Lizzy B

1 hour ago, livin-the-life said:

just a rant....this is ridicules!! just spent 2hrs 37min  on hold to talk to someone about one of my refunds...had to hang up to handle other business..I had asked for a refund of one of my 4 cancelled cruises, took FCC on 2 of them, but the problem is that I had paid for it almost 2 years ago and that account is no longer open.. it is a 5 figure amount and need another form of refund.. does anyone know of any way to circumvent the customer service center. I'm diamond plus as well as casino signature, called both casino host and c and a rep, but was told by both that changing refund method is only done thru rccl customer service..i understand they are busy, and have reduced staff (real nice idea to take care of your customers), maybe someone from rccl may read this..lol

I 100% get your frustration. I also have spent hours of my life on the phone with them over the past several weeks.  Have you tried messaging RCC on Facebook and leaving a detailed message on their webform? I contacted them through every avenue i could think of, and eventually got someone to take me seriously and help. It may be your only option if you don't currently have the ability to sit on hold. I hope it works out soon! 

I haven't actually received any of this yet, but in theory they have finally agreed to do right by me. 

Over the course of the last 40 days, I've spent countless hours on the phone with royal caribbean each time giving me different information and different expectations.  

• April 5th we call royal caribbean and after speaking it through with the representative select 125%. I'm told this will apply to both my stateroom reservation and my onboard extra purchases (dining, bev, excursions,etc)
• April 23 we call to follow up on our FCC and we are told we will not be receiving 125% for our stateroom reservation b/c we paid for it with a gift certificate. I tell the resolution manager that had I initially been told this info, i would have wanted a refund. He tells me he understands and will process the refund instead of the FCC.
• May 8th I call to follow up on the refund. I'm now told that it doesn't matter that i wasn't given the correct info on April 5th, or that i was promised a refund on April 23rd. I will be only be given the 125% on the additional onboard purchases. I will be given the gift certificate back at the original amount. In no uncertain terms, i will NOT get any refund back beyond an FCC credit. 
• May 8th i get an email with no explanation with a FCC credit with an amount less than a 3rd of the total amount i've paid so far.

I was so frustrated with the situation that I contacted them via every means of communication I could think of: Facebook, Twitter, webform, telephone, vacation planner, etc and finally was put in contact with a woman who is actually helping. Cindy gave me a call back with an update and actually EARLIER than she said she would, which in itself was a pleasant change.

Anyway- she said they are going to honor the money refund for my on board purchases promised to me on April 23, and e en said they are Investigating giving me 125% on the gift certificate. 

I understand that times are hard, and that everyone is struggling right now, but it shouldn't have been this difficult to get them to honor their words.

4 minutes ago, Bean79 said:

How long were you on hold before you got to speak with someone.

I spent 5 and half hours total on the phone yesterday, broken up over 3 calls. The first 2 calls line's dropped suddenly, without notice. The 3rd call was picked up after about two hours and fifteen minutes.

So so so frustrated with Royal Caribbean International!!!

1) We book a cruise for April 8th using a gift certificate for the majority of the stateroom reservation $1685 of which only $185 was not covered by our gift certificate
2) In Aug of 2019 the April 8th cruise is canceled, we rebook for a cruise April 12 for $1526, the balance is applied to on board credit
3) Nov 2019 we buy additional onboard purchases such as the unlimited dining, and beverage packages as well as a short excursion $1334.58
4) March 23 the April 12th cruise is canceled. We are offered a refund or 125% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for the stateroom reservation and on board extras.
5) April 5th we call royal caribbean and after speaking it through with the representative select 125%. We expect a FCC of $4,529.69 which is 125% of total amount spent.
6) April 23 we call to follow up on our FCC and we are told we will not be receiving 125% for our stateroom reservation b/c we paid for it with a gift certificate. I tell the resolution manager that had I initially been told this info, i would have wanted a refund. He tells me he understands and will process the refund instead of the FCC. So i now expect $1500 gift certificate and $1334.98 refund to my card
7) May 8th I call to follow up on the refund. I'm now told that it doesn't matter that i wasn't given the correct info on April 5th, or that i was promised a refund on April 23rd. I will be only be given the 125% on the additional onboard purchases. I will be given the gift certificate back at the original amount. In no uncertain terms, i will NOT get any refund back beyond an FCC credit. The customer service then casually mentions seeing a FCC being processed in the system for roughly half of the amount i paid for the additional onboard purchases. I ask to speak to a manager who will give me a detailed itemized summary of my FCC, and who can point out the language that was provided to me excluding gift certificate purchases from the 125% promotion (b/c i've reread the emails and can find no mention). I'm promised a resolution manager will call me back with this info within 24 hours. So the new information sounds like i will only be getting the $1500 gift certificate and $1,899.74 FCC
8)May 8th i get an email with no explanation with a FCC credit of $818, which make zero sense in any context. 
9) May 11th, I call and am on hold for 1 hour 21 min before speaking to someone, who then puts me on hold to get a manager, 35 additional minutes later i'm hung up on without explanation, I call that afternoon and am hung up on after about 40 min. I am on hold for a 3rd time today currently at 1 hour 30 min and counting. I have also tried emailing the royal caribbean vacation planner who originally helped us book the trip. She just told me she forwarded it to customer service. I also submitted a complaint through the website webform. On my 3rd attempt and after another 2 hours of hold I finally get to speak to someone again. She agrees that she can't find it in writing anywhere that the 125% does not apply towards purchases make with a gift certificate, but that its just a "known policy internally" and that basically I'm SOL and there is nothing to be done. They are aware of the FCC issues and are working to fix them, although she didn't want to give me a date since all the dates and information they'd given me in the past have been incorrect. 

I know you're having issues. We all are. I postponed my wedding and my husband hasn't been working for ~ 2 months. I get it. But be upfront, be honest, be consistent, and honor your words. 

3 hours ago, vanelli56 said:

Just spoke with our TA... she said she was just off the phone with RC and confirmed that a lot of FCC's this weekend were issued incorrectly... including ours. But that it would be rectified in the next few days to a week. 

On another note.... we had a replacement cruise rescheduled due to a May cancellation... it was on 'hold' with a zero deposit thru the end of May... which RC allowed during this time for people getting a FCC from previously cancelled cruises.... We'll while checking on our FCC and the potential for a 'lift and shift'.... RC has just magically cancelled our reservation. 

So in a way... the messed up FCC was a blessing... in that it allowed our TA to discover our hold had been cancelled. Thankfully they were able to reinstate it no problem. 

Now... fingers crossed.... our Lift and Shift gets processed with out any issues. (crossing all fingers, toes, etc.)

What I don't understand is if they are aware of the issue - why not send out a correction email explaining? They are basically clogging their phone lines for no reason.

I had tried emailing the Royal Caribbean vacation planner I'd used to book our honeymoon to begin with. I was hoping she solve the problem, b/c she was so helpful the first time they canceled a cruise on us (prior to coronavirus).  Unfortunately, this is what I got back:

Hello Elizabeth,

I’ve forward your email to our post cruise customer service to follow up on your credit amounts and refunds. 

I’m currently not able to dial out as we are backing up our service department, but hopefully you will hear something in the next day or two.

Take care,

And to follow up,  after being on hold for 1 hour and 20 min before speaking to a human being, who then put me back on hold for an additional 34 min and 54 seconds, the phone line suddenly and without explanation, dropped. I've feeling very lied to and bamboozled.