Cruise Critic's Dori Saltzman, News Editor reports on a passenger that actually got bumped as if she was traveling by airline with the flight too full. Here is the story of a very rare incident of a ship being too crowded and not enough cabin space . . .
"Just like airlines, cruise lines occasionally overbook their ships. And just like the airlines, cruise lines seek out volunteers willing to accept compensation to reschedule their cruises. But unlike airlines, we've never heard of a passenger being forcibly bumped -- until now.
In a thread posted on Cruise Critic's message boards, member Zebraexplained how four days before her June 11 four-night Monarch of the Seas Bahamas cruise, a Royal Caribbean representative called to say her ship was overbooked and she was being bumped. She had booked the cruise, which departs from Port Canaveral, 10 days earlier in a guaranteed inside cabin.
Though all cruise lines reserve the right in their cruise contracts to cancel, deviate or substitute a cruise for any reason, the common practice is to seek out volunteers and not force anyone off a ship that's been overbooked.
"RCCL called to say that they apologize but they have overbooked this cruise so we have three choices," she wrote. According to a cruise line representative, she could trade in her inside guarantee for the same itinerary departing on the same day but from Miami, a four-and-a-half-hour drive from her home, on Majesty of the Seas. . .
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