century 10/13 cruise cancelled in Nice

[CCAustin]

Just staying in touch.

 

I still have not received my $250 per person change fee for us or my parents, even though we used Celebrity Choice Air.

 

Anybody else use Celebrity for air and not receive this yet? Did everybody else get theirs credited on board???

 

I haven't called customer relations the past few days, because I've had my grandson. Making calls with a 2 year old running around is a challenge : )

[Jade13]

Just staying in touch.

 

I still have not received my $250 per person change fee for us or my parents, even though we used Celebrity Choice Air.

 

Anybody else use Celebrity for air and not receive this yet? Did everybody else get theirs credited on board???

 

I haven't called customer relations the past few days, because I've had my grandson. Making calls with a 2 year old running around is a challenge : )

 

I thought the $250.00pp was posted as onboard credit?

[spud357c]

The $250 was credited to our on-board account. If you don't have a copy ask guest services to e-mail you one so you can check.

I know several people have asked for copies and, I think, received them after a bit of a wait.

[harryw]

I received a PDF e-mail attachment of my onboard account the same day I requested it.

[harryw]

Well said lvcruiser.

We leave tomorrow for Barcelona and a cruise on the Brilliance. After following this thread, we bought a net book to take with us and made sure our cell worked in Europe. Fore warned is fore armed. I'd like to think that nothing like this could happen to us while on a cruise, but one should never say never. I, for one, appreciate the info given on these boards and, (in many instances) put it to very good use.

Karon

 

Enjoy Barcelona. One suggestion. Post "cruise", we took the hopon hopoff buse that had 2 routes. I forgot which of the 2 competing companies we used, but we chose the more expensive one, and it had shorter lines.

 

It was well woth it. It gave a great overview of the city, and we did both routes.

[CCAustin]

I thought the $250.00pp was posted as onboard credit?

 

"[quoting spud357cThe $250 was credited to our on-board account. If you don't have a copy ask guest services to e-mail you one so you can check.

I know several people have asked for copies and, I think, received them after a bit of a wait. "]

 

I have received our on-board accountings. The $250 was NOT included or listed. I faxed receipts, but it is still "under review". Last time I called they said it might be a few weeks.

 

Were those of you that received as onboard credit back2backers? I just don't understand why some got it and we didn't.... Of course I'm beginning to understand that consistency is not Celebrity's strong point : )

[Jade13]

Just to pour more salt on the injury... well, for me at least.

Finally talk to the Celebrity rep. about my refunds again and they said they've refunded everything on the credit cards minus the airfare since they are still "reviewing" it.

The numbers I got from Celebrity doesn't match up to what I paid to the travel agent, they told me to take it up to my TA. So, I did...asked my TA about the $300 price differences and turned out that it's my agent's commission fee, which is not refundable. So, not only we aren't getting what we should get back from Celebrity, I am losing additional $300 to my travel agent. Can it suck more?

 

And Celebrity isn't refunding the full full cruiseship since we are forced to pay gratuities on the few nightmare days we spent on the ship! Don't get me wrong, I am happy to pay the staff for what they did or didn't do for us, but this should be Celebrity's problem for paying their staff.

 

Unbelievable. So, Celebrity is only refunding full cruise fare to passengers who booked directly through them???? As far as the gratuities, isn't there an "opt out" option like on Holland America Line? We would likely leave the tips for staff since they did not do anything wrong, but why isn't the cruise line taking care of this?

[Jade13]

Post from the Celebrity facebook wall yesterday............

 

sailed on the Celebrity Century from Oct 1-13th on the Mediterranean cruise and the rudders were terrible. i am reading the notes and glad they got it fixed. we had early seating dinner so every time we would leave port in the middle of dinner the table would shake so violently as well as arriving into port while i was... sleeping. are they giving rebates or anything to compensate for that? it was a very nice cruise but going through that every night in the middle of dinner wasn't fun.

 

 

Very interesting!!!! So Celebrity didn't know anything about the rudders, mmmmmmmm!!!!

Its a disgrace Celebrity haven't made all refunds by now & offered a free replacement cruise. Take a hint from Nike, JUST DO IT!!

