Royally Clueless

[kruzerci]

With the year long BOGOHO sale finally over (for the time being) I thought I would price out long weekend Bahamas cruise.

 

I received an email two nights ago welcoming us back home from our Independence cruise and offering $50 off the total stateroom cost. Of course this offer excludes Crown and Anchor rates. We generally do a JS, but since I am fine with an ocean view room for a three night cruise, so this offer would work out for us.

 

The fine print in the email says Offer is combinable with WOW sale booking bonus and 30 for 30 savings promotion. Use savings code "SAILAGAIN".

 

As I expected, the offer code was not recognized on the website. So I called to reserve. To make a long story short, I told the agent I wanted to use the savings code from the email I received. The agent then said the system did not recognize the code :rolleyes:. Ok, typical. I'll deal with that later.

 

We went on and discussed pricing. This is where it really gets good. I asked to verify that this reservation was eligible for the $50 OBC from the WOW sale for 3-5 night sailings. The agent said no and insisted that the 5 day WOW sale was not combinable with the 30 for 30 sale.

 

At this point it is becoming comical because based on my email from Crown and Anchor, the "SAILAGAIN" savings code is combinable with both the 30 for 30 and the 5 day WOW sale. Meanwhile the agent telling me that none of the three promotions are combinable with each other, even though the website is advertising the 5 day WOW sale as including the 30 for 30 sale discounts.

 

Moral of the story, Royal Caribbean has no idea what emails and offers they are sending to the guests, their agents have no idea what offers are combinable with which fares and promotions.

 

What started out as the fun idea of a spur of the moment long weekend in the Bahamas turned into thirty minutes of frustration at the hands of Royal Caribbean's call center. I could have just gone ahead and booked it and sorted it out with another representative, but it's just ridiculous.

 

Anyways, instead of taking the price-inflated and then modestly discounted weekend cruise, we're going to West Palm.

[Clarea]

The reservation process is starting to border on the absurd.

[orville99]

we got the 30 for 30 and the D+ balcony discount, but that wiped out the $100 WOW sale OBC, which is what I expected to happen

[cruisingsince94]

What number did you call? If you called the main call center I can understand the likely ineptitude.

If you did call them, why not C&A directly? They sent the email to begin with and it has been my experience to call them direct as you get a much better response time as well as an actual knowledgeable agent.

Edited June 16, 2015 by cruisingsince94

[molly361]

It's sad, very, very sad:(

[Sherri914]

What number did you call? If you called the main call center I can understand the likely ineptitude.

If you did call them, why not C&A directly? They sent the email to begin with and it has been my experience to call them direct as you get a much better response time as well as an actual knowledgeable agent.

 

But it's sad that one would need to call C&A directly in order to get accurate pricing. Correct information should be the standard, and is what one should expect, when calling any business's reservation or customer service call center.

[cruisingsince94]

But it's sad that one would need to call C&A directly in order to get accurate pricing. Correct information should be the standard, and is what one should expect, when calling any business's reservation or customer service call center.

 

30 for 30, 5 day WOW, C&A welcome back, C&A discounts, resident discounts, military, senior, etc. All at the same time, some combinable, some not. It's not always easy to keep it all straight when it's constantly changing.

Correct information should be the standard but when it comes to a central reservation center it's not that simple.

I worked at a central reservation center for Marriott and it was virtually impossible to keep up with all the promos being run as the information was NEVER provided in a timely manner. The customers often had information before we did.

Edited June 16, 2015 by cruisingsince94

[Paul65]

In reality, the agents shouldn't even need to be well versed in which offers are combinable with others. That should be correctly programmed into their reservation system. They seem to have some IT problems with getting that kind of stuff straight. Of course, sometimes it works in the customer's favor, if things get combined that are NOT supposed to be, according to the fine print.

[jticarruthers]

They seem to have some IT problems with getting that kind of stuff straight.

 

More like the IT department accidentally gets things right on occasion.

[kruzerci]

What number did you call? If you called the main call center I can understand the likely ineptitude.

If you did call them, why not C&A directly? They sent the email to begin with and it has been my experience to call them direct as you get a much better response time as well as an actual knowledgeable agent.

 

 

I've actually been told that if you call the C&A number and press 1 to make a new reservation, you are transferred to the reservation call center just like you would be calling the main number. But if you want to modify a booking or need help with your C&A account, you will talk to somebody at C&A.

[TC1957]

30 for 30, 5 day WOW, C&A welcome back, C&A discounts, resident discounts, military, senior, etc. All at the same time, some combinable, some not. It's not always easy to keep it all straight when it's constantly changing.

Correct information should be the standard but when it comes to a central reservation center it's not that simple.

I worked at a central reservation center for Marriott and it was virtually impossible to keep up with all the promos being run as the information was NEVER provided in a timely manner. The customers often had information before we did.

 

It is a shame they cannot invent a machine that would provide information to the customer service representatives electronically and that would allow them to directly interface with a system for making reservations.

 

Hopefully one day electronic innovation will make that possible...we can only hope.

 

:rolleyes:

[xpcdoojk]

I never have these problems, because I use a TA...

 

Why use the system that causes frustration, make the TA do it.

 

jc

[orville99]

I've actually been told that if you call the C&A number and press 1 to make a new reservation, you are transferred to the reservation call center just like you would be calling the main number. But if you want to modify a booking or need help with your C&A account, you will talk to somebody at C&A.

 

I always call the C&A 800-526-9723 number and have the person who answers the phone make the reservation for me.

[BillOh]

With the year long BOGOHO sale finally over (for the time being)

 

For what little its worth, when I saw this read, I hovered my mouse over the title and got the above preview. Ironically, I also got an email a few minutes ago saying, "It's back!"

[Sherri914]

I don't know how much of a sale that latest WOW was. My fare went up by a couple hundred dollars, and the OBC went down by $100. Oh well.....

[kruzerci]

For what little its worth, when I saw this read, I hovered my mouse over the title and got the above preview. Ironically, I also got an email a few minutes ago saying, "It's back!"

 

 

Oh my God....

[Ocean Boy]

In reality, the agents shouldn't even need to be well versed in which offers are combinable with others. That should be correctly programmed into their reservation system. They seem to have some IT problems with getting that kind of stuff straight. Of course, sometimes it works in the customer's favor, if things get combined that are NOT supposed to be, according to the fine print.

 

Now there's an understatement.

[cruisingsince94]

I've actually been told that if you call the C&A number and press 1 to make a new reservation, you are transferred to the reservation call center just like you would be calling the main number. But if you want to modify a booking or need help with your C&A account, you will talk to somebody at C&A.

 

That could be the case. I know that when I worked a for Marriott at their central reservation center, customers who dialed a local number thinking they were actually talking to a specific Marriott property was actually talking to one of the reservation centers.

 

I manage to avoid that I think by identifying the cruise I want and placing a courtesy hold on it. Once I have the booking number I then call C&A directly and get them direct as it's an existing booking. I let them do the rest of the work such as adding any promos, balcony discounts, or whatever else applies to get the best deal.