Guaranteed cabin and rci have downgraded us

[Palmetto Pilot]

1 hour ago, fscool said:

According to the RCL UK site (where the OP booked, I believe) what RCL has done is violate their own marketing and advertising program.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/discover-cruise-holidays/guarantee-rooms/

 

RCL is not being truthful with how they are operating.  You cannot bait and switch like this.  

Agreed 100% and since the OP said they booked with a TA, then that TA needs to make it right.

[Homosassa]

8 minutes ago, fscool said:

 

I don't disagree with your post.  Companies are always protecting themselves. 

 

But can you find the "fine print" anywhere on this RCL UK page?

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/discover-cruise-holidays/guarantee-rooms/

 

Even the Booking T&Cs and UK Booking Conditions clearly state how the Guarantee program is supposed to work.  See below. 

 

1.8 WHAT IS A ‘GUARANTEE’ (GTY) BOOKING? We may (at our discretion) offer you the option of making a ‘Guarantee’ (GTY) booking. This means you may book a stateroom of a guaranteed minimum category type, (specified by us prior to booking) on your chosen ship. However, the exact location of the stateroom on the ship will be allocated by us (at our discretion) and at any time up until checking in at the Port. Once your GTY stateroom has been allocated to you, we are unable to accept any changes requested by you. The benefits to you of a GTY stateroom are that, after your booking has been confirmed, we may (at our discretion) upgrade your stateroom to one of a superior category to that originally booked at no extra charge to you. In any event, you are ‘guaranteed’ the minimum category of stateroom we agree to offer at the time of booking. The stateroom we allocate will be suitable for the number of guests occupying it and this may mean you are allocated a room with upper berths which are accessed by a ladder. Upper berths may only be used by guests over 6 years old so GTY staterooms are not recommended for young families. If you have a specific requirement regarding your stateroom, or stateroom location, or are travelling with family or friends, (especially children) you want to be near, then we suggest you do not book a GTY. At times, we may offer promotional GTY offers. Such promotional GTY categories are defined as follows: WS – Suite Guarantee * XB – Ocean View Balcony Guarantee XN – Neighborhood Balcony Guarantee YO – Ocean View Guarantee ZI – Interior Guarantee * – Suite layouts and benefits vary by category. We may allocate you an entry level suite without a balcony and/or which does not include the same benefits as a higher grade Please note: If you book 2 or more cruises to be taken back to back and either one or all cruises are booked under a GTY basis, there is the possibility that you will be allocated different staterooms on each cruise, therefore necessitating the need to move between staterooms on the changeover day between your back to back cruises

 

 

 

While this is in the UK contract,  there is additional fine print that has been overlooked.

 

Please check my previous post 64 for information. 

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, papaflamingo said:

"When is a guarantee not a guarantee?"

MORE ANSWERS:

When booked on Carnival, Holland America, Celebrity, Princess, Viking, Regent, Seaborne, Silversea, any cruise line

When booked on Delta, American, United, Southwest, any other airline

When booked into Marriott, Hilton, Westin, any hotel

When booked on Hertz, Budget, Avis, Dollar, Thrifty, any car rental

Shall I go on?  A guarantee is always subject to the fine print.  Best to read the fine print. 

I think the OP should, at very least, get some future cruise credits to go along with the OBC.  But the fine print is the fine print. Argue and complain, but when the decision is final,  Live with it or don't cruise. 

 

 

[swoopy2110]

1 hour ago, fscool said:

According to the RCL UK site (where the OP booked, I believe) what RCL has done is violate their own marketing and advertising program.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/discover-cruise-holidays/guarantee-rooms/

 

RCL is not being truthful with how they are operating.  You cannot bait and switch like this.  

 

The wording on the UK Website is:

"ALWAYS GUARANTEED

Whether you choose an Interior Stateroom or a Suite, you’re always guaranteed a room in your category – no matter what."

 

Pretty damning for them. They've got to give you a room in the category you booked.

