century 10/13 cruise cancelled in Nice

[Jade13]

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.

 

Lvcruiser, I will be interested if you feel the same way after you get off Eclipse. If I recall, your problems have to do mostly with pre-cruise customer service. We have experienced them, but once you get on Eclipse, wow.

 

We are looking at Celebrity for Caribbean sailings only at this point and will stick to HAL and Azamara for the more exotic itineraries on smaller ships (1,300 passengers or less).

 

The passengers on this aborted Century cruise need to keep calling until they get their promised monies back. Celebrity should not have made a blanket statement if in fact what they wanted was a maximum pay-out per passenger. It never occurred to them that some guests airfare home could run $2K per person. I believe they should follow other cruise lines and give 100% of the value of the aborted cruise towards a future cruise. And, I don't know why they need to send vouchers out. HAL has no problem attaching any Future Cruise Credit to the Mariner number (In this case Captains Club number).

[nordski]

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

Is it unreasonable to ask cruisers that carriers confirm the value of the air miles used?

 

I guess I would be in a minority, but I would have been surprised if they didn't.

[ghstudio]

9stilton....check out points.com.

 

You can buy miles for most airline and other points programs at that site, if not from your airline directly. That gives a value to the miles you used and actually allows you to make your airmiles account whole.

[lvcruiser]

Lvcruiser, I will be interested if you feel the same way after you get off Eclipse. If I recall, your problems have to do mostly with pre-cruise customer service. We have experienced them, but once you get on Eclipse, wow.

 

Jade - I'll take your bait on this one. I have the ability to put my previous problems with Celebrity in the back of my mind and thoroughly enjoy the brand new ship on which I will sail. I will also make the assumption, right or wrong, that since it is a new ship, the chances of encountering the problems that sidelined the Century will not occur, thereby putting my mind at further ease. I will not let my opinion of Celebrity's customer service ruin my cruise vacation, and accordingly, will for certain, be wowed by the ship and the sailing. I guess what I am saying is that I have the ability to separate the ship and my cruise from the company and its customer service. Once the cruise is over, I seriously doubt that I will change my mind about sailing on Celebrity again, strictly because of how good the cruise turned out. I have been in various guest service industries for over 30 years and can fairly judge how a company should react to a given situation out of the norm. When those expectations are not met, I will become disappointed, but will usually give the company a second chance. But when the company misses those expectations by such a large distance, as in this case, or when they put their customers through the stress and problems that were encountered with what appears to be callous disregard, I will not give the company the chance to do it again, particularly to me.

 

I mentioned in another post that you may have missed that I decided a long time ago that Celebrity was essentially the only cruise line on which I wanted to sail - it gave me the best "fit". When the only cruise line I have been interested in using falls to the bottom of the list due to the outrageous customer service they are providing, I feel it is now time to spend my vacation money on a different form or venue. The cruise lines compete for our money against a myriad of land based vacations; although I have always thoroughly enjoyed cruising, there are other ways to spend a vacation. I'll look into HAL in a few years, but for now, I'm planning on land based vacations in Maui and Europe.

 

Thank you for remembering the issues I have had. Unfortunately, they have not gone away. The hits just keep on coming, but I have grown weary of posting about them and have said nothing on the boards. Suffice to say, at present, they are giving my TA a hard time due to mistakes they have made but are trying to blame on her. The woman is a tireless worker for her clients and does not deserve how they are presently treating her. When I tried to get involved, I was spoken to quite rudely by someone who stated he was the manager of their Resolutions Dept., but I found out later that he was only a CSR. Tell me how you would feel and react if you told their guest relations dept. that you had no intentions of sailing with them again due to the way they are treating their customers, and the answer you received in return was, "Oh yeah? Well, whatever." A bit rude, don't you think? Celebrity obviously has no concerns about losing my business and it appears they share the same frame of mind regarding the passengers on the Century. Sure, they might lose 1800 customers over this sailing, but there are thousands more waiting to come onboard - that appears to be their present attitude.

