I have had quite the ordeal with Royal Caribbean.
We initially booked in 2019 for a May 2020 sailing. That one was cancelled due to COVID, so we gave them another chance and rebooked for May 2021. That was again was cancelled due to COVID. So we rebooked for September 2022.
Last December we got word that someone had chartered our ship for our Sept. 2022 sailing and the cruise was cancelled, this time not by the government, but by RCCL. By this time, my family was DONE trying to work with them. Rebooking windows were small, and to allow a ship that was in that window for us to be chartered felt like a huge middle finger to those of us who rebooked when the cruises were cancelled due to the pandemic. Three strikes, you're out, we figured. The email from the company said that we could get a full refund.
I called to get that refund and was told that the refund would be processed in 45 days. About a month and a half later, we had our port fees and taxes refunded and future cruise credits. I called and they told me they had changed their minds and would only give us another future cruise credit. I was absolutely livid. I escalated it as much as I could but the answer was the same, even from the executive level of the company.
At this point, I never want to give RCCL another dollar of my money. But it is either walk away from the $4,000 we have given them so far, or go on a spite cruise. I'm going on my spite cruise, but this will be the first and last cruise I ever take with this company. As someone who has done a number of cruises, they really lost out on a lot of potential future revenue from my family because of this shady setup. I have spent 10's of thousands of dollars cruising in my lifetime. This is the last bit of that pie they will ever receive from me.
