empress first 6 sailings canelled

[IndyKid]

As stated by someone earlier in this thread, there has to be more to what happened in dry dock for them to cancel all these sailings.

 

I work as a maintenance manager in an automotive factory, and there are jobs that we can only do when the production lines are not running, which means the weekend.

 

When I'm planning a job out, I will look at what's involved, and try to determine how much time and labor I need. I always allow extra time and I may schedule a few extra tradesmen because if the line isn't ready to run by Monday there will be hell to pay.

 

It sounds like maybe someone lowballed the work being performed, perhaps to save a few dollars. It's now going to cost them a lot more in lost bookings and bad PR, not to mention a lot of P.O.'d cruisers...:cool:

[IndyKid]

But lets be very clear here....what you are suggesting is NOT what Royal has offered.

 

Correct! But they SHOULD have!

[iMedic]

I think Royal should've offered a bit more in terms of airfare, along with more options for price protected sailings. However, I think that 50% off another cruise is not necessary, as they did give every one the chance to move to another Empress sailing, plus $200/$300 for airfare change fees.

 

I would gladly take the 50% off a future cruise or some other consideration. However as it stands now, I will never book another Royal cruise. They've lost a customer when they didn't have to. My partner and I would have gladly give them another opportunity if they had handled this issue properly. bit now we're spending more money on a weekend in key west and 4 days in south beach. Your loss RCL.

[Paulette3028]

As stated by someone earlier in this thread, there has to be more to what happened in dry dock for them to cancel all these sailings.

 

I work as a maintenance manager in an automotive factory, and there are jobs that we can only do when the production lines are not running, which means the weekend.

 

When I'm planning a job out, I will look at what's involved, and try to determine how much time and labor I need. I always allow extra time and I may schedule a few extra tradesmen because if the line isn't ready to run by Monday there will be hell to pay.

 

It sounds like maybe someone lowballed the work being performed, perhaps to save a few dollars. It's now going to cost them a lot more in lost bookings and bad PR, not to mention a lot of P.O.'d cruisers...:cool:

 

Royal has been in the cruise industry a long time, and I am sure they worked on the time line to properly handle the required work that needed to be done. That would lead me to suggest that something happened that took them totally off the projected plan.

 

Will we ever know all the facts involved? Probably not, and probably not for good reason. They would not want a competitor to know what happened, nor speculate what they needed to do to correct the situation.

[actuarian]

My wife and I are not (yet) affected by these cancellations since our Empress cruise is on June 6. However, I do think that RCCL's service to the people who were affected stinks!. What they should do (at minimum) is allow the people whose cruises were cancelled to substitute any cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship at the same per-night rate and in the same room category. For example, if a customer booked a 5 night cruise in a JS for $1000/person and that cruise was cancelled, the customer should be allowed to substitute a JS in any other cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship that has an available JS for the rate of $200/person/night. Any OBC should transfer and Royal should itself take care of all rebooking of airlines, hotels, ground transportation, etc. That is what customer service is all about and that is the kind of customer service that makes companies like Amazon, Disney and Apple so successful.

[Powersboyee2]

I believe the first itineraries became available on 12/21/15.

 

 

Which makes no difference with the planning and getting off of work. Same planning has to be done for a cruise 4 months away or one that's 2 years. Just needs to be done faster.

[yogimax]

They would not want a competitor to know what happened, nor speculate what they needed to do to correct the situation.

 

Not a good enough reason. This has nothing to do with corporate secrets per se.

 

RCCL needs to immediately explain what went wrong, take responsibility, apologize, fire the people responsible (if it was in their control) and increase the pitiful compensation they offered.

 

Period.

 

This is the only way to restore consumer confidence.

Edited March 20, 2016 by yogimax

[CotonSocks]

As of last night most of the crew and the entertainers made face book posts about it being their last night in Cadiz. So are they leaving or are they not informed also.

[John&LaLa]

Royal has been in the cruise industry a long time, and I am sure they worked on the time line to properly handle the required work that needed to be done. That would lead me to suggest that something happened that took them totally off the projected plan.

