Royal keeps canceling my Brilliance sailings!!

[RoyalDiamond]

We booked Brilliance out of Tampa for 4 sailings next year in our favorite junior suite, 1100. We booked Jan 19, 23, 28, and Feb 2. We booked about 6 months ago.

 

The first hit....the Jan 19 sailing was chartered, so we had to juggle our bookings. No problem, since it was the FIRST in our string of 4 back-to-backs. We moved it to Feb 6, at the END of our back-to backs. And 1100 WAS available. How lucky. And extra OBC was given. So we now had Jan 23, 28, Feb 2, and 6.

 

The second hit...the Feb 2 sailing was chartered. More difficult to deal with, as it was the 3rd of 4 back-to-backs. They offered price protection on the Jan 28 sailing. I informed them that we were ALREADY on that sailing. DUH. So, they knocked the price down to price protect us, and gave MORE OBC.

 

But we didn't want to sit in Tampa for 4 days now from Feb 2-6. I checked, and the Feb 6 sailing said "sold out." HIGHLY unlikely this far away. They DENIED that it was cxld over and over again. I decided to leave it there, and booked Rhapsody overlapping, as the back corner was also available.

 

The third hit...I JUST RECEIVED an email stating the Feb 6 cruise is chartered. Um DUH...I've known this for MONTHS!! So, more OBC and price protection coming! So we are left with Jan 23 and 28 on Brilliance, and Feb 4 on Rhapsody.

 

I just wish they would be more forthcoming about this information. They continually DENIED the cancellations, even thouh I suspected them MANY months ago!! So we had THREE cruises canceled. Luckily I was proactive enough to "fix" our plans BEFORE Royal informed us of the issues.

 

I really don't mind as we are flexible. But others may not be so lucky. We ended up with an extra $600 OBC ($200 for each canceled cruise), and price protection, which saved us over $1000. But beware if booking Brilliance out of Tampa. I understand this happens every winter!

 

As Pinnacle members, we understand the cruise line needs to be profitable and make good business decisions. But, DON'T sell cruises that are going to be chartered, then take MONTHS to inform us of the cancellations!!

 

Peter

[cb at sea]

You're right...in winter months, they will take ANY big bookings they can....and charters are cheaper then, so most groups flock to those dates!

 

At least, you know how this works, and were proactive with your plans!!!

[John&LaLa]

Sold out = bad news

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

So sorry!!!

 

I REALLY wish that they would implement some kind of system by which they notify the companies who do charters (and the agencies who work with them) say a month in advance of releasing new dates what the itineraries will be. Then they have until say a week before public release to book a full-boat charter. Once the dates are released to the general public, a company could look into becoming a large group on the cruise but a full-out charter would be a no-go.

 

That seems the fairest thing to do if you ask me.

[reallyitsmema]

Pretty sure this happens every year because of a car dealership that offers a free cruise if you buy a car. Just an FYI just in case you think of booking these same cruises again.

 

Still stinks though.

[Sailor_Sally]

Pretty sure this happens every year because of a car dealership that offers a free cruise if you buy a car. Just an FYI just in case you think of booking these same cruises again.

 

Still stinks though.

 

I hear the commercials all the time . The KIA dealership in Northport,fl offers a free cruise on the Brilliance with a car purchase & now with a car lease .

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Pretty sure this happens every year because of a car dealership that offers a free cruise if you buy a car. Just an FYI just in case you think of booking these same cruises again.

 

Still stinks though.

 

See, this is what I'm meaning. They know they will always be chartering this cruise. So contact them and other groups/companies/whatevers who always charter sailings every year before new dates are released. Say "Here are the itineraries. They will be released to the public on Date X. If you would like to fully charter a sailing, you must do so with contract signed by one week before Date X. After that, full ship charters will be unavailable for these sailings."

 

It just seems to me that something like that would make far more sense business-wise than this constant dance of allowing people to book then saying "Whoops, a company came along who wanted the whole ship. So too bad for you..." I think eventually this practice will bite them in the butt.

[riclop]

Time for a change, ship or line.

[monctonguy]

They should tell you as soon as they know.

 

But it seems Brilliance is notorious for that as well as large groups that take over the ship.

 

Based on my last cruise on Brilliance, it is not at the bottom of my list which is too bad as I enjoy Tampa and the ship itself but.

[drhall]

I hear the commercials all the time . The KIA dealership in Northport,fl offers a free cruise on the Brilliance with a car purchase & now with a car lease .

 

Wow. I bought my car in the wrong state!

[jimmyzwei]

So sorry!!!

 

I REALLY wish that they would implement some kind of system by which they notify the companies who do charters (and the agencies who work with them) say a month in advance of releasing new dates what the itineraries will be. Then they have until say a week before public release to book a full-boat charter. Once the dates are released to the general public, a company could look into becoming a large group on the cruise but a full-out charter would be a no-go.

 

That seems the fairest thing to do if you ask me.

 

What kind of business man would you be if you turned down an offer to fill/sell out your ship because the customer didn't plan 2 years ahead. Bet this happens more on the shorter duration cruises than on the longer ones.

 

Good to see the OP was flexible and could adjust. Sounds like they also did well financially.

Edited May 20, 2016 by jimmyzwei

[drhall]

Getting your sailing chartered is unfortunate. It happened to me five months before embarkation for my honeymoon cruise (which was placed tightly between the wedding and our return to work), so flexing our plans to make another cruise wasn't an easy feat.

 

It makes good business sense to displace and compensate the 100-500 pax who have already booked, rather than pass on a charter (who pays in full for 3000+ pax) and spend the line's own marketing money and efforts on filling a sailing...and always risk it sailing under capacity. Why not take the money up front and guarantee the ship sails full, the bars/restaurants/shops have plenty of customers, and the excursions always sell out? Money talks in this world. RCI listens. Sad truth.

 

Hopefully it doesn't happen to my December Brilliance sailing, though! Lol!

 

Happy cruising.

[SRQfireman]

I hear the commercials all the time . The KIA dealership in Northport,fl offers a free cruise on the Brilliance with a car purchase & now with a car lease .

Now if was only the 1 sailing, and it was Fasicillo Kia chartering the ship, here's something that you could do that would be H-U-G-H (for those of you that know this commercial that's on every channel, you'd know what I mean)

So here's how that would go down.(if you were only missing the 1 leg)

"Mr Fasicillo......I'd be willing to buy this Kia Soul from you if you could guarantee me that I'd be in cabin 1100 on your cruise......"

"O.K. Mr _______ .......Here's the bottom line.....give us your 2001 Kia _____ and $15,000. and we'll give ya this new Soul and cabin 1100 on our cruise......O.K....where do I sign?" :eek:

"oh......and if you are willing to sign up for this deal now, I'd be willing to throw in a car full of hamsters"

Edited May 20, 2016 by SRQfireman

[gumbeaux58]

These charter sailings are the same company doing back to back music theme cruises. I'm on one of them and may do another. They are Monsters of Rock, Cruise to the Edge, and Moodies Cruise. Nothing to do with a car dealership program.

Edited June 20, 2016 by gumbeaux58

[sjudis]

Please don't tell me we might have a problem November 19-23 [emoji51][emoji51][emoji51]

[Firefighterhoop]

They chartered my Brilliance Halloween cruise as well :mad: THE DAY AFTER I BOOKED IT!