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Vacation from the lower pits of hell
dantivirus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok, just got back from the worst vacation I've ever had. About 22 friends and family members of mine went on a 6 day 5 night cruise on Royal Caribbean. We were scheduled to go to Ocho Rios, Jamacia and Grand Cayman. Well that did not turn even close to what we did. We got to the Fort Lauderdale Port without a hitch. Check in was a nightmare, had this one guy shouting and yelling for people to get into various lines based on cabin number. No politeness, no courtesy, just shouting. I already feel like cattle. It takes over 45minutes just to get through check-in. Well that's with 20 lines open and my group being 6th in line. Now when we finally get on ship, it get better. We leave port and things look good. Roughly about 75% of the way to Jamacia, the Captain tells us he's making a judgement call to go to Key West because of TS Noel. Well 80% of the passangers on this cruise are from Florida. So that bites for us. The ride was rough to say the least. You had 3 options on the ship, eat, drink, or gamble. Well, the 4th option was to stay in your room and throw up (lots took this option, including crew). We get to Key West and had 4 hours...yep 4 hours and it was raining...oh happy joy.
They told us we were going to Nassau next, just when we were going to leave, that changed. Now we were going to Cozumel. Hmm, okay this could be cool. Yet another rough ride. We were told we would get there around 2:30 or 3 PM Cozumel time. Noooo, we got there 6 PM in the dark and pouring rain. We had another 4 hours in port. No excursions, diving, or swimming trips were offerred. Cozumel, in pouring rain, at night is no fun. Bascially at this point passengers and some crew were ready to mutiny. We have another day at sea with winds up to 80 MPH on the pool deck and yes, rough waters and rain again. We finally get back to port and most of us come to find out they charged all our credit cards the same charges 3 times, well they tell us we have to get into a line to see guest services to have this corrected. We found out at 7:30 AM and my group was to depart at 8:30 AM. The line had 400+ people in it and only 3 people working the desk. After getting through the line at 9:15 AM, we finally get off the ship.
Royal Carribbean offerred everyone NOTHING in the way of compensation or credit. The food stunk, the trip was nowhere near we paid to go (yes we understood weather played an issue but we came to find out they could have gone to Grand Cayman but chose not to), we were basically treated like cattle. So from now on, no more Royal Carribean for me.
They told us we were going to Nassau next, just when we were going to leave, that changed. Now we were going to Cozumel. Hmm, okay this could be cool. Yet another rough ride. We were told we would get there around 2:30 or 3 PM Cozumel time. Noooo, we got there 6 PM in the dark and pouring rain. We had another 4 hours in port. No excursions, diving, or swimming trips were offerred. Cozumel, in pouring rain, at night is no fun. Bascially at this point passengers and some crew were ready to mutiny. We have another day at sea with winds up to 80 MPH on the pool deck and yes, rough waters and rain again. We finally get back to port and most of us come to find out they charged all our credit cards the same charges 3 times, well they tell us we have to get into a line to see guest services to have this corrected. We found out at 7:30 AM and my group was to depart at 8:30 AM. The line had 400+ people in it and only 3 people working the desk. After getting through the line at 9:15 AM, we finally get off the ship.
Royal Carribbean offerred everyone NOTHING in the way of compensation or credit. The food stunk, the trip was nowhere near we paid to go (yes we understood weather played an issue but we came to find out they could have gone to Grand Cayman but chose not to), we were basically treated like cattle. So from now on, no more Royal Carribean for me.
dantivirus on
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Posts
First, try contacting the basic customer service levels. The number for their "Post Cruise Questions/Comments" line is (800) 256-6649. Explain the situation to them nice and civilly. Be sure to mention how your expectations were not met, the lack of advertised activities on the boat (as I'm assuming the cruise advertised more than eating, drinking and gambling if you were disappointed when that was all that was available) and the callous manner with which the crew treated you (give specific examples).
If at this point you are not offered anything that you feel is fair, attempt to get to a higher up. Ask to speak to a supervisor and explain your experience to them. Hopefully this will be enough to get your issue resolved to your satisfaction, but sadly this is often not the case. Once all the regular avenues have failed, I recommend an executive email carpet bomb.
Here's a list of all the top executives at Royal Caribbean. I believe their corporate email format is (first letter first name)_(first four letters last name)@rccl.com, so you can work out their emails using that info. If you'd like to confirm, you can call their corporate headquarters at 305-539-6000. Talk to the operator and say you're updating your contact list and was wondering if they could supply you with a current email address.
Once you've got the email addresses, write out a courteous and concise letter to all the above executives. Spell check it, double check all your grammar - the more well written the letter is, the more likely the letter is going to be read and responded to. Do not use overly emotional language in the letter - you want to convey that you were not at all pleased with the trip, but you are still discussing a business matter. This shouldn't be a rant.
Then you just have to send it out. I would cc in The Consumerist (www.consumerist.com), email contacts on the left hand side), which is a popular online consumer watchgroup blog that will supply a little bit of extra pressure on the company to resolve your situation, lest they face negative press.
Hopefully one of the suggestions above works for you, and best of luck getting some of your money back!
Sounds like you've been through this before? Remind me not to piss you off.
Heh, I've actually never had to go beyond asking to speak to a supervisor. I read Consumerist daily, though, so I am well prepared should I ever need to deal with sticky situations.