jack123

RCL said Cruises.com has to correct it as their agent, even though my CC shows RCL getting the $$. I turned down the $100 and told the agent to surprise me when I get to HK.

MORAL: Be careful with Cruises.com

patience_au

That really sucks! I could not believe the amount of overbooking instances we saw while over in the states when we were there in july/aug with the airlines. You never see this in Australia (and yes, most flights here are full!) What's the point in overbooking anyway? They end up offering more if someone will wait for the next flight and it seems to just snowball to the next flight ect. Seems to me it costs them more than the value of making sure the flight is full!! To overbook a cruise though? It's not like you can wait for the next boat a few hours later!! If it was me I'd be asking for a full refund and booking on another cruise line for a different cruise or through RCL themselves! $100 is definitely not enough compensation when you look at the days you'd be spending in a cabin that was not what you originally paid for. Just my opinion!

tcook052

I empathize with your unfortunate predicament and know you're likely venting but wanted to note it isn't typical of cruise bookings to have this happen. Well, perhaps that's how big online agencies work but it's not how I've ever sold cruises.

cordelli

We had it happen to us once, but it was the cruise line, not the agent that did it.

How did it happen? They should have confirmed you into the cabin you wanted, and that should have been that. It sounds like they messed up something and it was not just an overbooking. Like they didn't forward your final payment in time and the line gave away the cabin.

piper28

My experience has always been that when cruise lines need to get rid of overbookings they start offering deals to people to get them to move their bookings over to a different cruise. Depending on how desperate the line is, sometimes those offers can get pretty decent. I've honestly never heard of someone actually getting bumped, which makes me suspect that there's more to the story than cruises.com is telling you.

Also, it's pretty normal for a cruise line to not deal with you directly if you book through an agent. (And any reputable agent should be making your credit card charges go directly to the cruise line.) So this problem is really something you need to work out with cruises.com. This close to the cruise I'd have to think that it's pretty unlikely they'll be able to get you back into a suite, but at the very least they owe you some money IMHO.

jack123

GOOD NEWS
Cruise.com called me to say there was a cancellation and the suite was mine.
Thanks to all for the sympathy & advice on these boards.^
As a follow-up I'm glad I did not curse at the customer service rep., I still do not know why this happened.

tcook052

Ship happens.

yscleo

Yes ship happens.

We love cruising. Always hear of upgrades, but this is also the first time I've heard of being bumped down.

Good for you to get the suite back.

orknot2be

Cruise lines will NOT deal with you if your booking is with any agency or TA. They will not speak to you on the phone, they will refer you back to your TA. In the past I've always booked my cruises with the cruise line, than a week or two before final payment I would transfer to a TA for better OBC (but only TA's who were reputable from other people I knew or who I had dealt with before, and I would never deal with cruises.com). I liked having personal control over my booking as long as possible and being able to deal directly with the cruise line. Anyway, new rule now on RCCL/Celebrity is that bookings made with the cruise lines can only be transferred to an agent within 60 days of the original booking date. This was probably because so many people were doing exactly what I used to do. But they have also taken away any incentive to book early with yet another restriction in addition to those on discounts, price changes, OBC restrictions, etc.