This is crazy

[kknorr0320]

We're still fighting with our insurance company because of Mathew. Now it's worse because of Irma. Insurance company wants us to pay a second deductible because they were more than a year apart.

We didn't file a claim. Our deductible is ridiculous and we figured we'd save more by not having our premium go up than they'd end up paying.

 

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[rukkian]

Wow! You seem quite upset. It must be terrible when everything doesn't happen just the way you planned it. Life isn't fair sometimes is it?

But I don't get it. Why are you ranting about Royal? What if your son's girlfriend realizes that the baby will be born early and they have moved the wedding to an earlier date and your spouse insists that you need to be there for the wedding? No fault of yours! What if your car gets rammed by a drunk driver, you are hurt and now recovering, and you are advised not to go on a long flight so soon after your surgery? No fault of yours! What if a heavy snowstorm shuts down all airports in the southern tier of Ontario and northern tier of New York and New England? Not your fault that you can't get to the embarkation!

Do you really expect Royal or any business to take pity on you? I wouldn't expect it. You signed a contract, you committed your $$$$ to going on their ship. They agreed to let you onboard for x days. If, for whatever reason you don't get on board, that is your issue, not theirs.

You have cruised before. You have heard and read stories about people who had travel problems, etc. You presumably had an opportunity to buy cancel-for-any-reason insurance. But you apparently took a gamble, decided to self-insure. You lost. Get over it and get on with life. Or start looking for alternative means to get to your ship.

 

Agree with all your points, and one more choice they made - they could have booked the air through RCI and then getting them to the embarkation would be something that RCI would be responsible for. They chose to ignore that and book on their own.

 

So many ways this person could have covered themselves and been good, but decided to forgo all of it, do it themselves, and self-insure. This is not RCI's problem and there is no reason they should be out money for it.

[jagsfan]

OP said they paid deposit. Didn't say they paid final. That must have been a whopping big deposit. If it was a nonrefundable deposit they should have been prepared to lose it if they cancelled. It's up to the buyer to be aware of the ramifications of anything going wrong.

 

 

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[deliver42]

This is 2017. It's always the other people's fault. There is no ownership of anything wrong.

[Jax129]

I know it seems sad but living in Cocoa Beach, I see the impact of tourist, It could be years before St Martin is back to what it once was. Going now supports the people. I'm sure the shop owners are desperate for tourist again to pay their bills

[dwayneb236]

Nice drive by okmokm

 

One hit wonder

[JonRegister]

I don't think its not right to go on vacation to place that was devastated by a storm one month ago.

 

Parts of Florida are still damaged from the storm. Is it ok to leave from a working port in a state that is still damaged?

[123funcruiser]

We were screwed by Royal Caribbean! Loyal RC cruisers 50 years old. Our 4th cruise (2 rooms) in 6 years. After trying big ships (Allure (2), Oasis) we thought we would try a smaller boat (Jewel) on December 30. We were 'told' everything was fine by RC so we paid for our deposit. But I thought RC would be fair. Our flights were just cancelled as Air Canada has cancelled ALL flights to San Juan. RC will not return $3200. I would be ok if we lost $1000 or $1500 but $3200? For no fault of our own. The situation in San Juan and some islands is bad but RC cannot be trusted. Unless they change how they are treating us very soon, that will be my last RC cruise. I will move to a competitor - which I would not think will be as nice a cruise but customer service matters ... and RC seem to have forgotten that.

 

Doesn´t sound like you were screwed by RCI. Sounds more like you were screwed by Air Canada.

 

Just recently two European airlines went bancrupt (Monarch and Air Berlin) and stopped all their flight operations. I know a few people who´s flights to cruises were cancelled. None of them got their cruises refunded, nor expected the cruiseline to refund the money. It´s due to non of their fault just as in your case and it´s not the fault of the cruiseline either.

 

 

BTW I assume with Air Canada you got your money back for the flight and could use it to book another flight. The people affected by the bancrupcy won´t get any money back at all. They have to book new flights and pay for the flight again or cancel the cruise and eat the loss of cancellation fees. It is all about the airline though and the cruiseline has nothing to do with it.

[skiiergirl]

Received another phone call yesterday from our jewelry salesman in St Maarten. He said they are more than ready for the tourists! The shopping area is cleaned up. Restaurants open. Shops open. No customers though. He said they go to work and just have to make phone calls to clients trying to sell something. He said any sale will help!!! He said "please come as soon as you can"! "Please tell me what you need and I can ship it to you." These folks want and NEED the tourists back so they can survive!!!!

[alfaeric]

Received another phone call yesterday from our jewelry salesman in St Maarten. He said they are more than ready for the tourists! The shopping area is cleaned up. Restaurants open. Shops open. No customers though. He said they go to work and just have to make phone calls to clients trying to sell something. He said any sale will help!!! He said "please come as soon as you can"! "Please tell me what you need and I can ship it to you." These folks want and NEED the tourists back so they can survive!!!!

I got a similar e-mail a few days ago. Saying that they are donating money with every purchase.

 

I wish we could go down earlier, but there's no question that we are going to visit San Juan, St Thomas, and St Maarten. And instead of looking at stuff, we are going to try to find the people we have gotten to meet and make sure that some of us have not forgotten them (or intentionally not visiting).

[Thetrail]

Im supposed to go on a cruise in the beginning of December. When I did final deposit they had substituted st Martin and Puerto Rico for other islands. Now RCL is saying they will be the first to go back to these ports. I think its horrible, that they would vavaction were so many people are suffering. RCL should be giving money and time for these people to heal. I feel its not cool to be vacationing while people are living without food, power and clean water.

