Q?: How to solve a problem with a bad cabin?

[Thomas C]

My wife and I had an issue with how Royal Caribbean handled a problem with our cabin on our last cruise and would like to know how we could have handled this situation better. The end result we now have is that we have sailed 4 times on RCCL in the past 10 years and will now switch cruise lines due to the way we were treated. Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to give the complete details.

 

My wife and I got on the Adventure of the Seas in San Juan with 3 other couples and when we opened our cabin door immediately my wife and I smelled a horrible odor coming from the room. The smell was vile enough that we did not want to step in the room, but I went in to see what was causing the smell while my wife went to find our cabin steward for assistance. The smell was not just in one location, but the entire room reeked except for the bathroom. After 10 minutes my wife found the steward and when I opened the door and let him in he immediately said that he would call someone to see if the problem could be solved, but doubted it.

 

About an hour later someone came by with a vacuum and went into the room, turned on the vacuum and came back out in less than 2 minutes. I asked him what was the problem but he just said it smelled funny. My wife and I then stepped into the cabin and found a somewhat different disgusting smell that was a combination of artificial lemon and the original odor that caused the problem in the first place. It seemed that the guy just tried to overpower the original odor with some kind of scented deodorizer, but the result was just as nauseating and maybe more so. I called the front desk from a friend’s room and 15 minutes later the steward came back. During this time we had the front door of the cabin and the balcony open to try and air out the room. The steward said that nothing more could be done and my wife and I said that if that was the case we want to change cabins. We left our luggage in a friend’s room and headed to the front desk.

 

At the front desk we were told by a woman that the man who vacuumed the carpet said the problem was solved. We explained that it wasn’t solved and invited the woman to stop by the cabin to smell the problem herself. She immediately accused my wife and me of causing an issue over nothing and said that we were not entitled to switch cabins. We were again told that nothing could be done so I asked to speak to the person’s manager and she immediately replied that he was too busy to meet with us. I asked how she knew he was too busy when she did not check and my wife said that we would wait until he was available, and if it meant missing dinner that would be fine. The woman made a call and 10 minutes later her manager came to the desk and we explained the situation to him. He said that for the night he could put us in a different cabin, solve the problem in our original cabin, and let us return. My wife asked what would happen if the issue could not be solved overnight and the manager said we could either take the smaller, non-balcony cabin he was offering or stay in the cabin with the smell. I found this answer unacceptable and my wife was beginning to get visibly upset so I took out my cell phone to call our travel agent to see if he could solve the problem.

 

When I got through to my travel agent and explained the situation he asked the manager for some information. After speaking with the manager my TA told me to take the cabin for the night as it was approaching dinner time and he knew we were with 3 other couples. He said he will work things out and assured my wife that all would be better tomorrow. We moved our luggage to the new room and made it to dinner and entire conversation was how poor Royal Caribbean had treated us since we arrived a few hours ago.

 

The next morning we received a message to come to the front desk. When we arrived a different manager explained that the original room would not be available, but another cabin on the same level was ‘found’. My wife and I thanked him and the rest of the cruise went very well.

 

When we got home my wife called our TA to thank him and found out that he basically had to threaten RCCL to get the cabin change. He said that he would not book any future cruises on RCCL for his customers unless they moved my wife and me to an equal or better cabin than the one we paid for months ago. Only at that point did RCCL find the new cabin for us. He told my wife that he spent some time on the phone with RCCL and they kept on repeating the same company line about there being no guarantee that the room booked would be available. He wasn’t able to get a refund for the first night of the cruise, but he was so angry with the way RCCL treated him on the phone that he gave us a credit out of his pocket as long as our next cruise was not on RCCL.

[Merion_Mom]

Write a calm letter describing your situation, outlining what you think would be the appropriate remedy, e.g., a certain amount of money, equivalent to, say, 5% of your cruise fare, since you were able to take part in all of the other parts of the cruise: food, entertainment, etc. You just couldn't have the cabin you had booked for the first night.

 

Send it to Adam Goldstein (adamgoldstein@rccl.com) and to Richard Fain (richardfain@rccl.com).

[shipknotshore]

I found this answer unacceptable and my wife was beginning to get visibly upset so I took out my cell phone to call our travel agent to see if he could solve the problem.

