Why I will never sail with RCI again

[dubaihammer]

We have been trying to find out what happened to our fuel surcharge refund since the second day of our cruise on the Rhapsody as it was not in our seapass account as it should have been.

While on board we were given various stories of where the money was, all of which proved to be false.

 

Since we have returned home, we have contacted RCI through their website, we have e-mailed crown & anchor and we have even e-mailed Adam Goldstein!! The only notification that we have had is an auto reply from crown & anchor. The silence from them is deafening.

 

We tried tonight to contact them through the contact us form (Post cruise questions and comments) on their website and after typing a few hundred words and pressing submit, the "royalcaribbean.com is not available" message was displayed. We have tried this twice since, and both times it did not work (If you want to book a cruise, the website is working fine).

 

We cannot say that RCI's customer support has been bad as we haven't actually had any customer support.

 

We think that RCI are going to be in for a very difficult time during this economic crisis if they treat loyal customers in this way.

 

We have responded to this treatment in the only way we can and have cancelled my upcoming two cruises on the Radiance and the Brilliance, and have asked for quotations from Princess.

 

Goodbye RCI:mad:

[TexCruise371]

I'm sorry you are having a tough time with the fuel surcharge.

 

We have received ours in two ways. 1. Received credit on our credit card statement 2. Received OBC on the last cruise.

 

Hopefully, you will get yours in the near future! :)

[fozziscooter]

I am sorry that you have had a bad experience with Royal. I've been on Princess, Carnival and Royal and enjoy them all the same. Hopefully your issue can be resolved so that you may sail Royal again in the future.

[printingchick]

We got ours in the form of a credit on our sea pass statement. They did post a notation early in the cruise that the credit would not appear until the second or third day out. (I don't know why.) It wasn't there immediately at the start of our cruise, but it did appear.

[RevSmith]

RCI has done that at times...and then at other times they have been so nice...it seems a bit spuratic...be assured that they don't care if they lose you...leaving is not necessarily the best solution to your problem. You are legally entitled to your money back from the full subliment...however RCI only credits your cruise acount...as for a print out of your sea pass account if you do not have one...then calmly write a letter to the accounting department, stating the facts and simply state that you will seek legal recourse if this matter is not resolved in a timely matter...legal recourse would be small claims court...

Good luck...you will get your money back...I am sure of that.

[dubaihammer]

The problem is the complete lack of communication from RCI. I am not that worried about the money, it is the way we have been treated.

 

We have been told untruths to fob us off while we were on board and completely ignored once we disembarked.

 

It is very annoying as we had just become Diamond.

[RevSmith]

I understand...but the bottom line is, you are entitled to your money...

sometimes, it takes a while for them to hear you...but I assure you, if you get all your ducks in a row, and know you are right and entitled to that money legally...you will not be ignored, and you will receive your money with an apology.

I always find that a good way to approach a problem such as this is to start your call or letter with, "I don't know if you can help me but...", that usually challenges whomever you are speaking with or writing to...and you have a better chance of being helped or being directed to someone who can help you.

Good luck again.

[CruisenLexie]

If this is your first bump in the road in 10 cruises then that seems pretty good to me. I completely understand your frustration. You did not mention that you called and spoke to anyone. Maybe that would be the quickest resolution. We have been on Princess, Celebrity and Holland America and all are fine lines but somehow I usually end up with Royal. Good luck!

[dubaihammer]

Many thanks for your advice RevSmith, but I am not sure that I want to continue giving my hard earned cash to a company that cannot even get their customer support forms working on their website.

[uktraveller]

I'm sorry to hear that this still hasn't been resolved (read your earlier posts). I'm in agreement with RevSmith on this....you should write to RCCL outlining the facts and I'm sure you will get your refund, hopefully with an apology for the lack of customer service you have received. We were really annoyed after one of our RCCL cruises when we had a LOT of erroneous charges on our Seapass a/c...we were fobbed off by Guest Relations saying they would be removed before our CC was charged and of course they were not....so we wrote to them and received a refund and an apology fairly promptly.

I hope you get satisfaction.

[dubaihammer]

If this is your first bump in the road in 10 cruises then that seems pretty good to me. I completely understand your frustration. You did not mention that you called and spoke to anyone. Maybe that would be the quickest resolution. We have been on Princess, Celebrity and Holland America and all are fine lines but somehow I usually end up with Royal. Good luck!

 

I have called and talked to Royal Caribbean Arabia who say that they are still waiting a reply from Miami (the same fob off story given out constantly during our 3 weeks on board the Rhapsody).

 

Sorry, I missed that part out in my original post

[RevSmith]

Many thanks for your advice RevSmith, but I am not sure that I want to continue giving my hard earned cash to a company that cannot even get their customer support forms working on their website.

Whatever you chose to do about sailing with RCI is your business...I am not suggesting for a minute that you change your mind about that...simply suggesting that you resolve your problem. And one thing I know is that you do not resolve a problem by saying that you won't be using RCI anymore...because when you tell them that...why should they bother to help you...that's my way of thinking. Stay calm and be persistant...

[goneclear]

...be assured that they don't care if they lose you...

I sure hope you are wrong about this. It's us paying customers that pay the bills and keep RCL sailing.

Where I work the customer is #1 as we know they are really the one paying us. And in these time I would like to think every customer is important to RCL or any business. JMO.

[RevSmith]

That's a nice thought. I wish it were true.

[djmutters]

Many people who read these boards are aware we had a big problem concerning wine & dine charges however like another poster suggested to me, once you can get a name or email or phone number of a high up person then things get sorted out rather quickly.

