Need Advice: Code Red Cruise/Inventory Maintenance

[RealDeal]

Here's the story...I am booked on the Eclipse 10/20/19. I booked in June & literally days after I booked it vanished from every website, include X's. I have called Captain's Club repeatedly, had my TA look into this, and even got Future Cruises aboard the Reflection involved. If nothing else, their story is consistent: It's "code red"/closed for new bookings b/c they're doing "inventory maintenance." ?? For five months??  So, they're not saying it's sold out, nor do I think it would be because there were many cabins available when I booked.  They keep saying the same thing: "It could be chartered, they could be putting it in dry dock, they could be repositioning the cruise." PS: The ship will be arriving from Vancouver & leaving for Hawaii, so I don't see how they can reposition it out of LA.

 

Anyone have any idea what could be going on here?  I've done a search for chartered cruises & nothing is coming up for that ship/sail date. I'm wondering how late in the game X can kick us off?  

 

The real issue here is that I want to book my flight using miles and if I cancel I'll have to pay a pretty hefty redeposit fee.  Also, if this cruise isn't happening, I'd like to be able to look at alternatives before prices go up/availability goes down.

 

I've just never seen anything like this...

[StillLooking4Adventure]

I just signed in to my Celebrity account to see how much an upgrade would cost on my beverage perk with the current discount. My upcoming cruise which was previously there since it was booked months ago has disappeared. More fine work by Celebrity IT.

[travlr21]

We had this happen to us in 2015, though it was within a couple of months before sailing. It disappeared from the Celebrity website, and from our account. There was total confusion, and no answers from Celebrity and a lot of speculation. We also heard the term inventory maintenance for the first time.  In our case, we were doing 3 cruises B2B and it was the last leg, a TA back to Florida. At one point we had a voice message from our TA saying it was cancelled, and to get back to them. By the time we called them, they had the correct story. The cruise was not cancelled, it was being extended by 1 day, which we were fine with, as it did not impact our flights. Plus, an extra day and no extra cost, bonus. I think it related to a charter that was supposed to happen after the TA, but it never happened and somehow Celebrity ended up with a day that they had to tack onto something. As I recall, they ended up doing a mini dry dock following the TA, upsetting people who booked the shorter cruise after the TA.

 

I suspect charters and dry dock are the more likely candidates. Good luck, hope you hear soon and have good outcome.

 

[RealDeal]

22 minutes ago, travlr21 said:

We had this happen to us in 2015, though it was within a couple of months before sailing. It disappeared from the Celebrity website, and from our account. There was total confusion, and no answers from Celebrity and a lot of speculation. We also heard the term inventory maintenance for the first time.  In our case, we were doing 3 cruises B2B and it was the last leg, a TA back to Florida. At one point we had a voice message from our TA saying it was cancelled, and to get back to them. By the time we called them, they had the correct story. The cruise was not cancelled, it was being extended by 1 day, which we were fine with, as it did not impact our flights. Plus, an extra day and no extra cost, bonus. I think it related to a charter that was supposed to happen after the TA, but it never happened and somehow Celebrity ended up with a day that they had to tack onto something. As I recall, they ended up doing a mini dry dock following the TA, upsetting people who booked the shorter cruise after the TA.

 

I suspect charters and dry dock are the more likely candidates. Good luck, hope you hear soon and have good outcome.

 

Thanks. This is just really frustrating... I believe Eclipse is scheduled for dry dock in 2020. Maybe they're thinking of moving it up? 

[Cruise Raider]

We are also booked on that sailing and have been following a couple of threads related to this.  

My guess is that Celebrity is looking into chartering this out to a group.  One of the threads following this is speculating on it being a partial vs full charter.  I have been booked on a two week sailing with Celebrity that was chartered for 5 of the days, turning our two week sailing to Alaska into a 9 night Pacific Coastal sailing.  The other 5 days were a full charter so, we unable to book that portion of the sailing.  Actually, I don't even think it sailed, it was chartered out for Salesforce and just sat in port for 5 days acting as extra hotel rooms.  From what I understand, the entertainment was slight and the casino was closed and guests that booked paid for the meals and beverages separately.  Anyway,  it actually worked out very well for us but that is probably because we are both retired and live close to the port from which they were sailing so, had no other plans to synchronize.  We had a wonderful cruise, just not what we expected.  