 

We were on Century in February 2008 and this year in April 2010. The dining room vibrates during dinner and when the ship is leaving port. We like the ship but have never been on another one that shakes this bad.

[carolinagal]

Checked our credit card & the flight cost has been reimbursed. Now we hope the travel insurance will pick up the expenses incurred for hotels, transportation running back & forth to Nice &barcelona airports to change flights,

Meals, etc. The 25% credit towards a future cruise was received quickly to compensate us for the misery Celebrity put us through. What a joke!!

[Samone78]

Checked our credit card & the flight cost has been reimbursed.

 

Were you 'cruise only' passengers or did you purchase all from Celebrity?

[aaadios]

Received a check from Celebrity for the cost of the original airfare. Still am awaiting a response as to the change costs of $2167.20 per person (two of us). I believe the term that they are using is "under consideration". I wonder how long it will be til they come to a decision as to paying their passengers the extra costs incurred because of the cancelled cruise.

 

Has any one received the cost of the original flights plus the extra change charges to their flights?

 

Thanks!

 

.

[spud357c]

Received a check from Celebrity for the cost of the original airfare. Still am awaiting a response as to the change costs of $2167.20 per person (two of us). I believe the term that they are using is "under consideration". I wonder how long it will be til they come to a decision as to paying their passengers the extra costs incurred because of the cancelled cruise.

 

Has any one received the cost of the original flights plus the extra change charges to their flights?

 

Thanks!

 

.

 

We are in the situation you are but, I don't beleive it's under consideration.

I think it is one of two things:

1. - they are not going to pay but hope that most people will give up and

go away before they actually tell us they aren't going to pay or;

2. - they have set an overall budget for the "event" and if there is room in the budget they will pay all or some of it but have to wait till all other claims are in and settled before they know.

[harryw]

Received a check from Celebrity for the cost of the original airfare. Still am awaiting a response as to the change costs of $2167.20 per person (two of us). I believe the term that they are using is "under consideration". I wonder how long it will be til they come to a decision as to paying their passengers the extra costs incurred because of the cancelled cruise.

 

Has any one received the cost of the original flights plus the extra change charges to their flights?

 

Thanks!

 

.

 

I received the $250 per person change fees, plus extra fare change charges, which were $220 per person.

[carolinagal]

Were you 'cruise only' passengers or did you purchase all from Celebrity?

 

***

We booked through a TA, so we were cruise only. Our air was JFK to Barcelona, paid cash, didn't use points. Was afraid to incur extra charges if we left from Nice. That's why we opted for the long bus ride back to Barcelona.

[Samone78]

So far, there are two members on this forum who have said their return airfare was paid. Are there any more?

[spud357c]

So far, there are two members on this forum who have said their return airfare was paid. Are there any more?

 

 

Ours certainly hasn't been and all we ever get is the standard scripted "under consideration answer"...

It's too bad but looking at the decline in posts/interest in this thread it looks like Celebrity's hope that people lose interest and simply "go away" is going to work for them...

[ghstudio]

We were B2B cruisers, cruise purchased thru major internet provider, airfare to barcelona on airmiles and purchased tickets from Barcelona to home when the ship broke down.

 

We have received:

 

1) Our on-board account which included the $250pp. It also included the unused portion of our stockholder benefit and the unused portion of the OBC credit given us by our internet cruise provider as well as repayment for exursions and meal reservations. Three days of tips were deducted (which seems fair since the crew deserves their tips).

 

2) A separate payment for $200 ($100 pp), the additional payment for costs

 

3) complete refund of the 10/25 cruise including prepurchased excursions and dining.

 

4) Compete refund of the cruise fare for the 10/13 cruise (no idea if our agent gets their commission or not...we have been reimbursed for our total outlay).

 

5) We have been fairly paid for the use of the air miles that we spent to get to barcelona.

 

We have not yet been paid for the air tickets we purchased to return to the US from barcelona.

 

We were able to find reasonably priced one way economy tickets to the US on Saturday...far less than some folks paid when they changed their tickets....or purchased new tickets. It wasn't easy and we didn't fly on one of the major carriers. Our fare was about $800 pp.

