Celebrity Terrible Customer Service

[ak1004]

2 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Ahhh, Princess had an adverse condition which allowed you other options and OBC and perks...

 

Not so on this sailing with X. not a fair comparison I believe.

 

What perks are you losing by upgrading to a suite? Suite guests, or so I thought and have read, receive all four (4) perks some upgraded, and a separate dining room.

 

What have I missed in this particular posting?

 

bon voyage

 

They have two price levels for the sky suite: one with no perks, which is $1,500 more than our original booking, and one with all 4 perks which is an extra $400+ pps.

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, hcat said:

Perhaps the X rep  had bad info about cabin size and did not lie intentionally.  No reason to do so..

 

We all know the caution about losing perks when you change the res.

 

The TA should be better informed or do more research research. Maybe throw you some OBC.

 

I do agree that booking and switching around  is much more difficult nowadays.  Too much price and perk fluctation with no rhyme or reason.!

 

Better informed how??? She specifically asked if we keep the perks after changing cabins, and got a positive response.

[Tourist1292]

On certain ship, the Concierge cabin is slightly bigger. The CSR may just make an honest mistake instead of a lie.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Tourist1292

[Bo1953]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

They have two price levels for the sky suite: one with no perks, which is $1,500 more than our original booking, and one with all 4 perks which is an extra $400+ pps.

Okay, all of your postings are far more clearer with this one, now.

 

Quite possibly, you needed to leave everything the way it was without trying to gain more or game the system based on 'perceived' options/justice due a passenger in your position.

 

Is that $400 per passenger more? Have you taken into consideration the additional value of the other additions which come with suites? Yet, if decisions are being based on $ values alone and not the accoutrements in addition, there is nothing more for me to interject, except:

 

bon voyage

[chemmo]

Re Princess....I would be blazing if I had received a phone call wanting me to change my cruise date! I book early to ensure I have the room I want and that it will tie in with pre booked flights, hotels etc...

 

If not enough guests had been willing to accept Princess’s offer then guests were at risk of being ‘bumped’ of the cruise....How can that be good customer service? It just happened to suit you at the time. All cruise lines run on business margins, of course they will offer you the sun and moon if it suits them to do so!

 

I am quite sure that Celebrity, Princess and all other cruise lines have similar policies after final payment.

 

Sincere best wishes that you can put this behind you and enjoy your cruise.

[cricketgirl]

28 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Couple years ago we book a cruise with Princess. Few weeks before the cruise, they called us and told us that the cruise is overbooked. They offered us a full refund, PLUS an option to book a FREE cruise to anywhere in the world up to 14 days, including FREE flights, PLUS a cabin upgrade from mini suite to suite. This is what I call a customer service. Celebrity, watch and learn.

 

Sounds like Princess is a better option for you going forward...

[ak1004]

1 minute ago, Bo1953 said:

Okay, all of your postings are far more clearer with this one, now.

 

Quite possibly, you needed to leave everything the way it was without trying to gain more or game the system based on 'perceived' options/justice due a passenger in your position.

 

Is that $400 per passenger more? Have you taken into consideration the additional value of the other additions which come with suites? Yet, if decisions are being based on $ values alone and not the accoutrements in addition, there is nothing more for me to interject, except:

 

bon voyage

 

You are probably right, the concierge "upgrade" does not justify all the headache, but obviously I had no way to know that this is what is going to happen.

 

Yes, $400 is per person, so $1,200 in total, in addition to $1,500 difference. To me, it's not worth it, but of course everyone is different.

[ak1004]

6 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Re Princess....I would be blazing if I had received a phone call wanting me to change my cruise date! I book early to ensure I have the room I want and that it will tie in with pre booked flights, hotels etc...

 

If not enough guests had been willing to accept Princess’s offer then guests were at risk of being ‘bumped’ of the cruise....How can that be good customer service? It just happened to suit you at the time. All cruise lines run on business margins, of course they will offer you the sun and moon if it suits them to do so!

 

I am quite sure that Celebrity, Princess and all other cruise lines have similar policies after final payment.

 

Sincere best wishes that you can put this behind you and enjoy your cruise.

 

not enough guests had been willing to accept Princess’s offer? Trust me, this offer was accepted by more than enough guests on the same day. Typically when something like this happens, the line gives you a refund and few hundred dollars credit. Not a FREE cruise, including flights AND cabin upgrade. Yes, I consider it an excellent customer service.

