Sunnymer Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 We are currently out of the country. I just received an email stating we have a balance due on our upcoming cruise for the amount of the gratuities. We are paid in full, past final payment due date as well, and we are are Star Class so gratuities should have been included. My international cell phone plan will not allow an 800 phone call. Does anyone has another number? Of course I’m panicking that they are going to incorrectly cancel our cruise! PS. We didn’t use a travel agent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 All the customer care numbers will be 800s. See if it is possible to use a hotel phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xaa Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 Maybe have someone stateside initiate a call and while on hold conference you in. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted June 30, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 I called 305-539-6000 and was able to speak to someone. They have assured me the resolutions desk removed the gratuities and that we can “sort it out” onboard… Villageidiot, SpeedNoodles and tingtang 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Of The Seas Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 1 minute ago, Sunnymer said: I called 305-539-6000 and was able to speak to someone. They have assured me the resolutions desk removed the gratuities and that we can “sort it out” onboard… Is that a general customer service number or reservations only? Were you on hold less than the rest of your natural life? tingtang 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steverk Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 Just for future reference, here are the numbers that I use for RCI: Air2Sea: 844-278-9745 General RCI number: 866-562-7625 Groups: 800-327-2055 Shore Excursions: 800-398-9819 Crown & Anchor: 800-526-9723 All of these are toll free numbers when called within the USA. King of Wales, Sunnymer and tingtang 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Of The Seas Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 The 866 number is the customer service number for the office of Hell n' Wait. Want customer service? Go to Hell n' Wait.....................a long, long, long time. I gave up after 30 minutes yesterday. WAAAYTOOO and Vancity Cruiser 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted June 30, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 Surprisingly, I was only on hold 5 minutes. I just hope they did resolve the issue. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 What did they say ? AHollyS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted June 30, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 They said they temporarily removed the gratuities and we could “sort it out onboard”. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heymarco Posted July 1, 2023 Report Share Posted July 1, 2023 19 hours ago, Ampurp85 said: All the customer care numbers will be 800s. See if it is possible to use a hotel phone. You can not call toll free numbers from outside of the U.S. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted July 1, 2023 Report Share Posted July 1, 2023 18 hours ago, Sunnymer said: They said they temporarily removed the gratuities and we could “sort it out onboard”. I don't even know what to say about this ... how do they not know that gratuities are included with a Star Class booking? And they "temporarily" did you a favor by removing them? I'm 🫨 at the whole cluster of it. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted July 1, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2023 I know definitely makes me rethink not using a travel agent. tingtang, Scooter6251, SpeedNoodles and 2 others 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted July 1, 2023 Report Share Posted July 1, 2023 22 hours ago, Sunnymer said: They said they temporarily removed the gratuities and we could “sort it out onboard”. Well, i do love me a Star Class trip report/blog, so i hope you'll come back and at least give us a quick overview to let us know how this all works out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted July 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2023 Yes I sure will! I’m hoping for the best…we aren’t off to the best start lol! SweetPea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted July 2, 2023 Report Share Posted July 2, 2023 On 7/1/2023 at 1:20 PM, Sunnymer said: I know definitely makes me rethink not using a travel agent. This is why many of us value travel agents. It's easy to book a cruise. It can be difficult/time consuming to fix problems. teddy and Baked Alaska 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted July 5, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 For anyone following along on this….after the last update, gratuities had been removed. THEN today I received another email that gratuities are due and they have been readded to our account. Currently holding with customer service again rjweber3, Vancity Cruiser and Keanoknick 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 45 minutes ago, Sunnymer said: For anyone following along on this….after the last update, gratuities had been removed. THEN today I received another email that gratuities are due and they have been readded to our account. Currently holding with customer service again Rubbish. This time, don't let them off the phone until they send you a new confirmation showing a -0- balance. I thought this nonsense was over. They had this problem several months ago but I thought they had fixed it. So unfortunate....I would be very firm with them this time !! Xaa, teddy and JustMeJoe 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancity Cruiser Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 48 minutes ago, Sunnymer said: For anyone following along on this….after the last update, gratuities had been removed. THEN today I received another email that gratuities are due and they have been readded to our account. Currently holding with customer service again Of all the cruise lines, Royals shore side customer service (including for TA's) is the absolute worst. And apparently the IT as well. What a pain, especially since you know the cruise could be cancelled over a stupid error like this WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 On 6/30/2023 at 2:54 PM, Geezer Of The Seas said: The 866 number is the customer service number for the office of Hell n' Wait. Want customer service? Go to Hell n' Wait.....................a long, long, long time. I gave up after 30 minutes yesterday. Maybe its when you call- but I have called 5 times in the past year and NEVER waited for than 10-15 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnymer Posted July 5, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 Welp….after going in circles for an hour, I went ahead and paid the gratuities just to be sure they didn’t incorrectly cancel our cruise. I’m super frustrated. Hopefully once onboard we can resolve this and are refunded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 2 hours ago, Sunnymer said: Welp….after going in circles for an hour, I went ahead and paid the gratuities just to be sure they didn’t incorrectly cancel our cruise. I’m super frustrated. Hopefully once onboard we can resolve this and are refunded. Actually, I think this was a very wise move. The Genie will see that it gets refunded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Of The Seas Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 On 7/5/2023 at 12:50 PM, ScottD said: Maybe its when you call- but I have called 5 times in the past year and NEVER waited for than 10-15 minutes. Maybe so, but this morning the plot thickens. Was preparing to call Royal, but before I did, I went to the Chase website to retrieve the CC transaction information. It was gone! Not offset with a chargeback, just GONE! Wife says this happens for who knows what reason with Chase, only to have a charge reappear a day or two later. For the moment, nothing to discuss with Royal............ Friday 7/7: The transaction has not posted back to our CC. Previously when checking the cart in Cruise Planner the desired items were just sitting there with only the 'submit payment' button present. Today, the selected items were presented with the "remove from cart" button, which I promptly did. And while they sat in the cart since June 29th, the price increased by $65 dollars for the total purchase. Nah.....................Got the bed at South Beach locked down and Internet, a' la carte the rest. Only 5 days. we might surprise ourselves and make this our lowest expenditure cruise yet. ScottD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMeJoe Posted July 5, 2023 Report Share Posted July 5, 2023 1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Actually, I think this was a very wise move. The Genie will see that it gets refunded. Another line of attack in order to get a better warm and fuzzy feeling ---- @Sunnymer since your cruising Star, you may want to try to email the Ships Suite Concierge ahead of time and let them know of this situation. Just a thought. You did not mention the ship, but for instance, if you are sailing Harmony, the email would be HM_concierge01@rccl.com (they have 2 concierges normally on the larger ships, 01 & 02). I'm sure that Royal will take care of this, so stay calm and have a fantastic cruise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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