RCCL Doesn't Care

[cot427]

I've read multiple reports regarding both Oasis and Allure and guests haven't been offered a good alternative due to timing and/or pricing. It's absolutely absurd! I'm glad you were able to find Norwegian Getaway as a suitable alternative, I love that ship! But you're absolutely right...Royal doesn't care and it's a shame. Not a good reputation to have, that's for sure.

[cruisinforabruising]

I am one of those guests impacted by the cancellation.  The way RC handled this was horrendous. My kids are on spring break so choosing another week was not an option.  Offering the Allure was such a slap in the face.  We were on the Allure at the time of the cancelation and the staff on the ship was appalled by how it was being handled and even listened over the phone to the customer service reps.  We could not book on the Allure because it had no quads left for my brother and his family and no connecting rooms for myself and my kids.  The Rhapsody was never an option really because it lacked the connecting rooms for us.  I also find it amazing that CC has not done any story about this yet since there is such curiosity as to what "Emergency Maintenance" needs to be completed on the ship.  

 

In the end we booked on the Anthem which I really am not happy about since we lose 2-3 days of warm weather.  Also while they are giving 200 of OBC I lost 100 for each room of OBC by booking the Anthem because they are no longer running that promo.  So in reality my compensation was 100 of OBC.  After the dust settles from this cruise I will consider other lines since Royal has no interest in my business.  Loyalty means nothing to them so from now on I will just cruise based on my bottom dollar like they treat their customers.  We did not take the full refund option because this is for my Father's 60th birthday and he still wanted to cruise and was hesitant at the time to try another line.    

 

CC staff it's an embarrassment to your members/readers that you have not put any effort into reporting on this.    

[Biker19]

14 minutes ago, cruisinforabruising said:

I Loyalty means nothing to them so from now on I will just cruise based on my bottom dollar like they treat their customers.

Here's the issue, you should have been doing that all along.

[Biker19]

15 minutes ago, cruisinforabruising said:

CC staff it's an embarrassment to your members/readers that you have not put any effort into reporting on this.    

I suspect this (cancellations) are such a routine thing, that there's no need for CC to weigh in - plenty of user threads discuss the issue. What could CC say that is not already reported in the user threads?

[KuffMUp]

17 hours ago, Tapi said:

That’s messed up that’s your county is so strict about school absences, specially for trip related ones. We sailed over Thanksgiving and I asked my son’s teacher if there would be repercussions if we got the kids out of school two days early (we were flying to Rome few days prior to the cruise for a little pre cruise land stay). She said no and that it would be counted as an excused absence since it was an educational/cultural experience. I wasn’t expecting that but I was pleasantly surprised about it. She even had my son talk about his experience in front of the classroom upon our return. I wish that your experience were different. 

There is a major difference here between the teacher and the education service district.  The teacher may think it is hunky dory and the kid can make up the missed lessons easily but the bean counters at the service district are watching their federal dollars.  If the kid isn't in school, they lose their $$.  

 

Our Education Service District covers three counties.  They are separate from the individual school districts.  They are the ones who serve citations to parents whose children have been absent.  After they had trouble with irate parents, they asked me if our agency could serve the Compulsory Attendance Citations.  After citing many parents, some of whom had very sick kids, into court for their child missing school, we saw why they got so much grief.  We stopped serving them.  They are now begging us to serve them again.  My guys told me that serving the citations was more volatile than repossessing cars or kicking people out of their homes (one of the fine services your Sheriff's Office performs across the country!).  They don't care why the kid is not there, their object is to get the kid back in school so they keep their dollars. 

[Chipmoose]

Isn't this situation common to some of the other cruise lines as well? I had a similar experience to the OPs with CCL, and after a few discussions on what they could offer me, it was apparent that my best option was going to be the full refund, as none of the offerings they made were as good a deal as the great deal I originally managed to book,  or if they were, they just were not what I wanted. 

 

I believe that most of these cancellations are for legitimate reasons, (Charters not included).

Perhaps if itineraries opened up for booking only a year out, these cancellations could be decreased, but I would rather have the off chance of a cancellation than wait until a year out to see cruises open up. 

[MrCruzdoggie]

So if a hotel caught on fire and closed you would be mad that they didn't put you up in the Ritz, correct? 

[Pratique]

7 minutes ago, MrCruzdoggie said:

So if a hotel caught on fire and closed you would be mad that they didn't put you up in the Ritz, correct? 

This reminds me of a time a hotel was overbooked and didn't have a room for me despite a reservation. They were going to send me to another hotel in the middle of the night. I made a stink and they finally put me up in the penthouse suite. Not my fault they overbooked, I needed a place to sleep that wasn't miles away in an unfamiliar city. But hotels are a different story.

