Comments on: “Pay an additional $800 or you can’t board the ship”

By: Alex36

Alex36 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:17:39 +0000

While addressing her district, she said tearfully that nobody should have to put up with the behind-the-back comments she took. ,

By: Mary Hoefs

Mary Hoefs — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:55:51 +0000

After reading all the comments concerning our trip and the $800.00 issue, I want to make one more comment on this.
At the booking time, we paid in full just as we have always done in the past on other cruises.
Each family member had a passport, so there was no one trying to “slide” in under another name or state. One family from West Virginia, one from Texas, and one from Arizona. And the family from Texas did NOT say they were from WV.
They are very “proud Texans!” Would never claim WV as their home!
On our documents there was nothing indicating a discount. for the Texas group.
We’ve had a lot of questions; like , had we not been there and had the money to pay this amount, would they have not let them board? What would have happened to the money already paid out? Would they have had to try to change their air tickets and head for home? It has been four months now, and still is a nightmare in my mind. NEVER will I use RCCL again! And I do not tell my friends to use them. It was the first and the last for us! It was our 15th cruise, and the first for our whole family. But from here on, we will go back to our old standby. Another beautiful, large floating city where we are treated with respect, and they appear happy to have our business. RCCL has yet to acknowledge to us there was a mistake made. They have yet to say “we are sorry.”
This is all I have to add to this, and I hope and pray that no one else has to go through the same.

By: The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:29:10 +0000

I’m wondering what the travel agent’s culpability is – did she knowingly offer the WV discount to the entire traveling party in order to clinch the sale? Did she recommend that the party split the West Virginians among the different cabins to spread the discount? All we’ve heard from are the poor “victims,” but to paraphrase Paul Harvey, we’re waiting to hear “the rest of the story.”

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:12:52 +0000

Sounds like he said she said.
First of all when the cruise documents come in be the actual paper tickets or
e-documents, they are clearly marked as a promotional fare.
Second of all, the travel agent either made a mistake or pulled a fast one.
Third, the travel could have acted in good faith and probably was going to put one guest from West Virginia with one guest from Texas to get both cabins the lower rate. This is done all the time. Sound like the agent may have forgotten to do this.
If that’s the case the agent needs to come up with some money for their client.
I have made this mistake and my guest would know as I pay the piper.
Royal Caribbean did do the right thing in turning away the Hoef’s.
To have Royal board the guest and fix this problem later just doesn’t work.
They would have to set up another department just to handle this sort of problem. Fares would have to go up or like always taxes to cover additional cost.
The current system has been working fine for many years. The public, not all but most, only seems to see one way, their way. With comments like, Royal should pay, or it’s poor customer service, let the guest take the cruise and bill them later or the best is put it on your charge and dispute it later. This one in particular doesn’t work in the customers favor anymore. To many bad people with ill intensions have crushed that idea. The guest will have to jump through hoops to prove that the vacation they took was sold with fraud in mind.
Moral of the story, Read! Read! Read! what you get and verify your price. Smart travel agents will have the guest sign for what they are getting so both parties agreed to the terms.

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Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:53:06 +0000

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Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:23:57 +0000

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Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:52:40 +0000

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By: cruise

cruise — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:10:27 +0000

RC handled it poorly, regardless of whether or not they had the discount.
They should have been explained the situation, be allowed to board, then determine what happens. Way to ruin a family’s trip and get bad press for $400, RC.

By: Royal Caribbean: Give Us $800 Or Find Another Ship [Extortion] | Design Website Blog

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:00:47 +0000

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By: Tony Azpeitia

Tony Azpeitia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:35:03 +0000

Chris..another great story…. It sure generated a lot of comments and excellent points. If we’re playing the blame game, then RCCL is not at fault, the “agent” is. I, as with many, would like to know what type of “agent” was involved. I became an agent, because I experienced for a variety of reasons, travel problems many of which I recognized and accessed as preventable. One of those was agents who made errors and / or did not know what they were doing. Regarding Susan’s comment about travel agents, my clients would challenge you in a heartbeat based on the level of service they receive. Regarding Leonard’s comment about RCCL steak charge. It would help to know that the steak charge is for an optional specialty restaurant’s premium steak, not the standard dining room steak. Now back to the issue. Because of the many errors that I have seen, I double-check all pricing because I have had this exact experience. In my case, I discovered it in a few days after booking a cruise and it was immediately corrected. These are human problems which occur all around us daily. Our challenge is to find the true professional with integrity to help us turn our travel dreams into precious memories.