Celebrity scraps some East Med cruises

[CruisinManiac]

Sorry but we were never booked on that cruise. We looked at it earlier this year and I only posted once on that Roll Call. Don't know what to tell you but good luck in making your decision.

 

Thanks you anyway. Not many have posted since you did. I didn't realize that you were not onboard. :)

[Hlitner]

I called the Captain's Club to ask about the "special" credit offer. They told me that it cannot be combined with any other Celebrity credit, even though that's not specified in the article. As I see it, the only advantage is the $400 Suite credit.

 

This is all too typical of the policy applied by RCI to all of their cruise lines. In the past few years they have gotten very strict on the issue of "stacking" onboard credits. So much of their marketing is somewhat hype since many cruisers find they cannot really take advantage of advertised specials. A good example is that stockholders cannot usually combine a stockholder credit with other onboard credits (there are some exceptions). Fortunately, CCL does not follow the same policy so there are many times (we book about 75 days of cruises per year) where we decide to go with a CCL company (HA, Princess, etc) over X because of the overall price differences.

 

Hank

[scarlett81]

 

And granted, there may be nothing to this and they just haven't gotten around to posting them yet -- and yet, based on the port changes they did on Sil, anything is possible.

 

 

What are you referring to here? What changes on Silhouette? not aware of

[zelker]

What are you referring to here? What changes on Silhouette? not aware of

 

Go back to the beginning of this thread. You'll see all the changes (and it's not just the Sil, it also affected the Solstice and the Connie).

 

Here's the X press release:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/aboutceleb/pressDetails.do?pagename=press_room_details&event_date=2011-10-11&event_type=press_release&sequence_code=A

[ghstudio]

This would be a more difficult change for Celebrity. The first large announcement was timed to conincide with when most airlines started to sell tickets for those dates...therefore, there were few air tickets already bought issues. If they change the Equinox cruises now, most everyone has their air already and that presents a problem for Celebrity...not so much in their legal exposure because that's covered...but more in the number of select/elites and other customers that will be annoyed and possibly decide to try another cruise line instead of being loyal to Celebrity. That's a much larger exposure.

 

If someone wanted to do a trip without Istanbul, those are the new Silhouette trips....and if we wanted to do that, we would have booked that.

 

So I'm very cautiously hopeful that nothing will change, unless of course there are real problems in Istanbul or Turkey, but to date it's been more dangerous to walk around Miami than Istanbul.

[Gracie115]

but to date it's been more dangerous to walk around Miami than Istanbul.

 

 

LOL...sad...but most likely true

[letsgo39]

It is always safer to walk around Europe than in the U.S. No guns! Very little violent crime.The worse your going to get is someone trying to pick your pocket!

[zelker]

It is always safer to walk around Europe than in the U.S. No guns! Very little violent crime.The worse your going to get is someone trying to pick your pocket!

 

I beg to differ that it's "always safer". Aren't you forgetting blowing up trains and subways and buildings where there are large crowds and .............

 

you get the point.

[letsgo39]

I beg to differ that it's "always safer". Aren't you forgetting blowing up trains and subways and buildings where there are large crowds and .............

 

you get the point.

 

Well I have walked all over Paris,Rome,London,Barcelona at night,taken public transportation and would NEVER walk around my home town of Chicago at night. You get the point...................!

[letsgo39]

I beg to differ that it's "always safer". Aren't you forgetting blowing up trains and subways and buildings where there are large crowds and .............

 

you get the point.

 

Are you forgetting the WTC and Oklahoma City? And Yes I do get your point,do you get mine?

[zelker]

The point is - no place is 100% safe. End of point (well, mine anyway :rolleyes:).

[letsgo39]

The point is - no place is 100% safe. End of point (well, mine anyway :rolleyes:).

 

I don't think anyone ever claimed that any place was 100% safe. Don't see that anywhere. I still maintain that it is safer in the big cities in Europe for the traveler than it is in the big cities in the US. Good thing we are on separate cruises.I know you were on the May 21st cruise for a time.We would have had some interesting conversations I am sure.:D

[cruisemom42]

Actually, it is quite true that you are safer in many other countries than in the US. The reason is that the likelihood of you being involved in any sort of event that causes a fatality is far higher in the US than most countries (other than those with huge issues, of course, such as Afghanistan.....).

 

I found this report from May 2010 that I just love. It points out how media hype has caused many of us to be scared of things that have little or no likelihood of ever impacting us. Some of my favorites (numbers from 2009 or most recent available year):

 

Americans who died from seasonal flu: 36,171

Fatal car crashes (US): 34,017

Suicides: 33,289

Deaths by unintentional poisoning: 27,531

Number of US murders: 14,180

Number of Americans killed in terror attacks: 33

[letsgo39]

Actually, it is quite true that you are safer in many other countries than in the US. The reason is that the likelihood of you being involved in any sort of event that causes a fatality is far higher in the US than most countries (other than those with huge issues, of course, such as Afghanistan.....).

 

I found this report from May 2010 that I just love. It points out how media hype has caused many of us to be scared of things that have little or no likelihood of ever impacting us. Some of my favorites (numbers from 2009 or most recent available year):

 

Americans who died from seasonal flu: 36,171

Fatal car crashes (US): 34,017

Suicides: 33,289

Deaths by unintentional poisoning: 27,531

Number of US murders: 14,180

Number of Americans killed in terror attacks: 33

 

Good point and oh so true.As usual CruiseMom42 you are right on..

