Cruise passenger demanded full refund because neighbor snored 'very loud'

Jason · June 18, 2018

A passenger on a Royal Caribbean South Pacific cruise has allegedly demanded a full refund for his ticket, claiming his vacation was “ruined” by a snoring neighbor.

Brendan Ritson and his partner were onboard an 11-day Royal Caribbean cruise from Sydney, Australia to Fiji in 2016, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to the publication, the pair found a water leak in their cabin the first night and were upgraded to a larger and more expensive room.

Three nights later, Ritson said a mother and daughter moved into the room next door, which is when the problems began.

Ritson claims the mother and daughter were “very loud” and they “snored, spoke loudly, argued and used offensive language,” Insider reported.

He allegedly reported the disturbance to cruise staff twice in one night. The Royal Caribbean cruise ship management claims it offered to move Ritson and his partner to a smaller room – equivalent to the one the couple had booked originally. However, Ritson refused because he “did not want to be downgraded,” Insider reported.

Ritson continued to complain, stating the snoring was so loud, he and his partner were being kept awake. Though, once again, Ritson refused to change rooms.

Once the vacation ended, Ritson reportedly filed for a full refund of $3,270.29 from Royal Caribbean Cruises with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Court. However, after the initial hearing, Insider reported the amount was reduced to $2,436.78 covering only the cost of accommodation.

Despite the lowered amount, Ritson’s appeal for compensation for his “ruined” vacation was rejected in court.

"I accept the noisy neighbors' snoring caused Mr. Ritson and his partner annoyance, even great annoyance, and disturbed their sleep and enjoyment of the cruise," Adjudicator Howe said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, before declaring Riston’s refusal to move to a different room was “unreasonable.”

Howe went on to point out that Ritson’s first complaint about the noise did not come until nearly a week after the two new neighbors moved in.

Royal Caribbean was not immediately available for comment.

By Alexandra Deabler, Fox News
Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more
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Shari2 · June 18, 2018

We had something similar on our last Carnival cruise. Neighbor making lots of partying noise, and kids running up and down our hallway late at night. It can be really annoying, so I can understand, but this happens to a lot of us, and they did offer to move him twice, and the downgrading was just back to the type of room he already had. Can't believe they gave him that much. We were in a much more horrible situation when the pods went out on our Panama Canal cruise and all they offered the people was a small amount off on our next cruise, and it had to be taken within a year. Long story. Think of us all filing lawsuits over people smoking, and it going over to our balconies, or people's children running up and down the isles, or crying babies...could be a lot of lawsuits if we all complained like that. Not to say that I can't see that part of his trip was not so good, but he was offered another room, and it was the same as his first one. So I'm a little conflicted on this one...have sympathy for him, but then again not...he should have taken another room. JMO

Edited June 18, 2018 by Shari2

ExpatCruise · June 18, 2018

What should be taken from this is that the passenger did win, asked for $3200 and got $2400. No one should believe any Cruise Line when they say nothing can be done, or we can do under the contract. Because the cruise contract is subject to how the courts read it not what the cruise line says. And since must passengers pay by credit card the Credit Card Agreement takes first place or the cruise passage contract in the event of a dispute.

While some may say filing these suits is wrong and going overboard, they are allowed under the law, and within the passengers rights to file them. Myself I think the Cruise Industry in general needs more of these suits filed to be held accountable for the many ways they try to push guest and crew around.

Jan115 · June 18, 2018

Good grief. I live with a chronic snorer. I think next time, I will complain about the loud snoring from the guy next to me and ask to move me to a suite. ?

There are annoyances on every cruise - the snorer, the hacker, the door banger, the bellower - are we going to sue the cruise line for every one of them?

By the way, I carry ear plugs wherever I go.?

Shari2 · June 20, 2018

Well, I can agree with you both. I would have liked to have seen a lot more done back from the Panama Canal incident. It was horrible being kicked off the ship at the last minute, and trying to get home for three days with thousands of others...so much more to this story...horrible three days. But, I also think we need to just put up with some of the smaller issues...although, if we had gone to our noisy neighbors they may have wanted to start a fight, so that isn't good either...LOL Still would have accepted the other room that was offered, I think. Unless it was a room that was on the lowest floor, or one hard to get to anything.

ExpatCruise · June 20, 2018

When anyone books a cruise they do have the right to quiet enjoyment of the cabin that they have paid for. And while some may not find this a issue it is really up to the person paying for the cabin to make a choice if they are affected or not to the point to cause a issue.

The cabin offered was a downgrade to the guest who was affected, why should they be required to accept a downgrade. Also since the courts awarded over 2/3 of what was asked for and they heard all the information about the case, it shows the merits of the case.

Shari2 · June 21, 2018

You do have some points there, but I thought that I read somewhere that at first they asked to be moved from their regular room because of slight leaks, and then they were moved to a much nicer room, and then when they were put next to the snorer, they were offered a different room, but as same as their first...just not as nice as the last one that they were moved to.?

eagleforest · June 21, 2018

I don't believe he was awarded the lower amount.

It said it was reduced to only the accommodations. It looked like they were trying to get the entire bill back.

They paid for the the lower priced cabin. Which they would have been moved to because of the noise. But once upgraded they felt they should not have to be downgraded. If you move back to your original level how are you downgraded?

I side with the line.

I was on Oasis of the Seas the 2nd year and my room flooded on the 5th night of the cruise. Our hallway looked like a river. Two Junior Suites on the Hump were destroyed by water. An overhead A/C line ruptured at 3 am. We had just returned from the bar at 230 am when we heard pounding on our door. The neighbors had a waterfall coming out of the ceiling. We barely slept that night. The next day we asked for a room for a few hours to catch some sleep while our room dried. It was the coolant smell plus the high humidity in the Bahamas that kept us from sleeping in our room. The staff was great. The went over and above to help us. We received a $300 OBC on our cruise and a 35% off our next cruise. I was good with that.

Wanting the entire amount is insane.

And it said it was a week into the cruise that those people moved in.

7 from 11 is 4 days. So maybe 30% discount. But not 100 or 150%

ExpatCruise · June 21, 2018

53 minutes ago, eagleforest said:

I don't believe he was awarded the lower amount.

You are correct the court did not award the money. But the dispute filed with the credit card company did work, the credit card company awarded the dispute to the card holder. I saw this in a news report, so sorry cannot source.