Our health was compromised by Royal Carribean

did they ever compensate you? they stuffed up our family vacation with
incorrect food resulting in anaphalaxis and still COMPLETE
STONEWALLING BY THE COMPANY - ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS - THEY ARE A
SHOCKER!

I think this is terrible. I am a non-smoker and allergic to cig.
smoke, if this was pumped into our cabin night and day I would be
mad!!!!!!!!!!!! And your pregnant!!!!!! They should have moved you.


Getting upgraded is not always the best. Our friends were upgraded to
an owner's suite once, and boy, was it run down.

If your husband is on Wall Street, works on hedge funds, maybe you got
the money to talk to an attorney???

Allison -

I understood your points. And getting a moment alone to write a letter
while you have a 16 month old is a challenge.

I hope Royal Carribean compensates you for your horrendous experience!
I hope they recognize the power of negative word of mouth!

Best of luck,

Erika

There wasnt any way to change the room? I know some people get really
sick just from old smoke. My sister is really allergic to it and she
can smell it when I cant. It doesnt bother me but a few minutes around
it and she is sick for a week!

I think you have a valid complaint but did you complain then about the
smoke? I would have slept outside with my child before I let him sit
in a room being filled with smoke knowing he gets really sick.

Yeah, I think I agree with others that with something this serious you
really should have included every single detail you could, including
any proof from doctors as well. I dont know what, if anything, they
could or would do for you at this point but I hope they take your
complaint seriously and do something about it.I have always wanted to
go on a cruise but lately I am beginning to think they are floating
death traps!

Allison,

Ill help you out here. It seems that people think that your letter is
short on a couple of details. So, maybe you should rewrite the
letter. You might actually get the attention that you crave from the
higher ups with a slightly better, more detail filled letter.

Ill help you out.

(copy and paste this and fill in the blanks, and VOILA! a perfect
start to a great letter!)


Dir Sirs,

I have recently returned from a cruise on your ship, The M/S Explorer
of the Seas. I used your cruise line from __________ to __________
and we visited ____________ as a Port of call.

I had paid and requested for a Owner's Suite, but at checkin, I was
assigned to a Royal Family Suite. While the Royal Family Suite may
have been bigger, it was in fact dirty in ______________ areas and
also _________________ was broken in it. I found this quite
unexceptable, especially since I had paid over 8500 dollars for the
cruise.

Another problem I had with the room was that the ventilation system
was faulty. Cigarette smoke had fanned into the room from other
guest's rooms, and the smell was a constant concern. The constant
cigarette smoke caused me to become sick. Throughout the cruise, I
had four asthma attacks, on __________, ____________, ___________, and
______________ days.

My 16 month son also got sick from the smoke. He caught a bronchial
infection on __________ day. We both had to be seen by the ship
doctor on ___________ day at ____________ time because of the smoke in
our room.

On ____________ day, I spoke with the concierge, named Carlos. He was
unhelpful to me becasuse of ____________________. I then spoke with
__________, who's job is _____________, to rectify the situation.
He/She also refused to fix the situation.

Because of this, I was unable to truly enjoy my cruise experience. I
hate to complain, but I spoke with _______ number of people while I
was actually on the ship and no one seemed to be able to rectify the
situation. This makes me very wary of using your services again. I
also will not be able to recommend you to my friends and family
because of that.

Hopefully you can help me in some way. I wish that the situation
would have been rectified while I was still using your facilities, but
I did all I could to receive help, and no one was able to help me.

Thank you for your time,

(Your name Here)

Once again, I can't believe the comments I am reading.

There are some valid points, but I just can't understand the nastiness
directed at this woman.

Yes, the letter was poorly written.
If one is writing a business letter of complaint, then one should give
relevant facts and details, and take the time to make sure the letter
makes sense.

Obviously, she meant that she was 5 months pregnant, and had a 16
month old child as well. (I had to read that line twice, and knew it
would definitely be the first thing picked apart by those commenting,
as if her poorly constructed sentence was actually pertinent to her
complaint.)

Yes, there are no details as to date, time, and cruise line.

Yes, it sounds pretentious to drop in the fact that her husband has an
important job, but again, obviously she included that information to
illustrate to the company that he knows a lot of people and could
seriously hurt the company's reputation among his acquaintances.

