Celebrity silence

[jim.ricecreek]

We have fully paid for a September 2020 sailing aboard the Flora.

 

At the moment we have received zero communications from Celebrity.   With the trip only 3 months away,  is this normal? 

 

We are beginning to get concerned. 

 

Does anyone have any insight as to what is going on? 

[marieps]

I'd first ask if you have a TA.  Secondly, have you asked X for a status report with no response?  You won't hear from them unless you contact them.  

[jim.ricecreek]

Yes, we have a TA.  She has spent countless hours on the phone holding for Celebrity.  The silence is deafening. 

[jim.ricecreek]

I have looked at Celebrity's website and they are still selling the trip.   

How does someone get a status report?   

[K12Guy]

12 minutes ago, jim.ricecreek said:

I have looked at Celebrity's website and they are still selling the trip.   

How does someone get a status report?   

That status will stay as 'sailing' until Celebrity is forced to cancel the cruise.

 

As such, Jim, it's a wait and see game as to which, if any, ships might actually sail in September. Do you happen to know if connecting flights are still available? Is Ecuador allowing visitors to the Galapagos as of September?

 

Unfortunately no one will be contacting you at this venture, simply because they have nothing to contact you about, if that makes sense. The cruise lines are at the mercy of the CDC, World Health Organization, and local governments and cruise lines can't do a darn thing without guidance or approval from those entities.

 

Try to be patient.

[KateWes]

We are in a similar situation- sailing out of Venice on 27th Aug.

 

Id agree with the above comments that Celebrity will only contact you if they have something to tell you. Unfortunately no one knows at the moment if / when cruising will restart in 2020 and no customer service rep from Celebrity will give you a definite answer at this point.

 

i would assume the cruise is going ahead and but prepare yourselves for a cancellation. Unfortunately looking at other cruise line extensions of cancellations up until Oct 2020 I would assume celebrity may follow up.

 

A lot of uncertainty but that just seems to be the way of the world atm with this pandemic !

[rachiem]

Us too, we are sailing from Venice 12th Sept. I'm hoping that if they cancel it will be soon as we need to make final payment next month.

[Cruise a holic]

Heard Cunard cancelled sailings until November.  Who knows if other cruise lines will follow.  Many ports still closed and employees still not home.  I wouldn’t count on any sailings before december.

[Bo1953]

7 hours ago, K12Guy said:

That status will stay as 'sailing' until Celebrity is forced to cancel the cruise.

 

As such, Jim, it's a wait and see game as to which, if any, ships might actually sail in September. Do you happen to know if connecting flights are still available? Is Ecuador allowing visitors to the Galapagos as of September?

 

Unfortunately no one will be contacting you at this venture, simply because they have nothing to contact you about, if that makes sense. The cruise lines are at the mercy of the CDC, World Health Organization, and local governments and cruise lines can't do a darn thing without guidance or approval from those entities.

 

Try to be patient.

Perfect sense, to me.

 

Some self-research may be in order for this situation and plan accordingly.

 

The cruise may bo, yet if flights are not on, then the cruise is not a go for any given passenger and etc... unless they can drive to the port?

 

bon voyage

Edited June 11, 2020 by Bo1953

[Snit13]

5 hours ago, KateWes said:

We are in a similar situation- sailing out of Venice on 27th Aug.

 

Id agree with the above comments that Celebrity will only contact you if they have something to tell you. Unfortunately no one knows at the moment if / when cruising will restart in 2020 and no customer service rep from Celebrity will give you a definite answer at this point.

 

i would assume the cruise is going ahead and but prepare yourselves for a cancellation. Unfortunately looking at other cruise line extensions of cancellations up until Oct 2020 I would assume celebrity may follow up.

 

A lot of uncertainty but that just seems to be the way of the world atm with this pandemic !

