Royal Up - Mad at myself - So much for doing a nice thing!

[JohnC71]

We are departing on Anthem of the Seas - November 9th.

 

We have several rooms, one of which will have my mother and brother.  Mother is 60, brother is 28.  I originally booked them in a Balcony room.  I wanted to get them a bigger room, seperate beds, space etc. but at time, paying for them to come on trip already, Balcony was all I could swing.

When I got the Royal Up offer, they were able to bid on a Spacious Balcony, Junior Suite, and Grand Suite.  I quickly looked at all the room descriptions on each floor for Junior Suite and assumed based on what I was reading, this would guarantee me a pull out sofa, this way my  mother could sleep on the king and my brother could sleep on the pull out.

Well I won the bid and got our room number, googled it to find out it didnt have a pull out sofa.  Years ago (according to the videos) it was called a Spa junior Suite, which I no longer even see anymore.

 

Spoke to customer service, they said there are double occupancy only suites and since original room was double occupancy - tough sh*t - I argued and argued, spent over two hours phone.  They are saying I didnt look at the map/key below to see the symbols and decipher that some suites have pull out sofas while others do not.  I am sure some of the veteran cruisers here are well aware of this, however I am not.  I specifically read through the descriptions, my argument is why wouldnt there be an asterik or something next to where it says one double sofa bed (advising that not all rooms have it)

I asked for them to at minimally accommodate us by requesting a roll-away bed for the room, as based on videos and size of the room it should surely fit - they said they are unable to add a bed to a double occupancy room as there are already two beds - etc etc - Do you think housekeeping/steward will do for us once on ship?

After hours of arguing with customer service, i'm out several hundred more dollars and they still will have to split the king bed into two twins.

 

Ughhhhh so annoyed - more so of the way customer service handled - they literally made me seem incompetent for assuming what is typed under a description of a room is not guaranteed.  I understand its a full sailing and its less than a week away, and they probably cant do anything, but atleast act like you understand and show some compassion, say sorry etc.  We travel frequently and considered the cruise this time, due to having a small infant, my wife didnt want to fly etc, but I am really upset with Royal's customer service 

 

[jticarruthers]

The king bed can be split into two regular beds (twins?). Not an ideal solution but at least they arent sharing a bed.

[WAAAYTOOO]

The bed should split if it's a JS.

[monctonguy]

Yeah....there are lots of hoops to jump through and red tape to trip on, trying to figure these things out. They certainly don't make it clear a lot of times..and with  so many room categories its almost impossible to figure it out. Think they do that for a reason??! ;)

 

They don't seem to be too accommodating when it comes to errors or problems with the Royal Up program from the few times I have heard about ppl running into issues.

 

Remember, they are a business at the end of the day....they don't care about you..they care about $. Its just a fact.

 

The good news is, that the beds can be split apart and at least the room is a little bigger, the bathroom comes with a actual tub..and you get double C&A points(I think?!)....if any of those things matter!

 

 

[JohnC71]

ok heres an update - as I was really kicking myself on this

 

My sister and her fiance, have the same room category that my mother and brother had prior to the royal up.  My sister's royal up is still available to be viewed, as she hasnt made an offer.  Here is the description of the junior suite they give you prior to making an offer.

 

Now it seems I have customer services attention.  I bidded on a Junior Suite with a sofa bed, and wasnt given a Junior Suite with sofa bed.  Customer Service supervisor had me email him this in a pdf form, which I did and waited for him to receive while on phone.  He is going to contact "Royal Up" department and see if any other rooms can/will be available, as based on what he sees the sailing is full, makes sense as it leaves this Saturday.  He already said worst case we will discuss room credit.

 

What do you guys think I should argue for/accept?  I won the bid at $430 additional per person, so $860 total.  Which in retrospect may have been too high of an offer to make as the original room I booked them in was only $1650 total.

I'm truly not trying to make out here, I truly put an offer on this room for the sole purpose to give my mother a real bed to sleep on, as my brother is fine sleeping on a pull out.  The original room we had was a mid ship deck 11 balcony room, which already had the two twin option.  I myself have an owners suite, so the family will be congregating in my room before/after dinners, etc.  I asked them to put them back in original room, but obviously with the Royal Up, someone else has already been given that room.

Is it fair to fight for the whole $860 back?   

My wife thinks I could technically have CC company fight it as I didnt get what was stated on the description prior to charge, but I rather not go that route and waste time on phone fighting etc.

 

 

[JohnC71]

1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

The good news is, that the beds can be split apart and at least the room is a little bigger, the bathroom comes with a actual tub..and you get double C&A points(I think?!)....if any of those things matter!

Yes the beds could split apart, but so could the bed in the original room I had them in.

Yes the bathroom is better, was actually surprised how nice when I watched some videos.

I thought I heard if you do a Royal Upgrade to a Suite from a non suite room, you dont get double C&A points.  Certainly not an expert, but I thought I read that somewhere.

[Kathleen]

The fact that you have a suite will allow all of you to have dinner together in Coastal Kitchen which is an asset. Otherwise you would have to forgo your dinners there to eat with them in MDR. I know you must be disappointed that the bed configuration doesn't change but the Spa Suite on the Ovation (assuming same for Anthem) has a separate toilet area in separate room and the shower/tub area has a separate tub and shower stall. Really nice bathroom. If eating together in Coastal Kitchen means anything, you may want to consider that if Royal is willing to give money back and restore you to original room. Not sure this helps your disappointment but wanted to throw in one additional thing to consider.

[Kathleen]

2 minutes ago, Kathleen said:

The fact that you have a suite will allow all of you to have dinner together in Coastal Kitchen which is an asset. Otherwise you would have to forgo your dinners there to eat with them in MDR. I know you must be disappointed that the bed configuration doesn't change but the Spa Suite on the Ovation (assuming same for Anthem) has a separate toilet area in separate room and the shower/tub area has a separate tub and shower stall. Really nice bathroom. If eating together in Coastal Kitchen means anything, you may want to consider that if Royal is willing to give money back and restore you to original room. Not sure this helps your disappointment but wanted to throw in one additional thing to consider.

PS: Hope all is worked out to your satisfaction prior to your embarking. Enjoy the cruise.

[AshleyDillo]

If it's any consolation I find it's more comfortable to sleep on the single bed than when they are joined.  I can feel the gap when the beds are put together and would much rather have them separated.

[JohnC71]

5 minutes ago, Kathleen said:

The fact that you have a suite will allow all of you to have dinner together in Coastal Kitchen which is an asset. Otherwise you would have to forgo your dinners there to eat with them in MDR. I know you must be disappointed that the bed configuration doesn't change but the Spa Suite on the Ovation (assuming same for Anthem) has a separate toilet area in separate room and the shower/tub area has a separate tub and shower stall. Really nice bathroom. If eating together in Coastal Kitchen means anything, you may want to consider that if Royal is willing to give money back and restore you to original room. Not sure this helps your disappointment but wanted to throw in one additional thing to consider.

The bathroom definitely is better that is for certain.

 

Coastal Kitchen doesnt mean much, as although I am also in a suite.  We have 4 other rooms in our group that are non suite.  So in my own room myself when originally deciding to go to a Owners Suite - Coastal Kitchen wasnt a positive/perk for us to consider, as we wanted to be with everyone else.

We (my wife and kids) are however planning to try to get to Coastal Kitchen atleast for lunch, maybe a late second dinner one night after dinner with the family elsewhere.

On a positive note, I did book everyone in the 6 room group the Ultimate Dining Plan, so we will atleast get to eat in the specialty restaurants with everyone.  In which my concierge is already working on all of our reservations for dinner each night.

[darketower]

15 minutes ago, JohnC71 said:

Yes the beds could split apart, but so could the bed in the original room I had them in.

Yes the bathroom is better, was actually surprised how nice when I watched some videos.

I thought I heard if you do a Royal Upgrade to a Suite from a non suite room, you dont get double C&A points.  Certainly not an expert, but I thought I read that somewhere.

Unfortunately, you don't get double C&A points when you upgrade via Royal-Up. We went to a Junior Suite from a balcony and they made that clear up front at least.  

