Royal Caribbean: Give Us $800 Or Find Another Ship
Royal Caribbean told Mary Hoefs at check-in that her family wouldn't be allowed to board unless they paid $800 on the spot, even though Mary had paid for the cruise in full four months earlier. Royal Caribbean later refunded $400, but why did they choose to kick off Mary's cruise with extortion? The answer, inside...
[Royal Caribbean's] records indicate that this booking was not created in-house, rather, through a travel agent. During the booking process, the guests from Texas were booked as being residents of West Virginia – with a promotional discount that was being provided to residents of West Virginia at that time. When the guests were unable to provide government issued ID that showed they were residents of West Virginia, the discount had to be removed, thus, the additional charges.
In other words, Hoefs' family had used a discount that can only be used by West Virginia residents. When they couldn't prove they lived in West Virginia, they had to pay a fare difference.
I shared this information with Hoefs.
I paid for the two from West Virginia $1,787, which was the "special rate." The family from Texas, I paid $3,275. And from here in Arizona, the price was $3,275. So the Texas family did NOT have a special rate. Regardless, I booked and paid in full on December 16th, 2008, the cruise was not until March 14th 2009. If there was a discrepancy, they had plenty of time to notify me before rather then wait till we were standing in line to board the ship. If they did not feel they were in the wrong, then why did they return half of the $800?
Tripso recommends confirming that you are actually eligible for any discounts appearing on your itinerary, which yeah, is definitely good advice, and not just for cruises. Unfortunately, when an obstinate travel company demands money at the start of the trip, you really only have two options: walk away, or pay up and dispute the charge later.
"Pay an additional $800 or you can't board the ship" [Tripso]
(Photo: Rennett Stowe)
Post a comment
Comments:
Should be making the travel agent pay the $400.
I swear it's crap like this that make me never want to take a cruise, esp. with Royal Caribbean.
Wait, so she paid the same amount for the people that lived in Texas as she did for her own family, $3,275, when booking the cruise? And at the gate Royal decided that the Texans should have cost $4,075, then? I'm a little confused on the details there.
Or maybe we should be asking what Royal Caribbean has against Texas.
Why would you have a special West Virginia rate? People with less teeth eat less?
Sounds like they knowingly took the WV rate even though they were in Texas. I don't fault the cruise line here.
Pay it with a credit card and dispute charges later.
@Eoghann: We've been anti-RC since their cover-up of the missing passenger in Turkey. Their nickel-and-dime charges don't help. It's sad really, we'd like to try their really cool ships. But we liked Carnival a few years back, and the good thing with party ships is that you have enough fools gambling and drinking their dollars away that they effectively subsidize our trip.
@Steven Irish: I agree. If they were sold tickets they weren't eligible for, they should go after the party that sold them. However, I think the classy thing of RC would be to forgive the $800 when it comes to the family, and go after the travel themselves. Seems like a better way to engender loyalty in your customers.
NOOOO! Havent you been reading the Consumerist lately, all credit cards are evil remember!
@j-o-h-n: I bet it has to do with booze. Cruise lines make most of their money from drinks. I bet West Virginians drink more so they can afford to give them a discount.
1) Why exactly do people from Texas have to pay more than people from West Virginia to take a cruise?
2) If the people from Texas somehow got the discount, it's Royal Caribbean's fault. They should eat the difference...heck, I bet they're still making a profit on them.
I'm not faulting the victims, but why would anyone want to take a vacation where you're a captive audience? If you stay at a hotel and find some of the charges are outrageous, like meals, you can always go elsewhere if you have or want to.
Cruise ships aren't as many or as used as airplanes, so there isn't going to be the same amount of outrage, despite the ripoffs being worse. Maybe the laws protecting airline passengers should be extended to cruise line passengers.
@j-o-h-n: No, I'm not from West Virginia, but I must correct you. It would be "fewer teeth". It's very important when insulting large groups of people that you don't make any mistakes that would make you seem anything less than worthy of throwing said insult.
I am confused. She paid $1,787 for 2 WV residents and $3,275 for four Texas residents (incl. 2 children)? It's not clear to me that $3,275 was non-discounted. From what I can tell the 3rd & 4th guests in room pay about 1/2-1/3rd the rate for guests 1&2 in a room.
Too bad the departure and destination are not given as it will lead to much banter and disagreement on Consumerist as poster make their own assumptions.
It doesn't matter why RCL offers a discount to W. VA. Residents, the point is they do.
If the passengers weren't advised of this requirement when they booked then I think the travel agent owes them something. Not RCL.
@Eoghann: I don't see how using discounts that don't apply to you is the fault of anyone but the buyer.
The travel agent is clearly at fault here and I would be suing them for the cost of the trip to Florida and back, hotel, and time lost off work.
When you deal with a travel agent, you expect them to know their trade well enough that everything is taken care of. Yes, mistakes happen, but this agent should have known that using a state specific discount would be a no-no and there would be a huge probability that the family wouldn't be allowed on the ship not being able to provide the required information to board.
@cw22books: It might have to do with travel distance to the cruise launch point, but I'm not entirely sure. I would assume they offered deep discounts for residents of whichever states booked the fewest cruises with them.
I'd say there's a good chance the travel agent tried to use a trick to get them a good rate that ended up backfiring.
