Royal Caribbean excursion nightmare

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Here is a quick update. We had another call from the excursion desk this morning to schedule a time when all of us (those that took this tour) could all meet this evening. I do hate to waste any more time on this, but will go and see what they have to say (both to help myself and to support the others that took this excursion). I do think that we will actually be speaking with the excursion manager this time. Fingers crossed.

 

To those of you that indicated that it depends on how things are handled, I do agree. However, in this case, we all simply explained what had happened to us to an individual behind the excursion desk that didn't have the authority to do anything (none of it angily - we were actually all pretty sure that there would be no question at all that a refund be issued). Beyond that it was in an elusive managers hands that rendered the 50% decision only by speaking directly to the vendor and none of us.

 

I'll let you know what outcome we see tonight.

 

PS Sorry for the long-windedness and lack of paragraphs in my original post. I know better...just in vacation mode! ;)

 

PPS St Lucia (today's port) is lovely! :)

Good to hear!

 

Sounds like you took the high road, and now are (finally) getting the much-needed attention from someone with the authority level to act upon the situation. Great news.

[OCruisers]

What a horrid experience! Shocked you weren't given a FULL refund. :eek:

[SherriZ366]

Thanks for documenting and keeping CC in the loop.

[gerif]

Sorry for your terrible experience - thank you for the updates.

[Loyal2RCCL]

If you don't receive a satisfactory resolution onboard, I strongly encourage you to contact RCCL's Post Cruise Customer Service and lodge the complaint with them. We had a similar situation in Belize and the ship did nothing, however RCCL Customer Service refunded us in full, plus gave us a FCC for a future cruise. If all else fails, contact your credit card company and dispute the charge for the excursion.

[searoses]

People who needed to swim to shore need their money back....not obc!!!!.....what a nightmare!....if you get anymore resistance post on their fb,too...

[spookyfudge]

I guess I will book all my own tours if rci dosnt back them to full satisfaction. Remember we are paying a premium to use their tours!

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Forums mobile app

[Deatsch]

My GAWD, do you not know the word "paragraph"?

[bouhunter]

I wouldn't waste time complaining further onboard. I would take my 50% now and note that I am not satisfied.

 

When you get home, you can send an email to Royal (edit this one to 1/3 and use paragraphs).

You were in a tough spot because if you refused to go they probably would have said you weren't entitled to anything. On the other hand, you risked your life for $75 pp (I don't know the price).

 

Regardless, I would expect my money to be returned in full. But don't waste your time now trying to do it.

 

Good advice........ I wouldn't even know the story if I hadn't spotted the edited version provided by someone else a couple posts later. No way I'd try to read that mess.

Edited September 16, 2015 by bouhunter

[Guest maddycat]

Good luck with getting a full refund. I can't believe that they had a 16 year old as one of the tour guides.

[cruizeblues]

We had a similar experience with the "Rhino Rider" excursion in St. Maarten minus the bad weather. Those little water craft are terribly unreliable, they have engines like lawn mowers, with a rip-cord starter & choke. Every boat stopped working at some point on our way back to the marina! Two had to be towed back! I can only imagine how much worse it would have been in rain, lightening and rough water!

[ali3pt14]

Thank you to all of you that sent words of support. My final update is that upon speaking with the excursion manager, we have all received 100% refunds. Additionally, the guest services manager called to apologise for the run-around we received when attempting to report our fiasco in the first place. I am satisfied that Royal has made this right.

[alexkrn46]

Thank you to all of you that sent words of support. My final update is that upon speaking with the excursion manager, we have all received 100% refunds. Additionally, the guest services manager called to apologise for the run-around we received when attempting to report our fiasco in the first place. I am satisfied that Royal has made this right.

 

Thank you for the update, glad Rccl made it right,sorry you had to jump through hoops,

[Droop]

Glad to hear that all went well with your refund.

 

I can understand your frustration with getting the issue resolved. I remember an excursion in Key West when we had taken a kayak excursion through a mangrove tree reserve. It was booked through the ship.

 

The excursion should have been cancelled ahead of time because when we got into the kayaks and headed towards the area...the tide was so low that we ended up having to get out of the kayak (because it constantly was getting stuck). Needless to say it was not an enjoyable excursion. The tour operator should have realized that the tides were low and should have cancelled.

 

We did fill out the survey on the excursion and explained everything to them about what occurred. There was no reply. At this point I usually tell everyone about the excursion and have it get out by word of mouth.

