Just got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise

[travelhappy2000]

Unfortunately this is the way most companies are today. This is not just a Royal Caribbean problem.

My wife and I bought cell phones yesterday from Verizon and changed our plan. The guy on the store screwed up our account. The first person we spoke to on the phone screwed it up even worse. We had to call 2 more times before we got someone on the phone who knew what they were doing.

 

This is how things are anymore unfortunately. I doubt Carnival or any other cruise line have better customer service.

 

I agree with you on the quality of customer service nowadays. There is no pride nor sense of responsibility anymore. This is our new society of "what can you do for me" and "what can you give me". Don't give up. Stand your ground and insist on good service. After all, you are the paying customer and the government is not paying for it.

[Deeliteful]

why do you think you have to call to book 2 cabins?

 

Because the site says so - if you need multiple cabins you must call.

[marci22]

Because the site says so - if you need multiple cabins you must call.

 

Why don't you just pretend the 1st in each cabin is booking their own cabin? Then link them later.

[Deeliteful]

Why don't you just pretend the 1st in each cabin is booking their own cabin? Then link them later.

 

As I said in a previous post I have tried that but then gives me a significantly higher price than is shown:mad:

[George C]

There is just no way that I would deal with someone at the cruise line office. I let my Travel Agent do all that. It costs nothing and the TA knows all the "ins and outs" and they have someone by name at the cruise line that knows them and works with them.

 

Not all travel agents are created equal ,some charge , some know nothing, you are lucky to have a good one.

[Deeliteful]

As I said in a previous post I have tried that but then gives me a significantly higher price than is shown:mad:

 

Well I have managed to book with a US online TA and although price is higher than it was on Monday it is still £120 pp cheaper than Royal Caribbean and gives me more OBC.

 

$730 + saving is not to be sniffed at. :rolleyes:

[Paul65]

As I said in a previous post I have tried that but then gives me a significantly higher price than is shown:mad:

 

This doesn't make sense. How is it possibly giving you a "higher price than is shown"? The point was, use whatever booking method that gives you the lower price, and just do it twice - one time for each cabin.

[Deeliteful]

This doesn't make sense. How is it possibly giving you a "higher price than is shown"? The point was, use whatever booking method that gives you the lower price, and just do it twice - one time for each cabin.

 

 

I'm so sorry it doesn't make sense to you however what I posted is correct. Whichever way I tried to book with RC I could not get the lower price which was quoted on the web site even doing separately. Hence my frustration!

[Paul65]

I'm so sorry it doesn't make sense to you however what I posted is correct. Whichever way I tried to book with RC I could not get the lower price which was quoted on the web site even doing separately. Hence my frustration!

 

But the advice you were given was to book it at the lower price you were quoted on the web site. Maybe you didn't understand the advice.

[dcgrumpy]

I'm so sorry it doesn't make sense to you however what I posted is correct. Whichever way I tried to book with RC I could not get the lower price which was quoted on the web site even doing separately. Hence my frustration!

 

So then book it on the website to get that price.

[PLEIKU68]

You need to find that one good RCL rep that you feel comfortable talking to , ask them if they would not mind you contacting them for all your future cruise needs, if they agree get their direct number ( they do have them ) and you are set for life ( or at least until they retire which is what happened in my case. I did have several years of no hassle cruising !! :):)

[jdapowers]

So I just booked a trip to Hawaii. It is not a cruise but I'm definitely looking forward to it. and to clarify I did speak to four different agents 2 of them supervisors, in that two hour time span. I called the Crown and Anchor number after I had canceled. she offered to reinstate the cruise at the original price with the onboard credit. I told her I was going to decline that offer but thanked her. I told her instead I would like her to bring this up at a customer service meeting. RC spends so much money on advertising, they might want to spend more money on their computer system and customer service agent training. I sent a very long detailed letter with all of my confirmations via mail to their customer service department.

Regardless I am looking forward to my trip to Hawaii. thanks for all the comments including the negative ones, always good to get people's opinions. and also for the record that was the whole story. and I certainly don't get upset about things like this often. I'm sure we will be back to Royal Caribbean at some point.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Forums mobile app

[icsys]

Well I have managed to book with a US online TA and although price is higher than it was on Monday it is still £120 pp cheaper than Royal Caribbean and gives me more OBC.

 

$730 + saving is not to be sniffed at. :rolleyes:

 

Well done ;) Any saving is not to be sniffed at!

You get much better service booking through the US than with RCI UK or a UK agent.

[CaribSailor]

I don't know what the big deal about him canceling is here. Whether out of frustration or some other reason it was his choice. I have come close to canceling an RCI cruise out of frustration just like they did. Sometimes it's a matter of principle. Dealing with incompetent people is frustrating in its self. For us fortunately the 2 cruises we take a year are not our only vacation and if it's too difficult to manipulate a booking well then we will just do something else.

[scootersdad]

:mad::mad:

WOW!

I just cancelled a cruise night night after my 45 minutes with "customer service". I thing RCCL may have outsourced their call center. May I suggest you try Princess? The product is better for a comparablr price.

 

It's not the $38 or 20 or any among. RC is taking us for granted.

Changing and Confusing prices, forcing you into MTD so they can skim so off the top of the gratuities, staff that expect you to move out of their way, frowns when you ask for something or a question and jacked up pricing on excursions.

 

If I wanted a different waiter each meal; I'll go to a restaurant on-shore.

[Paul65]

:mad::mad:

 

It's not the $38 or 20 or any among. RC is taking us for granted.

Changing and Confusing prices, forcing you into MTD so they can skim so off the top of the gratuities, staff that expect you to move out of their way, frowns when you ask for something or a question and jacked up pricing on excursions.

 

If I wanted a different waiter each meal; I'll go to a restaurant on-shore.

 

Never been forced into MTD, nor bought into conspiracy theories about skimming off the top of gratuities. And I'm not confused by changing prices, as that is pretty standard in the travel industry (and a few other places, as well).

 

I guess different people have different perceptions, and I think it's a good decision to quit dealing with a company, if you perceive them negatively.

[Justmekaren918]

So I just booked a trip to Hawaii. It is not a cruise but I'm definitely looking forward to it. and to clarify I did speak to four different agents 2 of them supervisors, in that two hour time span. I called the Crown and Anchor number after I had canceled. she offered to reinstate the cruise at the original price with the onboard credit. I told her I was going to decline that offer but thanked her. I told her instead I would like her to bring this up at a customer service meeting. RC spends so much money on advertising, they might want to spend more money on their computer system and customer service agent training. I sent a very long detailed letter with all of my confirmations via mail to their customer service department.

Regardless I am looking forward to my trip to Hawaii. thanks for all the comments including the negative ones, always good to get people's opinions. and also for the record that was the whole story. and I certainly don't get upset about things like this often. I'm sure we will be back to Royal Caribbean at some point.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Forums mobile app

I am so sorry for you having to go through this and Royal not rectifying it to your expectations! It points how schizophrenic the Royal CS is at handling problems especially to there most valued customers.

 

I hate to throw more on the fire but, I was in my Indy Nov. RC welcoming in more people! New pax mentions 2 in the party has never cruised and the other 2 have cruised once. She asked is it normal for Royal to offer Free Champs and choc. strawberries to make-up for the issue she called in about.

 

It tells me that the Royal CS is wicked Schizophrenic and no cconsistent way of handling issues. I guess this is a symptom of having large amount of contracted help.

 

Yet I am sure a lot of us have cruised on milestones, and got jack nothing! The agent that check me in for the cruise didn't even say enjoy your birthday cruise! These lack of details have been know to sink a company.

[Cruising_Tiger]

Spent 1 hour and 52 minutes on phone with RC "customer service" Spoke to 4 different people. Got so aggravated I cancelled my cruise.

 

Got off Freedom yesterday. There was a price drop today, $38.00 so I called and got a lady who had no clue. First she told me I'd lose my onboard credit, which was from booking onboard. I told her that was wrong. She called her supervisor, but accidentally had me on a conference call. THAT WAS INTERESTING. She adjusted the price, but told me insurance went UP, because price went DOWN???? I said fine, because it was still a $20 difference. I get my booking confirmation. She removed the insurance, and the price went UP by $20(with insurance removed). Had to call back...blah, blah, blah. Anyway, she added cruise insurance back and told me it would be same original price. Oh, and SOMEHOW, she changed my cabin number from 9540 to 9542, but nobody can tell me how or why that happened.

 

I feel bad I have to tell my husband I cancelled. We are diamond members, and enjoyed the Freedom very much, but might be going back to Carnival or try another line.

 

THANKS for listening to the rant. My Monday am back to work is now 2 hours late, and worse than usual

 

It's time for you to move to Princess. As long as we accept this level of service, RCL will give us more.

[Flafun888]

No, over bad customer service. Over being batted around, left on hold, and made to feel unimportant as a customer.

 

I totally understand that frustrated "last straw" feeling when you're trying to accomplish what seems like a fairly simple/straighfwd task and are met with a brick wall, runaround and companies who don't seem to respect your time at all.

 

Just want to point out that while most of us may question or ridicule the small financial amount someone may be disputing and logically say it's not worth the stress, I can't help thinking that if the situation was reversed and the person owed the cruiseline $38 more, or even $8 more on a $5,000 cruise and tried to point out how ridiculously small that amount was - "hey I already paid you 4,992...what's an extra $8 - that's so petty!" that cruiseline wouldn't budge an inch...nor would they book you before getting every last cent they were owed. Same with a $50k car or a 500k home. Somehow the smallest amount is never petty when it comes to the seller getting their money.

[Deeliteful]

But the advice you were given was to book it at the lower price you were quoted on the web site. Maybe you didn't understand the advice.

 

 

Paul and Grumpy you clearly don't understand my posts. I was trying to book on the website and it wouldn't give me the lower price it was quoting on the first page. Hence my frustration. So sorry you don't understand me! I tried both website and phone booking!

 

I'm all booked now so no worries. But why the sarcasm just beats me!

[mollyeilis]

Paul and Grumpy you clearly don't understand my posts. I was trying to book on the website and it wouldn't give me the lower price it was quoting on the first page. Hence my frustration. So sorry you don't understand me! I tried both website and phone booking!

 

I'm all booked now so no worries. But why the sarcasm just beats me!

 

OK so the price on the *first* page generally does not show ports fees and taxes. The price on the FIRST page is generally not the final price.

 

And if, especially on the US page, it says "starting at", well, your cabin might not have that rate.

 

And if the price quoted is for 2 people, but you have more in a cabin, you're going to expect to see more.

 

The first page doesn't really have a quote; it has a starting point. And on the US page especially, it's a starting point that INCLUDES any discounts. As you start to book, it shows the original price, then as you go further it will take off the amount for the discount, and towards the end you can click to see the breakdown. So you might very well see the original "quote" pop up again when you subtract the discount from original price , but then you'll see the total go up when they include port fees and taxes.

 

 

This issue with the discounts has been a near constant source of confusion and complication while talking about it (since no one ever shows screenshots for everything) for a while now!

 

 

 

And FWIW I didn't see sarcasm. I see extreme confusion, because a "quote" is a quote, and it should match the quote. If it's on the website then you should be able to book it. If it's the first page, it's not a quote. It's a starting place. Possibly just a matter of using words differently.

Edited June 3, 2015 by mollyeilis