Anthem of The Seas - Warning Unobstructed Balcony

[pjinaz]

My family went on the Anthem of the Seas five day cruise to Bermuda.  We booked 2 balcony cabins - NOT obstructed view.  We got on the ship and one of the cabins was obstructed, the other was not.  My daughters had already unpacked in the balcony cabin that was not obstructed and were a little upset when they had to pack up and switch cabins with me, but, I was paying!  I went to guest services, stood in line over 45 minutes and finally was able to speak to a customer service agent.  I explained the problem and he spent 15 minutes looking at something on the computer and then said he had to get a supervisor. 

 

The supervisor came over and I explained that I booked two balcony cabins, not obstructed view, and one was obstructed.  She asked me the cabin number, looked it up and said yes it's obstructed (no kidding) and that I should have known it was obstructed and that I should NOT have used a travel agent and walked away.  No kidding, the rudest cruise ship employee I have ever encountered. 

 

I went back to my cabin, called my travel agent who said it does not show obstructed in her deck plans or booking engine, but she would call Royal Caribbean.  She emailed me back and told me that Royal Caribbean says it's NOT obstructed and she had me email her pictures.  Royal Caribbean then told her that the ship would have to take care of it, not them.  My travel agent emailed RCCL asking them to notify the ship of the problem.  I went on RCCL's website and did a mock booking for October and that cabin showed as a regular cabin, NOT obstructed.  I had to email my travel agent everyday and she had to email RCCL everyday. 

 

Finally the day before we got off the ship we got a letter saying sorry for the confusion, but we will offer you a 20% discount on a future cruise in the next 12 months.  I feel like this was way too little way too late. Maybe if they would have treated me with respect and looked into the situation and offered me almost anything, I would have been happy, but my having to beg them to fix the problem they created is ridiculous.  I doubt I will be cruising RCCL every again.  This was the worst customer service I have ever encountered on a cruise ship.  I have been on several RCCL cruises and have loved them all, but not anymore.

 

I met another family after the cruise in New York City who said they also had a problem with their cabin.  It was above the smoking area and the area is not shown on the deck plans.  The cruise line didn't want to do anything for them either.  I guess when you get to be a corporation this large you can treat your customers badly.

[Biker19]

Even if they wanted to, unlikely any cabin would have been available - trying to fix something like that on the ship is too late. 

[reallyitsmema]

What was the cabin number and what was the obstruction?  

[Ken at the beach]

Sorry to hear that.  Could you share the cabin number and pictures so that others may avoid it.  

Edited June 25, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[RainbowBear]

Surprised by your interaction with GS as we think Anthem generally has the best team in Royal Caribbean.  Did you discuss the problem with Next Cruise because that office should notify Miami of the booking problems encountered?  Guest Service cannot change cabin classifications because they come out of shoreside departments.  Next Cruise might have more influence.  What was the nature of the obstruction?  What deck was it on?

[Baron Barracuda]

When we book a ship we haven't sailed before we always do a web search on our cabin number.  More often than not there are reviews out there.  There are also web sites that flag best and worst cabins on each deck.

 

Cautions about outdoor smoking area towards rear of deck 5 starboard have been mentioned on this site a few times.  Can impact cabins several decks up.  Definitely an area to avoid.

Edited June 25, 2019 by Baron Barracuda

[reallyitsmema]

If I were to guess, it is a deck 7 balcony that has a partial obstruction from one of the lifeboat davits.  Cabin 7274 is one of the cabins that has an obstruction.

[pjinaz]

It was cabin 7600, I believe.  I did quite a bit of pre cruise planning and have not had this happen to me in the 25 plus cruises I have been on in the last 20 years.  I understand things happen and I'm sure the ship was full and another room probably wasn't a possibility.  My main issue was they way they handled it.  Being rude and telling me it was my fault for using a travel agent, when their own company says it's not listed as an obstructed balcony.  I would have expected that they would apologize on the spot and give me something, I don't really care what, but to acknowledge there was a problem and try to make me, the customer feel appreciated

[Merion_Mom]

Many of these Deck 7 cabins are classified as obstructed on the Ovation.  Apparently, Royal Caribbean has learned its lesson, on a certain level.

