Help please, celebrity switched us to another cabin

[20pluscruises]

I was once bumped from a stateroom after final payment. I didn't find out until I checked in at the terminal. I believe that what happened was that my original stateroom, which was adjacent to the Family Verandah with a connecting door, got taken by a large family which booked both the FV and my OV, and I was bumped up to a verandah. So yes, it can happen that you get moved after final payment. It was a surprise to both me and my travel agent.

 

Guest Relations claimed that it was in the record that Reservations had sent a fax to my travel agent a few days before the cruise started, which was impossible as his fax machine had broken about a week before. No one from Celebrity ever phoned me or the agent. It was a complete surprise to me, and caused a bit of a delay for my suitcase which had the original room on the luggage tag, so they had to chase around looking for the bag, since the people in that room told the steward that the suitcase didn't belong to them and he took it away. A few hours' delay and a verandah, neither of which I would have chosen if asked.:)

 

So, never book a connecting room, right?

[phoenix_dream]

Unfortunately, the fine print gives the cruise line all sorts of freedom with a number of things affecting your cruise enjoyment, from moving your cabin to changing or completely dropping ports of call (and I am talking about for any reason, not just because of safety or mechanical problems or the like). They have to give you an equal or higher cabin, but there may be many reasons you booked your original cabin in the first place (location, larger balcony, close to friends/family etc) and even a higher level cabin may be less desirable to you. I don't think that's fair at all, but it is 'legal'. At the very least, they should notify you ahead of time, give you a reason, and discuss acceptable alternatives. Another reason to be a bit paranoid and periodically check your reservation to make sure you are where you expect to be (which doesn't mean they can't make changes last minute, but if you see it early at least you have a shot at moving back, or moving to a better spot).

 

I have never had this happen to me. Do they usually notify you? I think in the case of one of the previous posters, perhaps a fax was in fact sent and the TA didn't get it for the very reason that their fax was broken. Not sure Celebrity would have any way of knowing that. No way of knowing for sure, but I would certainly hope at the least they would tell you.

[Glendakayself]

I wonder if the extra charges could be added gratuities for Select dining after the website update. We had paid our account in full before the site overhall, but extra grats were added to our total in My Celebrity. I have called customer service and Captain's Club. Both tell me they show a $0 balance. If I just log in and put in my reservation number, no balance shows. It does say that if I did not book on-line, no changes can be made to the reservation on-line. Only excursions can be added. The OP said the reservation was made by phone. She should not have been able to change the stateroom without calling if that info is correct. :confused:

 

And surely there would be a new screen saying, "Are you sure you want to..." to confirm the intent of the passenger immediately after a change is made.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Glendakayself

[fridaythe13th]

Well the price change was not in the taxes or port charges, it was on the cabin. ...here's what they are doing.....we were originally booked in 9233 on the hump and they had switched us to 9153 and increased the price by close to 200.00. Talked to the supervisor " Chris" and he can move us down one level, same category to 8273. It's a hump cabin as well. They still are saying that I made the change on line. I did not make any change, we always do our bookings on the phone with them. he is having their IT dept look into in, meantime we will go with 8273.......unless we end up cancelling and cruising with someone else. I'm very upset at the moment about this especially being told I changed the room. Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

Are your booking numbers the same from your invoice before and after the change? Since 9233 and 9153 are the same category the price should have stayed the same.

Edited November 27, 2013 by fridaythe13th

[catch-a-ray]

Were you able to get the price put back to the original price? I hope so as there should not have been an adjustment in price for a cabin change within a category. Only case would have been if you added a promo like the free beverage package in which case they would have changed your price to the then current price at the time of the change.

 

 

Yes we were able to get back to our original price, I spent about 1.5 hours on the phone with the agent and finally the supervisor. So started with 9233 hump cabin, switched to 9153' and ended up agreeing to 8273, hump cabin 1 deck below. We are supposed to hear back from the supervisor to see if he can find out how this happened. With tomorrow being a holiday I'm sure it will be a couple days.

[catch-a-ray]

Are your booking numbers the same from your invoice before and after the change? Since 9233 and 9153 are the same category the price should have stayed the same.

 

Yes both the reservation ID numbers are the same.

[LEtue]

Yes we were able to get back to our original price, I spent about 1.5 hours on the phone with the agent and finally the supervisor. So started with 9233 hump cabin, switched to 9153' and ended up agreeing to 8273, hump cabin 1 deck below. We are supposed to hear back from the supervisor to see if he can find out how this happened. With tomorrow being a holiday I'm sure it will be a couple days.

