Denied Boarding at Port, with PITIFUL Compensation

[cruisin from florida]

28 minutes ago, richstowe said:

And even if all that's true it's still unacceptable whether or not they were in a hurry . Screwing over passengers because there is a last minute snafu speaks to an uncaring corporate ethos where basic customer care is forgotten.

Agree 100%!

[ZoeyVictoria]

I think this is indicative of Royal’s general standards at this point in time. I had booked a 13-night cruise with a great itinerary sailing one-way from Tampa to Boston in August 2024. It was cancelled due to the situation in Israel. I have no problem with that. Other than being disappointed to lose the cruise, it wasn’t a huge deal. What upset me was that Royal offered two options (rebook another sailing with no price protection or cancel) and felt it necessary to state that they would waive change fees and will refund non-refundable deposits. How could they possible justify charging change fees or retaining non-refundable deposits on a cruise that they canceled?  Yet it was presented as if it was generous, or something special or extra. Not very impressive in my opinion. 

[TheDawg79]

Book an actual cabin and not a GTY and this won’t happen to you. Simple solution. 

[LHARTWICK]

Nothing wrong with booking a GTY cabin as long as you receive a cabin assignment at some point, preferably prior to leaving home, correct?  We booked a GTY for our December cruise and have a cabin assignment.  Have done the same for several other cruises.

[ONECRUISER]

3 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

You say this as if it's fact.  It's too convenient to push the "easy button"... "It was a covid issue"  How many cruises do we think sail now with a low number of illness or covid cases afterward?  Very few. This covid excuse is nothing other than pure speculation.

 

Where has Royal stated this was a covid issue?  Or maintenance issue?  If I missed an announcement by Royal please forgive me.

 

What we do have proof of the actual document provided by Royal to the poor cruisers they left stranded at the cruise pier with very poor options to compensate.

Ships had bank of Cabins for CV Quarantine, was watching Royal remove walls replacing/removing items on 2 of their Ships few months ago. Probably should have left them but lot money lost with 20+ empty cabins every Cruise just in case they are needed... Do we have any proof anyone was left at Pier or even showed up waiting was uncompensated, one we heard from was happy with what they received. That said all this is second, 3rd and even 4th hand what we read... Also as I stated and am first to admit Royal was always been inconsistent in Compensation. Some like the one in Story sounds like it ended well. My experience with multiple situations onboard, Royal gave me new Cabin twice and was well compensated 4 times. This all in last 4yrs. Others might not been so lucky

Edited November 30, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[ssb]

What does guarantee legally mean in the contract ?

[cruisin from florida]

No use of the conditional tense:

[ONECRUISER]

6 minutes ago, ssb said:

What does guarantee legally mean in the contract ?

Doubt most ever read all of the Cruise Contract or know legally protections there are...

Edited November 30, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[Starry Eyes]

14 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Do we have any proof anyone was left at Pier or even showed up waiting was uncompensated, one we heard from was happy with what they received. That said all this is second, 3rd and even 4th hand what we read... Also as I stated and am first to admit Royal was always been inconsistent in Compensation. Some like the one in Story sounds like it ended well

These are not just social media reports.  It has been published in both the US and Australian press, including quotes from at least one of the impacted individuals.  Royal Caribbean issued a response to the press.  
 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2023/11/30/royal-caribbean-passengers-denied-boarding/71749345007/

Edited November 30, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[cruisin from florida]

3 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Doubt most ever read all of the Cruise Contract or know legally protections there are...

Cruise contracts are not available until closer to check in. There are no cruise documents available for either of my 2025 guarantee bookings. They took my deposit, though. 

Based on the website description, they WILL (emphasis added) assign a cabin in the selected category.

I skimmed the contract for an upcoming cruise (also guarantee, cabin assigned). Nothing about guarantees not being guaranteed.

[grandgeezer]

I can’t believe they didn’t know they were over booked until the day of sailing, or the day before is not believable. The dozen, or so. guarantee bookings without cabins assigned should have been their first hint. It just reeks of overwhelming greed. If people are a no show, the cruise line keeps all the money except taxes, fees and prepaid extras. Look up the word guarantee and see if they lived up to their promise. If they didn’t/couldn’t, an ethical company would still try to make it up to their loyal customers, especially to the ones who had to fly to get there couple of days warning would have made the world of difference to them. 

They fit in to the same category as used car salesmen and ambulance chasing lawyers.

When I spend my money, my decision is based on the total experience, from the time I decide to do it until the time I get it completed, which includes customer service and how they handle it if something goes wrong. they were forced into doing something because of the bad publicity, but maybe it was too little, too late for some. This fiasco could happen to anyone.

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

 

But really that is still a form of overbooking - i.e. taking rooms out of service for unforeseen circumstances is still overbooking for the actual inventory available for occupancy. 

 

This practice leaves absolutely no room for contingencies and calls into question why they can fail to fulfill the contract, but passengers can't (i.e. full forfeiture of the fare in case of failure to fulfill the contract). 

