Celebrity scraps some East Med cruises

[SusieV]

I'm still waiting for my deposit to get credited back by X. I also lost a couple thou on cancelled airline reservations. These cruises were selling like hotcakes on board our 8/11 trip. So, yes, I am not a happy camper and am in the process of sending a letter to Hanrahan.

 

I'm not sure why you'd lose "a couple thou" on cancelled plane tickets. Why not just a simple change fee of ~$150 per ticket?

[shadowrider]

The changes that Celebrity is making is quite like a hurricane. In the scheme of natural catastrophes, a hurricane gives a big group of targeted people within the projected path quite a large window in which to respond.

 

Think about that versus what a tornado (limited notice), volcanic eruption (virtually little notice) or earthquake (no notice) would be. Once a ship docks in certain ports and countries with hotspots, its options in locating and gathering its passengers quickly back onto a ship are egregiously limited. They would then be re-acting instead of their current behavior of taking certain current and ongoing events into account, extrapolating them and planning for the best outcome.

 

Many of the eastern Med ports are liable to see unrest, if they haven't had some already. Would you rather go on the old itinerary and risk not putting into port?

http://turkey.usembassy.gov/warden_information.html

 

I am certain that the US State Dept. and the cruise lines have access to information and advice that we, the cruisers, do not. And the other critical decision-maker in that room would be the insurers. If their actuarial re-calculations raise the price of certain dockings to beyond tolerable, is that something we would know?

 

When you couple the volatility, with perhaps undersold cabins, the cost of fuel and the relative safety of the new ports, it is (in the aggregate) a win-win for those travelling in this timeframe.

 

Istanbul and Cairo will still be there, at a better time, for their admiring visitors. In the scheme of things, this is a detour of sorts, and may become a bit of serendipity.

[ghstudio]

I'm still waiting for my deposit to get credited back by X. I also lost a couple thou on cancelled airline reservations. These cruises were selling like hotcakes on board our 8/11 trip. So, yes, I am not a happy camper and am in the process of sending a letter to Hanrahan.

 

If you purchased airline tickets (presumably non-refundable) you could use the money spent on the ticket less the change fee.....but you would have to fly somewhere that the airline flies and generally do it within a year. Some travel a great deal and that would not be a really big problem....but others, perhaps like Aloha 1 may not travel all that much......or might want to take a different cruise, but perhaps from ports where the first airline doesn't fly (at a reasonable price).

 

Aloha 1...you are doing the right thing. Document your situation in a letter and suggest to celebrity what you would like them to do; keep it somewhat friendly and businesslike instead of demanding..

 

I doubt there are many who have already purchased airline tickets that far in advance....most major airlines actually don't sell tickets that far in advance (I'm looking at the days between when the announcement was made and the original schedule of the cruise that was cancelled) ...but there are some that do.

 

Keep track of the names of everyone at celebrity you speak to, when you talked and what was said. There are multiple departments within Celebrity all who will claim they are the ones who will make the decision on your request. Your challenge is to figure out which one is telling the truth. I'm not saying this to be cute....it's reality...and the departments in celebrity don't talk.

 

My advice is that you ask anyone who calls you if they are calling in reference to your letter to Hanrahan....find the person who got assigned that letter by his office and they are your point person inside Celebrity. Then pretty much ignore everyone else and work thru that one person.

 

I speak from experience...my situation took a couple of months to resolve, but my contact based on my hanrahan letter was the lead in getting it resolved. The resolution was very fair and I remain a Celebrity cruiser, although I swore I would never cruise Celebrity again at first because of the multiple folks involved with no ability to do anything, etc.

 

Good luck...have patience....and I'd bet things will work out to your satisfaction.

[herbanrenewal]

My November 2012 Holy Land cruise was booked in April 2011. Instead the Connie is going along the coast of western Europe for a wine tour.

 

Many on this thread have cited political and social unrest, hence a concern for safety as reasons for the changes.

