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

Jimbo

By Jimbo,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Jimbo

Jimbo

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11 minutes ago, Bob_Houston said:

There's no way for me to get the fares posted in August 2020 for our sailing.  If there was a price difference, it wasn't very much anyway.

 

The website I was using to count cabins was incorrect.  I double checked the numbers with the actual deck plans for the two ships.

 

Allure has 88 full suites - 1 Royal Loft, 2 Panoramic, 2 Star Loft, 25 Crown Loft, 6 AquaTheater 2 bdrm, 6 AquaTheater 1 bdrm, 10 Owners, 6 Grand Suite 2 bedroom and 30 Grand.

 

Wonder has 60 full suites - 1 Royal Loft, 1 Family, 8 Crown Loft, 6 AquaTheater 2 bdrm, 6 AquaTheater 1 bdrm, 10 Owners and 28 Grand.

 

If Royal had transitioned based on cabin category (and C&A level within category ), they would have been able to transfer the 58 full suites above Grand on the Allure to the 60 full suites (including Grand), and then move any remaining Grand Suite reservations down to Junior.

 

While this would have impacted more reservations, it would have minimized the downgrades for each reservation.

 

Since they evidently decided to keep reservations as much as possible in their original category, and then shift everyone else downward (almost all to Junior Suite), they reduced the number of reservations impacted - but those impacts were much larger.

 

Because JS cabins are about 1/2 the size of CLS/OS, Royal should take that into consideration by providing more amenities than those customers would have had in their original cabins.

 

Providing Sky Class plus a $300 onboard credit (which is only $10.71 per person per day on the TA cruise) won't be enough to make up for the much smaller cabin.

 

Plus, the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen are smaller on the Wonder, which is OK for 60 full suites - but will be overcrowded by adding up to 28 JS with Sky access.

 

To reduce crowding in the Coastal Kitchen, the downgraded reservations should get the full dining package, making it easier for them to go to specialty restaurants - and not pack the Coastal Kitchen.

 

Since many of these passengers are likely Diamond and above, they could also add the Deluxe Beverage package at little net cost to Royal.

 

They could also consider adding a few extra genies or concierge staff allocated to these displaced passengers - to add capacity beyond what would they would normally have in the suite lounge.

 

Or even better they could add a few genies and provide Star class amenities.  And based on our recent Star class cruise, getting pampered by the genie could more than make up for the much smaller cabins.

 

Unfortunately, while Royal could and should do more - based on what I've seen so far, what's more likely is they'll expect us to take it or leave it on their current offer of  $300+Sky - and if we don't go on the cruise, they can rebook the cabins for more $$$.

 

We've got a few weeks to see if they'll come up with something better before they force us to make a decision - still hoping things will improve and because they didn't appear to anticipate these problems, with more time, they'll do something more reasonable...
 

I believe inter-porting made making these changes more limited then even what you are saying. Thus there would have been even more affected then you even said. it was a no win situation, some people were going to lose out no matter how they did it.

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kayjaypea42

kayjaypea42

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How are they handling all the moves?  My cruise is on May 12 out of Rome.  I have an oceanview room, so nothing fancy.  But I haven't even gotten an email saying the cruise is cancelled. I only knew because I saw it on a Facebook group and checked my sailing info.  It still says cancelled and I am so nervous.  Thanks to this thread (and no thanks to RC!) I know I should wait until Oct 13th to see if we got switched... It would have been nice to get some sort of acknowledgement or email explaining what's going on or some reassurance that the switch would definitely happen... I know I am a peon in the scheme of things considering this is my first RC cruise and not even in a balcony, but hey... $4k (3 people) + airfare from Atlanta to Rome + pre and post stay is a **** lot for me, ok?  It'd be nice to know if I need to figure out an alternative sooner rather than later...  

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Fairsailing

Fairsailing

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Booked an Ultra Spacious Inside cabin for the Allure 7/31/22.  So I’m not a suite guest but in a similar situation as there are only four of these cabins on either ship.  Category is not available for booking on the replacement Wonder cruise so hoping I just got shifted over.  
 