 

Celebrity has refunded some the extra airfare incurred when their original fare wasn't available. Our friends were able to change their tickets for $250 each, but they had to pay an additional $175 pp because their original class of seats wasn't available and Celebrity has already paid them the additional $175pp. Others have reported in this forum that they have also received payments for their changed tickets over the $250.....but these were all, as far as I recall, relatively small amounts...of a couple of hundred dollars as well.

 

My thinking is that Celebrity is trying to pay everyone equitably and wrestling with the fact that some could get home for just an additional $175 and others had to pay $2000 or more pp. My hope is that they are trying to determine a fair policy (and yes, everyone reading this will have a differing view of fair...and yes, if they had helped us at all, we and they wouldn't have this problem, so understandably there is little sympathy here for their dilemna. Some want compensation for their hotels while they waited to get back for just the $250...others paid much more because they didn't want to wait around barcelona or felt they had to use the same airline they flew in on, etc.

 

I think Celebrity just has to bite the bullet and step up to their statement that they will refund "full airfare"; Perhaps next time they will provide some assistance.....

 

I also think that Cruise Critic management and their associate editor, Dan Askin, need to get involved to re-assure that the statements Dan made in his article http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4164 are being implemented.....or they need to correct their article with an explanation of why they, as well as Celebrity's passengers were misled.

[lost luggage]

I received a letter Saturday stating that " A full refund is being processed"and including the 25% voucher.I don't know what this full refund means but I will let you know.By the way,the letter was dated OCTOBER 18,2010 and was addressed to a California address.(we live on the east coast) The post-mark on the envelope was dated Nov.18,2010 and had our correct address written by hand.It was signed by Sebastian Drakalovich. Director of Guest Relations and Shared services.Still no airfare and we were not booked through Celebrity Air.:confused:

[spud357c]

I received a letter Saturday stating that " A full refund is being processed"and including the 25% voucher.I don't know what this full refund means but I will let you know.By the way,the letter was dated OCTOBER 18,2010 and was addressed to a California address.(we live on the east coast) The post-mark on the envelope was dated Nov.18,2010 and had our correct address written by hand.It was signed by Sebastian Drakalovich. Director of Guest Relations and Shared services.Still no airfare and we were not booked through Celebrity Air.:confused:

 

 

Hate to say it but that is a form letter that we all received - unfortunately the promised full refund hasn't been made.

[lvcruiser]

Since everyone has supposedly received a letter indicating that full refund of airfare would be made, and it has not yet come to pass for most passengers, has anyone given thought to contacting a legal firm that specializes in class actions to see if there may be a legal action that can be taken on behalf of all the passengers who have not yet been adequately compensated? It is understandable that Celebrity may require additional time to sort out all of the requests presented to them prior to disbursement of payment; however, the thought of a major news making action to resolve this dilemma on the heels of the better customer service that Carnival provided to their passengers might just be the fire that needs to be lit under their bottoms to get them moving toward a satisfactory resolution. I am not one of the unfortunate passengers that were on this cruise, so these are simply the thoughts of an outsider looking in. I know that if this had happened to me, I would have been on the phone with my attorney within the week.

[ghstudio]

I believe there is a much better chance of resolving this thru publicity and omnibudsmen than to go the legal route. Not sure if there is actually a legal case here....but certainly an ethical one if Celebrity changes from what they have committed to us.

 

I don't think Celebrity wants to be publicized as saying one thing to passengers and then not following thru on it....and that's just the type of thing that investigative reporters love to dig into.....

[lvcruiser]

I believe there is a much better chance of resolving this thru publicity and omnibudsmen than to go the legal route. Not sure if there is actually a legal case here....but certainly an ethical one if Celebrity changes from what they have committed to us.

 

I don't think Celebrity wants to be publicized as saying one thing to passengers and then not following thru on it....and that's just the type of thing that investigative reporters love to dig into.....

 

A couple of thoughts: You may very well be correct in thinking that resolution will be more easily found in using a diplomatic approach rather than a legal one. I offered that suggestion due to the increasing number of posts lately that indicate many people are becoming fearful that the longer this drags on, the greater the chance Celebrity will change course and offer little or nothing. Lighting a legal fire under them may take care of that problem. The greatest risk that can be run, if there is a case here, is to time it right. Doing otherwise could very well exacerbate the matter instead of help it.