 

How fortunate that your cell phone worked and that your agent was available. Wonder what the outcome would have been otherwise. BTW I would KEEP that TA.....great customer service....not to mention the credit "out of his pocket" for something he had no control over. Glad to hear that other than the cabin problem the rest of the cruise was good.

[CruisinMommas]

The question is why are there so many complaints about how guest relations treats the customer when there is a room problem. We have not had to go to guest relations with any problems so far. But I have read several posts where the customer was treated rudely. You would think RCL would not to want to have all the bad publicity over problems that can be rectified almost on the spot w/o letting them grow into mountains. I understand that some problems are just whims but if you pay a few thousand $$$ and something is wrong with your room, that is not a whim. Here is hoping the OP continues to enjoy cruising no matter which cruise line he and his DW choose.

[superjerryw]

Be sure to hang on to that travel agent bacause I don't think very many agents would be as helpful.

 

We had the exact same problem on a cruise last year. We arrived at our cabin and it had a terrible smell, as if someone had been inside chain smoking cigars. We complained and they sent someone to clean the cabin. When we came back the cabin had a horrible chemical smell from whatever they had used to try to get rid of the cigar smell. We went to guest relations and our experience was different in that the woman we spoke to was very courteous. We also told her to come to the cabin so she could see how bad the smell was. She told us the ship was fully booked and there were no other cabins immediately available. She said she would get back to us as soon as the ship sails. Shortly after sailing she called us and switched us to another cabin.

 

It seems that even though a ship is fully booked, there are always no-shows. The people at guest realtions can't really tell if there are any cabins available until after the ship sails because that's when it becomes obvious that some previously booked cabins will be empty. This may be the reason that they were suddenly able to find you a cabin.

 

As indicated, I would write a complaint letter. There is no excuse for the rudeness you experienced when you visited the guest relations desk.

[just4kixx]

How very disappointing! What an aweful way to start your vacation.

 

I am so glad that the problem was rectified, and you were still able to enjoy your cruise!

 

Write the letter as suggested above. If nothing else, it will make the "right" people aware that not all in bliss is paradise!

 

Be sure to let us know how this all pans out, and I hope your next cruise is problem free.

 

A~

[dougp26364]

This just goes to show eveyrone that says a good TA isn't worth it that they really are. It also goes to show that there is actually some value in all ships having cell phone towers on them so that you can communicate with the outside world if the situation calls for it.

 

To date, I've had little trouble with onboard CS. On the other hand, when the ship was stuck in the harbor in Barcelona Spain secondary to a fisherman's strike, I can't say that they were honest with us either. In fact, they did a great job of lying to us about the situation almost every step of the way. I'm not 100% sure whether what they were telling us was the information given them by the land based side of RCI or if they were winging it on their own.

 

In short, while the onboard experience with RCI is normally wonderful, the CS side if something goes wrong really needs to be worked on. It seems as if RCI treats everyone with a problem as if they are out to burn them for free cruises, free gifts or whatever. While I'm sure that's true in some cases, I would at least like to think that there's many of us that just want to feel as if we're being treated fairly and not like the lowest form of scum making stuff up trying to get a free cruise.

[cmjaffe]

We had a problem and called maint. and had it fixed ASAP ... we usually DON"T make complaint to cabin steward.

If this was me I'd go to front desk and then "work my up the food chain" there if I wasn't getting any satisfaction, all the way up to hotel mgr if necessary. I'd also contact TA to take care of problem at the "other end" (RCCL's pocketbook). I'd get names etc. and see what rectification would be offered.

Seems like even though it was a bit aggrevating (unf., but that's the way cust. service is these days on ALL cruiselines) you got things remedied. I find it funny that (A) you're now looking for compensation and (B) this is your first posting here on cruise critic. JMHO though. Glad you got things cleared and were able to enjoy the cruise with your other friends.

Have fun planning your next cruise NOT on RCCL.

[cmjaffe]

Hey Doug...

My sentiments exactly. Glad to see you've been cruising since your Vision's Alaska cruise from 3 summers ago.