I was booked to sail from Amsterdam tomorrow, June 12 but Royal did NOT cancel our cruise until May 20th.  The reps were not informed by the powers that be thus were not able to answer any questions with facts.  I was following Amsterdam information on US State Dept site and knew the port was closed and they would not allow Brilliance to sail but I knew more than the reps.  Go to State Dept site and check ITALY and see if their ports are open.  We were to go to Germany via rail post cruise and were aware that Germany would not allow us to travel there.  My suggestion would be to "Let your fingers do the walking," across your computer and do your own research.  I was waiting for cruise to cancel because I wanted a full refund so I could book Celebrity Reflection for 2021 in the hopes the virus would be gone by then.  Brilliance cruise canceled May 20 and refunded in full May 29.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Snit13
error

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, K12Guy said:

That status will stay as 'sailing' until Celebrity is forced to cancel the cruise.

 

As such, Jim, it's a wait and see game as to which, if any, ships might actually sail in September. Do you happen to know if connecting flights are still available? Is Ecuador allowing visitors to the Galapagos as of September?

 

Unfortunately no one will be contacting you at this venture, simply because they have nothing to contact you about, if that makes sense. The cruise lines are at the mercy of the CDC, World Health Organization, and local governments and cruise lines can't do a darn thing without guidance or approval from those entities.

 

Try to be patient.

Yes a very good summary of the situation.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Snit13 said:

I was booked to sail from Amsterdam tomorrow, June 12 but Royal did NOT cancel our cruise until May 20th.  The reps were not informed by the powers that be thus were not able to answer any questions with facts.  I was following Amsterdam information on US State Dept site and knew the port was closed and they would not allow Brilliance to sail but I knew more than the reps.  Go to State Dept site and check ITALY and see if their ports are open.  We were to go to Germany via rail post cruise and were aware that Germany would not allow us to travel there.  My suggestion would be to "Let your fingers do the walking," across your computer and do your own research.  I was waiting for cruise to cancel because I wanted a full refund so I could book Celebrity Reflection for 2021 in the hopes the virus would be gone by then.  Brilliance cruise canceled May 20 and refunded in full May 29.

Excellent advice. A good start, coming here to ask, but you'll have to keep digging.

[adolfo2]

5 hours ago, rachiem said:

Us too, we are sailing from Venice 12th Sept. I'm hoping that if they cancel it will be soon as we need to make final payment next month.

Be prepared to "Pay-UP" and then suffer the "Death of a Thousand Cuts" waiting for a refund 😞

[rachiem]

1 minute ago, adolfo2 said:

Be prepared to "Pay-UP" and then suffer the "Death of a Thousand Cuts" waiting for a refund 😞

Haha, I'm still waiting for a refund from NCL for a cancelled March sailing, so I know the pain involved!

My cancelled cruise with P&O was refunded in just a few weeks though!

[sippican]

11 hours ago, jim.ricecreek said:

Yes, we have a TA.  She has spent countless hours on the phone holding for Celebrity.  The silence is deafening. 

 

There is a dedicated phone line for the Galapagos Desk - the waits are much shorter than the regular numbers so it's surprising your agent reports spending hours on hold.. That being said, there is no answer, period. The cruise has not been cancelled yet, along with hundreds of others.

 

[davekathy]

11 hours ago, jim.ricecreek said:

Yes, we have a TA.  She has spent countless hours on the phone holding for Celebrity.  The silence is deafening. 

Sounds like your TA needs to stay on the phone until Celebrity answers, no matter the wait time. That's part of the TAs job is to provide you with info you request. 

[K.T.B.]

I have an August 9th cruise, so I'm also in the "wait and see" mode.  For now, I'm sailing until I'm not!  

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, K.T.B. said:

I have an August 9th cruise, so I'm also in the "wait and see" mode.  For now, I'm sailing until I'm not!  

Yep, let Celebrity make that decision first. 

[KateWes]

5 minutes ago, K.T.B. said:

I have an August 9th cruise, so I'm also in the "wait and see" mode.  For now, I'm sailing until I'm not!  

good way to look at it ! Same as ourselves!
 

I’m guessing they are holding off as long as possible to cancel to avoid processing the refunds any earlier than they have to!

