Celebrity Cruisers Beware!

[A Sixth?]

I was cancelled for March 2018, but simply chose a different cruise, received extra obc and kept my same fare and perks for an S class ship. I knew ahead of time that it would probably be chartered and already had plan B in place. It was so far out, it made no difference in my plans.

 

Sorry that the OP is so upset but we had 8 weeks booked Jan/Feb 2018 B2B on the Summit and even though not all of them were chartered out, since they were B2Bs Celebrity let me transfer everything to Solstice Class ships out of Florida over the same period, tossed in the additional OBC, gave me the same price and goodies I booked the Summit with and made sure I don't have to change cabins in A1

 

 

I am 110% satisfied with the way "X" handled this.

 

Edited August 11, 2016 by A Sixth?

[blueboro]

People keep saying that all cruise lines do these charter cruises, and while that may be true, Celebrity seems to have a higher number of these full and partial charters. After doing a quick count, I found that Celebrity has 49 scheduled full or partial charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. Royal Caribbean has 57 partial or full charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. By far, these two lines have the most full/partial charters. Kind of looks like the parent company of these two lines prefer having groups on board.

 

Holland America also does it quite often. Usually, however, their trick is to book a group that takes up over half of the ship and leaves other "non-group" passengers as 2nd class citizens. I would much rather have a company completely lease a date to a group rather than have them take over a ship with regular passengers.

[richsea]

People keep saying that all cruise lines do these charter cruises, and while that may be true, Celebrity seems to have a higher number of these full and partial charters. After doing a quick count, I found that Celebrity has 49 scheduled full or partial charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. Royal Caribbean has 57 partial or full charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. By far, these two lines have the most full/partial charters. Kind of looks like the parent company of these two lines prefer having groups on board.

 

Very interesting Darcie. Where do you go to get this information? Is there a site for this?

[Fish Lover]

People keep saying that all cruise lines do these charter cruises, and while that may be true, Celebrity seems to have a higher number of these full and partial charters. After doing a quick count, I found that Celebrity has 49 scheduled full or partial charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. Royal Caribbean has 57 partial or full charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. By far, these two lines have the most full/partial charters. Kind of looks like the parent company of these two lines prefer having groups on board.

 

These statistics do not provide a complete picture. They have to be balanced against the size of the ship, time of year, itinerary, embarkation and destination ports, and number of available comparable cruises at the time of booking. The raw numbers are pretty meaningless without that context.

[Orator]

2 4 the Road appears to be 1 and Done. They've had a little time and some feedback and I wonder what they are thinking.

[boscobeans]

Sorry for your problem, but you should be able at this time to hunt down and secure something that would fit you needs.

 

Due to work schedules and other reasons we must book almost an entire year or more ahead and thanks be the powers above we have never had to suffer your experience.

 

Robert Burns said it very well, "“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”

 

bosco

[merlin5353]

2 4 the Road appears to be 1 and Done. They've had a little time and some feedback and I wonder what they are thinking.

 

Not thinking, just whining.

[Bo1953]

People keep saying that all cruise lines do these charter cruises, and while that may be true, Celebrity seems to have a higher number of these full and partial charters. After doing a quick count, I found that Celebrity has 49 scheduled full or partial charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. Royal Caribbean has 57 partial or full charters for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017. By far, these two lines have the most full/partial charters. Kind of looks like the parent company of these two lines prefer having groups on board.

 

I tend to think that most of the complaints would go through one person (and not CC X board) and all perks are well established, fares fixed, and almost no whiners about what they did or did not get or amenities which were not truly 'delivered'. No real questions, until boarding or read at X's website, what is included in the beverage packages, why Blu or Luminae are not open on port days for lunch, etc..... not to say that some of these questions are not valid, just tedious to read the headings after a bit, even worse when thinking the post is different and it is not, for me that is.

 

Then, there is the profit from not thinking about freebies which some passengers angle for or demand. The corporations know the price of taking over the ship, it is up to them to fill it or relinquish it.. bottom line.

 

I do not blame them for wanting to charter out as much as they can. They are in business to make money, the number of charters, from my experience, are not all that often or frequent. Yes, on several sailings, of course as the OP has found out.

