Terrible customer service with RCL

[kymickeyfan717]

i just had a really bad customer service experience with RCL that totally made me rethink cruising with them.
I am a long time DCL cruiser - platinum level - but with the recent high prices, I decided to look at other cruise lines. I've been checking out RCL and their recent schedule and decided to try them out.

Last night I booked a cruise for Feb 2018 (kinda of a planner ). I went thru the entire booking process and paid the deposit. It displayed a deposit of $250 so that is what I paid. I received an email a little bit later to create an account to manage the reservation. I set that all up. Once I logged in , I noticed that it said I still owed $250. I thought maybe what I had just paid hadn't posted to their system yet. They did have a promotion that ended yesterday that offered 1/2 deposit on some cruises. My cruise didn't indicate if it was in the promotion or not but since it came up wth the 250 deposit I figured it was.

I logged in this morning to see if it was displaying correctly. It still showed I owed the 250. I called RCL and explained the issue. He said that apparently my cruise didn't fall under the promotion. I'm like then why did the website offer the 250 deposit. He acted it was my fault and said if I didn't want the cruise to auto cancel then I needed to pay the rest. I asked to speak to his supervisor

I waited about 10 minutes and I talked to another person and explained the situation. She said that my cruise apparently didn't fall under the promotion. I'm like then why was I offered the 1/2 deposit. I would not have arbitrarily decided to pay 1/2 if I knew it was 500. I asked if there was any way to honor what their own site provided. She took my email and said she could see what she could do but no promises.

Couple hours later I received an email from her, the revenue team could not add the promotion back on my cruise since it ended last night (reason I booked). Only thing she could do was place a note on my account to not cancel and hope the payment team didn't cancel. Then she wanted to know when I was sending the 250. I'm like when final payment is due. That one question sealed the deal of not keeping this reservation.

This whole CS experience left a really bitter taste in my mouth. I told her that I was a long time cruiser on another line but we wanted to give RCL a try. This was not a good first impression. We decided to just cancel the cruise. If this was the level of customer service we received on the phone, hate to see what we get on the ship.

Thanks for letting me vent this

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, cancelling is one option.

The other option is to do what countless poeple have to do with Disney situations, and that is to call again and again until someone with a brain looks at your situation.

The other is to post on cruisecritic and someone will give you VERY specific contact information to contact to resolve this so you don't have to cancel. Except you already did. Sadness.


How did you make a booking BEFORE creating an account?

It's very very VERY common for the account to always (seriously, always, until you go on the cruise) show that you owe the other half. It's pretty much THE sign that you have that sort of booking.

They also don't really let you opt out of a given promo, if you're booking during the time of the promo.

So I would have given it a day or two to settle down (Royal IT is seemingly done by the exact same untrained chimps that Disney uses for their IT...it's all bad across both companies), then called again. Also I would have looked at the confirmation info you had.


But you cancelled. Still sadness.

(asking for help at the start of a problem can yield good info!)

 

[kymickeyfan717]

The rest of the deposit was due today so I really had no choice or it would have been cancelled any way. I talked to 2 different people and got the same result - too bad pay the 500 or let cruise self cancel. I just assumed I had the promo since th deposit showed 250 instead of 500. What really sealed the deal was the rep's question of when I was sending the rest of the 250? I'm like this is what we have been discussing all morning.

I'm just really surprised there wasn't some flag that couldn't mark in the system to say deposit paid. It's not like they weren't getting the full amount eventually anyways.

 

[sam_gordon]

i just had a really bad customer service experience with RCL that totally made me rethink cruising with them.
I am a long time DCL cruiser - platinum level - but with the recent high prices, I decided to look at other cruise lines. I've been checking out RCL and their recent schedule and decided to try them out.

Last night I booked a cruise for Feb 2018 (kinda of a planner ). I went thru the entire booking process and paid the deposit. It displayed a deposit of $250 so that is what I paid. I received an email a little bit later to create an account to manage the reservation. I set that all up. Once I logged in , I noticed that it said I still owed $250. I thought maybe what I had just paid hadn't posted to their system yet. They did have a promotion that ended yesterday that offered 1/2 deposit on some cruises. My cruise didn't indicate if it was in the promotion or not but since it came up wth the 250 deposit I figured it was.

