Think Twice Before Booking Royal Caribbean

[not-enough-cruising]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

YOLO

Amen, brother, Amen!!

[vjmatty]

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

not really. It appears that their cruise was not entirely cancelled, but had a major change to the itinerary instead. And OP loves the new itinerary. So, why not give him/her a chance to keep the new and improved cruise instead of just cancelling their reservation and offering them to switch to a different cruise?

Agreed, especially since Royal will do exactly that if the ship changes but not the itinerary (think Harmony to Wonder). It would seem a lot easier to keep people on the same sailing if only the itinerary changes, rather than the ship. Moving ships is a lot harder because the cabins won’t match up, yet in that case they’ll keep people on the same sailing instead of canceling.  It’s like RC always chooses the hard way 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 hours ago, rdtpm64 said:

I just made lowly Platinum.  LOL  

so did we! Did you know you now get a 50% off coupon for a couple of sodas and fancy coffees from Cafe Promenade? Per person. 🙂 

Aha, that's right! Who is feeling lowly now? lol

[time4u2go]

5 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Speaking of Travel agents, doing a search on google found out  what the  Royal Suite cost for that World Tour you are going on.

The article talked about the commission the travel agent is getting for that one cabin will be the largest that Royal has ever paid out.......

 

the Royal Suite was booked through Theresa Graham, co-owner of Dream Vacations TravelPerks in Eugene, Ore., will soon be the recipient of the largest commission check Royal Caribbean has ever written for a single reservation. Graham's client booked the $772,331 suite.  

Wow! 😲

[zap99]

On 5/6/2022 at 3:24 AM, Aquahound said:

 

I'm sorry this happened to you.  Even though its a year out, I know the disappointment.  Even worse, I'm sorry Epic was your consolation cruise.  Oof.  Double whammy.  

Epic isn't that bad......not quite...,🤔

[snaefell]

15 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Wasn't that Anthem cruise cancelled as well.

 

A few years ago, some Bermuda cruises turned into Canada cruises due to hurricanes. Obviously no warning. I'd hate to pack for that

Yes the Anthem cruise was cancelled too,we did have an itinerary change with P&O once due to a recent hurricane,fully understand that,it was our first,& probably last,trip to the area so it didn't matter too much to us which islands we visited.

[mugtech]

We had booked the TA out of Tampa on 5/6/23 and the 4/29/23 Western Caribbean 7 days.  Both were cancelled last week and the 5/7/23 TA to Copenhagen was not offered.  It appears the Serenade will take 8 days to get to Miami from Tampa.  TA and TP bookings seem like a real crap shoot.  We have booked 3 TA's and 2 TP's, all cancelled by RCI.  Only TA we took was a Carnival substitute, not planning our second Carnival cruise.  The fact that even the insides are about twice as much to Copenhagen as they were to Barcelona makes me wonder if I should bother booking another TA, once my deposits are returned in 30 to 90 days.

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Epic isn't that bad......not quite...,🤔

 

Often considered the ugliest cruise ship floating😉

 

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, mugtech said:

We had booked the TA out of Tampa on 5/6/23 and the 4/29/23 Western Caribbean 7 days.  Both were cancelled last week and the 5/7/23 TA to Copenhagen was not offered.  It appears the Serenade will take 8 days to get to Miami from Tampa.  TA and TP bookings seem like a real crap shoot.  We have booked 3 TA's and 2 TP's, all cancelled by RCI.  Only TA we took was a Carnival substitute, not planning our second Carnival cruise.  The fact that even the insides are about twice as much to Copenhagen as they were to Barcelona makes me wonder if I should bother booking another TA, once my deposits are returned in 30 to 90 days.

 

Maybe a quick refresh in Freeport fills that void

[zap99]

6 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Often considered the ugliest cruise ship floating😉

 

We often said we would not cruise on the thing.too ugly. We did and it is. At the right price we would probably do so again, but it sure is ugly.

[Ralphinsc]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We often said we would not cruise on the thing.too ugly. We did and it is. At the right price we would probably do so again, but it sure is ugly.

 

Cruising Epic is a lot like riding a moped. It's fun, until your friends see you doing it...... 🤪

[The Fun Researcher]

20 hours ago, snaefell said:

The one RCI cruise we completed was Quantums repo cruise from China to Singapore in October 2019,booked 18 months before it changed soon after to reduce the stops in Vietnam & changed again during the cruise for the Hong Kong call which meant we missed the Night Markets & Light show.

The Transatlantic cruise on Anthem we booked for early 2020 changed soon after booking,missing out Halifax which was our main reason for booking it.

We also booked a 5 night cruise on Quantum out of Singapore which suddenly morphed into a repo cruise to Japan before being cancelled due to Covid.

