harz99

1 hour ago, spunks said:

We were on this sailing. Normal disembarking, but the airport was a zoo. Normal flight. The amazing thing was at Newark. We expected some type of quarantine, but nothing.We we’re not even slowed down. It was like they didn’t know a thing about the pandemic.

 

 

Doug

It was the same for us when we reached London Gatwick, a few signs up and that was it. What surprised me most was how we were able to walk off at previously at Malaga as though everything was normal, no security, passports or anything which would normally have taken place at first port of entry into Europe.

23 hours ago, Biker19 said:

There seemed to be a meeting of several RCCL ships (Spectrum, Voyager, Ovation, X Solstice, Azmara Journey) just south of Bali and they may have consolidated all the crew onto Spectrum as she seems to be the only ship to pull into port. The ships seem to be dispersing a bit with Voyager on the way to Manila (I assume to drop off all the Filipino crew).

A crew member on Voyager tells me that she, her partner and others from Romania are hoping to fly back home from Manila. Don't know more than that except that she is in good spirits and crew are now able to get fresh air on the outside decks .

41 minutes ago, maxsales said:

Well I would say greed cuts both ways. Wasn’t it greed ( reduced fare) that started this process?  The customer had the choice at time of booking to take a NRD or a RD and chose the NRD.

Just remember that some of us do not have the choice in our markets of booking with a refundable deposit, so no it's not always greed!

12 hours ago, Pushka said:

Sad for the Insurance company who will have to pick up that cost while Celebrity keeps it and will then cancel anyway. Which is why the Thread "what can we do for Celebrity" made me groan. 

Don't be so sure about Insurance companies picking up that cost, especially if you (we) cancel before final payment date and before the cruise line has announced cancellation of your cruise.

4 minutes ago, vkb2751 said:

Just received this reply from TA in NH for 3/23 sailing that we requested refund on 3/13/20:

 

At this time, Celebrity has advised that refunds may take up to 30 days from the original sailing date, so you should be receiving it within the coming weeks.

 

New response

Only a week to go then (maybe)...

1 hour ago, Tigrou said:

 

I don't believe this is correct.  My understanding is that there is no time limit for making a claim under Section 75.

 

Many UK websites offer information on how to claim under S75, none that I've looked at make any mention of a 100 day limit.

 

 

Your corrrect, my bad - too many refund claims against hotels and airlines.

So, for S75 in the UK no time limit, however the CC transaction must be for a minimum of £100 (which is where the 100 reference came from) , for Chargeback there is a limit of within 120 days of purchase or payment of service. more info here  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback/

3 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Can you really dispute a charge on your credit card (Capital One) that I made last December for a March 29th Cruise?  I used the link in the email Celebrity sent me to request a refund but have not received any confirmation or anything.

Probably not, here in the UK there is a 100 day limit from transaction to claim date for S75 CC claims, I guess elsewhere will be similar or shorter as I seem to recall 60 days being mentioned previously. 

4 hours ago, 1SGCruiser said:

We were booked on the October 22nd through November 5th, 2020 transatlantic on the Apex.  It was to be  preceded by a  land trip starting on 1 October in UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. 

 

Due to our belief that cruising will be iffy before at least sometime next year - and more likely to be after a vaccine is created, tested  and ready for distribution, natural immunity increases and better treatments become available, we decided to cancel earlier today.  It doesn't help that I'm 71 and would possibly require a letter from my doctor to cruise and that is unlikely to happen.   We still have time to decide for the land portion of the trip and we still hope we're able to go. 

 

We called Celebrity around 11:00 EDT today.  The call was answered immediately and we were talking with a rep within a minute.  Here's some info regarding our circumstances and what we did and were told:

 

1. Our cruise deposit was fully refundable (could also have possibly received credit)
2. Airfare through Celebrity Air was fully refundable (could also have possibly received credit)
3. We canceled both the cruise and our flights - and received a cruise cancelation confirmation number.
4. We should expect cruise refund within 30 days
5. We should expect our airfare refund within 1-2 credit card billing cycles
6. We received an email within five minutes with our shore cancelled excursions (paid via perk)
7. Within 5 minutes I checked online at Celebrity and our booked cruise had been removed
8. Within 5 minutes I checked online at American Airlines and our flights had been removed.

All in all, it appears to have gone very well.  As long as our refunds show up.  It's really sad as my wife and I really wanted to go on the Apex.  Maybe next year.

Was your booking made with a normally non refundable deposit, or was the deposit always refundable if you cancelled please? 

6 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

Still waiting on X to refund our two cruises that they canceled. We were due to board on Monday. B2B. I asked for a refund on 3/15. I was told this week at least up to thirty days. Of course I have nothing in writing from X concerning this. Our luggage tags arrived last week.🙂

 

We also had a cruise booked on MSC’s Seaside for 5/09 that was canceled this week. I went onto their website and with a few clicks our refund request was accepted and I received an email within thirty seconds showing the refund request along with a case number for our records. Amazing that RCCL is that far behind in technology.

