Help request for same cruise same price issue

[scouseronline]

Hi, 

 

Wondering if anyone has a suggestion that might help us, 

 

We have a booking for a 12 night sailing leaving from Boston in October 2020, cruise ends in Ft. Lauderdale. We booked the sailing while onboard a cruise last year. 

 

We want to move our sailing date to next year as final payment is due in June and at this time our borders with the USA are closed. Unfortunately,  the exact same cruise is not available, however I did find another cruise that matched in every way as per the requirements of the same cruise same price option, except it is round trip from Ft. Lauderdale, so the only difference would be that it leaves from a different port, yet both end in FLL. 

 

Took 10 days to get a response from my TA, he said Celebrity won't allow the change, I phoned Celebrity myself,  they said they can't speak to me about it because it was transferred to a TA, have to go through my TA, 

 

I am an Elite Captains Club member, but that doesn't seem to make any difference with Celebrity. 

 

Any ideas ? 

 

Thanks

 

[sippican]

8 minutes ago, scouseronline said:

Hi, 

 

Wondering if anyone has a suggestion that might help us, 

 

We have a booking for a 12 night sailing leaving from Boston in October 2020, cruise ends in Ft. Lauderdale. We booked the sailing while onboard a cruise last year. 

 

We want to move our sailing date to next year as final payment is due in June and at this time our borders with the USA are closed. Unfortunately,  the exact same cruise is not available, however I did find another cruise that matched in every way as per the requirements of the same cruise same price option, except it is round trip from Ft. Lauderdale, so the only difference would be that it leaves from a different port, yet both end in FLL. 

 

Took 10 days to get a response from my TA, he said Celebrity won't allow the change, I phoned Celebrity myself,  they said they can't speak to me about it because it was transferred to a TA, have to go through my TA, 

 

I am an Elite Captains Club member, but that doesn't seem to make any difference with Celebrity. 

 

Any ideas ? 

 

Thanks

 

 

First of all you need a new TA - the response time is unacceptable! Try calling X again and ask them how to remove your TA from your reservation. Celebrity will not service a reservation made through a travel agent no matter what your status level is.  If your travel agent works for a large travel agency, try asking to speak with someone higher up or e-mail the owner/manager.  Sounds like your agent just didn't wat to deal with the long hold times. 

 

Are you trying to apply the "Lift and Shift"  option? It is my understanding that X is being very liberal in allowing the rebookings, especially if there is no identical itinerary.  I think you are being quite reasonable in your request and feel that it would be honored.  Good luck!

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by sippican

[Bo1953]

While I Am not sure, I do not believe this can be done before the sailing is actually cancelled and you have a FCC.

 

Someone will correct this if not accurate.

 

bon voyage

[FlorenceItaly]

12 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

While I Am not sure, I do not believe this can be done before the sailing is actually cancelled and you have a FCC.

 

Someone will correct this if not accurate.

 

bon voyage

It can be done before the sailing has been cancelled.  Just this week I did a lift and shift from November 27, 2020 to December 10, 2021.  Mine is same ship(Equinox), same nights(12).  With that said, I am still waiting for the booking confirmation showing that I am price protected.  My CP at Celebrity says it takes 72 hours to receive confirmation.  It is showing on my cruise planner but not at price protected price.  

 

To the OP, I think your TA is going to need to go to bat for you for this to be accomplished since there is no exact itinerary next year.  We are booked on the October 16, 2021 Boston to San Juan, and it would not surprise me one bit if it ends of being Boston to FLL to replace the Infinity with the Summit,  but this is pure speculation on my part.

[jelayne]

I think the problem could be that fact that the Boston - Ft. Lauderdale  is considered a repositioning cruise where as the cruise you want to move to is a round-trip.   So  as a repo it doesn't really meet the requirements of the program.  Celebrity has been fairly flexible and if you were requesting to move to a similar itinerary that was 1 day longer  or sailing from Miami vs Ft Lauderdale it wouldn't  a issue.

 

By the way there are thousands of Elite and Elite Plus  so if they make exceptions based on Captains Club status it would be a zoo.

 

 

[Fouremco]

While Celebrity has been reasonably flexible in the application of the L&S,  I agree with @jelayne that the two cruises are insufficiently similar and fall outside the parameters of the program.

