Royal Caribbean bans Cleveland couple for life

by Jeffrey White on

It appears that cruise lines will only take so much complaining.

Royal Caribbean has banned for life Cleveland residents Brenda and Gerald Moran after the couple has spent the last four years sailing with the company — a total of six voyages — and complaining about it every step of the way

“On all but one of those sailings the Morans felt there were a variety of service failures they experienced,” Michael Sheehan, a VP at Royal Caribbean, tells the Associated Press. “In a small number of cases we agreed and compensated them appropriately. In most cases, however, we disagreed. Having concluded that we are unable to meet the expectations of the Morans, we have told them that they would be best served by sailing with another company.”

What’s really gotten the couple in trouble is that they posted all of their complaints — including Brenda Moran having her birthday greeting sent to the wrong stateroom! — and dealings with RC on their Web site Cruise Critic. There latest run-in involved a two week Alaska cruise on the Radiance of the Seas. Here are the bits that apparently sent RC over the edge, direct from the Moran’s “review”:

Our stateroom 8276 (AFT D1) was nicely appointed but the bathroom reeked of sewer smell for the entire 14 night cruise. Guest Relations did nothing but tell us about other guests who flush oranges, apples, silverware, diapers, etc down the toilet so we should talk to them. So our balcony door remained open the entire cruise even in 40 degree nights to keep the air fresh. Night 14 at midnight we have a guy banging on our door to deliver an envelope from the Hotel Manager giving us 20% off our next cruise. Too bad it took 2 weeks to do it.

Other Group Cruises, a gift was on the bed each night, but this cruise we got only 6 – DVD zipper case, a compass that is a clock also, pens that light up & unscrew to be a light, tote bag with Royal Caribbean scarf, backpack looking item that is actually a duffel bag with a Royal Caribbean scarf in it & what resembled a bench seat that actually the felt blanket pulls out to be a waterproof Royal Caribbean poncho which we used in 4 rainy days at ports.

We are Diamond members and on other Member Cruises we had FREE Seattle’s Best Specialty coffees (Latte, Espresso, Cappuccino as well as regular & decaf) but not this one. The Concierge Lounge is now for Suite Guests only. We have a Diamond Lounge which past Member Cruises had the machine with china cups & plates for continental breakfast for all Diamond & Diamond Plus to enjoy. This Diamond Lounge on Radiance had a plastic push button coffee server with paper cups & milk on ice. 30 minutes after it was delivered the coffee was cold.

While I can’t understand whole sentences here, it seems in general to be pretty trivial stuff (the sewage problem notwithstanding). Still, RC sided with the couple on this on, offering them $500 in addition to that 20 percent off voucher.

Not long after their review went live, a RC customer service executive contacted them to demand they take it down. They refused. A day later, they were blacklisted.

In fairness, other cruise fans who frequented Cruise Critic had been complaining that the couple was using the site, and complaining in general, simply to get freebies from RC. Some posters on the site even contacted RC directly to complain about, among other things, the couple getting that 20 percent off voucher and $500 for the sewage incident.

Whether the Morans were diligent consumer advocates or simply scam artists, RC is finished dealing with them. Last November, they sent the Morans a letter making the travel ban official: They cannot set foot on any RC ship, including subsidiaries Celebrity and Azamara.

Largest cruise ship to have football field-sized park on deck

by Jamie Rhein on

When I think of a cruise ship deck, I think a swimming pool, shuffle board and lounge chairs–maybe a tennis court. I’m not that imaginative, but those who design ships for Royal Caribbean certainly are. The latest undertaking of this company that already boasts the world’s largest luxury cruise liner is another ship that will be large enough to have a park as big as a football field. Think town square with eateries, entertainment and large trees. This deck will be only one of the ship’s fifteen others, according to this article published in The Daily Mail.

When complete, this liner will weigh 220,000 tons. And by the looks of one of the mock up drawings, if placed on the Thames River, it will dwarf London. St. Paul’s Cathedral looks small next to it.

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As the airline industry is going through its woes due to fuel costs, and whatever else seems to be ailing it each week, cruise lines are doing swimmingly swell. Passengers’ desires to enjoy luxury and the wow factor when they head out on the high seas are adding to the push for bigger and bigger cruise ships.

Genesis, being built in Finland, will be ready to set sail in 2009. Its home port will be Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Join the other 5,399 paying customers who’ll be climbing aboard. There will be space since it can hold 5,400 passengers. I don’t think you’ll have a hard time spotting it because it will be 40% bigger than the other ships–until someone gets the urge to build a bigger one.

If you have an urge for a monster cruise ship trip before then, here are other options.

Fuel surcharges: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity cruise lines to give refund to passengers

by Jeffrey White on

Did you book a cruise on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity before Nov. 16? If so, you’re getting some money back.

On a day that saw more news of soaring oil prices, the two major cruise lines voluntarily settled with passengers and agreed to refund $21 million in fuel surcharges, the Florida Attorney General’s office said yesterday.

The agreement came after a probe by the AG’s Economic Crimes Division, which began investigating the pricing disclosure policies of cruise lines after hundreds of customers filed official complaints that they were charged fuel surcharges retroactively after they had made their bookings and, in some cases, their initial deposit, according to a report in the Orlando Business Journal.

The AG said the surcharges were not properly disclosed. Authorities also looked into whether those charges violated a 1997 agreement among major cruise lines where they vowed not to add additional fees beyond advertised cruise fares in an effort to make prices easier for consumers to compare, the Journal said.

“This resolution will serve as a model for the rest of the cruise line industry, and I expect the other companies to take this example and follow suit,” Florida AG Bill McCollum said in a news release.

Any guest who booked on these two cruise lines before Nov. 16 will get the refund. Those consumers who have already sailed will get the refund for the full amount of the fuel surcharge in the form of a payment. Those who have not yet sailed will get the refund in the form of an onboard credit voucher, the Journal said.

The two cruise companies are said to be contacting eligible customers directly, and must report back to the AG in a month.

Bigger AND Sicker

by Iva Skoch on

We reported that Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was the biggest ship in the world. Now, it turns out that the size of the ship correlates with the size of the viral outbreak.

More than 380 passengers and crew succumbed to the norovirus on a cruise from November 26 through December 3. Then, the ship was cleaned up and set sail, only to stick 97 more passengers and 11 crew members with more than they bargained for on a cruise this past week.

The ship carries more than 3,900 passengers. Today, they set sail again, but with 45 more cleaning staff and 2 more doctors, and, hopefully, a few less viruses.