 

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that regardless of the language in the cruise ticket contract, Celebrity cannot simply cancel a cruise and tell all their passengers to get off the ship, find their own way home from a foreign country, and refuse to make the passengers whole on the cost of doing so. And since you now have something in writing from Celebrity stating that they will, in fact, reimburse you for your entire cost of airfare (if I understood your writing correctly), you have even stronger legal ground to stand on should they renege on their statement to do so. The contents of that letter will supersede any statements in the cruise contract made to the contrary.

 

My final thought is that this story is now old news to the media. If they were going to run with the story, they would have done so before now, more likely along side the Carnival story as it played out or shortly thereafter. But even then, it was too old for the media to pick up because it had occurred a month before. Someone mentioned trying to get Geraldo involved, but if you think about it, that could potentially do more harm than good considering his reputation over the last 20 years. If someone like Brian Williams or Katie Couric picked up the story, you would then have some big, sharp teeth, but I seriously doubt you would be that fortunate.

 

I feel for you and the others onboard that cruise that still have not been compensated fully, and may never. My upcoming cruise on the Eclipse in three weeks will be my last with Celebrity for problems I have had with them over the last several months, but more than anything that has happened to me, my primary reason will be due to your sailing and its outcome thus far. I have no intentions of being put into the same position you were in, taking the chance of essentially being stranded in a foreign country and having to go out of pocket more money simply because the cruise line was more concerned with their immediate cost than their passengers' well being. The only way I will change my stance on this issue is if Celebrity willingly compensates every passenger for their entire cost of the blown trip and offers them a free cruise instead of the measly 25% discount. From what I understand, since this cruise had been discounted heavily, the 25% really amounted to something closer to 10-15% for a future cruise that would cost twice as much as what had been paid for this one.

 

Good luck to everyone in this predicament.

[spny84]

We are in the situation you are but, I don't beleive it's under consideration.

I think it is one of two things:

1. - they are not going to pay but hope that most people will give up and

go away before they actually tell us they aren't going to pay or;

 

2. - they have set an overall budget for the "event" and if there is room in the budget they will pay all or some of it but have to wait till all other claims are in and settled before they know.

 

I just wanted to give maybe another option on the reason Celebrity is ignoring people and possibly why the post have gone down (I've been following this thread but was not on the Century). I don't check where people are from but could it be the ones from the EU have been taken care of through their rules which state they have to be taken care of from the cruise line and travel agents. So add in that the forum only gets about 10% of the cruisers on any trip (these are the ones that know about Cruise Critic) and now a portion of them are EU so unfortunately those of you left are a very small portion of public complainers.

 

I personally think Celebrity is hoping ya'll will go away and if they wait long enough you will be so happy to get half of what you paid you will go away. It's their own fault for not chartering a flight(s) to major cities to get everyone home because that would certainly have been cheaper than $1000-$2000 per person.

 

Fingers still crossed for you.

[9stilton]

5) We have been fairly paid for the use of the air miles that we spent to get to barcelona.

 

 

Please can you post what Celebrity have reimbursed you for the air miles that you used in your original flights --- over & above the cost for the taxes you paid.

 

I have heard back from Celebrity & they have paid the taxes etc on the original flights but are refusing to pay anything for the air miles until I can get something back from the carrier confirming their value. No doubt its all part of the stalling tactics to create even more frustration!

 

Thanks in anticipation

[emairs]

......... will be my last with Celebrity for problems I have had with them over the last several months, but more than anything that has happened to me, my primary reason will be due to your sailing and its outcome thus far. I have no intentions of being put into the same position you were in, taking the chance of essentially being stranded in a foreign country and having to go out of pocket more money simply because the cruise line was more concerned with their immediate cost than their passengers' well being. The only way I will change my stance on this issue is if Celebrity willingly compensates every passenger for their entire cost of the blown trip and offers them a free cruise instead of the measly 25% discount.

 

I totally agree with you.

 

Celebrity has lost me as a passenger unless they fully compensate those on this ill fated cruise, and give them a free cruise. The ongoing stress that Celebrity is putting them through is beyond belief.

 

I hope others will follow suit.