[JohnC71]

4 minutes ago, darketower said:

Unfortunately, you don't get double C&A points when you upgrade via Royal-Up. We went to a Junior Suite from a balcony and they made that clear up front at least.  

Thanks - I didnt think so

[JohnC71]

What do you guys think I should argue for/accept?  I won the bid at $430 additional per person, so $860 total.  Which in retrospect may have been too high of an offer to make as the original room I booked them in was only $1650 total.

I'm truly not trying to make out here, I truly put an offer on this room for the sole purpose to give my mother a real bed to sleep on, as my brother is fine sleeping on a pull out.  The original room we had was a mid ship deck 11 balcony room, which already had the two twin option.  I myself have an owners suite, so the family will be congregating in my room before/after dinners, etc.  I asked them to put them back in original room, but obviously with the Royal Up, someone else has already been given that room.

Is it fair to fight for the whole $860 back?   

My wife thinks I could technically have CC company fight it as I didnt get what was stated on the description prior to charge, but I rather not go that route and waste time on phone fighting etc.

[cobra614]

In the very first description it did say "up to" 5 guests.  That alone would have had me researching it more.

 

I have only been on 1 cruise, we had a JS on Symphony,  it didnt seem like the bed made into a sofa bed in our cabin.

 

I hope you get your situation resolved to your family's liking.  Have a nice cruise!!!

[JohnC71]

9 minutes ago, cobra614 said:

In the very first description it did say "up to" 5 guests.  That alone would have had me researching it more.

 

I have only been on 1 cruise, we had a JS on Symphony,  it didnt seem like the bed made into a sofa bed in our cabin.

 

I hope you get your situation resolved to your family's liking.  Have a nice cruise!!!

In retrospect, yes you are right.  But it only then again mentions that again when it talks about the additional Pullman bed.  Which led me to believe the King and the sofa bed were standard. And some rooms (5 guest rooms) give you the pullman

Imagine if you got in your room and there wasnt a King Bed, you would have expected one as it was listed.

And also, that was me looking at the deck plans after being told it wouldnt have a sofa bed.  If you look at the second picture (later in thread) post - where they give you a description before I made the upgrade - it says "living area with a sofa bed"

 

At this point, once I had hard proof of them stating it had a sofa bed in the Royal Up description it completely changed the way customer service was speaking to me.  It changed from them acting like I was insane to even assume it had a sofa bed, to them apologizing and understanding and that they were going to see what they could do.  They were the ones who mentioned on board credit, as a worst case if they couldnt get my room changed.  Appreciate the well wishes.

[FManke]

No good deed goes unpunished.

[JohnC71]

29 minutes ago, FManke said:

No good deed goes unpunished.

That would have been a better topic title for this one. Lol

[ChrisK2793]

5 hours ago, Kathleen said:

The fact that you have a suite will allow all of you to have dinner together in Coastal Kitchen which is an asset.

 

That is 10000% WRONG.  ONLY the people staying in the JS and her other suite will be allowed to have dinner in Coastal Kitchen.  They stopped allowing guests not in suites quite a while ago.

 

[Kathleen]

Just now, ChrisK2793 said:

 

That is 10000% WRONG.  ONLY the people staying in the JS will be allowed to have dinner in Coastal Kitchen.  They stopped allowing guests not in suites quite a while ago.

 

The poster stated they were staying in an Owners Suite. What I meant was that they could now dine with the New Junior Suite (Royal up bid winners) because now poster and Royal Up bid winners were both in suites now and since Junior Suite can eat dinner at CK they would be allowed to dine together for dinner. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. Was only trying to help.

[ChrisK2793]

Just now, Kathleen said:

The poster stated they were staying in an Owners Suite. What I meant was that they could now dine with the New Junior Suite (Royal up bid winners) because now poster and Royal Up bid winners were both in suites now and since Junior Suite can eat dinner at CK they would be allowed to dine together for dinner. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. Was only trying to help.

No problem, I just wanted to clarify so they didn’t get on the ship and get disappointed when the people with them staying in regular rooms couldn’t join them to eat in Coastal Kitchen 

 

[S0nny]

I hate that this is happening for you on your vacation. You were just trying to do a nice thing for family. I'm always made fun of by friends and family for being a meticulous over-planner... 

