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Navigator Grand Suite #1256 on 10th Floor


ChrisK2793

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I don’t know about other cabins, but whatever you do, do NOT book Grand Suite #1256 on the 10th floor of Navigator OTS.  We had that room on Navigator this weekend and it’s the worst room we’ve ever had on a cruise ship.  It was more like Motel 6 than a suite.

The bathroom drains had a sewage smell coming out of them.  There was a totally different old worn out looking faucet on each of the 2 sinks.  Neither sink drain could be closed.  One of the 2 faucets could only be turned from warm water to hot water, it would not turn towards the cold side at all.  
‘The dead bolt on the cabin door could NOT be locked when you were sleeping because the door was all warped inside around the bolt area.  The TV was sitting down on a table instead of hanging on the wall.  The drapes along the sliding glass door to the balcony kept falling off their track on 1 side and kept falling down every time we’d close them even though our room attendant kept putting them back in the track.  The track for the curtain that separates the bedroom from the living room areas of the suite would come off the ceiling if you pulled the curtain more than halfway closed.

We had another cruise booked on Navigator for June 1-5, 2020, and we CANCELLED that cruise today when we got home because we don’t want to take the chance of getting such a horrible room again on that ship for all the money a suite costs.  
We also changed ourselves and 9 other family members from a July 19, 2020 cruise on Freedom to a cruise for the same week on Harmony instead ... because none of our family members have ever been on a cruise before and we’re afraid the rooms on another “amplified/refurbished” ship might be just as bad as what we had this weekend and we don’t want our family’s first experience with cruising to be in a suite like we had this weekend.

 

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One thing I meant to mention is that the crew on Navigator was probably the NICEST crew we’ve ever had, from our stateroom attendant, to the bartenders, to the waitstaff.  The food at the specialty restaurants was delicious, and Andrea the suite lounge concierge was the nicest and most personable concierge we’ve ever had.  I feel bad complaining about what a disaster of a suite we had because of how nice the entire crew was.


 


 

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33 minutes ago, ChrisK2793 said:

 

One thing I meant to mention is that the crew on Navigator was probably the NICEST crew we’ve ever had, from our stateroom attendant, to the bartenders, to the waitstaff.  The food at the specialty restaurants was delicious, and Andrea the suite lounge concierge was the nicest and most personable concierge we’ve ever had.  I feel bad complaining about what a disaster of a suite we had because of how nice the entire crew was.


 


 

Well one thing has nothing to do with the other. And it’s great that you have noted that because many people can’t. Some people would have just commented on the room and just said it was the worst cruise ever without mentioning how great the crew was so thank you for that 

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8 minutes ago, Oliver said:

Well one thing has nothing to do with the other. And it’s great that you have noted that because many people can’t. Some people would have just commented on the room and just said it was the worst cruise ever without mentioning how great the crew was so thank you for that 


We definitely didn’t let the terrible room ruin our cruise and had a GREAT time otherwise.  It was a quick weekend cruise to celebrate our son’s 8th birthday next month, he was born on 11/11/11.  It was just very disappointing that at least that room was in such disrepair on a newly amplified ship.

 

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46 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@ChrisK2793 did you mention those problems to the concierge or your cabin attendant? 


We told the cabin attendant about the curtains since we never could get them back on the track by ourselves.  Then when we came home, we put everything we said above in the survey that Royal sent us and also told our TA agent about it when we had him cancel the June cruise on Navigator and change the July cruise for us and our family,  then last night before bed, i posted about it to Royal thru their Twitter account.  We just didn’t want to  mess with complaining on the cruise since it was for our son’s birthday and was only for the weekend.

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I sent a private message to Royal Caribbean on twitter like they asked me to ........ the response I just got was basically  ....... we’re so sorry your room sucked, but since you didn’t throw a fit about it while on the ship and ruin your son’s birthday cruise, we won’t do anything to make it up to you and we hope you’ll enjoy the other 7 cruises you currently have booked with us in expensive suites.
 

They could send crew on the ship right now if they wanted to in order to verify everything I said.  I have half a mind to CANCEL the 5 of my 7 upcoming cruises that aren’t past final payment after that garbage response.

 

 

 

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44 minutes ago, BB1 said:

Sorry but the only way to have things handled is to take care of them on the ship. There is nothing they can do for you now. Having a tantrum now is useless. People would have infinite complaints afterwards if they thought they would receive something. It's a good lesson for all of us.


If they had said, hey, here’s a $50 OBC for your next $7k cruise in a suite coming up in 25 days on Oasis, I would have been happy.  The response of too bad, hope you enjoy your other cruises was just a slap in the face.  

They could instantly have crew on board that ship ..... the stateroom attendant ....... verify to them that the room is as bad as I said it was this weekend.  It hasn’t fixed itself since we got off yesterday.

I can tell you, from now on. I will be at the suite concierge complaining about anything that goes wrong or that I don’t like.  Just like Royal told me I had to do.  That’s guaranteed!

