Wouldn't it have been easier just to provide service to the customer?

[COMBOY]

[quote name='Papa T']I'm also trying to understand the logic of the corkage fee for their gift wine - regardless of where it is delivered. I will say that we have never experienced a problem bringing wine delivered to the room to the main dining room although I always check with the waiter first. On our recent Adventure TA, I had the first two bottles sent to the MDR (the second a joyous discovery of a new perk for reaching 50 CC) but during the cruise a third bottle showed up in the cabin (I guess from the wine fairy) and we had no trouble taking it to the MDR.[/QUOTE]

Well, my brother and his wife sent me a bottle of Kobel Champagne thru RCCL. It was delivered to my cabin. On the last night of the cruise I wanted to share it with my table mates so I got ice from my cabin steward to chill it. I brought it to the MDR along with the gift card and ask if there would be a problem having it served. Not at all. I think the best situation with customer service is going to the main source which is the head waiter vs guest relations, cabin steward, etc. to answers to your questions.

[OPSoccermom]

We just got off the Oasis Christmas cruise. Our party of 6 had pre-ordered 2 bottles of Dom Perignon to be delivered to MDR for Christmas Eve (formal night) and Christmas Day. Both bottles showed up in our cabin on Day 1. On Christmas Eve (Day 2), we explained the error to our waiter, who said he understood and agreed to allow us to enjoy it in the MDR. He opened and served it - no corkage fee.

On the the next day- Christmas, after a great day on Labadee, we brought the second bottle of Dom that had been delivered to our cabin in error. This day (Christmas Day, none the less), he told us we could not have a bottle that was delivered to our cabin opened in the MDR unless we had the original cost credited to our account and re-charged through the dining room. This was the same person who, the night before, told us there was no problem and served us the champagne! He then proceeded to have the head waiter come to our table who told us the same thing. We can only assume that the reason they wanted this re-charged was for the gratuity. We explained in no uncertain terms that we were not doing that for something that was supposed to be delivered to the MDR in the first place and only ended up in our cabins due to a RCCL error.

They ended up reluctantly agreeing to serve our champagne. As stated on previous posts - what happened to "the customer is always right?" I could understand if they thought we were cheating them out of gratuities, but 1) we had explained what happened; and 2) we had already ordered additional wine to have with dinner that night, so it was not like the champagne was all we planned to drink.

[publicpersona]

[quote name='COMBOY']I think the best situation with customer service is going to the main source which is the head waiter vs guest relations, cabin steward, etc. to answers to your questions.[/quote]
I don't know if you were referring to my (OP's) scenario, but the person I most expected to fix it was whomever was responsible for delivering it to the stateroom. I assumed that was the stateroom attendant, and failing that, guest relations would help. The head waiter was one of the people involved and was absolutely the least helpful of all. Her attitude was that the dining room has nothing to do with it being delivered incorrectly, and she wasn't about to give up the $10 revenue waiving the corkage fee.

The guest relations person implied to me that this person was acting like a horse's ass, and suggested ways to get around it.

[B-52]

Bottom Line everybody.....especially those cruising for the first time....Don't ever buy wine on board a RCL Ship. (to go with the lousy food)

[knotIn1]

Its all part of the RCCL business metric system they have in place. Everything that happens is recorded, analyzed up down forward and backwards. They take everything into account. Everything from ROI (return on investment) to customer churn rates. They realize that there will certainly be some lost customers and lost revenue by certain business decisions they make. But when you add that to the metrics that they are using it helps RCCL bring up the bottom line, which is what the stock holders want.

I am sure some employee, in a little 8x8 windowless cubical, ran the
number of how many bottles of wine are given away on the average cruise and translated that into a dollar amount. RCCL came to the conclusion to take away the ability of the cruise ship itself, to have the ability to give away bottles of wine.

Yes, this will piss off some customers. In some cases it will be wrong not to be able to make adjustments for certain scenarios…….but in the grand scheme of their metric system, it will save them money in the long run.

[CruisinDawn]

[quote name='Mark_K']I agree that they should have done something, but one lesson I learned a long time ago is always bring the documentation.[/quote]As I read through this thread I felt the same thing. We will soon order out D+ gift so found this thread very informative. Then I got to thinking, maybe a printout means nothing to them because I could order one thing then call later and change my mind after I have already received a confirmation? Unless they have a sheet full of cancellation/changes it would be hard to prove who is right in these situations unless the ship is provided with a paper trail. Not arguing the point but just makes me wonder how we can really protect themselves getting what they want and what they paid for. Bums me out that those Loyal to Royal as well as others have these problems. :confused: One can log online and see where their child is at all times via their cell phone but a major corp can't see what Miami/Wichita has done along the way and why that line on a stack of papers does not match what the client says they have oredered/requested even with or without documentation? Confusing to say the least.

BonVoyage
Dawna

[UB & AS]

[quote name='knotIn1']Its all part of the RCCL business metric system they have in place. Everything that happens is recorded, analyzed up down forward and backwards. They take everything into account. Everything from ROI (return on investment) to customer churn rates. They realize that there will certainly be some lost customers and lost revenue by certain business decisions they make. But when you add that to the metrics that they are using it helps RCCL bring up the bottom line, which is what the stock holders want.

[COLOR=Red]They are only looking out for the large shareholders. I bought my 100 shares at $42.00/share for the "RCCL Shareholder Benefit" of up to $250/cruise and the dividend looked good. Then I watched the shares fall to about $5.00/share and the dividend was eliminated and shareholder benefits became "non-combinable" so there is no reason to book a cruise to get that benefit which will be taken away. We leave in 2 weeks for a 30 night B2B around Cape Horn and there is no shareholder benefit because RCCL is providing a B2B benefit to everyone. With all the cost cutting the shares have returned to the $40 range but this small shareholder is not happy as the reasons for buying the stock were taken away.[/COLOR]

[EVALUATOR]

[quote name='CruisinDawn']As I read through this thread I felt the same thing. We will soon order out D+ gift so found this thread very informative. Then I got to thinking, maybe a printout means nothing to them because I could order one thing then call later and change my mind after I have already received a confirmation? Unless they have a sheet full of cancellation/changes it would be hard to prove who is right in these situations unless the ship is provided with a paper trail. Not arguing the point but just makes me wonder how we can really protect themselves getting what they want and what they paid for. Bums me out that those Loyal to Royal as well as others have these problems. :confused: One can log online and see where their child is at all times via their cell phone but a major corp can't see what Miami/Wichita has done along the way and why that line on a stack of papers does not match what the client says they have oredered/requested even with or without documentation? Confusing to say the least.

BonVoyage
Dawna[/quote]

Any time I have ordered the D+ amenity from Kansas, I have asked for some sort of documentation. I have been told there is no documentation sent, either on the reservation or via e-mail. They say they make extra notes in the reservation, and even have the records of amenities ordered on prior cruises. But they have no way to send documentation from the D+ department to the cruiser.:mad: