Is RCI's "refund" for the Oasis "Tragedy at Sea" Appropriate?

[knittinggirl]

We just received the following e-mail from RCI. With all that went wrong (see various threads), we would like to ask our fellow cruise critic friends if this is what you would do if you owned a company that screwed up and wanted to encourage their customers (passengers) to try your product again.

 

Dear Valued Guest:

 

We understand how much our guests look forward to and invest in their vacation. I am so sorry there was some disappointed on your Oasis of the Seas cruise and we hope to regain your trust.

 

We never want our guests to go through any kind of difficulties during their time with us and we recognize how frustrating it must have been for you to encounter delays due to the additional mandatory customs inspections. We are sorry our efforts fell short and would like to apologize for the disappointment with the service provided.

 

Additionally, as part of our commitment to provide our guests with the best vacation facilities, we added several improvements to the Oasis of the Seas during her refurbishment. However, with so many changes being completed in a short span of time, there were unforeseen complications that arose. We apologize for any inconvenience these enhancements may have caused you.

 

To thank you for your understanding, we would like to provide you with a special discount for use on a future Royal Caribbean International sailing. The discount value will be 20% of the cruise fare paid for this sailing. You should receive your certificate in approximately 6 weeks. Please be guided by the offer instructions on the certificate when finalizing plans for your next cruise vacation.

 

Again, thank you for choosing to sail with Royal Caribbean International. We look forward to welcoming you back again in the not too distant future.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo

Executive Vice President, Operations, Royal Caribbean International

We were delayed three days in Galveston due to fog. No shops open, and limited alcohol sales. We also were told that if we happened to be ashore, and they were able to leave, they wouldn't wait for us. For those that stayed, all we got were port charge refunds for the ports we didn't visit. Those that left the cruise on the night of day 2 got a full cruise credit. Edited November 7, 2014 by knittinggirl

[idamae3218]

I read most of the OP live review. There were good & bad points made. But many of the responses here only talk about the weather or call people whiners. I don't understand why some on CC can't respond to an opinion without being nasty.

 

It may be hasty to respond when you didn't read the review or only respond to someone else's response, which may not have stated all the facts.

 

The OP already apologized for using the word tragedy, but people still quote it. How can anyone say what he experienced didn't happen when many others, who were on the cruise, agree. Please read before responding.

 

It saves some unnecessary back and forth.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

Edited November 7, 2014 by idamae3218

[Chelsea1]

We were also on this cruise and agree with a lot of what been said by those who were on board, both good and bad.

The weather was generally better than I expected on an October transtlantic, especially the Bay of Biscay, but due to our unexpectedly northerly route we had less sun and less wind half way through. The ship design really is outstanding and she gives a very comfortable ride. Our cabin (a GS low down on deck 6) was great - clean, spacious, good bedding.

 

The real issue was the lack of effort in the on-board product to suit a long cruise with one port, and the poor customer service.

We were in a Grand Suite and spent a lot of money booking this cruise, with only one port of call, believing RCCLs hype of this being a rare experience to sail on such an amazing ship from the UK for 12 nights. With a very busy job I get to take one decent vacation a year and this was it for 2014.

 

The hype started about 18 months ago in the UK when we booked: I recieved numerous brochures and emails from RCCL advertising this outstanding cruise. I was expecting something special, not a post-dry dock refurb. cruise sold off cheap at the last minute. I was anticipating similar onboard experience to our QM2 inaugral year cruise (in the cheapest balcony guarantee) or at least the RCI Legend of the Seas 14 night Vietnam and China in 2010 (in an outdated JS!).

Instead it had the atmosphere of a very long ferry trip. Ship design aside, I have had similar, or better, service on a Brittany Ferry channel crossing.

The ship seemed to be full of by Diamond +/++ etc. passengers dominating the lounges in the evening, I felt more "class" segregation here than on Cunard, and got fed up of the over-full, noisy, hot , Concierge/Suite lounges with very limited drinks menu and grumpy service. Service did get much better with cash tipping, but got the feeling very few extra tips were being given. Best drink we had was a very large (and expensive) chilled glass of Ferrari chardonnay in the On-Air bar. Not sure RCCL has a good business model here filling its lounges full with free-drinking loyalty passengers.

 

There was no cimema - understand that on a Caribbean 7 night - but the theatre could have been used for films during the day, or mid-day shows, or commedy, music screenings, lectures etc. Most entertainment venus were closed during the day, despite us most likely being inside for a good portion of the cruise. One of the best afternoons we had was sitting quietly watching the Aquatheatre performers practicing their diving and spring boarding!

Shops were boring, library had nothing worth reading, I anticipated this bringing a large bag of magazines, an ipad and purchasing unlimited internet.

Ship was generally far too hot to be stuck inside - aircon did not seem to be working properly, especially in bars and restaurants.

 

In summary, it was not memorable. Normally on this length cruises I come back with new friends, thinking about the fun parts. This one I have almost forgotten already as there was really nothing great to remember. Maybe I am not suited to, or ready for, so many days at sea. Even a basic ship can be compensated for by great ports. The Oasis is no doubt a great ship technically, but the on-board product really lacked on this cruise.

I was going to book another cruise to Asia/Australia whilst on board Oasis , but decided not to due to this experience.

I was suprised by the 20% voucher email received today, it is quite sizeable due to the amount we paid. Hopefully it will be honoured in the spirit offered (no onerous booking conditions) on a better experience.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Chelsea1

[wolfganghowell]

Just a basic reality check. Almost every cruise has injuries and yes even a death.

 

The OP graciously acknowledged and apologized for the tragedy remark. Let it go people. He has at least responded respectfully even to those who disagree with his account.

 

This was obviously a cruise with an abundance of issues and a variety of responses and attitudes to them. It reminds me of the conversation Mr Wolf and I had when the Triumph got stranded. First we are glad we always have a balcony. Second, I am glad I always take plenty of books and like to sleep. The new conversation will be no post dry docks and if we ever do a TA plan for bad weather, bring lots of books and be glad about the drink vouchers for happy hour since the DL/CL might be too crowded.

[Chelsea1]

We were also on this cruise and agree with a lot of what been said by those who were on board, both good and bad.

The weather was generally better than I expected on an October transtlantic, especially the Bay of Biscay, but due to our unexpectedly northerly route we had less sun and less wind half way through. The ship design really is outstanding and she gives a very comfortable ride. Our cabin (a GS low down on deck 6) was great - clean, spacious, good bedding.

 

The real issue was the lack of effort in the on-board product to suit a long cruise with one port, and the poor customer service.

We were in a Grand Suite and spent a lot of money booking this cruise, with only one port of call, believing RCCLs hype of this being a rare experience to sail on such an amazing ship from the UK for 12 nights. With a very busy job I get to take one decent vacation a year and this was it for 2014.

 

The hype started about 18 months ago in the UK when we booked: I recieved numerous brochures and emails from RCCL advertising this outstanding cruise. I was expecting something special, not a post-dry dock refurb. cruise sold off cheap at the last minute. I was anticipating similar onboard experience to our QM2 inaugral year cruise (in the cheapest balcony guarantee) or at least the RCI Legend of the Seas 14 night Vietnam and China in 2010 (in an outdated JS!).

Instead it had the atmosphere of a very long ferry trip. Ship design aside, I have had similar, or better, service on a Brittany Ferry channel crossing.

The ship seemed to be full of by Diamond +/++ etc. passengers dominating the lounges in the evening, I felt more "class" segregation here than on Cunard, and got fed up of the over-full, noisy, hot , Concierge/Suite lounges with very limited drinks menu and grumpy service. Service did get much better with cash tipping, but got the feeling very few extra tips were being given. Best drink we had was a very large (and expensive) chilled glass of Ferrari chardonnay in the On-Air bar. Not sure RCCL has a good business model here filling its lounges full with free-drinking loyalty passengers.

 

There was no cimema - understand that on a Caribbean 7 night - but the theatre could have been used for films during the day, or mid-day shows, or commedy, music screenings, lectures etc. Most entertainment venus were closed during the day, despite us most likely being inside for a good portion of the cruise. One of the best afternoons we had was sitting quietly watching the Aquatheatre performers practicing their diving and spring boarding!

Shops were boring, library had nothing worth reading, I anticipated this bringing a large bag of magazines, an ipad and purchasing unlimited internet.

Ship was generally far too hot to be stuck inside - aircon did not seem to be working properly, especially in bars and restaurants.

 

In summary, it was not memorable. Normally on this length cruises I come back with new friends, thinking about the fun parts. This one I have almost forgotten already as there was really nothing great to remember. Maybe I am not suited to, or ready for, so many days at sea. Even a basic ship can be compensated for by great ports. The Oasis is no doubt a great ship technically, but the on-board product really lacked on this cruise.

I was going to book another cruise to Asia/Australia whilst on board Oasis , but decided not to due to this experience.

I was suprised by the 20% voucher email received today, it is quite sizeable due to the amount we paid. Hopefully it will be honoured in the spirit offered (no onerous booking conditions) on a better experience.

[CVU]

Theater was being used for the CATS rehearsals, so there was no place big enough for a movie.

[chloe kitty]

[quote name='CruiseMore1']Interesting, isn't it, to see how different the responses to your question are? If one wasn't onboard for the cruise, or if they were Pinnacles or suite guests, they didn't really see the problems. Guess I would have to agree that the cruise wasn't tragic; however, it was chaotic. And upper management/officers simple didn't care![/QUOTE]

Agreed!

[dhill]

Lets see the weather was bad so it changed a few things about the cruise:rolleyes: well lets just go ahead and give everyone on the ship a free cruise:eek: Oh wait lets just give it to the Elite people;) Boy it sure seems that a lot of people try to get something for nothing.Im glad I dont have an attidue where every little thing that goes wrong just ruins everything.It makes you wonder what these people do when something really bad happens?Why even go on a cruise with an attidue like that just sitting around waiting for the littest thing to go wrong so you can start [EMAIL="B$@!hing"]B$@!hing[/EMAIL] and complaing :cool:

[CruiseMore1]

[quote name='idamae3218']I read most of the OP live review. There were good & bad points made. But many of the responses here only talk about the weather or call people whiners. I don't understand why some on CC can't respond to an opinion without being nasty.

It may be hasty to respond when you didn't read the review or only respond to someone else's response, which may not have stated all the facts.

The OP already apologized for using the word tragedy, but people still quote it. How can anyone say what he experienced didn't happen when many others, who were on the cruise, agree. Please read before responding.

It saves some unnecessary back and forth.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app[/QUOTE]

The voice of reason! Refreshing! Thank you, idamae!

[chloe kitty]

[quote name='michtrif']I was thinking the same thing... I was trying to fins a post that read someone died or there was an accident.
I was on Explorer last month and we were informed we were rerouted to Canada less than 12 hours before. There were people who didn't even KNOW until boarding. There were people who FLEW from CANADA only to cruise back to Canada. It wasn't fair. The weather was horrid- cold, windy and wet for all but one day. We stood in LONG lines to get off the boat in Canada (ebola questioning) some of the staff was disgruntled. The only time we saw the pool deck was in passing to go to the gym. We didn't go outside at all. Bars had to be closed in port bc of Canadian drinking laws, which meant we could only drink at certain bars while in port. People complained, most joked. We got over it. It was hardly a tragedy. It was still a vacation.
RC gave us cabin credit or offered us 25% on a future cruise if we chose not to sail. I DO feel the compensation could have been better- considering Canada in a NorEsater is NOT even close to Bermuda, but it was hardly a tragedy. No one complained once we got home. (not to my knowledge- I didn't see a single post here, besides my own)

It really sucks for those who were inconvenienced by a crappy sailing on (one of) the Biggest ships in the world. I get it because I felt the same way about my cruise last month. But calling it a tragedy is a real First World Problem, don't you think?[/QUOTE]

I agree with you, this was not tragic, but Art did apologize. As far as the accident on board, I was sitting within 10 feet of the woman who was injured, and it did look very bad. I thought that we may have to make a special stop, but we didn't. I was unaware of the death, but I did hear the Alpha, alpha, alpha. I have been on many TA cruise. We know the weather can be cold and seas could be choppy, but that was NOT the main problem. Lack of proper management and particularly the CD was a major problem. Edited November 7, 2014 by chloe kitty

[Vjoe]

Ok I Read the first few pages then gave up. On my very first RCL cruise, I was on Majesty and at the end of the cruise I walked past a group of at least 50 people that were talking about how great the cruise was but that they needed complaints so that they could get some compensation back for the members. "We can get this cruise for free we just need some feedback"

I am sorry silly Americans, your complaints don't take money out of the CEO's paycheck, it takes the money straight from the waiters and service staff that daily make your life wonderful. I am sorry that you can't find a way to be happy, but these people have families that they are supporting on $2 an hour. Get a grip on your self righteousness.

[RDC1]

[quote name='chloe kitty']We were also on this cruise. I agree with most of what is said above. We have been on 38 cruises and have never experienced anything like this. We were on a transpacific cruise that had icicles hanging from the handrails, obviously colder than this cruise. The CD had a contingency plan. He opened the theater for movies during the daytime hours. He scheduled other events. Weather did not have to be a problem! Yes, they were rehearsing in the theater, but a two hour period for a movie each day could have been arranged. People need to do their job. We enjoyed that cruise. It seems that RCCL just wanted to collect $12 for each movie we watched on TV. CS was sorely lacking. If you asked a question, you most likely would get the wrong answer, and this is after waiting in a long line. We always try to look at the bright side of things, and did in this case too. The entertainment was great. The food was pretty good. The waiters were very good.
I realize that many RCCL loyal people would not find anything wrong no matter what, but RCCL really dropped the ball on this one, and in our opinion did not own up to it.
As someone mentioned, the passengers on the current Quantum cruise are receiving a 25% future cruise credit, and $300 OBC. Those of you who were not on this cruise cannot fully understand the problems that occurred.[/QUOTE]

I would expect RCI to be faster with a credit and for it to be a bit larger for the Quantum.

1. It was the heavily advertised maiden cruise, on their newest ship, the future direction of the line.
2. RCI had been pushing all of the new technology that it was rolling out with heavy focus on the rapid boarding technology.
3. I would expect that because it was a maiden cruise the fares tend to be higher across the board then in a normal T/A cruise since people are willing to pay a premium to be on a maiden voyage. Edited November 7, 2014 by RDC1

[CruiseMore1]

[quote name='Vjoe']Ok I Read the first few pages then gave up. On my very first RCL cruise, I was on Majesty and at the end of the cruise I walked past a group of at least 50 people that were talking about how great the cruise was but that they needed complaints so that they could get some compensation back for the members. "We can get this cruise for free we just need some feedback"

I am sorry silly Americans, your complaints don't take money out of the CEO's paycheck, it takes the money straight from the waiters and service staff that daily make your life wonderful. I am sorry that you can't find a way to be happy, but these people have families that they are supporting on $2 an hour. Get a grip on your self righteousness.[/QUOTE]

Gosh, who complained about the waiters and service staff? I must have missed it!

On the contrary - the waiters and service staff were the best!

Oh, and since you weren't on this cruise, you just really don't know. Hope you continue to have stellar cruises, as all our other RCCL cruses have been.

[artbcpa]

[quote name='dhill']Lets see the weather was bad so it changed a few things about the cruise:rolleyes: well lets just go ahead and give everyone on the ship a free cruise:eek: Oh wait lets just give it to the Elite people;) Boy it sure seems that a lot of people try to get something for nothing.Im glad I dont have an attidue where every little thing that goes wrong just ruins everything.It makes you wonder what these people do when something really bad happens?Why even go on a cruise with an attidue like that just sitting around waiting for the littest thing to go wrong so you can start [EMAIL="B$@!hing"]B$@!hing[/EMAIL] and complaing :cool:[/QUOTE]

I am sure someone else will respond, but I just couldn't let this ridiculous comment go unchallenged. I apologize in advance to all of you who have taken the time to give your reasonable opinions to my question, whether or not you agreed that RCI's response was appropriate.

First of all it is quite obvious from your grammar, spelling, and lack of reading skills that you never passed grade school. While this forum is not a test of your English proficiency (we all make mistakes), just a little bit of common courtesy would also be nice. Three hours waiting to get off and on a ship is not a minor inconvenience. Having a blower and wet carpet in your suite with no explanation is not a minor inconvenience. How about the fact that RCI could never figure out how to allow passengers who were boarding in Southampton to use their online reservation system? What about the numerous passengers who booked a cabin only to find out that RCI had changed their room without letting them know because they were continuing their dry dock construction while we were on board?

Btw, you know nothing about me and your unfounded accusations about what we had to put up with or how we must always complain are pure BS. If you took the time to read my "live" thread, you might know that I made lots of posts about what I really liked about our cruise. I also posted hundreds of photos so that others might be able to judge for themselves.

[URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30213465@N05/sets/72157648395130139/"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/30213465@N05/sets/72157648395130139/[/URL]

As a frequent traveler, I like to experience various different kinds of places, large and small, luxury and mass market. As a travel agent, it is my responsibility to find out as much as possible about places to travel, hotels to stay at, and cruises to go on.

I am very generous with my praise, but people who follow my threads know that they will get an honest appraisal of both the good and the bad, rather than those who are shills for certain hotels and cruise lines.

Bottom line is: You have NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. (This is called shouting in computer text).

Once again I apologize for my post to those who truly were trying to have a rational discussion. Edited November 8, 2014 by artbcpa

[CruiseMore1]

Thank you, Art! I couldn't seem to come up with a decent reply to such a stupid and uninformed post.

[alfaeric]

[quote name='NemoCrownie']I see what you are saying and it may be how I am interpreting the letter but the way I read it, they are apologizing for issues out of their control but fail to acknowledge the issues that they could control. Having read the reviews, the issues in the letter were discussed but they weren't the real problem. The weather sounds like it was awful but, again, the reviewers all seemed to acknowledge that and accepted it for what it was. I wouldn't classify any of the reviewers as whiny or complainers by nature, in fact most didn't dwell on the negative but all of them had numerous issues that weren't just isolated incidents.[/QUOTE]

They apologized for the delay in getting off- which they have no control over, if it's customs holding things up.
[quote]
We never want our guests to go through any kind of difficulties during their time with us and we recognize how frustrating it must have been for you to encounter delays due to the additional mandatory customs inspections. We are sorry our efforts fell short and would like to apologize for the disappointment with the service provided.
[/quote]
They apologized for problems with the dry dock work not getting finished- which they had control over
[quote]Additionally, as part of our commitment to provide our guests with the best vacation facilities, we added several improvements to the Oasis of the Seas during her refurbishment. However, with so many changes being completed in a short span of time, there were unforeseen complications that arose. We apologize for any inconvenience these enhancements may have caused you. [/quote]

Weather is what it is.

I was not on the cruise to determine if other issues were that bad or not- as some others have said that it wasn't nearly that bad. You were not there, too. I've been on a few cruises where people complained about stuff- I didn't notice it, but it happens. Being isolated, I would not say that's something that needs apologized over.

But somehow, with all of that, you are offended by the note. Offended that the acknowledged major issues when they had to do nothing?

I can see thinking that they needed to do more, but offended??

20% compensation is offensive, but 25% is what you want?

wow.

I guess I should be cautious when I apologize for something. May get punched in the face for it.:cool:

[John&LaLa]

[quote name='idamae3218']I read most of the OP live review. There were good & bad points made. But many of the responses here only talk about the weather or call people whiners. I don't understand why some on CC can't respond to an opinion without being nasty.

It may be hasty to respond when you didn't read the review or only respond to someone else's response, which may not have stated all the facts.

The OP already apologized for using the word tragedy, but people still quote it. How can anyone say what he experienced didn't happen when many others, who were on the cruise, agree. Please read before responding.

It saves some unnecessary back and forth.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app[/QUOTE]

Here is one of the challenges with replying to a message on a thread. Should you read all 100 posts before you respond to post 65. If you post immediately, before the OP corrects his poor choice of title, you get accused of ignoring the recant. If you read all the way to the end, you are to worn out to go find post 65. Oh well. :confused:

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[chloe kitty]

[quote name='CruiseMore1']Thank you, Art! I couldn't seem to come up with a decent reply to such a stupid and uninformed post.[/QUOTE]

Art, you hit the nail on the head.