 

bon voyage

Edited August 11, 2016 by Bo1953

[shipshape sam]

Celebrity and Royal are thinking about the bottom line! For sure it could just be the short term bottom line.:rolleyes:

 

I do find it interesting that I support and promote a company that does regularly cancel cruises open to the public. An alternative is that they get with the current list of companies/organizations and book the charters prior to opening the itinerary to the public. They could also tell these same companies that (I am creating this policy) company policy is to not cancel any sailing that has been released to the public. They could implement this policy and I think it would help to motivate companies/organizations to plan ahead, just like many cruisers that Celebrity encourages to book EARLY. Which brings me to my final thought. Does it not seem odd to encourage/promote early booking and then pull the rug from customers doing as the company wanted?! It would be interesting to know the % of sailings that are converted after release to public.

 

I have never had a cruise cancellation, but can only guess that might happen in future. For the most part, we now too just book late which I think eliminates charter cancellation issues. I have been on 3 cruises, that I am aware of, that had groups onboard, but were not full ship charters. I did have fun and did notice that we were at times excluded from some public areas, but it was not overwhelming and limiting. It is also interesting that since we have started booking cruises within 6 months of sailing, we are cruising less! We now seem to still like to plan trips early and we are doing more land based trips!

[Can'tstopcruising]

It doesn't matter to me if the OP used a new name, or if he/she doesn't respond.

 

So many of the posters have been nasty and snarky. I don't blame the OP for not wanting to get entangled with them.

 

I am responding because I think Shipshape nailed it. If a cruiseline wants to charter its ships, fine, BUT charter well ahead and don't offer it to the public, only to cancel.

[teecee60]

 

I for one keep booking the Feb/Mar Summit sailings "hoping" they get cancelled. Then we get extra OBC and fare matching on the S class suites.

 

It has happened to us 3 times so far with the Summit, and each time we have received a total of $900 OBC ($300 OBC Perk + $200 from our TA + $400 for cancelling the sailing when booked in a suite) and all four perks.

 

I won't complain too much...

 

Shawn

 

NICELY *D*O*N*E* !!! :eek: :D ;)

 

What a GREAT booking strategy...HOPING to get cancelled... and then laughing all the way to the Martini Bar!

Edited August 11, 2016 by teecee60

[wwcruisers]

They've had a little time and some feedback and I wonder what they are thinking.

 

I was wondering the same thing, Charles. I seem to recall regularly seeing the Summit winter cruises out of San Juan listed in the "Tuesday Specials". Maybe they don't sell as well, because of the high cost of flying to San Juan. If blocking off a large part of the season for charters works out for X in 2018, I wouldn't be surprised if they make that a regular part of the planning for subsequent seasons. And, while I'm sure that some folks will be disappointed not to have Summit available for those weeks -- it surely beats having to cancel booked cruises and deal with the compensation issues.

 

Oh, and in the interest of complete disclosure, I do happen to have a horse in this race. ;) We're currently in the 'pre-book' queue for the Feb. 2018 Smooth Jazz cruise. I'm really looking forward to my first jazz cruise, on Summit (my favorite X ship, since Century left the fleet). :cool:

[shipshape sam]

I was wondering the same thing, Charles. I seem to recall regularly seeing the Summit winter cruises out of San Juan listed in the "Tuesday Specials". Maybe they don't sell as well, because of the high cost of flying to San Juan. If blocking off a large part of the season for charters works out for X in 2018, I wouldn't be surprised if they make that a regular part of the planning for subsequent seasons. And, while I'm sure that some folks will be disappointed not to have Summit available for those weeks -- it surely beats having to cancel booked cruises and deal with the compensation issues.

 

Oh, and in the interest of complete disclosure, I do happen to have a horse in this race. ;) We're currently in the 'pre-book' queue for the Feb. 2018 Smooth Jazz cruise. I'm really looking forward to my first jazz cruise, on Summit (my favorite X ship, since Century left the fleet). :cool:

 

That is the Cruise Charter I want to go on. DW not so much. Really want to see Peter White plus others and hope he will continue to sail on them when I get DW worn out. :)

[peteukmcr]

To the OP, I understand your frustration, but Celebrity are not the only line to do this.

 

We had NCL cancel a sailing on us and there was no suitable alternative due to itineraries offered, nor timing that suited our schedules. However, they honoured their promise to reimburse us for our non-refundable flights as well as a full refund of our deposit. However, it took a great deal of wrangling and several weeks for this to be completed.

