Denied Boarding at Port, with PITIFUL Compensation

[Beachin2]

Apparently, the only way to get RC to do the right thing these days is to create a social media s**t storm.  Guess I'm old, I remember when RC was somewhat of an ethical company.

[HappyTexan44]

19 hours ago, cruisin from florida said:

I've just booked 2 guarantee suites, both of which will require international flights. Like everyone else, I have assumed that guarantee means guarantee. This is very concerning.

 

I would think you'd be the last ones they'd want to bump since they'd have to refund your flight.  

[Ocean Boy]

17 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

In no way is it right, but Royal’s logic will be that people who book guarantees are more price conscious and less likely to spend $$$ on board so are more easily dispensable.

Put simply, Royal is happy to live without them if, quite reasonably, they decide to take their business elsewhere. Money talks.

So RCI offers GTY fares and then looks at the people who take the offer as second class customers who they are happy to cut lose.🙄

[Mum2Mercury]

We book guarantees most of the time, and we always get our room number shortly after boarding times come out.  If I didn't have a room number by about a week before the cruise, I'd start calling.  

 

While this is a horrible story, I know I've had no problem with guarantees, and many people on this board have had the same experience.  I think this is a bad case of "We really messed up this cruise" not a pattern.  I won't hesitate to book guarantees again.

[HappyTexan44]

1 hour ago, pcur said:

...

I am a make lemonade type of person:  I would have realized the cruise was not happening, I would be reimbursed, and said to myself, "Self, you have a NEW vacation in Australia instead of a cruise."  IF the cruise was a closed loop, I would book something until my flight left.  Or, if it was a one way cruise, I would have booked a flight out far enough that I wasn't paying huge amounts for it.  

(And, this is an example of why we should all have trip interruption/cancellation insurance)

 

Me, I'd so prefer a vacation in Australia over a cruise, that flying to Australia for a cruise just wouldn't happen.  But, I think someone said that this person drove to the port and lived somewhat near. A vacation a short drive away from home is NOT the same as a cruise, no matter where you live.  Just ask anyone that has worked in Hawaii for a few years.  

So, if that happened to me, instead of a vacation in Australia it would be vacation in/near Galveston when I live in the DFW area.  Galveston is really great, but I've been there and done that many times so would have been disappointed.  We'd have just gone back home and gone back to work.   

 

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

OK - this really is making mountain out of a molehill… we are all experienced cruisers here and in all our years of cruising how many times have we heard of this happening? 
Exactly.

 

 

LB who has 4 gty cabins booked in her upcoming 14 cruises.  

 

To be fair, it wasn't your molehill.

[Ocean Boy]

52 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Bet there was a maintenance issue with numerous cabins such as no air conditioning, plumbing not working or flooded cabins.   The OP now has gotten a sweet deal.

Sometimes providing an explanation can go along way as to the reaction elicited from a customer.

[Ride-The-Waves]

Royal Caribbean has moved itself to the bottom of the cesspool of cruising by these types of actions and its overpricing.  Here's hoping that it comes back to RCI in mountains.  We are former Royal cruisers - but never again!

[ZoeyVictoria]

40 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

So RCI offers GTY fares and then looks at the people who take the offer as second class customers who they are happy to cut lose.🙄

Well stated. I had the same thought but couldn’t figure out how to phrase it so politely. 
 

And, no, I am not speaking as a member of that second class category 🙄

[Tree_skier]

10 hours ago, SG65CB said:

UPDATE:

 

The OP has provided an update and probable resolution. 

 

The OP is a first-time cruiser. (Great first impression, right?) He was sounding depressed and resigned to a bad outcome, saying he didn't think he had any leverage at this point since he's sitting on the dock and the ship is gone. But maybe the whiff of some bad publicity helped. 

 

First he contacted RC via Twitter/X. He received back the following useless reply:

 

“We're truly sorry for any disappointment this situation has caused. You're welcome to choose from any of the options provided in the letter. We understand this was not the situation you had hoped for and we're truly sorry for the way it has impacted your vacation experience. -Kar”

 

Then via Reddit he was provided with several RC management email addresses, and sent an email. From that email he received a phone call and RC made him an offer - it sounds like he is inclined to take it. 

 

The offer from RC, per OP:

 

"I have been called by RCI head office so thank you for blowing up this post. They offered me a significantly improved compensation package. Full refund. 100% FCC and a free deluxe drinks package for any cruise length."

 

"I might have been able to push for more but I think this is much more reasonable offer."

 

"I think sending emails to head corporate office got their attention as they proactively called me with this and I didn’t have to demand anything."

 

 

Much better compensation!  I'm glad Royal stepped up and did the right thing.  

[footzz]

Time for some rebranding. A 'Guaranteed Stateroom' needs to be renamed 'Best Effort Stateroom'.

[ATG]

22 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Well stated. I had the same thought but couldn’t figure out how to phrase it so politely. 
 

And, no, I am not speaking as a member of that second class category 🙄

I am a member of that category.  On one of my booked cruises, the difference between a suite guarantee and a junior suite was $800 per person for a 7 night cruise.  That’s hard to pass up.  We’ve done suite guarantee cabins many times.  I figured that JS are all the same and don’t have bad locations, so why not save money? So far they’ve all been fine.  We’ve always gotten junior suites.  

[soremekun]

3 minutes ago, footzz said:

Time for some rebranding. A 'Guaranteed Stateroom' needs to be renamed 'Best Effort Stateroom'.

Hmm.  @footzz and @NoShoes2....  any relation?