Please call RCL cooperate and tell them this is wrong 305-539-6455.

I think not....:rolleyes:

[ChrisdK1]

So many replies already that I can't read them all so apologies if I am repeating...

1. RC couldn't return if the ports weren't open. So seems like they are being invited back. The local governments wouldn't open the ports if they weren't ready or needing the revenue.

2. I have read about offers of "humanitarian cruises", so perhaps you could transfer to one of those?

3. I have also heard mention of "humanitarian shore excursions", so perhaps that is worth looking into? If one is not already organized, try your roll call, try your local church to see if they have any contacts, or pick a church on the island you are visiting and see how you can help.

 

 

Shoretrips.com has humanitarian excursions where you can volunteer for a day or half-day. I believe the money that you pay for excursions goes to the charity, but not 100% sure. Btw, I'm not a travel agent, nor do I work for shore trips, but I had seen these excursions and am considering doing this with my teens as a teaching tool.

[gbcruise]

Im so confused, why is that nobody care about donating money and time. RCL has allot of money there stock is over 120. They can easily make new ships, why can't they help out the islands.Why is RCL the only cruise liner that is going back now?

 

Do you know that money hasn't been used to help these islands by Royal? It takes the port authority to bring a ship in so if the port allows the ship in then they are ready and waiting for the influx of money to start the rebuilding process. Seems maybe if one feels so bad about what those on the island need then they can cancel their vacation and take funds and go help personally on the island. That would be a win-win.

The problem consists of limited choices, when no choice is the golden choice, you still have to make a choice and sometimes only time will tell if it's the right one.

[gbcruise]

Shoretrips.com has humanitarian excursions where you can volunteer for a day or half-day. I believe the money that you pay for excursions goes to the charity, but not 100% sure. Btw, I'm not a travel agent, nor do I work for shore trips, but I had seen these excursions and am considering doing this with my teens as a teaching tool.

 

This is great information to know. Do they have documentation to show that the costs are getting into the proper hands? If so, where please? I always want to vet this type of thing and if it proves legit then I would do this in a heartbeat!

[ChrisdK1]

This is great information to know. Do they have documentation to show that the costs are getting into the proper hands? If so, where please? I always want to vet this type of thing and if it proves legit then I would do this in a heartbeat!

Hi, I looked again at their website to find more info. This is what they've said about the excursion cost:

ShoreTrips GIVE was developed to connect travelers with ongoing volunteer projects in the Caribbean. To accomplish this, ShoreTrips has partnered with Hope Floats, a non-profit foundation, which has agreed to organize these activities and to provide a meet and greet representative. The fee to participate in a GIVE activity covers all administration costs; the fee is not tax deductible.

 

I suppose you could contact Hope Floats if you want more info on how the money is used.

[jagsfan]

By the way, thanks to Royal Caribbean and local governments, St Thomas's Magens Bay is restored and ready for visitors. OP probably wouldn't care that RCI pitched in to help.

 

 

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[FSUNole]

Im supposed to go on a cruise in the beginning of December. When I did final deposit they had substituted st Martin and Puerto Rico for other islands. Now RCL is saying they will be the first to go back to these ports. I think its horrible, that they would vavaction were so many people are suffering. RCL should be giving money and time for these people to heal. I feel its not cool to be vacationing while people are living without food, power and clean water.

Please call RCL cooperate and tell them this is wrong 305-539-6455.

As I'm sure others have said, these islands need your money. There are many excursions where you wouldn't notice there was a hurricane. Consider it a humanitarian effort on your part... forced upon you, but yet it is still humanitarian. I went to Key West shortly after it reopened and took the opportunity to WAY over tip the servers and bartenders. They had been SO long without income.

[skiiergirl]

Beautiful sunny day in St Thomas. We had a "letter" on the bed stating that while we might see some hurricane damage we should know that the islanders are very happy that we are here.

[teddybear231]

It's not wrong. These islands depend on tourists. The sooner the better for them. Where do you think their money will come from without tourist $$$$???

 

Exactly, a lot of these people probably rely on tourist dollars.

 

I remember when we went to St. Martin this past May and there was apparently a powerful storm the night before. The captain announced all tours would be cancelled because of unsafe roads, and they advised us to stay near the port. Well, when we got to the pier and the locals heard about this they were furious. I remember our cab driver telling us they need the ships to come in and do the tours so he could feed his family.

 

So I do see your point about Puerto Rico needing some time to heal, but I think that most of them are happy the tourists are returning.

[Drill2dk]

How is going now? cruise ship cancelling ports last minute. That's a WOW.

[alfaeric]

How is going now? cruise ship cancelling ports last minute. That's a WOW.

 

Where? Puerto Rico is begging people to visit San Juan, and the reviews from St Thomas are saying the exact same thing.

 

Again- cancel your cruise so that someone with some real compassion can take your place.

[bucfan2]

Where? Puerto Rico is begging people to visit San Juan, and the reviews from St Thomas are saying the exact same thing.

 

Again- cancel your cruise so that someone with some real compassion can take your place.

 

 

Can't be said any better than that!!

[mollyeilis]

How is going now? cruise ship cancelling ports last minute. That's a WOW.

 

 

 

What?

[Tommy3putts]

This thread just wont die

[davekathy]

This thread just wont die

 

The title of the thread now makes sense.