Why I'm not a fan of RCL (or am I wrong)

[WJBonds]

About me - mid 60's New Yorker... 30 cruises - everything from ultra luxury to bottom of the barrel... (but only one previous on RCL)

So this time I pick Allure of the Seas. Check with the cruise line and find that there is only one GS available (on deck 6) but I can book a GS guarantee (for less). I check prices with my travel agent. He does offer a better price package, and so I book the guarantee asking him to please tell RCL that I specifically did not want the cabin on deck 6.

Three days later I am assigned the deck 6 cabin - oh well only GS available.

Two weeks go by and I check the RCL website. They are still offering a GS guarantee and the price is significantly lower than when I booked.

Go to the TA. Can I get some relief? A cabin upgrade? A reduction in cost? OBC? Or just a different GS cabin (like I originally requested)? He calls RCL.

I get nothing. They will do nothing for me.

Bottom line is my trip is a month away and I feel that RCL took advantage of me. This is about my 30th cruise. Only my 2nd on RCL. Now we know why.

[mustangjoe]

I understand how you feel. However, if you went out and bought a new car for xxx$ and then you discover 2 weeks later that the same car is now on sale for XX$, do you expect the dealer to give you some compensation?

 

My philosophy is that when I purchase a product, whether be a cruise, camera, or whatever, and I pay a certain price, then that is what I pay. I do not go back later and try to get something because the product is now on sale.

 

Think Black Friday!

[AlexanderBeetle]

I'm confused, why did you book a guarantee and then make a specific request? I can't imagine they would honor a request like that when the whole point of the guarantee is a lower price gets you a guaranteed cabin for the category but you can't pick your room...

 

As for a price drop, if your cruise is a month away then you are within final payment. If you booked within 48 hours, however, you should get your price guarantee.

 

Am I missing something?

[Clarea]

It's been Royal's policy for several years now that no credit of any kind is given for price drops after final payment date.

 

However, Royal usually allows you to move to any open stateroom in the same exact category when you have booked a guarantee. If you see an open GS, I'd call the travel agent again and ask to move.

[WJBonds]

Not the price I'm complaining about. I asked for anything but deck 6 and they gave me that cabin almost immediately.

[CRUISEBOY305]

About me - mid 60's New Yorker... 30 cruises - everything from ultra luxury to bottom of the barrel... (but only one previous on RCL)

So this time I pick Allure of the Seas. Check with the cruise line and find that there is only one GS available (on deck 6) but I can book a GS guarantee (for less). I check prices with my travel agent. He does offer a better price package, and so I book the guarantee asking him to please tell RCL that I specifically did not want the cabin on deck 6.

Three days later I am assigned the deck 6 cabin - oh well only GS available.

Two weeks go by and I check the RCL website. They are still offering a GS guarantee and the price is significantly lower than when I booked.

Go to the TA. Can I get some relief? A cabin upgrade? A reduction in cost? OBC? Or just a different GS cabin (like I originally requested)? He calls RCL.

I get nothing. They will do nothing for me.

Bottom line is my trip is a month away and I feel that RCL took advantage of me. This is about my 30th cruise. Only my 2nd on RCL. Now we know why.

 

Sorry you're not a fan of RCI. you're a month away from sailing so you're well within final payment. If a GS on Deck 6 is all that's available then it is what it is. I feel like your TA should have explained to you what the rules are regarding price drops / refunds / upgrades. etc.

[cruisinfanatic]

About me - mid 60's New Yorker... 30 cruises - everything from ultra luxury to bottom of the barrel... (but only one previous on RCL)

So this time I pick Allure of the Seas. Check with the cruise line and find that there is only one GS available (on deck 6) but I can book a GS guarantee (for less). I check prices with my travel agent. He does offer a better price package, and so I book the guarantee asking him to please tell RCL that I specifically did not want the cabin on deck 6.

Three days later I am assigned the deck 6 cabin - oh well only GS available.

Two weeks go by and I check the RCL website. They are still offering a GS guarantee and the price is significantly lower than when I booked.

Go to the TA. Can I get some relief? A cabin upgrade? A reduction in cost? OBC? Or just a different GS cabin (like I originally requested)? He calls RCL.

