Mentally I’ll son to be left alone in our car for 5 days!!!

[Mad Mom]

Cruisers Beware!!!

We were told we had the choice to leave our mentally disabled son and cruise for 5 days! Our son just graduated High school so we booked a cruise we love to cruise and the kids always have so much fun. Since our son turned 18 two months before the cruise we scheduled him an appointment at the Tx DPS in February 2023, the next available appointment was for 7/20 which was great since our cruise was set for 8/7. The day of his appointment we waited for an hour and DPS had to reschedule do to scheduling issues. I called Royal before we left the parking lot on 7/20, I was advised on a recorded call that our account would be noted and he can bring his birth certificate, social, and Expired Id and we was assured that we would be fine. After driving for and hundreds and miles, he was denied. The port workers laughed in my face stating that they are contractors and they have the final say no matter what Royal says. We were told to leave our son who is mentally impaired alone, with no accommodations or don’t go. After calling Royal while still at the port, they confirmed my previous call weeks prior and that I was giving false information, but no refunds would be issues for my husband, daughter or myself. But since they messed up they’ll refund my son. What a joke! So we’re out thousands because of there mistake and they could careless. They didn’t even offer a rain check! I requested they listen to the call I made before our trip and they confirmed everything I said was factual but they do not care!

[fireclan]

What a terrible experience.  I'm so sorry your vacation was ruined.

[Pattycruise]

I think you need to escalate this.

email the ceo mbayley@rccl.com

keep it short and sweet with dates (names if any) and brief statements. I do t see the need for your appointments with DPS, it muddles the point of your complaint and makes it difficult to understand why it is mentioned. 
 

finish with your reasonable expectation as to what you feel should occur based on your complaint.  (Ex full refund or future cruise credit equal to the cost of your cruise-or if you be willing to accept either.) BTW Royal cannot keep port fees and taxes so expect a refund.

 

[OCSC Mike]

25 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

I think you need to escalate this.

email the ceo mbayley@rccl.com

Agreed.

[Traveling Mike]

I have worked in a Special Education Department at a school district for the last 15 years.  it is amazing how many people have no idea of how you have to deal with some special needs people.  I would recommend calling The Special Needs department at RCL so you can speak with someone that understands your needs and problems.  Here is the contact information.

Call our Access Department at (866) 592-7225, or send an e-mail to special_needs@rccl.com, or have your local travel agent or International Representative contact us. Our fax number is (954) 628-9622

[instaGator]

Perhaps your experience will help others take a detailed look at the rules for boarding: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-travel-documents-i-need-for-boarding-day

[monctonguy]

Perhaps Royal needs to rethink and relax their cancellation policy in some issues.

But they probably wont...they are rolling in money now and ppl keep paying so!

 

[Ampurp85]

I think, and while I sympathize with the OP, they should have done more research. There is a detailed list of items under the FAQ that explains the documentation needed to board. Also, human error, people don't ask the right questions. My grandmother, who is over 80, does this all the time. She will ask what she thinks, not what she needs to know. If OP asked about having ID, birth certificate, etc., the phone rep would say yes. But port workers are contracted employees, they don't get back of the house info. I was once told by a Genie they would give the info to the port workers for an exception. When I went to board, they also laughed. Luckily, I was prepared in that case, but you cannot expect them to have anything to back up a claim. 

[TXcruzer]

14 hours ago, Traveling Mike said:

I have worked in a Special Education Department at a school district for the last 15 years.  it is amazing how many people have no idea of how you have to deal with some special needs people.  I would recommend calling The Special Needs department at RCL so you can speak with someone that understands your needs and problems.  Here is the contact information.

Call our Access Department at (866) 592-7225, or send an e-mail to special_needs@rccl.com, or have your local travel agent or International Representative contact us. Our fax number is (954) 628-9622

But does the special needs department have anything to do with appropriate documentation for boarding? 

I don’t think so. 

[twangster]

Guests are always responsible to have the required documentation to leave the country.  It's not a cruise line policy but CBP that allows cruise ship guests to sail with an original birth certificate and government issued ID.  If you don't have both you do not meet CBP requirements.  

I am not aware of a special needs exemption established by CBP.  If there is a CBP exemption for special needs then that should be the basis of your complaint with Royal.  If there is no CBP exemption for special needs you have no basis for a complaint with Royal.   

[steverk]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience.  I too have had issues with the Intercruise people at the port. Not as bad as uour experience,  but bad enough! Unfortunately, they act like they are God's or something.  Royal needs to get rid of them! Carnival did. Royal needs to as well. 

[tjcruisers]

Read this a few times and have a few take aways.

The port workers don't work for Royal, but are contract. Is it that Royal has zero say with the port workers or is it just poor communication? If Royal is willing to answers to the customer what is allowed/disallowed then they really need to be in sync with the port workers. I get in the above case the expired id a federal rule that royal can't overrule, but there have been other examples of the port workers doing stuff that is completely stupid. Especially with those with special needs and you've filled out the forms. You'd think they'd want to work together.

