Appeal to celebrity cruiselines to reinstate bonaire

[wallie5446]

All who have had changes to their itineraries are welcome here. We booked because we liked what we were buying. Change it for the next round.

 

Its like ordering something and receiving something else, with the comment, WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD LIKE THIS INSTEAD!!!

 

In what universe would that work?

 

We'd also like Belize back instead of overnight in Cozumel (Equinox 2017)!

 

So hence my question?

Just when does the date for the next round begin?

 

As we can see, some are already booked well into 2017.

 

Business can not stand still for extended periods.

[norwegianwood57]

I think next round is the one that has not been made for booking yet. Then the consumer can vote with their dollar and not book an itinerary that does not please them.

 

That makes it winter of 2018 for the Carib., not yet available.

 

We are also booked for 2017 and want Bonaire restored for that as well.

Edited June 5, 2015 by norwegianwood57

[LMKohler]

Please reinstate Bonaire. Also, please reinstate Belize. I don't understand the overnights in the Caribbean. Europe, yes!

[lb0103]

lWe look ahead to see where in the Caribbean we have NOT been and Bonaire is one of the places. We don't usually book more than a year in advance and in this case glad of it. We have been to Cauracoa and it is nice but I wouldn't want to be there overnight nor in Cozemel.

 

We are booked on a 10 day in Oct on the Infinity just to get away and we have been to all the ports many times.

 

Our TA posted a "deal" for NCL in Nov and it goes to Bonaire so we booked that, we are not big fans of NCL but we really want to see these ports.

 

Maybe if more people did our cruise lines to see the ports, THEY BOUGHT into, maybe someone would get the hint.

 

As someone stated I am sure it is a finacial decision, maybe a break on port charges for X?

 

I want Bonaire back on X

[81Zoomie]

1. HAL does a wonder A-B-C island cruise :-)

2. It's all about FUEL. Less burned when you are tied up at a dock. This means more revenue for X.

3. Celebrity should poll some of its most travelled customers to see how they feel. I'm glad Arno is chiming in.

Personally, when we want to stay put in the Caribbean we go to Sandals. When we cruise the Caribbean we want to be sailing!

[curleyjane]

We are on the 14 night Southern Caribbean Cruise April 3 2016. We were very disappointed to find out they removed Bonaire from the itinerary. We have never been there and were really looking forward to visiting it.

[awhfy]

Bonaire please! No need for overnights in Caribbean. Bonaire has great snorkeling

[emileg]

I'll never understand the appeal of doing ANY overnights in the Caribbean. It's not like the few attractions (like museums and aquariums) are going to stay open late. You get eaten by mosquitoes after the sun goes down. So basically the nighttime entertainment is eating and drinking. Their argument is that they are doing it "due to the popularity of our overnight stays in other destinations". Are they seriously comparing overnights in European ports to Caribbean islands?

Have you considered the overnight in Cartagena? This major city in Columbia has hundreds of years of history. I could not imagine spending only one day there. Now that Celebrity will overnight in Cartagena, that cruise is back on our bucket list. So yes, I would "seriously compare" Cartagena to a European port and could easily spend two days there.

Edited June 6, 2015 by emileg

[Illyria]

Have you considered the overnight in Cartagena? This major city in Columbia has hundreds of years of history. I could not imagine spending only one day there. Now that Celebrity will overnight in Cartagena, that cruise is back on our bucket list. So yes, I would "seriously compare" Cartagena to a European port and could easily spend two days there.

Oh whatever, so I didn't mention one possible exception...Cartagena being a major metropolitan area, not one of the islands, which is really what I was talking about. Cartagena overnights aren't new anyway, they were on several itineraries before this change.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Illyria

[Shirley C]

We are on two upcoming cruises. Bonaire was dropped on one cruise, and Belize was dropped from the other. We are not happy about either change as we were looking forward to visiting both these ports. We are not looking forward to being overnight in Cozumel or Curaçao.

