Beware of Celebrity

[sweetpea143]

Unfortunately things happen where ships cannot make a port by a specific time. Was it mechanical or weather? I know when I book with an independent provider this could happen and I never pay in advance for that reason, and if they reqiure full payment in advance we do not book.

 

The private tours typically require a credit card to hold the reservation and if you cancel for any reason, in less time permitted by the provider, they bill your credit card. Please tell me which private providers in Italy will reserve an excursion and not require a credit card (i.e. pay in advance even if it's not charged at the time because they want cash), and won't bill your card if you don't show because the ship is late.

[Pushka]

The private tours typically require a credit card to hold the reservation and if you cancel for any reason, in less time permitted by the provider, they bill your credit card. Please tell me which private providers in Italy will reserve an excursion and not require a credit card (i.e. pay in advance even if it's not charged at the time because they want cash), and won't bill your card if you don't show because the ship is late.

 

 

Taking credit card details is not the same as taking a deposit. If you use the companies frequently described in these forums you will be fine. They know of these boards and know their reputation is gone if they charged someone whose ship didn't make it in time.

[melsuli]

'Buyer beware' normally applies to the vendors rather than a third party, in this case I struggle to see how Celebrity are at fault.

[Cruising89143]

It was wonderful! I'm still planning to write a review, but I've been busy and I had tons of pictures to go through before I could start. Hopefully next week!

 

:) Glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to your review.

[cruzemaven]

:) Glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to your review.

 

 

We are leaving in about two weeks to embark on The Silhouette and will be looking forward to your review as well. Glad you posted the heads up about your late arrival into Venice as we are also scheduled to arrive in Venice as our last port of call at 9am. I just looked at the Venice port schedule and saw that there will be 4 other large cruise ships arriving earlier than our ship on the same day. Now I won't be too surprised, if we are delayed in our arrival as well. Though The Silhouette is overnighting in Venice, we are disembarking the day she arrives. Fortunately, we do not have a plane to catch...but may have to delay our car transfer to our hotel in Belaggio...we'll see how it goes. We have added on a post cruise trip to the Lake Como area and we were hoping to leave the ship by 11:00 am.

 

 

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[MMOMOM]

Taking credit card details is not the same as taking a deposit. If you use the companies frequently described in these forums you will be fine. They know of these boards and know their reputation is gone if they charged someone whose ship didn't make it in time.

 

We just booked a private tour with APTours for next May. On the Amalfi Coast Drive they pick us up at the ship, drive the coast stopping at Ravello, Amalfi, Positano and finishing up in Sorrento. We had the option of taking the Ferry back to Naples which we chose to do. Driver takes us to the Ferry and makes sure we get tickets and on okay. No credit card was required to book and they want cash (in euros) at time of tour. Then we booked the tour out of Civitavecchia to Rome and the Vatican. They will hit all the main stops there or change anything at our request. They did require credit card info for this tour, but did not charge. They want cash at time of tour, again in euros. If for any reason we have to cancel, as long as it's before 10 days out, they will not charge. They basically are charging for 'no shows'. If the ship is detained, they do ask that you call with any changes, but if the ship comes in late or doesn't make that port, they will not charge. Company comes highly recommended and has great reviews. Think I originally found them on Trip Advisor, but could have been here, can't remember.

[nekzaad]

Hi, we were also on the same cruise (silhouette 10 June Rome to Venice) and in all fairness, we were informed at Rome about the delayed arrival into Venice. They had told us that there could be a further delay as well. We saw there were as many as 5 other cruise ships in that tiny port (I have some nice pix) and we can imagine why there may have been delays.

 

We also had a sad experience where our shore excursion to pamukale was cancelled a day before our arrival to kusadasi since there were not enough participants for the shore excursion. But it's part and parcel of the cruise.

 

Moral - don't Book independent excursions if they ask for a full payment before you dock.

[WestLakeGirl]

As a certain American radio commentator would note, now we know the rest of the story. The announcement came on embark day, giving many opportunities to contact the tour operator, even if it meant buying a phone card

[Orator]

The OP hasn't been back since they started thread. People react differently to situations. some reamian calm and in control, some don't. Some take responsibility for their actions, some blame others. Bye to this thread.

