If there are any people who have sued RC please contact me or any law firm who feels that there is a case for legal redress because a company does not equally and fairly apply its discounts (quite different from offering equal fares) to ALL who qualify for it and offering different fares based on nationality, please contact me. This may be a consumer advocate law firm vs. One that specializes in suing cruise companies as they specialize in personal injury suits.
Because of my bitter experience with RC, I can no longer recommend taking their cruises but since they are now offering good deals, there may still be others and I want to offer advice to those.
I advise one to book no sooner than the month (if you can CNN advises you to book no sooner than 2 weeks) before you go, as they will cut the rate almost 80% off the rack rate (they have slashed the rates, many, MANY times before and would rather fill it up VERY cheaply then cancel the cruise).
If you paid ahead of time and are not aware of the discounts before taking the cruise, they will refuse you any kind of credit for future cruises or onboard credit to make up the difference (I'm not even talking about a monetary refund which would be less to their advantage) AND a fellow cruiser was told by RCC directly that if there is a price drop, and you find out BEFORE the cruise you will only get an adjustment if you booked DIRECTLY with RCL NOT with a travel agent-please let your travel agent know-very important!!! Do NOT sign up for MYTIME dining, you will not have ANY control of how you want to tip.
Because of the economy where they feel they have to offer cheap cruises, they have really cut down the service and amenities to the point that unless you are probably in higher priced cabin like balcony or above, you may not even get complimentary toiletries. It is best to READ the reviews on different cruise websites on the ship (better yet, specific cruise) you are going on, if that can be found, my cruise was extremely cheap but because of ongoing renovations on the ship, many public areas were closed and the buffet dining was simply awful as they had to truck the food from the dining room to the solarium as the Windjammer was closed. It may be different on their other ships and it's all right to have it cheap, BUT the cruise lines SHOULD inform you WHAT to expect if the ship you're on is VASTLY different from ships you've taken before. I told them they should have this disclaimer on their website if they offer any cruises like the one I took (transatlantic voyage from Vision of the Seas from Santa Domingo on 4/19/09). Was told that Southwest has the highest satisfaction rating as they promise anything but a low price and people are not disappointed by the expectations, I think RC wants to become the Southwest of the cruise industry. You will have CONSTANT reminders on the cruise that yours is a cheap cruise from them FIGHTING you over providing toiletries that a reservation agent over the phone promises you that they will have, to the waiters joking that because it's a cheap cruise there won't be lobster. This is what I suggested the post...
"This is a special cruise that is "valued price, " therefore many of the
traditional things you expect of a RCC cruise may not be the provided such as
amenities like the room toiletries, or the same, such as prizes in games (they
were so low that once they gave one prize to the whole GROUP saying just play
for the fun of it) and renovations on the ship will be ongoing so some public
venues such as the Windjammer will be closed and the pool, occasionally. However you will still experience the same excellent food, wonderful entertainment and courteous, friendly service from our employees."
I can understand cruiselines offering different base fares due to occupancy rates for the cabins in the same category as airlines do but they were capricious in applying their discounts that ALL should be eligible for, i.E. Some are charged the single supplement while others are not, some locals are given a local discount while other locals are not, etc., some are offered an addon second cruise free while others are not, and if you found out after you are onboard, RC will REFUSE to compensate in any way (even with a cruise credit -where they wil retain the overpayment and not lose anything monetarily.) They will also charge different prices based on nationality.
RCI used to be a good cruiseline (I liked their rooms because with the curtain it was like you had two rooms instead of one, but unfortunately they don't even want to compete with the likes of NCL but more like EZ cruise.)
To keep updated on this pending lawsuit or if you have found that your were on this cruise or on another that you found you were not given the discounts you were entitled to please go to this website
http://groups. Yahoo.com/group/RCCLlawsuit
Evangeline
90503, California
U.S.A.
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