[Gonzo70]

Sounds like the OP is confused and their TA is not the best; I am definitely not a Celebrity "fan boy" - but do not see any major wrong Celebrity did here. The rep shouldn't have said the Concierge Class stateroom was larger, but likely a minor mistake, not a lie (and on M-Class the size difference is not that big anyways). As others have said, most likely that a call just needs to be made by the TA to have the proper perks reapplied to the reso.  A minor inconvenience, but nothing to be worked up about.

 

More importantly, OP, if you are just days after final payment, you can cancel the booking, just lose your deposit, then rebook at the $3,000 lower price - hence a savings of $2,100. 😉

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Gonzo70

[ak1004]

12 minutes ago, cricketgirl said:

 

Sounds like Princess is a better option for you going forward...

 

Yes it is.

 

The only reason we selected Celebrity for our June cruise was the itinerary. After cruising with all "premium" lines (Celebrity, Princess, HAL and Cunard), I consider Celebrity the least "premium".

 

2 minutes ago, Gonzo70 said:

Sounds like the OP is confused and their TA is not the best; I am definitely not a Celebrity "fan boy" - but do not see any major wrong Celebrity did here. The rep shouldn't have said the Concierge Class stateroom was larger, but likely a minor mistake, not a lie (and on M-Class the size difference is not that big anyways). As others have said, most likely the a call just needs to be made by the TA to have the proper perks reapplied to the reso.  A minor inconvenience, but nothing to be worked up about.

 

More importantly, OP, if you are just days after final payment, you can cancel the booking, just lose your deposit, then rebook at the $3,000 lower price - hence a savings of $2,100. 😉

 

 

 

Sounds like you are the one who is confused. As I mentioned, the price drop was gradual and well timed. We are now less than 75 days before sailing, so if we cancel, we lose 50%, not just the deposit. And if cancelled after the final, you lose 25%, not just the deposit. 

[Marelaine]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

I did get the perks as I mentioned, and they promised to keep those perks. A promise they broke the same day.

 

I don't know if my TA could have negotiated more. Probably not as the next category is a suite, and it is more expensive than my original cost of the veranda.

 

Other community members have reported that their OBC was lost during category switches due to a software glitch or clerical error. Your TA should be able to have your OBC restored with a quick phone call to Celebrity.

I feel your pain with the price drop. I never look at the fares after final payment because I want to continue to feel I got a fair deal when I booked. But curiosity got the best of me after the horrible hurricane season a few years back. I had a Thanksgiving cruise booked to the Caribbean islands which were destroyed. We toyed with the idea of canceling, but really needed the vacation so I made final payment. And then I peeked at the dropping fares. I'm not going to lie. It hurt a bit, but I reminded myself that I thought I had a great deal at the time of booking and we ended up with a revised itinerary that was better than the original. 
 

I hope you are able to straighten the OBC issue and enjoy your cruise.

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, Marelaine said:

 

Other community members have reported that their OBC was lost during category switches due to a software glitch or clerical error. Your TA should be able to have your OBC restored with a quick phone call to Celebrity.

I feel your pain with the price drop. I never look at the fares after final payment because I want to continue to feel I got a fair deal when I booked. But curiosity got the best of me after the horrible hurricane season a few years back. I had a Thanksgiving cruise booked to the Caribbean islands which were destroyed. We toyed with the idea of canceling, but really needed the vacation so I made final payment. And then I peeked at the dropping fares. I'm not going to lie. It hurt a bit, but I reminded myself that I thought I had a great deal at the time of booking and we ended up with a revised itinerary that was better than the original. 
 

I hope you are able to straighten the OBC issue and enjoy your cruise.

 

I agree.

 

I still believe the original deal was decent, and we got good prices on flights. My point was not about the price drop, but about how Celebrity handled the call. Hopefully it's just a glitch.

[Covepointcruiser]

Sounds like a good opportunity to enjoy a Suite and all of its perks for less than $3k.    Luminae is a much better place to dine than the MDR.   You can come whenever you want, no reservations and no waits.   The room will certainly be more comfortable for three passengers, with a larger balcony as well.   One problem would be that you won’t be satisfied with less than Suite class on future

sailings.   Cunard knew what they were doing when they upgraded us from a Britannia veranda to the Queens Grill Q5.    We have never gone back to lower staterooms.

[ak1004]

16 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Sounds like a good opportunity to enjoy a Suite and all of its perks for less than $3k.    Luminae is a much better place to dine than the MDR.   You can come whenever you want, no reservations and no waits.   The room will certainly be more comfortable for three passengers, with a larger balcony as well.   One problem would be that you won’t be satisfied with less than Suite class on future

sailings.   Cunard knew what they were doing when they upgraded us from a Britannia veranda to the Queens Grill Q5.    We have never gone back to lower staterooms.