[Fogtownrog]

We booked a shore excursion in Venice for the morning of our arrival in Venice. A few days before arrival in Venice the Silhouette captain announced we would not make port at the advertised 9 AM arrival, but now at 12 noon. In fact we didn't disembark in Venice until after 1PM!!!!!

So, everyone who had booked the better shore excursions with private companies in the AM was ostensibly out all of their money unless they could get the tour operator to give them a refund on extremely short notice. BEWARE OF CELEBRITY and their listed itineraries.

 

When I wrote to Celebrity and asked them what they would do to compensate those who lost money this was their response.

 

"However, as indicated in our Cruise Ticket Contract, Celebrity Cruises reserves the right to change or alter the itinerary, including arrival and departure times at various ports of call. As such, we must respectfully decline your request for compensation in this matter. We regret any disappointment this may cause."

 

Forewarned is fair warned----BEWARE!!!!!!!

 

We don't need to be aware of Celebrity per se; but we need to be aware of the contract of carriage. As a passenger we should make a major effort to understand what the cruise ship is liable for .... basically, you pay for a cruise and the line does all possible to follow the itinerary but has the right to make changes of any kind. There is all sorts of information in the contract including the total liability if the cruise line loses your luggage or misses a port. Basically, since so much can happen with a transportation business, whether it be a cruise line, airline or a railroad.... the contact of carriage takes into account any possible problem that can occur. Basically, you are on your own. That is what travel insurance is for.

[Cruising89143]

Hi, we were also on the same cruise (silhouette 10 June Rome to Venice) and in all fairness, we were informed at Rome about the delayed arrival into Venice. They had told us that there could be a further delay as well. We saw there were as many as 5 other cruise ships in that tiny port (I have some nice pix) and we can imagine why there may have been delays.

 

We also had a sad experience where our shore excursion to pamukale was cancelled a day before our arrival to kusadasi since there were not enough participants for the shore excursion. But it's part and parcel of the cruise.

 

Moral - don't Book independent excursions if they ask for a full payment before you dock.

 

So in reality you were told the day of embarkation and not a "few" days before arrival into Venice. Plenty of time for the OP to notify the tour operator.

[dodger1964]

If OP reads this, your thread heading should really say "beware of cruising" if u are risk adverse to being late into city. It happens to all cruise lines for a variety of reasons, however it is not the norm.

 

IMHO..tour operators specializing in cruise passengers would never charge (or never keep a prepayment) for a ship that is late or misses port entirely. They wouldn't be in business long if they did that.

 

And a question about Vietnam tours. To that poster. You mean you have to mail them cash?? That sounds odd to me.

[fleckle]

If OP reads this, your thread heading should really say "beware of cruising" if u are risk adverse to being late into city.

.... or how about "beware of travel" since delays also occur with airline, automobile and train trips. Our recent bus ride between Seattle and Vancouver was late too.

[Christine Frances]

If OP reads this, your thread heading should really say "beware of cruising" if u are risk adverse to being late into city. It happens to all cruise lines for a variety of reasons, however it is not the norm.

 

IMHO..tour operators specializing in cruise passengers would never charge (or never keep a prepayment) for a ship that is late or misses port entirely. They wouldn't be in business long if they did that.

 

And a question about Vietnam tours. To that poster. You mean you have to mail them cash?? That sounds odd to me.

 

We did a Hong Kong to Singapore cruise on Azamara and Singapore to Hong Kong this spring on the Millie. We used Zoom who is a highly regarded tour guide in Vietnam (was Chelsea's guide when Bill Clinton was there) on both cruises. I am not sure what the regulations are for Vietnam but all guides seem to require pay't in advance. On Trip Advisor and on CC Ports of Call board, no one has had any problem with Zoom, Smile Tours or any of the highly rated guides and they all require prepayment. On the tours I arranged (3 in Vietnam the last time) I collected the money from roll call members and sent the funds to Zoom via bank transfer. Pay Pal charges too much for Zoom lol. All the guides will refund if ship misses port etc. Zoom included port fees so that we could jump on his van right on the dock (we are long gone before the ship tour coach"s load) and didn't have to go find him outside the Cruise Terminal. I will take these small private tours over a big coach any time and these guides are all very aware of Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor lol

Plus I have good Travel Insurance!

