Royal Carribean - Explorer of the Seas - 7 night vacation though the Eastern Carribean - left from Miami - difficult boarding process - poor cruise experience

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RE: Royal Carribean - Explorer of the Seas - 7 night vacation though the Eastern Carribean - left from Miami - difficult boarding process - poor cruise experience

Royal Caribbean - Cruise March 22, 2003

I am glad that you have a public area that complaints can be heard!!

I have made many attempts to contact Royal Caribbean about my problem and here is the letter that I sent which explains it all:

May 12, 2003

Mr. Richard Fain

Chairman & CEO

Royal Caribbean International

1050 Caribbean Way

Miami, FL 33132

Dear Mr. Fain:

On March 22, 2003, myself and 16 family members had the opportunity to cruise with Royal Caribbean. We sailed on Explorer of the Seas for a 7 night vacation through the Eastern Caribbean. My grandmother had funded the trip so the family, which is stretched out across the country, could be together for a wonderful vacation. I myself and my boyfriend left from Connecticut expecting a vacation experience like no other as Royal Caribbean advertises. Our vacation was nice up until we arrived in Miami port for boarding the ship.

The Royal Caribbean experience started off with us having to stand in line only to make it through to another line in order to stand in yet one more line with no concern for those with physical disabilities or health issues. I had done the on-line embarkation forms and was under the impression that this would speed up the boarding process. I spoke with my sister, who recently had knee surgery, who said they were standing in line for 3 hours, my aunt from Cleveland phoned in line ahead of us to say she had already been there for 2 hours. By the time we all made it on the ship, after 2 hours in line for myself, my boyfriend and cousins from Texas, it was 6pm and we were supposed to leave port at 5pm.

Dinner on the ship had excellent service but the food was only mediocre. Cecelia Papina went above and beyond the call of duty for us. She handled the children in our group as if they were her own. Cecelia’s service was exactly what we would expect from Royal Caribbean. Our room attendants also gave us service above and beyond our expectations. That evening we had the opportunity to actually explore the ship and we were amazed at how beautiful and huge it was. We thought that the boarding process was just a fluke and it was behind us and hoped the rest of the trip would be wonderful.

We had the chance to see some of the comedians that performed on the cruise and they were excellent. We also saw the ice show and are still trying to figure out how they stayed on their skates with the ship rocking so much. The service by the pools and in the Windjammer was also excellent.

As our trip continued our hopes were changed to fears of what could possibly go wrong next. My boyfriend had signed us up for an excursion where we would "Enjoy a tour through the aquarium and then time on Magen’s Bay Beach where snorkeling equipment is provided for your enjoyment" on St. Thomas. We were EXTREMELY disappointed to find that the aquarium was only allowed 1 hour for touring, and then Magen’s Bay Beach was filthy, overcrowded , and we were given 1 1/2 hours there.

During the route between the ship, aquarium and beach we were shown where all of the government housing is on the island. We returned upset because we never got snorkeling equipment, we were never told where we were to snorkel, and the beach time was 30 minutes to find a clean spot, 30 minutes to enjoy, and 30 minutes to hike back to the bus. When we spoke with the Excursions desk they told us we were supposed to snorkel at the aquarium. When we asked for a full refund we were given 30% and a form letter stating the refund was basically just to shut us up.

My sister had recently turned 21 and because we live in separate states and this would be the first time we would be together, I paid for her to have a full body massage. The experience in the spa made us more tense than when we started. Apparently her masseuse gave her a sales pitch during her massage and wouldn’t let go of it when she said no. He also wouldn’t let her speak to me before I paid for the massage. If I had known that he harassed her the way he did and he also became very irate with her, I would not have paid for the massage.

I never thought that I would look forward to going home to my job more than staying on my vacation. The last night we were on the ship we were instructed on colored tags and how to take care of our luggage. We went to dinner and the 17 of us tried to figure out what method the color code system used. In a group of 6 on the same flight, 2 got one color and the other 4 got a different one. 4pm flight got earlier calls than 12pm flights. The color code system is great if it’s actually assigned correctly. After dinner I packed our bags and placed the color tags on them as instructed and I checked the bags 4 times to make sure the tags were on them and they were all zipped shut.

