have been told I can't upgrade package before cruise

[sollan]

Sorry to have to ask this again, it has probably been up for discussion earlier but I can't find the postings.

We have booked an Asia cruise in October 2014 via a TA in Sweden. Included is the Classic package as a benefit of the 123 Go promo.

I have now asked my TA to contact Celebrity and upgrade our packages to the premium packages. The Celebrity agent in Amsterdam that are the TA's contact bluntly refuse to upgrade and say it only can be done onboard. Have gotten a copy of the mail from Celebrity so I know that the TA is telling me the truth.

 

We don't get specials here like OBC's and we want to pay as much as possible before the cruise. We know the price for upgrading now and want to do it right away - won't surprice me if the costs will be higher before we get onboard...

 

Has anybody been refused to upgrade pre cruise and if so - have you gotten any explanation to why it isn't possible. I cant find anything at Celebritys website that says it's not allowed to upgrade before a cruise.

Of course I will get in contact with my TA first thing tomorrow but I'm not really sure that they can handle Celebrity.

 

I'm a bit upset over this and hope that you can feed me with your experience regarding this.

Thanks in advance

Edited February 27, 2014 by sollan

[bjarrett7]

Not sure why this is... I just upgraded last week for a 2015 cruise and it was fine. The payment went through and it shows up on my account. I called celebrity directly.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[jkrislc]

A work around might be to purchase yourself some onboard credit vouchers through Celebrity Onboard Gifts. If for some reason you aren't able to upgrade before your cruise, at least you'll be able to prepay which seems to be your intent.

[Little Nell]

I don't understand this. We upgraded today through our TA and have a copy of the confirmation. I believe it is more expensive to upgrade once onboard the ship.

[sollan]

I can't see any explanation other than that the Celebrity reps don't have a clue what they are doing... It feels like they make up things as they go. If you are lucky you will get someone that know the rules but I believe the odds are very low... Frustrating to say the least.

[smitty4971]

The same thing happened to me last year. We were booked on the Eclipse 14 day Southern Caribbean. I booked it close to the sail date, and when I decided I wanted to upgrade it they said it was too late to do it in their system and I could do it onboard.

 

There was no additional cost onboard. However,,,,here is what did happen. When you have the package in advance it is printed on your Cruise Card. When you get a drink the waiter or bartender sees it and you're off to the races. When you upgrade onboard, they put a sticker on the card that shows that you have upgraded. Which is fine until you hop in the pool on day one with it in your pocket! The sticker fades away and then when you get a drink they have to run the card first to make sure you have the upgrade. Not the end of the world, just a bit of a pain in the rear.

 

The drink card was a bargain for me. I figured it saved me about $1200 over the 14 days.

[grayjay]

Celebrity obviously has succeeded in kicking out a very reliable customer service in November /December 2013 which really worked in their separate European countries to replace it with the poor substitute you describe. It's a shame. I'd try again in your case and speak to a different representative - you might get a totally different answer. That is: if you are lucky to reach somebody and have time enough for hours of waiting...

[Christine Frances]

Don't know if you can call this number from Sweden but I would bypass the TA and call Celebrity Experience in the US @ 800-718-5391 or 800-722-5941 and do you Bev Pkg upgrade directly with Celebrity. Good luck

[sollan]

I am aware that you can't upgrade pre cruise if it's to close to sail away. But this is a cruise in October....

I will get in contact with the TA asap and I can of course contact Celebrity myself. But I'm quite sure that they will just tell me to get in contact with my TA. Time will show....

 

I love the cruise experience but every time I have to deal with Celebrity pre cruise regarding problems that has to be solved I get more and more... lets say frustrated to put it in a polite way...:rolleyes:

 

I'm very thankful for your postings and will appreciate more of your experiencees if any. I'm preparing my self before contacting Celebrity. It's easier to prove your point if you have as much information as possible :)

[insidecabin]

I think with the beverage packages you can bypass the TA, it may be the X US won't/cant change your X EU booking.

 

Next time look at booking through the US there are plenty of US TAs that will deals with UK/EU customers and sometimes the deals are much better as long as you don't want Air.

[reilly1]

I was able to upgrade with one simple phone call direct to Celebrity. I had booked through a Travel Agent, but did not involve them in the upgrade at all. The upgrade showed almost immediately in "My Cruises" account.

