Reply here, when and where your relocation cabin category ended up on Wonder of the Seas?

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

2 hours ago, jamessophie said:

We booked 2 connecting balcony cabins on Allure 29 May 2022. Received the cabin swap details and the new cabins were 2 balconies cabins slightly apart from each other. I queried this with royal as our children will be in the cabin. Royals policy is under 18 need to be in a cabin next to or opposite. Royal said they will look into this. We have now been moved 2 connecting balcony cabins however one of them is accessible. None of us has any special requirements I just do not want this cabin type. Royals response was cancel  can not do this flights booked and travelling with another family. Royal is saying no other suitable cabins are available in category. I have checked online there are options Royal are refusing to deal with this issue told me to wait.  What should we do.

 

If you are seeing available cabins in the same category, ask for the specific cabin numbers.  Under current pricing on my last several cruises, the value of the CB connecting balconies that you had was probably a lot higher than the cabins that you have now been allocated and so are not only inconvenient, but, not "like for like" that they promised.  Keep pushing it from that angle until you receive a response from the highest level.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

2 hours ago, jamessophie said:

We booked 2 connecting balcony cabins on Allure 29 May 2022. Received the cabin swap details and the new cabins were 2 balconies cabins slightly apart from each other. I queried this with royal as our children will be in the cabin. Royals policy is under 18 need to be in a cabin next to or opposite. Royal said they will look into this. We have now been moved 2 connecting balcony cabins however one of them is accessible. None of us has any special requirements I just do not want this cabin type. Royals response was cancel  can not do this flights booked and travelling with another family. Royal is saying no other suitable cabins are available in category. I have checked online there are options Royal are refusing to deal with this issue told me to wait.  What should we do.

 

If you are seeing available cabins in the same category, ask for the specific cabin numbers.  Under current pricing on my last several cruises, the value of the CB connecting balconies that you had was probably a lot higher than the cabins that you have now been allocated in terms of the Allure pricing and so are not only inconvenient, but, not "like for like" that they promised and are in fact, a downgrade.  Keep pushing it from that angle until you receive a response from the highest level.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

2 hours ago, jamessophie said:

We booked 2 connecting balcony cabins on Allure 29 May 2022. Received the cabin swap details and the new cabins were 2 balconies cabins slightly apart from each other. I queried this with royal as our children will be in the cabin. Royals policy is under 18 need to be in a cabin next to or opposite. Royal said they will look into this. We have now been moved 2 connecting balcony cabins however one of them is accessible. None of us has any special requirements I just do not want this cabin type. Royals response was cancel  can not do this flights booked and travelling with another family. Royal is saying no other suitable cabins are available in category. I have checked online there are options Royal are refusing to deal with this issue told me to wait.  What should we do.

 

If you are seeing available cabins in the same category, ask for the specific cabin numbers.  Under current pricing on my last several cruises, the value of the CB connecting balconies that you had was probably a lot higher than the cabins that you have now been allocated in terms of the Allure pricing and so are not only inconvenient, but, not "like for like" that they promised and are in fact, a downgrade.  Keep pushing it from that angle until you receive a response from the highest level.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

2 hours ago, jamessophie said:

We booked 2 connecting balcony cabins on Allure 29 May 2022. Received the cabin swap details and the new cabins were 2 balconies cabins slightly apart from each other. I queried this with royal as our children will be in the cabin. Royals policy is under 18 need to be in a cabin next to or opposite. Royal said they will look into this. We have now been moved 2 connecting balcony cabins however one of them is accessible. None of us has any special requirements I just do not want this cabin type. Royals response was cancel  can not do this flights booked and travelling with another family. Royal is saying no other suitable cabins are available in category. I have checked online there are options Royal are refusing to deal with this issue told me to wait.  What should we do.

