Equinox Redeployment

[gimletgal]

I am seeing Equinox scheduled for the Caribbean from this November through March 31, 2018. 7 night cruises beginning June 4, 2017 with the longer ones mixed in from September to November. They will switch to Port of Miami as of April 4, 2017.

 

Good news for those of us in Florida, not so much for those who already had cruises booked in Europe. (It is a sad state of affairs that the world is in such chaos and causing all of these changes.)

[dutchclogs]

Just received notification of cancellation of our 8th May Equinox sailing :mad:

 

Initial look at alternatives do not offer any suitable ones for our dates.

 

We have just booked pre cruise accommodation and flights :mad:

 

All we need is for Equinox to be pulled and bang goes my big birthday TA celebration in Oct 2017!

 

Needless to say on hold for Celebrity and have been for the past 15 minutes!

 

Oh and I don't think I'm going to chance transferring to Reflection sailing offered for the same date (although from Rome) as it's due to call at Istanbul and Kusadasi, I don't think that'll happen without changes!

 

That is a bummer for you. I do hope X will be able to come up with something for you if only cancellation/alteration fees. Do let us know if they do -- Btw I had understood that Istanbul and Kusadasi had been pulled for 2017?

[oneputt18]

Posted on Cruising Power:

http://www.creative.rccl.com/e-lite/CEL/CEL_eNewsletter/2011/Current/eNewsletter_Current_Edition.html

[Eloise4Ever]

Soooooo disappointed to hear about this :(. We only booked this transatlantic cruise while we were on Equinox last month and were really looking forward to it. We did that same itinerary last year and to us, it’s by far the best of all the transatlantic itineraries. We really wanted to do an Eastbound TA next year but the others just aren’t that appealing, plus, Equinox is our favourite ship. Do you think Celebrity will be offering any form of compensation to those affected by this? Our US Travel Agent charges for cancellations but if we choose not to transfer this booking to another itinerary, I trust the charge would be waived when the sailing is cancelled by the cruise line!

[peteukmcr]

Re-book on any Celebrity Cruises sailing at prevailing rates. Below are some excellent options for other European cruises. - Just getting clarification on 'prevailing rates' - means if the current rate is £200 pp more than we have paid, then we have to pay that.

 

Any 'offer' we have on our Equinox sailing (free classic beverage package and $400 OBC) stays if we take one of the following. Otherwise, not transferable.

 

Alternative European Sailings

 

Celebrity Constellation, various departures from Rome, Barcelona and Venice

02nd May 2017; 26th May 2017; 03rd July 2017; 22nd July 2017; 10th August 2017; 19th

August 2017; 28th August 2017

 

Celebrity Reflection, sailing from Rome:

 

08th May 2017; 19th May 2017; 29th May 2017; 9th June 2017; 19th June 2017; 30th June

2017; 21st July 2017; 11th August 2017; 01st September 2017; 11th September 2017; 09th

October 2017

Celebrity Silhouette, sailing from Amsterdam:

 

29th June 2017; 14th September 2017; 11th October 2017

Celebrity Eclipse, sailing from Southampton:

 

17th September 2017; 28th September 2017; 18th October 2017

 

When re-booking any other Celebrity Cruises European sailing, you will receive a $200 onboard credit per standard stateroom or $400 onboard credit for suites.

 

Should you incur an administration fee to change your airline reservations you will be reimbursed up to a maximum of £250 per person plus any difference in their airfare cost when you choose to rebook a European cruise with us.

 

Additional flight costs will only be reimbursed within the original flight class booked.

To assist you with any changes and to rebook, a special desk has been established to help you. The desk opened today, Tuesday 19 July 2016 and will remain open until Tuesday 2 August 2016.

Edited July 19, 2016 by peteukmcr

[oneputt18]

Host Andy has started a thread on this same subject:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2380445

[ISABELLA]

Re-book on any Celebrity Cruises sailing at prevailing rates. Below are some excellent options for other European cruises. - Just getting clarification on 'prevailing rates' - means if the current rate is £200 pp more than we have paid, then we have to pay that.

 

Any 'offer' we have on our Equinox sailing (free classic beverage package and $400 OBC) stays if we take one of the following. Otherwise, not transferable.