 

:(However, I can book the Silouette Holy Land cruise in November 2012 for several hundreds dollars more. It is still including Cairo (Alexandria) for 2 days and Jerusalem for 2 days, Haifa for 1 day.

The only port I really am missing from my original booking is Istanbul, and other cruises are going there. Istanbul and Jerusalem are the two ports I most wanted to visit on this trip.

 

To me, this is purely an economic decision and not at all a safety issue.

[chaz2010]

herbanrenewal you are correct.

 

They are not booking enough Americans for the crusies from Istanbul. They are moving the ship to Southhampton in the hopes of filling the ship with British and Irish clients. We went on a Princess cruise this past May that went to similar ports in England, France, Spain and Portugal. The ship was 95% British Isles customers.

 

This is purely economic. The Silhoutte itenerary is staying because it leaves from Rome. They will get plenty of British and European customers for that as well.

[zelker]

Many of the eastern Med ports are liable to see unrest, if they haven't had some already. Would you rather go on the old itinerary and risk not putting into port?

http://turkey.usembassy.gov/warden_information.html

 

I am certain that the US State Dept. and the cruise lines have access to information and advice that we, the cruisers, do not. And the other critical decision-maker in that room would be the insurers. If their actuarial re-calculations raise the price of certain dockings to beyond tolerable, is that something we would know?

 

When you couple the volatility, with perhaps undersold cabins, the cost of fuel and the relative safety of the new ports, it is (in the aggregate) a win-win for those travelling in this timeframe.

 

Istanbul and Cairo will still be there, at a better time, for their admiring visitors. In the scheme of things, this is a detour of sorts, and may become a bit of serendipity.

 

I just checked the US State Dept. - there are no travel advisories for Turkey. Egypt isn't on my itinerary but we cancelled a Holy Lands cruise ourselves last year because of the unrest in that area and yet I have a cousin who lives in Alexandria and is married to an Egyptian national and she says she's never really been afraid. It's just sad about what's going on in the world, isn't it? :(

[zelker]

My November 2012 Holy Land cruise was booked in April 2011. Instead the Connie is going along the coast of western Europe for a wine tour.

 

Many on this thread have cited political and social unrest, hence a concern for safety as reasons for the changes.

 

:(However, I can book the Silouette Holy Land cruise in November 2012 for several hundreds dollars more. It is still including Cairo (Alexandria) for 2 days and Jerusalem for 2 days, Haifa for 1 day.

The only port I really am missing from my original booking is Istanbul, and other cruises are going there. Istanbul and Jerusalem are the two ports I most wanted to visit on this trip.

 

To me, this is purely an economic decision and not at all a safety issue.

 

And yet the cruise I JUST booked today (Equinox, 4/30 sailing) spends an overnight in Istanbul plus visits Athens, Kusadasi, Santorini, and Mykonos. I asked if they thought this itinerary would be changed or cancelled and was told the Equinox was not part of the redeployment memo she had (this was an X customer service person). So I agree that it does not seem like a safety issue.

[cruiseacecat]

My November 2012 Holy Land cruise was booked in April 2011. Instead the Connie is going along the coast of western Europe for a wine tour.

 

Many on this thread have cited political and social unrest, hence a concern for safety as reasons for the changes.

 

:(However, I can book the Silouette Holy Land cruise in November 2012 for several hundreds dollars more. It is still including Cairo (Alexandria) for 2 days and Jerusalem for 2 days, Haifa for 1 day.

The only port I really am missing from my original booking is Istanbul, and other cruises are going there. Istanbul and Jerusalem are the two ports I most wanted to visit on this trip.

 

To me, this is purely an economic decision and not at all a safety issue.

Sadly, I agree with you.

 

Anne

[ondeckatsea]

Me too.

[chaz2010]

We were sailing on the Constelaltion Holy Land Crusie for 10/25/2012. Received a call from celebrity this past Saturday that the cruise was changed to wine cruise. I was then surprised to see that some on this board received a similar call, only a couple of weeks ago! I told them we weren't interested and that we wanted a refund of the deposit. The refund was creditied to my card today. Starting to look for alternatives- plenty of time!