 

If you are seeing available cabins in the same category, ask for the specific cabin numbers.  Under current pricing on my last several cruises, the value of the CB connecting balconies that you had was probably a lot higher than the cabins that you have now been allocated in terms of the Allure pricing and so are not only inconvenient, but, not "like for like" that they promised and are in fact, a downgrade.  Keep pushing it from that angle until you receive a response from the highest level.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

New record for me on duplicate posts. 😂

 

Too late to edit!  Sorry everyone.

[Bob_Houston]

On 10/13/2021 at 10:23 PM, PK34 said:

I am doing the 7 night eastern on 10/29/22 followed by the 8 night repo to Galveston on 11/5/22 for a total of 15 nights.  They divided the 14 night TA fare by 14 to get a per night cost and then multiplied that number by 15. 

That's interesting...

 

Evidently they will pro-rate if they are shifting you to a longer duration cruise.

 

We booked a 14 night New Zealand cruise for 2020.  That was cancelled and we were shifted to a 13 night New Zealand cruise for 2021 - at the same fare.  Then that cruise was cancelled and we're now on a 12 night cruise - at the same fare.

 

Since we live in Houston, we did look at replacing the Wonder cruise with the 8 night repositioning cruise (and possibly doing B2B with the preceding 7 night cruise) - and decided against that - since we just did a Caribbean cruise in September and have another booked for next March.  So we'll try to make the Wonder cruise work.

 

In your case, sounds like Royal did the right thing - honoring your original fare (per night).  Now, if they were only as reasonable for those of us staying on the Wonder - and not trying to get those who downgraded to overpay for the smaller cabins...

[Jimbo]

On 10/14/2021 at 11:50 AM, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

New record for me on duplicate posts. 😂

 

Too late to edit!  Sorry everyone.

 

On 10/14/2021 at 11:50 AM, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

New record for me on duplicate posts. 😂

 

Too late to edit!  Sorry everyone.

That's impressive!

[di T]

Hi everyone; well I thought I had been allocated my same cabins on Wonder as I had picked on Allure, when I looked on my travel agents page I am charged to Wonder on both cruises and the same cabin number! Today I looked on cruise planner and my first cruise is showing cancelled and the second one is in the same category as originally but a different location. As this is a b2b I want the same cabin for both legs, my TA says  Royal have told her it will be November before they allocate the 1st cruise, not too happy.Dianne

[joanniet]

2 minutes ago, di T said:

Hi everyone; well I thought I had been allocated my same cabins on Wonder as I had picked on Allure, when I looked on my travel agents page I am charged to Wonder on both cruises and the same cabin number! Today I looked on cruise planner and my first cruise is showing cancelled and the second one is in the same category as originally but a different location. As this is a b2b I want the same cabin for both legs, my TA says  Royal have told her it will be November before they allocate the 1st cruise, not too happy.Dianne

We opted for refund, still waiting. Checked today with Royal and was told it has not been dispersed and can take an additional 45 days. I hope RCCL it collecting the interest on my $4,000. 

[di T]

17 hours ago, joanniet said:

We opted for refund, still waiting. Checked today with Royal and was told it has not been dispersed and can take an additional 45 days. I hope RCCL it collecting the interest on my $4,000. 

 

17 hours ago, joanniet said:

We opted for refund, still waiting. Checked today with Royal and was told it has not been dispersed and can take an additional 45 days. I hope RCCL it collecting the interest on my $4,000. 

 

17 hours ago, joanniet said:

We opted for refund, still waiting. Checked today with Royal and was told it has not been dispersed and can take an additional 45 days. I hope RCCL it collecting the interest on my $4,000. 

That’s not right is it? These two cruises are my 4th change since the start of the Pandemic with Royal, I’m getting mail trying to sell me drinks packages etc. on the second cruise but haven’t so far got a cabin on the first, still saying cancelled! They should of looked after the people they have messed with instead of opening bookings on Wonder, I will not be going on a 7 day cruise when I booked a b2b, hope you get your refund soon. Dianne

[Bob_Houston]

Since Wonder fares are higher than the Allure fares, if people cancel their reservations transferred from the Allure, they can increase their revenue.

