My NEXTCRUISE experience

[dionr66]

Last october we cruised on the Anthem of the Seas. On our second day we decided to check out Next Cruise, after all we cruise twice a year and its been pretty much always RCC. The cruise attendant was curteous, polite and very knowleageable. We were looking for a similar cruise aboard a large ship for an april 2019 cruise. She offered us a Carribbean cruise aboard the Allure, and told us that she can garantee us suite for the same price as a balcony room! Wow you bet we said. So the suite is garanteed, it can be any suite depending if there were cancellations we could wind up with a grand suite for the price of balcony suite! Wow! So the worse case scenario would be a basic suite. Sure enough we gave her all our info, including our credit card and she told us that she would take care of everything. Omg we were thrilled. Wouldn't you?

 

So around January I decided to start planning our april cruise, I went to the RCC website clicked on the Already Booked, used the reservation number that the attendant gave us. Didn't work, checked again, same. I called RCC customer service, she could not help us!!!!!! But we booked using NEXTCRUISE on a Royal Carribbean ship???? What? The customer service person told me that my reservation number was not good! I asked her well can you rectify that and give us another number? She could not!!! She said I had to phone the Travel Agency company that booked our cruise! What? We booked by NEXTCRUISE. We found out that NEXTCRUISE uses a third party cruise travel agency!!!!! What? Not only that but our final payment for our cruise expired!!!!! But the NEXTCRUISE attendant assured us that she would take care of everything plus she had our email AND our credit card number. We went to see our regular travel agent and she lets me know that we were not the only ones that this happened to. So this is what you have to do when you get back from your cruise and you booked your next cruise through RCC'S NEXTCRUISE: as soon as you get home call your travel agent and let them know this, the travel agent will take charge of your reservation. Is this ridiculous or what. We lost the chance of getting a suite. Our travel agent contacted RCC's cruise travel agency and let tem know that we were not pleased at all. What we got was a partial refund of our down payment but the kicker is that the refun

[ONECRUISER]

Sorry for your situation. Many areas on Royal and other companies are Contract inc Sales and Photography. Have to keep track of Final payment date. May or may not get a reminder even if have a Travel Agent, if don't it will be canceled. You were lucky to get part of down payment back, most don't. Lot of Cruisers always use Travel Agent to help with their bookings, I prefer do it and keep track everything myself. Sorry again...

Edited March 16, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[Merion_Mom]

57 minutes ago, dionr66 said:

Last october we cruised on the Anthem of the Seas. On our second day we decided to check out Next Cruise, after all we cruise twice a year and its been pretty much always RCC. The cruise attendant was curteous, polite and very knowleageable. We were looking for a similar cruise aboard a large ship for an april 2019 cruise. She offered us a Carribbean cruise aboard the Allure, and told us that she can garantee us suite for the same price as a balcony room! Wow you bet we said. So the suite is garanteed, it can be any suite depending if there were cancellations we could wind up with a grand suite for the price of balcony suite! Wow! So the worse case scenario would be a basic suite. Sure enough we gave her all our info, including our credit card and she told us that she would take care of everything. Omg we were thrilled. Wouldn't you?

 

So around January I decided to start planning our april cruise, I went to the RCC website clicked on the Already Booked, used the reservation number that the attendant gave us. Didn't work, checked again, same. I called RCC customer service, she could not help us!!!!!! But we booked using NEXTCRUISE on a Royal Carribbean ship???? What? The customer service person told me that my reservation number was not good! I asked her well can you rectify that and give us another number? She could not!!! She said I had to phone the Travel Agency company that booked our cruise! What? We booked by NEXTCRUISE. We found out that NEXTCRUISE uses a third party cruise travel agency!!!!! What? Not only that but our final payment for our cruise expired!!!!! But the NEXTCRUISE attendant assured us that she would take care of everything plus she had our email AND our credit card number. We went to see our regular travel agent and she lets me know that we were not the only ones that this happened to. So this is what you have to do when you get back from your cruise and you booked your next cruise through RCC'S NEXTCRUISE: as soon as you get home call your travel agent and let them know this, the travel agent will take charge of your reservation. Is this ridiculous or what. We lost the chance of getting a suite. Our travel agent contacted RCC's cruise travel agency and let tem know that we were not pleased at all. What we got was a partial refund of our down payment but the kicker is that the refun

 

Do you have the invoice that the person at Next Cruise gave you?

[Ashland]

23 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Do you have the invoice that the person at Next Cruise gave you?