 

So glad it worked out for you :)

[elena7seas]

We haven't paid in full, only the deposit, however that's why I called last night to make our final payment , and when she was reviewing the details with me that is when I found out we no longer had our cabin that we booked in Jan/13... When I spoke to Chris, he re-booked us in a hump room but down one floor, same category. It's so upsetting that they can do this and blame the customer.

Hopefully they will get back to me with some answers. I remember in the fall when they did a computer update, going into look at our reservation and it didn't show up one day. The next day the amount left owing was way off.....and I read on the boards that other customers were seeing the same thing. hopefully their IT dept can figure it out, but no matter what they said we can't have our original cabin:confused:

 

If they can move you with no consultation, I wonder why they couldn't put whoever is in your original cabin into the cabin you have now, and put you back in the cabin you booked originally. My guess would be it's because they have 3 or 4 people in that cabin now.

 

It would be interesting to know if this was, in fact, the case. Celebrity has a system for keeping track of everything that happens to a reservation. If they insist that it was changed on line, and you didn't do it, then that is a real cause for concern, I would think. I appreciate that you are continuing to keep us informed.

[Hlitner]

Call me a cynic, but having a pretty good understanding of software..this did not happen by accident. Somebody at Celebrity took your original cabin to give it to somebody else (we can all speculate as to why). It is unlikely that you will ever get any honest explanation other then "stuff happens" or something similar. But what happened to you can only occur when somebody with full access to their internal system (a Celebrity employee) purposely went into the date base, switched your cabin to the other cabin, and gave your original cabin to somebody else they were trying to please. As I said in a previous post, you might learn a lot by approaching whoever is in your original cabin and asking them how they happened to get that "wonderful" cabin.

 

Hank

[catch-a-ray]

Call me a cynic, but having a pretty good understanding of software..this did not happen by accident. Somebody at Celebrity took your original cabin to give it to somebody else (we can all speculate as to why). It is unlikely that you will ever get any honest explanation other then "stuff happens" or something similar. But what happened to you can only occur when somebody with full access to their internal system (a Celebrity employee) purposely went into the date base, switched your cabin to the other cabin, and gave your original cabin to somebody else they were trying to please. As I said in a previous post, you might learn a lot by approaching whoever is in your original cabin and asking them how they happened to get that "wonderful" cabin.

 

Hank

 

We agree with you, we won't likely find out the truth as to why they switched us....and we just might take a stroll up our original cabin and be inquisitive. Thanks everyone for all your comments and advise.

[Cindy]

We agree with you, we won't likely find out the truth as to why they switched us....and we just might take a stroll up our original cabin and be inquisitive. Thanks everyone for all your comments and advise.

 

Glad it all worked out for you! I understand how upsetting this must have been, and I would probably try to continue to get to the bottom of it. I almost always book very early and choose the *exact* cabin I want, and I would be very unhappy if I was moved without notification.

[Redtravel]

Many years ago i booked a cruise a year in advance. I choose a midship cabin. When my TA sent us a bill for the final payment, I noticed that the cabin was not the one that I had booked. I thought it was just a mistake. I called the TA who told me that Celebrity changed the cabin....same category but in a very unfavorable location. Then I called Celebrity. They told me that my TA held my deposit check too long. When the TA released my deposit to Celebrity, the cabin that I booked already taken. Without my knowing, the TA reserved a different cabin for me. The I called the TA back and told her what Celebrity said. She then told me the truth. She had held the deposit money too long. .....and if I was in the same category why would I care. I was stuck. It was a Christmas cruise which was sold out at that time. I was furious. I called another agent who booked me on a different cruiseline. I cancelled the original cruise. The major thing that I learned from this was to never ever wrote a check payable to a Travel Agency. Always use a credit card and insist that the deposit and final pay,ent be payable to the cruise line. Ever since that happened I always call the cruise line and have them verify my arrangements. I also keep all paperwork. There are mistakes made. Read everything. God luck.

[drarill]

Ahhhh, so it was a hump cabin. These are very popular with certain cruisers. One would surmise that somebody with a little "pull" managed to get somebody at X to switch your cabin so they could get the hump. If you want to have some fun, stop by your old cabin (on the cruise) and use some charm on the residents to learn the truth. A line like "I sure would love to get one of these hump cabins, how long ago did you book it?" might answer some of your questions :)

 

Hank

 

Excellent idea!!! Hope Catch-a-ray takes your advice!!:):)

[cle-guy]

I was reading some T&C at X site and came across some rules for traveling with kids.