[crusinmama06]

You have a great TA! It could have gone alot worse...check out this thread for advice on how to get through to the right people. It's a LONG, LONG thread.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=374992&highlight=carpet

[lindacat]

I had a completely different experience two years ago on the Jewel. I had booked a cabin with my parents and I and had requested the "cheapest" balcony cabin available. I was dealing with a new travel agent and although I mentioned that I was in my 40's and my parents were in their 60's, she never mentioned that the 3rd berth was a pullman bed. This was our first cruise as a triple on Royal and we did not realize that most of their rooms did not have a sofa bed.

 

When we arrived we commented on how small the room seemed and wondered how the 3rd bed would work out. Imagine our surprise when we returned later the first night and found the pullman bed.

 

I contacted customer service and told them that while I recognized that this was entirely my fault for not researching the room was their anything they could do. They offered us a vacant family ocean view room at the very front of the ship. Although this room would have cost us much more than what we originally paid they did not charge us for the move. We had been willing to pay for an upgrade or a I had been willing to book an inside cabin as a single. Although we gave up the balcony we gained the added bonus of a comfortable night sleep, more privacy than we are used to when we cruise together, and much more room.

 

We were very pleased with the outcome.

 

Linda

[Lyncruiser]

So glad your travel agent stood by you. What as shame RCCL was so unresponsive to you. We had the same thing happen on Carnival. Our family had two rooms next to each other (not connecting). One was fine. The other had a sewage odor so overpowering we couldn't stay in it. Carnival refused to move us. It was a Saturday and I couldn't reach my travel agent. We nearly had a knock-down drag-out with the purser's office. They refused to move us saying the ship was full. Finally, about midnight they sent a plumber to clean the drains. The shower drain was the worst offender. I guess the shower drain ties into the toilet sewer drain. Didn't want to know more. Finally, about 2 a.m., the plumber had reamed and flushed the drains enough that we could, at least, remain in the cabin without throwing up.

 

We were so disgusted we never cruised with Carnival again. That was 10 years ago. Since then, our large family has become Diamond cruisers with RCCL plus we've been on several Celebrity cruises, too. We have another cruise on RCCL booked, as well as one on Celebrity. So, Carnival missed out on a lot of future revenue by treating us so poorly.

 

If I'd had your experience with RCCL, I'd do just as you are doing -- I'd never cruise with RCCL or Celebrity again.

 

Been there, done that. It's not fun.

[gamecockvic]

Writing the letter is really all you can do. I would encourage you to be as pleasant as you can, at least in your first letter. Once you get confrontational, and threaten to hire a lawyer, the tone of your dealings changes. If a pleasant and reasonable letter does not work, you can always take a stronger tone. You cannot, however, do the reverse. In any event, be firm and stick to your guns.

 

On our last cruise, we found our cabins directly over one of the nightclubs. We must have been right over the speakers because we could hear every word of every song being sung until the wee hours. Carnival apologized and, on the day we disembarked, sent us a nice letter which explained that they were taking $100 off our bill. I would have paid more than that to avoid the noise, but I really appreciated the fact that they did something. Saying I'm sorry for your trouble + making it right = good customer service!

 

Good luck!

[Thomas C]

Thank you to all who replied and I absolutely understand the troubles many of you went through when I read your problems with your cabins. It seems that the odor problem happens enough times that some sort of protocol should be established by the cruise companies instead of upsetting customers.

 

To those who said I should be thankful for my great TA, I mostly definitelty am thankful. When it comes to directing new business his way all my wife and I have to say is what happened on this last cruise and people ask for his number. Not sure what would have happened if my cell phone did not work, but being in port was key for getting in touch with him. He explained that for the future I can try to reach him by email if the phone does not work because he always checks it.

 

Not sure why cmjaffe is making an accusation that I am looking for compensation from RCCL for the awful first day they put my wife and I through. I thought I made it very clear in the first line of my post

 

"My wife and I had an issue with how Royal Caribbean handled a problem with our cabin on our last cruise and would like to know how we could have handled this situation better".

 

I'm not even sure how to answer your problem with this being my first post of Cruise Critic. Does that make the way RCCL treated my wife and I OK?

 

Right now my wife and I are looking into going on our next cruise which looks to be on the Princess line.