[RDC1]

[quote name='artbcpa']I am sure someone else will respond, but I just couldn't let this ridiculous comment go unchallenged. I apologize in advance to all of you who have taken the time to give your reasonable opinions to my question, whether or not you agreed that RCI's response was appropriate.

First of all it is quite obvious from your grammar, spelling, and lack of reading skills that you never passed grade school. While this forum is not a test of your English proficiency (we all make mistakes), just a little bit of common courtesy would also be nice. Three hours waiting to get off and on a ship is not a minor inconvenience. Having a blower and wet carpet in your suite with no explanation is not a minor inconvenience. How about the fact that RCI could never figure out how to allow passengers who were boarding in Southampton to use their online reservation system? What about the numerous passengers who booked a cabin only to find out that RCI had changed their room without letting them know because they were continuing their dry dock construction while we were on board?

Btw, you know nothing about me and your unfounded accusations about what we had to put up with or how we must always complain are pure BS. If you took the time to read my "live" thread, you might know that I made lots of posts about what I really liked about our cruise. I also posted hundreds of photos so that others might be able to judge for themselves.

[URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30213465@N05/sets/72157648395130139/"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/30213465@N05/sets/72157648395130139/[/URL]

As a frequent traveler, I like to experience various different kinds of places, large and small, luxury and mass market. As a travel agent, it is my responsibility to find out as much as possible about places to travel, hotels to stay at, and cruises to go on.

I am very generous with my praise, but people who follow my threads know that they will get an honest appraisal of both the good and the bad, rather than those who are shills for certain hotels and cruise lines.

Bottom line is: You have NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. (This is called shouting in computer text).

Once again I apologize for my post to those who truly were trying to have a rational discussion.[/QUOTE]

I was mostly in agreement with you until this post.

Waiting 3 hours to get on and off a multiple day cruise is a minor inconvenience. Showing up and finding the cruise canceled is not. Missing a flight schedule late in the afternoon due to delays is not.

Finding that they washed the carpet and it was wet and had a blower that caused a problem for at most a couple of hours, while not good process and should not have been done, while annoying, is a relatively minor inconvenience. Coming back and finding that a sewer line has busted right over your cabin is not. (both of these comparisons have been real events written about by CC members over the past few months).

They are, as people often say, first world problems. They are all things that should not happen, but individually are relatively minor. I would suspect that most of this stems from the issue with the work not being finished from the dry dock. This would also have greatly disrupted crew procedure. I suspect that the reason why the officers were not visible and why the crew seems very harried was due to the extra stress also linked to the dry dock. Especially, since a lot of crew turnover takes place during dry dock. So you had new crew trying to integrate, passengers that start out annoyed due to boarding delays and finding the items from dry dock not completed, everyone dealing with on going dry dock issues, officers trying to handle their departments in the midst of these issues, customer service burned out by repetitive complaints about issues where they had no way to respond, etc.

The real question is would you have been happier if RCI had contacted everyone just before the cruise and said that because of delays with the dry dock work the cruise would be canceled. Because that was probably RCI's only reasonable alternative.

They apparently thought they could deliver a worthwhile cruise experience and from the notes here a fair percentage probably thought that they did. Afterwards they decided that it was not sufficient and made the 20% future credit.

Three lessons are:

1. You do not book the cruise immediately before or after dry dock unless you are prepared to deal with issues like work being done or the other service issues.

2. Cruises to the US, that originate in other countries are consistent in having delayed disembarkation. Happens pretty much everywhere. You can do a search and you will find similar stories about most other cruise ports in the US. Especially during the last two years.

3. Anytime a ship is out of service for even a short time you have a lot of crew change. This disrupts service levels until they learn the ship and get integrated into the ships procedures and their co-workers. While a lot of things are similar there are variances.