I get nothing. They will do nothing for me.

Bottom line is my trip is a month away and I feel that RCL took advantage of me. This is about my 30th cruise. Only my 2nd on RCL. Now we know why.

who's fault was it to book a guarantee? As I'm sure you know after 30 cruises you get what you get when booking a guarantee.

[NolaFireLI]

Deck 6 on the Allure of the Seas is a great place for a cabin as I had it on my Allure cruise back in 2011.

 

I am not sure about your reason to not want to try deck 6, it is one of the 'preferred' decks by many people who love the Oasis class of ships. I can tell you from my own previous experience on Deck 6 that you are CLOSE to everything, and you will hear NO NOISE from the boardwalk or the promenade, if that is your worry.

 

With only a month before your sailing, and in a Grand Suite, I would take the vacation and RUN!

[PerferWarmWeather]

I'd take Bob's advice and contact your TA and change rooms if one is still available.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[tgnorton]

Ask if they will change you to a different GS cabin - let's HOPE they made a mistake and thought you said you wanted deck 6.

[cruisinfanatic]

Ask if they will change you to a different GS cabin - let's HOPE they made a mistake and thought you said you wanted deck 6.

reread OP's post

[cruisinfanatic]

Deck 6 on the Allure of the Seas is a great place for a cabin as I had it on my Allure cruise back in 2011.

 

I am not sure about your reason to not want to try deck 6, it is one of the 'preferred' decks by many people who love the Oasis class of ships. I can tell you from my own previous experience on Deck 6 that you are CLOSE to everything, and you will hear NO NOISE from the boardwalk or the promenade, if that is your worry.

 

With only a month before your sailing, and in a Grand Suite, I would take the vacation and RUN!

I agree. Maybe the OP will come back and tell us what the problem with deck 6 is.

[cb at sea]

Generally, they will move you to another location, if the same category cabin is available....that's the key...they have to have somewhere to move you TO!

 

And, when you book a GTY, you have to be willing to accept ANY location for the category that you booked.

 

If you got the last GS....then you probably got a great deal.....who knows, they may still move you to something better!

[CRUISEBOY305]

I agree. Maybe the OP will come back and tell us what the problem with deck 6 is.

 

I had a JS on deck 6 and loved it.

[LMaxwell]

I understand your frustration OP, but you're mostly wrong here. I don't mean to sound offensive here, but basically you've gotten just what you paid for, a guarantee GS on the ship for that date.

 

You knew likely which cabin you were going to get, and if you weren't happy with it and strongly felt like you would get it, I would not have booked a GTY for that category. Were you maybe you were thinking someone else would book that GS and you'd get an upgrade to a different category? That's a pretty big risk to take, IMO, if you are choosy about location. There's nothing wrong with not wanting that cabin / location, but you made all the choices that would most likely get you that cabin.

 

With 30 cruises in your history, I don't know all the lines or anything, but certainly you understand generally how the cruise business works. Your travel agent should have done the following:

-inform you of RCI policies, perhaps indicating differences to other cruise lines you may be more familiar with

-should have told you point blank that if you've got a special request don't book GTY!

- if your TA did those things above they wouldn't have had to do the little dog and pony show pretending like they are begging for OBC for this super special client, one time exception stuff, because they would have told you up front when you book within final payment.

 

30-ish days is fairly last minute for a higher end suite on a ship. I'm not sure what to tell you or what is going to make you happy; you knew the category was mostly sold out, you took a gamble, you lost on the gamble. Look at the bright side, you've still got a great cabin on the ship and you have a vacation to look forward to shortly. Accept that a bunch of what you have in your hand now is from the choices you elected to make and go have a great trip without dwelling on it.

 

Sounds to me like you don't like RCI's GTY/late date booking policies, which aren't different from most other cruiselines anyways, and that your TA didn't deal with you in a direct and clear manner to manage your expectations. It's kind of a shame that suboptimal TA servicing would cause you to write off any cruise line.

[Aquahound]

People need to learn to stop checking prices after final payment unless they are trying to upgrade. It only leads to disappointment.

[zekekelso]

The weird thing in this sort is the RCI is still offering a GS guarantee cabin.

 

There was one cabin left, he booked a guarantee... he got the one empty cabin. So far, everything is as expected.

