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ROYAL CARIBBEAN - customer service zero, no more cruising with them
nic_santorini
Posts: 801 Forumite
Wow, I don't know where to start and I will try and make it brief but hope if there are others out there that this has happened too then we vote with our feet.
I have been on two cruises with RC before this one and had no issues. We paid £1200 for deck 10 balcony cruise on 27th Nov 14 to go to the following destinations over 7 day period.
Cococay - Royal Caribbeans own island in bahamas
St Marteen, Caribbean
St Thomas, Caribbean
This was on board their 4th biggest ship Freedom of the Seas. We are from the UK and so had to get to Florida to pick up the ship and this cost an additional £1k. We saved all year for this and chose this cruise for the destinations and they are beautiful and just what we wanted.
A week before we set sail RC knew there was an issue with the propellers and that the ship would need to dock for two days in Nassau, Bahamas for repairs and then we would go to Cozumel in Mexico and then Cococay.
They had to remove the propellers by cutting them off whilst ship was still in the water - the vibrations went on for 36 hours!! Nassau is a dump and has one strip of diamond shops - another annoying thing with RC is the constant flogging of poor quality diamonds from Diamonds International a chain of shops no one has heard of unless you have been on a cruise ship. I also got pick pocketed in Nassau by a local, the police were not expecting the ship and there was 3000 victims getting off the boat - easy pickings - I only had a lipbalm in my pocket luckily.
Cozumel cost us £50 to get to a decent beach by taxi and pay to go on it, we had been to mexico last year and did not want to come to this destination at all.
Cococay was lovely and part of the original itinery. Because the ship did not go to the locations they were supposed to they did not pick up the entertainment and half the cruise had diabolical entertainment and similar acts for 3/7 nights. Very disappointing.
Our cabin and food was still good. RC has given ALL cruisers what they believe to be 25% refund of the cruise. They have given us £270 back but the holiday cost us £2200. For people who live in Florida, they just travel down the road, we didn't.
I have written two letters of complaint and both state we were lucky to get anything as they can go anywhere basically as clause 5.4 of the contract says so!! If I had wanted to go on a mexico cruise, I would have booked one. What is more, they knew about this before we boarded and did not tell us until we set sail, so we were basically hostage to the ship. I believe they should have told us directly before we boarded the ship and gave us the option of sailing or not. I would have flown to one island and booked a hotel for the week instead!!
RC USA would not even talk to us on the ship as we booked in the UK and I have asked the UK to call me direct and speak with me and they will not. They do not think it is discourteous to resolve the complaint by letter (resolve in their opinion) even though I asked specifically to speak to someone.
I do not want a full refund at all, I ate the food and stayed on the ship, but I wanted a fair 25% of the total cost. There was no customer service on board or after care at all, they simply do not care. They are out and out trying to get your money, they sell crappy goods on board and push them in your faces every day. The drinks are diabolically priced and the customer services were rude to your face. We were not rude at all.
I will try and upload their reply they sent - it is a joke. This is a huge company and they should care, this is disgusting treatment. If you booked a holiday to Turkey with Thomas Cook and the plane took you to Spain would this be acceptable? This is basically what they have done and think it is ok.
Has anyone else had any similar issues with the RC? As for the staff they work 7 months in a row without 1 day off!!! I have seen the RC secret documentary and the treatment of their staff is appalling.
I am asking too much? Your opinions greatly appreciated. I save all year for this!!
I have been on two cruises with RC before this one and had no issues. We paid £1200 for deck 10 balcony cruise on 27th Nov 14 to go to the following destinations over 7 day period.
Cococay - Royal Caribbeans own island in bahamas
St Marteen, Caribbean
St Thomas, Caribbean
This was on board their 4th biggest ship Freedom of the Seas. We are from the UK and so had to get to Florida to pick up the ship and this cost an additional £1k. We saved all year for this and chose this cruise for the destinations and they are beautiful and just what we wanted.
A week before we set sail RC knew there was an issue with the propellers and that the ship would need to dock for two days in Nassau, Bahamas for repairs and then we would go to Cozumel in Mexico and then Cococay.
They had to remove the propellers by cutting them off whilst ship was still in the water - the vibrations went on for 36 hours!! Nassau is a dump and has one strip of diamond shops - another annoying thing with RC is the constant flogging of poor quality diamonds from Diamonds International a chain of shops no one has heard of unless you have been on a cruise ship. I also got pick pocketed in Nassau by a local, the police were not expecting the ship and there was 3000 victims getting off the boat - easy pickings - I only had a lipbalm in my pocket luckily.
Cozumel cost us £50 to get to a decent beach by taxi and pay to go on it, we had been to mexico last year and did not want to come to this destination at all.
Cococay was lovely and part of the original itinery. Because the ship did not go to the locations they were supposed to they did not pick up the entertainment and half the cruise had diabolical entertainment and similar acts for 3/7 nights. Very disappointing.
Our cabin and food was still good. RC has given ALL cruisers what they believe to be 25% refund of the cruise. They have given us £270 back but the holiday cost us £2200. For people who live in Florida, they just travel down the road, we didn't.
I have written two letters of complaint and both state we were lucky to get anything as they can go anywhere basically as clause 5.4 of the contract says so!! If I had wanted to go on a mexico cruise, I would have booked one. What is more, they knew about this before we boarded and did not tell us until we set sail, so we were basically hostage to the ship. I believe they should have told us directly before we boarded the ship and gave us the option of sailing or not. I would have flown to one island and booked a hotel for the week instead!!
RC USA would not even talk to us on the ship as we booked in the UK and I have asked the UK to call me direct and speak with me and they will not. They do not think it is discourteous to resolve the complaint by letter (resolve in their opinion) even though I asked specifically to speak to someone.