 

Alternative European Sailings

 

Celebrity Constellation, various departures from Rome, Barcelona and Venice

02nd May 2017; 26th May 2017; 03rd July 2017; 22nd July 2017; 10th August 2017; 19th

August 2017; 28th August 2017

 

Celebrity Reflection, sailing from Rome:

 

08th May 2017; 19th May 2017; 29th May 2017; 9th June 2017; 19th June 2017; 30th June

2017; 21st July 2017; 11th August 2017; 01st September 2017; 11th September 2017; 09th

October 2017

Celebrity Silhouette, sailing from Amsterdam:

 

29th June 2017; 14th September 2017; 11th October 2017

Celebrity Eclipse, sailing from Southampton:

 

17th September 2017; 28th September 2017; 18th October 2017

 

When re-booking any other Celebrity Cruises European sailing, you will receive a $200 onboard credit per standard stateroom or $400 onboard credit for suites.

 

Should you incur an administration fee to change your airline reservations you will be reimbursed up to a maximum of £250 per person plus any difference in their airfare cost when you choose to rebook a European cruise with us.

 

Additional flight costs will only be reimbursed within the original flight class booked.

To assist you with any changes and to rebook, a special desk has been established to help you. The desk opened today, Tuesday 19 July 2016 and will remain open until Tuesday 2 August 2016.

What about transatlantic sailings?

[mickeysgal]

Do you mind me asking where you heard this information? We are scheduled for September 2017 and would be so disappointed to have our cruise cancelled. Oddly enough, when I go on the Celebrity Site, ours is the only cruise not coming up. :confused:

 

I just heard from my online TA. They're jumping all over this trying to sell bookings for the Caribbean on Equinox.

[Eloise4Ever]

Any 'offer' we have on our Equinox sailing (free classic beverage package and $400 OBC) stays if we take one of the following. Otherwise, not transferable.

 

Wow Pete, how did you manage to get a drinks package included on a TA? We've had them included on our last two TA's but I thought they were definitely a thing of the past now.

 

I really think the offer should extend to the other TA's next April, as your original booking was for a TA it would be reasonable to expect you would prefer to transfer your cancelled Equinox booking to another TA.

[grandgeezer]

If you have any hope of doing a transatlantic on Celebrity, for a decent price, maybe you should look at doing it this fall, even though those prices don't look that great. Taking 3,000 passengers from next years capacity will probably make the prices soar. Supply and demand.

[peteukmcr]

Wow Pete, how did you manage to get a drinks package included on a TA? We've had them included on our last two TA's but I thought they were definitely a thing of the past now.

 

I really think the offer should extend to the other TA's next April, as your original booking was for a TA it would be reasonable to expect you would prefer to transfer your cancelled Equinox booking to another TA.

Our Equinox is not a TA, but a 10 night Med sailing out of Barcelona.

 

I made a typo, our TA in Oct 2017 is on Eclipse, sorry!

Edited July 19, 2016 by peteukmcr

[Eloise4Ever]

Our Equinox is not a TA, but a 10 night Med sailing out of Barcelona.

 

I made a typo, our TA in Oct 2017 is on Eclipse, sorry!

 

Sorry Pete, my mistake. This might answer Isabella's question about why transatlantics weren't mentioned in the email from Celebrity, as it did not apply in your case. I have now received the notification from my travel agent which states the following:

 

Guest will receive a $200 onboard credit per standard stateroom, $400 onboard credit for suites when re-booking any other Celebrity sailing.

[kevinyork]

Personally I would hope a knock on effect of removing one Med based ship would be if Eclipse did more ex UK Med cruises rather than just the one for the whole of the 2017 summer season rather than far too many Baltic and Canary Island cruises. Come on X, only 1 Med cruise from the UK! P&O fill their ships with ex UK med cruises all summer so there is a demand.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TeaBag]

That's the pits Wine-O. A certain big on-line TA is showing an "inaugural" 11 daycaribbean cruise, Apr 24 for the new deployment of Equinox. it is sailing Miami return with 2 overnights in New Orleans for the jazz fest. Lots of perks!

[Wine-O]

That's the pits Wine-O. A certain big on-line TA is showing an "inaugural" 11 daycaribbean cruise, Apr 24 for the new deployment of Equinox. it is sailing Miami return with 2 overnights in New Orleans for the jazz fest. Lots of perks!

