Grandeur: Six Sailings Cancelled

[vetteguy91]

Is anyone else upset that the passengers on the May 31 canceled cruise got a refund and 50% off their next cruise and all the rest of the canceled cruises only got their refund and 25% off their next cruise.

[littlesteelo]

Is anyone else upset that the passengers on the May 31 canceled cruise got a refund and 50% off their next cruise and all the rest of the canceled cruises only got their refund and 25% off their next cruise.

 

I don't see why. The May 31st cruise was very, very short notice to be cancelled. Yes it is inconvenient, but the passengers have got a full refund and 25% off a future cruise. Sounds like a good deal, I would be happy with it.

 

Giving 50% to 6 cruises worth of passengers is a lot of money for RCI to give away.

[mtstranscribe]

Well my happy ice cream moment isnt lasting. My TA just called me back. Apparently, RCIs numbers dont tally with what I paid. Thank goodness I printed out my receipts. They are saying they owe me about $600 less than I paid, stating we paid the same for two rooms, one was an ocean view and one was an inside. Plus, they cant see where we paid for the soda package or my pre-paid gratutities. Since the canceled the reservation, I can no longer see it online. Also, NOW it is going to be 3 to 6 weeks before we get our money back. It only took them a day to take out the payments when we made them yet 3 to 6 weeks to get it back? I hope I am not being unreasonable.

[mtstranscribe]

I'm so sorry this happened...you're being incredibly gracious. I hope you come up with something fun to do!

 

 

 

 

Absolutely! That's the awful part.:(

 

Thank you all for the kind words. We thought about trying for New York or Bayonne, and decided just to wait until next year (we are driving). Im peeved about the refund process but I know things like this happen. It is just hard not to pout! :( I need to be thankful I wasnt on the ship when it caught fire!

[mtstranscribe]

Is anyone else upset that the passengers on the May 31 canceled cruise got a refund and 50% off their next cruise and all the rest of the canceled cruises only got their refund and 25% off their next cruise.

 

Personally, I think the 50% should have been given to the June 7 sailing too but later out 25% seems fair. Im just upset about the refund taking so much time (please see rants below).

[SJP823]

Is anyone else upset that the passengers on the May 31 canceled cruise got a refund and 50% off their next cruise and all the rest of the canceled cruises only got their refund and 25% off their next cruise.

I am. We were scheduled on the June 28th sailing. We only have a month to plan /change vacations. Not much out there to choose from in that week and no way to switch weeks off work. I understand things happen and the RCL crew did a great job with the fire. but kinda leaves the rest of in a bind. this cruise was a gift to my husband for his retirement. looking at summit out of NJ and Dawn out of Bostom but would cost a lot more to fly. Sad day for me. Will try to sort it out tomorrow.:(

[time4u2go]

I am. We were scheduled on the June 28th sailing. We only have a month to plan /change vacations. Not much out there to choose from in that week and no way to switch weeks off work. I understand things happen and the RCL crew did a great job with the fire. but kinda leaves the rest of in a bind. this cruise was a gift to my husband for his retirement. looking at summit out of NJ and Dawn out of Bostom but would cost a lot more to fly. Sad day for me. Will try to sort it out tomorrow.:(

 

I'm confused. How would an additional 25% off a future RCI cruise have affected your possible Summit or Dawn cruise, or the cost of flying to them?:confused:

[mtstranscribe]

I am. We were scheduled on the June 28th sailing. We only have a month to plan /change vacations. Not much out there to choose from in that week and no way to switch weeks off work. I understand things happen and the RCL crew did a great job with the fire. but kinda leaves the rest of in a bind. this cruise was a gift to my husband for his retirement. looking at summit out of NJ and Dawn out of Bostom but would cost a lot more to fly. Sad day for me. Will try to sort it out tomorrow.:(

 

Im so sorry for you all. I feel your pain. :(

[SJP823]

I'm confused. How would an additional 25% off a future RCI cruise have affected your possible Summit or Dawn cruise, or the cost of flying to them?:confused:

No affect at all. No help at all either:mad:

[khm1]

My sister was booked on the June 21 sailing. She is now scrambling to find an alternative cruise the same week. She had the logistics of work and child care all worked out. She and her DH were to have their first vacation away from their kids since they were married 16 years ago. She is pretty disappointed.....

