Change to Baltic itinerary on the Constellation

[dbh62ark]

Hi All,

The travel agency DH is associated with is having a Celebrity rep in on 2-23 for a cruise forum.

 

I will most certain post info as to what takes place. /QUOTE]

 

I'm one of the passengers on a sailing with an itinerary switched back and forth in the last couple of weeks, so I'm very interested in what Celebrity had to say.

 

Thanks,

Donna

[alcman]

You all may want to check again. Our July 2 Baltic cruise has been changed again tonight with a massive rewrite. Port time is reduced by 28.5 hours and three overnights are now one overnight, one afternoon and one day. This has gotten absurd. All Celebrity seems to say is we can do it if we want to, just read your cruise contract. Audacity and absurdity are not great travel companions.

 

Jerry

[mare s.]

Jerry, I'll second that! This has gone beyond ridiculous.

[stanj]

Jerry, I'll second that! This has gone beyond ridiculous.

 

I don't understand how this can even happen, ships must reserve space and times for berths far in advance so their schedule was already set before you even bought your passage. Maybe there is something I don't understand but what they are telling you can not be what is going on with port reservations authorities. There are many people and agencies involved with contracts for a ship of many thousands of people: suppliers and outfitters, port authorities, harbor pilots, tug operators, contract workers....thousands of people needed to support the cruise.

Possibly they listed a cruise and sold it and did not have reservations finalized and some port fell through on those dates for late reservations requiring a lot of scrambling and trade offs to get the needed space and times. As I told one CC member off-line, a gigantic cruise ship doesn't just sail up to the nearest unused parking space and drop anchor, it is 3 orders magnitude greater complexity and formality than hunting for the last parking place in the mall parking lot.

 

All this besides the hassle and insecurity it creates for their previously loyal passengers, moving schedules this way is bad all the way around.

[mikenmar]

To All,

 

The ports are not changing, it is the sequence of the itinerary. As Stan has said there could be problems as to when they could dock. The basic problem on the Aug 13th (14 day) appears to be between Riga, Latvia and Klaipeda, Lithuania.

 

Are the other itineraries from the Constellation similar?

 

My travel agent contacted Celebrity through another contact and was told they have the right to change around the ports.

 

Marion

[mare s.]

Marion...every Constellation itinerary has changed..some more than others. On ours, we've dropped a port (Gdansk), picked up a new one (Helsinki), all the days are changed around and we've lost port time in several ports. Celebrity certainly (as they keep telling us) has the right to change things...problem for me is that they've changed 3 times in the past two weeks!

[mikenmar]

Mare S. - I didn't realize that they changed the ports. That is a problem for touring. They did not change the ports we are going to, just the sequence. I was told that Celebrity might change them again. I never heard of this happening. Some people on other threads have said it happens with the European cruises.

 

Hopefully they make up their minds before the summer.

 

Marion

[John&Betty]

What Stan is saying about cruise ships having to plan ahead is correct. The change from Helsingborg to Helsinki must have been planned a long time before we were told about it. The Helsinki Port web site, http://www.hel.fi/port/mapinfo/RISTEILY.HTM , shows that the berth for the Constellation was booked on April 13, 2004.

 

This cruise was sold based on a specific itinerary well after Celebrity knew that it would be changed. Exchanging Helsingborg for Helsinki is one thing, dropping Gdansk Poland entirely and “replacing” it with another day at sea is something else. Our port time has been shortened considerably. This seems deceptive to me.

 

There are a lot of cruise lines out there and I’m going to have to think long and hard before using Celebrity again.

 

John

[alcman]

John,

 

I agree with you. The worst thing about all these changes is that for our July 2 cruise they have substantially debilitated the Stockholm and, especially, the Copenhagen stop. Copenhagen is essentially half a day. Oslo, in the meantime, becane 2.5 daytime hours. I will look elsewhere for my future European cruising, not becasue of the changes per se, but becasue it is so apparent that we have been danced around without the slightest hint of respect for the paying customer.

 

Jerry

[mare s.]

