PeloAl

cancel your auto gratuity, no sense double paying since you were charged when you booked the UDP

We had UDP on our Icon cruise, and we never set foot in the MDR or Windjammer. I removed the automatic gratuities and paid our room steward in cash. We had 2 non-suite rooms, so I paid him $120 in cash. I felt good about this decision, since the cost of UDP already included gratuities. I also added relatively small ($20) additional tips on our specialty dining meals...

I wish more cruise lines would go to the Virgin Voyages approach where gratuities are not even a discussion.  It’s frustrating that everything onboard has 18% added or $18 pp/day added then at the end you get the “Tip Tip Hooray” envelopes.  I don’t mind taking care of others that take care of you but I am so often confused on RCL.  When I started hearing that the daily gratuities were also compensation for back office hotel staff, cabin assistants, laundry staff, kitchen staff, dining room support staff, etc. I just started accepting that these charges should be regarded as a part of the cruise fare.

I’ve spent the bulk of today on the phone with Royal Caribbean pre cruise department because they, without notifying us, cancelled our upcoming June 6-11 2024, 5 night cruise saying it wasn’t paid in full….but it was paid in full the day I booked it and is in my reservation email of $0 balance at booking, $1900 plus on our credit card and $2248.20 of cruise credit….totaling $4300 plus! The story is we had to cancel a booking last October due to my health and were issued “cruise credits” through AON to the tune of $2248.20 which we applied to this booking, along with another $2k plus on our credit card, so booking was paid in full. Well apparently some RC idiot,  after we made the reservation, misspelled one of our names negating our cruise credits and  therefore leaving us a balance due of $2248.20….but never notified us in any way…this all transpired on the 13th of this month and I’d not gone on the site so was totally shocked when I went in this morning only to find out cruise reservation gone, cancelled. Obviously called Royal Caribbean and spent 2.5 hours first call to pre cruise, 1.75 hours second call to post cruise and 45 minutes to AON, my whole day. Their response after mostly being on hold…. sorry there’s no cabin for you but we can explore other sailings…..NO!!! We do have a very low interior cabin, not your balcony we can do for same price….ARE YOU NUTS, ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! We can refund your taxes and fees but looking into refunding your payment and we can only reissue your cruise credits for a future cruise…..YOURE KIDDING, RIGHT??? 
Long story short, WE DID NOT CANCEL OUR FULLY PAID CRUISE RESERVATION, THEY DID and they never contacted us nor did they refund the percentage if we truly had been at fault….that’s theft in my eyes. AON say they have no stake in this situation and cannot refund us money for those cruise credits as I’ve made it clear I want all of our money back because we will never step foot on Royal Caribbean ever again. My husband will take up the cause when he gets home, probably involving our credit card. At this point we’re out $4300 and no vacation reservations.
Horrible company who cares 0% about customer service, truth, taking ownership of their blunder….care only about their pocketbooks.
 
 

I can't remember the last time I was on the only ship at PDCC.
White ship, blue ship, baby blue hull ship, whatever.  It's their island, of course they are going  to use it. 
Maybe one day there will only be a Celebrity ship at PDCC.  Oh the humanity!   😱🤣

Because some people prefer adult comedy. You can't please everyone. I have no interest in Broadway shows but lots of people like them. I don't get annoyed that they offer them, I just don't go.
FWIW, there is no family friendly version of the comedy on some ships (like Wonder). They do another adult show around 10pm in the main theater on the last night. In the past, when I've seen the family friendly show after seeing the adult version first, I've mostly found them not funny at all b/c the comics always seemed forced to do a type of act that isn't really their preferred type of comedy.
We all like what we like.

And that's why I stick with android.

Sounds like an Apple “problem” and not a Royal one. You cannot expect for Royal to make current updates to their app, but have them be compatible with obsolete and vulnerable versions of an operating system. There is obviously something in the app programming with 17.0+ that is incompatible with older versions of iOS. You are going to find this same issue more and more with other apps as time goes by. Royal didn’t intentionally set out to create an app that was purposely not compatible with 16.x just to screw people over. 

The original iPhone X is not supported with iOS 17.  iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max are.  Apple only guarantees 5 years of iOS updates, and the iPhone X was discontinued 6 years ago.  OP is going to have a lot of apps that won't work over the next few months unfortunately.

It’s so 2020 to abide by the specified boarding time! 😂

Dear Someone_else,
Well, welcome to these boards and discussions about RC.  There are dozens of cruise forums, and more than a dozen cruise lines, and there are always complaints, questions, reviews, and discussions.  Some people post the same question on different sites and responses will vary. Often folks disagree, and everyone's experiences are individual and unique. Remember, all these forums are used by fellow cruisers, who are busy with their own lives, but do enjoy sharing their cruise experiences. 
You were seeking feedback with an issue, and you received a lot, so you can either use some of the advice for your situation, or just realize your concerns will never be resolved.  Then the choice is cancel the cruise and choose another ship, or another cruise line, or do some other kind of vacation that suits your family better. Unfortunately, in no way, shape or form is this a "government" issue (I know, I worked in government at one point in my life). You are simply a dissatisfied consumer. 
Remember that cruises today are mass market experiences, and the cruise line has no responsibility to meet every person's needs or wishes, nor do they try.  Sometimes negative publicity pushes an event toward a more positive outcome, but also having worked in the travel industry at a very early point in my life, kindness and friendly relationships are a better choice in the long run. The bottom line is no one is making you spend money on a RC cruise, so if you are not happy, spend it elsewhere.  Please continue to participate in forums and share your cruise experiences, because that educates others, and hopefully, will create future improvements. Best wishes.

Respect the facts in the replies.
Children in Beds (not the floor)
Adults in Pullmans.
Royal Caribbean gave you an option/cabin that was safe for the age and size of the people involved. You chose and choose to not see it that way. 
 

Government agency??? You can’t be serious

So you get an Uber or taxi and hang at the airport. Stuff happens.

Excursions get cancelled….it happens. Just because yours was, means all of the ones going there will get cancelled. So telling everyone to avoid this one excursion based on a cancelation is a bit dramatic. What are you expecting Royal to do for an excursion that is not ran by them? You will get a refund.

Here is my best recommendation, pack a very large suitcase of patience.

RC safe boxes are not safe, my passports, CC and wallet cash $900 got stolen at the last day. I actually got out of the ship without taking items from my safe, and I immediately realized that I forgot to get the items from safe box. The officials did not allow me to go back and I waited for couple of hours and they came back and said the safe box is empty. How is it possible?? My only person could steal is  the house keeper, who was cleaning the room next to my room, might have taken the cash from the locker and threw away the passports and cc etc. The moment we left he might have opened the locker with a master reset and stolen everything. But RC lied to me that the safe was open with a supervisor. This is a lie. I am 100% sure I was the items previous night!! So RC is hiding something. The security manager said nothing in the safe box when he opened. This clearly says the house keeper is the only person stole our passports and money. If there was no money he probably would have not stolen it. So be safe do not keep liquid cash able items in the safe box
sadly
theron

Yes and no. For one I have heard it is crap... Delayed and missed messages etc. Second, I have a 12 yr old and they cannot sign up for an account on the app. They have to be over 13. Which is fine for my other 2 kids but not my youngest. 

Port Canaveral - Wonder on May 12 - 10:30 check-in attained

5 pairs of sunglasses? Impressive.

My family and I are having the same issue, unresponsive agent. This is our first time using a travel agent, always book directly with the cruise line. We’ve sent multiple texts and emails the last couple of days, but no response. We will request a new agent tomorrow if she doesn’t respond. Not sure if we will use a TA again after this experience.

I think it's well known that they are a sponsor of royalcaribbeanblog.com.  I think many here try them because upon arriving here, they are/were booking on their own.  Seems like most have great experiences with them while some do not.
The key I think is for folks to take advantage of a TA for cruise bookings to save time at the very least and in many cases money as well.  Doesn't have to be MEI, but they are here so it is not in any way odd that they have a higher market share on this forum than they may enjoy in the marketplace at large.

Had similar issues with MEI: unresponsive, incorrect information.   Migrated to another agency and am thrilled.  

I had a similar experience with MEI.  1st vacation through them I was satisfied overall.  2nd there were issues with communication and things we asked to be booked were neglected.  Response time was slow over email and I had a hard time connecting over the phone, which is my preferred method to talk when discussing plans.  I had to remove vacations from them when pricing changed without explanation.  I lost confidence at that point and have been booking things on my own.  I considered using a TA again for an all inclusive resort we booked, but decided not to. 
Each their own, I am not advocating for not using a TA or even to avoid MEI.  I think my experience could just come down to a difference in preferences which lead to the issues experienced. 

This is not a good development at all. ☹️ 11 is ok, is ok for us, but 11:30 is too late. I don't like that one bit.