[Biker19]

12 minutes ago, swoopy2110 said:

They've got to give you a room in the category you booked.

Or, provide enough incentive for you to take something else.

[John Reid]

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

"When is a guarantee not a guarantee?"

MORE ANSWERS:

When booked on Carnival, Holland America, Celebrity, Princess, Viking, Regent, Seaborne, Silversea, any cruise line

When booked on Delta, American, United, Southwest, any other airline

When booked into Marriott, Hilton, Westin, any hotel

When booked on Hertz, Budget, Avis, Dollar, Thrifty, any car rental

Shall I go on?  A guarantee is always subject to the fine print.  Best to read the fine print. 

I think the OP should, at very least, get some future cruise credits to go along with the OBC.  But the fine print is the fine print. Argue and complain, but when the decision is final,  Live with it or don't cruise. 

 

Live with it or don't cruise?

Oh, the little flamingoes must be so proud of Papa's wisdom.

The fine print seems to say RCCL is breaking the contract.

 

"That's 'cause it ain't hard

To get along with somebody else's troubles,

And they don't make you lose any sleep at night.

Just as long as fate is there bustin' somebody else's bubbles,

Everything's gonna be all right."

 

Steve Goodman

[mayleeman]

@John Reid To be fair, the daddy flamingo only said "live with it or don't cruise" about dealing with a "final decision"--i.e., when complaining and arguing don't provide an adequate resolution.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2019 by mayleeman

[Judyrem]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

 

LOL, that is the BEST, I miss Seinfeld.😔

[Judyrem]

22 minutes ago, Judyrem said:

LOL, that is the BEST, I miss Seinfeld.😔

Holding the reservation is the most important part.  LOL

 

This should be mandatory viewing  for every customer service rep in the  travel  business.

 

What happened to "the customer is always right"?

[ldubs]

Even with the very adhesive T&C's it is a service failure when something like this happens.  Glad to hear it is rare. 

 

To the OP, as others have said, put on the half full attitude and enjoy the heck out of your cruise.

[alistairg]

As said this is quite rare, but regards the T&Cs.

 

The UK has two laws, the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999.

 

Both these laws cover the situation where businesses write excessively one sided contracts that exclude liability for things that they could reasonably foresee and where they don't act in good faith.

 

I think this situation would be covered by this and you could easily bring a claim against RCL.

 

To be fair though  over the years I have had many arguments with businesses standing behind ridiculous T&Cs which they refuse to budge from. The reality seems to be that they know most people don't have the time to take them to small claims court when they invariably lose.

 

So the OP could take this to the small claims court.

 

Funnily enough in that scenario I am not convinced that they would get such more compensation.It is hard to put a value on the downgrade. Also it depends on what the compensation is relative to the original cost of the room.

 

The other possibility is to go to the credit card company and ask for a chargeback as they did not give the OP what they bought. Again though RCL will argue that what they have done is reasonable.

 

It may be worth threatening these things to get more compensation.

 

As an aside, assuming you don't have flights etc can you cancel and ask for your money back in this situation. I don't think RCL would have a leg to stand on if they refused this option. If nothing else considering whether you would rather cancel or accept their offer would perhaps put a better perspective on the problem. I know of course it is too late in this situation as they have left, but for others in the future.

Edited May 24, 2019 by alistairg

[Ergates The Ant]

Am I reading this correctly?

The OP is being refunded the difference between the price of an interior cabin, and a guarantee oceanview? So RCI are expecting them to pay full price for a cabin they didn’t want, because they can’t or won’t provide what the OP paid for?

I would be absolutely furious at such a derisory offer of compensation. OBC is only actually worth about a third of its on shore value, given the mark up on on-board prices, so RCI are getting away very lightly with failing to deliver what they contracted to do. 

 

What incentive is there for any cruise line to deliver to contract if there is no actual financial penalty if they fail to do so?