Aside from all these facts, look at her complaint.
Their cabin was filled with cigarette smoke!
One should not have to be subjected to an unhealthy environment like
that when paying top dollar for quality accommodations.

Perhaps the asthma attack allegations were exaggerated, but I was
actually with a woman today who began coughing fitfully and claimed
she was having an asthma attack, yet she didn't seek medical
attention.

The fact remains that their child, and their unborn child as well,
were exposed to the second-hand cigarette smoke, and that's not
right.

Regardless of how much time was spent in the room versus time spent in
activities, the fact is, they slept in that smoke filled room and were
inhaling toxic substances. She was pregnant, so it's possible she went
to lie down for short periods. Their child probably had to nap during
the day, and someone had to be in the room with him.

I don't know if she requested a non-smoking room or not, but that
would be a moot point, since her complaint was that the second-hand
smoke was coming in through the ventilation system,and not that the
smoke was already in the room.

It sounds to me that she did make repeated complaints and they were
brushed aside. People are criticiaing because she didn't move higher
up the chain of command while on the cruise.
Perhaps she felt that speaking to the concierge should have been
enough, and because he did nothing, she didn't feel there was any
point in speaking to anyone else at that time.
That's why she came home and wrote a letter to the company instead.
It probably would have been more effective if she had specified a
company, but that doesn't make her complaint any less valid, in my
opinion.

Just out of curiosity, have you EVER written a business letter before
in your life?

This is a mess.

First, you must have checked the wrong box when you started the letter
because you have a smiley where (& I'm just guessing here) it should
be a frown just based on your ALL CAPS TITLE.

Second, you didn't address it to anyone. How is the correct company
going to be notified without knowing WHO you mean. I am guessing by
the indication of RCCL on the ship that you mean Royal Caribbean
Cruise Lines, but again, you don't ever actually say this. That's a
pretty important thing to leave out and I would hope that after
spending that much money and being on board one of their ships for
several days that you'd have SOME inkling of the name of the cruise
line you were on.

Third. Not sure what happened to get your room bumped, but it does
sound like the cruise people at least TRIED to upgrade your
accomodations.

I do have to ask, though, in terms of your allegation that they have a
faulty ventilation system on the ship, are you SURE that you specified
a non-smoking room? It's just like when you go to a restaurant to
eat, if you don't specifically say you want to be seated in
non-smoking, they stick you in the first available spot.

Typically most cruise ships I've ever seen either have sections of the
boat reserved for smokers or whole decks so that the two don't cross
paths.

And just who pays $8500 for a cruise and then stays in the room the
whole time? There are usually so many activities on board and when
you disembark at the various stops that you pretty much only sleep in
the room. Given that, I'd say that your actual exposure to the smoke
should have been minimal.

Apparently, you were not complaining to the correct people on board.
Yes, Carlos the concierge should have been more helpful, but if I made
a complaint and got no results and was stranded out at sea, I'd have
made DARN sure I escalated that complaint until they took care of it
then and there.

Finally, your husband's job has absolutely NOTHING to do with this
complaint and you should be embarassed of yourself for trying to use
that as some sort of threat or bargaining tool.

I hate to tell you, but based on how you worded this letter, it makes
you sound snotty and demanding with very little relevant detail to
support your complaint.

& I apologize in advance for being snarky, but next time, maybe you
should get your hot shot hubby's secretary to write the letter for
you. She's trained in writing professional business correspondence!

Terrible letter - who is it to? what are the dates? And what does
your husband's job have to do with anything?

You need to rewrite this and provide more detail. It's a mess.

And they don't care what your husband does, I'm sure.

Lovely letter. Too bad no one will ever read it, since you didn't
bother to direct it to anyone. See, complaint letters are usually more
effective if you actually send them to the people that you're
complaining to.

Good luck giving birth to that 16-month-old, by the way. That's gonna
hurt like the dickens.

The Royal Suite on Explorer of the Seas is twice as big as the Owner's
Suite so, yes, it was a "free" upgrade. You don't say what was wrong
with the suite for you to say that it was dirty or broken down. If
your concierge was useless, did you try to bring the matters to the
attention of the Purser or the Hotel Director? Since you were in a
Royal Suite, I'm sure they would have try to resolve them for you.
You also should have told them that you felt Carlos was useless.