[Pushka]

Vietnam has unusual issues with credit cards. I had a similar experience when booking with a very reputable travel agent there. Must be something to do with their country's financial regulations.

 

And to the OP, it's always a good idea to give the full facts. And you might just need to apologise to Celebrity for the title.

[FireEater]

Title should read "Beware Of Booking Private Excursion".....

 

That is the chance you take on booking a private tour.

 

In my many cruises, I have only booked 1 private tour and that was in Puerto Rico "Helo Tour". It was a new start up company and they took a little down payment and did not want full payment until we got there. They even said they would work with us if we came in late or even if we did not come into port for what ever reason. All was on emails so at least I had written confirmation on what was told to me on the phone.

 

Live and Learn.....

[donaldsc]

You should change the title of your post from "Beware of Celebrity" to "Beware of ALL Cruise Companies". Did you read your cruise contract before you posted or the cruise contracts of any other cruise lines. It will be an eye opener if and when you do.

 

Celebrity has absolutely no responsibility of any tours booked with private non-cruise companies. Reliable ones will refund your money if the ship does not get in but that is between you and the tour company. Celebrity or any other cruise company has nothing to do with it.

 

If you can not accept this, only book cruise company tours.

 

DON

[dodger1964]

We are big fans of private tours. I think being able to get onto a private tour is one of the best parts of cc. The ship tours are ok (generically), but tho ones we have taken have involved a full sized bus filled with passengers, some of which don't seem to have a clue as to the time...even though being warned about the consequences of not being back to bus by certain time((which is never/rarely enforced). Many of the places where we would have stopped for a short time to admire the scenery and take a picture, If traveling alone, the bus just barrels right by.

 

When the first thing the ship tour salesman says about "why u should use a ship tour instead of on your own" is that the guarantee u will be back to ship, to me, is playing on a fear that is disingenuous at best. I'll bet if there were statistics about passengers being left at port when using private tours it would be 99.9999% success rate (especially for the tours mentioned many times here on cc).

 

To me, and in my own experience, a small tour organized through a roll call, costs less, has better access to many of the sites (think Rome), has more comfortable transportation, better (or at very least as good as) guide, and much more flexibility, with zero chance of missing ship...we'll not zero, but statistically as close as you can get.

 

And it is a misnomer that the ship won't leave without u if on a ship tour.

[boogs]

And it is a misnomer that the ship won't leave without u if on a ship tour.

 

Please elaborate on this. You claim that something we always hear about ship tours is not true, yet you provide no information to tell us why. You said that a private tour has "zero chance of missing the ship" and that "it is a misnomer that the ship won't leave ... a ship tour". That is completely contradictory to what everybody else has told us. Are you saying that a ship tour has a higher probability of missing the boat than a private tour?

Edited June 29, 2014 by boogs

[NLH Arizona]

I can say that on a few of my cruises, we have been delayed in departing a port, because we were waiting for a cruise ship shore excursion which was late returning to the ship.

 

I guess the poster is saying that Cruise Critic is wrong in their information. Here is what they say about shore excursions.

 

First-Timers' Guide to Shore Excursions

 

Shore Excursions vs. Independent Exploration

The third option is the hybrid: Book your own tour in advance through a local provider. You can often save money by eliminating the cruise-line middleman, or customize the trip to your interests. However, remember that, while the cruise ship will wait for any late-returning, ship-sponsored tours, you run the risk of getting stranded in port if your independent tour gets stuck in traffic and is late returning to the pier.

 

I for one, will believe in what Cruise Critic and the cruise line tells us and that is that they will wait for a cruise ship shore excursion if they are late.

Edited June 29, 2014 by NLH Arizona

[Cruising89143]

I can say that on a few of my cruises, we have been delayed in departing a port, because we were waiting for a cruise ship shore excursion which was late returning to the ship.

 

I guess the poster is saying that Cruise Critic is wrong in their information. Here is what they say about shore excursions.

 

First-Timers' Guide to Shore Excursions

 

Shore Excursions vs. Independent Exploration

The third option is the hybrid: Book your own tour in advance through a local provider. You can often save money by eliminating the cruise-line middleman, or customize the trip to your interests. However, remember that, while the cruise ship will wait for any late-returning, ship-sponsored tours, you run the risk of getting stranded in port if your independent tour gets stuck in traffic and is late returning to the pier.