@cw22books: If you really want to open that can of worms, then the period should be inside the quotation mark in your comment. The irony is overwhelming, isn't it?
@j-o-h-n: My dad's family is from eastern Long Island (the bad side; i.e Riverhead/Calverton) and have no teeth. So what's the difference between them and people from West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, etc.?: Nothing!
I've been in every state on the eastern seaboard along with Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Alabama (where I live) and have seen toothless people in every single state.
@Batwaffel: I agree that the Travel Agent appears to have been at fault here - assuming that he knew they were from Texas and booked them with a WV discount - but why then didn't the OP contact the travel agent when RC demanded more money? The travel agent is liable - but only for their out of pocket expenses - in this case $400 ($800 extra fee minus the $400 RC refunded).
@scootinger:
I completely agree esp. w/ your point #2. When they booked they had the info then they were not from WV. The discount should have never gone through the system with their Texas ID/address. Have to give credit though to Royal Caribbean for checking the ID to the discount. If only our Federal Gov. were this diligent in cross checking program recipients to entitlements.
@IllianaCachaco: @IllianaCachaco: As the travel agent, don't you consider it YOUR responsibility to check to see if your clients are eligible for discounts on tickets YOU sell them?
@supercereal: If the person SELLING you the tix tells you you're eligible, why would you automatically doubt that?
Could they pay and then sue the travel agent for the difference if that travel agent made the reservations?
The agent is at fault for their attempt to book you a discount you couldn't qualify for. It's not RC's job to make up for the mistakes of of your travel agent.
This is why you don't deal with a middle-man whenever possible. Travel agents are scum.
@supercereal: Actually, no, it wouldn't. *can of worms opened* Because cw22books is using quotations to denote a certain word or phrase that is not part of an actual quotation uttered by a person/thing, then the use of the period outside the quotation marks is perfect acceptable. If he/she were retyping the entire sentence, then yes, the period WOULD go inside the quotation marks. In this instance, the quotation marks could easily be replaced with italicized words. But, if he/she doesn't know how to do that, then quotations are okay.
@D0rk: I agree it's the agent's responsibility, but a classier company (Zappos cruise lines?) might've forgiven the $800 at the outset and gone after the agent on their own. If they found they'd been scammed, they do have the passengers' personal info, I'm guessing.
@jp: Not necessarily, since an agent booked for them and may not have known or may not have informed RC of this information.
Reading this article, it doesn't look like the family from Texas got a special rate, but I don't know the difference between what they charge for a child and an adult (4 adults from WV, though, would cost MORE than what the Texans paid apparently - this whole thing is confusing)
@cw22books: But West Virginians would say "less teeth." They're also known to use the word "ain't" a lot.
@IllianaCachaco: How exactly is this "Extortion" Consumerist? They used a Discount code that they shouldn't, and they got caught. Or, the Travel Agent used a discount code they shouldn't, and they got caught. Either way, This is NOT RC's fault. And I don't think they are required to a full refund either. Who ever booked the cruse, is at fault here, and should pay the difference.
@coren:
You have to give an address when you book anything esp. on-line as the agent probably did. When it didn't match then it should have been denied. I had this happen on Harry and David. Found a coupon code for residence of Ca. only and I'm in Az. The system came back and told me, 'california residence only'. It didn't go through because my address didn't match. Just like it should have when the travel agent put through their TX address.
I just came back from a cruise on the Liberty of the Seas... to make things short: can't wait for Oasis of the Seas this December!
@cw22books: It would be "fewer teeth" if they were countable, but perhaps one could count all the teeth in West Virginia, so I stand corrected.
Also, sometimes one might take grammatical liberties to be more alliterative.
Sounds like the problem is with the travel agency. They clearly tacked on a discount they knew the customer wasn't eligible for. The cruise line did nothing wrong. This should have never have been put on here without the name of travel agency. So people know the place running the scam.
@thebigbad: Goodness. We may not have a whole lot of room to brag out here in flyover country, but we do try to make our family trees just a bit broader than that.
@jp: It's certainly possible, although is it also not possible the agent only used the Virginian's address or perhaps even their own? I've never used a travel agent so I don't know how these things go
People still use travel agents?
The problem here is the travel agent and not the cruise line. They probably were shopping prices and one travel agent offered them a deal that might have sounded to goog to be true. Turns out it was to good to be true. Rather than be ticked at the cruiseline they should direct their anger at the travel agent that lied to them just to get his comission on the sale.
Is what happens when you try to use a discount for the wrong state (note people parachuting off ship)?
What if they lived in W.V. at the time of the booking and moved in the intervening months? While it does seem to be the booking agents fault RC should never have charged them the extra at the gate. The cabins were already booked, and the dollars they got will not offset the bad press. At worst, they could have informed the guests of the problem, allowed them on with no additional charge and taken the matter up with their booking agent. That is abysmal customer service.
Good heavens!! They tried to use a discount they weren't eligible for? And they're upset that when they showed ID the discount was removed?? And the cruise line didn't know before they saw the ID's? Tsk. Tsk ... how rude of the cruise line. Of course they would refund part of it - as a good faith measure (complaints in the rough waters of cruise profits do work)
I'm an outside cruise agent and I always check what the discount is for (it's in the rules) and always tell people to make sure they qualify for ANY discount.