 

It does sound tempting, especially for the Luminae.. However, we barely spend any time in the room, except for sleeping. 

We were on suite on Princess as I mentioned before, and had no issues to go back to inside cabin on following cruises. I would probably consider it if the sky suite was a real suite (two separate rooms). But it is essentially just a bigger room, with bigger balcony, which we don't use anyway. Most days are spent in ports anyway, and for two sea days, which we will spend mostly on the pool and/or activities, it is not worth for us.

 

I guess everyone has different priorities. We prefer spending the money on business class flight, and more shore excursions. Other prefer bigger and fancier cabins. To each its own. 

[lj77346]

Most cruise lines tape the calls to their reps and very likely this is the case with Celebrity.  If your TA specifically asked if you could keep your perks and the Celebrity rep answered affirmatively, then have your TA call Celebrity and ask to speak with a supervisor.  Describe the conversation with the Celebrity rep noting the rep's name and the date and approximate time of the call.  Ask that the tape of the call be reviewed and if the Celebrity rep did say the perks would not be lost if you took an upgrade, they should be restored or some other remedy may be offered if the error was Celebrity's.  I had a transaction (not with Celebrity) where the invoice I received did not reflect what I was told during a phone call and after review of the tape, the error was corrected.  Hope you can get a reasonable resolution to a frustrating situation.

[Hlitner]

I would normally be the last person to defend X, but in this case this might be more about the travel agent.  Lowering prices after final pmt is common among many cruise lines?  Those of us who routinely do last minute bookings will often take advantage of those deals.  When you book prior to final pmt you should be aware of the policy.  If you are using a decent travel/cruise agency you should not be getting a direct msg from X asking you for more money.  That would normally go through your agent.  That kind of issue should have been settled by your agent before making any kind of last minute deal.  Your agent should also be familiar with the ship and know that the Concierge and Aqua Class cabins are the same size as the regular balcony cabins.  Sounds to me like you need to find a better cruise/travel agent.

 

We book all of our cruises through high volume cruise agencies that always give us extra perks ( like on board credits) which are usually around 10% of the cruise price. Anything our agents promise are quickly confirmed in writing so there are no later mis understandings.  Trying to get some kind of "adjustment" after final pmt can be tricky and a good agent should be on top of their game.  It sounds like your agent dropped the ball.

 

Hank

PS.  Consider that you only have the word of your agent on what they were told by Celebrity

[hcat]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Better informed how??? She specifically asked if we keep the perks after changing cabins, and got a positive response.

 

 

Asking X to review the tape is a good idea

 

We try to get it all in writing ( e mail )  is one approach... checking with more than one rep..always!   knowing how X works is another...

 

Sadly, when our former TA knew less than we did about the various  Celebrity  ships we had sailed on  and called us for info for other cluents, we knew it was time to move on..

 

It was unfortunate gut hopefilly you are now satified with the price, cabin and perk options and can go forward to enjoy the cruise! You deserve it,,,

[TeeRick]

Any experienced TA booking cruises should clearly know Celebrity's rules about price changes post final payment and about upgrade offers.  Also about specific cabin sizes.  Not really seeing this as Celebrity's fault.  Poor customer service by the TA however.

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

I would normally be the last person to defend X, but in this case this might be more about the travel agent.  Lowering prices after final pmt is common among many cruise lines?  Those of us who routinely do last minute bookings will often take advantage of those deals.  When you book prior to final pmt you should be aware of the policy.  If you are using a decent travel/cruise agency you should not be getting a direct msg from X asking you for more money.  That would normally go through your agent.  That kind of issue should have been settled by your agent before making any kind of last minute deal.  Your agent should also be familiar with the ship and know that the Concierge and Aqua Class cabins are the same size as the regular balcony cabins.  Sounds to me like you need to find a better cruise/travel agent.

 

We book all of our cruises through high volume cruise agencies that always give us extra perks ( like on board credits) which are usually around 10% of the cruise price. Anything our agents promise are quickly confirmed in writing so there are no later mis understandings.  Trying to get some kind of "adjustment" after final pmt can be tricky and a good agent should be on top of their game.  It sounds like your agent dropped the ball.

 

Hank

PS.  Consider that you only have the word of your agent on what they were told by Celebrity

 

The email asking more money was sent to us because we booked the shore excursions directly from Celebrity website and used the onboard credit was used for the excursions booking. This is why when the credit was removed, it resulted a balance, and the email was sent to the email address on the account, which is ours.

 

I understand that if you sail a lot on a specific cruise line, you will know all the nuances about the cabins and perks, but is it realistic to expect from the TA to be familiar with all cabin sizes and nuances of all cruise lines? There are at least 10-15 popular lines, each line has several classes of ships, and each ship has at least 5-7 categories. Does you agent know all of them?