 

 

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10 minutes ago, ChrisK2793 said:

I can tell you, from now on , I will be at the suite concierge complaining up a storm for even the most minute and tiny thing that goes wrong or that I don’t like.  That’s guaranteed!

This is why I asked you right away if you brought it to the attention of the concierge.  Unfortunately, most complaints don't go anywhere once you get off the ship.  Hopefully, this doesn't deter you from future cruises with Royal, but most definitely, next time, say something right away.  From your initial post, those were valid complaints.

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7 minutes ago, BB1 said:

You now sound like a very disgruntled person, and over $50. You really may want to reconsider your future trips as there is a high likelihood of you being very dissatisfied.  It's too bad but sometimes after someone becomes soured over something, everything changes for them.


No, but you’d be aggravated too if you’d spent almost $50k with Royal Caribbean in the last year counting my upcoming already paid for cruises and then that was the response you got over being given a suite that was no better than a Motel 6 room.   And they could very easily verify I wasn’t making up the condition of that room.   It’s the principal, if they said $1 OBC, I would have been happier than her response of “complain on the ship next time.”
 

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It is totally up to you. Aggravation is understandable, but if you are going to make the Concierge's life miserable and by default be miserable yourself,  you should do something differently. Sometimes things aren't done as well as they could be, problems aren't fixed. All you can do is find the best way to deal with them. 

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Just now, BB1 said:

It is totally up to you. Aggravation is understandable, but if you are going to make the Concierge's life miserable and by default be miserable yourself,  you should do something differently. Sometimes things aren't done as well as they could be, problems aren't fixed. All you can do is find the best way to deal with them. 


Thats not at all what I meant, I meant that I’m not going to overlook things that should NOT be wrong with my room or my experience and just say “oh well” like I did on this cruise.  She told me to make sure I complain about it on the ship and if things are wrong with my room or if things happen that ruin my experience, from now on I will do what she told me to do and complain.  I’m not going to look for things, but if something is NOT right, she told me I MUST complain on the ship, so that’s what I’ll do.  
 

Learn a lesson from my stupidity at not wanting to bother the crew or concierge with complaints and thinking I could have it taken care of AFTER my cruise.  I bet they don’t even fix that room for the next people until they get a passenger who gets that room and really goes off the deep end when they see what a dump of a suite they paid for.

 

 

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I think we can all understand where you're coming from. It's unacceptable to have a room in sub-standard conditions, whether that is smell, upkeep or anything.

What I think everyone is trying to convey is these type of situations are best handled on the ship.  Once you're off the ship, it limits the response because they can't see what occurred any more and unfortunately there are a lot of people who try to "game the system" to get something after cruises are over to recoup vacation costs.

I hope you won't let this stop you from cruising with Royal Caribbean all together.

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6 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think we can all understand where you're coming from. It's unacceptable to have a room in sub-standard conditions, whether that is smell, upkeep or anything.

What I think everyone is trying to convey is these type of situations are best handled on the ship.  Once you're off the ship, it limits the response because they can't see what occurred any more and unfortunately there are a lot of people who try to "game the system" to get something after cruises are over to recoup vacation costs.

I hope you won't let this stop you from cruising with Royal Caribbean all together.


 Now I know that.  In our 7 previous cruises with RCI, we’ve never had anything to complain about until now.  I didn’t want to ruin my vacation with complaining or bother the crew or concierge with it either.  We sucked it up and said, “oh well.” I thought RCI would at least be nicer about the crappy room when I complained afterwards.  LESSON LEARNED.  I now know that when something goes wrong like that you have to complain on the ship ......... even though they could EASILY verify that the suite we were in is STILL a dump a day later.

 

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2 minutes ago, BB1 said:

Just one piece of advice that I hope is helpful, the best person to report a room problem to is the ship's hotel manager. Your room steward may be wonderful but that the hotel manager will definitely take care of it.


Thank you for that information.  I didn’t even know the rooms had a “hotel manager”.

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Just now, ChrisK2793 said:

 In 7 previous cruises with RCI, I’ve never had anything to complain about until now.

Same thing happened to me somewhat recently. Never had an issue for years and then had a leak in our room on Rhapsody.  Hit up the room attendant first, then their boss and finally the deck supervisor.  

Received OBC for the trouble, along with an army of people trying to fix it.

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1 hour ago, BB1 said:

Sorry but the only way to have things handled is to take care of them on the ship. There is nothing they can do for you now. Having a tantrum now is useless. People would have infinite complaints afterwards if they thought they would receive something. It's a good lesson for all of us.

Disagree completely.  Why can't they do something now? It's their choice how to respond.  These complaints are easily verifiable.  It's not like complaining after the fact that the food was served cold in the MDR or something.  I think it's reasonable not to want to further negatively affect a vacation by wasting time and stress by logging complaints while on board. I also don't see a tantrum here and comments like that are unnecessary.

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1 hour ago, ChrisK2793 said:

 I now know that when something goes wrong like that you have to complain on the ship ......... even though they could EASILY verify that the suite we were in is STILL a dump a day later.

