Royal Does it again

[Karin]

Date Yesterday at 3:24 PM
Dear Guest,
We're sorry to inform you that due to an unexpected inventory
error, your scheduled Allure of the Seas April 30th, 2023 sailing is currently oversold.
We're aware that this may cause disruption to your booking, so if your travel plans are flexible, you may be able to take advantage of our special offer. Should you be willing to sail at a later date on a different itinerary, you may choose from the options we've outlined below.
Your Options
Option 1: Receive 100% refund, plus a $300 Onboard Credit, per stateroom and move to the below May 15th,
2023 Voyager of the Seas sailing below:
5-Night Western Caribbean sailing departing from Galveston, Texas visiting:
Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico | Cozumel, Mexico What you'll receive:
Royal Caribbean International will fully refund your current booking on Allure of the Seas, with a $300 USD non-refundable OBC per cabin, PLUS, you'll receive a
complimentary transfer to the May 15th, 2023 Voyager of the Seas sailing in the same category you previously booked. Please note, the complimentary transfer covers your cruise fare for the new sailing only and excludes taxes, fees & gratuities.
If your booking was already paid in full and your cruise fare rate decreases, we'll provide you with a
refund for the difference.
You can expect to receive your refund to your
     original form of payment within 14 business days

original form of payment within 14 business days after we move you. Kindly note, refund times may vary depending on your financial institution. Please note, each sail date is subject to stateroom availability.
If you used a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) to pay for your reservation, any NEW funds paid above the certificate amount will be refunded and the original FCC will be reinstated and valid for a year from issuance.
Option 2: Move to the one of the Allure of the Seas Summer 2023 sailings below, departing from Galveston, Texas:
June 4th, 2023 7-Night Western Caribbean sailing visiting:
Roatan, Honduras | Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico | Cozumel, Mexico
July 9th, 2023 7-Night Western Caribbean sailing visiting:
Roatan, Honduras | Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico | Cozumel, Mexico
July 16th, 2023 7-Night Western Caribbean sailing visiting:
Roatan, Honduras | Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico | Cozumel, Mexico
What you'll receive:
Your original stateroom category price will either be protected at your original cruise fare rate or reduced to the current cruise fare rate (whichever is lower). This excludes taxes, fees, gratuities, and other non-cruise fare items.
If your booking was already paid in full and your cruise fare rate decreases, we'll provide you with a refund for the difference.
You can expect to receive your refund to your original form of payment within 14 business days after we move you. Kindly note, refund times may vary depending on your financial institution. Please note, each sail date is subject to stateroom
availability.
If you used a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) to pay for your reservation, any NEW funds paid above the certificate amount will be refunded and the original FCC will be
       reinstated and valid for a year from issuance.

reinstated and valid for a year from issuance.
 Option 3: If you choose to cancel, we'll be sad to see you go. You'll receive a 100% refund, plus a 100% Future Cruise Credit to book an alternate Royal Caribbean sailing.
What you'll receive:
Royal Caribbean International will fully refund your current booking on Allure of Seas. PLUS, we'll give you a Future Cruise Credit (`FCC') valued at 100% of the cruise fare paid on your current booking to book an
alternative RCI sailing departing by April 30th, 2024.
If you used a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) to pay for your reservation, any NEW funds paid above the certificate amount will be refunded and the original FCC will be reinstated and valid for a year from issuance.
Regardless of which option you choose, we'll also reimburse you for any non-refundable, pre-purchased travel expenses (e.g. hotel, flight) you have incurred.
Please note that this special offer is time-limited and subject to availability. If you're happy to be excluded from the special offer, please disregard this email - no further action is required.
If you're interested, please submit your current booking details
no later than April 27th, 2023 via the survey link here. This is the only way to apply for the special offer, as our Call Center teams are unable to process any inquiries over the phone. If you're successful, we'll reach out by either phone or email and send an updated booking invoice to your given email. If you're not contacted by us, you will remain booked on your existing

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@Karin I can't believe Royal Caribbean didn't learn from its recent Wonder of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas mistake! Royal Caribbean also oversold one of its Alaska Cruisetours not long ago too! I'm saddened you have received this notification of cancellation from the cruise line. It's very disappointing and Allure of the Seas is a wonderful ship. I can't believe you are just receiving word of this cancellation now, basically 5 days before your departure date! Are there any other cruises you are considering out of Galveston instead? Maybe there is another cruise option that you could quickly book so you can still enjoy a fun cruise vacation! 

