Unilaterally Downgraded from 2-Bed Grande Suite to Balcony Room with No Price Reduction or Prior Notice

[spinny444]

Is this happening to anyone else on RCL cruises?

We were booked on Allure of the Seas out of Barcelona for June 2022 in a 2-bedroom Grande Suite, with seven guests. We received the following email this past weekend from RCL customer support (see below). Apparently the ship has been changed to Wonder of the Seas and soon thereafter, RCL unilaterally downgraded us to a Balcony room without a price change or prior notice. But they have the gall to offer us "the first opportunity to be upgraded" to a 1-Bedroom Grande Suite (which ironically can't accommodate our group size)!

Has anyone experienced this before with RCL? We have cruised multiple times with RCL in the past, and are currently booked on four cruises over the next 18 months. From those who have dealt with similar issues, any thoughts on how we should respond?

Hi Mr. and Mrs. XXXXXXX,

Thank you for your patience and loyalty during the many changes that have occurred in this process of Returning to Service. 

We appreciate your understanding of the re-accommodation of your originally booked suite. Due to a smaller number of available suites onboard Wonder of the Seas, we were unable to accommodate all guests in a like-for-like room category. 

When these changes occurred, we offered all affected guests an option to cancel their sailing, with a deadline of October 20, 2021. Since then, we’ve re-reviewed our inventory and found an option to upgrade your current accommodation. 

You were originally booked in a 2-bedroom Grand Suite on Allure of the Seas, stateroom 9244. Due to limited availability, you were re-accommodated into a Balcony Stateroom, room 7166. As a result of a recent cancellation, we now have an available 1- bedroom Grand Suite, stateroom 1778. 

Before we release this room into inventory, we wanted to offer you the first opportunity to be upgraded. If you select this option, the least expensive of the two rates, original or new category, will be protected. Please keep in mind, it may be higher than your current re-priced rate for the Balcony room. 

Please reply to this email at your earliest convenience if this is an option you are interested in. We currently have this suite on hold until tomorrow, Friday, November 5, 2021, at 5 PM EST. At which point the suite will be released. Once this room is released into inventory, if you decide to upgrade later, the difference in price will be based on prevailing rates, and no previous rates will be honored. 

We thank you again for your understanding and look forward to welcoming you onboard Wonder of the Seas next year. 

Best regards,

Damion Kaisley
Executive Office 
Royal Guest Experience
 

 

[twangster]

Ships swaps rarely work out well for suites.  It's an unfortunate situation and disappointing.  When it has happened to me I took the full refund and moved on.  

[spinny444]

Thanks @twangster. Appreciate your experience!

I just called RCL and they advised me that they can't refund the cruise since the October 20th deadline has passed. They don't seem to believe me that I never received the initial notice, nor have they provided me the updated price yet. It's really quite odd and frustrating, but I understand that there are a lot of moving parts on their end. Just wish they had a more customer-focused experience off the ship.

Either way, live and learn I guess!

[wordell1]

12 minutes ago, spinny444 said:

Thanks @twangster. Appreciate your experience!

I just called RCL and they advised me that they can't refund the cruise since the October 20th deadline has passed. They don't seem to believe me that I never received the initial notice, nor have they provided me the updated price yet. It's really quite odd and frustrating, but I understand that there are a lot of moving parts on their end. Just wish they had a more customer-focused experience off the ship.

Either way, live and learn I guess!

This is a good reason to have a travel agent. If you have one, you need a new one. 

 

[AspiringCruisePlanner]

28 minutes ago, spinny444 said:

with seven guests

I guess I'd like to know how they plan on sleeping you all in the one balcony stateroom that has a maximum of 4 guests.  There's no way!  I'd call back and explain this fact with a different customer support agent in attempts to get a refund.  If they re-accommodated you into two separate balcony staterooms you would have less of a case, but since you all were moved into one, they have to do something.  

[spinny444]

@wordell1- Great point! We've been using Costco Travel. They're definitely low touch and failed us on this one, although it's odd that RCL emailed us directly about changing upgrading but not about the actual stateroom change! Either way, hard to pass up Costco's ~10% discount via the Costco card.

[cruisellama]

29 minutes ago, spinny444 said:

Thanks @twangster. Appreciate your experience!

I just called RCL and they advised me that they can't refund the cruise since the October 20th deadline has passed. They don't seem to believe me that I never received the initial notice, nor have they provided me the updated price yet. It's really quite odd and frustrating, but I understand that there are a lot of moving parts on their end. Just wish they had a more customer-focused experience off the ship.

Either way, live and learn I guess!

Is just your deposit at risk, or have you more invested at this time?

 

[spinny444]

@cruisellama - Thankfully just the deposit at this point. Although we do have airfare from US to Barcelona booked...