 

As final payment isn't due until next month, the OP still has the option of cancelling the Boston cruise and booking the Fort Lauderdale RT or any other cruise of his choice directly.

 

Alternatively, he could make the final payment in the hope that Celebrity cancels the cruise and will issue 125% FCC.  

[scouseronline]

40 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

While Celebrity has been reasonably flexible in the application of the L&S,  I agree with @jelayne that the two cruises are insufficiently similar and fall outside the parameters of the program.

 

As final payment isn't due until next month, the OP still has the option of cancelling the Boston cruise and booking the Fort Lauderdale RT or any other cruise of his choice directly.

 

Alternatively, he could make the final payment in the hope that Celebrity cancels the cruise and will issue 125% FCC.  

 

Sorry, but respectfully, I don't agree, 

 

The # of nights is the same, Cabin is the same, itinerary is the same, Class of ship exchange is allowable, the only one thing that is different is that this ship departs from Boston instead of FLL. The cost of both these cruises, if I were to book today, are the same, so it's not like it's a more expensive cruise. 

 

Celebrity is offering a solution to the crisis we have now,   I believe it should apply to all cruisers, not just some. If I could move to an identical sailing I would but they don't have one. We are talking Boston V FLL, it's not like we are looking at departing from a different country.  

 

Response from TA (Large TA Company, that I have used for years) 

" Celebrity advised me they had made a few exceptions in the beginning, but have since stopped so no longer any exceptions, you can contact them directly and see what they say" 

He must have missed the part of my message that advised Celebrity won't speak with me because I have a TA. 

 

I have asked for him to escalate to his supervisor, we'll see what happens 😞

 

Thanks to everyone for your input, much appreciated

[sippican]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

While Celebrity has been reasonably flexible in the application of the L&S,  I agree with @jelayne that the two cruises are insufficiently similar and fall outside the parameters of the program.

 

As final payment isn't due until next month, the OP still has the option of cancelling the Boston cruise and booking the Fort Lauderdale RT or any other cruise of his choice directly.

 

Alternatively, he could make the final payment in the hope that Celebrity cancels the cruise and will issue 125% FCC.  

 

Not sure how they fall outside of the parameters of the program. We're seeing a great deal of flexibility when there is no comparable cruise to shift to. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, scouseronline said:

 

Sorry, but respectfully, I don't agree, 

 

The # of nights is the same, Cabin is the same, itinerary is the same, Class of ship exchange is allowable, the only one thing that is different is that this ship departs from Boston instead of FLL. The cost of both these cruises, if I were to book today, are the same, so it's not like it's a more expensive cruise. 

 

Celebrity is offering a solution to the crisis we have now,   I believe it should apply to all cruisers, not just some. If I could move to an identical sailing I would but they don't have one. We are talking Boston V FLL, it's not like we are looking at departing from a different country.  

 

Response from TA (Large TA Company, that I have used for years) 

" Celebrity advised me they had made a few exceptions in the beginning, but have since stopped so no longer any exceptions, you can contact them directly and see what they say" 

He must have missed the part of my message that advised Celebrity won't speak with me because I have a TA. 

 

I have asked for him to escalate to his supervisor, we'll see what happens 😞

 

Thanks to everyone for your input, much appreciated

One of the benefits of CC is that we can state opinions without necessarily seeking or receiving agreement. I accept the fact that you disagree with my post, but I've yet to see Celebrity allow an L&S from a repo to an RT. Consequently, I was simply basing my opinion based on what I've seen Celebrity allow to date. 

 

Just a couple of follow up questions. First, have you discussed this on your roll call? There may be others who have tried and received the same response or a completely different one, one that you could use to your advantage.

 

The second question is which cruise are you thinking of switching to? I've not seen a cruise in 2021 that is identical to your Boston cruise (other than the port of embarkation), but I probably just missed it. 

[elaineb]

4 hours ago, sippican said:

 

Are you trying to apply the "Lift and Shift"  option? It is my understanding that X is being very liberal in allowing the rebookings, especially if there is no identical itinerary.  I think you are being quite reasonable in your request and feel that it would be honored.  Good luck!

