NEW- ROYAL CARIBBEAN ANNOUNCES UPDATES TO 2021 SUMMER CRUISES

[rockmom]

12 minutes ago, webecruzin2 said:

Thank you for posting this. Looks like things are good for you and your group, that's great.
I was curious about the OBC,  we also have 2 balcony cabins booked on the May22 sailing (1 aft) and when I just called RC  the rep said only those that had their cruise canceled, not replaced with the Independence are getting the OBC.
I like  your rep better than mine.😊   I didn't argue, we'll just wait and see.
When I asked if they will be able to assign an aft cabin she just said you will be reassigned in the category you were originally booked in. 
Of course they don't have as many aft balconies on the Indie so that remains to be seen. 
Thanks again for the information, I'll post here if when I here when they update our reservation as well.

I also was booked in an aft cabin. But the category for those on Brilliance is different than the category on Indy. The rep I spoke to said I'd be moved to the same category. I asked him specifically if that meant I'd lose my aft cabin and he said he wasn't sure, but again stressed that it would be the same category, not necessarily the same location.  😕  So I'm pretty sure I'm losing my aft balcony.  He also said that once I got the new assignment I could always call to see if there's something I like better.  Because yeah, that's not a pain in the a$$.  And by then, who knows what will be available.  

[LXA350]

We shouldnt get to excited as of yet. Various factors will need to change over the next months / until spring time.

 

The COVID issue will not be gone and unless countries will accept travel / lifting quantine restrictions based on negative COVID tests it will be difficult for all those itinaries to take place. Even if most ships will sail, we will still need to expect last minute cancellations / itinarary adjustments + restrictions when going on land which would only be possible with ship excursions, hopefully not though.

[Billy Baltic]

15 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

We shouldnt get to excited as of yet. Various factors will need to change over the next months / until spring time.

 

The COVID issue will not be gone and unless countries will accept travel / lifting quantine restrictions based on negative COVID tests it will be difficult for all those itinaries to take place. Even if most ships will sail, we will still need to expect last minute cancellations / itinarary adjustments + restrictions when going on land which would only be possible with ship excursions, hopefully not though.

While I agree changes are likely, I don’t believe that frees RC from their obligations to provide the vacation that was paid for. Changes should involve proper compensation. People are paying for a specific product, not a generic one of RCs choosing. 

[kands6191]

2 hours ago, webecruzin2 said:

I was curious about the OBC,  we also have 2 balcony cabins booked on the May22 sailing (1 aft) and when I just called RC  the rep said only those that had their cruise canceled, not replaced with the Independence are getting the OBC.
I like  your rep better than mine.😊   I didn't argue, we'll just wait and see.
 

I feel like our rep was legit on this because I could here him saying to himself, "OK, Brilliance to Independence, balcony cabin......It's $200." It sounded like he was truly looking it up. But I will wai and see.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

While I agree changes are likely, I don’t believe that frees RC from their obligations to provide the vacation that was paid for. Changes should involve proper compensation. People are paying for a specific product, not a generic one of RCs choosing. 

Read the fine print of your cruise contract 

[celoplyr]

Im pretty furious. I was on the Brilliance sailings that got switched to the Jewel for my family reunion cruise... 4 cabins and I had used up my OBC from a last minute cancelled cruise to purchase shore excursions, drink packages, internet, etc...

 

All of it cancelled. All of it higher priced now- I estimate (although shore excursions aren't in yet) I would have to spend an extra $400 to get the same stuff. I called. Supervisor "yeah i mean I can't offer to match the price you paid, and i can't give you onboard credit to make you even, maybe thanksgiving will have the same price". Um. No. $40 pppd drink package is rare, and is mostly because rcl isn't running. Yes $43 pppd is good, but with 8 people thats an extra $250.... On a switch that they did! I can't even get a full accounting because they don't have the shore excursions in yet. 

 

And they totally messed up our rooms- it's a f'ing sister ship. Why did they not give the exact same room assignments??? And they gave 2 couples 2 rooms we had, but not the same 2 couples. (My parents got my uncle's room?)

 

I have the number for corporate and will be calling Monday. 

[TinkBellaMom]

These threads are full of people who got the shaft.  I wonder if anyone at RCCL reads any of them.

