Waitlist ignored-- is this typical?

[PartyAllDaTyme]

I had an aft cabin, 7654, on Vision of the Seas booked, but I felt that other afts, if they became available, would be preferable, such as 7152 and 7652, the wraparound balconies, or 7660, right smack dab in the middle. I called and asked to have these cabins waitlisted, and was told they were. In the meantime, I transferred my booking to my TA, since she gives a nice OBC perk.

 

A couple of days ago, a member of my roll call mentioned that they had booked 7652, and I responded that I was a bit disappointed because I had that cabin waitlisted. He responded that 7152 was showing as available, and I put it on a courtesy hold and contacted my TA to have it transferred to our original booking.

 

I asked my TA to inquire as to why we didn't automatically get switched to either cabin when they became available, but the RCI agent said he had no idea why. Is this a one-off thing, or is this what usually happens?

[marci22]

The advice here is to keep looking for yourself. I don't think the wait list is effective, from what I have read here.

[billsgal]

Yes, it is typical.

 

Someone calls in and cancels a room. That room goes back into general reservations, and if no one grabs it that day, they run the waitlist at midnight, and if the room you waitlisted is available, they send a fax telling your travel agent they have about 24 hours to claim that room.

 

Unfortunately, most of the popular cabins are grabbed up within a few hours of them going back into the reservation data base, so your chances of getting your cabin from the waitlist is probably 50-50.

 

Wish they would handle it better, but their IT shortcomings are well known, unfortunately.

Edited June 1, 2014 by billsgal

[cb at sea]

It's been my experience that you can't put a hold on a specific cabin #....you can request if a ( for say) D catagory becomes available, they will reassign you....but they won't put a hold on a specific cabin.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Yes, it is typical.

 

Someone calls in and cancels a room. That room goes back into general reservations, and if no one grabs it that day, they run the waitlist at midnight, and if the room you waitlisted is available, they send a fax telling your travel agent they have about 24 hours to claim that room.

 

Unfortunately, most of the popular cabins are grabbed up within a few hours of them going back into the reservation data base, so your chances of getting your cabin from the waitlist is probably 50-50.

 

Wish they would handle it better, but their IT shortcomings are well known, unfortunately.

 

My roll call friend posted about 7152 being available on 5/30, and I did not happen to check the thread until today. So the cabin was maybe made available some time on Friday, so my TA should have received a fax early Saturday morning. She did not. Unless someone took it on a courtesy hold that was just released early this morning. It would explain how my friend was able to glom 7652.

 

But thanks, this tells me not to trust that it will be taken care of-- I still have to search. Often.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

It's been my experience that you can't put a hold on a specific cabin #....you can request if a ( for say) D catagory becomes available, they will reassign you....but they won't put a hold on a specific cabin.

 

I read off the list of cabins I was interested in, same category, and the agent told me no problem-- if any of those opened up, they'd switch the booking.

[Ourusualbeach]

You are by no means the first to post here that they had a cabin wait listed and then found out it was showing up on the website as available. I would never trust their wait list.

[cruisnseas]

You can waitlist only one specific cabin (or one category type), not a list of them. If that one becomes available it goes into general inventory until the waitlist report is run. If your TA had provided a fax number on record (not all do, and not all keep it updated) Royal would send a fax at midnight. Now, if your TA is part of a large company, the fax number is likely to the corporate office.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Again, that's not what the RCI agent told me-- I read off the list and he said, "I see a pattern here, you're looking for one of those aft cabins, aren't you?" I said sure, if any of those open up, we'd like to switch, and he said no problem. I gather he didn't know what he was doing, which may explain much.

 

My TA is not a big corporation. She does mostly cruises, so I should imagine they have her fax on file. She indicated that she asked why this was not handled, and that the response was that they did not have an explanation. But this is second-hand.

 

I think I have a feel now for how the waitlist process should work, what with rooms going into general inventory first and, if still available, notification going out at midnight, 24 hours to respond.

 

It would seem that in this day and age of newfangled computers that they could easily set something up so that if a cabin becomes available it automatically would go to the first person on the waitlist. Allowing the possibility of someone else grabbing the cabin rather defeats the purpose of a waitlist, now, doesn't it? And I don't quite see the purpose of needing confirmation-- if I didn't want the bloody cabin, why would I ask to be put on a waitlist for it?

 

Well, I got the cabin I wanted, but might just as easily have been frustrated. I won't let this one little issue put me off RCI, but the first impression does not imbue me with confidence.