I just want to spread the word not to book your cruise with Expedia. They display their itineraries very deceptively. I purchased a cruise with them based on the itinerary and received my documents from Royal Caribbean that displayed the itinerary as it should have been displayed...telling me that I had a day at sea.
I called in to Expedia customer service and they offered me a mere $50 towards a rental car or something I had no use for--while what they caused is worth a lot more than that.
I am disgusted by Expedia! Please don't book your cruise with them.
The Royal Caribbean customer service people however were very nice and helpful and I knew that this problem was not their fault.
I can't wait to get on this cruise and ask my dinner guests what they thought they were getting if they booked with Expedia.
Does anyone have any other ideas on a) how I could get this fixed or b) how to further spread the word about their deceptiveness?
It could have been a random fluke OR it could have been that the itenerary changed from the time you booked and from the time you received your paperwork.
What I did was found the cruise I wanted then looked at the cruiseline's website and other TA websites to compare prices and deals etc. I saw the same itenerary on all sites. I booked my cruise through Sam's Club whose travel site is powered by Expedia.
tekdiva presents some good possibilities as to what might have happened. In any event, I strongly recommend against trashing an agency over one issue. This is something to be worked out between you and them, and accusing them of something serious when it might have just been a misunderstanding benefits no one.
I don't mean to sound callous...I am sorry you have run into a problem, yet I highly doubt that agencies deliberately set out to deceive customers. (For the record, I am neither affiliated with the agency in question, nor a customer.)
Please don't let this ruin your cruise, or that of your dinner companions. I'm hoping your post was a momentary vent, and that you will come back after your cruise and tell us what a wonderful time you had.
One good reason to find a GOOD travel agent and
use their expertise on all of your travels...it may cost a bit more, but you always have someone to complain to in person...they earn their money....Happy Cruising....
Well I imagine there are few good questions:
* do you like the new itinerary at all??
*Whats the new itinerary?
* the price was better than the one you can get from RCCl?
* they give you another day at sea or the they take away one??
I confirmed with Royal Carribbean that there had been no itinerary changes from the get go. So, from the get go Expedia was displaying this itinerary in a way that made it look like you were not going to have a day at sea, but a day at Nassau.
So, what I thought I was getting is now one day short as far as ports and a day at sea instead.
Additionally, when I chose my room on Expedia I chose a higher cost room because of the unobstructed view window. When I called Royal Caribbean again they were very nice, but told me that this room had an obstructed view.
I did call back to Royal Carribbean to let them know that Expedia did display the itinerary incorrectly and in my opinion deceptively--if there were no itinerary changes at all...Expedia should display what I received on my cruise documents from R.C.
I have no intentions of ruining any one's dinner, but if my dinner guests are chatty I'll be interested to hear if they were surprised to have a day at sea on this cruise and leave it at that.
I have booked several cruises for my parents and I plan on seeing the world via Royal Caribbean because my last cruise and my parents' cruises have been amazing.
However, after the customer (no) service I received from Expedia--I will continue to let people know that in my opinion it's not a good idea to book with Expedia. Even the original rep I got at Expedia told me she had never seen something like this before--but when her supervisor was put on...there was no understanding on her part. (And you also should know that I wasn't yelling or irate..I was calm and simply explained that this was an error on their part and I wanted to be compensated in some way for this.)
May I ask why you booked your cruise through Expedia in the first place? Were they offering something more than the cruiseline (like extra on board credits or something)?
May I also add this...Do your parents, family, friends, etc write you off everytime you make a mistake? I am sure Expedia would have gone out of business long ago if this were a common practice. Next time check the itenerary with the cruiseline before you book or just book directly with the cruiseline. As far as the cabin is concerned, even the cruiseline has a disclaimer that says because you specify a room doesn't mean you will get it. Read the fine print.
I booked with Expedia because I am a busy person and am very comfortable with online purchases. Plus, I had used Expedia before.
No, my family and friends wouldn't write me off if I made a mistake. However, if I make a mistake I try to fix it as best I can. Which is exactly what Expedia didn't do. I gave them the chance to say "yes, this was our fault" and we can offer you this to make it better. But they didn't. So, yes I am writing them off.
And, yes, I do read the fine print. I read the fine print when purchasing a room and seeing "this window is partially obstructed" and purchasing a room at a higher cost that was not obstructed per Expedia, only to be told by R.C. that it was partially obstructed.
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