John, Jerry, and Marion...I'm trying to think positive...I was, and am, looking forward to this cruise tremendously. Perhaps I am jinxing things (please forgive me my fellow 8/27 cruisers) but I think our particular itinerary (even with changes) is better than some of the earlier dates (and better than the Century if you read Host Doug's comments)...but I am disappointed in losing time in Stockholm and Copenhagen and I'm a bit worried about our Red October tour (days in St. Petersburg have changed)...at this point I am hoping that we'll get a change back to the original itinerary but I guess I'll be happy if they just leave things alone and allow us to plan our shore excursions! (is that what you call "lowered expectations"???)

[gnarfle23]

I'm with John on this one. I find that bait and switch makes me want to take my travel dollars elsewhere. The courtesy of a civil explanation would have gone a long way. Treated famously?

Thanks to STAN for all of the wonderstuff!!!!!

deb

[dbh62ark]

I was advised by a Resolution Specialist at Celebrity that the itineraries listed in our Celebrity web site reservations are the final itineraries (subject to changes caused by weather or other circumstances beyond Celebrity's control). So they do not intend to do any more switching. I'm not happy about it either but am relieved that there shouldn't be any more new itineraries popping up in the next few weeks.

 

Best wishes to all of you,

Donna

[mikenmar]

Donna,

 

I left you a message on your other thread. They just changed my itinerary again. This is the fourth time they change it. We are in St. Petesburg on Sun and Mon (not Sat & Sun as it was at the beginning) and Stockholm was reduced to 10am to 5pm. I hope your right and that they will not change it again.

 

Marion

[mare s.]

Hi all...my TA got back to me today...her Celebrity rep said the reason for the changes was that the ports themselves had overbooked due to the popularity of the Baltic this year. (I don't know, but I suspect Celebrity contributed to the mess by moving the Century to the Baltic at the last minute) At any rate, we too were assured that this itinerary is the one we're going to be doing (unless last minute weather, mechanical, or political uprising problems!) So I guess I'll notify Red October of the date changes and see how much we can fit in with our shortened time in Stockholm.

[alcman]

Is anyone aware of these type of changes on any other cruise line sailing the Baltic? If not, then this problem cannot be laid at the doorstep of the ports themselves. I highly doubt that the ports errors would visit themselves only on Celebrity. I don't think Century contributed to the problem, I think it is the source of the problem and Celebrity had this planned for a much longer time than the published itinerary would leave one to believe. Possibly they anticpated they would be able to get additional port time and it just wasn't available when Celebrity finally pulled the trigger on Century. One thing seems sure to me, this is all Celebrity.

 

Jerry

[Compass Rose Monica]

I was advised by a Resolution Specialist at Celebrity that the itineraries listed in our Celebrity web site reservations are the final itineraries (subject to changes caused by weather or other circumstances beyond Celebrity's control). So they do not intend to do any more switching. I'm not happy about it either but am relieved that there shouldn't be any more new itineraries popping up in the next few weeks.

 

Best wishes to all of you,

Donna

 

Caused by weather??? Amazing they can predict the weather so far in advance!:mad: What will they say next?

 

Monica

[dbh62ark]

Jerry, I asked the same question when I contacted Celebrity. I was originally advised that Poland was pulled due to new visa requirements. When I asked the Celebrity rep why the other cruise lines weren't changing their itineraries (Holland and Princess), then Celebrity changed their story. I have to believe that Celebrity has some responsibility in failing to deliver what was sold, and it's odd that all of the sailings have gained sea time but not port time.

 

Donna

[Sky Sweet]

Is anyone aware of these type of changes on any other cruise line sailing the Baltic? If not, then this problem cannot be laid at the doorstep of the ports themselves. I highly doubt that the ports errors would visit themselves only on Celebrity. I don't think Century contributed to the problem, I think it is the source of the problem and Celebrity had this planned for a much longer time than the published itinerary would leave one to believe. Possibly they anticpated they would be able to get additional port time and it just wasn't available when Celebrity finally pulled the trigger on Century. One thing seems sure to me, this is all Celebrity.

 

Jerry

 

During the summer of 2001 we took an Alaskan Cruise on the Infinity, when it was a new ship. At one port we had to tender while other ships docked. We were told that priority for docking is determined by the seniority of a ship and Infinity had no seniority in Alaska that year because this was its first season. Since this is the first year Century will be in the Baltic, maybe a similar situation exists.

[dileep]

Donna,

 

I left you a message on your other thread. They just changed my itinerary again. This is the fourth time they change it. We are in St. Petesburg on Sun and Mon (not Sat & Sun as it was at the beginning) and Stockholm was reduced to 10am to 5pm. I hope your right and that they will not change it again.