I logged in this morning to see if it was displaying correctly. It still showed I owed the 250. I called RCL and explained the issue. He said that apparently my cruise didn't fall under the promotion. I'm like then why did the website offer the 250 deposit. He acted it was my fault and said if I didn't want the cruise to auto cancel then I needed to pay the rest. I asked to speak to his supervisor

I waited about 10 minutes and I talked to another person and explained the situation. She said that my cruise apparently didn't fall under the promotion. I'm like then why was I offered the 1/2 deposit. I would not have arbitrarily decided to pay 1/2 if I knew it was 500. I asked if there was any way to honor what their own site provided. She took my email and said she could see what she could do but no promises.

Couple hours later I received an email from her, the revenue team could not add the promotion back on my cruise since it ended last night (reason I booked). Only thing she could do was place a note on my account to not cancel and hope the payment team didn't cancel. Then she wanted to know when I was sending the 250. I'm like when final payment is due. That one question sealed the deal of not keeping this reservation.

This whole CS experience left a really bitter taste in my mouth. I told her that I was a long time cruiser on another line but we wanted to give RCL a try. This was not a good first impression. We decided to just cancel the cruise. If this was the level of customer service we received on the phone, hate to see what we get on the ship.

Thanks for letting me vent this

1) I agree with bumber and this is another classic example of a poor IT programming that is apparently not unusual with RCI (we book with a TA, so don't really deal too much with RCI's IT).
2) Regarding the bolded, you made an assumption that your cruise qualified for the 1/2 deposit.
3) If you would have been willing to pay $500 for the down payment to begin with, why not just add the extra $250? Was the 1/2 off deposit the reason you booked that cruise? Or was it a surprise when you got to the payment page?

I get it's the "principle of the thing", but I don't think my first step would have been cancelling the cruise. Oh well. I hope you have a good trip wherever you go.

 

[alliecat523]

Agree with PPs. The cruises on the site indicate if they are part of the current promotion. If nothing is noted, it's not part of the deal.

Yes, their IT sucks but I agree with just paying the full deposit as you seem to indicate that wasn't going to be a financial hardship.

Also agree with the principle of it but wouldn't cancel either.

 

[Laz]

Did you use a TA? I would think that they could handle these situations for you.

 

[DnA2010]

Echo the above honestly- I guess it depends on if you want the cruise or not. Either it qualifies or it doesn't right? Would they not have asked for the other $250 to make sure it wasn't cancelled?

 

[kymickeyfan717]

My issue is with the way it was handled. Their website said the deposit was 250 so I in good faith paid that deposit. I didn't know if the cruise was in the promotion or not, I just paid what was asked for. It was later that I discovered the issue so I called the next day. All I wanted them to do was honor what their site provided. It wasn't that much to ask - we ask that everyday from other sites/vendors - to honor price given. The old adage - the customs is always right - didn't play in this instance.

The last communication I had from them was I should have called in to get promo applied if I noticed it wasn't - I'm like isn't that the reason I'm talking to you.

I'll probably eventually look at RC again because honestly I liked the look of some of the ships and itineraries. Really it was just the principle after the first person I talked to was really short on the phone. I wasn't asking to pay less than what was quoted - I was just asking them to honor the deposit that their site provided and I paid in good faith

Just my opinion...

 

[DnA2010]

So I'm slightly confused- the cruise you booked was noted as part of the promotion then? Then yes I would have been annoyed for sure. If it wasn't then I don't really get why you are so bothered that you cancelled. Now I'm thinking from your last message that it was included- in that case, I would be annoyed yes, but in the grand scheme of things, what's $250 on the price of a whole cruise/vacation? Maybe that person was having a really bad day, or didn't have great training, or was being pressured? Who knows? I would book through a TA anyways, for the OBC

 

[sam_gordon]

The old adage - the customs is always right - didn't play in this instance.

Because so many people will do what they can to "push the envelope" (I'm not saying you did), businesses have learned customers are NOT always right and will stand their ground.

I've gone into brick and mortar stores that had signs at the entrances saying ad flyers had an incorrect price. That sounds like what happened here. There was an IT mistake. If I was in your shoes, yes, I would have tried to "keep" the 1/2 deposit, but it wouldn't be worth losing my cruise over (especially if I was ready to pay the full deposit anyway).