Not sure what happened on embarkation. Ships cannot board until they have been cleared. Since the ship had been in a previous EU port I have no idea why they had to clear the ship and have passengers that had previously boarded in an EU port go through UK customs. I would suspect that the ship was probably as surprised as the passengers were. If so they would not have had staff assigned to dealing with the issues. That decision by customs alone would have thrown off the schedule by several hours. I have never seen that happen when going through Southampton when having stopped from a previous EU port. Could have been something show up on the UK customs computers, could have been someone in their office was in a bad mood. Who knows? The key point is that it happens. All of us that travel run into it sooner or later. We all tend to survive the experience. Edited November 8, 2014 by RDC1

[Big_G]

Imagine the thread if they cancelled this cruise to finish up the dry dock. :eek:

[funfamilyfun]

I did not read every post, however, I would agree that they should have been offered a better compensation. RCI agreed that they did not respond appropriately. Typically, the Oasis is an expensive cruise, so a better compensation would be appreciated. In addition, the beginning and ending of your trip is often what you remember most. Passengers need to be kept informed.

[turquoise 6]

[quote name='NemoCrownie']I would be a little offended with this response. Again, just my opinion, but they are not taking ownership for all of the problems that were of their own doing. I would expect a more forthright response to the effect of "we really dropped the ball and offer our sincerest apologies for the issues encountered by our valued customers...we want to learn from this experience and we are reviewing all of our customer feedback so that we can address the concerns that are within our control..."

I honestly don't know how compensation for all the issues faced should be handled, given the varying cruise fares paid, but I would be more satisfied with at least a 25% immediate credit issued to each passenger. That might make me think it was a one-time occurrence and make me willing to give them another chance. I don't think providing credit towards a future booking shows any accountability for the problems. Since I have no loyalty to any business, I would be less inclined to give them another dime of my money - I am known to cut off my nose to spite my face - and chalk it up to lesson learned. Again, this response would not make me happy but others may think differently and that is fine.[/QUOTE]
Very strong negative response . You were on board this voyage ?:mad:

[RDC1]

[quote name='Big_G']Imagine the thread if they cancelled this cruise to finish up the dry dock. :eek:[/QUOTE]

Probably similar to the recent thread on Princess when they canceled a cruise out of Singapore due to a ship maintenance issue and moving a dry dock up.

[agentcorona]

[quote name='artbcpa'][B][COLOR="Black"]We just received the following e-mail from RCI. With all that went wrong (see various threads), we would like to ask our fellow cruise critic friends if this is what you would do if you owned a company that screwed up and wanted to encourage their customers (passengers) to try your product again.[/COLOR][/B]
[/I][/QUOTE]

I'm not sure if you can really say RC screwed up. They don't control the weather. And as far as the construction goes, you have to take into consideration "remodeling" doesn't always go as planned. Anyone who has ever renovated a home knows this. Or have you ever stay at a hotel when construction was being done? It's the same thing. However a hotel patron usually has to complain in order to get any compensation, and usually it's done after the front desk has tried switching you out to another room.

RC offering a 20% discount for a future cruise across the board seems extremely fair to me. I'm sure not everyone on the cruise complained in order to get this (1st world problems). You wanted your vacation to be stress free and perfect, I get that. But let me ask you this; what would you have considered to be fair outside of the 20% discount?

[insidecabin]

[quote name='tanzer22pilot']According to the German Cruise Critic site the following were on board:

40 Pinnacle
811 Diamond Plus
1076 Diamond
402 Emerald
737 Platinum
921 Gold

Now I am sure that this is not normal for any cruise, but out 5199 passenger (not sure if extra workman are in this number) are considering them themselves special (76%) in a crowd. Add to the fact that RCI has in the past bent over hand and foot for them, they did not this time.

Having almost two thousand diamond and above charge the entrance doors of the concierge lounge every night was a sight to see all to get a free drink (or three). RCI was clearly overwhelmed by the C+A crowd.

Now, as always, the individuals in the crowd are not the problem, but as the numbers of "off-limit" to those of use in steerage grew, this trip began to get less and less fun.

But then again, the bathrooms were kept clean.

[IMG]http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee403/flytosail3/Drive%20the%20ship/04f2656e3e697098669295ecc8d70fb9_zps1cca84a2.jpg[/IMG]

Edit. The above photo is a <joke> as the only people not onboard that were in the upper C+A group were the children and us. Repeat it is a <joke>.[/QUOTE]

This was one of the issues the public bathrooms next to venues were not kept clean, it was as if the cleaning schedules were not adjusted for the changes in event times and people being indoors more.