customer service?? I'm stunned!

[IamVick]

DH talked with DSM today and received apology. As we figured, no upgrade, because he has no control over assigning us one. He keeps putting in for one everytime he gets notification it has been denied. He is giving us an OBC and told us he is going to be on the ship Sunday until departure for a luncheon. He will check again if an upgrade is available first thing in the morning and double check that our OBC has been applied and everything else is inline. He said if we have any problems we are to call him again on that day. I will post after the trip to see what he gave us.

 

He indicated he was extremely horrified when he discovered the TA was forwarding his correspondences to us. That's his argument with the TA.

 

We're satsified.

 

We truly weren't expecting an upgrade, obviously we're seasoned cruisers so we know the in and outs. I think the TA and the DSM learned some valuable lessons, and I was more speechless over the appalling customer service.

 

Well.......We're having a blizzard here in Chicago, and our winter has been one of the toughest on record with less than half the normal sunshine and the 4th snowiest winter on record. One of the couples in our group isn't going to go because his mom has terminal cancer, has taken a sudden turn, and isn't expected to make it until we get back. Irony....the last cruise he took, his dad died while he was on the cruise.

 

I'm just counting my blessings ...... and grateful that I'm going to sunshine and warm weather. Frankly....I'll sleep on a deck chair at this point!!!!

[California Native]

have your DH call back the DSM and say that he wants the whole conversation recapped in a email.

 

if he won't do it, then you know his word on the follow through is worthless.

 

the ta was unprofessional, but he probably sent you the emails because he was afraid that in the long run he would be blamed.

 

i am NOT surprised about what you have experienced.

 

I've had similiar issues on RCCL, Princess and HA and I'm the highest ranking all of them. so ranking and groups mean nothing...

 

it's about a putting a head in the bed and turning it over to post customer service to deal with, if they do at all.

 

sorry, to sound cynical but cruising has changed dramatically in the last 2 decades when service meant just that.

 

i still cruise, but I've had to lower my bar of expectations on things that use to be commonplace for a cruise experience.

[jaxon41]

DH talked with DSM today and received apology. As we figured, no upgrade, because he has no control over assigning us one. He keeps putting in for one everytime he gets notification it has been denied. He is giving us an OBC and told us he is going to be on the ship Sunday until departure for a luncheon. He will check again if an upgrade is available first thing in the morning and double check that our OBC has been applied and everything else is inline. He said if we have any problems we are to call him again on that day. I will post after the trip to see what he gave us.

 

He indicated he was extremely horrified when he discovered the TA was forwarding his correspondences to us. That's his argument with the TA.

 

We're satsified.

 

We truly weren't expecting an upgrade, obviously we're seasoned cruisers so we know the in and outs. I think the TA and the DSM learned some valuable lessons, and I was more speechless over the appalling customer service.

 

Well.......We're having a blizzard here in Chicago, and our winter has been one of the toughest on record with less than half the normal sunshine and the 4th snowiest winter on record. One of the couples in our group isn't going to go because his mom has terminal cancer, has taken a sudden turn, and isn't expected to make it until we get back. Irony....the last cruise he took, his dad died while he was on the cruise.

 

I'm just counting my blessings ...... and grateful that I'm going to sunshine and warm weather. Frankly....I'll sleep on a deck chair at this point!!!!

 

Just so sorry for your experience -- add another to the list of those who remain non-plussed at the appalling customer service of RCI.

I am not far from you, so am hoping you can get to your cruise -- not sure the day you are leaving, but we couldn't even get into our drive tonight. Hadn't heard those stats about our winter.

[IamVick]

Just so sorry for your experience -- add another to the list of those who remain non-plussed at the appalling customer service of RCI.

I am not far from you, so am hoping you can get to your cruise -- not sure the day you are leaving, but we couldn't even get into our drive tonight. Hadn't heard those stats about our winter.

 

Thanks for your kind thoughts. We leave very early morning Saturday.

[CatServants]

Your report has been echoed by many whenever they have a problem on any Celebrity cruise. Next to the poor maintenance on some Celebrity ships I think the poor or non-existant customer service is a real downer for Celebrity.

 

I've received EXCELLENT, professional, friendly, prompt service from my X rep (Nicole Chin). She wonderfully responsive! I think it comes down to "luck". I'm sorry for the OP. Terrible situation! I think there was enough bad customer service to go around in the OPs case - X AND the TA. Thankfully, the OP is a reasonable person with a good attitude. The real pity, aside from the original screw up, was the frustration the OP had to experience while s/he should have been joyfully anticipating a great cruise. I hope the cruise makes up for all the hassle!

 

Happy cruising!

 

Denise

[Moeve]

Unfortunately the whole X outfit world wide has gotten so big the right hand does not know what the left is doing.....

 

I ordered 100 USD worth of bar credit for our upcoming cruise on the Mercury in Nov. When my Nov CC bill arrived I discovered X USA had over charged me by 400 Euros. It took almost 3 months to "fix" and in the end it only got fixed because I threatened to go in to the police with all my documents and make a theft charge. That got them going and it got sorted out in just over 3 hours. Germany kept telling me it had to be returned from the UK (which is European Head office) but they never charged it so it should have had to come back from the US (since the department for Cruise gifts etc. is based there!!)

[Pontius Navigator]

Just to throw in a good guy story.

 

In our case Cunard broke with our travel agents and took over our booking. The TA had been rather devious and demanded a 50% greater deposit and a month earlier payment. They had however offered a $50 obc. Where they were devious is their failure to pay the deposit to Cunard, get the prices right, or ratify the obc.

 

Cunard asked for the whole paper trail which we had and started sorting out the problem but, as it was not straight forward they made mistakes too, like they didn't spot one passenger had been charged a single-cabin supplement on a single-cabin fare!

 

Anyway one person contacted us and 'bought-in' to the problem. It was almost all sorted when we noticed one further issue. I rang our contact. He said he had been moved to a different department but that we should send a fresh pack of paperwork to another named individual and a second set to him. The problem was put to bed 3 days later. That was how to do it.

[Sailfish]

Interesting stuff here!

 

I was booked (directly through the cruise line) and paid in full on another Celebrity cruise scheduled for later this spring from San Francisco when I got a call a week ago that we have been bumped off of the voyge. There was no firm reason, only speculation from the agent as to why.

 

I was given a choice of either a full refund or two sail dates on cruises departing from the east coast - the 17 Feb 2008 Millenium was one of them! We literally were given only 15 minutes to make a decision on 2/5 - again not sure as to why, but the cruise line thew in a number of very generous perks - including gratuities and airefare from California - that we accepted the offer!

 

We are in an inside room (we had booked a balcony originally on the Mercury), but the airfare alone will go a long way to smooth over any issues I will have with the puny inside cabin! That said, this sort of thing has never happened to us before. We have done only one X cruise, but are Diamond members with Royal Caribbean, so I understand we are considered Elite members with Celebrity. Though several of my conversations with customer service and the air/sea department left me scratching my head, for the most part, I felt we were extended fair compensation for our inconvenience.

[Drew B]

I agree. Giving you your money back isn't an "offer" -- it's an obligation. They breached the contract and didn't give you what you paid for. They HAVE to give the money back unless you agree to a revised agreement.