The OP should be properly compensated with not only a substantial cash refund, meaning that they get the interior cabin at a bargain price,  but also additional OBC, a complimentary speciality meal, and a bottle of bubbly as a minimum,  as an apology for the substandard service they have experienced.

 

And we should all expect that. Otherwise the agreement we enter into with cruise lines is worth nothing.

In addition, any cruise line that offered me credit towards a future cruise, after messing up a booking, would be adding insult to injury. Worthless, unless you are prepared to risk even more expense on a product that let you down the first time!

[MrMarc]

Too many people are acting like this is intentional..RCCL messed up.  They are not denying that.  Something went wrong somewhere and they didn't have the cabin.  They have acknowledged that they messed up and given compensation.  Whether or not the compensation is enough is between RCCL and the OP, and if the OP is unhappy with it lawyers and a judge.  

 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Ergates The Ant said:

OBC is only actually worth about a third of its on shore value, given the mark up on on-board prices, so RCI are getting away very lightly with failing to deliver what they contracted to do. 

Pretty sure the $300 OBC the OP is getting is refundable so it has 100% value (if not spent), not 1/3. Also, we don't know what price was paid for that OV GTY, to judge the % value the $300 compensation represents.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Biker19

[SRF]

22 hours ago, legaljen1969 said:

Enjoy your cruise.  You will have fun no matter where you sleep.  Like others have said, your cabin is basically a place to sleep and change clothes.   Just have fun. I am sure you will.

 

Maybe if you book lower categories of cabins.

 

Not necessarily true for all categories.

[mayleeman]

1 hour ago, MrMarc said:

Too many people are acting like this is intentional..RCCL messed up.  They are not denying that.  Something went wrong somewhere and they didn't have the cabin.  They have acknowledged that they messed up and given compensation.  Whether or not the compensation is enough is between RCCL and the OP, and if the OP is unhappy with it lawyers and a judge.  

 

 

An issue ignored by almost everyone is that the OP booked the GTY OV last October. How many believe that theirs was the last booking in that category? 

 

So, knowing whether or not RCI acted in bad faith would depend on knowing how many others selected GTY OV, how many of these booked after the OP did, and how RCI went about assigning GTY OV cabins during the 7 months before the OP ended up shunted to an IC. 

 

The fact that they ended up last in the game of musical cabins is inconsistent, it seems, with when they booked if it was indeed an overbooking issue. Overbooking should have resulted in the last booked GTY being the one left out in the cold. It is far more likely that RCI overlooked their booking deliberately (OP has no C&A status, after all) or inadvertently--only RCI knows, of course. And when the omission was found, sure, chalk it up to overbooking, the catchall that excuses glaring mistakes, ignored bookings, and, I think, intentional lies.

[bobbyandali]

I'm still stuck on the fact that it appears the travel agent is useless. I don't understand why people still use them. Their ONE value is that they are supposed to advocate for you, and use their connections, to deal with it when the crap hits the fan. 

[Iamcruzin]

2 hours ago, Ergates The Ant said:

Am I reading this correctly?

The OP is being refunded the difference between the price of an interior cabin, and a guarantee oceanview? So RCI are expecting them to pay full price for a cabin they didn’t want, because they can’t or won’t provide what the OP paid for?

I would be absolutely furious at such a derisory offer of compensation. OBC is only actually worth about a third of its on shore value, given the mark up on on-board prices, so RCI are getting away very lightly with failing to deliver what they contracted to do. 

 

What incentive is there for any cruise line to deliver to contract if there is no actual financial penalty if they fail to do so?

The OP should be properly compensated with not only a substantial cash refund, meaning that they get the interior cabin at a bargain price,  but also additional OBC, a complimentary speciality meal, and a bottle of bubbly as a minimum,  as an apology for the substandard service they have experienced.

 

And we should all expect that. Otherwise the agreement we enter into with cruise lines is worth nothing.