 

Celebrity have just cancelled our May 2017 Equinox sailing but we have transferred to a slightly later sailing on Reflection, honoured our perks from the Equinox sailing (classic beverage package, $400 OBC and 1 category balcony upgrade) so it's cost us an extra £2 each!

 

They threw in another $200 OBC (never had so much OBC! And if you know the UK market, OBC is very hard to come by!) and refunded our non-refundable flights.

 

We had to purchase new flights because Equinox was sailing from Barcelona and Reflection leaves from Civitavecchia and the airline we were flying to Barcelona with does not offer a service to Rome so we couldn't simply change flights.

 

To Celebrity's credit, this was all completed in 5 business days (and that included the credit for flights to my credit card). So a great service although an initial disappointment.

[wwcruisers]

That is the Cruise Charter I want to go on. DW not so much. Really want to see Peter White plus others and hope he will continue to sail on them when I get DW worn out. :)

 

Hope that you can talk your DW into it, Sam! For me, the chance to see Boney James and Rick Braun on the same stage is somewhere near the top of my musical "bucket list". And, IMHO, Summit has well-suited venues for this type of music. Hoping for a beach concert on Coco Cay! :cool:

[davekathy]

2 4 the Road appears to be 1 and Done. They've had a little time and some feedback and I wonder what they are thinking.

 

Grinning ear to ear.

[peteukmcr]

It's not possible to make airline reservations for a flight in 2018. Airline inventory only opens 11 months in advance.

Not true in the UK Market. There are several airlines (one of which who flies to 6 major USA destinations direct from my local Manchester International Airport) where bookings are currently open up to and including October 31st 2017!

 

For European flights we have at least 2 airlines whose flights are open for booking, again up to October 2017.

 

This situation caused me receive an awful lot of abuse from the NCL boards when our NCL Jade sailing was cancelled as I said I had non-refundable flights booked 15 months out that the cruise line had to reimburse me for. I was called a liar and far worse as nobody believed me and insulted me to the point where I left those boards.

 

I work in the travel business, and accept that many airlines do not open bookings until 11 months or approximately 330 days out, but that's also down to the GDS systems myself and the airlines use to make reservations. Obviously it's date driven and if today, I was to make an availability search for 12AUG, the system would think I wanted tomorrow, not 12AUG17. :D If I enter 12JUL, it is obvious to the system that it is for 2017 as 12th July 2016 is in the past.

[Bo1953]

Not true in the UK Market. There are several airlines (one of which who flies to 6 major USA destinations direct from my local Manchester International Airport) where bookings are currently open up to and including October 31st 2017!

 

For European flights we have at least 2 airlines whose flights are open for booking, again up to October 2017.

 

This situation caused me receive an awful lot of abuse from the NCL boards when our NCL Jade sailing was cancelled as I said I had non-refundable flights booked 15 months out that the cruise line had to reimburse me for. I was called a liar and far worse as nobody believed me and insulted me to the point where I left those boards.

 

I work in the travel business, and accept that many airlines do not open bookings until 11 months or approximately 330 days out, but that's also down to the GDS systems myself and the airlines use to make reservations. Obviously it's date driven and if today, I was to make an availability search for 12AUG, the system would think I wanted tomorrow, not 12AUG17. :D If I enter 12JUL, it is obvious to the system that it is for 2017 as 12th July 2016 is in the past.

 

PUK - Sorry you had a rough time of it on the NCL board, I guess most of the posters are US residents and do not understand that there can be different rules, regulations and policies for other parts of the world... I have been guilty of that from time to time.. ;-)

 

At any rate, do not let that keep you from posting there, it was just one, or so from your post it was, so not to worry, many of us can be 'unknowing' when it comes to how other parts of the world may work.

 

I can fall down there too, when I do not ask questions as to the workings of different systems and places...

 

At any rate, welcome to the X boards...

 

bon voyage

[NordicPrince]

I was wondering the same thing, Charles. I seem to recall regularly seeing the Summit winter cruises out of San Juan listed in the "Tuesday Specials". Maybe they don't sell as well, because of the high cost of flying to San Juan.

 

Having sailed from San Juan twice on RCL I can tell you that there were lots of families on board that were from Puerto Rico that seemed to have gotten last minute specials to sail in order to fill the ship, which seemed hardly fair.

 

Second, DW and I were astounded when they put new requirements in regarding flying to Puerto Rico and the cost went from 300 to 450 and up p\p from NY\NJ which discourages many people from going from there.