 

 

1 hour ago, sippican said:

 

Not sure how they fall outside of the parameters of the program. We're seeing a great deal of flexibility when there is no comparable cruise to shift to. 

We have a cruise booked in October, 6 nights on the Equinox.  There is no 6 night cruise next October.  There is however, several 6 nighters starting with dates at the end of May though the beginning of August.  There is a switch of islands from Key West to Nassau instead, but the other 2 are the same.  As to the above comments, I have not had this experience of flexibility.  Several hours on the phone and pushed up to several supervisors, and all said the same thing - no.  My last Hail Mary is a detailed email for which I haven't received a response yet.  I feel the cruise in August is a good switch - ship, duration, pricing, etc.  But it does not fall withing the 1 year and 4 week window.  They were adamant about that window.  

I wish you good luck and if anyone has success with the L&S outside of the window, please advise.

[Alakegirl]

The Boston repositioning cruise is not identical in that it ends in San Juan, but there is a repositioning cruise a year after the OP’s original cruise.  I agree that a Fort Lauderdale round trip is not equivalent to a repositioning

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, sippican said:

 

Not sure how they fall outside of the parameters of the program. We're seeing a great deal of flexibility when there is no comparable cruise to shift to. 

The program specifies, inter alia, that you must select "an alternative sailing of the same itinerary type". Repositioning cruises are not usually considered to be the same type of cruise as a round trip trip. 

 

You're quite right about flexibility being shown, but that still doesn't mean that they'll totally ignore their guidelines in all cases. I hope they do allow the OP to make the switch, but I wouldn't count on it.

[scouseronline]

20 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

The Boston repositioning cruise is not identical in that it ends in San Juan, but there is a repositioning cruise a year after the OP’s original cruise.  I agree that a Fort Lauderdale round trip is not equivalent to a repositioning

The Boston 2020 12 night repositioning cruise ends in FLL and is a Southern Caribbean cruise, I am trying to switch to the Equinox (this class of ship change is allowed) 12 night S Caribbean cruise leaving Sept 6, 2021, within the 4 week window 

 

 

[Mike981]

OP I wish you the best solution.

 

I just emailed my 'big travel agency' today in the hopes of doing the L&S. 1/21 to 1/22.
I was unable to find another 10 day that was in the same class, we are S and the only ship doing a 10 day January 2022 Caribbean is the Edge. So I am looking at the Equinox (love the ship) and a 9 day to the ABC's.

If what I read on the Celebrity website is correct, all our perks will transfer. It seams like the best solution at the moment.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Mike981

[Bruin Steve]

I'm still working with Celebrity on getting myself a "Lift and Shift" deal...

But, here is the problem in a nutshell:  My travel agent was told--and she relayed it to me--that I could ONLY use it to book a cruise which was:

1)  Same number of nights

2)  Same "destination"

3)  Same ship  ...and

4)  Within 30 days of my canceled sailing

...and that they were VERY STRICT on the interpretation...

 

In my case, I had "back-to-back" sailings--7 nights each in July...Which were designed to give me two ports new to me (Zadar and Rijeka)...and only one port repeating on the two cruises (Originally, it was no repeats, but they changed one early on).  Problem is that 2021 itineraries are NOT an exact match to the 2020 itineraries.  So, the ship I was on, the Infinity, now has an 8 night itinerary smack in the middle of what were my 2020 dates.  In August, the ship starts doing 9 and 10 night itineraries.  None of the 7 night "eligible" itineraries include Zadar and Rijeka and any combination of two back-to-back have three repeated ports (NOT why I would ever schedule back-to-back cruises).

 

Of course, my TA and Celebrity both insist that I can do a "Lift and Shift" to two consecutive 7 night Infinity cruises.

 

They do have 7-night Apex cruises that can be done back-to-back that don't repeat more than one port...and these also, like Infinity, leave from Rome.  And, remarkably, the price difference, even at today's high prices, for my same category cabin (Concierge), are LESS than 20% higher for the Apex.  It has been suggested that I can take the 125% FCC and book the Apex...but, even with the current great perk offers, I would actually lose money in OBC from my exceptional current deal.  Plus, I would really rather not mess with trying to reconstruct everything.