Looking at the dates, there was only a few weeks between the phone call and the departure. Even if Royal provided the correct info, it's well after final payment and wouldn't have been a refund. At best maybe move the reservation to a different date, but others that close in have had no luck with that.

Don't remember the questions on the post cruise survey, but maybe they should have a port section (maybe some contracts don't get renews if too many bad reviews come in)

 

 

[Mike n Ky]

3 hours ago, tjcruisers said:

Read this a few times and have a few take aways.

The port workers don't work for Royal,

Frankly I think there are a number of issues with the post...the only people I show documents too are in the terminal and I believe they are employees of RC. Regardless I also cannot imagine anyone at the port being that rude and if anyone was, then I would immediately request to speak to a supervisor.

[steverk]

3 hours ago, tjcruisers said:

The port workers don't work for Royal, but are contract. Is it that Royal has zero say with the port workers or is it just poor communication?

 

 

I can't speak in detail about the relationship between Royal and the port workers, but I've observed several things that I believe are relevant to this.

1. Royal uses Intercruise at every port that I've visited.  This includes Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, San Juan, Galveston and Vancouver. 
2. Intercruise is indeed a contract company. Therefore, Royal does not directly employ the people you meet at the port.
3. Carnival uses Carnival employees in Galveston.  Therefore, Royal could do the same, or hire a different contract company for shoreside services.  That also means that Royal does have leverage over the company and could use it to reign in the most troublesome port personnel.

So why doesn't Royal use their leverage to make the shoreside experience more customer focused and friendly? Beats me!

[Ampurp85]

59 minutes ago, steverk said:

I can't speak in detail about the relationship between Royal and the port workers, but I've observed several things that I believe are relevant to this.

1. Royal uses Intercruise at every port that I've visited.  This includes Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, San Juan, Galveston and Vancouver. 
2. Intercruise is indeed a contract company. Therefore, Royal does not directly employ the people you meet at the port.
3. Carnival uses Carnival employees in Galveston.  Therefore, Royal could do the same, or hire a different contract company for shoreside services.  That also means that Royal does have leverage over the company and could use it to reign in the most troublesome port personnel.

So why doesn't Royal use their leverage to make the shoreside experience more customer focused and friendly? Beats me!

There is a strong possibility that Royal does not have American work visas for enough employees to man the ports. Or enough employees in general, turn around day is hard enough work, imagine that and also being there to load and unload pax?

[twangster]

2 hours ago, Mike n Ky said:

Frankly I think there are a number of issues with the post...the only people I show documents too are in the terminal and I believe they are employees of RC. Regardless I also cannot imagine anyone at the port being that rude and if anyone was, then I would immediately request to speak to a supervisor.

Royal contracts with Intercruises to service the check in desk in the terminal.  No Royal employees are used.  

Outside the terminal varies depending on bargaining units and other local factors, but still no Royal employees out there.

Two or three decades ago Royal had employees in the terminal.  They spun off that department and those employees, or most of them, joined Intercruise.  Once in a while you can find one of the original ones who tell stories about being able to jump on a cruise at the very last second for just port fees.  Many kept a to go bag in the car in case the opportunity arose.  

[HeWhoWaits]

Still waiting for the OP to respond to any of the advice provided. 

[Traveling Mike]

On 8/10/2023 at 9:19 AM, TXcruzer said:

But does the special needs department have anything to do with appropriate documentation for boarding? 

I don’t think so. 

Their job is to help Special Needs people with the entire process; that would include figuring out documentation and dealing with issues.

[TXcruzer]

11 minutes ago, Traveling Mike said:

Their job is to help Special Needs people with the entire process; that would include figuring out documentation and dealing with issues.

I understand that, and I certainly do not mean to sound crass, however, this is NOT a special needs issue, this is a documentation issue and is the same for everyone.

[Mike n Ky]

6 hours ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Still waiting for the OP to respond to any of the advice provided. 

Was it just a drive by? I do wonder about posts like this and their validity.

[Jill]

So OP was given the wrong information via phone call with Royal. 

Unfortunately, the law is the law and son was denied boarding. 

Royal’s customer service is abysmal especially since the restart. It seems every employee is new and clueless. I believe the call center was moved overseas. 

I feel Royal should make some type of restitution to the OP since it was their employee that gave wrong information that basically ruined their vacation. The recorded call is proof. 

[twangster]

4 hours ago, Jill said:

So OP was given the wrong information via phone call with Royal. 

Unfortunately, the law is the law and son was denied boarding. 

Royal’s customer service is abysmal especially since the restart. It seems every employee is new and clueless. I believe the call center was moved overseas. 

I feel Royal should make some type of restitution to the OP since it was their employee that gave wrong information that basically ruined their vacation. The recorded call is proof. 

Still they must have suspected something was amiss to go to the point of recording the call.    

[Mike n Ky]

20 minutes ago, twangster said:

Still they must have suspected something was amiss to go to the point of recording the call.    

I do believe all calls are recorded. I had an issue last year when I got on board with something promised by service, they asked if I knew when the call was made and I remembered the date and approximate time. The next day they told me they listened to the conversation and made good on the information that was given to me.