 

So now either they are full (if so, why is there someething to book) or they aren't (and could move him.)

[CamaCama]

Just be happy you can afford a GS on Allure and enjoy your cruise!

BTW - can anyone tell me what is wrong with deck 6? Seems like an awesome location. :confused:

[ladylawyer]

However, Royal usually allows you to move to any open stateroom in the same exact category when you have booked a guarantee. If you see an open GS, I'd call the travel agent again and ask to move.

 

I learned the hard way that that is NOT the policy for most other cruise lines (booking a guarantee and moving cabins, within the assigned category, once assigned). Other cruise lines take the position that part of the "risk for reward" of booking at the lower GTY price means that you go where they send you.

 

That's one of the reasons I AM a fan of RCL! :)

[Starry Eyes]

Maybe you should not be a fan of your TA!

 

Though you have 30 cruises under your belt, to give the benefit of the doubt we should assume perhaps you have not done enough gty's to understand the rules. In that case, your TA should tell you the rules...and you should listen to those rules. You simply cannot place location restriction on a gty booking. Yeah, you can instruct/bully the TA into calling in such a request, but you might just as well scream your request into your toilet bowl and flush it away;).

 

The whole point of gty is that the cruise line gets to chose the cabin, any cabin in the select category or higher. You were mistaken to think you could book gty and still "rule out" a certain deck. Your TA should have (gently) told you so.

 

There was one GS left. You booked GS gty and got that last available GS. No surprise at all.

 

As there is nothing wrong with Allure deck 6, was perhaps the "no deck six" attempt just a vain hope for a free upgrade? If that worked, everybody would be doing it...

 

Were it before final payment, you could re-book at the lower rate; even then you'd likely get that same GS back.

 

As it is after final payment, without suffering the cancellation penalty, you have few choices. You can do to watch for another GS to become available and then ask to swap into it. Or you could consider paying for an upgrade.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Starry Eyes

[gerif]

So, let me get this straight - you saw there was only ONE GS available which happened to be on deck 6, so you went for a (cheaper rate) gty KNOWING full well that there was only one place they could put you. Then, when they DID put you there, you start to complain? Am I missing something here? How were you taken advantage of? Something tells me that no matter what you are going to stew over this and not enjoy your cruise.

[bouhunter]

People need to learn to stop checking prices after final payment unless they are trying to upgrade. It only leads to disappointment.

 

Good point!

[Starry Eyes]

I learned the hard way that that is NOT the policy for most other cruise lines (booking a guarantee and moving cabins, within the assigned category, once assigned). Other cruise lines take the position that part of the "risk for reward" of booking at the lower GTY price means that you go where they send you.

 

That's one of the reasons I AM a fan of RCL! :)

It is true that not all lines are kind enough to allow such swaps. Royal Caribbean has let me do it many times. I think Celebrity has, too. Princess allowed me to do so a couple years ago; I hope they still allow it. OTOH, I have never heard of NCL allowing a gty assignment swap.

[OSUZorba]

The weird thing in this sort is the RCI is still offering a GS guarantee cabin.

 

There was one cabin left, he booked a guarantee... he got the one empty cabin. So far, everything is as expected.

 

So now either they are full (if so, why is there someething to book) or they aren't (and could move him.)

 

They don't want to discount the more expensive suites officially, so they over sell the GS GTY, and then someone gets "free" upgrade.

 

Edit: I had a JS on Deck 6 of Oasis (D1 GTY with free upgrade), and loved the location. Especially because the ship was rocking and rolling a lot that sailing, the lower deck was nice.

Edited November 5, 2014 by OSUZorba

[OSUZorba]

I learned the hard way that that is NOT the policy for most other cruise lines (booking a guarantee and moving cabins, within the assigned category, once assigned). Other cruise lines take the position that part of the "risk for reward" of booking at the lower GTY price means that you go where they send you.

 

That's one of the reasons I AM a fan of RCL! :)

 

I just did a GTY on Disney, and their rules are nuts. Basically, no cancelling or changing anything, period. At least officially, you can't change a name, can't change number of guest, you can't even upgrade to a more expensive category.

 

They did accept my request for a small table, though :).