[Iamcruzin]

58 minutes ago, pjinaz said:

It was cabin 7600, I believe.  I did quite a bit of pre cruise planning and have not had this happen to me in the 25 plus cruises I have been on in the last 20 years.  I understand things happen and I'm sure the ship was full and another room probably wasn't a possibility.  My main issue was they way they handled it.  Being rude and telling me it was my fault for using a travel agent, when their own company says it's not listed as an obstructed balcony.  I would have expected that they would apologize on the spot and give me something, I don't really care what, but to acknowledge there was a problem and try to make me, the customer feel appreciated

First of all I agree that the way they treated this situation was uncalled for. However after following this board for over a year it seems to be par for the course when it comes to customer service and Royal Caribbean. I had issues in the MDR that could have been easily fixed but were just ignored. I especially love how they offer you 20% off of your next cruise. Basically that is just self-serving for them. They could have offered you the difference  in price between an obstructed view and an unobstructed view as an on board credit. I enjoyed my trip on the Anthem enough to over look the short comings of my room steward and the service in the MDR. I have to say that this is the first time in over 30yrs of cruising that I didn't tip my room steward extra above the daily service charge. The wait staff tending bar and walking around asking if we wanted drinks made up for the lack of services elsewhere on the ship. This was the first time that we tracked down our bar tenders at 2 venues on the last night and tipped them what the room steward and MDR would have received.

[Hoopster95]

45 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Many of these Deck 7 cabins are classified as obstructed on the Ovation.  Apparently, Royal Caribbean has learned its lesson, on a certain level.

 

The good news here is that the OP paid for the lowest priced "non-obstructed" cabin to get one on deck 7, as deck 8 and higher are classified differently (and higher priced). Deck 8 view is not that much better looking down,2 other than the davit directly in front of the deck 7 cabin.

 

I checked a few future anthem sailings... the deck 6 obstructed cabins seem to be not priced much lower than those deck 7 "unobstructed" cabins... at the very least they could've offered the OP obc in the difference. After all, the deck 7's on Ovation are sold as obstructed as Merion_Mom already said.... and so should Anthem.  Unfortuantely, many regulars here on CC know that RCI = Really Consistently Inconsistent.

 

This thread is a perfect example that a TA just can't possibly know every nuance and idiosyncrasy of all 1000 cabins on each and every cruise ship all over the world (how many are there??) Homework is necessary, and a simple google search of the cabin number, cabin classification & ship will say so much (plus the images), let alone the search tool at the top right of this page (every Cruise page you visit).

[Thorben-Hendrik]

10 hours ago, pjinaz said:

I have been on several RCCL cruises and have loved them all, but not anymore.

Welcome to the new RCCL!🙄

[Thorben-Hendrik]

5 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

However after following this board for over a year it seems to be par for the course when it comes to customer service and Royal Caribbean.

Welcome to RCI customer service!👍

[suesnake2002]

I did not find guest services very nice on anthem. Me and hubby both have deluxe bev pkg. (Required, considering we are in same cabin)Recieved a drink charge from the casino bar. Was doing a slot pull, hubby took my card and got me and him a drink. When i went to guest services I was made to feel like i was stealing. Asking me did i order 2 drinks at once. Did i get a reciept. Then they finally called the casino bar to have them authorize the removal of the charge. 

[Iamcruzin]

8 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

The good news here is that the OP paid for the lowest priced "non-obstructed" cabin to get one on deck 7, as deck 8 and higher are classified differently (and higher priced). Deck 8 view is not that much better looking down,2 other than the davit directly in front of the deck 7 cabin.

 

 

This is a picture of my deck 6  6264 unobstructed view sitting down. Even though Jamies is directly below I would rather have this view than the one the OP had. The condensation and salt on the glass in the morning was more of an obstruction.  

[Iamcruzin]

5 minutes ago, suesnake2002 said:

I did not find guest services very nice on anthem. Me and hubby both have deluxe bev pkg. (Required, considering we are in same cabin)Recieved a drink charge from the casino bar. Was doing a slot pull, hubby took my card and got me and him a drink. When i went to guest services I was made to feel like i was stealing. Asking me did i order 2 drinks at once. Did i get a reciept. Then they finally called the casino bar to have them authorize the removal of the charge. 