Going home was a horrendous experience. When we were called we exited the ship as instructed to wait in line for customs. One customs gentleman decided that his 30 minute break needed to happen while we were disembarking and left which slowed the process even more. As we made our way to the luggage area I found 3 of our 4 bags. The one that was missing had our formal clothes in it. We searched for approximately 45 minutes but because it was 10:45 and we had a 12:30 flight in Ft. Lauderdale we had to leave.

I went through customs with our 3 bags while my boyfriend filled out a missing luggage form and did one last check over all the claims. He found it in the wrong claim area with the yellow tag missing. We ran out the door to the area we were told to go to where it said Ft. Laud. Intl. Airport on the sign. We stood there until 11:00 when a bus finally pulled up and when we tried to get on they told us the one we wanted was over by the Tours signs. We ran to that one and it was full. When I explained the situation to the Royal Caribbean employee she instructed us to take a taxi and write to Royal Caribbean for a refund.

It took us 30 minutes to finally get a taxi and by the time we had gotten to the airport we had missed our flight check-in by 2 minutes. I was in tears by the time we got to the ticket counter for Delta and they at least had the courtesy to take care of us as best they could. We flew stand-by on the next flight to Hartford. While in the airport my aunt and I were phoning back and forth and we found out that Royal Caribbean also lost the luggage of my cousins from Texas, out of 17 of us only 8 made it home on time, Royal Caribbean canceled my uncle’s plane ticket and he had to purchase another one, and 4 people were stuck in Miami overnight. Had we gotten home on the flight that we were supposed to be on, our pets would not have needed to stay in the kennel an extra night.

I did write a letter asking for refunds for the remaining balance for the excursion on St. Thomas $108, the taxi we had to take to Ft. Lauderdale because of Royal Caribbean not informing passengers the bus was parked in the wrong area which was $60, and the extra night that our pets had to stay in the kennel due to Royal Caribbean causing us to miss our flight which came to $70. I got a form letter back from customer service stating I would not get any money back.

When I called, I was told that "Your request for a refund is not going to be fulfilled because it was your choice to take a taxi. Royal Caribbean doesn’t care about you after you get off the ship, you are no longer our concern." When I asked to speak to a manager I was not given one. I would hope that Royal Caribbean cares about it’s passengers even after they disembark, especially when it is arranged through Royal Caribbean to have transportation to the airport. And you should continue to care about your passengers if you wish them to return for another vacation.

I would like my refunds as I have requested. My other family members have yet to receive a response from Royal Caribbean, if we all do not receive one that we feel is acceptable, we will all be speaking with the Florida State Attorney General’s Office and the Better Business Bureau. The general public should be aware that the service you offer in your advertising is that passengers only have a 47% chance of making it home on time, if at all, and 35% will be somewhat satisfied.

Sincerely,

Tiffany L. Konkol

This was the second letter that I sent directly to the CEO and I have a signed receipt saying that his office did receive it. I was appauled that since it was Royal Caribbean that was supposed to get us to and from the airport I was told "Royal Caribbean doesn’t care about you after you get off the ship, you are no longer our concern." and the customer service agent who told me that was screaming at me when I was talking calmly to him.

He stated that I was lying about the taxi being $60...a very reasonable price from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale. The 1st letter I sent was similar and it was obvious the Customer Service agent didn't fully read it before replying - she commented on how I enjoyed St. Thomas. I never got a response to this letter. I contacted the BBB and never heard from them again. I will be contacting the FL State Attourney General's office after I move.

The colored tags I speak of is a system which each passenger is assigned a color depending on what your flight departure time is and which airport. Starting at 7am, colors are called for departure and when your color is called, you get to the door, go through customs and find your luggage in your color code area in baggage claim. The system was not properly assigned.

The only "I'm sorry we were wrong, let us make it up to you" I got was from Steiner Beauty which runs the spas on the ship. Not only did they send me a $100 gift certificate for their products but also one to my sister and grandmother for their mistreatment. I will never sail with Royal Caribbean - or Carnival Cruises which they also run - due to poor service. And that means a lot seeing as how I plan on doing a lot of cruise travel in my future and my money will be best spent elsewhere. I want my money back that I requested ($238) which is not much for Royal Caribbean considering it cost over $35,000 for all 17 of us to go. Maybe they should pull some advertising costs to re-pay angry customers and think about what they offer compaired to what they actually serve.

Tiffany Konkol

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