I do not want a full refund at all, I ate the food and stayed on the ship, but I wanted a fair 25% of the total cost. There was no customer service on board or after care at all, they simply do not care. They are out and out trying to get your money, they sell crappy goods on board and push them in your faces every day. The drinks are diabolically priced and the customer services were rude to your face. We were not rude at all.
I will try and upload their reply they sent - it is a joke. This is a huge company and they should care, this is disgusting treatment. If you booked a holiday to Turkey with Thomas Cook and the plane took you to Spain would this be acceptable? This is basically what they have done and think it is ok.
Has anyone else had any similar issues with the RC? As for the staff they work 7 months in a row without 1 day off!!! I have seen the RC secret documentary and the treatment of their staff is appalling.
I am asking too much? Your opinions greatly appreciated. I save all year for this!!
Food and Smellies Shop target £50 pw - managed average of £49 per week in 2013 down to £38.90 per week in 2016
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Comments
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£270 isn't 25% of £1200, £300 is. Why haven't he offered you that?
If you want 25% of your whole £2200 cost which includes your flights arranged separately from Royal Carribean then I'm not convinced they'll pay out as your contract with them was only for your cruie.
However if you're not happy with their compensation offer then refuse it and ask for more by writing to them (or email). Keep the letter concise, state why you feel you don't think their offer is enough and state what you do feel would be acceptable.
I don't know much about cruising but I'm sure there's cruise forums online that might be able to offer more help?0 -
Oh Nic I sympathise with you. I've always wanted to cruise with RC, but something always comes up, really disappointed to read your feedback.
You have been offered £270 but 25% of £1200 (the cruise) is £300. I don't think you will be able to claim 25% including your flights as it wasn't part of a package/cruise package.
I feel your pain, but it is what it IS. I would try claim for the full £300 and would only follow it through on principle, but it seems like too much leg work for just an additional £30?
Good Luck what ever you decide.0 -
there is a RC forum over in the cruisecritic forums, may be useful posting there too0
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Maybe they've rounded down the compensation given/rounded up the cruise cost? People seem to make a habit of doing either/both of those when moaning about a company!
(Not that the OP's moan isn't fully justified!)0 -
I am pretty surprised that you have found RC to be unhelpful. I was lucky enough to do the exact cruise with the Freedom of the Seas last February and had a couple of issues - one of which our stateroom got flooded out to the point they had put new carpets in and not getting our dining time.
Luckily I made friends with some experienced cruise guests who told me to go guest relations on deck 5 if there were any problems. So each time I would go there to give them the chance to sort it out. Must say they were very helpful to me and I ended up getting exceptional service from them with free speciality dining, money off excursions, Johnny Rockets and free wifi. Plus money off our next cruise.
Having said that if you are not happy then don't take anything and keep at it. Like you said you are not asking for a full refund as you did enjoy some aspects of it. But RC will probably only deal with the cruise and not your flights.Wins in 2015
Kettle Chips, Cambridge Satchel Bag, Tixs to Sound Of Music UK Tour, Name on a bench, Hotel Chocolat Eggs, Cuddly Dog, Stabilo pens, Samsung Galaxy Tab S, LG G Flex 2 phone, Gramofon, Lunch Meal For Two at La Tasca, Lunch For Two at Handmade Burger Company, £30 Gourmet Burger Kitchen Voucher, Canon Ixus Camera0 -
nic_santorini wrote: »..... we were lucky to get anything as they can go anywhere basically as clause 5.4 of the contract says so!! .......
Does this indicate that it's a surprise to you as you didn't read the Ts & Cs before agreeing and paying?
Given that ship repairs cannot be ignored, what alternative course of action do you think they should have taken?
The flights are irrelevant to RC so forget that bit; re-state your complaint and tell them what you think would be reasonable compensation.The questions that get the best answers are the questions that give most detail....0 -
Does this indicate that it's a surprise to you as you didn't read the Ts & Cs before agreeing and paying?
Given that ship repairs cannot be ignored, what alternative course of action do you think they should have taken?
The flights are irrelevant to RC so forget that bit; re-state your complaint and tell them what you think would be reasonable compensation.
You obviously have not seen the 12 pages of terms and conditions!! The cruise liners t & c's were even featured on rip off Britain this week. Even a solicitor found it hard to get his head around them!!Food and Smellies Shop target £50 pw - managed average of £49 per week in 2013 down to £38.90 per week in 20160 -
I'm probably wrong as i have no direct experience of cruise travel but my feeling is that they are modern day slave traders.
The punters are held captive. They can choose between steerage or upper class. The poor crew are underpaid slaves and the passengers are expected to pay them.
This has nothing much to do with the OPs original post and so i beg indulgence from readers..Feudal Britain needs land reform. 70% of the land is "owned" by 1 % of the population and at least 50% is unregistered (inherited by landed gentry). Thats why your slave box costs so much..0 -
Is it possible that the £270 refund offered is actually 25% of the basic cost of the cruise (£1080), and the remainder of the money paid (£120) was for extras such as tips, wi-fi etc0
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C_Mababejive wrote: »I'm probably wrong as i have no direct experience of cruise travel but my feeling is that they are modern day slave traders.
The punters are held captive. They can choose between steerage or upper class. The poor crew are underpaid slaves and the passengers are expected to pay them.
This has nothing much to do with the OPs original post and so i beg indulgence from readers..
er...yep, you're wrong IMO of course ! Even my extremely fussy and hard to please DH is counting the days to our Caribbean cruise next month
We use the ship to sleep, eat and drink with friends in the evenings and the rest of the time we are on the beach, snorkelling, exploring islands and generally chilling:D0
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