I am also a staunch negotiator. I rarely accept an answer from the first person I talk to (unless I'm happy with it). Having worked in a call center (I sold insurance at USAA), and worked front line service for Wells Fargo... I can tell you with almost 100% assurance that the first person you talk to will not (and most likely doesn't even have the authority to) provide you assistance. 

You are off to the right track with the management, and with the descriptor on the advertisement during the Royal UP bid... I would agree... THEY are partly responsible. I'm sure there are legal disclosures and fine print which muddies the water... but the picture and descriptor ARE misleading. 

I DO think that the whole $860 back is a stretch. (it never hurts to ask... but I would not push it if the answer is 'no'). To be fair... they are in a Junior Suite, and while a king size bed would be nice... the truth is... it really is just two twins pushed together (you can't really sleep in the middle and spread out unless you enjoy sleeping in a dip). I think about $200 would be my minimum I would accept. (That's about 20% of the total cost of upgrading + the difference in gratuities). Keep pushing the incorrectly labeled advertisement, throw in a little Better Business Bureau threat (It DOES seem a little like 'bait and switch'), and just reiterate your desired loyalty to RCCL, the fact you are frequent suite cruisers and would hate to have a circumstance like this be the reason you move onto a different cruiseline. Think of what minimum offer YOU would be willing to accept, and try to keep the fact you are leaving in a few days to have fun with family in mind; I'm confident if you focus on the positives here, you will come out on top. 

Let us know how it goes! 

[JohnC71]

Quick update.  

Customer service manager called back last night, same rep as promised, so that was a good thing.  However, he informed me he had no updates at the time, but wanted to call me as he had promised he would.  He stated that when an issue is sent to the Royal Up department, they have 2 business days to respond, so that we would have a definitive answer tomorrow, which is today.  He did say that he was didnt expect any result/change to room to result from speaking to Royal Up department, but he had to give them the opportunity to respond, prior to them stepping in and offering any credit/incentive for the issue.

 

Just to note, he did tell me that Royal Up is ran/operated by a third party, and not direct through Royal Caribbean.

 

So back to waiting.....

[JVPIII]

1 hour ago, JohnC71 said:

So back to waiting.....

Thank you for the update. Hope everything works out for you!

[JohnC71]

Ok. Cruise leaves tomorrow morning. 

Finally got the call back today.  After days of "royal up" department working on it.

 

After all that they came back with well in the fine print it does say..... See below this is how they claimed they (3rd party company handling Royal Up) is not responsible etc

 

"The Upgrade will have the same number of berths as the original stateroom."

 

Do most people even know what a berth is ?

 

The supervisor I was dealing with from Royal Caribbean said he apologized and that they are working with the third party company on re-wording the description that appears. They offered me a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries. 

 

I laughed at him and asked for his supervisor.  After a long (5-7 minute) hold, he came back and said he was working with his supervisor on another option and needed a few more minutes. I continued to wait.

 

The final offer was to put them back in the original category and receive a full refund for the royal up bid ($860) they claimed a room just happened to have opened up today, apparently a cancellation.  It just so happened the only room available was on the same floor they were originally on, and same floor where my other 4 rooms are.  I accepted the offer, more so on principle, as they wouldn't offer me any discount/refund/room credit to stay in the junior suite.  The money didnt bother me, it was more the fact that before bidding the one sentence description of the junior suite says  "living area with sofa bed."

 

So that's how it ended. Still not happy, but satisfied with the way Royal handled it, as the supervisors I spoke to all agreed. The wording needed to change.

[twangster]

43 minutes ago, JohnC71 said:

Do most people even know what a berth is ?

Most?  No idea.  I use the term.  It’s been around for a while, like over a century, from the days of ocean liners. Maybe I’m just old. 

[ranchlady403]

52 minutes ago, twangster said:

Most?  No idea.  I use the term.  It’s been around for a while, like over a century, from the days of ocean liners. Maybe I’m just old. 

Berth????  Isn't that like something that happens when you have a baby???  A New BIRTH???  Oh WAIT - NOW I SEA!!!

[Mineobi]

Lol, the description is still the same. As of 3/30/2022