[ondeckatsea]

We still haven't received anything from them. I'm waiting and wondering what to do.

[ghstudio]

We still haven't received anything from them. I'm waiting and wondering what to do.

 

I'd suggest calling your TA...or calling celebrity if you booked directly with them. See what your options are and what they might be offering.

[Kathie44]

It must be really frustrating to have plans changed like that.

I reallyy wish Celebrity would offer the itinerary I sailed two yrs ago in June.

Barcelona

Nice

Florence/Pisa

Rome

Naples/Capri

Santorini

Athens

Dubrovnik

Venice (overnight)

It was perfect and I would do it again in a heartbeat. But with the unrest in Greece, it may never happen. As it was, the day we were in Athens the tour guides were on strike and we had to do it on our own. Took the shuttle from the Summit to the Melina Mercuri statue (2nd stop for the double-decker buses), walked to the Acropolis, then took the sightseeing bus around for 90 min with narration back to the shuttle stop. It took 5 hrs and we were half-dead from the heat, but glad that the planned 10 hr tour had been cancelled, lol. Definitely a blessing in disguise. :D

[TourDeCruise]

I'm back from my trip. Yesterday our TA confirmed in writing that we are getting $200 from Celebrity for the canceled Sept 5 cruise plus $300 from our original Passages certificate for the canceled cruise to be applied to our Antarctic 2013 cruise booking. The obcs are combinable, and booking confirmation displays both obcs. We are also getting a nice obc from the TA. The shareholder obc or the Passages credit (but not both) can be combined with the $200 ($400 for suites) that Celebrity is giving us for the canceled cruise. In our case, we are RCI shareholders and could have combined the $250 shareholder obc on the 14-night cruise, but we have the Passages $300 obc that exceeds the shareholder obc. TA obcs can always be combined; they are just the RCI/X obcs that usually one cannot combine.

 

BTW, I am calling it a "canceled cruise" because the entire itinerary has been replaced. It's just what I am choosing to call it.

 

ghstudio: Thanks for sharing your experience with Celebrity that involved a resolution. My assessment of Celebrity has been that they have been reasonable for resolving issues based on what I read on these boards and our own personal experiences. Sometimes it takes them a while to resolve issues while meanwhile the impacted person gets conflicting information from different X representatives, but usually X is quite reasonable in their resolution with a little perserverance and patience on our parts.

 

Kathy

[Aloha 1]

We were sailing on the Constelaltion Holy Land Crusie for 10/25/2012. Received a call from celebrity this past Saturday that the cruise was changed to wine cruise. I was then surprised to see that some on this board received a similar call, only a couple of weeks ago! I told them we weren't interested and that we wanted a refund of the deposit. The refund was creditied to my card today. Starting to look for alternatives- plenty of time!

 

We have booked the Pacific Princess 8/16/12 cruise out of Venice to the Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, and Athens. You may wish to look at that. Only 680 passengers!

[eyetwinkle]

Just read that Celebrity changed ports of call for E. Europe cruise on May 11th from Barcelona to accomodate more people for more of a wine cruise....I wish I would have known that when we booked our cruise months ago. I would never have booked it...We are not wine drinkers.

[ghstudio]

Just read that Celebrity changed ports of call for E. Europe cruise on May 11th from Barcelona to accomodate more people for more of a wine cruise....I wish I would have known that when we booked our cruise months ago. I would never have booked it...We are not wine drinkers.

 

You are still before final payment so you could cancel and rebook a cruise that you prefer. There may be some air ticket penalties, but perhaps they aren't great....and perhaps Celebrity might help cover the cost if you book another celebrity cruise....you can always ask.

[Waihekean]

Have found an alternative to my cancelled cruise on the Constellation that is more in the original budget. It is the Equinox 11 nights from August 13.