[Illyria]

deleted...dup post

Edited June 6, 2015 by Illyria

[emileg]

...have seen Curacao and don't see why it needs an overnight.

Here's why:

 

Pontjesbrug by night by Arthur Kamminga, on Flickr

 

 

 

[oceanbabe]

I have been to Curaco 2x and not thrilled to go back again. I have heard from several who have been to Bonaire how beautiful it is and the best underwater clarity and marine life. Please put Bonaire back on the list, and take off Curaco. thank u,

[SkystheLimit]

No Bonaire is a deal breaker for us. It's a place we definitely want to see.

 

As far as an overnight, I'd choose Aruba. But like many I love sailaway in the Caribbean and look forward to the evening on the ship.

[CulverCityCruisers]

We booked our Eclipse 4/3/16 sailing because it included Bonaire and are VERY UPSET :mad: that it has been taken away from us. We never were asked and based on the threads on these boards it seems that most are unhappy with the overnight.

[TxnAquarian]

If you read some of the numerous other threads on this subject, you will see that some people actually WERE asked by Celebrity about this change.

 

Clearly, they could not call every single person who has booked any of these cruises to get their opinions.

 

In order for Celebrity to make this change, it would appear that the MAJORITY of folks they asked, responded that they preferred the overnights.

 

There will always be people that are unhappy with a change like this, and on the other hand there will be people who applaud Celebrity for making the change.

 

You can't please all of the people all of the time.

 

 

We were asked and we said that we wanted to see Celebrity offer a lot more overnights. However, we didn't specify the Caribbean as we don't care to cruise there. We just stated more overnights, in general.

 

 

Michael

[swigso]

I think Arno requested that only people affected reply to this

thread,

We too would like to see Bonaire put back on the Itinery,

Originally the ship was due to sail from Curacao at 11pm,

so we all could have seen the Port lit up as we sailed away.

 

What is annoying is that the ship will be basically shut down

for the night as the shops and Casino will be shut.

And to be honest I have no interest in wandering around

at night, we would usually have lunch ashore but cannot

see us going off the ship for Dinner.

It will be interesting to see how full or empty the ship is

during the evening. As for Barbados till Midnight I just Ask Why???

To me there is really no reason to overnight in Caribbean Ports.

 

As for folks saying cancell and rebook another cruise

you can't do this in the UK without loosing your deposit.

£300 per person or roughly $900

[Bobocasey]

Knowing that your sample can be made to represent anything you want when you play with the numbers I believe that is just what Celebrity has done. They decided that this was what they wanted to do so they played with the numbers to have them come up with what they wanted. Having been to Curacao several times I really wonder if there is enough to do there to warrant an overnight visit. It is one thing to do overnights in Europe but with the Caribbean is completely a different story. There are only a couple of port in the Caribbean worthy of an overnight in my opinion San Juan, and Aruba.

[cle-guy]

3. Celebrity should poll some of its most travelled customers to see how they feel. I'm glad Arno is chiming in.

Personally, when we want to stay put in the Caribbean we go to Sandals. When we cruise the Caribbean we want to be sailing!

 

I received a survey several months back that had a few questions regarding overnighting, and asking me to rank my interest in ports of call in caribbean. I suspect perhaps this may have been part of the decision making process and the "You asked, we delivered" marketing scheme.

 

I also have consistently requested overnight ports on my list cruise surveys, and am glad to see some doing about.

[cle-guy]

Since it appears that the VAST MAJORITY of people on Cruise Critic are very vocal on here about ISSUES they are having, it skews the results.

 

I would bet that many of the folks who are happy with this change won't even bother with this thread (or any of the other numerous threads on this subject).

 

Ah yes indeed - the phenomenon of the impact of the "Vocal Minority".

[cle-guy]

 

What is annoying is that the ship will be basically shut down

for the night as the shops and Casino will be shut.