[CruisinAddict]

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.

 

While I was on the Eclipse TA a couple of weeks ago, I booked a B2B Holy Land/transatlantic cruise for Nov 2011 on the Constellation. Because of what is happening to the Celebrity passengers, I am going to cancel both cruises. I would hate to be stranded in Istanbul, Eqypt, or Israel if there was a problem with the ship, and at this point I couldn't trust Celebrity to do the right thing!

[Jade13]

5) 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

 

This should be easy to do. What carrier did you use? Go to their site and find out what is would cost you to re-purchase those miles. Include any administrative fee (such as a $30.00 or $50.00 per person fee). It is a reasonable request although Celebrity could research this themselves by going to the airlines web site.

 

 

You should be able to print and/or cut and paste into an email to send to Celebrity.

[9stilton]

This should be easy to do. What carrier did you use? Go to their site and find out what is would cost you to re-purchase those miles. Include any administrative fee (such as a $30.00 or $50.00 per person fee). It is a reasonable request although Celebrity could research this themselves by going to the airlines web site.

 

 

You should be able to print and/or cut and paste into an email to send to Celebrity.

 

Jade

 

I have already done that --- but I obviously wondered if Celebrity had paid or would pay such a sum or indeed seek to reduce costs -- as they have done all along

[mel369]

All,

 

Just received a call today from Celebrity.

 

Here's an update on our current refund situation:

 

1) Full original airfare is being refunded (we've received the $250pp change fee refund already)

 

2) Incidentals of $100pp are also being refunded - although she advised that this was supposed to have been done automatically, ours was not processed and she had to do so manually. I would suggest that those who have not yet received this call and inquire.

 

3) Partial refund for accommodations while waiting for our return flight home ~60% of total spent.

 

4) The 25% was being reconsidered, however her tone indicated that I shouldn't hold my breath.

 

All in all, she was very pleasant to deal with but the topic of the 25% did seem to be a touchy subject.

[Jade13]

All,

 

Just received a call today from Celebrity.

 

Here's an update on our current refund situation:

 

1) Full original airfare is being refunded (we've received the $250pp change fee refund already)

 

2) Incidentals of $100pp are also being refunded - although she advised that this was supposed to have been done automatically, ours was not processed and she had to do so manually. I would suggest that those who have not yet received this call and inquire.

 

3) Partial refund for accommodations while waiting for our return flight home ~60% of total spent.

 

4) The 25% was being reconsidered, however her tone indicated that I shouldn't hold my breath.

 

All in all, she was very pleasant to deal with but the topic of the 25% did seem to be a touchy subject.

 

That's a new one, 60% of your accomodations/costs while waiting to return home. Will your insurance cover the rest?

[ghstudio]

Is the "future cruise credit" the 25% that you mentioned?

 

The 60% is new....and indicates that they are considering how to compensate passengers for costs to get home. Since you apparently didn't have any additional airfare costs (over the $250 pp), perhaps they are trying to give you a "reasonable" contribution towards your hotels. I'm curious if it was a round number like $250 (total or pp) or they actually took 60% of some expenses you submitted.

 

I think this may be showing some forward progress on reimbursements for expenses to get home.

[Samone78]

I think this may be showing some forward progress on reimbursements for expenses to get home.

 

Let's not be so quick to give Celebrity a thumbs up. When they have extended this compensation to ALL, then perhaps we can say that Celebrity might be having a change of heart.

 

So far, all we have is our original airfare. We have NO return airfare, NO 60% towards hotel expenses, and NO word from Celebrity on their decision regarding further compensation.

 

I am so tired of checking this forum to see if there is any new news. It has become a compulsion because all of this is so unjust. We patronized this company and look at the way we have been treated. Celebrity is disgusting!

[CCAustin]

Hotels reimbursed? Wow that's wonderful!

 

IF I get my $250 pp change fees back, which were the only additional air expense to get home...

