Cruise line lied to me when booking - what are my rights for refund?

nicdigby

I booked a cruise on Royal Caribbean via a travel agent. I have cancer and use a mobility scooter and wheelchair so the UK travel agent called RC to explain the situation, and that I needed a disabled-adapted cabin, AND one very close to it for the rest of my family in case I needed urgent help.

RC told the agent that there were no interior or window cabins close by, but that they would open up the only room that they did have - a "junior suite". It was placed on hold for me for four hours only, to solve the problem - as it was directly across the corridor from my room (ie one metre away).

The agent and I checked and triple checked on the deck plan and it did look like 600 and 200 were right opposite each other.

It was the best option as the nearest other (cheapar) cabin was 20 doors down which is too far for me to walk (I use a mobility scooter and wheelchair).

The suite was £2000 more, but we paid it knowing that I could at least enjoy sitting on the balcony of the suite if the crowds on the ship got too much for me (I'm a cancer patient).

So far, so good.

We get on the ship. And the rooms are indeed geographically close to one another, with only a corridor separating the rooms themselves - but the front doors are nowhere near other! I had to go up one corridor, across the double lift and stairs lobby, and back down another corridor. It was about an 8 minute walk away - too far for me. And my scooter and wheelchair wouldn't fit through the door of the suite, as it wasn't a disabled cabin, so I couldn't even use the balcony of that room.

If we had known that the front doors of the rooms were so far apart, we wouldn't have booked, We could have booked the other room 20 doors down which was closer and £2000 cheaper than the junior suite RC conned me into buying.

I feel that both the travel agent (a cruise specialist) and RC's sales agent should have known that 200 and 600 are not across the corridor from each other - when you get on board it becomes clear that only room numbers that are similar to each other are in the same corridor.I had never been on a cruise before, so I did not know this. I checked the deck plan carefully on the phone with the travel agent and she checked it too but the front doors aren't marked.

What are my rights here? RC on board the ship offered me a £2100 discount on another cruise with them but it means spending more money with them. Now I'm back, what sort of complaint should I put in, and should I hold the travel agent or RC responsible? The travel agent made the phone call to RC and calls are apparently recorded but how on earth would I get hold of that recording to prove who was lying to me?

Can I get a refund of the extra £2000 I had to pay? Can I also get compensation?

I would be grateful for your help and advice.

elsien

So the suite wasn't for you and didn't need to be disabled friendly? Did they tell you that it was or did you presume it would be wheelchair accesssible?

I'm also not clear on why you needed to be able to get to your families room - you said it had to be close so they could offer help which makes sense, but if they're coming to you and they're able bodied why was it an issue that it's a bit further away?
I don't think you can blame the travel agent. I can't see that they'd be expected to know the layout of the rooms. That's why they phoned to check. Who makes the recording, the travel agent or RC - that's who you need to request the recording from.

nicdigby

No the suite was for the rest of my family.
Their room needed to be really close for all sorts of reasons, but mainly in case I fell over or was unwell, I could just got across one metre and knock on their door.
The point is that we requested a room really close and RC told the agent that they didn't have any cheaper ones, they only had the suite and we had to pay £2000 more if we wanted to solve the problem. They told the agent it was one metre away, and it wasn't, it was a long way away. They lied in order to get me to book.

daveyjp

Which ship, what cabin numbers?

BorisThomson

Surely you would pick up the phone in an emergency?

Did your family stay in the cabin for the duration of the cruise? If so this is where your complaint will fail, they were sold a product and they fully used it.

Their offer of a future discount is very generous.

getmore4less

ship, deck and cabin No's.

The way RCI number cabins suggests they are on different sides of the ship if the were in the 200 and 600 range

Quantum class have inside access cabin on interior corridor and on the regular corridors with family junior suites on both sides but the door is marked so you can't get it wrong.