 

As I mentioned (several times), I was well aware of the policy. It was advised on this board actually to try and call the cruise line and try to get some kind of upgrade.

 

And no, I don't have only the word of my agent. As I mentioned before, I was actually on line during the conversation.

 

And even if it was only the word of my agent, I have been working with her for years, and fully trust her. If you don't trust your agent, maybe it's you who should be looking for a better agent..

[ak1004]

38 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Any experienced TA booking cruises should clearly know Celebrity's rules about price changes post final payment and about upgrade offers.  Also about specific cabin sizes.  Not really seeing this as Celebrity's fault.  Poor customer service by the TA however.

 

Responses like this clearly show why Celebrity don't really care about their terrible customer service.

 

"Who Ya Gonna Believe Me or Your Own Eyes?"

[Oceansaway17]

wow I am surprised.

I travel on all the cruise lines and Celebrity is one of the best.  Celebrity is very good about changes or least with me.

 

I do ALWAYS tell anyone who listens, forget the TA and do your own booking and ask questions.  Own the reservation yourself.  TA have and do make mistakes.   Don't let some OBC be the only reason for not doing your own booking.

 

In fact I called to move my "EDGE" cruise for a 3rd time and switched to "APEX" for 2021.

The agent told me booking the new ship for a far out date allowed her to provide even more OBC.

 

I love that fact that Celebrity while part of RC International, they do have better customer service than Royal ship line does.

 

 

 

[Quo Vadis?]

While on board a recent celebrity sailing we booked two cruises to obtain the Martin Luther King promo but did not assign the booking to a travel agent because I wanted to shop around.

Once we returned home I contacted Celebrity to assign the booking to a travel agent.

Celebrity assigned new booking numbers, cancelled the cabins booked under the old number and forgot to include the OBC for MLK and onboard booking bonus and priced the cruises higher than the original booking.

 

After many emails and phone calls we were able to get the onboard booking OBC, no MLK OBC and only one of the cabins back because it was now booked by another passenger.

 

The whole process made me doubt the competence of the whole department..

Why were the booking numbers changed?

Why did they not give me the original cabins?

Why did we loose our MLK OBC?

Why did they not replicate the original pricing?

Why did this take hours on the phone and multiple emails?

 

Despite the normal cheerleaders believing Celebrity can do no wrong, sometimes Celebrity customer service resembles their award winning web site.  Any chain is only as good as the weakest link.

 

[Hlitner]

Do I expect my cruise agents to know about cabins sizes on a very main stream Solstice Class ship?  You betcha.   If I book a more obscure Ponent ship A good cruise agent might say something like " you are my first customer to book Ponent?"  But if a cruise agent is not familiar with the mass market ships then I would be looking for a new agent.

 

Hank

[ak1004]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

Do I expect my cruise agents to know about cabins sizes on a very main stream Solstice Class ship?  You betcha.  

 

Hank

 

Well, to each its own. I have been working with my agent for years. Very personal service. Always responsive. Always tracks the prices in case there is a drop before the final payment. Calls me while on vacation for updates.

 

And if she doesn't know that concierge and veranda are the same size, I couldn't care less. This is not what defines a good and caring agent. I would never doubt her word and say "you only have the word of your agent on what they were told by Celebrity" because I know she is telling me the truth.

[fleckle]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

I understand that if you sail a lot on a specific cruise line, you will know all the nuances about the cabins and perks, but is it realistic to expect from the TA to be familiar with all cabin sizes and nuances of all cruise lines? There are at least 10-15 popular lines, each line has several classes of ships, and each ship has at least 5-7 categories. Does you agent know all of them?better agent..

 

Of course no one person can be familiar with all cabin sizes and nuances of all ships on all cruise lines.  (Just look at the problems even frequent Celebrity cruisers are having trying to keep up with the latest changes on Celebrity ships alone.)

 

But different TAs who do high volume business with different cruise lines  can offer their passengers better deals on different cruises. 

That's why it pays to compare offers and not just automatically use the same TA every time for every cruise.

 

It also pays to check out the cruises and offers yourself and not rely exclusively on the word of any TA. 

Someone posted about being stuck with their original high cruise fare when prices dropped dramatically after the Caribbean hurricanes.  But those of us who bothered to check received some extremely nice upgrades and perks on those cruises at that time at no additional cost.

 

It is also important to receive a copy of the updated invoice immediately each time when making any change so that you can look it over and have it corrected right then and there, if anything is missing or incorrect.

Those agents are only human and we all make mistakes.

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by fleckle