extortion
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...
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loyalty programs
Royal Caribbean is gutting the
Crown & Anchor society that lavishes loyal cruisers with perks like discounts, priority boarding, and a concierge lounge stocked with complimentary cocktails. The free booze will now be available only to cruisers who have sailed more than 25 times with
Royal Caribbean. Many loyal passengers who don't spend their lives on Royal Caribbean ships are understandably pissed.
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public relations
Meet the "Royal Caribbean Champions," a group of fifty prolific posters to popular online communities that
Royal Caribbean rewards with special access and free cruises in exchange for their frequent and positive commentary. The Champions were outed by their creators, the Customer Insight Group, which boasted on their company blog that the potent group is "regularly leveraged for ongoing marketing initiates. Members of the popular reviewing site
Cruise Critic, one of the main targets of the program, are understandably pissed.
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royal caribbean
Royal Caribbean's odd "
steak fee" proved to be such a success that the bleed-'em-dry cruise line has decided to add yet another extraneous charge to their "all-inclusive" service: a late night room service fee! Gone are the days of waking up from a seasick-induced nightmare at 3 a.m. to the comforting thought of, "well at least I can order a cheeseburger." Now, seasickness cures ordered between midnight and 5 a.m. cost $3.95.
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royal caribbean
Do you like flying? Well then you're going to
love cruising with Royal Caribbean! The cruise line recently announced plans to charge customers who order steak in the main dining room a $14.95 surcharge.
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harsh
Brenda and Gerald Moran are what you might call "regulars" on
Royal Caribbean — or they were — until they were banned for life after they complained too loudly on a cruise website. For the past 3 years, they took two cruises a year with Royal Caribbean, but according to the cruise line, they complained about almost all of them. Finally, after stirring up too much controversy on a popular cruise site, the company banned the Morans for life.
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nightmares
There are few things in life more decadent and luxurious than a cruise vacation. Unless of course, you are on a Royal Caribbean cruise and your child gets a cold, and then a paranoid crew kicks you and your family off the ship at night in your pajamas at a foreign port where you then have to spend thousands dollars for passports and tickets to get home. It sounds like a nightmare but that's exactly
what happened to this Florida family according to WFTV. Read the details of their misadventure, inside...
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travel
Royal Caribbean and
Celebrity Cruise Lines will refund fuel surcharges to customers who booked their cruises before November 16th, says the
Orlando Business Journal. Passengers who have not yet sailed will receive their refund in the form of onboard credit.
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travel
Cruise lines are sullying their heritage as the height of cultured travel by working overtime to squeeze every last penny out of passengers. Though gluttons are still sated by free meals, cruises now regularly charge for sodas, "special venue dining," and other amenities that were once free. A recent industry convention in Miami revealed that these charges are just the tip of the iceberg.
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complaints
A few months ago, a couple of friends and I took a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean. It ended up being a horrible cruise (in our opinion and many other cruisers). Since then, I have attempted to write to the CEO of Royal Caribbean (RCCL), a couple of higher up SVP's, and finally the Better Business Bureau. To make a long story short... they only gave us $20 credit/person, which was to cover the lunch we had to buy since the ship was severely delayed. I don't even consider that any type of compensation, since we would have received lunch on the ship had we boarded on time (and not had to buy lunch on land for the $20). RCCL made no other attempt at any compensation at all, even though I shelled out nearly $3000 for the cruise-fare alone. My (somewhat long) email to the executive staff @ RCCL...
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Consumerist
