Recinding OV Gty Room Assignment

[Buckeyefrank]

Good morning all,

We have not yet been on RCL but are booked in an OV gty on the Icon for Sept 7th and cannot wait.  We have what is looking like a great rate.  We were assigned a cabin very soon after booking and thought all was good.  However yesterday I received the following email from RCL:

Dear Guest,

We are thrilled to welcome you onboard Icon of the Seas for our September 7, 2024 sailing.

It's an exciting time onboard, as we put the finishing touches on our brand new ship and go over every detail to ensure our guests have an amazing vacation. After an accommodations review, we've noted that some staterooms, including yours, will be re-purposed for crew travel. As such, we're automatically relocating you to a new stateroom with like-for-like accommodations as purchased.

We're sorry for the last-minute change and to help make up for this unexpected change, you'll receive a $50 USD Onboard Credit, per stateroom. These credits will be applied to your onboard account once you board and are not refundable.

Please know, there's no action necessary on your part. In the coming days, you and your Travel Advisor will receive an updated booking invoice reflecting your new stateroom details. If you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor immediately or contact us at:

Generally, we are people that go with the flow and don't stress over much, but with the recent overbookings and the seemingly ridiculous pricing of everything RCL we are a little nervous.  Why would they need rooms for crew members?  I've never heard of crew traveling in an OV room.  As it stands now, the website is still showing our previous room assignment.  Has anyone else received this letter or received anything similar in the past?

TIA.

[AshleyDillo]

22 minutes ago, Buckeyefrank said:

would they need rooms for crew members? 

There are a lot of reasons they may need to temporarily house crew members in guest cabins. I know they sometimes do it when new crew comes onboard for isolation purposes but it also often happens when a new entertainment crew are joining. There are overlaps of casts for the production shows as the new cast comes onboard and practices and rehearses while the current cast is finishing out their contracts.

[Crown&AnchorEsq]

I'm more confused by the concept that RCL is apologizing for a "last minute change" which is made 10 months in advance.  Not to minimize OP's concerns but I do not think of something almost a year away as last minute.

[JFCruise]

1 hour ago, Buckeyefrank said:

but with the recent overbookings

You mean that one isolated incident?

The email says that they will contact your Travel Agent. My suggestion would be to wait for them to contact you, see what stateroom they assign you, and if it's not one you are cool with, ask them to find you another one. You can change rooms without a fee.

Also, given the incident where they overbooked, you can try to negotiate a higher OBC for the troubles. Who knows, you might get a bit more.

[Doug_Texas]

1 hour ago, Crown&AnchorEsq said:

I'm more confused by the concept that RCL is apologizing for a "last minute change" which is made 10 months in advance.  Not to minimize OP's concerns but I do not think of something almost a year away as last minute.

GTY frequently doesn't even assigned a cabin 9 months ahead of sailing.  They are keeping you in OV so it seems like they are properly honoring GTY terms.  

[FionaMG]

I'm actually very surprised that a) a cabin was assigned that early on and b) that they not only sent out notification but also offered OBC for the switch. I thought with GTY cabins they would be well within their rights to reassign right up to boarding day and not owe any sort of compensation as long as the correct type of stateroom is allocated.

Agree with @JFCruise's suggestion to wait and see what the new room assignment is and then try and get TA to change it if it's not to your liking.

I can confirm what @AshleyDillo says about crew overlapping. This happened to my daughter who recently joined MSC and was put into a passenger cabin for the first week because the outgoing crew member had not yet disembarked at the end of her contract.

[smokeybandit]

Fact is GTY cabin assignments can change once initially assigned. The fact you're getting $50 for it is nothing but a bonus.

 

[Buckeyefrank]

20 minutes ago, JFCruise said:

You mean that one isolated incident?

The email says that they will contact your Travel Agent. My suggestion would be to wait for them to contact you, see what stateroom they assign you, and if it's not one you are cool with, ask them to find you another one. You can change rooms without a fee.

Also, given the incident where they overbooked, you can try to negotiate a higher OBC for the troubles. Who knows, you might get a bit more.

it was one isolated incident this week, but there have been at least 4 or 5 others in the last year and a half.  There were at least 3 alone on the Wonder OTS and another on a Celebrity ship.

[twangster]

New ships sometimes have cabins that are changed as the ship progresses.  New class of ship.  It happens.  

[Ryan79]

45 minutes ago, Buckeyefrank said:

it was one isolated incident this week, but there have been at least 4 or 5 others in the last year and a half.  There were at least 3 alone on the Wonder OTS and another on a Celebrity ship.

So let’s call that 10 instances in 18 months versus the millions and millions that that sailed in that time with zero issues. That’s still well within the definition of isolated incidents. If people ranted and raved every time their embarkation went off without a hitch, none of us would know about those incidents. you have a much higher odd of getting into a bad accident traveling to the ship than being turned away. Raise your hand if that fear of an accident deterred you from sailing in the last 18 months. Me neither! 

[HeWhoWaits]

Doesn't seem to be any issue to me. GTY OV is still GTY OV.

[Buckeyefrank]

1 hour ago, Ryan79 said:

So let’s call that 10 instances in 18 months versus the millions and millions that that sailed in that time with zero issues. That’s still well within the definition of isolated incidents. If people ranted and raved every time their embarkation went off without a hitch, none of us would know about those incidents. you have a much higher odd of getting into a bad accident traveling to the ship than being turned away. Raise your hand if that fear of an accident deterred you from sailing in the last 18 months. Me neither! 

Who is ranting and raving?  I am merely posing a question as to whether someone on this board received the same letter or something similar in the recent past.  There's no need for snarky comments directed towards me.  

[smokeybandit]

2 hours ago, Buckeyefrank said:

it was one isolated incident this week, but there have been at least 4 or 5 others in the last year and a half.  There were at least 3 alone on the Wonder OTS and another on a Celebrity ship.

There have been oversell situations, but those were with advance notice and no one was denied boarding because they got enough volunteers to switch. Only once did a cruise find out on boarding day they had less rooms available than they previously thought.