In addition, any cruise line that offered me credit towards a future cruise, after messing up a booking, would be adding insult to injury. Worthless, unless you are prepared to risk even more expense on a product that let you down the first time!

I agree. It would be my last booking with them under these circumstances. If they can’t satisfy me for this sailing why would I risk booking another cruise even with a 25% discount. This isn’t like skipping a port or an uncomfortable maintenance issue. OP paid for something and did not receive it. 

[Judyrem]

4 hours ago, Ergates The Ant said:

Am I reading this correctly?

The OP is being refunded the difference between the price of an interior cabin, and a guarantee oceanview? So RCI are expecting them to pay full price for a cabin they didn’t want, because they can’t or won’t provide what the OP paid for?

I would be absolutely furious at such a derisory offer of compensation. OBC is only actually worth about a third of its on shore value, given the mark up on on-board prices, so RCI are getting away very lightly with failing to deliver what they contracted to do. 

 

What incentive is there for any cruise line to deliver to contract if there is no actual financial penalty if they fail to do so?

The OP should be properly compensated with not only a substantial cash refund, meaning that they get the interior cabin at a bargain price,  but also additional OBC, a complimentary speciality meal, and a bottle of bubbly as a minimum,  as an apology for the substandard service they have experienced.

 

And we should all expect that. Otherwise the agreement we enter into with cruise lines is worth nothing.

In addition, any cruise line that offered me credit towards a future cruise, after messing up a booking, would be adding insult to injury. Worthless, unless you are prepared to risk even more expense on a product that let you down the first time!

Spot on.

[MrMarc]

Apparently, a lot of people think there is a room with a person in it that looks at each reservation and decides who they want to mess with.   I honestly think that the idea that this was intentional is...well...I just can't see it. 

[fscool]

Perhaps not that drastic, but there does seem to be somebody at RCL that decided to let this particular cruise be over-booked in this category.  Or perhaps it is an RCL policy to handle bookings this way and they simply got burned.  

[Ourusualbeach]

19 minutes ago, fscool said:

Perhaps not that drastic, but there does seem to be somebody at RCL that decided to let this particular cruise be over-booked in this category.  Or perhaps it is an RCL policy to handle bookings this way and they simply got burned.  

Or perhaps there was a mechanical or some other issue with one or more staterooms that they had to take them out of service for a while which has happened in the past.  

[not-enough-cruising]

On 5/23/2019 at 4:05 PM, legaljen1969 said:

So basically, it's sort of like buying a lottery ticket, only MUCH more expensive.  You pay for the chance to have a cabin on a cruise ship on a given date and itinerary and hope it will be available on the date you planned.  It sounds like they can do this down to the very last moment too. 

 

Now that most people have established that the "upgrade fairy" no longer exists, I guess now we all have to wait anxiously to see if we get visited by the "downgrade fairy." 

Don’t book a guarantee cabin and you’ll have nothing to worry about. 

[fscool]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Or perhaps there was a mechanical or some other issue with one or more staterooms that they had to take them out of service for a while which has happened in the past.  

 

Absolutely, which may have occurred in other situations.  Although in this case the OP said that their TA indicated it was due to an overbooking and there does not appear to have been any mention of an issue with the ship.

 

Anyway, this has been an interesting thread and I learned a few new things along the way.  Too bad that the OP had to experience this.

[Ourusualbeach]

37 minutes ago, fscool said:

 

Absolutely, which may have occurred in other situations.  Although in this case the OP said that their TA indicated it was due to an overbooking and there does not appear to have been any mention of an issue with the ship.

 

Anyway, this has been an interesting thread and I learned a few new things along the way.  Too bad that the OP had to experience this.

I agree about this being an unfortunate situation but trust me when I tell you that the information that TA’s get come from the same I’ll informed customer service reps that everyone deals with.   Besides,  taking one cabin out of service st the last minute would technically mean they are overbooked and no one would ever hear of these issues.  Just providing an alternate theory of which there are many as to the reason why the OP didn’t get the cabin they booked.