This whole changing of ships and elimination of cruises is just the icing on the cake of 2020.  I frankly don’t understand any of it. I know it sounds dramatic but they need us to come back to cruise, have confidence that things will return to a somewhat normal place.  How can RCCL do this to loyal customers and get them to come back?

Our cruise was flat out cancelled, we booked it 2  1/2 years in advance, we will rebook for 2022 and live with the fear of them canceling again.

I wrote the company with my concerns but I’m certain they won’t respond.  I don’t feel they really  care.  

[Billy Baltic]

10 hours ago, Ashland said:

Read the fine print of your cruise contract 

I agree it’s in the fine print but in the current climate they can ill afford to alienate people who are cruise ‘fans’. Casual cruisers will be few and far between in 2021 and possibly longer. 

[bouhunter]

11 hours ago, TinkBellaMom said:

 

Our cruise was flat out cancelled, we booked it 2  1/2 years in advance, we will rebook for 2022 and live with the fear of them canceling again.

I wrote the company with my concerns but I’m certain they won’t respond.  I don’t feel they really  care.  

Ours was cancelled too (Jewel October 2021).  We aren't rebooking anything any time soon.  It will be interesting to see how long we wait to get our deposit back.  Thankfully we hadn't bought excursions, dining, beverages etc yet so at least they didn't have much of our money. 

[Sunshine3601]

On 9/24/2020 at 6:21 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

I'll light a candle

Have you checked airfare for the jewel baltic sailing?  We booked exact same flight we were booked for this past august and its half the price for 2021.

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Have you checked airfare for the jewel baltic sailing?  We booked exact same flight we were booked for this past august and its half the price for 2021.

 

Right now I see right at $2200 rt MCO for business

Not bad, but two connections.  I'll wait until i see more choices

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Right now I see right at $2200 rt MCO for business

Not bad, but two connections.  I'll wait until i see more choices

We booked refundable fare with SAS Airlines out of Newark (EWR) with premium economy - which is pretty nice - did it once before with SAS and you get all the same perks (free luggage, lounge access, free food and alcohol).    RT non stop flight is $750 .    I think their RT business class fare is currently $1530.    And I booked thru ChoiceAir so I can always reprice the flight if cheaper fares are available in the future.     This past august the exact flight (same time / same plane / same class) was going to cost just under $3000 for premium economy.   Might want to check out a flight to EWR from MCO 

Edited September 27, 2020 by Sunshine3601

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Right now I see right at $2200 rt MCO for business

Not bad, but two connections.  I'll wait until i see more choices

Keep us posted 

[webecruzin2]

19 hours ago, rockmom said:

I also was booked in an aft cabin. But the category for those on Brilliance is different than the category on Indy. The rep I spoke to said I'd be moved to the same category. I asked him specifically if that meant I'd lose my aft cabin and he said he wasn't sure, but again stressed that it would be the same category, not necessarily the same location.  😕  So I'm pretty sure I'm losing my aft balcony.  He also said that once I got the new assignment I could always call to see if there's something I like better.  Because yeah, that's not a pain in the a$$.  And by then, who knows what will be available.  

Same explanation I got from the RC rep yesterday.  "Same category" but couldn't guarantee location and we could change if we weren't happy. 
I'm sure they know when we book aft cabins it's because we want that specific location and that we won't be happy with anything else unless it's a bump up.
But I'm not counting on that either.
You're probably right about not much being left, our sailing is showing all suites and what few aft balconies they have on the Indie are sold out, hopefully they're setting them aside until they can do the reassignments. 

Good luck.

[LXA350]

19 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

While I agree changes are likely, I don’t believe that frees RC from their obligations to provide the vacation that was paid for. Changes should involve proper compensation. People are paying for a specific product, not a generic one of RCs choosing. 

 

Before COVID yes, but now things are still very dynamic and RCL will surely cover themselves accordingly not needing to compensate due to itinarary changes etc. Things will look better next summer and there will be more consistency due to COVID instant tests that will hopefully come and getting the virus more under control but don't expect the cruise vacation how you had it before for some time. I really hope there will be no more restrictions on going ashore, but for the time being this will only be possible with excursions organized by the cruisline and if not sticking to the group you are sent back home instanly.