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Karin You wouldn't believe it if I told you the cruise line just did it yet again! Royal Caribbean actually just canceled two cruises onboard Jewel of the Seas due to repositioning. Thankfully these itineraries are for next year, one in July and one in August, but still. I don't understand why it's so difficult for Royal Caribbean to follow through with its advertised itineraries. I feel like I'm seeing these cancellation notifications weekly at this point. 

[dutchcruise-SE]

Hi, first time cruisers here. I realise preparing for our first cruise by digging through a thousand websites has thoroughly primed the googles to think we now want to see everything going terribly wrong in the cruise industry. So I don't know how common this behaviour has really been over the years. Nevertheless it is rather concerning.

For our anniversary/honeymoon at the end of May we have booked flights and hotels several days before and after the cruise. To think we could somehow be informed just 5 days before embarkation or on the day itself that we have to cancel all of that because of overbooking is insanity.

If the world burns down, sure, we get that we wouldn't be able to cruise. But you'd think a 40 billion dollar company would know how to make a booking system by now. It is actively damaging my opinion of Royal Caribbean. Let alone if this line of thinking has simply become company policy by now. They better get their act together, quick.

It brings up stressful reminders of the start of the pandemic, when nobody knew anything, no tests or anything existed but people were dying. We were scheduled to travel on a once in a lifetime dream trip to the Maldives then, after just coming out of a period of mourning after the loss of a family member.

We kept a close watch on the situation as it developed and learned a week before that it had indeed spread to our intended hotel/island. The local government was rightfully terrified and moved people to different quarantaine islands. We knew that if we flew there, we would be moved and likely stuck in quarantaine as well. Not our idea of a paradise holiday. So according to their terms we had cause for cancellation.

TUI however would not acknowledge this, trying to pretend things were peachy just so we'd be on our way and wouldn't be able to refund. Their willingness to risk lives to save a few bucks was frankly sickening. We went back and forth all week, which was very stressful. Until finally on the afternoon before our midnight flight, suitcases still in limbo on the bed, they finally agreed to a full refund. Then the next day our own country went into full lockdown and all flights were cancelled. The refund got overturned a week later and we had to wait a full year to get our money back. I had warned them in advance if they favoured the short term buck over customer relations now, they would lose a long term customer forever. Thus we will never travel with TUI ever again.

Anyway, pardon my rant, the wound goes deep;)

But this should at least serve to show that now is not the time to screw over your customers with poor service or nasty schemes. Save a few bucks now, damage your company forever. Please be better.

Lastly I'm wondering about the formulation of that email. I see it mentioned and interpreted as a cancellation. But the text itself suggests 4 options, 3 of which are numbered. The 4th simply described as ignoring the email if you're not interested in the "limited offer".

So what happens then? A game of chicken? Gambling how many people have the stress tolerance and steel bits required to weather simply showing up anyway? What then, pillow fights over who gets that balcony cabin you both booked? Or a good old wallet comparison and seeing who offers more? Or has that in fact already happened and option 4 is simply voiding your rights to a refund, but disgustingly worded as an opportunity?

Lots of questions, genuinely interested to hear how these things end up going. So if anyone has suffered through all this, please let us know. Still very much looking forward to our first cruise.🤞

[Cruising Caribbean]

@dutchcruise-SE I'm also very interested to see what @Karin ends up doing with this cancellation. I don't understand why the cruise line can't just follow through with its itinerary commitments. I understand things happen but it becomes pretty rude when cruise lines don't even have justification for cancellations. I don't think that becoming more sustainable or reducing emissions is an excuse for changing an itinerary. I also don't agree that overbooking is a reasonable excuse for sending out cruise cancellation notifications. With all of the technology and resources cruise lines have to do, simple math is not too difficult to follow, booking the cruise ship to max out at its specified guest capacity. I agree, cruise lines need to get it together and stop over-promising and disappointing guests. It's a very big bummer you haven't even been able to experience your first cruise due to all of these unfortunate circumstances. I will be thinking of you and hoping your anniversary/honeymoon cruise in May turns out to be truly successful! Which ship are you booked on?

[3Sisters]

@dutchcruise-SE Royal Caribbean isn't a bad brand but it's clearly not putting its guests first with this overbooking strategy. I'm not sure why this keeps happening but it does seem like a game. You deserve to make it onboard your first cruise! I really hope everything goes smoothly for you. Did you by chance purchase travel protection this time around? I'm pretty sure Royal Caribbean offers it to ensure you aren't getting screwed over again. Since you have made all of these other flight and hotel arrangements, I would call the cruise line and make sure you have that extra security this time around. 