[cruisin from florida]

3 minutes ago, ATG said:

I am a member of that category.  On one of my booked cruises, the difference between a suite guarantee and a junior suite was $800 per person for a 7 night cruise.  That’s hard to pass up.  We’ve done suite guarantee cabins many times.  I figured that JS are all the same and don’t have bad locations, so why not save money? So far they’ve all been fine.  We’ve always gotten junior suites.  

That was our logic for our two recent suite guarantee bookings.

[NoShoes2]

4 minutes ago, soremekun said:

Hmm.  @footzz and @NoShoes2....  any relation?

 

Maybe...??? haha

[SRF]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

So RCI offers GTY fares and then looks at the people who take the offer as second class customers who they are happy to cut lose.🙄

So, you think the should bump suites and put the GTY in there????

 

Pretty much the same will all companies, you bump the ones without loyalty status or lower or base fares. It only makes sense for a business to do so.

 

I don't book GTY cabins and I don't fly free on miles.  For airlines, I use my miles for upgrades.  If you get a ticket with miles you are a non-rev passenger.  Basically the treat you as if you are flying for free.

[ZoeyVictoria]

3 minutes ago, ATG said:

I am a member of that category.  On one of my booked cruises, the difference between a suite guarantee and a junior suite was $800 per person for a 7 night cruise.  That’s hard to pass up.  We’ve done suite guarantee cabins many times.  I figured that JS are all the same and don’t have bad locations, so why not save money? So far they’ve all been fine.  We’ve always gotten junior suites.  

But you are NOT necessarily a member of the “less likely to spend $$$ on board so more easily dispensable” category because you book guarantees. That is what I found so offensive. 
 

We have also booked guarantees, sometimes because at the last minute there are no other choices, sometimes because it doesn’t really matter where we are on a very short cruise, probably other times for reasons I don’t even remember. We have had great results on those guarantees except for one cruise in a handicap accessible cabin in a bad location. We will not book a guarantee on that cruise line again, but still consider the other lines. 
 

We live in Florida, are retired, and get to cruise frequently, so it would not have been a huge problem for us. I do feel bad for the people who had to travel to the cruise port, have limited vacation time, first-timers, those who rarely cruise, or were part of a group celebrating a special occasion. 

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Bet there was a maintenance issue with numerous cabins such as no air conditioning, plumbing not working or flooded cabins.   The OP now has gotten a sweet deal.

Post 67 is likely the best explanation for the reason behind the lack of cabins.

[cruisin from florida]

10 minutes ago, SRF said:

So, you think the should bump suites and put the GTY in there????

 

Pretty much the same will all companies, you bump the ones without loyalty status or lower or base fares. It only makes sense for a business to do so.

 

I don't book GTY cabins and I don't fly free on miles.  For airlines, I use my miles for upgrades.  If you get a ticket with miles you are a non-rev passenger.  Basically the treat you as if you are flying for free.

Smart travel companies sweeten the deal until they get volunteers. 

[SRF]

2 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

Smart travel companies sweeten the deal until they get volunteers. 

 

Yes.  Some of the airline offers have been simply amazing.  Unfortunately, every time it has been offered for me, I had to be where I was going.

 

But a bit harder after most people have boarded, like a cruise situation.

Edited November 29, 2023 by SRF

[Ocean Boy]

25 minutes ago, SRF said:

So, you think the should bump suites and put the GTY in there????

 

Pretty much the same will all companies, you bump the ones without loyalty status or lower or base fares. It only makes sense for a business to do so.

 

I don't book GTY cabins and I don't fly free on miles.  For airlines, I use my miles for upgrades.  If you get a ticket with miles you are a non-rev passenger.  Basically the treat you as if you are flying for free.

I didn't say anything about who should, or shouldn't, be bumped. I was just disagreeing with the person that I quoted about RCI not caring about GTY passengers and that they are fine with those customers not coming back.

 

How did you manage to read any more than that into my post?

[cruisin from florida]

35 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Yes.  Some of the airline offers have been simply amazing.  Unfortunately, every time it has been offered for me, I had to be where I was going.

 

But a bit harder after most people have boarded, like a cruise situation.

This thread and the ones in other spaces would have been entirely different if RCCL had been smart enough to do that in the first place. I guess saving a few thousand bucks was worth the bad publicity and lost customers. As a customer and stockholder, I'm not impressed with the decision making here.

[HappyTexan44]

58 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Yes.  Some of the airline offers have been simply amazing.  Unfortunately, every time it has been offered for me, I had to be where I was going.

 

But a bit harder after most people have boarded, like a cruise situation.

Also, after boarding has started bumping people becomes a lot more expensive for the airlines.  The mandated minimums are pretty sweet.   That is why they'll delay boarding until they get enough volunteers.  

If the problem was that crew needed to be isolated because they were contagious, couldn't they have been put up in a nearby hotel for that cruise?  
 

[HappyTexan44]

22 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

This thread and the ones in other spaces would have been entirely different if RCCL had been smart enough to do that in the first place. I guess saving a few thousand bucks was worth the bad publicity and lost customers. As a customer and stockholder, I'm not impressed with the decision making here.

I agree.  They had to pay the nice compensation, but they still got the bad publicity.   Maybe they are hoping the other 10 cabins that were bumped have the head in the sand and won't hear about his deal.  
 

[little britain]

Or smart marketing to panic those who have Gtys to pay up for an allocated cabin number!

 

LB who aint' budging >> but does admit to checking out how much a 'real' cabin would cost on our upcoming cruise!  $902 more for 2 if you are wondering, for cheapest connecting balcony cabin.