 

It would be nice to see some of the additional $632 I have in out of pocket expenses left after you take off the $100 each they gave us for incidentals....

 

(and I'm only including food on the bus, hotel, breakfast, necessary cell calls, and other things related to the aborted trip here)

[CCAustin]

Let's not be so quick to give Celebrity a thumbs up. When they have extended this compensation to ALL, then perhaps we can say that Celebrity might be having a change of heart.

 

So far, all we have is our original airfare. We have NO return airfare, NO 60% towards hotel expenses, and NO word from Celebrity on their decision regarding further compensation.

 

I am so tired of checking this forum to see if there is any new news. It has become a compulsion because all of this is so unjust. We patronized this company and look at the way we have been treated. Celebrity is disgusting!

 

 

I SO agree! I've stopped posting on Facebook too, because I couldn't take any more nasty comments. Trying so hard not to get worn down and complacent. We need backup : )

[mel369]

After a follow-up phone call from Celebrity I had asked where the 60% came from. I was advised that they have decided on a "managerial level" that they will pay a maximum of 3 days accommodations post cruise - we had to stay for 5 before our first available flight back.

 

Jade,

We're hoping insurance will cover the rest. To clarify, the refund only covers the cost of accommodations and not other incidentals.

 

ghstudio,

Yes that 25% is the future cruise credit voucher that we received in the mail. As for additional airfare costs, I believe our approximate change fee was $250.00pp. It might have been slightly more - give or take $25pp - but the additional bit was not a refund we pursued.

[ghstudio]

Let's not be so quick to give Celebrity a thumbs up. When they have extended this compensation to ALL, then perhaps we can say that Celebrity might be having a change of heart.

 

So far, all we have is our original airfare. We have NO return airfare, NO 60% towards hotel expenses, and NO word from Celebrity on their decision regarding further compensation.

 

I am so tired of checking this forum to see if there is any new news. It has become a compulsion because all of this is so unjust. We patronized this company and look at the way we have been treated. Celebrity is disgusting!

 

Don't misinterpret my statement.....the fact that they have paid anyone for their hotel rooms while waiting for a flight is a step forward, because until today, no one (as far as I know) had received any compensation for days spent waiting for their plane home.

 

I am still waiting for my reimbursement of the tickets we had to buy for the return to the US since we had none....we were B2B cruisers and had planned to return to the US on the Century.

[harryw]

Maybe I am being overoptimistic, but maybe there has been a decrease in posts here because many have received their compensation to their satisfaction and have moved on.

[spud357c]

Maybe I am being overoptimistic, but maybe there has been a decrease in posts here because many have received their compensation to their satisfaction and have moved on.

 

 

I hope anyone who posted here and received compensation will advise the rest of us so we can make sure everyone is treated equally.

[ghstudio]

The truth is that the damage has already been done....there are some 2000 people talking to friends about their experience and I know, from my own experience, that the folks I've told have passed that information on because I've had calls from friends of friends who wanted to understand first hand how celebrity dropped the ball and they continue to be shocked that after a month, we still haven't received what Celebrity committed to us.

 

Perhaps this doesn't matter to Celebrity...after all, they need 10's of thousands of people to fill their ships each year....so they have to go after the masses with advertising and fun things....so 2000 negative spokesmen doesn't bother anyone.

 

We're considering an Australia to NZ cruise late next year....and one choice is the Century....but there are also Holland America and Princess ships cruising there as well as RCL. Before this incident, I would not have looked at the others, but now, we will probably try Princess or HAL. The cruises were looking at are just after the 25% credit is valid so that doesn't even play. If the credit was 100% of what we paid for the 10/13 cruise, we'd be enticed to move the trip up a little and even go back on the Century.

 

Why not consider RCL....because I wrote two letters about the Century...one to the CEO of Celebrity and the other to the CEO of Royal Carribbean International. At least Celebrity responded with a personal phone call from Celebrity Guest Services acknowledging my letter, but the CEO of RCL never responded at all. That's unforgiveable in my book.

 

Finally, I'm stlll waiting for that note from Dan Hanrihan expressing their apology for the way his staff handled the situation. I suspect I'll have a very long wait.....

[CruisinNole]

Has anyone actually received their original airfare back? I read a post that sounded like it was promised by Celebrity but that they had not received reimbursement. If you have received reimbursement for your original airfare, did you purchase the air tickets on your own, through Celebrity or via a TA? I purchased this cruise as a package from an online TA and have only heard that the TA has requested reimbursement for the original airfare.

[Samone78]

I just received a call from the Executive offices through which I have been corresponding. I was told that I would receive my Return airfare within the next 5 days.

 

A decision has been made: We will receive our return airfare in full minus the $500 change fee already received for my husband and I.

 

I will let all know when I actually see the funds hit my account. We all know that the Celebrity is not the most reliable...

 

The 60% return on hotel fees was not mentioned. Please let us know if anyone else is offered this return on hotel.

[mel369]

....The 60% return on hotel fees was not mentioned. Please let us know if anyone else is offered this return on hotel.

 

Samone78,

The 60% refund on accommodations was not calculated by taking 60% of our submission and refunding that. After further discussion with the Celebrity Rep, they clarified that we were being refunded 3 out of the 5 nights of post cruise accommodation, hence the 60%. Depending on your case, that number could rise or fall.

 

Has anyone actually received their original airfare back? ...

 

CruisinNole,

My chat with Celebrity today indicated that our original airfare will be refunded in full. We won't see the charges for a couple more days, but we'll be sure to keep everyone posted on any new developments. And we purchased the original airfare on our own, without a TA.

[CCAustin]

Has anyone actually received their original airfare back? I read a post that sounded like it was promised by Celebrity but that they had not received reimbursement. If you have received reimbursement for your original airfare, did you purchase the air tickets on your own, through Celebrity or via a TA? I purchased this cruise as a package from an online TA and have only heard that the TA has requested reimbursement for the original airfare.

 

We received our original air back quite quickly as it was through Celebrity Choice Air.

 

Our change fees of $250 however keep getting passed around since they say it should have been included on our onboard/seapass account. We did NOT receive them. The $250 each does not show on our seapass account and the credits on our credit cards match the amount on the seapass account. It's frustrating to have to keep explaining "yes it should have been, but NO it was not....."

 

Called again today.... This time they said they would submit for us to receive our refund but it would have to be approved, since it was so much money.... sigh.... It's just the $250 they have given most everyone else back!

[emairs]

I was talking to my TA today about an upcoming cruise that I have booked on Oceania.

I asked her if she had heard about this fiasco, and she had not.

I can't believe the lack of publicity that the Century breakdown received. Celebrity must have been thrilled about this, because it allowed them to do as little as they could get away with for you unfortunate passengers.

I asked my TA to please tell all her colleagues, and spread the word about Celebrity's disgusting customer service.

If the breakdown had happened during the next cruise, in the middle of the ocean, I'm sure that the captain and officers would have been the first off the ship, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. I shudder at the thought.

[spud357c]

I just received a call from the Executive offices through which I have been corresponding. I was told that I would receive my Return airfare within the next 5 days.

 

A decision has been made: We will receive our return airfare in full minus the $500 change fee already received for my husband and I.

 

I will let all know when I actually see the funds hit my account. We all know that the Celebrity is not the most reliable...

 

The 60% return on hotel fees was not mentioned. Please let us know if anyone else is offered this return on hotel.

 

Hi Samone78, when you say "return airfare" is this emergency airfare purchased to return home that was in addition to your original ticket?

[Samone78]

Hi Samone78, when you say "return airfare" is this emergency airfare purchased to return home that was in addition to your original ticket?

 

Yes, that is correct. Our emergency return airfare totaled almost $3000. She did mention that the $250/pp credit would be deducted from the total.

 

Our original airfare has already been paid some weeks ago.

 

Will let all know when I receive the promised refund on return airfare.