 

What they should have done...  They should have left the Allure alone - and if they weren't sending Wonder to Asia - should have kept it in Florida and created new cruises for it.

 

And if they wanted to make it easier for people to transfer from other ships to the Wonder, they could have waived the change fees, while also getting new reservations booked at the higher fares.

 

Most reservations being transferred from Allure to Wonder should be OK.  They appear to be having major issues with the "edge" cases - 32% reduction in full suites, back-to-back cruises, connecting rooms, adjacent rooms with kids, original cabin location, ...

 

Seems like a mess they could have avoided...

[Sue F]

One of our two reservations has finally been transferred over and sadly we are one of the 'edge cases'. We didn't get the interconnecting rooms we'd reserved on deck 14 Allure, instead got two balcony cabins on deck 12 with another in between.  A call to RC got us nowhere - apparently they can see we had the interconnecting cabins booked on Allure, and they can also see that there are interconnecting cabins available on Wonder - but they can't make the move for us as our TA has to phone and do it (she's away on a freebie RC cruise at the moment and not back till later today). 

 

My question is: why, if there are interconnecting cabins available, would they choose to make even more hassle and work for themselves, as well as show extremely poor customer service by not just allocating them to us in the first place? Seems to me they have decided that the most difficult path is the way to go, for them and also for us 😞

  

Edited October 18, 2021 by Sue F

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

1 hour ago, Sue F said:

My question is: why, if there are interconnecting cabins available, would they choose to make even more hassle and work for themselves, as well as show extremely poor customer service by not just allocating them to us in the first place? Seems to me they have decided that the most difficult path is the way to go, for them and also for us 😞

  

 

I agree with you and see my earlier note about the connected balconies.  They have been charging higher fares than regular balconies on these cabins compared to the standard balcony that they moved you into, so not like for like at all!

 

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for a Boardwalk balcony assignment.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Steeler Nation At Sea

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

55 minutes ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for a Boardwalk balcony assignment.

 

I've received my promised call back in 72 hours and the gentleman said that the move had been made, sent me an invoice, was to a starboard side balcony, I prefer port so he made that move and sent a second invoice. An ocean balcony upgrade was really the only thing that I would've accepted since they sold my poor man's AT out from under me, however, I actually never asked for that upgrade. I'm pretty pleased because I fear that new bubble structure at the back of AT is going to interfere with any decent oceanviews.

 

Date of Sailing

10/30/2022

Original cabin 11329 2i

New cabin 12206 4D

Happy

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

1 hour ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

 

 

Date of Sailing

10/30/2022

Original cabin 11329 2i

New cabin 12206 4D

Happy

 

Correction: New cabin is a 2D midship.

[Bob_Houston]

The Allure to Wonder transition has been a series of extremely bad business decisions - that has adversely impacted many customers.

 

With likely over 150,000 reservations for 6 months of sailing to be transferred from Allure to Wonder, they should have developed software to automate the transition, which should have avoided all of the problems people are reporting.

 

A reasonably good programmer should be able to develop software to automatically transition the cabins - and fully test this within a week or two.  And once the software was able to successfully transition one sailing - it could do all of the sailings overnight - with e-mails sent to all reservation holders.

 

Instead, the long time to complete the transitions indicates they are doing this by hand, compounded by using poor rules for transferring reservations to Wonder.

 

This all could have been avoided with better planning - and when this is over, Royal should hold someone accountable for all of this...

 

 

 

[whyrlygig]

We noticed the hint that something was changing on the planner mere hours after we booked last month.  I have yet to be notified about the change from royal.  No cabin assignment either.  When I have called Royal, they tell be my Allure 9/25/22 will be moved to Wonder and that it is still out of Ft Lauderdale and no itinerary change.  It cannot be in two places at once...  

[Billy Baltic]

10 hours ago, Bob_Houston said:

compounded by using poor rules for transferring reservations to Wonder.

Anyone who is close to IT will know that the rules need to clear and defined up front if the IT solution is to work. If they don’t have clear rules all the programmers in the world won’t help. They would provide a scapegoat though. 
 