 

Marion

 

We had similar changes to the May 21 itinerary. I wrote letters to Celebrity and got got the same "we reserve the right to make changes, and our brochure and contract says so" response.

 

In case you did not know, many museums are closed in St Petersburg on Monday. Losing an evening in Stockholm is bad too especially close to Mid summer.

[dileep]

Jerry, I asked the same question when I contacted Celebrity. I was originally advised that Poland was pulled due to new visa requirements.

Donna

 

I don't understand. I was in Poland last year. They are now part of the European Union and anyone who is a US Citizen does not need a visa. Gdansk is a beautiful city with a lovely Old Town.

[dileep]

don't think Century contributed to the problem, I think it is the source of the problem and Celebrity had this planned for a much longer time than the published itinerary would leave one to believe. Possibly they anticpated they would be able to get additional port time and it just wasn't available when Celebrity finally pulled the trigger on Century. One thing seems sure to me, this is all Celebrity.

 

Jerry

 

I suspect that century is part of the problem. After our May 21 Constellation dates in St Pete were changed to Sun/Mon, I noticed that Century was planning to be there on Sat/Sun which was our original schedule. Irritating the top of the line Constellation got bumped by an older ship!:mad:

[dbh62ark]

I don't understand. I was in Poland last year. They are now part of the European Union and anyone who is a US Citizen does not need a visa. Gdansk is a beautiful city with a lovely Old Town.

 

Yes, that's exactly the point, as noted in my post that you partially quoted. A Celebrity representative advised me that our itinerary was changed due to new visa restrictions for Poland, and there are no visa problems with Poland for cruise passengers. Regardless of whether or not the misstatement was intentional, all the misinformation from Celebrity added to the confusion. My conclusion is the fault for all the changes and selling an itinerary that is not being delivered lies squarely with Celebrity.

 

Donna

[dileep]

Here is what I received in response to an email I sent to Royal Carribean Chairman:

 

Dear Dr. Bhandarkar:

 

Thank you for your inquiry through the Internet to Mr. Fain's office regarding your upcoming cruise on the Constellation. After reading your e-mail, Mr. Fain has asked the undersigned to respond on his behalf.

 

We share our guests' disappointment due to the unfortunate change in the ship's itinerary. However, due to berthing conflicts and operational constraints, we were required to alter the itinerary. We respectfully refer you to our brochures and Cruise Ticket Contract where you will find our policy concerning itinerary changes. Nevertheless, please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience as a result of these changes.

 

Again, Dr. Bhandarkar, thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We look forward to the opportunity of welcoming you and Mrs. Bhandarkar onboard the Constellation this coming May.

 

Sincerely,

 

Joan Bernheimer

 

Corporate Guest Relations

 

[dbh62ark]

Here is what I received in response to an email I sent to Royal Carribean Chairman:

 

We look forward to the opportunity of welcoming you and Mrs. Bhandarkar onboard the Constellation this coming May.

 

 

Hmmm, that's interesting. I was given an opportunity to cancel. I don't sail until August, so that may have been a consideration.

 

Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great time on your trip in spite of Celebrity's nonsense.

 

Donna

[John&Betty]

Betty & I and 5 other couples have decided not to go ahead with plans to book a Mediterranean cruise with Celebrity in May of 06. There were to have been 4 cabins with verandas plus 2 suites in our group. We will be trying other cruise lines in the future.

 

We are still going to the Baltic on the Constellation this May. We have a lot of time invested in this cruise and I’m sure we will enjoy ourselves in spite of the disappointing changes to the itinerary. Gdansk has been dropped entirely and our time at other ports has been changed for the worse and in some cases shortened.

 

We understand that all cruise lines are free to make any changes they want to their ports of call. We understand that sometimes these changes are necessary for various reasons, maybe even economic ones. What we don’t understand is why Celebrity has taken the cavalier attitude they have toward us their customers. They did not bother to notify us of the changes until the last minute, even when they must have known well in advance, and now they offer no reason or apology for their action.

 

 

There is a strong feeling of responsibility that comes with getting people to join you in any thing. Even a night at a restaurant. We do not want to take the chance that our recommendation to go to the Mediterranean with Celebrity would prove to be a disappointment to our friends and family.

 

John