 

But if you're still interested in doing a Southern Caribbean trip, RCL usually has a ship sailing from there. This year it was Adventure of the Seas.

 

In addition, Celebrity has Equinox doing 10 and 11 night cruises from FLL which go to many of the same islands. I do know the 10 night trip leaves on a Friday which saves some vacation time loss.

 

It is a disappointment to plan a trip and have it cancelled. I've gone to the airport to catch a flight I've paid for well in advance many times only to find out the flight has been cancelled. Oh well what can you do. I never take it personally though. I just get another flight.

Edited August 11, 2016 by NordicPrince

[karena1]

We got cancelled on our 4 night Indy cruise in Jan. They gave me some dates so I picked Feb. Got $100 OBC for the switch so i was fine with it.

 

I understand the frustration for people that don't have a lot of flexibility in the schedules. For us, it was no biggie as we were going to cruise in Feb anyway so just swaped out the ships and put Majesty in Jan and Indy in Feb.

 

But I kinda like the idea of booking Summit HOPING it gets canceled and giving me a Soltice Class ship for the same price plus OBC and more perks. Might have to try that!!!:)

Edited August 11, 2016 by karena1

[Still Dreaming]

We were also booked on that cruise. We were disappointed, it was a wonderful itinerary and our first 11 day cruise! I looked at other cruises but didn't see one that jumped out at me so ended up cancelling. Now patiently waiting for money to be refunded. Oh well we have a lot of time to decided what to do. Lol

[Redtravel]

Many years ago, I was booked on the Horizon for a week cruise. It was spring break from school. My dates were not flexible. about 2 months before the cruise, Celebrity canceled without any explanation or offer to rebook. I had already bought my plane tickets to San Juan. I found a booking on a Costa ship for the same dates. When we boarded the Costa ship, the Horizon was docked net to us. The Horizon name was covered over by Northern Telecom. They had chartered the entire ship. We had a great time on the Costa ship.

I was on the Summit 4 times last year. It is my favorite ship. In January, we did a b2b. It was great. I tried to rebook the same 2 cruises b2b for 2017 and 2018. Both years were very limited in b2b Summit cruises in January or February. I could get b2b in December or March. I like cruising in the winter. Love to escape the cold winter and snow. It seemed odd that the Summit was not available for booking. I searched online and found that the Summit is chartered out for special interest cruises. The Jazz Cruise looked like a good choice. That was until I saw the prices. They were outrageous. I can understand that Celebrity wants to make money. As far as loyalty to their cruisers, think again. If they can fill cabins at twice the usual rate, I can understand why they charter out the ships.

I cruise often. Most of the time, everything goes well. Buy trip insurance just in case something happens. Be flexible if your cruise gets canceled. There is nothing you can do about it except waste time complaining. At least there is lots of time before the sailing for you to reorganize and book another vacation. You may find something else is very good.

[Iamcruzin]

It is always painful when a customer commits to a product and the vendor forces us to change.

I've always felt that once payment is received there is a certain level of certainty that a product will be delivered as "contracted", weather, mechanical issues, acts of terror or threats excluded.

 

Unless one's own "ox is being gored" many posters will offer no sympathy because in true capitalist fashion an increase in company profits is the duty of the corporation. Since some posters aren't affected the implication is that you should have known better than to think you could actually enjoy a product that you bought in good faith.

 

I believe that Celebrity makes more of these changes on a ship basis than other cruise companies and that all we can do is voice our disappointment because the pattern is obvious.

 

We have had many cancellations of and alterations to our plans over the years. We now book very close to sailing date.

 

We still like the product provided by staff and crew on the ships but as in your situation, company practices are often not appreciated.

 

I agree with your well thought out and well written post.

[richsea]

 

Second, DW and I were astounded when they put new requirements in regarding flying to Puerto Rico and the cost went from 300 to 450 and up p\p from NY\NJ which discourages many people from going from there.

.

 

What requirements are these; when were they put in, & who is "they"?

[davekathy]

What requirements are these; when were they put in, & who is "they"?

 

Good questions. I also would like to know. We've flown to San Juan many times and haven't noticed any difference flying there as far as additional requirements than anywhere else. The only difference is ton the way back there's the agriculture luggage inspection prior going to your airline to check your luggage. I recently booked our flights to San Juan for our B2B Cruise on the Jewel April 2017 and the airfare was slightly lower than what I paid in 2015.