I understand some people have been impacted by the change to Wonder, including us but I don’t see it as making any difference to RC. On the contrary, I can see them milking the launch of the worlds biggest cruise ship next year and for all but a handful of people, this episode will be forgotten. 

 

[Jimbo]

30 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

Anyone who is close to IT will know that the rules need to clear and defined up front if the IT solution is to work. If they don’t have clear rules all the programmers in the world won’t help. They would provide a scapegoat though. 
 

I understand some people have been impacted by the change to Wonder, including us but I don’t see it as making any difference to RC. On the contrary, I can see them milking the launch of the worlds biggest cruise ship next year and for all but a handful of people, this episode will be forgotten. 

 

True it's old news now, for those impacted it's terrible but Royal  handled it in their minds the best they could. They just have a few more reservations to deal with and then move on to the next crisis.

 

I would assume when ever  moving sailings off one ship to another there are always going to to have issues with some moves. In the end they are doing what is best for the company and like all companies the clients don't always get a fair deal and sometimes end up with the short straw.

[Pratique]

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

Anyone who is close to IT will know that the rules need to clear and defined up front if the IT solution is to work. If they don’t have clear rules all the programmers in the world won’t help. They would provide a scapegoat though. 
 

I understand some people have been impacted by the change to Wonder, including us but I don’t see it as making any difference to RC. On the contrary, I can see them milking the launch of the worlds biggest cruise ship next year and for all but a handful of people, this episode will be forgotten. 

 

It just stings a little more because we had originally planned to take this transatlantic cruise in 2020, this was not a Covid-related cancellation, and it significantly impacted the guests willing to pay a premium for a suite. They will be milking this launch with someone else's money now (assuming I ever get my refund).

[Bob_Houston]

14 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

Anyone who is close to IT will know that the rules need to clear and defined up front if the IT solution is to work. If they don’t have clear rules all the programmers in the world won’t help. They would provide a scapegoat though. 

 

 

There isn't any excuse for why Royal Caribbean didn't automate this process - and come up with better rules for moving reservations to the Wonder.  The amount of extra time for developing the software would likely be much less than the time it will take for Royal to manually transition the reservations.  Plus the staff cost for developing the software would have been much less than the staff time they're burning in doing the transitions manually plus all of the customer support time required to handle the botched cabin assignments.

 

Since Royal must have a team manually moving 6 months of sailings (could be over 150,000 reservations) - that team must have rules they're using to move reservations to the Wonder.  So rules must exist, and if they had tried to automate the process, the obvious flaws in those rules would have been quickly identified during development and testing.  This wouldn't have been a difficult process to automate.

 

 

[Biker19]

So good to see the return of arm chair CEOs.

[vjmatty]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

So good to see the return of arm chair CEOs.

 

Not to mention armchair IT experts

[GlenG]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

So good to see the return of arm chair CEOs.

😄

Some people have gotten a raw deal from the transfer, to be sure. Perhaps the whole thing COULD have been handled differently but then again I’m no decision maker in the cruise industry.

 

I do know that if I was in the same position as some folk who were downgraded, I would need to cancel and swap to another sailing /cruise line as it would just eat away at me this whole time - best to shrug it off and move on.

 

However let me say for a whole load of people, us included, the swap from Allure to Wonder is a fantastic opportunity and one for which we are really grateful. There is no way we could’ve afforded - or wanted to pay that much for - an OS cabin on WOTS. Instead we paid what was pretty much the lowest rate for any of the Oasis-class ships and ended up with the same cabin on what’s gotta be the most expensive ship, with no extra to pay.

Yes we went through a couple weeks’ uncertainty and I understand that communication was not the best with all customers, but in the end we are getting a great opportunity at a super price. 

A positive experience to balance out some of the more negative ones we’re seeing.

 

[Biker19]

42 minutes ago, GlenG said:

A positive experience to balance out some of the more negative ones we’re seeing.

Unfortunately, on CC and in life, the negative minority drown out the positive majority.