[webecruzin2]

17 hours ago, kands6191 said:

I feel like our rep was legit on this because I could here him saying to himself, "OK, Brilliance to Independence, balcony cabin......It's $200." It sounded like he was truly looking it up. But I will wai and see.

Sure would be nice if RC could update their reps with these things as they come up so we wouldn't all be getting different answers.
I worked for an airline for 22 years and we were required to read all daily updates before our shift and to check for any hot news throughout the day. 
Why the cruise lines can't do this with their reps I don't understand.
They need to improve their training.

[LXA350]

20 hours ago, webecruzin2 said:

Sure would be nice if RC could update their reps with these things as they come up so we wouldn't all be getting different answers.
I worked for an airline for 22 years and we were required to read all daily updates before our shift and to check for any hot news throughout the day. 
Why the cruise lines can't do this with their reps I don't understand.
They need to improve their training.

 

The whole system at least how it works at RCL is good when everything runs smoothly and you only book cruises and the travel agent gets their credit. As soon as even during normal times issues arise, the travel agent has no clue, the agent at RCL has no clue and before not putting preasure on both nothing moves.

 

Hence there was an issue at RCL already before, just like their IT, which is just nothing to be proud of. There has to be clear and direct communication that everyone in the organization is on the same page, something they big time failed before and now. This mentality just to sell and not to provide customer service is not how things should be.

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

The whole system at least how it works at RCL is good when everything runs smoothly and you only book cruises and the travel agent gets their credit. As soon as even during normal times issues arise, the travel agent has no clue, the agent at RCL has no clue and before not putting preasure on both nothing moves.

 

Hence there was an issue at RCL already before, just like their IT, which is just nothing to be proud of. There has to be clear and direct communication that everyone in the organization is on the same page, something they big time failed before and now. This mentality just to sell and not to provide customer service is not how things should be.

Most cruiselines have been found lacking through Covid19

[LXA350]

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

Most cruiselines have been found lacking through Covid19

 

Not only cruiselines, also the airlines. I can't speak for other cruiselines, but even before COVID the hadling of issues / lack of information due to communication throughout the organization and outgoing to travel agents was not briliant at all, at least in my experices.

[grapau27]

9 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

Not only cruiselines, also the airlines. I can't speak for other cruiselines, but even before COVID the hadling of issues / lack of information due to communication throughout the organization and outgoing to travel agents was not briliant at all, at least in my experices.

We waited 70 days for a full refund of a P&O (Carnival group) cancelled March TA cruise and some people waited over 100 days for refunds.

A new TA we used was useless.

 

[LXA350]

20 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We waited 70 days for a full refund of a P&O (Carnival group) cancelled March TA cruise and some people waited over 100 days for refunds.

A new TA we used was useless.

 

 

I guess for flight refunds it didn't look much better?

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

I guess for flight refunds it didn't look much better?

British Airways 21 days.

easyJet 30 days.

RC transferred deposit into FCC.

 

[LXA350]

Just now, grapau27 said:

British Airways 21 days.

easyJet 30 days.

RC transferred deposit into FCC.

 

 

On the airline front you did quite good then. Others like Lufthana took months until refunds arrived.

[colsky]

40 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

British Airways 21 days.

easyJet 30 days.

RC transferred deposit into FCC.

 

We've waited 4 months for the refund for our drinks packages and excursions on our cancelled cruise.  I phoned once to chase, they apologised and said it would be soon.  I phoned twice to chase, they apologised and said it would be soon.  I phoned thrice last week to chase, and was told that the reason we hadn't had our refund was that we had elected to convert the money into FCC for our 2021 Adventure (now Jewel) cruise. I said that we hadn't done this, and that we had actually cancelled drinks packages and excursions online in our cruise account, and had at no stage elected to have FCC instead of cash. I asked why we weren't told this story the previous 2 times I phoned to chase, he said he can't answer that.  I repeated our initial instruction, that we want the cash refund for this part. He said that to do so would mean forfeiting the 125% FCC uplift, not just on this part, but also on the rest of the FCC that we had received for payments that we had made.  He wouldn't budge. Scandalous and ridiculous!

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

I guess for flight refunds it didn't look much better?

 

Ryanair only just refunded me last week for a flight cancelled in March. Six months. And I lost out on the exchange rate.