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Well my happy ice cream moment isnt lasting. My TA just called me back. Apparently, RCIs numbers dont tally with what I paid. Thank goodness I printed out my receipts. They are saying they owe me about $600 less than I paid, stating we paid the same for two rooms, one was an ocean view and one was an inside. Plus, they cant see where we paid for the soda package or my pre-paid gratutities. Since the canceled the reservation, I can no longer see it online. Also, NOW it is going to be 3 to 6 weeks before we get our money back. It only took them a day to take out the payments when we made them yet 3 to 6 weeks to get it back? I hope I am not being unreasonable.

 

That is crazy, I hope you get it straightened out with them. You are not being unreasonable at all, I'd be frustrated.

[SJP823]

Well my happy ice cream moment isnt lasting. My TA just called me back. Apparently, RCIs numbers dont tally with what I paid. Thank goodness I printed out my receipts. They are saying they owe me about $600 less than I paid, stating we paid the same for two rooms, one was an ocean view and one was an inside. Plus, they cant see where we paid for the soda package or my pre-paid gratutities. Since the canceled the reservation, I can no longer see it online. Also, NOW it is going to be 3 to 6 weeks before we get our money back. It only took them a day to take out the payments when we made them yet 3 to 6 weeks to get it back? I hope I am not being unreasonable.

So sorry for you. I hope they get it straightened out faster. Glad you saved all your paperwork. Good Luck.:(

[Sharkb8]

Yes, this. Said it better than I was thinking. I have a friend on the July 12 cruise. Missed a discount by theeese much. But he'll be happy to sail.

 

 

I don't see why. The May 31st cruise was very, very short notice to be cancelled. Yes it is inconvenient, but the passengers have got a full refund and 25% off a future cruise. Sounds like a good deal, I would be happy with it.

 

Giving 50% to 6 cruises worth of passengers is a lot of money for RCI to give away.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Personally, I think the 50% should have been given to the June 7 sailing too but later out 25% seems fair. Im just upset about the refund taking so much time (please see rants below).

 

I kind of think it should be 50% for everyone, but I guess I see that that is a lot of $$ for RCI. There is a lot of $ and inconvenience involved. It is what it is though, I guess.

[D&L Thomas]

I am of course feeling badly for those whose vacation plans were disrupted. I know we all plan and save and anticipate.

 

But I wonder about the crew as well. No guests, no tips, no income? Can the be sent to work on other ships?

[RSLeesburg]

Thank you all for the kind words. We thought about trying for New York or Bayonne, and decided just to wait until next year (we are driving). Im peeved about the refund process but I know things like this happen. It is just hard not to pout! :( I need to be thankful I wasnt on the ship when it caught fire!

 

I believe if you rebook on Explorer this year, they will automatically credit your refund to that ship. So you could take a vacation this year to Bermuda and if there is any difference, it will be given as OBC (I believe), which is refunded in cash at end of cruise. Also, I am not sure how old your children are, but Explorer has way more to do on it. :). If it were me, I would really try to go this year as you saved and waited a long time for it.

[RSLeesburg]

My sister was booked on the June 21 sailing. She is now scrambling to find an alternative cruise the same week. She had the logistics of work and child care all worked out. She and her DH were to have their first vacation away from their kids since they were married 16 years ago. She is pretty disappointed.....

 

Ouch. I hope they find something!

[mdwcruises]

Personally, I think the 50% should have been given to the June 7 sailing too but later out 25% seems fair. Im just upset about the refund taking so much time (please see rants below).

 

I am so sorry! Losing a long waited vacation is hard. I hope you get some quality time off somehow.

 

I also don't understand why it takes so long to do the refund. I just booked an RCCL cruise yesterday. It took them half a second to take my money!

[mdwcruises]

I am. We were scheduled on the June 28th sailing. We only have a month to plan /change vacations. Not much out there to choose from in that week and no way to switch weeks off work. I understand things happen and the RCL crew did a great job with the fire. but kinda leaves the rest of in a bind. this cruise was a gift to my husband for his retirement. looking at summit out of NJ and Dawn out of Bostom but would cost a lot more to fly. Sad day for me. Will try to sort it out tomorrow.:(

 

That stinks! I think it's only a little longer to drive from Pittsburgh to NJ so if you can find something in NJ you can still avoid flying.