[MrCruzdoggie]

New Bumper Sticker....I can't wait til Sh!t Happens so I can B!tch about it

[CruiseDawg18]

23 minutes ago, MrCruzdoggie said:

So if a hotel caught on fire and closed you would be mad that they didn't put you up in the Ritz, correct? 

No.  If the ship caught on fire and sank I would be much more understanding.  I doubt that RCCL just decided to move the Oasis to its new port of call in Barcelona three months before doing so.  That's why they have to dry dock and perform updates for the transatlantic voyage.  Just saying if that's the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants planning that goes into RCCL's decision making, I would rather be on another cruise line. 

[Merion_Mom]

21 minutes ago, CruiseDawg18 said:

No.  If the ship caught on fire and sank I would be much more understanding.  I doubt that RCCL just decided to move the Oasis to its new port of call in Barcelona three months before doing so.  That's why they have to dry dock and perform updates for the transatlantic voyage.  Just saying if that's the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants planning that goes into RCCL's decision making, I would rather be on another cruise line. 

 

I would not be happy either that they would not just let you switch to the Harmony.  Enjoy your NCL cruise!  (and kudos to you for not taking your kids out of school.  🙂 )

[Tapi]

5 hours ago, KuffMUp said:

There is a major difference here between the teacher and the education service district.  The teacher may think it is hunky dory and the kid can make up the missed lessons easily but the bean counters at the service district are watching their federal dollars.  If the kid isn't in school, they lose their $$.  

 

Our Education Service District covers three counties.  They are separate from the individual school districts.  They are the ones who serve citations to parents whose children have been absent.  After they had trouble with irate parents, they asked me if our agency could serve the Compulsory Attendance Citations.  After citing many parents, some of whom had very sick kids, into court for their child missing school, we saw why they got so much grief.  We stopped serving them.  They are now begging us to serve them again.  My guys told me that serving the citations was more volatile than repossessing cars or kicking people out of their homes (one of the fine services your Sheriff's Office performs across the country!).  They don't care why the kid is not there, their object is to get the kid back in school so they keep their dollars. 

In my school district, they will also issue citations to parents whose children have been absent over a certain number of times. But it was explained to us at the beginning of the semester that only non-excused absences count towards these citations. Absences for medical reasons as well as absences for educational/cultural experiences as described above don’t count towards a citation. The school reports these absences differently and they appear in different columns in the quarterly reports. 

 

Even with that, we don’t abuse the system, and our last cruise was the first time I’ve ever taken my kids out of school to go on a trip. But it was the only way that we could squeeze in a Mediterranean cruise over Thanksgiving. We do have friends who religiously take their kids out for a week at a time to go on vacation because it’s more affordable. Some are Disney fans and that’s the only cruise line they sail on, but the only way they can afford it is by sailing when school is in session. 

[mugtech]

On 12/13/2018 at 8:54 AM, asalligo said:

We are also locked into one specific week for cruising with the family and I would be very upset about this. This is the reason we have ended up on Carnival ships so many times. Seems like they are often the only available option for our week.

 

For those of you who are thinking that they should just take the kids out of school. Our school district refers all cases to the county and you must go see a judge after six absences in a school year. Does not matter that your child is a straight A student as mine is or what they missed that time for unless they have a Dr's note. I have yet to find a doctor who will issue notes for cruises, but I am still looking. 

A medical reason to take a cruise?

[DISFANS3]

Big problem for both sides..

[SRF]

6 hours ago, mugtech said:

A medical reason to take a cruise?

 

Mental health reasons.

[drneal]

Windstar cancelled my cruise.

they gave my a $500 per person credit, $300 per person airline change credit, kept my OBC and the same fare I paid.

It was reasonable but an inconvenience to change to the week before due to the kids’ schedule. 

We have sailed on NCL Getaway and had a great time.

no need to be loyal to royal.

[Alter Ego]

15 hours ago, MrCruzdoggie said:

So if a hotel caught on fire and closed you would be mad that they didn't put you up in the Ritz, correct? 

 

“Fire” as a reason may be a bit extreme, but if I paid for a 4/5 star class hotel, I would expect to be put into another 4/5 star hotel. A 2 star hotel - at the same price as the 4/5 star - is unacceptable.

 

Would that really be okay to you?  

 

 

I appreciate that that this is a particularly busy week and that Royal’s hands are likely tied with regards to availability (particularly when they are trying to place over 6,000 passengers). But Rhapsody is not a fair replacement for Oasis without at least a significant credit given. I don’t blame the OP for complaining (although I think other cruise lines would likely do similar.)