 

Under 21's in most cases need to travel with an adult. If in separate cabins, must be connecting to the adult.

 

Any chance this was a connecting cabin, and X needed to move things around to keep an adult with their kids?

[Fouremco]

I was reading some T&C at X site and came across some rules for traveling with kids.

 

Under 21's in most cases need to travel with an adult. If in separate cabins, must be connecting to the adult.

 

Any chance this was a connecting cabin, and X needed to move things around to keep an adult with their kids?

Yes, 9233 and 9235 are interlocking staterooms, so that's another possibility. Still, I think the issue is less why it happened than the manner in which the change was made.

[Cruise Raider]

I am so shocked....I haven't seen this happen before. I just didn't even know they might do this. I am glad you got another hump cabin....they are priceless. Also glad you got the pricing straightened out.

 

My brother once purchased a 2 bedroom suite down in Mexico for us. He was unsure he was going to be able to make it down there but was going to try. Either way, the room he purchased was the one we checked into. I tell you, from the minute they thought that maybe he wouldn't be showing up, they tried like heck to get us out of that room. They even went as far as to turn the air conditioning off. It worked in every other room and in the hallway....just no longer working in our room, which they tried to use as leverage to get us to move....offering even 2 single rooms to us. We didn't need 2 single rooms, we wanted the living area and kitchen as we were there with a group of people. We used the living area for our meeting spot.

Anyhow, we went to a resort sponsored party and met two other couples. They were very friendly at first...until they found out that we got the 2 bedroom suite promised to THEM. Then they were just mad as all get out. The front desk told them they had tried everything to get us to move out and we just wouldn't budge.....but they were still trying. Evidently, they stuck these 2 couples in one room -- it was so SMALL. Yet, still my brother was trying to get down there so we didn't want to give up the room he paid for. We felt a little guilty ...but booked this group trip way in advance and even without air conditioning, the room was nice.

While this isn't exactly your experience, it does make me think that they may have gotten a request for a booking for the suite and cabin next to it. I don't get the price increase, though. I pick my cabins very carefully, which is one reason I truly love this site (so much great info) and why I like cruising better than land vacations. In hotels, you more than likely will not get to choose your exact room.

[herbanrenewal]

. ...I think the issue is less why it happened than the manner in which the change was made.

 

I had a sort of similar experience on Royal (different line, same corporation)

It was definitely the manner in which the change occurred that bothered me.

 

We checked in and were given key to the inside cabin we had booked. We went to lunch, then after cabins were ready went to our cabin to find another couple unpacking there. It took about an hour before we found we had been upgraded to oceanview -after we checked in !!??

We went to our cabin - better location, upgrade in class, but noone could find our luggage. We went to dinner, still no luggage.. Went to a lounge... No luggage

 

We were told to be happy with our upgrade, since we knew the luggage was on the ship (the other people attested to that) and go to bed ...in the same clothing we had worn all day and without benefit of toiletries.

 

Around 1:30am our very exhausted steward found our luggage and brought it to us. He had been singlehandedly looking for it for hours!

 

Bottom line all kinds of things happen, and you don't know why. There was no explanation for why the upgrade was never communicated to us (we booked directly with celebrity) not even mentioned when we checked in, and yes we were given the key that worked on the door of the cabin we booked...fortunately the occupants were only unpacking...

 

We were given a specialty restaurant for the inconvenience of the late luggage arrival.

[Fouremco]

I had a sort of similar experience on Royal (different line, same corporation)

It was definitely the manner in which the change occurred that bothered me.

 

We checked in and were given key to the inside cabin we had booked. We went to lunch, then after cabins were ready went to our cabin to find another couple unpacking there. It took about an hour before we found we had been upgraded to oceanview -after we checked in !!??

We went to our cabin - better location, upgrade in class, but noone could find our luggage. We went to dinner, still no luggage.. Went to a lounge... No luggage

 

We were told to be happy with our upgrade, since we knew the luggage was on the ship (the other people attested to that) and go to bed ...in the same clothing we had worn all day and without benefit of toiletries.

 

Around 1:30am our very exhausted steward found our luggage and brought it to us. He had been singlehandedly looking for it for hours!

 

Bottom line all kinds of things happen, and you don't know why. There was no explanation for why the upgrade was never communicated to us (we booked directly with celebrity) not even mentioned when we checked in, and yes we were given the key that worked on the door of the cabin we booked...fortunately the occupants were only unpacking...

 

We were given a specialty restaurant for the inconvenience of the late luggage arrival.