And to be honest I have no interest in wandering around

at night, we would usually have lunch ashore but cannot

see us going off the ship for Dinner.

It will be interesting to see how full or empty the ship is

during the evening. As for Barbados till Midnight I just Ask Why???

To me there is really no reason to overnight in Caribbean Ports.

 

As for folks saying cancell and rebook another cruise

you can't do this in the UK without loosing your deposit.

£300 per person or roughly $900

 

Regarding Shops and casino being closed.... I know that when Summit overnights in Bermuda for 2 nights, the casino on the ship opens at 5pm or so. The ship did have to buy a special License from Bermuda to do this (this was new last season). It'd be up to the local officials if they allow the ship to open the casino and/or shops. I would wonder if the ship hasn't already made such arrangements for the new overnighters in turn for agreeing to keep in port for the extended time.

 

I can not recall if shops opened or not, but really, I can buy that bottle of liquor any day and have them store it till I leave the ship. Sundry items, clothing jewelry -- of course the island has options, and anything on the ship's shops will still be available to purchase after leaving port in any case.

 

Curious why your deposits are so high? The UK Website says deposits are £150 per person for long cruises, £75 for short.

DEPOSITS

 

If you are booking a cruise 57 days or more from the departure date, you may opt to pay a non-refundable deposit to reserve your booking. Booking amounts are as follows:

• Cruises of 5 nights or fewer, minimum deposit £75 / €100 per person
  
• Cruises of 6 nights or more, minimum deposit £150 / €165 per person

Where applicable, based on any components you book with us, you may be required to pay a higher deposit so we are able to secure any flight, hotel or transfer arrangements. Any increased non refundable deposit payment required will be advised to you at the time of booking.

 

Also curious, if anyone knows if lines that cater more to the UK DO allow cancellations and refunds - such as P&O or Cunard? Wondering it this policy is an X thing, or if its just part of the custom in the UK. Do these lines allow refunds for changed itineraries?

[CruisingChick]

Regarding Shops and casino being closed.... I know that when Summit overnights in Bermuda for 2 nights, the casino on the ship opens at 5pm or so. The ship did have to buy a special License from Bermuda to do this (this was new last season).

 

Casino opens at 9 pm. Shops are still closed until leaving Bermuda.

 

Again, for those of you who are so upset over this and can cancel without penalty, just cancel your cruise.

[Cruise a holic]

This is an appeal to Celebrity to reinstate Bonaire instead of Curacao for the 2016 season. No one asked us if this is what we want. It is.

 

If you agree, please add your message here as well as call and write Celebrity. Perhaps someone will listen and a miracle could happen.

 

If you dont agree, could you please leave it for a different topic.

 

I didn't know that they cancelled Bonaire for the 2016 season. We enjoy that port- it is one of the few that seem the least touched by touristy attractions.

 

We agree- please reinstate asap-

[Host Anne]

Our Equinox cruise for Jan 2016 is affected. While I don't mind overnights in certain places (Europe and the Med, for example), we have no interest in overnighting in any of the Caribbean ports.

 

I'm not buying that this change was made because of requests by guests. As a previous guest mentioned, I believe there has to be a financial reason for making so many changes to add overnights.

 

While it's unlikely we'll cancel because of this (sailing with family & friends) we hated losing a port to an overnight in St. Maarten. We aren't going to spend time in St. Maarten at night and we really don't need nearly two entire days here since we've been here too many times to count on cruises.

 

Disappointed in the change and no, we haven't been notified by anyone at Celebrity of the change.

[wallie5446]

I didn't know that they cancelled Bonaire for the 2016 season. We enjoy that port- it is one of the few that seem the least touched by touristy attractions.

 

We agree- please reinstate asap-

 

From everything that has been posted, it is not completely cancelled as a stop, only on certain sailings. I think someone posted 43 sailings by 3-4 different ships, effecting 3-4 different stops. One cruise goes there, while the next one does not.