[sollan]

I have now been in touch with my TA that will make an other try. The thing is that they have recently moved the Nordic based business from Norway to Amsterdam and they have lost their normal agent due to this. So they have to start from the beginning themselves. I have been very clear that I won't accept a "no" for an answer in this case so I do really hope that my poor and very helpful TA will find the right agent to talk with...:D

So I will wait and see what will happen.

Thank again for your postings!

[scotslass]

We phoned Celebrity in the UK and there was no problem even though our booking was through a TA.

Irene

[roohound]

I contacted my TA and was told that since only I wanted the upgrade (my friend did not) it could not be done before boarding.

 

I then called X direct and after a lot of runaround I was able to upgrade my package. Between hold time and getting shuffled around to 3 different people it took 1 hr and 21 minutes but I did get things taken care of.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[CathyCruises]

A few years ago I had an issue with not getting properly credited for a cruise. I was working toward Elite and needed it corrected. They ran me around for a year, wanted a copy of my bank statement showing I had upgraded to CC (as if each onboard charge would show separately, and not just a total) etc. I FINALLY won but it took ages and so much work just to get what was legitimately coming to me. Even though the cruise in question had been within 2 years they said they had no way of checking their records. Give me a break!

 

Fast forward to Princess. I noticed an error on my prior cruise history. Went to CS while on board, and the agent corrected it on the spot and with a smile!

 

Now, I am not a Princess fan, love the X onboard experience, but the difference in how the identical issue was handled was glaring. They REALLY need to fix their customer service issues/handlers. So aggravating!

[wallie5446]

 

I love the cruise experience but every time I have to deal with Celebrity :)

 

It is evident you are Capt Club, previous dealings, call them, that is what they are there for. The CC desk has taken care of a number of items for us the day to day call center folks could not.

[sollan]

I contacted my TA and was told that since only I wanted the upgrade (my friend did not) it could not be done before boarding.

 

I then called X direct and after a lot of runaround I was able to upgrade my package. Between hold time and getting shuffled around to 3 different people it took 1 hr and 21 minutes but I did get things taken care of.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

My (maybe yours) TA haven gotten the wrong information from the Celebrity agent. I hope that they will straiten this out and if not -I will let out "the grumpy old lady"... :D

I will post when this is solved.

[Patrick IL.]

I was able to upgrade with one simple phone call direct to Celebrity. I had booked through a Travel Agent, but did not involve them in the upgrade at all. The upgrade showed almost immediately in "My Cruises" account.

Same for me, I just called the captains club, no need to involve our TA.

[sollan]

My TA has been in contact with Celebrity and have been told that they can't handle a update to the Premium package due to their systems... ?

Hmmmm....can this be true?

It should be a concern for a word wide company that they can't handle their business due to a system which isn't working properly.

To be continued...

[grayjay]

Unfortunately there is a huge difference between the American Captain's Club department and the national ones in Europe. I'm not even sure if they still have one or if Captain's Club issues are also handled via the call center in the Netherlands . Haven't been able to reach them yet via phone or e-mail. I'm starting to feel to be dumped in a kind of empty hole or nirvana or whatever...

[neilrod]

I have just this minute upgraded from Classic to Premium by phoning Celebrity here in the UK. Extremely easy process and paid by card over the phone. The guy that I spoke to even told me that I had saved money by doing now as I would have paid in US dollars onboard and this would have worked out more.

[sollan]

I have just this minute upgraded from Classic to Premium by phoning Celebrity here in the UK. Extremely easy process and paid by card over the phone. The guy that I spoke to even told me that I had saved money by doing now as I would have paid in US dollars onboard and this would have worked out more.

Did the better price something to do with the exchange rate or is the update rate set in pounds?

[melsuli]

Luck of the draw it seems? I contacted Celebrity UK towards the end of last year with a view to upgrading my classic package to premium and was told they were unable to do this online because the system would not allow it.

 

After reading this thread I immediately got back in touch with them armed with all the above info and ready to do battle.

 

I'm pleased to say my conversation with them proved fruitful and the seemingly impossible went through.....just like that. Thanks to all who contributed.

[cruisingagentone]

Do they charge your credit card or just add it to the booking and you can pay at final?

[neilrod]

They charged my card when I upgraded. £154 for the two of us on 11 night cruise

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums