deal with any concern that her health problems cost everyone in the family their deposits -- and no matter how many times we told her none of us cared about that, it was still going to weigh on her mind, when she really didn't need one more thing to think about.

 

There used to be a truism that a smart car dealer runs his or her business not to sell a family a car, but to sell them five cars over ten years. We are a cruising family, and look forward to a cruise every year. Up until now, we've gone on a number of lines, including RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity and Cunard. But after this, it will be a long, long time before we even think of sailing on any other line.

 

Thank you RCCL.

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John Henry on CC

John Henry on CC

Posted
Posted
Many of us (including me, I will admit) are quick to post about cruise lines nickle and diming us to death, or putting profits ahead of the customer with booking and pricing changes. I only thought it was fair to post when the cruise line goes above and beyond for the customer.

 

Back in February, my extended family of 8 booked a 10/9 cruise on the Oasis. This was a long-planned and special event -- my mother's 80th birthday and sister's 50th -- and so we decided to make it a once in a lifetime trip by booking the Royal Loft Suite and two Crown Loft Suites. Because these were suites, we were required to post double deposits of $500 each, or a total of $4000, and then paid off the remainder of the cruise in late May.

 

Last month, one of my sisters who will be on the cruise with us was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully, it was caught early and she will not require chemo, "just" a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation. We learned last week that the last week of her radiation schedule will be the week we are booked to cruise. We might have been able to have her start the course of treatment a week earlier, but that would be earlier than her doctor was recommending, and would also mean that she would have to stay out of the sun and the water during the cruise -- a bit of a handicap, to say the least, on a Caribbean cruise. After talking it over for about a millisecond, we decided as a family to move the cruise off six months, and make it a celebration of THREE happy events -- two birthdays and six cancer-free months for my sister.

 

Today I called Royal Caribbean to make the changes. Right away, because we are now in the period when the cancellation of the 10/9 cruise will cost us the deposit of $4000, the cruise consultant asked if we were insured, and I told her that we had bought the trip insurance. What I didn't tell her was that I was anticipating a long battle with the insurance company because we could have opted to move the radiation therapy up a week and still go on the cruise. She asked why we were cancelling, and I told her. I also told her we would really want the same ship, itinerary, and cabins, just six months from now.

 

She put me on hold for so long that but for the Muzak I would have thought I had been disconnected. But when she came back on the line, the wait was all worth it. Not only had she been able to book us on the same ship, itinerary and cabins six months later, but in part because of the reason we were cancelling, RCCL agreed to move the reservation to the new date with no loss of the deposit. All we had to pay was a collective total of $425 to account for the fact that the prices the week we are now sailing are slightly higher. (As it happens, the air fare, which we booked separately, is a collective $650 LOWER on the new dates, so we're actually going to be paying less for the trip as a whole.)

 

You can call this just good business sense -- and of course it is. But they didn't HAVE to forego the $4000 deposit on the first cruise. In fact, I didn't even ask the consultant to do that, understanding the deal I made when we bought our tickets. And I didn't have a travel agent fighting for me. I was just a customer, in a tough spot, and the way I see it this company went above and beyond for us. They would have been fully justified in leaving me to fight this out with the trip insurer. But they didn't. And its not just money. Their actions mean that my sister won't have to deal with any concern that her health problems cost everyone in the family their deposits -- and no matter how many times we told her none of us cared about that, it was still going to weigh on her mind, when she really didn't need one more thing to think about.

 

There used to be a truism that a smart car dealer runs his or her business not to sell a family a car, but to sell them five cars over ten years. We are a cruising family, and look forward to a cruise every year. Up until now, we've gone on a number of lines, including RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity and Cunard. But after this, it will be a long, long time before we even think of sailing on any other line.

 

Thank you RCCL.

 

Bravo.

 

All good thoughts go out to your sister and your family.

 

Thanks for posting.

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kuddles14

kuddles14

Posted
Posted
Many of us (including me, I will admit) are quick to post about cruise lines nickle and diming us to death, or putting profits ahead of the customer with booking and pricing changes. I only thought it was fair to post when the cruise line goes above and beyond for the customer.

 

Back in February, my extended family of 8 booked a 10/9 cruise on the Oasis. This was a long-planned and special event -- my mother's 80th birthday and sister's 50th -- and so we decided to make it a once in a lifetime trip by booking the Royal Loft Suite and two Crown Loft Suites. Because these were suites, we were required to post double deposits of $500 each, or a total of $4000, and then paid off the remainder of the cruise in late May.

 

Last month, one of my sisters who will be on the cruise with us was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully, it was caught early and she will not require chemo, "just" a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation. We learned last week that the last week of her radiation schedule will be the week we are booked to cruise. We might have been able to have her start the course of treatment a week earlier, but that would be earlier than her doctor was recommending, and would also mean that she would have to stay out of the sun and the water during the cruise -- a bit of a handicap, to say the least, on a Caribbean cruise. After talking it over for about a millisecond, we decided as a family to move the cruise off six months, and make it a celebration of THREE happy events -- two birthdays and six cancer-free months for my sister.

 

Today I called Royal Caribbean to make the changes. Right away, because we are now in the period when the cancellation of the 10/9 cruise will cost us the deposit of $4000, the cruise consultant asked if we were insured, and I told her that we had bought the trip insurance. What I didn't tell her was that I was anticipating a long battle with the insurance company because we could have opted to move the radiation therapy up a week and still go on the cruise. She asked why we were cancelling, and I told her. I also told her we would really want the same ship, itinerary, and cabins, just six months from now.

 

She put me on hold for so long that but for the Muzak I would have thought I had been disconnected. But when she came back on the line, the wait was all worth it. Not only had she been able to book us on the same ship, itinerary and cabins six months later, but in part because of the reason we were cancelling, RCCL agreed to move the reservation to the new date with no loss of the deposit. All we had to pay was a collective total of $425 to account for the fact that the prices the week we are now sailing are slightly higher. (As it happens, the air fare, which we booked separately, is a collective $650 LOWER on the new dates, so we're actually going to be paying less for the trip as a whole.)

 

You can call this just good business sense -- and of course it is. But they didn't HAVE to forego the $4000 deposit on the first cruise. In fact, I didn't even ask the consultant to do that, understanding the deal I made when we bought our tickets. And I didn't have a travel agent fighting for me. I was just a customer, in a tough spot, and the way I see it this company went above and beyond for us. They would have been fully justified in leaving me to fight this out with the trip insurer. But they didn't. And its not just money. Their actions mean that my sister won't have to deal with any concern that her health problems cost everyone in the family their deposits -- and no matter how many times we told her none of us cared about that, it was still going to weigh on her mind, when she really didn't need one more thing to think about.

 

There used to be a truism that a smart car dealer runs his or her business not to sell a family a car, but to sell them five cars over ten years. We are a cruising family, and look forward to a cruise every year. Up until now, we've gone on a number of lines, including RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity and Cunard. But after this, it will be a long, long time before we even think of sailing on any other line.

 

Thank you RCCL.

Way to go Royal.

 

Hope all goes well for your sister. I will keep her in my prayers.

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chef_christoph

chef_christoph

Posted
Posted

First, and foremost, my best wishes to your sister and your whole family.

 

Thank-you for taking the time to post this. Far too often we only use this board to rant or complain about the most trivial of things and it is nice to acknowledge the great things too.

 

Lots of positive thoughts and best wishes to your sister.

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time4me2fly

time4me2fly

Posted
Posted

Happy to hear RCI was able to accommodate your family on a different sailing without any penalty. Wishing your sister the best as she goes through chemo and celebrates cancer free on the Oasis of the Seas.

Happy 80th to your mom and 50th to your sister.

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insulationbabe

insulationbabe

Posted
Posted

Wow what a happy ending - so glad for you and your family - Exactly the reason we cruise with Royal - we have heard so many nice stories like this and Royal always seems to come through.

We have a great travel agent and she usually handles things like this and I'm so glad to have her.

Have a great family cruise - we go on the Oasis in October and look forward to it - but you will enjoy it even more now that it is all settled

Good luck:)

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windjamming

windjamming

Posted
Posted
This post touched my heart. Such good news that RCL came through for you and now you can have a wonderful cruise as a family

 

Same here. I loved that "After talking it over for about a millisecond" they pushed the cruise back 6 months. That's a family that sticks together through thick and thin.

 

OP- the very best wishes to your sister and your family.

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