As a result I don't have much faith in them supplying what they advertise,I get the feeling I might book a Med cruise & end up on a tour of the Irish Sea!😁

Must be the fact that all of our RCCL cruises have been more typical 6-9 night Caribbean itineraries.  By the nature of the types of cruises you are booking, I could see more frequent changes being made.

 

Here's to better luck in the future.

Dan

[The Fun Researcher]

20 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

we had one bad experience. OP had one bad experience. Not apples to oranges.

 

Our November 2021 RCI cruise had an itinerary change. So, does that prove to YOU that it wasn't a different cruise line?

Having a cruise cancelled more than a year in advance, versus your experience of actually successfully sailing but not enjoying your experience, are two very different things IMO.  That's all I'm saying.

 

Never said changes don't happen with RCCL, just that it seems way blown out of proportion by the member I quoted.

 

I'm not a RCCL fanboy.  I do like their product, but also had a great cruise on Celebrity, and even enjoyed (to a lesser extent) the NCL Getaway last Christmas.

[time4u2go]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

We often said we would not cruise on the thing.too ugly. We did and it is. At the right price we would probably do so again, but it sure is ugly.

Lol I couldn't care less what a ship looks like from the outside. 

[HBE4]

16 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Lol I couldn't care less what a ship looks like from the outside. 

 

Agreed. You only see the outside of the ship when boarding. The other 99.5% of the time you are either inside the ship or on an excursion somewhere.  I love the Oasis-class ships, one of my favorites,  but they look ungainly, like an apartment building plopped on a barge.

[John&LaLa]

41 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed. You only see the outside of the ship when boarding. The other 99.5% of the time you are either inside the ship or on an excursion somewhere.  I love the Oasis-class ships, one of my favorites,  but they look ungainly, like an apartment building plopped on a barge.

 

I used to work for a home builder, buyers woukd request all kinds of odd changes.

 

We used to say 'Can't see it from my house'

 

On the other hand, it used to dock in PC. Seriously ruined the landscape of the port 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ralphinsc said:

 

Cruising Epic is a lot like riding a moped. It's fun, until your friends see you doing it...... 🤪

 

Know of a similar phrase, but it would get me in trouble, no doubt😉

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

Lol I couldn't care less what a ship looks like from the outside. 

Epic ugly inside also

[A&L_Ont]

21 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Speaking of Travel agents, doing a search on google found out  what the  Royal Suite cost for that World Tour you are going on.

The article talked about the commission the travel agent is getting for that one cabin will be the largest that Royal has ever paid out.......

 

the Royal Suite was booked through Theresa Graham, co-owner of Dream Vacations TravelPerks in Eugene, Ore., will soon be the recipient of the largest commission check Royal Caribbean has ever written for a single reservation. Graham's client booked the $772,331 suite.  

I wonder if they booked it for themselves, they are a co-owner after all. The commission would cover a chunk of the cruise cost and they travel the world from the Royal Suite. 
 

Now if it was an actual client, I wonder how the OBC and TA perks would work out for their client. Has to be more than one bottle of wine and a meal at Chops. 😁

[time4u2go]

10 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Epic ugly inside also

I don't think so, but to each, their own!

[vjmatty]

2 hours ago, Ralphinsc said:

 

Cruising Epic is a lot like riding a moped. It's fun, until your friends see you doing it...... 🤪

Moped is also an unattractive person who is good in bed…you can draw the same conclusions 😉

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed. You only see the outside of the ship when boarding. The other 99.5% of the time you are either inside the ship or on an excursion somewhere.  I love the Oasis-class ships, one of my favorites,  but they look ungainly, like an apartment building plopped on a barge.

When Oasis first came out we called it Skyscraper of the Seas

Edited May 7, 2022 by vjmatty

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

I wonder if they booked it for themselves, they are a co-owner after all. The commission would cover a chunk of the cruise cost and they travel the world from the Royal Suite. 
 

Now if it was an actual client, I wonder how the OBC and TA perks would work out for their client. Has to be more than one bottle of wine and a meal at Chops. 😁

My thoughts exactly.

 

We have a travel agent that posts on here regularly we could ask him how much commission he is getting from these world cruises fares and how much he is sharing the wealth back with his clients. But I doubt he would answer and give you the real commission amount he is getting.

 

I know he has some bookings where the cabin cost $100,000 each. Just how much  in the term of perks and OBC is he actually giving back to his clients?

Edited May 7, 2022 by Jimbo

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, mugtech said:

Epic ugly inside also

 

Ugly part on outside is the Haven. That's usually pretty nice.

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

I wonder if they booked it for themselves, they are a co-owner after all. The commission would cover a chunk of the cruise cost and they travel the world from the Royal Suite. 
 

Now if it was an actual client, I wonder how the OBC and TA perks would work out for their client. Has to be more than one bottle of wine and a meal at Chops. 😁

 

Not sure, some TA's are pretty tight😉