 

[Ofinn]

i just had a really bad customer service experience with RCL that totally made me rethink cruising with them.
I am a long time DCL cruiser - platinum level - but with the recent high prices, I decided to look at other cruise lines. I've been checking out RCL and their recent schedule and decided to try them out.

Last night I booked a cruise for Feb 2018 (kinda of a planner ). I went thru the entire booking process and paid the deposit. It displayed a deposit of $250 so that is what I paid. I received an email a little bit later to create an account to manage the reservation. I set that all up. Once I logged in , I noticed that it said I still owed $250. I thought maybe what I had just paid hadn't posted to their system yet. They did have a promotion that ended yesterday that offered 1/2 deposit on some cruises. My cruise didn't indicate if it was in the promotion or not but since it came up wth the 250 deposit I figured it was.

I logged in this morning to see if it was displaying correctly. It still showed I owed the 250. I called RCL and explained the issue. He said that apparently my cruise didn't fall under the promotion. I'm like then why did the website offer the 250 deposit. He acted it was my fault and said if I didn't want the cruise to auto cancel then I needed to pay the rest. I asked to speak to his supervisor

I waited about 10 minutes and I talked to another person and explained the situation. She said that my cruise apparently didn't fall under the promotion. I'm like then why was I offered the 1/2 deposit. I would not have arbitrarily decided to pay 1/2 if I knew it was 500. I asked if there was any way to honor what their own site provided. She took my email and said she could see what she could do but no promises.

Couple hours later I received an email from her, the revenue team could not add the promotion back on my cruise since it ended last night (reason I booked). Only thing she could do was place a note on my account to not cancel and hope the payment team didn't cancel. Then she wanted to know when I was sending the 250. I'm like when final payment is due. That one question sealed the deal of not keeping this reservation.

This whole CS experience left a really bitter taste in my mouth. I told her that I was a long time cruiser on another line but we wanted to give RCL a try. This was not a good first impression. We decided to just cancel the cruise. If this was the level of customer service we received on the phone, hate to see what we get on the ship.

Thanks for letting me vent this

I had a similar experience when I booked with Carnival. One of the promotions they were offering wasn't explained to me properly when I booked. I wasn't told the deposit was nonrefundable. To make a long story short I spent hours on hold, talked to several different csr's and supervisors before the issue was resolved, and my money was refunded. I rebooked under a different promotion because the price was just too good to pass up. I have since made 10 or more phone calls to switch cruises, rooms, ask questions, and I have to say their customer service has been great right on par with Disney. I would give them another chance. The people that answer the phone just follow protocols. You really have to escalate things when you have a problem. I have had a few issues at WDW that I had to escalate. Disney is not perfect either.

 

[Shanti]

My issue is with the way it was handled. Their website said the deposit was 250 so I in good faith paid that deposit. I didn't know if the cruise was in the promotion or not, I just paid what was asked for. It was later that I discovered the issue so I called the next day. All I wanted them to do was honor what their site provided. It wasn't that much to ask - we ask that everyday from other sites/vendors - to honor price given. The old adage - the customs is always right - didn't play in this instance.

The last communication I had from them was I should have called in to get promo applied if I noticed it wasn't - I'm like isn't that the reason I'm talking to you.

I'll probably eventually look at RC again because honestly I liked the look of some of the ships and itineraries. Really it was just the principle after the first person I talked to was really short on the phone. I wasn't asking to pay less than what was quoted - I was just asking them to honor the deposit that their site provided and I paid in good faith

Just my opinion...

I would have cancelled, too. If you don't feel comfortable with their customer service on land (which goes beyond an IT issue, from your description), then I agree that I wouldn't want to be on their boat for several days.

 

[DnA2010]

I would have cancelled, too. If you don't feel comfortable with their customer service on land (which goes beyond an IT issue, from your description), then I agree that I wouldn't want to be on their boat for several days.

If I'd have cancelled our cruise on the Fantasy due to the fact I didn't get a very good agent on the phone, boy would I have missed out. What is it about judging a book by its cover...

 

[Saimaeve]

The old adage - the customs is always right - didn't play in this instance.

So you know this adage is not actually standard business practice? It was created by a businessman about his own store. The customer is not always right and it seems so strange people think this is true. This was a comment made over a hundred years ago and people were already pushing the envelope then

If you were going to sail, you would have eventually paid the amount. If it was a financial hardship, could you have explained that? Do you have proof your sailing fell under the promotion? If so, I would have explained that to them.