 

I think that the owner of the your excursion should have been aware of the possible threat of lightning from a safety perspective and should have cancelled and honored the request from the people who didn't want to participate.

 

I'm glad that R/C resolved your complaint. I'm so glad that we have Cruise Critic!:D It really gets the word out to everyone!

[LuCruise]

I'm so sorry you had to go through that and thank goodness you are all ok. So scary. I agree that you should get 100% refund as not only was it horrible experience, but they put your lives in danger.

 

PS - Just read your latest update and am glad that Royal did in fact refund you. Can't believe it was so difficult. Hope this didn't spoil your cruise

Edited September 17, 2015 by LuCruise

[Hotel CA]

Good advice........ I wouldn't even know the story if I hadn't spotted the edited version provided by someone else a couple posts later. No way I'd try to read that mess.

 

Always good for a laugh. Someone posts an horrific story that is actually very relevant to CC and half the replies are Punctuation and layout critiques.

 

It is as if the story was not nearly as relevant as the telling to many herein. I guess there must be a lot of English teachers (active, retired and wannabe) on CC, n'est-ce pas?

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Thank you to all of you that sent words of support. My final update is that upon speaking with the excursion manager, we have all received 100% refunds. Additionally, the guest services manager called to apologise for the run-around we received when attempting to report our fiasco in the first place. I am satisfied that Royal has made this right.

Excellent!!

 

Your persistence paid off, and keeping a cool head as well.

 

Glad to hear you have been satisfied.

[tropiclvrs]

Always good for a laugh. Someone posts an horrific story that is actually very relevant to CC and half the replies are Punctuation and layout critiques.

 

It is as if the story was not nearly as relevant as the telling to many herein. I guess there must be a lot of English teachers (active, retired and wannabe) on CC, n'est-ce pas?

 

Very well stated and I'm glad you spoke up on this. I can't believe how rude some people are. :rolleyes:

 

To the OP, so glad this worked out and they made it right. I'm just sorry you had to waste so much time in doing so.

Edited September 17, 2015 by tropiclvrs

[RocketMan275]

Thank you to all of you that sent words of support. My final update is that upon speaking with the excursion manager, we have all received 100% refunds. Additionally, the guest services manager called to apologise for the run-around we received when attempting to report our fiasco in the first place. I am satisfied that Royal has made this right.

 

Now that this is finally resolved to your satisfaction, I'd like to compliment you on the very good way you handled this. I've owned Personal Water Craft (PWC) and a couple of bass boats. It is very unsafe to be on the water in either during lightning. I would not have left the dock.

 

BTW, I've been in similar situations. Now I look back on them as some of the great adventures of my life. When you go through something like that, you learn something about yourself and the things you can accomplish when necessary. It's all about how you react when you have to face adversity.

[Arzeena]

Thank you to all of you that sent words of support. My final update is that upon speaking with the excursion manager, we have all received 100% refunds. Additionally, the guest services manager called to apologise for the run-around we received when attempting to report our fiasco in the first place. I am satisfied that Royal has made this right.

 

Glad to hear that! You all deserved a full refund and some compassion. It sounds like a terrible experience, and I am happy that all made it safely. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[Trainman-2]

If you know the name of the company that operated the tour you can do a review on Trip Advisor. It may not help but it will probably make you feel better.

 

Also:

 

Send a nice letter to RCI about it. RCI takes pride in vetting their excursion operators and your letter will go into the operator's file. It may be enough to get them "de-vetted" immediately or when it is time to renew their contract.

[moknits]

I guess I will book all my own tours if rci dosnt back them to full satisfaction. Remember we are paying a premium to use their tours!

 

Thank you! The tours through RCI are often double the price than booking on your own. Many people assume (wrongly, I guess) that you're paying extra because you have a reputable company like RCI backing the excursion. But, if it doesn't make a difference, save yourself the markup!

[emeraldcity]

I'm so glad that RCI made this right. This entire excursion was mis-handled from the very beginning.

 

I hope the reset of your cruise is fantastic.

[Big_G]

Well done. Glad you got your refund.

[Big_G]

Thank you! The tours through RCI are often double the price than booking on your own. Many people assume (wrongly, I guess) that you're paying extra because you have a reputable company like RCI backing the excursion. But, if it doesn't make a difference, save yourself the markup!

 

We're mostly on our own when cruising and do very few ship or private excursions anymore and I agree ship excursions were mostly more expensive but when we did a ship excursion, it was nice to have a recourse for a bad experience once back on the ship.