 

Had a message from my TA that Celebrity has set a deadline of Oct 25th to rebook for gettting the $200 OBC.

 

So e-mailed TA yesterday to place booking, but found out by phone that she will not be in the office today (her normal 1st day of week). She will be there tomorrow, however that is the 26th.

 

I recall that I read somewhere that someone had a dead line of Oct 28th.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this? Or have any good suggestions?

[ghstudio]

Have found an alternative to my cancelled cruise on the Constellation that is more in the original budget. It is the Equinox 11 nights from August 13.

 

Had a message from my TA that Celebrity has set a deadline of Oct 25th to rebook for gettting the $200 OBC.

 

So e-mailed TA yesterday to place booking, but found out by phone that she will not be in the office today (her normal 1st day of week). She will be there tomorrow, however that is the 26th.

 

I recall that I read somewhere that someone had a dead line of Oct 28th.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this? Or have any good suggestions?

 

I don't know when the deadline is...but if you are concerned, why couldn't you just book the cruise on celebrity's site right now....and transfer it to your TA....or cancel it tomorrow if she wants to book the reservation.

[TourDeCruise]

One suggestion: Talk to Celebrity tonight if possible to seek advice. Or go in tonight and put a hold on a cabin for the August 13th sailing. It won't cost you anything to put a hold on a cabin. Then deal with your TA tomorrow. You can always cancel the hold on the cabin. Meanwhile, tomorrow you can prove to Celebrity and your TA that you were being proactive by holding a cabin. Talk to Celebrity or Captain's Club if needed to negotiate that $200 obc if the TA says there is nothing she can do because you are a day overdue.

 

Until this is resolved in writing (email confirmation of cruise transfer with $200 obc), keep your TA's email to show how long it took to get this notification about the deadline and $200 obc. You may need that email for negotiation with Celebrity.

 

Our TA also told us October 25th was our deadline, but I do recall someone saying he or she was told by their TA that the deadline was October 28th.

 

It seems some TAs have not been very good about communicating the re-deployment and the $200 obc.

 

I don't know when the deadline is...but if you are concerned, why couldn't you just book the cruise on celebrity's site right now....and transfer it to your TA....or cancel it tomorrow if she wants to book the reservation.

 

ghstudio: I was responding to the op at the same time. Would a hold on a cabin work -- or do you think the op is better to straight out book the cruise tonight on Celebrity's website?

 

Kathy

[Justgottago]

Waihekean, we will be coming in your direction Feb 2013 with a Top End Australia cruise.

 

Hi Papa

 

We are doing the Top End cruise February 2012 on Century. As Waihekian pointed out it will be hot and steamy.

Waihekian - I can see your island from my deck.

 

Back to the thread subject we are booked on the 29 Sept Holy Land cruise on Silhouette. It is the only original itineray on that ship left intact. We are facing the dreaded wait to find out if X has done their worst and we are miraculously unscathed and we rejoice while sympathising with those whose careful planning has been laid waste by the changes, or will we find our cruise "enhanced" in a month or two. And do we book our air now while the fares are at there lowest or do we wait until the itinerary is confirmed?

This itinerary is Rome-Rome, does not call in Athens but includes Egypt and Israel. If the reason behind these changes is passenger safety then why would we be allowed to go to Egypt?

[Justgottago]

The Silhouette itenerary is staying because it leaves from Rome.

chaz - Not all Silhouette Holy land cruises are unaffected. Our Sept 29 cruise is the only one intact after 5 others from August to late October have all been changed to Adriatic or Eastern Mediteranean

[4774Papa]

Justgottago, I will await your review of the cruise. It looks like a great one.

[Waihekean]

Thanks! everyone for advice. As you can see on my signature booked that cruise.. In the end I phoned TA and via via got help from a manager and she booked it for me and passed it on to my TA couple of days later.

So was on time and did get $ 200 OBC.

[TourDeCruise]

Waihekean,

 

Glad to read that it was resolved for you in a favorable way.

 

Kathy