[twangster]

Did you ask them to explain how they planned to put 7 guests into 7166?

7166 is a category 1D balcony that can sleep four guests maximum.  

[cruisellama]

12 minutes ago, spinny444 said:

@cruisellama - Thankfully just the deposit at this point. Although we do have airfare from US to Barcelona booked...

The newest ships command the highest rates which makes this a bitter pill to maybe swallow, unless you can move your deposit to another ship/sailing at a more advantageous price point for the class you're seeking.

 

[spinny444]

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

Did you ask them to explain how they planned to put 7 guests into 7166?

7166 is a category 1D balcony that can sleep four guests maximum.  

The 7 guests were split between two reservations. The email I shared was for one of the two reservations. They put the second reservation into another Balcony room; but ironically only offered an upgrade for one of the two reservations. 

[spinny444]

19 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

The newest ships command the highest rates which makes this a bitter pill to maybe swallow, unless you can move your deposit to another ship/sailing at a more advantageous price point for the class you're seeking.

 

Bitter indeed. And to top it all off, the cruise was meant to be our 20th wedding anniversary present! C'est la vie!

[twangster]

Unfortunately Costo is involved and they should have been all over this as your representative from the beginning.  The fact that your were not notified by them is purely on Costco. 

You might have a play with your credit card company.  "I booked a grand suite and they moved us to a non suite alternative without notifying me.  That's like booking first class but having the airline secretly move you into coach".  That isn't lying from what you've reported.  See what your credit card company suggests.    

[WAYNO]

Unfortunately, this is a ploy I've recently experienced in the travel/tourism industry.  They can't accommodate your reservation, offer an unsatisfactory replacement, with only a take-it-or-cancel choice, and when you say cancel, it's now on you, as you are now the one who has cancelled.  Their responsibilities are sometimes less if you cancel, as opposed to them doing the cancelling. 

[spinny444]

26 minutes ago, twangster said:

Unfortunately Costo is involved and they should have been all over this as your representative from the beginning.  The fact that your were not notified by them is purely on Costco. 

You might have a play with your credit card company.  "I booked a grand suite and they moved us to a non suite alternative without notifying me.  That's like booking first class but having the airline secretly move you into coach".  That isn't lying from what you've reported.  See what your credit card company suggests.    

You're 100% correct about Costco here. I'm rethinking using Costco as a result of this; I'd hope this wouldn't have happened with a full service (if that exists) travel agent.

And in terms of the credit card route - that's great advice that I'll explore.

[Traveler]

Seems that your TA got the message and also got the new invoice for you which you should get. I would be very unhappy if it would happen to me but since you already have the flight and since it's a very port intensive itinerary (only one sea day) with less time to spend at the cabin I would consider the following: Take the upgrade with the new payment (once you know it from Costco) , second room as balcony and ask to get suite perks for the second balcony also ( access to CK , internet , suite lounge etc ...) Not the best for sure but maybe better than cancel. Only my opinion.

[spinny444]

7 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Seems that your TA got the message and also got the new invoice for you which you should get. I would be very unhappy if it would happen to me but since you already have the flight and since it's a very port intensive itinerary (only one sea day) with less time to spend at the cabin I would consider the following: Take the upgrade with the new payment (once you know it from Costco) , second room as balcony and ask to get suite perks for the second balcony also ( access to CK , internet , suite lounge etc ...) Not the best for sure but maybe better than cancel. Only my opinion.

That's an interesting idea to take the upgrade on one room, and request suite perks for the second! It wouldn't be the end of the world to put the in-laws in their own room (), so long as they have the same perks! 

[Sharla]

2 hours ago, spinny444 said:

Either way, hard to pass up Costco's ~10% discount via the Costco card.

That's the trade off. Money vs. service. I hope you can get it fixed to your satisfaction though.

[PurdueFlyer]

I'm curious what you ended up doing here, as the letter from Royal stated they would hold the 1-bedroom Grand Suite until Friday, 11/5.  but this thread was started on Monday 11/8 so that date would have already passed.  

As a former airline gate agent, I get Royal's intent here.  they want you re-accommodated in the balcony and off their books, so they can work the rest of their oversale . 

But-  if they didn't offer the other half of your party an option besides the balcony, I would have pushed back on the arbitrary date of 11/5 for how long they hold the 1-bedroom suite for.  Just as how a suite became available for you, another one could become available for them.  guests could be cancelling their suites as I type this because Royal gave them the same crappy re-booking options.  maybe there should be a bit more leeway since you had 2 cabins from the beginning.  

just my .02

[em.down.the.rabbit.hole]

Royals treatment of customers is absolutely appalling off ship.  And they don't have customer service or complaints departments that have the autonomy to actually sort errors or problems.  Never their fault and always leave the customer with the impression it's their fault.