 

Like you said it's not about the money so why allow it to ruin your nice time you had away (Apart from this problem)

 

I hope you get sorted out quickly, I have a feeling it will all get sorted:)

[CallieS]

I was due a fuel surcharge refund as an OBC and called a couple days before our cruise to confirm that it was showing on our account. The customer service rep said nothing was showing, put me on hold, then came back and said she was able to add the OBC. She went on to tell me that it was a good thing I called BEFORE the cruise because there would have been nothing they could do during or after the cruise.

 

We got the OBC and I thank my lucky stars that I called when I did instead of assuming RCI would get it right - thanks to some tips from CruiseCritic ;). I sure hope you are able to straighten this out, but the CSR I spoke with gave me the impression that once the cruise is underway, they are done with you. Maybe not on purpose, but surely your records are swept into a different category. Good luck.

[dwjoe]

I have called and talked to Royal Caribbean Arabia who say that they are still waiting a reply from Miami (the same fob off story given out constantly during our 3 weeks on board the Rhapsody).

 

Sorry, I missed that part out in my original post

Sorry for your frustration... it certainly would annoy me to be treated unfairly this way. There was another thread recently concerning UK cruisers who'd been overcharged in some mixup with Miami and the RCCL UK office went to bat for them and eventually got it sorted. If you can call someone at your local RCCL office and get them to go to bat for you, that might help you get your fuel charges refunded. Good luck!

[Daycare Provider]

:DRccl took the fuel surcharge off of my cruise total back in December for our Easter Cruise...I tried to stay on top off this from the beginning..I didn't want to become a mis-informed cruiser...Thanks to Cruis Critic...I knew where to look for my refund.

Angela

[sea-cruise]

Steve and Veronica,

Over the past years I've found that you will receive a response if you send a "certified" letter with "return receipt request". In your area of the world the postal system may be different, so just make sure that the letter is sent with some sort of barcode tracking number.

I would send one to RCI in Miami as well as RCI Arabia.

Good luck.

Mary

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Many thanks for your advice RevSmith, but I am not sure that I want to continue giving my hard earned cash to a company that cannot even get their customer support forms working on their website.

 

I'm not trying to make light of your situation, but just wanted to second what someone else has said here--they couldn't care less if they lose you, RCI is not like it used to be, trust me. I am 28 now and have been cruising since I was 16 (diamond plus) and have seen things go from amazing to pretty bad. It's not just RCI, either--it seems to be becoming a trend in our nation and world. So, trust me--if you want to enjoy a cruise vacation, you'll most likely have to continue cruising with them. I'm sorry that happened to you, but they're more concerned about how much $$ is in their pocket (like most companies) instead of treating people right. It's sad.

[keylimecake]

We had similar problems this summer. I emailed and then sent a Registered Letter and sent it too Marketing, COO etc. After two weeks and no response I was told they will respond in 3 weeks. About 3 weeks and 2 days after they received the letter someone called. They had no intention of actually resolving anything. Customer Service is soooo annoying. Their answers were so rehearsed and scripted. I felt like it was a scene out of the movie, 'Anger Management'. Good luck. Hope you get it figured out

[dubaihammer]

Update:

 

Still no response from anybody from RCI. Maybe they are all on holiday:rolleyes:

[danajjj]

We have been trying to find out what happened to our fuel surcharge refund since the second day of our cruise on the Rhapsody as it was not in our seapass account as it should have been.

While on board we were given various stories of where the money was, all of which proved to be false.

 

Since we have returned home, we have contacted RCI through their website, we have e-mailed crown & anchor and we have even e-mailed Adam Goldstein!! The only notification that we have had is an auto reply from crown & anchor. The silence from them is deafening.

 

We tried tonight to contact them through the contact us form (Post cruise questions and comments) on their website and after typing a few hundred words and pressing submit, the "royalcaribbean.com is not available" message was displayed. We have tried this twice since, and both times it did not work (If you want to book a cruise, the website is working fine).

 

We cannot say that RCI's customer support has been bad as we haven't actually had any customer support.

 

We think that RCI are going to be in for a very difficult time during this economic crisis if they treat loyal customers in this way.

 

We have responded to this treatment in the only way we can and have cancelled my upcoming two cruises on the Radiance and the Brilliance, and have asked for quotations from Princess.

 

Goodbye RCI:mad:

 

I'm short on time so haven't read the other posts. Sorry, if this is a big repeat. We had a similar thing happen to us. This is when they were issuing the OBC if you had the booking prior to the fuel supplements being charged. I never received the OBC and guest services onboard couldn't help me. I called the Miami office after the cruise. I had to spend the time getting it resolved, but it was fairly painless and didn't take much time. The Miami office was very helpful and I was refunded the money quickly. I would suggest calling the Miami office and stop trying to email them. Good luck!

[derby lover]

On our last RCL cruise (three weeks ago) our fuel surchage was not on our seapass account either. On arriving home I checked our invoice and, although it showed in black (not red), our travel agent had already taken it off our final bill. We didn't realize this at the time. Maybe you had the same thing happen.

[dubaihammer]

Final update:

 

Royal Caribbean Arabia contacted me today to confirm that they did owe me the fuel surcharge refund. No apology.

 

This has taken them 5 weeks to sort out during which time they stated that it had been paid to my credit card, it had been refunded to my TA and that I was not entitled to a refund.

 

I suppose I should be grateful that I have got a result, but I still feel that there was a real attempt to cheat me.

 

RCI have at no time attempted to apologise for any of their incorrect statements and as such I am resolved to not sail with them again.

 

To all those who posted advice - many thanks. It's people like you that make this site what it is.