Ovation Of The Seas Leaves Passengers Fuming!

Well!  What a kerfuffle Royal Caribbean has caused with their shock announcement of a *new* Inaugural sailing of the latest Quantum class ship, Ovation of the Seas!   due to depart Southampton for 3 nights on 14th April 2016.

To remind you Ovation of the Seas will be one of the most innovative ships at sea with a bionic bar, sky diving simulator, North Star and much more.

Here’s the itinerary:-

14th April 16           Depart Southampton

15th April 16            Rotterdam

16th April 16           At Sea

17th April 16           Arrive Southampton

Prices were released at £249.00 per person for a Balcony Stateroom

It has left its passengers booked on the original ‘Inaugural Cruise’ 17th April 16, absolutely livid!

Our phone lines have been jammed with disgruntled passengers who, having booked what they thought would be the first sailing, to experience the atmosphere and celebrations held on board an Inaugural departure, to sleep in brand new beds, to eat in brand new restaurants, and be the first passengers to see the on board entertainment.   Only to now feel ‘second best’ and cheated out of a special occasion by Royal Caribbean’s insatiable appetite for making money!

Passengers booked on the 17th April sailing have asked what  Royal Caribbean are offering in the way of compensating for this feeling of being cheated.  The answer? Not alot!

When the sailing was first announced Royal Caribbean offered existing passengers the opportunity to ‘tag on’ the extra 3 nights at the prevailing price of the Stateroom of choice, with a discount of £50 per person, and no administration fees.

Ok, so on the surface, that seems pretty generous.  However, many passengers have said that they are not able to take the extra 3 days holiday.

When asked if they could cancel the 17th April 16 and transfer to the 14th April Inaugural sailing, the answer was that it would be classed as a cancellation and re-book, and therefore standard cancellation charges will apply.        Not very helpful then?

Of course whilst our phone lines were busy with existing passengers, other would-be passengers were clambering to get on this new Inaugural Sailing! Our phone lines (and most of us at cruisedot) were on meltdown with the amount of interest and excitement this news had generated!

It was no surprise therefore that the sailing was sold out (with the exception of a few Owners Suites the last time I checked) by the end of the day.

Of course its great news that more people have had the opportunity to experience Royal Caribbean’s latest Quantum Class offering, but at what price? Lots of existing passengers have been left feeling very let down, and considering whether to continue sailing with this cruise company.

I fully sympathise with them.   I would feel the same.

What do you make of it all?

Gina