Of course, in theory, they can verify your claims but think of it like the Telephone Game.  (You know, where each person is supposed to whisper a message to the next person in line, and you compare the original message to what the last person hears and laugh about how it got messed up along the way.)  When you are on the ship, the number of people between you and the person that can fix something is a few chains of command.  From off the ship, you're asking someone in a customer service call center to relay a message through corporate to the correct person on the ship.  Are they likely to get your exact list of problems or something like this: "Someone complained about the curtains in that one room on a sailing a few weeks ago."  At that point, the people on the ship have way more important things to worry about than figuring out what the message was supposed to be.  After all, they've got the people in front of them complaining to make happy!

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16 hours ago, berkeleykel said:

Disagree completely.  Why can't they do something now? It's their choice how to respond.  These complaints are easily verifiable. 

Couple reasons I can think of....

  • First, if it was bad enough that the guest wants a refund, why didnt they say something when they were living through the problem? 
  • Some guests will complain after the fact the recoup vacation costs (i.e. "We spent too much money, let's complain to get money back)
  • With the turnover from the new sailing, the problem may be masked now or otherwise altered to a point.
  • The staff on the phone are somewhere on land (likely Miami) and the ships are off elsewhere. Unlike a hotel, it's not so easy to go and verify. It requires a few different people to coordinate efforts.
    • I know it seems like it should be easy, but Royal Caribbean's operations between land and ship are in reality VERY disconnected.
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I can verify other cruise lines also expect you to report the problem on board.  When I used to sail Carnival if you don't report it on board they won't even read a complaint filed afterwards. Their response to an issue I has was quite blunt "If it you didn't feet the need to report it on board we consider the matter closed".

Hotel chains are much the same.

If all it took was a post vacation complaint to get a $25 coupon social media would blow up and millions of people would complain about a wobbly chair.  People who didn't even stay at a hotel, or rented a car, or take a cruise would jump on the scam and submit claims.  The department would be inundated with fakers and that itself would take significant effort to validate each claim.   The process and resources to handle it all would not be insignificant.  

You never have to raise yourself to tantrum level ever when talking to any company.  A 30 second discussion while you are in the suite lounge with the suite concierge who is sitting right there does not "ruin a cruise".  A polite and calm 30 second discussion will have a lot more credibility compared to a five minute rant.  It also gives you closure that you said something and voiced your feelings rather than holding it in and dwelling on it.  In the case of Royal Caribbean they would have done something.

As someone who has stayed in a GS on Navigator (and a JS) within the last 60 days what OP experienced was not normal, they would have addressed it on board. 

Hopefully the next guest will speak up and additional guests down the line won't have to face the issues.

 

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

Hopefully the next guest will speak up and additional guests down the line won't have to face the issues.

I agree with you @twangster. I think most good companies want to know when there is a problem, so they can fix them and avoid the same problems in the future. Most problems can be fixed, right on the spot, like the ones mentioned here. No company is problem free. The difference between the good ones and the bad ones are the way the handle and/or solve the problems. They can't fix a problem, if they aren't aware of them. I'm not saying this is what's going on in this case, but I feel a lot of people that complain about something after the fact aren't really looking for the problem to be solved. They are just looking for some compensation, for their issues. 

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Part of my problem with the response though was that it should lack of consideration for future guests.  Royal should have wanted to look into the issue to solve it, if not for the person who already left then at least for the next one.  Instead they are taking the easy way out.  If they don't have effective communications between their land-based people and their ship-based people, whose fault is that?   The issue was Royal's to begin with for providing a crappy room.  I'm not super sympathetic to them. 

I completely understand that if this kind of stuff happens and the goal is to get it fixed or get compensation, as a practical matter you need to complain on board.  I'm just saying that does not mean Royal is objectively in the right and I think frustration with them throwing their hands up because they don't feel like dealing is reasonable.

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1 hour ago, berkeleykel said:

Part of my problem with the response though was that it should lack of consideration for future guests.  Royal should have wanted to look into the issue to solve it, if not for the person who already left then at least for the next one.  Instead they are taking the easy way out.  If they don't have effective communications between their land-based people and their ship-based people, whose fault is that?   The issue was Royal's to begin with for providing a crappy room.  I'm not super sympathetic to them. 

I completely understand that if this kind of stuff happens and the goal is to get it fixed or get compensation, as a practical matter you need to complain on board.  I'm just saying that does not mean Royal is objectively in the right and I think frustration with them throwing their hands up because they don't feel like dealing is reasonable.

Ships have hotel directors who absolutely should be responsible for taking care of these things.  But if they aren't told about them by a guest, then often they won't know of an issue. 

Basically contacting Royal after you have sailed is like calling a call center for Hilton to mention a problem you had with your hotel stay.  There's a long chain of command from that CSR you spoke to on the phone to the manager of the hotel that you had the negative experience at.  There's a big chance that the hotel manager/hotel director never hears of the issue.  Doesn't make it right, but you're dealing with a huge corporation here and a lot of moving parts.

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