R.C.I. Navigator

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johnds
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R.C.I. Navigator

#1

Post by johnds »

Earlier this year my cousin and her husband invited us to join them on a Transatlantic cruise on R.C.I. Navigator
They have been on this ship before

The itinerary was Southampton, Boston Mass. two days New York. Port Canaveral for Orlando, Miami two days on shore before flying home.

Having deliberated for a while we decided not to go for various reasons.

The ship departs tomorrow (Monday)

On Friday they received an email from RCI advising them of a change of itinerary. Whilst it wasn't mentioned in the email it
seems that there was a problem on the ship last week with a damaged stabiliser which was shipping water

The new itinerary is Zeebrugge, Le Havre (two days for repairs), Grand Canaria, Miami.

RCi's explanation for the change is potential bad weather, which may or may not be true.
Surely if that were the case there were better alternatives than Zeebrugge and Le Havre in November.

If they sail the normal offer of compensation is $200 OBC and 25% of this cruise price off another RCI cruise if taken in the "near future" (not defined)
However because they are "Jewel" class and thereby entitled to some free drinks in the evening they would not receive extra OBC

The alternative is to cancel in which case the price of the cruise and airfares (if booked with RCI) would be refunded.
Airfares not booked with RCI will not be refunded nor will things like coach travel to Southmpton or insurance etc

They have decided to cancel - not surprisingly even though they were all packed up and ready to go.

Mark however is a paramedic who has had his holiday booked off work for some time and is unlikely to be able to change it.

This all seems incredibly mean of RCI.

Perhaps P&O aren't so bad after all
John

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towny44
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#2

Post by towny44 »

Lots of comments about this on CC John and a comparison with Jewel of the seas, which also has a change of itinerary to a more southerly route to avoid possible storms, but they have had no compensation offer. Presumably the stabiliser fault and repairs issue is correct, otherwise if its only bad weather then port changes don't qualify for compensation, except via your own insurance, which might be an avenue for your cousin to follow to obtain compensation for anything the RCI offer does not cover.

PS Incidentally it looks as though the CC site is frozen, last posts were yesterday and I can't post anything at present.
John

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johnds
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#3

Post by johnds »

Towny44
We all have to get used to itinerary changes but swapping Zeebrugge for Boston Mass and Le Havre for New York is a bit unreasonable.
I think the only reaon they haven't cancelled the whole cruise is because they need the ship in Miami for the next cruise
John


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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#4

Post by daib GC »

johnds wrote: 04 Nov 2018, 10:26
Towny44
We all have to get used to itinerary changes but swapping Zeebrugge for Boston Mass and Le Havre for New York is a bit unreasonable.
I think the only reaon they haven't cancelled the whole cruise is because they need the ship in Miami for the next cruise
If they are staying in Le Harve for two days, for repair then the whole story is there. The repairs need to be done before they attempt a TA.

Bit of a risk in the first place of scheduling a northerly route to the US in November. She is not the QM2.

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towny44
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#5

Post by towny44 »

daib GC wrote: 04 Nov 2018, 13:37
johnds wrote: 04 Nov 2018, 10:26
Towny44
We all have to get used to itinerary changes but swapping Zeebrugge for Boston Mass and Le Havre for New York is a bit unreasonable.
I think the only reaon they haven't cancelled the whole cruise is because they need the ship in Miami for the next cruise
If they are staying in Le Harve for two days, for repair then the whole story is there. The repairs need to be done before they attempt a TA.

Bit of a risk in the first place of scheduling a northerly route to the US in November. She is not the QM2.
Quite a few of the TA repositioning cruises do now take a northern east coast route, presumably to offer something different to the more traditional southern route to the Caibbean, and stabilisers normally make the crossing smooth enough for most passengers, but only if they are in full working order.
John

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Happydays
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#6

Post by Happydays »

towny44 wrote: 04 Nov 2018, 10:04
Lots of comments about this on CC John and a comparison with Jewel of the seas, which also has a change of itinerary to a more southerly route to avoid possible storms, but they have had no compensation offer. Presumably the stabiliser fault and repairs issue is correct, otherwise if its only bad weather then port changes don't qualify for compensation, except via your own insurance, which might be an avenue for your cousin to follow to obtain compensation for anything the RCI offer does not cover.

PS Incidentally it looks as though the CC site is frozen, last posts were yesterday and I can't post anything at present.
CC site is working now.

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barney
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#7

Post by barney »

I'd have cancelled.
Zebrugge when expecting Boston.
Le Havre when expecting New York.
No brainer.

Use some of the money on a nice mid week break somewhere in the UK.
Empty vessels .. and all that


daib GC
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#8

Post by daib GC »

barney wrote: 05 Nov 2018, 12:23
I'd have cancelled.
Zebrugge when expecting Boston.
Le Havre when expecting New York.
No brainer.

Use some of the money on a nice mid week break somewhere in the UK.
I have read that over 1000 have cancelled this cruise and that it is going straight to the Canaries.

BTW the storm they are trying to miss looks horrendous.

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cruisingtoski
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#9

Post by cruisingtoski »

I was on this cruise and what actually happened was:
A few days before sailing the itinerary was changed missing out Boston, New York and Port Canaveral and calling instead at Le Havre and Zeebrugge!
There was an option to cancel but as we had booked a package with a travel agent only the cost of the cruise would have been refunded so we decided to go ahead and make the best of it ! Some compensation was offered, not enough imo considering the change but hey ho !
(Some of compensation was in the form of refundable OBC) we also had a refund of Port Fees. Anyway once on board it was announced that the itinerary was changing again to Gran Canaria, The Bahamas and Port Canaveral was reinstated 😊
We had 15% reduction in our revised excursion to Kennedy Space Centre .
All in all it was an excellent cruise albiet not the one we booked😉
The changes etc were handled very well by the Captain who kept us well informed. The only problem as far as information was concerned was the customer services team and the shore excursion team who seemed to constantly on catch up mode !!
I would travel with Royal Caribbean again (especially as I have 25% of the cost of the latest cruise of a future cruise !😉)
Also our travel agent is giving £100 of future booking with them😊
Not the cruise we booked but we got with it and made the best of what was on offer but I suspect some ‘moaners’ did not enjoy it as they were obsessed with ‘baying’ for even more compensation 🤣!!
Denise

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Manoverboard
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Re: R.C.I. Navigator

#10

Post by Manoverboard »

towny44 wrote: 04 Nov 2018, 10:04
Lots of comments about this on CC John and a comparison with Jewel of the seas, which also has a change of itinerary to a more southerly route to avoid possible storms, but they have had no compensation offer. Presumably the stabiliser fault and repairs issue is correct, otherwise if its only bad weather then port changes don't qualify for compensation, except via your own insurance, which might be an avenue for your cousin to follow to obtain compensation for anything the RCI offer does not cover.

PS Incidentally it looks as though the CC site is frozen, last posts were yesterday and I can't post anything at present.
They do with P&O under clause 40 but the changes do have to be significant. in this instance they clearly are.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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