I hope the OP does...but sounds like they may not. I (and all of us) would never have gotten up from that desk with out that booking reservation hard copy in our hand. 

[ReneeFLL]

I have never heard about Nextcruise being an outside travel agency. When I needed to make changes to my booking when I used Nextcruise Royal has always made the changes. If it's from an outside TA they will refuse to help and tell you to call your TA. Will be interesting to hear what others have experienced.

Edited March 16, 2019 by ReneeFLL

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

I hope the OP does...but sounds like they may not. I (and all of us) would never have gotten up from that desk with out that booking reservation hard copy in our hand. 

 

4 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

I have never heard about Nextcruise being an outside travel agency. When I needed to make changes to my booking when I used Nextcruise Royal has always made the changes. If it's from an outside TA they will refuse to help and tell you to call your TA. Will be interesting to hear what others have experienced.

 

^^^^^  These.

 

Plus a copy of the invoice should have appeared instantly in your email.

 

The final payment date is printed on the invoice.

 

It is never anyone else's responsibility to make your final payment.  It is the customer's responsibility.

 

dionr66 - you seem to have had a booking number.  Where did you get that?  I assume from the invoice.  Then all of this information would have been on that invoice.

[nelblu]

As far as I know, the Next Cruise staff is employed by RCCL.  When on Symphony Feb. 2, booked an 11 niter on the Anthem.  Got an invoice immediately from the Agent with all of the specifics.  She asked me, based on my profile, if I wanted the reservations transferred to my TA.  I confirmed the transaction.  Got nice OBCs from TCCL & My TA.

 

Always received an invoice immediately at time of booking. 

[CRUISEFAN0001]

5 hours ago, dionr66 said:

The cruise attendant was curteous, polite and very knowleageable...

 

...So around January I decided to start planning our april cruise, I went to the RCC website clicked on the Already Booked, used the reservation number that the attendant gave us. Didn't work, checked again, same. I called RCC customer service, she could not help us!!!!!! 

That is indeed a problem. It's a shame you had to deal with what seemed to be a legitimate booking. Documentation is key to any such solution.

 

Then again...listening to what appears to be a "knowledgeable" person with a big smiling face doesn't guarantee they aren't dumber than a bag of hammers.  Hmmm...I could have sworn I saw someone just like that on the news the other day... 🤣

[oddly excitered]

We booked onboard anthem last month, went back to my room and logged on to RCIs website and our booking already showed. we did book a specific room though. after we were home a couple weeks got an e-mail from the big box TA site that we booked our anthem cruise on and they had our reservation without me transferring it. this surprised me so I called _ _'s travel and they didn't know how they got it either but they threw on some extra perks anyway!

[schmeed]

First thing you get when booking with NEXTCRUISE is a printed confirmation.  Did you get one?  If not, why didn't you ask for one?

[tennislvr8]

15 minutes ago, oddly excitered said:

We booked onboard anthem last month, went back to my room and logged on to RCIs website and our booking already showed. we did book a specific room though. after we were home a couple weeks got an e-mail from the big box TA site that we booked our anthem cruise on and they had our reservation without me transferring it. this surprised me so I called _ _'s travel and they didn't know how they got it either but they threw on some extra perks anyway!

If you used that TA before for a royal cruise, Royal has that info. They do usually ask if you want it transferred to that TA. 

[nelblu]

15 minutes ago, tennislvr8 said:

If you used that TA before for a royal cruise, Royal has that info. They do usually ask if you want it transferred to that TA. 

 

Exactly, and I have a choice of yes/no.

[dionr66]

Sorry i could not complete my post, my keyboard died on me. First of all, thank you for your replies. Yes I got an invoice, and it does show a third party cruise travel agency. So just to finish my initial post, I was refunded, only partially however. The kicker is that they refunded me in onboard credit for my next cruise!!!!!! I tried on many occasions to contact the third party cruise travel agency, could not get the line. Anyways we are booked on Allure for the march 31st sailing (through our regular travel agency).

I did phone Royal Carribbean and they could NOT help me with my NEXTCRUISE problem. Needless to say, this will not happen

again.

[Merion_Mom]

7 hours ago, dionr66 said:

Sorry i could not complete my post, my keyboard died on me. First of all, thank you for your replies. Yes I got an invoice, and it does show a third party cruise travel agency. So just to finish my initial post, I was refunded, only partially however. The kicker is that they refunded me in onboard credit for my next cruise!!!!!! I tried on many occasions to contact the third party cruise travel agency, could not get the line. Anyways we are booked on Allure for the march 31st sailing (through our regular travel agency).

