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Cancelling our Unvaccinated Son


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My husband, son, and I are scheduled to cruise on Odyssey next week, July 31st.  My husband and I are vaccinated, our son, who’s ten, is not. After much discussion about testing protocols and restrictions, we have decided not to bring him along this time, after all. He has an irrational fear of being swabbed, and we can’t convince him otherwise. He says he just wants to stay with Grandma and Grandpa. I called Royal today to let them know he wasn’t coming, and I was told that because we were within the 100% penalty time period, we would only receive his $105 taxes and fees back and would need to switch rooms since there are only two of us now. We were in a 3-person oceanview balcony. I guess I was thinking he would fall under the Cruise with Confidence policy, but they said that only applies to cancelling the entire cruise. Does this sound correct to you all? Thank you for the advice! 

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Generally speaking, for a last minute cancellation like this, most of the time with Royal you are better off simply having him no-show.

They will refund his port fees and taxes if he does a no-show.

Then you don't have to change cabins.  When you do the no-show at check in there is nothing for them to gain by moving you to a 2 person cabin, they can't sell your 3 person cabin at that point.  

Upon check in at the terminal just explain he isn't coming.  No need to justify that or explain why in detail.  "Given the current protocols he decided not to sail and we agreed".

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1 hour ago, JSB_Z51 said:

I would escalate and not accept that as an answer.  He is canceling because of the new protocols.  Ask 3 different reps, get 3 different answers.  A little googling and you can get some email addresses of real people at Royal to escalate to.  

They will refund the whole cruise with no objection but it's all or nothing.  You can't pick one guest to refund.  

Honestly the fact that they will allow full refunds due to protocols for Odyssey is very reasonable.  However it's all or nothing, just like Cruise with Confidence.  

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17 hours ago, twangster said:

Honestly the fact that they will allow full refunds due to protocols for Odyssey is very reasonable.  However it's all or nothing, just like Cruise with Confidence.  

We will have to agree to disagree on what's reasonable.  Given the unique circumstances OP should not lose money as protocols have changed.  Completely reasonable ask IMO. I'd escalate to corporate

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9 minutes ago, JSB_Z51 said:

We will have to agree to disagree on what's reasonable.  Given the unique circumstances OP should not lose money as protocols have changed.  Completely reasonable ask IMO. I'd escalate to corporate

Odyssey in July was only available to book mid-June when protocols were already known to be required.  

Some guests were transferred over from Indy and given the opportunity for a full refund, no questions asked as the protocols were known to be a requirement at that time.

Given the unique circumstances on an industry nearly wiped out by the pandemic we will have to disagree.  

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On 7/25/2021 at 7:43 AM, twangster said:

Odyssey in July was only available to book mid-June when protocols were already known to be required.  

Some guests were transferred over from Indy and given the opportunity for a full refund, no questions asked as the protocols were known to be a requirement at that time.

Given the unique circumstances on an industry nearly wiped out by the pandemic we will have to disagree.  

Would you agree that making him switch cabins seems a little silly?  I mean it’s not likely they are selling the cabin.  Seems a little like someone following a procedure that might make sense in general, but seems a little over the top in this situation.

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This situation stinks, I feel really bad for you. Its a really crappy position to be in. Its nice that he is understanding and wants to stay with his grandparents. Our son is 8 and would be in the same exact dilemma if we didn't get cancelled for August 22. We were cancelled a while back and actually ended up relieved because of all the crazy protocols and vaccinated/unvaccinated stuff. I feel bad about the choices you had to make. I hope Royal does something more for you. You didn't book under these protocols and rules. 

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That sucks.  Someone else on the same sailing (with 2 unvaccinated kids under 12) said RCCL called them today to ask if they'd voluntarily cancel their entire reservation, offering " 100% of my previous FCC, 100% refund and 125% FCC."  The feeling in the FB group for our sailing is that there are too many unvaccinated kids on our sailing so they're trying to send some of them to later sailings.  If that's the case, you'd think RCCL would be doing backflips if you voluntarily removed your unvaccinated child from this sailing and would accommodate you better.  

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10 hours ago, Pattie A. said:

That sucks.  Someone else on the same sailing (with 2 unvaccinated kids under 12) said RCCL called them today to ask if they'd voluntarily cancel their entire reservation, offering " 100% of my previous FCC, 100% refund and 125% FCC."  The feeling in the FB group for our sailing is that there are too many unvaccinated kids on our sailing so they're trying to send some of them to later sailings.  If that's the case, you'd think RCCL would be doing backflips if you voluntarily removed your unvaccinated child from this sailing and would accommodate you better.  

Um, yeah!  That's a great offer.  Money back and a free cruise.  

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Kaitlyn, did you ever get a satisfactory resolution of this?  

On 7/24/2021 at 11:37 AM, Kaitlyn said:

My husband, son, and I are scheduled to cruise on Odyssey next week, July 31st.  My husband and I are vaccinated, our son, who’s ten, is not. After much discussion about testing protocols and restrictions, we have decided not to bring him along this time, after all. He has an irrational fear of being swabbed, and we can’t convince him otherwise. He says he just wants to stay with Grandma and Grandpa. I called Royal today to let them know he wasn’t coming, and I was told that because we were within the 100% penalty time period, we would only receive his $105 taxes and fees back and would need to switch rooms since there are only two of us now. We were in a 3-person oceanview balcony. I guess I was thinking he would fall under the Cruise with Confidence policy, but they said that only applies to cancelling the entire cruise. Does this sound correct to you all? Thank you for the advice! 

 

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