If my memory serves be correctly, we were notified about 9 months prior to the sailing.  We did receive a $200 onboard credit bonus for the trouble as well as all the perks we were previously promised to move to another sailing, which we gladly did.  But, that flexibility may not be feasible for everyone.  There is a 7 night Princess cruise that sails the previous or following day on the Royal that pretty much covers the same ports of call if you need your plans set in stone.  If you don't, maybe it would make it more comfortable for you to book that sailing with a refundable deposit.  I am pretty sure Celebrity will have to come out with some answers for us by Feb or Mar, if not before.  

PS ... I was able to change my promotion on this sailing well after it disappeared from their website.  I booked directly with the cruiseline and could tell the woman that was working on my booking saw something that surprised her ... but she couldn't say what it was.  I am full well expecting this to turn into a charter so have other sailings to switch it to in mind just in case that notification comes.  The process is just so similar to how they cancelled that other cruise I booked a few years ago.  

 

 

[RealDeal]

7 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We are also booked on that sailing and have been following a couple of threads related to this.  

My guess is that Celebrity is looking into chartering this out to a group.  One of the threads following this is speculating on it being a partial vs full charter.  I have been booked on a two week sailing with Celebrity that was chartered for 5 of the days, turning our two week sailing to Alaska into a 9 night Pacific Coastal sailing.  The other 5 days were a full charter so, we unable to book that portion of the sailing.  Actually, I don't even think it sailed, it was chartered out for Salesforce and just sat in port for 5 days acting as extra hotel rooms.  From what I understand, the entertainment was slight and the casino was closed and guests that booked paid for the meals and beverages separately.  Anyway,  it actually worked out very well for us but that is probably because we are both retired and live close to the port from which they were sailing so, had no other plans to synchronize.  We had a wonderful cruise, just not what we expected.  

If my memory serves be correctly, we were notified about 9 months prior to the sailing.  We did receive a $200 onboard credit bonus for the trouble as well as all the perks we were previously promised to move to another sailing, which we gladly did.  But, that flexibility may not be feasible for everyone.  There is a 7 night Princess cruise that sails the previous or following day on the Royal that pretty much covers the same ports of call if you need your plans set in stone.  If you don't, maybe it would make it more comfortable for you to book that sailing with a refundable deposit.  I am pretty sure Celebrity will have to come out with some answers for us by Feb or Mar, if not before.  

PS ... I was able to change my promotion on this sailing well after it disappeared from their website.  I booked directly with the cruiseline and could tell the woman that was working on my booking saw something that surprised her ... but she couldn't say what it was.  I am full well expecting this to turn into a charter so have other sailings to switch it to in mind just in case that notification comes.  The process is just so similar to how they cancelled that other cruise I booked a few years ago.  

 

 

Hi CruiseRaider...yes, I've seen your posts on the roll call. I actually am booked on the Royal Princess that leaves the day before, but I'm just not excited about it. Plus, I would prefer a Sunday-Sunday sailing b/c we plan to shoot to Vegas for a few days afterwards & Sunday is much better re: hotel rooms, crowds. Also, the itinerary seems similar but is actually less appealing...no overnight in SF, no Catalina, etc. The other option is to book the week before out of Vancouver, which is not overly appealing. I would prefer a warmer weather cruise & there is literally one nonstop to Vancouver from Newark (surprisingly), which is at 6:30pm & we would travel the day before. Also, it's a long story, but we have 2 perks on this cruise we're talking about at the Go Big price. I suppose the smart thing to do is just wait & see.  

[Cruise Raider]

11 minutes ago, RealDeal said:

Hi CruiseRaider...yes, I've seen your posts on the roll call. I actually am booked on the Royal Princess that leaves the day before, but I'm just not excited about it. Plus, I would prefer a Sunday-Sunday sailing b/c we plan to shoot to Vegas for a few days afterwards & Sunday is much better re: hotel rooms, crowds. Also, the itinerary seems similar but is actually less appealing...no overnight in SF, no Catalina, etc. The other option is to book the week before out of Vancouver, which is not overly appealing. I would prefer a warmer weather cruise & there is literally one nonstop to Vancouver from Newark (surprisingly), which is at 6:30pm & we would travel the day before. Also, it's a long story, but we have 2 perks on this cruise we're talking about at the Go Big price. I suppose the smart thing to do is just wait & see.  

 

I understand completely!  I have twice as many sailings on Princess than on Celebrity and even though I like Princess a lot, I absolutely love Celebrity!  And, even though we live just a few miles from San Francisco, yes, the overnights here are fantastic!  Nothing quite like it!  You know, we even have a bridge with dancing lights at night?  We sit out on our balcony and watch that for hours ... with a glass of wine, of course.  

We are actually sailing on the Royal Princess for the first time in April ... I am kind of disillusioned with the old ships that Princess has in their fleet ... .but they are so convenient, I keep traveling on them.  My last time on the Grand Princess may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, though.  It was a bit disappointing.  I just wish Celebrity or Royal Caribbean would home base a ship out here on the west coast.  

If you wait on the Eclipse sailing, they may honor your reservation.  I was booked on a sailing on Princess that booked up what seemed like overnight.  All of us on the roll call were sure it was chartered ... but, it was just such a popular itinerary that it really just did book up quickly ... no charter.  If it is canceled, for one reason or another, I would hang onto it as they will give you some compensation to switch to another cruise.  On NCL, they canceled one of my sailings that I had booked and they offered me $25 obc.  hahaha!  Really??  On Celebrity, they offered us $200 plus our previously booked perks.  That ended up being one of our best deals ever!  

Anyway, if you have any Captain's Club status on Celebrity (or RCCL), you can transfer that status for Mlife, which has many hotels in Vegas ... so sometimes, you can get a pretty decent discount, even on weekend nights at the MGM/Mirage hotels in Vegas.   

 

[jelayne]

Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to find out what is going on - been down this road before.  If a charter is being worked on, very few people at X will know until such time as Celebrity is ready announce.  All the calls to Celebrity and TA's won't make any difference.  The ship could be back available for booking tomorrow, next month  or 3 months from now, if then.

Or we all could booted off.   

 

Last time I was in this situation  after about 5 or 6 months the reappeared for booking and we had a great time, but never knew what happened to cause the cruise to disappear for so long.

 

As others have said, if you want to do a Pacifica Coastal that week in October you could book the Princess cruise, book your air and start planning.  We have decided to give it until the end of Feb and have booked another cruise should this fall through.

 

[RealDeal]

1 minute ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I understand completely!  I have twice as many sailings on Princess than on Celebrity and even though I like Princess a lot, I absolutely love Celebrity!  And, even though we live just a few miles from San Francisco, yes, the overnights here are fantastic!  Nothing quite like it!  You know, we even have a bridge with dancing lights at night?  We sit out on our balcony and watch that for hours ... with a glass of wine, of course.  

We are actually sailing on the Royal Princess for the first time in April ... I am kind of disillusioned with the old ships that Princess has in their fleet ... .but they are so convenient, I keep traveling on them.  My last time on the Grand Princess may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, though.  It was a bit disappointing.  I just wish Celebrity or Royal Caribbean would home base a ship out here on the west coast.  

If you wait on the Eclipse sailing, they may honor your reservation.  I was booked on a sailing on Princess that booked up what seemed like overnight.  All of us on the roll call were sure it was chartered ... but, it was just such a popular itinerary that it really just did book up quickly ... no charter.  If it is canceled, for one reason or another, I would hang onto it as they will give you some compensation to switch to another cruise.  On NCL, they canceled one of my sailings that I had booked and they offered me $25 obc.  hahaha!  Really??  On Celebrity, they offered us $200 plus our previously booked perks.  That ended up being one of our best deals ever!  

Anyway, if you have any Captain's Club status on Celebrity (or RCCL), you can transfer that status for Mlife, which has many hotels in Vegas ... so sometimes, you can get a pretty decent discount, even on weekend nights at the MGM/Mirage hotels in Vegas.   

 

We're in the same "boat." We have approx. twice as many sailings on Princess as X, but X is our #1 line of choice. We're Elite on both, FYI. (Not being an "Elitist," just mentioning b/c you asked about status.) We did the Regal last December and it was "fine," but just didn't compare to X. I'm trying to hang on... And as far as Vegas, yes, I'm aware of the RCCL deals, and I also tend to usually get free rooms via playing MyVegas. However, Saturdays are really hard to come by. I'm sure we'll "talk" on the roll call. Grrr.   

[RealDeal]

3 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to find out what is going on - been down this road before.  If a charter is being worked on, very few people at X will know until such time as Celebrity is ready announce.  All the calls to Celebrity and TA's won't make any difference.  The ship could be back available for booking tomorrow, next month  or 3 months from now, if then.

Or we all could booted off.   

 

Last time I was in this situation  after about 5 or 6 months the reappeared for booking and we had a great time, but never knew what happened to cause the cruise to disappear for so long.

 

As others have said, if you want to do a Pacifica Coastal that week in October you could book the Princess cruise, book your air and start planning.  We have decided to give it until the end of Feb and have booked another cruise should this fall through.

 

Thanks Jelayne. I've been following your posts on the roll call too. (OMG, I feel like a stalker...LOL.) I'm going to give it more time. I guess, worst case, we just don't do a Pacific Coastal. I'm fine with replacing it w/a Caribbean, but unfortunately, our friends aren't onboard w/that. They're Caribbean'ed out.

 

Again, what I just don't understand is how could it take 5 months to figure out whatever they're trying to. Short of erecting a skyscraper, wouldn't most of us be fired??

[Cruise Raider]

7 minutes ago, RealDeal said:

We're in the same "boat." We have approx. twice as many sailings on Princess as X, but X is our #1 line of choice. We're Elite on both, FYI. (Not being an "Elitist," just mentioning b/c you asked about status.) We did the Regal last December and it was "fine," but just didn't compare to X. I'm trying to hang on... And as far as Vegas, yes, I'm aware of the RCCL deals, and I also tend to usually get free rooms via playing MyVegas. However, Saturdays are really hard to come by. I'm sure we'll "talk" on the roll call. Grrr.   

 

Yes, us, too!  Only a dozen or so sailings on Celebrity but over two dozen on Princess. 

You are right ... Saturday deals on rooms in Vegas are harder to come by, though.  But, keep your eyes peeled ... we've gotten some great deals in the past.  

We've not been on anything newer than the Emerald Princess on that line ... so  am actually looking forward to the Royal but, I would much rather sail on the Eclipse.  

I will come back to the roll call and post if I notice any Saturday night Vegas deals for the 26th....that is, if our Eclipse sailing is canceled.  

 

[WonderMan3]

Having worked in the inventory department for a (river) cruise line before, I would say it's likely a group. We would often have a group take all the remaining cabins on a cruise which you can remove from inventory with a group block. But sometimes they would want more a few more cabins. We would then shut down the entire departure so that if someone cancelled the cabin could not be snatched up immediately by the sales department making a new reservation. Once the group reached the point where they definitely did not need any more cabins then the date would be reopened.

[jelayne]

Real Deal, yes it can take a long time.  Charters are very profitable for the cruise lines and the company/organization considering chartering a ship(s)  is the buyer and they move at a speed that works for them.  There are tons of things to be negotiated/arranged both between the organization/company that is interested in chartering the ship and the other suppliers needed to package a trip   The  organization/company is negotiating  for air transportation, ground transportation,  pre or post hotels, meals, events. That is in addition to working out with the cruise line the details of the charter - meals, drinks included, entertainment, excursions.  When all is agreed to then a contract gets signed and monies are paid.  That is when Celebrity will finally announce/

 

In my past for a few years I  was responsible for arranging annual trips for groups of 200-300. A much smaller number than a ship charter but still all the same details to be worked out before a firm commitment can be made/

[RealDeal]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Meanwhile, my online TA seems to have amazing group deals for the cruise out of Vancouver the week before. If I book that & they boot us off the sailing out of LA, would I still be able to apply any "compensation" they would offer to that cruise, or does my current physical booking have to moved to another ship?  

[patty1955]

It looks like it's chartered: https://sklasen.cruiseonegroups.com/#/groups/9039931

[wwcruisers]

1 hour ago, RealDeal said:

Thanks. This is just really frustrating... I believe Eclipse is scheduled for dry dock in 2020. Maybe they're thinking of moving it up? 

I surely hope not, as we are booked on the sailing (Vancouver to LA) immediately before yours. I just can't believe that X is STILL stringing you guys along! I remember considering that sailing, way back when we booked ours. No sooner than we had decided, your cruise disappeared from the inventory. That was back in September -- so, you guys have been in total limbo for what? Ten weeks, now? 😱

 

After all of this time, if you still can't get a straight answer ('inventory management is NOT a straight answer) out of the Captain's Club -- or your respective travel agents -- it might be time for an old-fashioned letter (or e-mail) writing campaign to Corporate. You, Jelayne, and Cruise Raider could contact the Executive Resolutions office, directly. If you have an active roll-call, get them involved too. I haven't sent an e-mail to Corporate for a long time, but I've heard that the Celebrity One-Touch address gets results. And, there's always snail-mail to RCCL headquarters (1050 Caribbean Way, Miami FL, 33132). My thought would be to get as many folks on your cruise as possible, to contact Corporate and let them know that you are NOT happy -- and what you want them to do about it. Good luck -- you guys deserve better treatment than this! 🤯

 

(BTW -- if it turns out that this sailing doesn't work out, we'd love to have all of you join us, on the 10-13-19 sailing, out of Vancouver!)

[RealDeal]

3 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

I surely hope not, as we are booked on the sailing (Vancouver to LA) immediately before yours. I just can't believe that X is STILL stringing you guys along! I remember considering that sailing, way back when we booked ours. No sooner than we had decided, your cruise disappeared from the inventory. That was back in September -- so, you guys have been in total limbo for what? Ten weeks, now? 😱

 

After all of this time, if you still can't get a straight answer ('inventory management is NOT a straight answer) out of the Captain's Club -- or your respective travel agents -- it might be time for an old-fashioned letter (or e-mail) writing campaign to Corporate. You, Jelayne, and Cruise Raider could contact the Executive Resolutions office, directly. If you have an active roll-call, get them involved too. I haven't sent an e-mail to Corporate for a long time, but I've heard that the Celebrity One-Touch address gets results. And, there's always snail-mail to RCCL headquarters (1050 Caribbean Way, Miami FL, 33132). My thought would be to get as many folks on your cruise as possible, to contact Corporate and let them know that you are NOT happy -- and what you want them to do about it. Good luck -- you guys deserve better treatment than this! 🤯

 

(BTW -- if it turns out that this sailing doesn't work out, we'd love to have all of you join us, on the 10-13-19 sailing, out of Vancouver!)

HAHAHA...ten weeks? Try 5 months! I booked at the end of June & it disappeared days thereafter. I'm really surprised you saw it into September, but now that I'm thinking about it, I believe one online TA in particular was still showing cabins even after it disappeared from X's website. 

 

Well, I may have more information to report. Thanks to patty1955's post, leading to a website saying this cruise has been chartered, I actually called the woman who is organizing that particular group & just spoke with her. She told me she was told by her sales rep a while ago that the cruise is in fact chartered. She moved her group to a Princess cruise in November. Now, I suppose it's entirely possible the charter falls through, but who knows. She also commented that she's very surprised they would charter this cruise because it's a one of a kind....there is no other identical sailing on X.

[RealDeal]

I have solved the puzzle. Someone on the roll call mentioned something about Atlantis doing a charter. The cruise is not on their website, so I called them & inquired about future cruises not on the website. The guy said, "Well, there's one in September, blah, blah." I said, "No...what about October?" He said, "Oh, we have a sailing on the Celebrity Eclipse to Mexico."  Me:"?!#:!!!" I regained my composure and said, "Let me guess....October 20th."  YUP.  I asked if it's a full or partial charter. He said full. And there you have it. 

 

Fellow cruisers on this itinerary: I will post on the roll call.

[trick]

The ship is chartered by Atlantis. I will be on this sailing. I booked the cruise on Atlantis charter of the Norwegian Pearl this October. Atlantis has a ship chartered a year in advance. Next year is the Celebrity Eclipse which most of the cruisers are excited for a luxurious ship sailing the Mexican Coast. 

[WonderMan3]

That's ridiculous that Celebrity has not notified passengers about this charter yet especially when Atlantis was already booking people last month and would've signed the contract at least a few months prior to that.

[RealDeal]

6 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

That's ridiculous that Celebrity has not notified passengers about this charter yet especially when Atlantis was already booking people last month and would've signed the contract at least a few months prior to that.

EXACTLY. RIDICULOUS.

[jelayne]

Well now we will wait and see what they offer to move & to what sailings!

[RealDeal]

16 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Well now we will wait and see what they offer to move & to what sailings!

 

Yeah, but who wants to sit around for who knows how long til they decide to let us know? I will tell you this much....my travel agent will be getting an earful tomorrow to take directly to Celebrity.

[wwcruisers]

4 hours ago, RealDeal said:

HAHAHA...ten weeks? Try 5 months! I booked at the end of June & it disappeared days thereafter. I'm really surprised you saw it into September, but now that I'm thinking about it, I believe one online TA in particular was still showing cabins even after it disappeared from X's website. 

 

Actually -- you are right -- it was June (not September) when we booked the 10-13-19 Eclipse cruise! Wow -- that HAS been a long time for you guys! Well, now that you know for sure that your date has been chartered -- get in touch with X, ASAP, about just what your options are. Hoping that they offer you some decent comp, and re-booking options.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by wwcruisers

[maxsales]

15 hours ago, RealDeal said:

Here's the story...I am booked on the Eclipse 10/20/19. I booked in June & literally days after I booked it vanished from every website, include X's. I have called Captain's Club repeatedly, had my TA look into this

It’s available for booking right now with many available cabins.