[dutchcruise-SE]

@Cruising Caribbean Thx, I hope so too. We've experienced overbooking in a hotel once before, didn't understand that either. But there you typically don't reserve a specific room, whereas on a cruiseship you pay extra to do exactly that, so it makes even less sense. 

Should probably have clarified that the trip to Maldives wasn't a cruise but would've been a stay in a fancy over the water bungalow on a tiny bit of sand. But after going through all that and two years of pandemic being "stuck" in one spot didn't feel as appealing. 😉

We're going the 28th on Odyssey of the Seas, Mediterranean cruise.

Did have an unfortunate experience the morning after booking, where our travel agent informed us Royal Caribbean had listed the wrong price due to technical issues. We were expected to pay the difference then or our booking would not be reserved. We disliked that as well.

Then we heard about all the post pandemic changes in service and menu's. And while things like chocolates on pillows, towel animals and eating two lobsters are minor details. It is the kind of experience that you get sold on as a first time cruiser. You do also feel like you paid for all that already, since it wasn't cheap by any means to begin with and in our case got retroactively more expensive within one night. (Already factoring in that the total spent would likely double by the end)

So yeah, you do get a little antsy wondering where all this is going. 

@3Sisters We do have pretty extensive travel insurance, had that too back then, but they and the supervisory tourist organisation above them both pointed to either the government or TUI. The government hadn't made a call yet and TUI wanted either that or significant changes to the itinerary which could be claimed as unreasonable. They were betting on "just a different hotel" not being unreasonable enough. Despite not initially admitting that that's where they were steering us. But in the Maldives every island is it's own resort. A different hotel would therefore mean something entirely different. Which they ultimately agreed upon.

Anyway we'll check if our insurance covers situations specific to cruises and add that if necessary.

 

[3Sisters]

@dutchcruise-SE Reading your story about RCL having you pay the difference for improper pricing issues on their end sounds absurd. I think the cruise line publically listed the price and RCL should have honored it! I agree that a lot of the specialty things that made certain cruise lines so unique have gone out the window, and I do miss them. I enjoy the little things that have become diluted, the minor specialty details that make a cruise guest feel so welcome. Chocolates on the pillow, even if it happens once throughout the duration of the cruise, is such a sweet gesture and I really doubt it makes or breaks RCL's budget. I will be awaiting your response, coming full circle on your RCL experience. I hope the insurance will give you peace of mind and ensure success with your future cruise.

[3Sisters]

@Karin RCL released it had record bookings during its recent wave season. The line is almost profitable again, which is great news, but it's about time RCL gets it right the overbooking issues. Overpromising and underdelivering is never a good outcome. 

[ELLIOTT]

How did it turn out with the cruise? were you able to go? If not I really think with the kind of money RCCL have they should reimburse you for all financial losses, for the hotel if you if you lost there and any other money lost due to them.  I have been on 17 cruise, 9 or 10 with ROYAL CCL, 6 with Carnival and 1 with NCL.  I really like RCCL, and know a lot about cruising but this is the first time i even heard of this; they have to know that they are overbooking it a matter of pure greed no to miss a dollar on the ships they feel it's better to hurt their customers, with their plans while they are the center of them plans.  I also, if I go on a cruise not near me I stay a few days before and after the cruise and what RCCL does like this just affects or somewhat destroy your whole vacation, as much as i love RCCL, I think if this happen to me I would be sad to drop them, but sure i would.

[LukeJ]

What are the thought process behind these oversold sailings? Surely it can't be computer error every time. They blamed booking systems to begin with. They can't keep using the same excuses time after time. It is not good enough. People spend money and book those dates for a reason 

[3Sisters]

@ELLIOTT Yes, I agree this sort of experience would make me rethink my loyalty to the cruise line. In fact, I see where @Karin is coming from. It's very frustrating. I have noticed RCL to be more consistent lately, with fewer cancelations. Thankfully I haven't been subject to an email like this before. During the shutdown, many itineraries were canceled, but rightfully so. 

@LukeJ I don't think it's a computer error every time either. It became a pretty often occurrence, and I believe RCL had to correct the issues because guests were beginning to catch on. Now it seems that the overbooking issue has subsided. The repetitive itinerary changes and cancellations were not looking good for the line. 

[PaulB]

Is this done so that the cruise line are guaranteed a full house then? Double book each time and once it's full, then offer to move and you're guaranteed that the quieter sailings are fully booked as well. Be impressive thinking by the cruise line despite it being frustrating for the passenger.