[Paulxyz2004]

On 12/13/2018 at 2:33 PM, CruiseDawg18 said:

We booked our Spring Break family vacation on Oasis of the Seas in April of this year for the March 31, 2019 sailing.  RCCL cancelled our cruise for ship maintenance and left us with very few alternatives.  One choice was select a sailing on another week in March or April which we couldn't even consider unless we were willing to take our three kids out of school for a week which is frowned upon by the State.  Don't need DFCS showing up on my doorstep.  The next was to book for the same week on either Allure or Rhapsody.  Allure is the same class of ship so we jumped on that right away only to learn there were no rooms available that could accommodate our family.  That left Rhapsody, a ship half the size of Oasis with much fewer amenities and we weren't inclined to change to this ship for the same money we paid to sail on Oasis.  Spoke to the executive team at RCCL and asked if they would put us on Harmony for the same week but they said it was a bigger ship, more amenities, etc. than Oasis and they would have to charge us prevailing rates which would be an additional $2300.  They had no problem dropping us a class of ships but weren't willing to go up in class for their cancellation.  We have since booked on Norwegian Cruise Lines Getaway ship for the March 31, 2019 sailing.  I am very disappointed with the attitude I received from the RCCL team and this starts at the top with their CEO Michael Bayley.  He has lost touch with his guests! 

 

Bye bye and enjoy NCL.

[MrCruzdoggie]

13 hours ago, Alter Ego said:

 

“Fire” as a reason may be a bit extreme, but if I paid for a 4/5 star class hotel, I would expect to be put into another 4/5 star hotel. A 2 star hotel - at the same price as the 4/5 star - is unacceptable.

 

Would that really be okay to you?  

 

 

I appreciate that that this is a particularly busy week and that Royal’s hands are likely tied with regards to availability (particularly when they are trying to place over 6,000 passengers). But Rhapsody is not a fair replacement for Oasis without at least a significant credit given. I don’t blame the OP for complaining (although I think other cruise lines would likely do similar.)

I would quit whining and find a new place, simple.......................

[Alter Ego]

20 minutes ago, MrCruzdoggie said:

I would quit whining and find a new place, simple.......................

 

Continuing to use your hotel example...

 

But there’s a convention in town and most other hotels are now charging twice what you already reserved your room for.  But, to repeat the question asked - so you would be okay paying the same price for a hotel that is a lower class?  With no extra perks.

 

Honestly, the fact that your first post was sarcastic and your second post defensive kind of makes me think you would be doing quite a bit of complaining yourself while you search for your new place.

[PhoenixCruiser]

13 hours ago, Paulxyz2004 said:

 

Bye bye and enjoy NCL.

 

Really?  Did you even bother to read the details?

[MrCruzdoggie]

10 minutes ago, Alter Ego said:

 

Continuing to use your hotel example...

 

But there’s a convention in town and most other hotels are now charging twice what you already reserved your room for.  But, to repeat the question asked - so you would be okay paying the same price for a hotel that is a lower class?  With no extra perks.

 

Honestly, the fact that your first post was sarcastic and your second post defensive kind of makes me think you would be doing quite a bit of complaining yourself while you search for your new place.

 

Actually no, we take it in stride.

 I was on a plane 9/11 and spent a few days in Seattle after being diverted, I felt lucky to be safe.

As of today I've booked 51 cruises, 5 have been cancelled due to Maintenance or Charter and numerous port changes due to weather.

Each time it was an adventure to find something else.  

Believe it or not, there are others like me.

[broberts]

1 hour ago, MrCruzdoggie said:

I would quit whining and find a new place, simple.......................

 

14 hours ago, Paulxyz2004 said:

 

Bye bye and enjoy NCL.

 

It's my belief that the attitudes suggested by these posts act as enablers of poor corporate behavior. 

 

Suggesting that the OP is at fault for not accepting the situation with a smile is nuts. I doubt any of us would be happy with the situation. Most of us would make the best of it and figure something out, but none of us would be happy that the vacation we planned and paid for was not the one we got.

[cb at sea]

We've taken our kids out for vacations....not in high school, because they miss WAY too much, but in the lower grades....sure!   Of course, I was well acquainted with the school staff....spent tons of time helping in classes and volunteering, so they knew me well...that always helps!  

 

[SRF]

10 hours ago, broberts said:

 

 

It's my belief that the attitudes suggested by these posts act as enablers of poor corporate behavior. 

 

Suggesting that the OP is at fault for not accepting the situation with a smile is nuts. I doubt any of us would be happy with the situation. Most of us would make the best of it and figure something out, but none of us would be happy that the vacation we planned and paid for was not the one we got.

 

The point is, if you stay with Royal, you are accepting their actions.

 

If you go to another line, and enough people do this, they will change.

 

Complaining here will not change how they do things.  Vote with your dollars.