I did phone Royal Carribbean and they could NOT help me with my NEXTCRUISE problem. Needless to say, this will not happen

again.

 

That travel agency would have been the one that you used before.  Probably the one that you booked your Anthem cruise with.  RC doesn't just make up random travel agencies and assign your booking to them.

[Jimbo]

We always go early in the cruise to book the NEXT CRUISE for a couple of reasond, avoid the crowds and to assure we get a confirmation before leaving the ship. There has been times too where I don't get the paper confirmation until the next day with the mail, info that is attached to our room number outside our cabin door...............Most times too I DO NOT have reservation transfered to my current travel agency because sometimes I like until I get home so I can shop for the best deal before turning it over to a travel agency.

 

I guess everyone does it different and has a different approach as to how to handle it, but most times we know exact sailing, shipand cabin we want before even going down to the Next Cruise desk before appointment is set........some people down there take for ever to set something up and that really becomes a pain and I think that pisses off the people that work down there and I think that is when mistakes can happen like the above poster is stating.

Edited March 17, 2019 by Jimbo

[dionr66]

When I received NEXTCRUISE confirmation from Royal Carribbean right at the top is the name of the third party travel agency: AIR CANADA VACATIONS CRUISE DESK, the RCC logo is right at the top. The name of the NEXTCRUISE attendant who served us appears on it also. Lol I am not making this up. Even though we reserved via NEXTCRUISE

Edited March 17, 2019 by dionr66
Keyboard problems

[blackshirt]

As others have noted, that TA listed on your invoice is the TA you have used before. Royal automatically transfers your reservation to your TA on record unless you specifically tell them not to. The Next Cruise staff is not a third party independent travel agency. I’m guessing your booking got cancelled because you missed the final payment. This had nothing to do with you booking onboard. Don’t blame Next Cruise.

[Jimbo]

8 minutes ago, blackshirt said:

 I’m guessing your booking got cancelled because you missed the final payment. This had nothing to do with you booking onboard. Don’t blame Next Cruise.

But even a canceled booking is trackable in rccl system, don't think that is the case here.

[Snit13]

As many frequent cruisers have posted in response to OP, it appears you dropped the ball.  I have booked Next Cruise with Celebrity and RCCL since 2008 and have never had an issue.  I have always been given a copy of my booking for my records.  Every single Next Cruise rep I have booked was an employee of Celebrity or RCCL as I always chat with them and ask about how many years they have been with the line, what other positions they have held, etc.  I never transfer to a TA as have had 2 very negative experiences with hometown TA's and have always had excellent service from the CVP's.  I just booked my 28th Royal Caribbean Corp. cruise and my 37th cruise over all.  Never had a negative experience except the 2 with TA's.  Afraid to try the big guys.  Sorry for your bad experience.

[katiel53]

My next cruise was booked onboard with the next cruise agent and she asked if we wanted the booking transferred to the agency we used for that cruise.  I told her no as I wanted to do a compete and see what was available.

 

We were booking 2 cabins so I had to sign a paper stating I didn't want it transferred as did my daughter-in-law.  We got confirmations while we were there and it had everything on it the we discussed.

 

When we got back home, I did my compete and booked with a different agency than the one used on the previous cruise.  I don't understand how there was such a huge misunderstanding with the OP and the cruise line.  

[cruisinmamma]

Does anyone remember when the benefit for next cruise changed from $100 OBC for a seven night cruise?

[Clarea]

17 minutes ago, cruisinmamma said:

Does anyone remember when the benefit for next cruise changed from $100 OBC for a seven night cruise?

 

Not sure what you are asking.  The OBC now is $100 for a 7-night cruise in a balcony or JS, with a non-refundable deposit.

[Tree_skier]

47 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Not sure what you are asking.  The OBC now is $100 for a 7-night cruise in a balcony or JS, with a non-refundable deposit.

Is that on top of any other promotion/OBC the website is offering?

[nelblu]

19 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Is that on top of any other promotion/OBC the website is offering?

 

 

Some are, as an example:

 

When I recently booked an 11 niter on Anthem while on board, the OBC was $200, plus  another $75 promo for a non-refundable deposit booking.

 

While checking my e-mails, got a promo from my TA, that RCL was offering  $175 in OBCs during the WOW sale.  Marched to the Next Cruise unit and was disappointed that it was not combinable with my C&A balcony discount of $350.  Terribly disappointed.

[Clarea]

51 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Is that on top of any other promotion/OBC the website is offering?

 

As far as I know, OBC from booking on board is combinable with other booking promos.