 

Covid has been around long enough now to build this into the inventory management system.

 

Ironically, it's possible that ten cabins perhaps would have liked to cancel at the last minute for whatever reason - but would not have been allowed to due to the contract. It's not like they asked for volunteers.

There is no failure to fulfill the contract, because the verbiage in the contract 100% allows for this.

[not-enough-cruising]

31 minutes ago, ssb said:

What does guarantee legally mean in the contract ?

Absolutely NOTHING

[not-enough-cruising]

20 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

Cruise contracts are not available until closer to check in. There are no cruise documents available for either of my 2025 guarantee bookings. They took my deposit, though. 

Based on the website description, they WILL (emphasis added) assign a cabin in the selected category.

I skimmed the contract for an upcoming cruise (also guarantee, cabin assigned). Nothing about guarantees not being guaranteed.

Also nothing about being guaranteed passage either, actually just the opposite

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, TheDawg79 said:

Book an actual cabin and not a GTY and this won’t happen to you. Simple solution. 

No, not really, multiple threads over the last couple years about confirmed cabin holders being involuntary denied boarding

[cruisin from florida]

Conversation full circle.... the contract says they don't have to take you anywhere. Marketing promises very differently. 

They would rather that customers believe the marketing than read the contract. If enough "you're stuck with it because of the contract" experiences make it into the news and social media, bookings will drop off. 

That's probably why compensation is so hit and miss. They can't make it policy if it contradicts the contract. So all compensation for a mess of whatever kind is always tagged as a "good will gesture." But it's in their interest that the marketing be the perception, rather than the contract language, so the "goodwill gestures" are usually satisfactory. 

Not this time.

[Biker19]

30 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

There are no cruise documents available for either of my 2025 guarantee bookings.

The cruise contract you get at 30 days out has the same language as the T&C listed on the RCI web site:

United States CTC EN - Guest Terms and Conditions (royalcaribbean.com)

 

Those T&C are specific to the market in which you booked - the Aussie T&C is a bit different than the US one linked above.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, TheDawg79 said:

Book an actual cabin and not a GTY and this won’t happen to you.

While even rarer than the situation with Quantum, there have been reports of folks with an assigned cabin being denied boarding.

[KmomChicago]

Well we only have one cruise booked right now, and who knows, maybe the whole enterprise is starting to run its course for us anyway.  It is not easy for us to travel to any port and we are starting to experience diminishing returns on investment for the hassle / fun ratio of travel in general. The thrill quotient has been dropping for some time.

 

We are thus at the point where every little detail in the con column pushes us a bit further away, not that any one (or 4 as is the case for us) lost customer is a deal breaker for these corporations, but if there are others who feel like we do, as others have noted, eventually they will start to feel the detrimental effects of their poor management practices.

[SUgwoz]

Aside from this case has their been any other similar incidents where people were denied boarding at Port and given no reason? 

 

Based on this thread and others one would think booking a guarantee cabin has a 50/50 track record of being able to board. 

 

[KmomChicago]

1 hour ago, SUgwoz said:

Aside from this case has their been any other similar incidents where people were denied boarding at Port and given no reason? 

 

Based on this thread and others one would think booking a guarantee cabin has a 50/50 track record of being able to board. 

 

I think this situation is an unfortunate fluke. 
 

Usually, however, most GTY passengers get a cabin number assigned before the date of departure and can see it in their online booking records. I would be nervous if I didn’t have a room assigned the day I was heading to port.

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, SUgwoz said:

Based on this thread and others one would think booking a guarantee cabin has a 50/50 track record of being able to board. 

 

But in reality, it's most likely 99.9/0.1

[volk904]

Should never happen in short notice but this story is from Australia.  

[bretts173]

31 minutes ago, volk904 said:

Should never happen in short notice but this story is from Australia.  

What's that got to do with anything?

[bretts173]

5 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Ships had bank of Cabins for CV Quarantine, was watching Royal remove walls replacing/removing items on 2 of their Ships few months ago. Probably should have left them but lot money lost with 20+ empty cabins every Cruise just in case they are needed... Do we have any proof anyone was left at Pier or even showed up waiting was uncompensated, one we heard from was happy with what they received. That said all this is second, 3rd and even 4th hand what we read... Also as I stated and am first to admit Royal was always been inconsistent in Compensation. Some like the one in Story sounds like it ended well. My experience with multiple situations onboard, Royal gave me new Cabin twice and was well compensated 4 times. This all in last 4yrs. Others might not been so lucky

A fellow CC poster on the Australian forum posted a letter after his just completed Brilliance cruise where he didn't have hot water. Asked politely at guest services for a room change which they couldn't accommodate and was told they would let head office know.

 

Received the letter on departure giving a full refund and 100% cruise credit. Way more than he expected. Unfortunately positive stories don't interest many people.