 

But, seriously, one 7 night cruise on the same ship but with a different itinerary in 2021 is NOT really the same cruise as the 2021 one...So, of course, their "gotcha" is that this would mean I'm not eligible for the "Lift and Shift" deal.  But, do they really want to punish someone who has paid for two cruises well over a year in advance who would just like to STAY WITH THEM?

 

Also fitting into this equation is that they HAVE allowed passengers on some Millennium sailings switch to the Eclipse since the Millie is not doing those routes next year...  The consistency really isn't all there...Neither is the logic.  One would think they would WANT to keep your money and book you on another cruise a year down the line--unless, of course, if they really had the expectation of filling those cabins at a MUCH higher price--like GREATER than the 125% of what you paid that they are offering in FCC...

[Fouremco]

26 minutes ago, scouseronline said:

The Boston 2020 12 night repositioning cruise ends in FLL and is a Southern Caribbean cruise, I am trying to switch to the Equinox (this class of ship change is allowed) 12 night S Caribbean cruise leaving Sept 6, 2021, within the 4 week window 

 

 

Well, there's your problem. They are the same length and they both end in Fort Lauderdale, but the itineraries are totally different. 

 

Boston Sailing:

 

 

 

Fort Lauderdale Sailing:

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, scouseronline said:

Unfortunately,  the exact same cruise is not available, however I did find another cruise that matched in every way as per the requirements of the same cruise same price option, except it is round trip from Ft. Lauderdale, so the only difference would be that it leaves from a different port, yet both end in FLL. 

 

 

No, not even close to matching in every way, and it's now clear why Celebrity, even being flexible, couldn't justify an L&S under the current program requirements.

 

Oh, BTW, the Equinox sailing is on September 5, not September 6.

 

[jelayne]

43 minutes ago, scouseronline said:

The Boston 2020 12 night repositioning cruise ends in FLL and is a Southern Caribbean cruise, I am trying to switch to the Equinox (this class of ship change is allowed) 12 night S Caribbean cruise leaving Sept 6, 2021, within the 4 week window 

 

 

 

I see a Southern Caribbean on the Equinox on 9/5/21 but that cruise (with the exception of ending in Ft. Lauderdale)  has totally different ports than your Oct 2020  booking.   So if the reps at X are looking for the same or very similar itinerary I see why you are having difficulty.

 

Looks like @Fouremco found the same problem I did.

Edited May 28, 2020 by jelayne

[wrk2cruise]

The other couple of options you may have to argue your case.   Have the TA place a 3 way call with Celebrity so you can argue your case.  Try to get the call pushed to resolutions if necessary as they tend to have the final say.

 

Compose a detailed email outlining your case, what you have done to try to get a reasonable resolution.  Be firm but polite.  Send to CelebrityOneTouch@celebrity.com.

 

You are correct that there are many itineraries which have no direct replacement.  I think it would have been nice if they provided at least 1 substitute sailing where they would protect the price/perks so that everyone would have the choice of using the program.

 

Good luck.

[scouseronline]

Thank you to everyone for your positive input. 

 

They are both Southern Caribbean Cruises, in fact the port taxes and fees are higher on the Summit, with fewer stops, than on the Equinox. 

 

I really don't see what the big deal is to transfer the booking, why are some customers offered this benefit and others denied , make it equal to all cruisers. 

 

Regardless, Celebrity are not budging, said there is no cruise at all that we can transfer to. Disappointed. 

[mduffy1834]

Thanks scouseronline and everyone for the input.  We are also booked for the repo this October and disappointed that there is not an equitable cruise next year out of Boston.  We have not cancelled yet and will look to see what happens.  Being from Massachusetts, we have to wait to see if the governor and the powers that be even open up the port - probably not going to happen if they have already cancelled the Boston marathon in September.  If Celebrity cancels, we will take the FCC and book something else in the future.  If by some chance the cruise does happen, I'm ready to board.

[GeorgesGal]

 'final payment is due in June' from OP's post.

 

Since final is not due until June, why hesitate cancelling this cruise now, and book the one for next year.  This way you don't lose anything, and don't get dragged out until after you have to make final pay.

Donna

[deliver42]

The problem is that one is a repositioning cruise, and the other a round trip.

[yorky]

Yep, I’m afraid I agree with other in this case, outside the parameters.