[OHCruisinDad]

I am so sorry! Losing a long waited vacation is hard. I hope you get some quality time off somehow.

 

I also don't understand why it takes so long to do the refund. I just booked an RCCL cruise yesterday. It took them half a second to take my money!

 

If you figure there are 2,200 pax on each of the 6 cancelled cruises plus the 2,200 that were flown home yesterday, that's over 15,000 individual reservations that have to be individually processed and checked for refunds. Then you have the add in all of the extra purchases such as insurance, drink packages, prepaid gratuities, specialty restaurants, shore excursions, etc. The other factor is how many of your reservations staff or accounting department staff do you pull from regular work assignments to handle the refund processing? Its not like you have a couple of dozen knowledable clerks sitting in a holding room for such special projects. Add it all up and its a logistical headache. A big one that will take two or three weeks to sort through before everyone is handled. Some will get processed first and some will be last, therefore the time window provided by RCL. Given all of the factors, I think they are doing an admirable job.

 

When you book, you are dealing with a trained reservation agent or TA and part of that process is handling a deposit or sale. Try calling in a group reservation for a few hundred family and friends and see how long it takes an agent to process everything. :D

[Water783]

We were booked on Grandeur for her July 5 sailing from Baltimore to the Bahamas. This was our 15th cruise on RCI. We sailed six times as a couple, with our first cruise being our honeymoon in 1983 on the Song of America. My dear mother (who left this world in 2009) had given us our honeymoon as a wedding gift, and she also paid for and allowed us to take our two sweet offspring on their first cruise in 2014. This year we had booked a cruise on Grandeur of the Seas to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, and our son's girlfriend's 22nd birthday. What a HUGE bummer to find out today that our anniversary cruise this July had been canceled by RCI. SO MUCH planning had gone into booking this trip; coordinating vacation times away from work, special dates in our lives, etc. We understand unforeseen events but this is just so sad for us. :( I have been trying all night since I got the email to rebook a RCI cruise for the five of us to span the time of our 30th anniversary and our son's GF's birthday to no avail. This is a HUGE disappointment. We understand unforeseen events but .... such a shame!! So sad tonight for this big let down. :( Also, no refund for three weeks, and a three to eight week wait for our 25% coupon for future cruises?! BOOOO HISSSSS RCI after our continued loyalty for the last 30 years. :(

[kastke]

Also, no refund for three weeks, and a three to eight week wait for our 25% coupon for future cruises?! BOOOO HISSSSS RCI after our continued loyalty for the last 30 years. :(

 

You think you should get your refund and discount coupon faster than other cruisers because of your loyalty??? :confused:

[eggroll]

Thank you Stacy. I am but we will try again next year. My poor husband. He is trying so hard to figure out something we can do. He keeps coming in and offering me things. He said, "Hey, let's go get an ice cream!" I am off to get some oreo coffee ice cream and drown my sorrow in calories! :p

 

That's the spirit!

[megr1125]

Thank you all for the kind words. We thought about trying for New York or Bayonne, and decided just to wait until next year (we are driving). Im peeved about the refund process but I know things like this happen. It is just hard not to pout! :( I need to be thankful I wasnt on the ship when it caught fire!

 

your TA should have called and.gotten resolutions...Royal did tell TAs that guests could rebook prior to getting the refund by calling the special toll free number set up. royal could.move the.money around....

 

sorry about it...but perhaps the refund will come faster.or your TA can call back. you can also apply the FCC.right away...even if you do not have it. it is attached to your old booking number...the TA should be able to.see it....if NOT..royal still can...

 

this was all outlined on the TA site nice and neatly......and people also asked questions on @RoyalCaribPR on twitter....that is where most updated and accurate info originated...

 

good luck in finding something to do....

 

Sent from my Etch-a-sketch using Tapatalk

[gymmonkeymomma]

I'm confused. How would an additional 25% off a future RCI cruise have affected your possible Summit or Dawn cruise, or the cost of flying to them?:confused:

 

They are willing to take the discount immediately if we would have booked on Breakaway or Explorer, but with only 25% off the difference in price for us was over $2000 given what cabins are currently available on those ships. So instead, they have lost a customer to NCL, we are driving an extra hour to get to Boston instead of Baltimore.