 

Will we ever know all the facts involved? Probably not, and probably not for good reason. They would not want a competitor to know what happened, nor speculate what they needed to do to correct the situation.

 

But some people do know.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I have to think at this point that a significant mechanical or structural issue came to light late in the workflow, and that she is being sent to Freeport to correct this issue. Also the time frame being roughly 4 weeks makes me think it's an engine or structural issue that they would have to await parts being machined, delivered and installed before she can be certified into service.

 

I feel empathy for those affected and I feel like RCCL probably waited as long as they could before pulling the plug. How and why they arrive at what move-over offers and/or additional compensation I will never truly understand, and I personally feel ALL the cruise lines are getting more "stingy" when these things happen.

[NIATPAC29]

RCCL= R eally C ould C are L ess

[LMaxwell]

Royal has been in the cruise industry a long time, and I am sure they worked on the time line to properly handle the required work that needed to be done. That would lead me to suggest that something happened that took them totally off the projected plan.

 

Will we ever know all the facts involved? Probably not, and probably not for good reason. They would not want a competitor to know what happened, nor speculate what they needed to do to correct the situation.

 

I am sure naval architects, engineers, PM's, etc. revolve in their own circles and know plenty. This is not like trade secrets to new designs.

[waterbugohio]

My wife and I are not (yet) affected by these cancellations since our Empress cruise is on June 6. However, I do think that RCCL's service to the people who were affected stinks!. What they should do (at minimum) is allow the people whose cruises were cancelled to substitute any cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship at the same per-night rate and in the same room category. For example, if a customer booked a 5 night cruise in a JS for $1000/person and that cruise was cancelled, the customer should be allowed to substitute a JS in any other cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship that has an available JS for the rate of $200/person/night. Any OBC should transfer and Royal should itself take care of all rebooking of airlines, hotels, ground transportation, etc. That is what customer service is all about and that is the kind of customer service that makes companies like Amazon, Disney and Apple so successful.

 

This makes the most sense of any post I have read on this topic in the last day. Why is it so hard to figure out to just give people back exactly what they paid for. Wouldn't be hard to figure out per day rate and tell people, ok you have this much to apply to any other cruise at any other time.

 

You sound like you would do a good job working for Royal!!!

 

We ended up and made out ok on our sailing. But mainly because of luck. Somehow we ended up convincing them to let us switch to navigator. And because of residency discount, only had to pay $65 per person for the change and extra day.

 

Since we normally fly in the day before, we will be there in time for sailing one day early. Just need to keep figures crossed as to no delays in flights. And I guess we will need to buy and pack our wine.

[Sianli]

On the phone now I cancelled the cruise and will get $400 for my flights. My total cost for the flights was $484 so I'm only out $84. I can live with that

 

Booked on b2b March 30 and April 4. Received email at 9:20 p.m. last night and 5:20 a.m. today--both into spam. Called at 3:00 a.m. and Majesty April 4th is sold out. We fly from Denver and were told limit of $200. Change fee only. How did you get them to refund $200. Pp with cancel? That would be our best option since airfare increases are so prohibitive? Also wondering how people heard yestwrday and were able to rebook before Majesty sold out? We booked directly and are feeling like people with travel agencies got first dibs/notification to re-schedule. We have 172 points with RCCL and only got soam email notification 24 hrs ago. So we either pay a total of nearly $1500. Out of pocket for new airfare and non refundable hotels to change or we lose $800. If we straight out cancel and lose airfare and hotel. Tough choice. Would like to get airfare refund you got. did you book with air choice? Or did you use a travel agent? Thank you.

[GUT2407]

Sounds like the TAs are still getting their commission.

[John&LaLa]

Sounds like the TAs are still getting their commission.

