I've never been on a RC cruise. I almost made it. My travel agent refused to honor her contract with our group celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary (he is retired military). When we asked RC to honor the original contract they refused. If we wanted to pay an extra $1000.00 per person they would be happy to help. So once again the almighty dollar wins. Any suggestions for our group?
There isn't enough information provided to answer the question. It sounds like you had a group booking, where the agent had blocked out X number of cabins on the cruise. There are many rules and caveats about group space. What did the agent say when she canceled the group booking?
She hasn't cancelled the booking. She has actually done nothing since she made the booking. We sent our deposits to her in August of '09 thinking the bookings would be made at that time.They were not made until June 30, 2010 according to RC. No communication with her since. RC stated we would owe $1000.00 more each person if we took our booking back. She took two phone calls from our spokesperson in July and said no everything is fine. It's now time for the balance to be paid AND still no communication from her. When we contacted RC said sorry we will not honor any contractual agreements you made with your TA. If you take back your booking you will be responsible for the balance due when the bookings were made to us on 6/30/10. RC has lost some very good customers and by the way some very dedicated retired military personnel.
Just based on the limited info you've provided...this doesn't sound like an error on RCL's end. Depending on the timing of your cruise, it's not easy to come up with 25 cabins on short notice.
It sounds like your representative should have a face to face chat with your TA, If you have a signed contract and gave her a deposit and agreed on a price, it sounds like a job for a lawyer.
If you can get your deposit back, I'd seek another TA perhaps with a good BBB rating.
I agree with Marsha in that you may need to pursue legal action vs. your TA, and / or file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Not sure if you're the only ones, but if not, and it turns out there's more unresolved cases so to speak, they may be forced to shut down.
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2007 - Majesty of the Seas
2009 - Enchantment of the Seas
2010 - Freedom of the Seas
I'm sorry Dave....it's Oasis of the Seas departure from Ft. Lauderdale Nov 13th. And none of us in the group ever thought there was an error made by RC. We were hoping for some kind of a goodwill gesture on their part to let us pay the balance due that was quoted to us by our TA. The bookings at this time are still in effect and awaiting a final payment due on Sept 4th. Problem being none of us have the extra $1000.00 to spend at this time. We didn't budget for this kind of rotten dealings with Santa Maria, CA
Please don't use personal names for people you contact or for agents. It puts the forum in a position of liability.
From what you've told us, the agent hasn't done anything wrong other than not being a good communicator.
If you paid deposits, the group booking is still in effect, and final payment as agreed to with the agent is due September 4th, and the agent told your representative that "everything is fine", what is the problem? As long as the agent collects the cruise fees you originally agreed to, and submits them by the due date your cruise is good-to-go.
It's been a while since I looked at RCI's group policies, but it used to be that full deposits didn't have to be submitted until 4 months before the cruise, final payment 70 days prior, and passenger names submitted 70 days prior.
From here the waters will only get murkier (no pun intended). We requested 1 inside cabin (no view) and 7 ocean view balcony cabins. RC said our bookings are for 7 boardwalk balcony cabins and one ocean view balcony. There is no guarantee that if we send our TA the balance that it will be transferred to RC. We have had NO communication with the TA. No emails, phone calls, paperwork since August of '09. Also RC stated there is also no guarantee that when we arrive on departure date we may still owe the extra 1000.00 per person. Per RC our booking numbers do not match our original invoices from the TA in Aug. 09. Our cabin reservations certainly don't match. And one couple (their honeymoon)sent our TA $1000.00 and RC only shows a deposit of $500.00. Told you this was a colossal mess!
I'm not saying the agent is a gem, but when clients contact the cruise line directly when they are using an agent it tends to further confuse things. I appreciate your frustration over no communication pushing you to call RCI, but I'll also tell you that if you call any major cruise line three times and ask the same question, you might get a different answer each time. It happens.
There is never a guarantee someone will submit the balance. Agents have swindled people before. That's why you should use a credit card for all submittals.
The agent could have had one group but closed it and moved you to a new group booking, hence the different numbers. There are logical reasons for RCI saying one invoice number, and your original TA invoice being a different number.
When you submit more than the deposit amount, there is nothing that requires an agent to send it all in at the time the deposit is due. Did someone tell the couple to send in $1000 when the deposit was only $500? Oftentimes, an agent will place cash or checks in an account and hold them until they are due. I believe that is especially true with a group booking.
When the cruise docs are issued, RCI cannot subsequently raise the cruise price $1000 per person on embarkation day. Docs will be issued at least 30 days prior to the cruise.
I can't address the cabin assignments. It could be an error on the TA's part, on RCI's part, or the person you talked to misread the screen. It could be they just assigned those for inventory reasons and you will be moved to the requested categories once final payment is made. The inside to oceanview could be an upgrade. I booked an inside cabin on the Oasis last December and ended up in an outside cabin. I'm just guessing.
As I said earlier, there may not be any problem. Your final payment is still a month away. That gives the agent plenty of time to contact you for the payments. I agree that there should have been more communication, but just by what you have posted nothing seems out of line.
Perhaps one of our more knowledgeable staff members will reply to this thread. We also have some agents who happen to be staff members, as well as general members.
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