 

I for one, will believe in what Cruise Critic and the cruise line tells us.

 

Earlier this month on the EQ in Livorno we watched as a taxi cab pulled up blowing the horn. A family jumped out of the taxi waving their arms for the ship to come back. It was 7:12 and all aboard was 6:45. Guess what? The Captain kept going.

 

The next day was Rome. We were on a ship tour and arrived back at 7:15. We were scheduled to leave at 7:00. The ship waited. Celebrity specifically states on board if a ship sponsored tour is late they will wait. We heard it over and over during the cruise.

Edited June 29, 2014 by cruisingator2

[SantaFeFan]

Please elaborate on this. You claim that something we always hear about ship tours is not true, yet you provide no information to tell us why. You said that a private tour has "zero chance of missing the ship" and that "it is a misnomer that the ship won't leave ... a ship tour". That is completely contradictory to what everybody else has told us. Are you saying that a ship tour has a higher probability of missing the boat than a private tour?

 

It is quite obvious that the poster is a private tour snob. Nothing good to say about ships tours, and glowing endorsements about private tours. To make matters worse, he/she then continues by posting inaccurate claims about which form of touring is most likely to miss the ship - that private tours have zero chance, and that waiting for ship tours is a "misnomer".

 

I hate it when people post false information to push their own agendas. :rolleyes:

Edited June 29, 2014 by SantaFeFan

[wwcruisers]

When the first thing the ship tour salesman says about "why u should use a ship tour instead of on your own" is that the guarantee u will be back to ship, to me, is playing on a fear that is disingenuous at best. I'll bet if there were statistics about passengers being left at port when using private tours it would be 99.9999% success rate (especially for the tours mentioned many times here on cc).

 

And it is a misnomer that the ship won't leave without u if on a ship tour.

 

Please elaborate on this. You claim that something we always hear about ship tours is not true, yet you provide no information to tell us why. You said that a private tour has "zero chance of missing the ship" and that "it is a misnomer that the ship won't leave ... a ship tour". That is completely contradictory to what everybody else has told us. Are you saying that a ship tour has a higher probability of missing the boat than a private tour?

 

Boogs, I'm with you on this one -- I'd really like to hear why this poster finds the ships' written shore excursion policy "disingenuous" and a "misnomer". While obviously, the ship's Captain has the final word on when the ship departs, Celebrity is responsible for getting those passengers who are on a ship-sponsored shore excursion back onboard.

 

I had first-hand experience with this a few years ago, when our Celebrity shore excursion to Jost Van Dyke ran nearly an hour late, getting back to the ship in Tortola (BVI). The shore excursion folks were waiting on the pier, to make sure that we all got onboard -- and they pulled the gangway right up, behind us!

 

And FWIW, we often take private shore excursions too, and we've never had a problem with any of them getting us back on time. The difference is: in those situations we know that it's OUR responsibility to get back before the ship sails.

[Christine Frances]

Earlier this month on the EQ in Livorno we watched as a taxi cab pulled up blowing the horn. A family jumped out of the taxi waving their arms for the ship to come back. It was 7:12 and all aboard was 6:45. Guess what? The Captain kept going.

 

The next day was Rome. We were on a ship tour and arrived back at 7:15. We were scheduled to leave at 7:00. The ship waited. Celebrity specifically states on board if a ship sponsored tour is late they will wait. We heard it over and over during the cruise.

 

If the ship can wait it will. There have been instances where the ship had to leave (last time in Alaska) but the ships tour group had to spend the night ashore and were flown the next day to catch the ship.

[Lois R]

I have done both, private tours and ship tours. I would not tell anyone

to "only do a private tour" or "only do a ship tour".

I can post my experiences and how they affected me but what purpose

would it serve to say "Only do this or only do that"?:eek:

 

There have been some ship tours that I have taken that were wonderful:D

A few were culinary excursions and I loved them:D I sail solo and they

worked out really well for me.

 

I have also done private tours with rollcall mates and those worked out

well too.:) But sometimes folks on roll calls don't always welcome other

people to join in and when a person sails solo? Not all independent

tours take 1 person.

 

Do your research......... but to say beware? Beware of what?

Things happen......it is a part of life.