They're not that far behind, just holding onto the money as long as they can! MSC is part of a massive family shipping company, in fact cruising is a small part of their shipping interests, unlike RCCL Corp. whose sunsidiaries have loads of shareholders to feed from cruising alone. 

27 minutes ago, BP99 said:

Hi,

Glad you can relax and wait months for your refund.

But after several months of relaxing and waiting there might not be a cruise company.

Then try to get your refund!

Precisely, I think that is the worry for a lot of us.

In addition those of us across the pond who have booked with NRDs as that is our only option, are now being faced with making final payments for cruises starting weeks beyond the current arrangements expiry date, also with the same fears of ever getting a refund. I for one have no interest in FCC, the only consideration for me would be a protected price for an essentially the same cruise in 12 months time, but that is not on offer.

So cancel now for an August cruise and lose NRDs, or give the cruise lines more cash which you may never recover if a cruise line or corporation goes under. Neither idea makes me happy.

On 3/28/2020 at 10:58 AM, upwarduk said:

I have an agreed extension to defer the payment until 5th June. 

However, as we are both over 70, I can’t see us being able to sail:

1) Celebrity require a health certificate, which I doubt I would get, as I take tablets for blood pressure.

2) Gov.UK advice cautions the over 70’s from sailing on a cruise ship.

We are the same over 70s except one of us also has Diabetes 2, and high blood pressure. So probably not acceptable to sail.

I really don't want to be passing more money to Celebrity UK as final payment for the Apex autumn TA, unless i'm certain of a refund, not interested in FCC at this time.

How did you get an extension on final pay, was it a TAs decision or Celebrity please?

15 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Not likely, not set up for them and cost to high. Cheaper build/use shore based temp facilities. Carnival had loaned out older ships as barracks for workers to sleep/eat on after Katrina...

They don't need to be set up for full hospitals, isolation rooms a plenty though with full facilities to supply food, linens etc. There are at least wto ships docked in the UK at Tibury that have been donated for that purpose...

9 hours ago, little britain said:

Jewel to Southampton for winter season.. perfect ship for it?

 

Or reroute her to open the South African market? 

 

LB who is ever hopeful! 

Taking on MSC and NCL, that'd be nice...

22 hours ago, Pduaime said:

Thanks all,   If we run short on time, we can always skip dessert.🙁  I would think if we dine just the two of us, rather than a group, it might be a bit faster too.  68 days to go !!

That, exactly what I would do if required - a little less on the waistline won't matter once in a while...

On 4/5/2019 at 2:45 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

You can wear whatever you like.  Especially if the attire is nice.

Hate to disagree with a host, but we've  been on the Explorer since it left Sydney on 29th March and yes, people wearing shorts have been turned away from the MDR, also the dress code in the Diamond Lounge relating to shorts has been enforced as well...

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:45 PM, JP4GA said:

For us it is a NO--- NEVER AGAIN.  

 

List of complaints:

• We booked a tour through them for Christmas Day.  They did not communicate properly with the touring company and we ended up waiting an hour on the pier waiting for a second bus to come take our group to the excursion site.  This cut our excursion time short by an hour, so we did not get to do everything we wanted to do. They offered NO compensation and just shrugged it off. 
• We were a family of 3 staying in a room.  One day we returned from shore to find our divider that divides the room from the awkward bathroom area was GONE.  Its a bit hard for a dad to shower and go to the bathroom and change with his daughter in the room and no divider curtain.  We called asking for the curtain and were told it would be back by 6, it did not arrive until 10.  They said it was normal cleaning rotation, I get that but they could have told us.  There was a shower area at our excursion that we could have used to shower and get cleaned up for our dinner reservation.  
• I had to beg for my earned discounts in the photo shop (20%) and gift shop (15%).  The sales people acted like they had ZERO idea of the discounts. I have never on other NCL ships had to inform the sales associates of my discounts levels. 
• The photo package we purchased included digital files.  The files are such a low quality that they can only be printed in size 4x6 or smaller.  The entire reason we purchased the photo package was to be able to use the electronic files for additional prints.  
• Our balcony was always dirty.  We always get balconies and have never had a layer of salt and residue on the balcony and chairs. They did clean it on one of our port days, but they did not do a good job.  We always have balconies and have never had a grimy feeling balcony. 
• The kids area for 9-12 was not great.  Our daughter always loves the kids zone and she hated this one.  She indicated that the workers were rude and all they did was sit there doing nothing and that it was not fun. 
• We went to dinner at O'Shennhans one night and it was just a bad experience.  We waited 20 minutes for them to take our drink order after being seated right away.  The food was just okay--- I make a better Sheppard's pie than they do. 
• Tenders were a cluster.  We had a NCL tour and were told just go down and show your ticket and they will get you right on the tender.  So we go down and it is wall to wall people.  We ask several NCL employees where to go and they say they do not know to stand in line.  
• There is an overall lack of communication in all areas.
• Getting a drink refill in Taste at breakfast is a hard task and the servers all acted like you were an imposition if you asked for a refill on coffee.  
• Ship layout is weird with very little open deck. Going through the smoked filled casino to get where I want to be was not fun. 
• Deck servers would take our order and our key cards and not come back for 30-40 minutes.  Not good, after that happened a few times we just got our own drinks. 
• Entertainment venues are not large enough and shows that could not be reserved were always standing room only 30 minutes before show time. 
• Very few of the employees acted happy to be there.
• Our electrical socket fell out of the wall and was just dangling by the exposed wires, there is only one socket in the room. 
• The carpet leading to the balcony was coming up an a trip hazard. 

The positive aspects:

• Tons of storage
• Great room steward
• Great photographers (they got some really great candid shots)
• Slides were good and lines moved pretty quickly
• Escape the Big Top (hard but fun)
• Cirque show was very good. 

The complaints may seem like little things but when you combine them and it is something everyday, it makes the cruise not be as enjoyable as it should be.  We love NCL and will cruise them again, but we will not cruise the Epic. 

Thanks, I could have written the same myself and added a few more bits. Lol. The telling thing about Epic's design is that the order for EPIC2 was cancelled and it remains a one off.

We have sailed 4 large ships out of the 50+ cruises we have taken so far - Epic, Escape and RCCLs Allure and Oasis. Of these only Epic is a no, never again at any price. Even though we didn't think much to Spirit in comparison with Dawn/Jade/Star we would still sail her with the right itinerary/price, But Epic no, just too many negatives and service issues.

19 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

That's just it, the new system is actually easier to use in a general sense. It is just difficult for us at the moment because we are so used to using a different interface. But I know you will not agree with this and I'm not willing to continue going to and fro over  an opinion.

That's fine, as you've probably guessed I'm  not into computers and complication. To me and many others a computer and the internet are tools to be used to make life easier whether in a work or home context, nothing else. This "upgrade" does neither for me. I get that dinosaurs like me have polarised views though, and respect that others will think differently.

2 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

I well remember the loud screams, tantrums, and wailings of users totally frustrated with the new Windows 10 interface. So many absolutely refused to update. My how things have changed.

 

What you are asking for would have required a significant amount of software development, read $$$$ and more $$$$. Almost anything is possible in software, but one does have to be willing to part with a suitably large amount of treasure.

 

But why would one want to give up many of the really nice features found in this new website?

Because the upgrade to all these "really nice features" has lost the easy to use functionality that most of us know and used, especially those of us that used the no longer available app on mobile phones.

14 minutes ago, ColinIllinois said:

 

Web sites and businesses have to try and keep up with technology, both in software and hardware.  If you lag too far behind it ends up biting you in the buttocks.  Change is inevitable.

So replace with an identical to use new tech version of what was then, so the end user sees little to no difference. Bit like replacing Windows 7 with Windows 10 but keeping the front page the same which is possible when you know how!

Thing is, who wanted all these changes - I very much doubt it was the end users, us!

37 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

 

Have you noticed that when logged in all the posts you see but your own have a white heart in a gray circle in the lower right corner? Tap one.

Well, well. But why not simply text saying like as per the text saying quote on the other side. Plain and easy, also balances the page layout. Thanks. But why not a mass email to all users explaining all the changes and how to's in plain English.

6 hours ago, broberts said:

 

That is a pointless exercise. CC indicated before the change and it has been widely reported following, apps are not supported and will not work with the new site. Use your mobile browser.

No, it wasn't  widely reported for those who used the App on a mobile phone. I receive regular marketing emails from CC but not one about this change, if they can send guff I don't need they should be able to send notice of big important change!

Frankly this website has overnight gone from a really useful and informative tool to a PITA. And still no "like" button!!

On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 2:52 AM, Shoppie124 said:

I’m really missing the app😢

Likewise, the app on my Android phone used to give me easy access to everything I wanted without multiple clicks and pages. 

On ‎10‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 10:50 PM, mac_tlc said:

If link does not work:

 

OPENING SCHEDULE FOR 2020 – 2021 DEPLOYMENT

 DATE                                               ITINERARY

Week of November 5, 2018        Alaska & Hawaii (Phase I)

 Week of November 19, 2018     Europe (Phase I)

Week of December 3, 2018        Short Caribbean

Week of December 10, 2018      Caribbean (Phase I), Northeast, Canada & Bermuda

Week of December 17, 2018      Europe (Phase II)

mac_tlc

Thanks for this very useful post.

I figured it would be a shot in the dark but maybe they could find me something they didn't have to train me on. I could just walk the pool deck picking up trash and dirty cups and dishes.

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