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Oasis itinerary change led to ruined holiday


Exile

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Hi all,

New poster here.

Can any of you experienced cruisers tell me whether my situation is just something that happens or whether I've been treated a little roughly by RC?

I had a back to back Caribbean booked Apr 14 - Apr 28 2024 on Oasis in same room. 

Yesterday RC email me saying they've cancelled the Apr 21-28 week due to itinerary change and I'd need to rebook or cancel. Trouble is, as it was a back to back, it wasn't quite so easy as that.

Very luckily, Oasis was sailing the cancelled route the week before on Apr 7th and the same room was available !

I quickly phoned up RC to sort all this out and after 45 minutes they kindly offered me the slot which would mean the only change would be I'd be having my holiday a week earlier.

The catch?

They wanted £6,000 more. For reference the room was an Aquatheatre. 

Have I missed something? They totally refused to price match or even adjust the new price by even £1.

Is this how RC normally operate that they can just ruin a holiday and then extort you to put it right? 

Has really impacted my impression of them as I'm on my first ever RC cruise in 2023. Unless it gets cancelled !

Really interested in whether this is a cruise industry thing, an RC thing or maybe people don't think it's a big deal? I'm talking about the price difference rather than the change in schedules which probably happens all the time.

 

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Welcome to the message boards!

Itinerary changes are not unheard of, so I'm sorry it impacted your cruise.

Unfortunately, there isn't usually price matching/protection for a situation like that unless it's spelled out in the cancellation email you get from Royal Caribbean. I also noticed you put everything in pounds, so I'm guessing you're British. The rules in your country are also different there than here. 

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I certainly think extortion is an exaggeration, but I also agree that they could be more accommodating from the cancellation that was clearly on their side alone.  I think your specific circumstances are not extremely common.  I would be upset in your shoes and feel like they didn't really care about the impact they made on me and as an extension all of their customers.  It doesn't get the 6000 back.  I'm sorry this happened to what seems like was going to be a really nice 2 weeks.

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As @Mattsaid, if there isn't a price match offer in the email that Royal sent you then there isn't a price match.  I will say...in the recent past they have offered price matches on specific sailings for situations such as yours and generally, the week prior or after was normally included unless one of those weeks happened to be a holiday sailing.  But in your case it seems that they are not willing to offer a price match.  That truly stinks.  Similarly, I'm guessing that they would not be willing to give you a full cash refund on the remaining week of your B2B (the one that IS going as scheduled) which also stinks.

What I find interesting is that they are cancelling a cruise due to an itinerary change.  It must be a significant change in the number of days...

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47 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

As @Mattsaid, if there isn't a price match offer in the email that Royal sent you then there isn't a price match.  I will say...in the recent past they have offered price matches on specific sailings for situations such as yours and generally, the week prior or after was normally included unless one of those weeks happened to be a holiday sailing.  But in your case it seems that they are not willing to offer a price match.  That truly stinks.  Similarly, I'm guessing that they would not be willing to give you a full cash refund on the remaining week of your B2B (the one that IS going as scheduled) which also stinks.

What I find interesting is that they are cancelling a cruise due to an itinerary change.  It must be a significant change in the number of days...

They canceled due to an itinerary change? I had an itinerary change for March 2024 (I eventually canceled that sailing when the promotions were favorable for that) but they emailed the change and said here's your change, sorry to disappoint !  First thing I thought was maybe Bliss or another entity booked the entire ship for a "take over" situation that week. Just a thought.

* Never mind I just looked the take over in April is on the Mariner 2024 I think the Oasis or Symphony November 2024 but if not them maybe another group. 

Edited by Neesa
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Thanks all.

Just to clarify, the holiday was so far out, I'd only paid a deposit which they are refunding, so I don't have a problem with that piece.

Also, I'm sure it's pretty complicated to run a cruise line and things change. I understand Oasis is heading over to Europe earlier than previously planned that year? Still fine.

I guess a schedule change is not normally an issue because you'd rebook some other time; it was the back to back and only the one week being cancelled that has complicated this in truth. Definitely a lesson in pricing too, I was surprised at that level of difference within 2 weeks of sailing.