You don't say how you booked. Was it directly through RCCL or with a
TA? Were you told about the Royal Suite ahead of time? Whenever I
cruise, I get my cabin assignment ahead of time and go online look to
check the location and category. If there is a problem, I would call
the cruiseline or my TA.

Where was the smoke coming from? I'm not sure about RCCL but smoking
was allowed in all cabins on the cruises I have been on. We choose
not to smoke in our cabin but do smoke on our balcony. We always make
sure that it is not bothering our "neighbors" however. Was the smoke
coming in from a neighboring cabin? I do seriously question the fact
that you had four serious asthma attacks. If that were the case you
would have spent most of the trip in the medical center but, in fact,
you don't even mention the medical center at all. I suspect you had
to use your fast acting inhaler four times. A serious asthma attack
requires immediate medical attention.

One final question, where were you disembarking that you had to walk
down four flights? The ships I have been on have elevators that take
you to the disembarkation level and then a ramp to the pier. I've
never had to walk down stairs.

"My husband works for a well know hedge fund on Wall Street and we
intend for our voices be heard unless this is some how remedied."

I'm sure RCCL, or M/S, or whomever you're trying to complain to, is
shaking.

While there are definitely legitimate gripes here, you do not
articulate them well. You don't indicate what you want done to fix the
problem, and you don't make it clear who you are complaining to.

I think you have a genuine reason to complain. Like some other
suggested, I think it would help a lot if you gave specifics like
names, dates, etc (maybe some of that info would be safer in a private
letter). Hope it works out.

Exactly who are you threatening? To whom are you writing this letter?
It's not addressed to any company.

You somehow want something remedied? Exactly who's listening?

I will call shenanigans! There are so many other problems on cruise
ships right now, NONE related to smoke, I can't even list. Crap, did
you waste your money.

Hi Allison,
I like your letter. I think it's swell. If a suite is good enough for
a "Royal Family", honey it's good enough for yours. Even at $8500
buckaroos.
If you are pregnant and so very concerned over health and saftety
issues, A little research would serve you well. There are many
reported major outbreaks of flu and viral infections food poisoning
and even worse......many many many more go unreported..people fall
overboard..die, sea sick etc.


If you're pregnant and have asthma and don't pack inhalers or
medicine.... What the heck is Carlos supposed to do for you???

I may be wrong....
Just a hunch... i think you want a refund(full or partial i'm guessing
because of the "downgraded" quarters) based on your husband works for
a well "know" hedge fund...wall street... and you are hence "Special"
and "Deserving" of a refund by the general tone of this thinly veiled
threat.

but hey, it's worth a shot... good luck...

The third paragraph of this complaint is as useless as Concierge
Carlos. No one cares what your husband does or about the implication
that you're so important, people on Wall Street will listen.

Have you tried calling the company?

And what do you even want? A refund? A free trip?

Can I suggest re-writing without sounding so whinning? If it was
brought to the attention to the concierge and what not that's
fantastic. But this is a very vague letter. Add some more details;
dates, medical opinion of your doctor etc.

You're right, it seems I am alone in offering non-scathing suggestions
and treating her like a human being who is upset and feels wronged.

I don't get why people post the comments they do. It's like the
writer is a pinata, the way some people take swings. The point of
getting feedback is so you can improve your letter and get results,
no?

I don't think it says "do you want to post this publicly so people to
ridicule you and minimize or completely rebuke your feelings and
experience" at the end of the letter writting process. We post so
people can HELP us and even so people can see what happened to us and
maybe not use that company in the future. At least, that is why I
do.

And I have a sense of humor, I guess I just though you were
misunderstanding her rather than being rude. I guess I was giving you
the benefit of the doubt. Why did you take a stab at me? Did you
think I was being rude to you? I didn't mean to imply anything. I
have twins and a daughter only 22 months apart...I was saying what I
saidy from experience, meaning it's really freaking hard to have them
that close, not really you are crazy. Sorry if I offended you.


by the way, I know non-scathing isn't a real word, but I couldn't
think of one that connotates the negative form of scathing, so all you
vocabluary buffs out there, don't point it out! I'm aware. But if
you DO know the word, let me know. It's bugging me!