There was a time when I would have responded "Unbelievable!" Now I think just about anything is possible. I'm waiting for the day, or maybe I just missed its arrival, when cruise lines start to follow the airline practise of overbooking sailings. Next time, perhaps you'll be sharing that room with them! :)

[Iamthesea]

Yet, still my brother was trying to get down there so we didn't want to give up the room he paid for. We felt a little guilty ...but booked this group trip way in advance and even without air conditioning, the room was nice.

.

 

Did your brother ever make it? :)

 

and yes we were given the key that worked on the door of the cabin we booked...fortunately the occupants were only unpacking....

 

You were lucky! We once booked an Ocean Front Suite in San Juan. Checked in. The front desk tried to tell us that we had already checked in. We argued and finally received the key to our Suite. Opened the door and found a couple in bed - in the middle of the afternoon! :eek: Turns out that they were given an upgrade without asking or anything said about it. Then it tuned out, after we went back to the front desk and the guy [from the room] arrived raising cane, that we had last names that were similar. The couple had been given our Suite. They got to stay, and we were given a better suite, but on the back side of the hotel where construction was going on. Since it was only for one night, pre-cruise, we didn't complain.

 

To the OP, I feel sure that you were changed because the stateroom was needed for a family or something similar. Glad you were able to get another hump. :D

[cle-guy]

it does make me think that they may have gotten a request for a booking for the suite and cabin next to it.

 

I can tell you I had the Penthouse on the Connie and requested the sky suite next door for my traveling colleague, and couldn't get it, even though there were plenty of other Sky suites open at the time. They said there was nothing they could do.

 

I have an upcoming cruise also on Connie, and wanted the Concierge cabin adjoining the Royal Suite, and again, nothing they could do - again, cabins in same category are open for sale.

 

So I would say its probably NOT likely they did his to appease a suite guest.

[ARrazorback]

This just happened to me! I went online to look at my ressie in preparation for possibly adding the promo tomorrow and I noticed we have been moved from our Millennium prime 6143 cabin to a C3 cabin. The price is now lower (but not as low as if I had booked this cabin with the Thanksgiving promo like I did the other C1 cabin, but it is at the current rate)!

And I spent about 1.5 hrs on the phone with them just the other day after my price suddenly increased after the Thanksgiving promo was just dropped mysteriously from my reservation! No one at Celebrity could determine what had happened, but they did eventually honor my rate.

I'm about through with Celebrity!

[joniQ]

I spent all day yesterday on the phone to Celebrity (we booked directly through them). They had added an additional $1,990+ charge, changed our rooms (less desirable), booked up for the incorrect pickup time at the airport in BsAs (they had us arriving at 9:40 am instead of 9:40 pm. Was told that there are "IT" problems. Hoping things will be corrected next week but our room was given to someone else.

[catch-a-ray]

I spent all day yesterday on the phone to Celebrity (we booked directly through them). They had added an additional $1,990+ charge, changed our rooms (less desirable), booked up for the incorrect pickup time at the airport in BsAs (they had us arriving at 9:40 am instead of 9:40 pm. Was told that there are "IT" problems. Hoping things will be corrected next week but our room was given to someone else.

 

 

Sorry to hear that! it sounds like they really have your reservation mixed up. I didn't hear back from the supervisor that was supposed to check into our room change , so I ended up calling him finally today. He said due to the holiday, he hasn't talked to their IT dept yet, and wants to call me back Monday.......so no news yet. Good luck getting your reservation corrected ! Just don't understand what's going on. We are due to make our final payment on Dec 8th. This has left us with little or no confidence in celebrity, at this point we have flights booked, pre and post cruise hotels booked. So much planning has gone into this vacation, we have to grin and bear it, move on and enjoy it. Thanks everyone for sharing all your comments, I will post if I hear anything back from them.

[bphman]

Carnival had a policy that stated that, if you chose a cabin with 4 berths and you were a party of 2, they had the right to move you if they had a larger party in need of such a cabin. We were the beneficiaries of this policy when we booked a corner suite and needed the connecting cabin for our kids. I was told not to feel guilty as the original occupants were taken care of. I would assume that this may be an industry-wide policy on a full cruise although one must never assume.

[Deb0702]

This same exact thing happened to a couple on our Eastern med cruise in September. This couple booked a hump cabin directly thru the Celebrity website and several months later when they went back online they found their cabin had been changed? Celebrity's rep told them the only possible explanation was that they had changed it themselves and it was their tough luck as their cabin had since been booked by someone else.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Deb0702