 

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I am curious @Exileif Royal offered you some alternative dates that would be price matched? I have had a couple cruises 'canceled' due to charters but am usually offered alternative dates that are price matched. Were you offered alternatives but chose the prior week as it fit better with your schedule?

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We had our B2B on Voyager switched to Adventure. We were on Voyager for a specific cabin, deck 11 1108, check it out it used to be a JR suite and is now just a balcony. Adventure doesn't have anything similar. We ended up moving our B2B a week earlier and onto Harmony. They waived the $100 fee this would normally have incurred. I'm retired so my time is open, but my son needs to schedule vacations a year in advance, luckily he was able to switch the week.

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That second week of @Exile's B2B was to have been the final Caribbean sailing before the Trans-Atlantic. The new itineraries for Oasis have been posted and Oasis is due to start her first Med cruise on the 9th of May out of Civi. In between times, presumably, she has her dry dock, since that's why she's coming to Europe in the first place, so they must have scuttled that last Caribbean cruise in order to get her over the pond and dry-docked in time for the Med season. It's lousy that they're not offering price protection for the week before. You'd think they could be a bit more accommodating to B2B cruisers but you see this sort of thing frequently. 😕

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3 hours ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

I am curious @Exileif Royal offered you some alternative dates that would be price matched? I have had a couple cruises 'canceled' due to charters but am usually offered alternative dates that are price matched. Were you offered alternatives but chose the prior week as it fit better with your schedule?

No other dates offered unfortunately. I chose the prior week as it was running the same schedule as the cancelled one and the room I was in was still available. That meant I could preserve the back to back, but do it a week earlier. 

Never mind, thanks for help guys.

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16 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

looks like Oasis last sailing from Miami is 14-21 April 2024.  The next sailing is the 9May from Rome (Civitavecchia) Italy.

Has it been 5 years since the ship was Amplified?  Could be a technical dry dock?  it is 3 weeks without a sailing.

She was last on this side of the pond in 2019. It's scary how fast it's gone! 😨 

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Friend, 

Option#1 If you bought fully refundable cruise. You should get all your $ back. Option#2 Keep you same holiday(vacation) weeks and switch your 2nd week to another ship. As for prices, the first few weeks in April are US-School vacaton weeks across the country and thus prices are much higher. 

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On 11/16/2022 at 10:30 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

As @Mattsaid, if there isn't a price match offer in the email that Royal sent you then there isn't a price match.  I will say...in the recent past they have offered price matches on specific sailings for situations such as yours and generally, the week prior or after was normally included unless one of those weeks happened to be a holiday sailing.  But in your case it seems that they are not willing to offer a price match.  That truly stinks.  Similarly, I'm guessing that they would not be willing to give you a full cash refund on the remaining week of your B2B (the one that IS going as scheduled) which also stinks.

What I find interesting is that they are cancelling a cruise due to an itinerary change.  It must be a significant change in the number of days...

My guess is Oasis will be doing her TA that last week of April as she’s due for her 5 year dry dock and then she’s doing the Western Med summer 2024. Symphony is leaving in April too for 2023 dry dock. 
 

Could be accommodating shipyard schedule and they need to get her over there

edited to add: her first med sailing is May 9 so that’s my guess. Doesn’t seem like enough time though for dry dock

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Hi,

 

We were booked on the 28th of April cruise. We got a price for a like for like switch to the 14th sailing and it was much more expensive. It's our first cruise as a family (husband and I were on Odyssey in July). We booked direct through RCI, and the agent who booked the original tried his best to match the cost but it just wasn't possible. I thought that was it. Then he checked the cost of a different itinerary on Icon. We've gone from 2 Jr suites on Oasis to an ultimate family infinity balcony room (5 of us), sailing the 27th, and the cost has reduced by almost £1.6k. Ask your agent if there is another sailing after your 14th. It won't be your b2b, in the same room with the same staff, but you might be surprised at what else is available x

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