We’re a family of four so I booked the cabin for the extra space.  We’ll see what happens but I  can’t help but think (based on experiences above) that we could get downgraded to a regular inside and given a paltry OBC.  Or they could see I’m a diamond member and upgrade us.  Hahahaha. 

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Teeara "Live from...." Rare

Teeara

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2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Where do you see the Wonder balance with no discounts? website or your own personal confirmation sheet. I booked through a cruise agency, so not really seeing anything on paper yet as to what the real prices are, mine was from a L&S.

I saw it on the RCI website when I "tried" to make a payment.  That was on Friday.  Then, this morning when I went back to check it again, it had my Allure balance to the penny listed.  So just waiting for the invoice now.  My roommate ended up receiving an email of the Wonder balance.  Not sure why it went to her since I'm the primary on this reservation, but this is Royal and they do weird things with emails.  Now waiting to see if she received the revised balance email.

 

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laura85

laura85

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We were booked for a Crown Loft Suite in June of 2022. Like so many others, we have been moved to a Junior Suite on Wonder. 
 

We will definitely be canceling. There is just no comparison. The CLS is huge and has a second bathroom, these were huge factors since were traveling with 2 kids. Also the proximity to the Coastal Kitchen and Suite Lounge were a large consideration for booking the CLS. We had a decent price when we originally booked. However that same price just cannot justify a Junior Suite for us. 
 

It’s unfortunate since this would have been our first post-covid trip with several other family members on this sailing. In hindsight, we would have just been better off booking a balcony room. The balcony rooms are now going for almost double of what we would’ve originally paid! 
 

I understand things from Royal’s perspective, and knew booking a cruise was a gamble due to Covid. So while we are disappointed, we are glad we can get a full refund. 

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Teeara "Live from...." Rare

Teeara

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4 minutes ago, jdg623 said:

Feeling pretty lucky, we got to keep our original JS cabin for both the Med & TA sailings 😅

Make sure to let me know your cabin number on the TA roll call, Dorothy.  I erased all the cabin listings when we switched over to Wonder.

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karena1

karena1

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On 9/17/2021 at 4:36 PM, Jimbo said:

Sailing Date:

Date you were moved:

Allure Cabin Category:

Wonder Cabin Category:

 

Are you happy or disappointed about your relocated cabin?

My client is on the 6/5/22.  His cabin was moved in about a week.  They had a RL Suite on Allure and got the the same category on Wonder so they are all set.

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Pratique

Pratique

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3 hours ago, Bob_Houston said:

If downgraded, you should pay the lower of the current rate - and the rate you would have paid when the original reservation was booked.

 

We booked a CLS in August 2020, at prices lower than what we would pay today.  If they keep us in the JS they are currently proposing, we should pay no more than the JS rate in August 2020 - not the current rate, which will be higher.

 

Otherwise, they'll have passengers in another JS paying less because they booked the suite in the first place - while those who had planned to spend more on a larger cabin and were forced to downgrade end up paying more.  Which wouldn't be fair...

 

But based on what they are doing to the displaced CLS passengers, it may be unreasonable to expect them to be fair on the rates they'll be charging...

I am not expecting fairness. If an airline bumps me from First Class to coach, all they are required to do is refund the difference between fare paid and full coach fare, which is probably more than anyone else sitting in coach paid. Royal could have simply refunded everyone on Allure and opened up Wonder to all new bookings, but there is an incentive to keep as many reservations as possible and not have to refund them all. At the end of the day what they are doing is working out in their favor, not ours. The number of unhappy customers will not be significant enough to make a difference to them.

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Snakeinmyboots

Snakeinmyboots

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27 minutes ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

Surprised all the suites were moved Friday and no one since…get back to work!

Not all suites were moved, I'm still waiting.  I think they moved the TA's and sailings out of Barcelona.  I haven't seen anyone with a Rome sailing who's gotten a room assignment.