 

They know who's important

[Merion_Mom]

My wife and I are not (yet) affected by these cancellations since our Empress cruise is on June 6. However, I do think that RCCL's service to the people who were affected stinks!. What they should do (at minimum) is allow the people whose cruises were cancelled to substitute any cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship at the same per-night rate and in the same room category. For example, if a customer booked a 5 night cruise in a JS for $1000/person and that cruise was cancelled, the customer should be allowed to substitute a JS in any other cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship that has an available JS for the rate of $200/person/night. Any OBC should transfer and Royal should itself take care of all rebooking of airlines, hotels, ground transportation, etc. That is what customer service is all about and that is the kind of customer service that makes companies like Amazon, Disney and Apple so successful.

 

This makes the most sense of any post I have read on this topic in the last day. Why is it so hard to figure out to just give people back exactly what they paid for. Wouldn't be hard to figure out per day rate and tell people, ok you have this much to apply to any other cruise at any other time.

 

You sound like you would do a good job working for Royal!!!

 

We ended up and made out ok on our sailing. But mainly because of luck. Somehow we ended up convincing them to let us switch to navigator. And because of residency discount, only had to pay $65 per person for the change and extra day.

 

Since we normally fly in the day before, we will be there in time for sailing one day early. Just need to keep figures crossed as to no delays in flights. And I guess we will need to buy and pack our wine.

 

Logic? Sense?

 

They didn't give back 1/12 of their cruise fare to the people on the January 25 Anthem cruise. How easy would that have been? Nope.

[michigan45]

Voom was never free on Empress. $15/Day for 1 device which is an awesome deal, if it is fast as they say.

 

 

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[Merion_Mom]

Voom was never free on Empress. $15/Day for 1 device which is an awesome deal, if it is fast as they say.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

We settled that 10 pages ago. :D

[michigan45]

Well, good lol. I was booked on Empress in Jan and was more than willing to pay that rate.

 

 

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[Merion_Mom]

Well, good lol. I was booked on Empress in Jan and was more than willing to pay that rate.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Which sailing are you on? Lots of Roll Calls going.

[michigan45]

I think I am on the Independence of the Seas Roll Call for March 31, 2016. Less than 2 weeks...super duper excited!

 

 

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[ShannonSC2]

My wife and I are not (yet) affected by these cancellations since our Empress cruise is on June 6. However, I do think that RCCL's service to the people who were affected stinks!. What they should do (at minimum) is allow the people whose cruises were cancelled to substitute any cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship at the same per-night rate and in the same room category. For example, if a customer booked a 5 night cruise in a JS for $1000/person and that cruise was cancelled, the customer should be allowed to substitute a JS in any other cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship that has an available JS for the rate of $200/person/night. Any OBC should transfer and Royal should itself take care of all rebooking of airlines, hotels, ground transportation, etc. That is what customer service is all about and that is the kind of customer service that makes companies like Amazon, Disney and Apple so successful.

 

Yes I totally agree. Their customer service was horrible yesterday. When we called I could tell the guy dealing with us was frustrated that we were cancelling our cruise. He acted like it was our fault that we were cancelling. Well none of the summer dates were within our schedule and nothing was available on Majesty for next week. It is like we had 12 days to get on another ship!

 

I know that several ships sailing next week have availability on their ships but they aren't willing to let us go on one of those. Here is your choice: Majesty of the Seas and by the way it is full for spring break and you will lose one night but you have an extra port so you must pay more. Oh and by the way we aren't giving your money back for 4-6 weeks so you can't book another vacation!

 

Lucky for us we were able to book on another cruise line. Paid a little more but hey at least we are getting to do our graduation vacation for our oldest daughter.

[ShannonSC2]

The 50% is for the inconvenience & hassle of re-scheduling vacations, flights, the disappointment of having to wait several more weeks or months, etc.

 

Totally agreed! At least offer something a little better!

 

I wonder if other sailings will be affected. I will be curious to see if they cancel more and what kind of offers they get if they do.

[MCC retired]

Sounds like the TAs are still getting their commission.

 

Rightly so , it was not their fault.

Besides , they will take a hit if they rebook their clients @ 50% off commissionable future cruise fare.

Taking care of TA's who book over 65% of all cruises.

At times it may appear, here on CC ,that most everyone books direct , it just isn't so in reality.

Edited March 20, 2016 by MCC retired