 

That's exactly what showed up when I went to look at "My Celebrity" last night for my Transatlantic. :eek:

[wayfarer1]

While I must admit to being surprised by the people here who say that they're excited about the Equinox redeployment to the Caribbean, I think that Celebrity will be surprised by the number of people who will say "This is it! Celebrity has been slipping and it ]'s time to find another cruise line". As Elite Plus members, I think we've shown our "brand loyalty", but we have had it.

 

We are scheduled on both the Equinox April 24 T/A and its B2B 10 night Med cruise. We choose our cruises by the itinerary and the alternatives do not appeal to us. There is a vast difference in itineraries available for Europe, which affect the flavor and dynamic of the experience. Most of the Caribbean ports are just a variation on the theme; I do not understand how Celebrity can frame this decision as anything in the customer's best interest or benefit. Granted, there will be be people who will happily hop on the Equinox rather than one of the other available Caribbean ships, but I predict the Celebrity bottom line will suffer for this redeployment decision.

 

Finally, I am offended that Celebrity's notification that they've cancelled our holiday is presented as their "pleasure". Time for a change in the Executive Office.............

[wallie5446]

All I can say is yikes! Caribbean is bad enough in the winter, can't imagine what it's like in the summer... wonder what demographic a July or August Caribbean cruise will attract?

 

It is a lot cooler there in the summer than it is in Texas! :D

[kevinyork]

If you have any hope of doing a transatlantic on Celebrity, for a decent price, maybe you should look at doing it this fall, even though those prices don't look that great. Taking 3,000 passengers from next years capacity will probably make the prices soar. Supply and demand.

 

 

 

Possibly but not definite. T/As are appealing to a certain group of people and whilst prices are usually great they don't come with a drinks package. Prices could only rise so much before becoming much less attractive.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[peteukmcr]

I believe the unrest in Europe is one of the many concerns of Celebrity and the welfare of their guests. My concern is that one of the alternative offered includes stops in Turkey which we know is being replaced in this years itineraries, so I don't particularly want to jump from one Med cruise to another that basically offers ports I've visited several times.

 

There's a limit on the number of times I can visit Santorini, Athens, Rhodes etc.

Edited July 19, 2016 by peteukmcr

[twinsdadand1]

We just got back from 7 days on the Summit to Bermuda. While on board, I booked a 7 night Greek Isle cruise on the Equinox on July 8, 2017. There is no similar cruise and nothing else that appeals to us. How horrible!

[C-Dragons]

Moving Equinox to the Caribbean is probably the first step in preparation for the debut of the new Edge class ship. It will most likely be positioned in Europe so X needed to move a ship, and Equinox was chosen.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I still remember there used to be year round Caribbean sailings with major cruise lines. Then suddenly everyone saw the big pie in Europe and moved their ships there. Only RCI and NCL sail the Caribbean sea in the summer.

With all the events happening lately in Europe, it is not surprise that cruise liners are re-deploying their ships back to somewhere that is safer and more stable.

 

If more ships are coming back this side of the world then we shall see fewer TA sailings, and I bet the price will go up accordingly.

 

False!

 

Disney has the Dream and Fantasy out or Port Canaveral year-round. The Wonder goes to Alaska in the summer. Only the Magic goes to Europe.

[24acorns]

Personally I would hope a knock on effect of removing one Med based ship would be if Eclipse did more ex UK Med cruises rather than just the one for the whole of the 2017 summer season rather than far too many Baltic and Canary Island cruises. Come on X, only 1 Med cruise from the UK! P&O fill their ships with ex UK med cruises all summer so there is a demand.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Surely you are not comparing X with P&O.

I think you will slso find they are filling their ships at a sale prices!!

[TourDeCruise]

Intriguing, The westbound TA departing 3 nov 2017 is still being sold on the UK website. !

 

Our 3 November 2017 Equinox TA is still showing in My Celebrity, so not officially canceled yet.

 

Caribbean fine, but I still prefer to see a roundtrip from LA or San Diego to the South Pacific with Hawaii in route (and back to originating port).

[southernbreezes]

All I can say is yikes! Caribbean is bad enough in the winter, can't imagine what it's like in the summer... wonder what demographic a July or August Caribbean cruise will attract?

 

The summer Caribbean Cruise will sell out and will be expensive. Look at RCC and Carnival summer prices only the December holiday sailing are more expensive. The best weather in the Caribbean ocean tempt wise is April to end of September and maybe air temp also. I live in Florida and would never go in the winter just to cold. Look at all the families with kids out for the summer they will book them up fast. I just hope they keep it here.