[zelker]

I don't think anyone ever claimed that any place was 100% safe. Don't see that anywhere. I still maintain that it is safer in the big cities in Europe for the traveler than it is in the big cities in the US. Good thing we are on separate cruises.I know you were on the May 21st cruise for a time.We would have had some interesting conversations I am sure.:D

 

Somehow you misconstrued that I was attacking your comment when in fact I was just voicing an opinion. Now you're just being plain snarky.

 

And now let's return to the point of the thread which is Med itineraries and the possibility of them being changed.

[Gracie115]

Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you have carefully considered what they do not say. ~William W. Watt

 

odds are...on any given day...anything can happen...zelker is right

 

 

All I want to know is:

 

ARE WE GOING TO ISTANBUL OR NOT????

 

 

ARE YOU LISTENING CELEBRITY??

 

3 days now...no response to email...

[scarlett81]

Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you have carefully considered what they do not say. ~William W. Watt

 

odds are...on any given day...anything can happen...zelker is right

 

 

All I want to know is:

 

ARE WE GOING TO ISTANBUL OR NOT????

 

 

ARE YOU LISTENING CELEBRITY??

 

3 days now...no response to email...

 

 

LMAO-Thank you!

 

I agree. We've decided to rebook with another line if we don't have a more definite answer by Friday-if I can even hold on that long.

Man that Celebrity suite is calling my name.....but its the itinerary that matters the most to us.

[Christine Frances]

What line are you looking at?

[zelker]

LMAO-Thank you!

 

I agree. We've decided to rebook with another line if we don't have a more definite answer by Friday-if I can even hold on that long.

Man that Celebrity suite is calling my name.....but its the itinerary that matters the most to us.

 

Wow! Really??!!?? By Friday? I was going to give them until final payment is due mid-February but maybe that's waiting too long if we want to book something else. And I'm with you re: the celebrity suite but it's the itinerary that matters most to us as well. :(

[Gracie115]

Wow! Really??!!?? By Friday? I was going to give them until final payment is due mid-February but maybe that's waiting too long if we want to book something else. And I'm with you re: the celebrity suite but it's the itinerary that matters most to us as well. :(

 

 

Oh I'm giving more time than just Friday.....the X website is just a mess and I don't think most at X have a clue about it.... Am calling tomorrow rather than waiting for an email answer....Wonder if Dan Hanrahan will take my call!? Ha!

 

 

Oh...you all can always "hold" something else now and cancel a bit later if needed...just a thought

[lovestx]

Although Istanbul is high on our list of most-wanted port cities, I think we will stay on our June 11th cruise even if they cut it. I haven't 'bought' the frequent flyer tix yet so could switch. But the timing and the other ports are perfect for our family. And since we haven't toured that area at all, the addition of a stop in Rhodes or Sicily or something like that would be o.k. with us.

 

Any ideas what ports they would substitute?

 

And what are the chances that the prices will continue to drop (we have already saved $1600) if they cancel the Istanbul stop? We make final payment in mid-March.

[Gracie115]

Sat on "hold" for 10 minutes this morning trying to talk to someone in corporate office... Gave up..

 

Will try again later today...

 

Still no answer on email....

[letsgo39]

One of the gals on our cruise is a TA who works with Celebrity all the time. She called there and talked to her contact on Tuesday and was told there were "no plans to cancel Istanbul at this time." How's that for a vague answer.:mad:

 

As far as other ports Venice would not be very far, nor would Croatia and there are several other Greek Islands that could be substituted.I'm wondering if they are just having problems with vendors after they cancelled Istanbul as a embarkation port a few months ago.

[Gracie115]

OK...I just spoke with Celebrity corporate office...they state "NO PLAN to cancel Istanbul, none at all." They also connected me to supervisor of the shore excursions area where she checked our cruise for 4/30/12 and saw the same thing we have been seeing. She states that the website is currently being worked on and hopefully this will be one of the areas corrected when they are finished. She also said the only other reason the excursions would not be listed is because they ARE renegotiating with the vendors themselves and they may be holding them out for confirmation of the type and price of the excursion...

 

Still vague, but I feel slightly better, ever so slightly, mainly because I did actually get through to the corporate offices and it wasn't just a customer service rep.

 

So we'll see......for now I'm going with the idea that we are stopping there...fingers/toes crossed!!

[scarlett81]

Anymore news anyone?

 

I spoke with a rep there yesterday (not a higher up though) who said that they didn't know anything about it, but its probably a reflection of Celeb working on their website, which they're doing lots of right now.

 

I was frustrated on a side note, which I mentioned in another thread, that X stated on one area of their site that there were age restrictions for all specialty dining, but on another area of the site stated restrictions for only Murano. A rep said I could make a dining res for my 2 kids at the other venues, but then when I logged in I wasn't allowed to make a res for anyone under 13, at any dining venue. In the end they apologized for the site (not their personal fault of course), and basically said the website is a mess.

 

For such a nice line...that site is a total mess. Aside from the technical problems, they do not represent their ships in pictures as well as they could. Shouldn't have to google to see photos of the atrium of their ships!