Now you are getting me started. I had the refreshment package and DW had the deluxe package. The MDR (American Icon) couldn't get it right. My wife ordered a glass of wine every night and I ordered either a coke or sparkling water. My card always was charged for the wine. One night they charged me for everyone's wine who was at our table. They all had the deluxe package. It was a blessing in disguise that the beverage service was so horrendous every night that we were only able to get one beverage each and never received coffee or tea let alone a cordial with dessert. I could understand them making a mistake if we gave them the wrist bands to scan but we always used our cards when we ordered drinks there and we specifically told them who had the deluxe and who had the refreshment. Evidently they are just scanning one card for the table. One out of 4 cards was the refreshment package and that's the one they scan. I wish I had that kind of luck in the casino.

[Woodmnky]

We had room 7298 on Anthem and had a similar view. GS  told us sorry not sorry and refused to do anything for us onboard and referred us to Customer Service on land. Customer Service on land kept repeating the same line about RCI not considering these to be obstructed since they do not block the view of the horizon therefore they do not feel that they impede the quality of the view for customers. I ended up having to go to a supervisor of a supervisor and was only given $50 in OBC towards our next cruise. I'm still a bit ticked off about the whole thing. It wouldn't be hard for Royal to make a partially obstructed view category and include these rooms in it, but they choose not to because that would likely end up loosing them money. 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Woodmnky

[johnjen]

You can book unobstructed until you're blue in the face. If the obstruction is there due to maritime and/or shipboard maintenance reasons or it's a crane blocking your view - you can try ruining your vacation by stressing over it constantly but they don't have to do anything for you and that's reality. For example, when we go on our upcoming cruise, if the balcony is blocked for operational necessity - I know my argument is pointless.

[johnjen]

15 minutes ago, Woodmnky said:

We had room 7298 on Anthem and had a similar view. GS  told us sorry not sorry and refused to do anything for us onboard and referred us to Customer Service on land. Customer Service on land kept repeating the same line about RCI not considering these to be obstructed since they do not block the view of the horizon therefore they do not feel that they impede the quality of the view for customers. I ended up having to go to a supervisor of a supervisor and was only given $50 in OBC towards our next cruise. I'm still a bit ticked off about the whole thing. It wouldn't be hard for Royal to make a partially obstructed view category and include these rooms in it, but they choose not to because that would likely end up loosing them money. 

That's not an obstructed view. It's shipboard equipment and it's not completely blocking your view.

[Biker19]

Just now, johnjen said:

That's not an obstructed view. 

It is considered as such on Ovation.

[johnjen]

3 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

This is a picture of my deck 6  6264 unobstructed view sitting down. Even though Jamies is directly below I would rather have this view than the one the OP had. The condensation and salt on the glass in the morning was more of an obstruction.  

Ugh....is that the smoker's thing? Gross. Yeah, that would need to be reviewed big time, even for me, LOL. Your posts are great btw.

[PCWalton1]

In September we will be on Ovation for a 10 day Hawaii cruise. We booked a Deck 7 cabin they list as obstructed, 7262. Not sure what the obstruction will be but I really don't care as we are paying just $1,630.60 for the two of us. 

[AnnaNicole]

1 hour ago, PCWalton1 said:

In September we will be on Ovation for a 10 day Hawaii cruise. We booked a Deck 7 cabin they list as obstructed, 7262. Not sure what the obstruction will be but I really don't care as we are paying just $1,630.60 for the two of us. 

You booked obstructed view - why would you have an issue?   
 

The OP booked an UNobstructed view balcony.    The cabin she got has an OBSTRUCTED view.   She is entitled to get what she paid for whether or not it affects her enjoyment of the cruise.   RCI should have, at the very minimum, refunded her the difference between the cabin categories.    

[ONECRUISER]

55 minutes ago, AnnaNicole said:

You booked obstructed view - why would you have an issue?   
 

The OP booked an UNobstructed view balcony.    The cabin she got has an OBSTRUCTED view.   She is entitled to get what she paid for whether or not it affects her enjoyment of the cruise.   RCI should have, at the very minimum, refunded her the difference between the cabin categories.    

If you read thread thats the posters point, Anthem is Unobstructed. Same deck cabins on Ovation list Obstructed. Same objects partially blocking view in both

Edited June 26, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[AnnaNicole]

6 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

If you read thread thats the posters point, Anthem is Unobstructed. Same deck cabins on Ovation list Obstructed. Same objects partially blocking view in both

 

Exactly.  She purchased an Unobstructed view and got an obstructed view cabin.    The Anthem cabin should also be sold as an obstructed view.    RCI should compensate her.