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Billy Baltic

Billy Baltic

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19 minutes ago, Snakeinmyboots said:

Not all suites were moved, I'm still waiting.  I think they moved the TA's and sailings out of Barcelona.  I haven't seen anyone with a Rome sailing who's gotten a room assignment.


We’re out of Barcelona on 26 June and have yet to be reassigned to Wonder. Our cruise is showing as in the Caribbean on Allure. 

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dunedinmaiden

dunedinmaiden

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2 hours ago, Snakeinmyboots said:

Not all suites were moved, I'm still waiting.  I think they moved the TA's and sailings out of Barcelona.  I haven't seen anyone with a Rome sailing who's gotten a room assignment.

I'm on the 5/19 sailing out of Rome and was downgraded from a two-bedroom grand suite to a junior suite 🤬

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Bob_Houston

Bob_Houston

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We booked a CLS on Allure for the October 2022 transatlantic crossing in August 2020.  Prices have increased significantly since then.

 

Our TA forwarded the e-mail they received on Friday with our "offer" and the ultimatum - accept the offer or cancel for a full refund of the deposit by October 20.  [No FCC this time.]

 

The offer:

  • We're downgraded to Junior suite and will pay the lower of our original CLS fare or the current JS fare.  Since they haven't posted the suite fares yet, I projected the JS cost using one of the spring Florida sailings and it looks like a JS now costs more than a CLS did last year.  So we'll be paying the same for a JS as we would have for a CLS - and getting only 1/2 the space (including no dining table and only a tiny desk).
  • They'll provide us the same Sky Class amenities,
  • And provide us a $300 onboard credit ($10.71 per day per person)

So, basically we're paying for our CLS, but getting a cabin 1/2 the size, with the same amenities, and for our troubles, we're getting $10.71 per day per person to make up for the smaller cabin.

 

Plus, we could be next door to someone else who reserved a JS last year, paying less than 1/2 of  our fare.

 

And, you can request a suite upgrade if one is available, but you have to pick only one cabin class - they won't try to upgrade you to the best available opening (when someone else cancels)...

 

How could anyone at Royal Caribbean believe CLS customers would find this anywhere close to being acceptable?

 

More likely they are counting on us to cancel, so they can rebook at an even higher fare to someone who'll be excited to get a JS...

 

Assuming they sold out the suites on all of the Allure sailings in Europe and the transatlantic sailings - there could be over 600 customers affected by this.

 

Unlike when Royal Caribbean rescheduled our other cruises due to COVID, what's happened here is entirely due to their business decisions.


They decided to replace the Allure with the Wonder for the European sailings.

 

They decided it was better to downgrade CLS reservations down to JS, rather than displace GS customers.

 

And they decided the above "offer" would be all they would provide to the affected customers.

 

Unless something changes, they be losing hundreds of customers that prefer booking suites - for this and future cruises - and have an impact on their friends and family who may also decide not to do business with RCCL.

 

We've got several weeks before the October 20 deadline - and still hope they'll come up with something more reasonable, because what they are doing doesn't make any sense...

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Jimbo

Jimbo

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7 hours ago, Snakeinmyboots said:

Not all suites were moved, I'm still waiting.  I think they moved the TA's and sailings out of Barcelona.  I haven't seen anyone with a Rome sailing who's gotten a room assignment.

We were moved from OS to OS, we leave from Rome 9/22/22

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Teeara "Live from...." Rare

Teeara

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7 hours ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Still waiting on our April 20th 2022 TA on the Wonder to see if we stay in our 8th deck balcony or moved since being transferred from the Allure.

Gay, I would monitor the RCI website for your booking.  I found it changed before we ever received notice (and so far the only notice we received was the Allure cancellation and it was sent to my roommate, not to me even though I'm the primary contact for our booking).  I think once they finish the suite transfers they'll be tackling the next categories.  Seeing as how you're in a balcony there hopefully won't be as much angst for you and your daughter as there is for the suite passengers.  

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