[K.T.B.]

At this point, having paid in full, the only thing to do is just wait to see what Celebrity does.  I'm not going to lose money on it, as I have a "back up" cruise in December in case August does get cancelled.  If it is cancelled, FCC goes towards December.

[txd]

4 hours ago, Snit13 said:

I was booked to sail from Amsterdam tomorrow, June 12 but Royal did NOT cancel our cruise until May 20th.  The reps were not informed by the powers that be thus were not able to answer any questions with facts.  I was following Amsterdam information on US State Dept site and knew the port was closed and they would not allow Brilliance to sail but I knew more than the reps.  Go to State Dept site and check ITALY and see if their ports are open.  We were to go to Germany via rail post cruise and were aware that Germany would not allow us to travel there.  My suggestion would be to "Let your fingers do the walking," across your computer and do your own research.  I was waiting for cruise to cancel because I wanted a full refund so I could book Celebrity Reflection for 2021 in the hopes the virus would be gone by then.  Brilliance cruise canceled May 20 and refunded in full May 29.

Be sure to check if the port is open, including for the cruise ships. Checking State Dept side might not give a clear picture.

[DrKoob]

20 hours ago, jim.ricecreek said:

We have fully paid for a September 2020 sailing aboard the Flora.

 

At the moment we have received zero communications from Celebrity.   With the trip only 3 months away,  is this normal? 

 

We are beginning to get concerned. 

 

Does anyone have any insight as to what is going on? 

 

Welcome to the club. We are on the August 2 sailing of Flora and X has cancelled through July 31. We are waiting to see what happens because we want the 125% FCC. If they decide to sail (which I highly doubt they will) then we will Lift and Shift to next summer. Ecuador has had HUGE problems and the Galapagos themselves are very shut down because there have next to no medical facilities (did some research and there are two ventilators in the islands) in the islands themselves so Ecuador has really shut down much of the tourism business.

 

On top of that we purchased our air through X and we are booked on Copa Air out of LAX through Panama to Quito. Our flights to and from Quito have been cancelled by the airline and are not being rescheduled so if the cruise is going, we would have to find another way to get there. 

 

I think that X is just holding off to see if the CDC is going to extend the level 3 warning on cruising in general. That should happen any day now. I have called the Galapagos number and you do get right through (three rings) but their answer to me last week was that when X makes an announcement, that's when they will know as well. Celebrity really wants to sail  but I am just not sure how they will. 

 

Don't know if you read this on the boards for Flora but at least 50 Flora crew members tested positive and one passed away from it. As I said, we are hanging on to get cancelled in order to get the 125% to rebook (with the price of this cruise, that 25% will be enough for another short cruise to be fully paid for) but if they decide to sail the August 2 cruise, we will lift and shift ourselves. Too dangerous in Ecuador. 

 

Jim

Edited June 11, 2020 by DrKoob

[Covepointcruiser]

Guess they are waiting to see if the 100 day “no sail” edict is extended.   Notice that the airlines were not given a “no fly” order and the hotels were not given a close order.  We and the cruise lines are at the mercy of the CDC and the U.S. State Department.

 

Most of the U.S. infections are from Europe so they arrived here by air, not sea.

[creek2014]

From my TA.  

 

Good Morning!  While there is no need for you to do anything at this point (in fact, I would lean to the stand fast position right now while we wait to see what Celebrity / Royal Caribbean will do about cruises past the first of October) I wanted you to see the options that are currently available, and what I expect to see in whatever happens over the summer.  

 

Option 1: 

Cruise With Confidence

Cancel any cruise (booked by August 1, 2020) that sets sail from now through April 30, 2022 or May 4, 2022 for Celebrity and you're covered. Cancel at least 48 hours before the sail date, your clients' will receive a Future Cruise Credit that can be used on any cruise through December 31, 2021 or 12 months from your cancellation date - whichever is further.

 

Option 2: 

Cruise Suspension

If your clients are on a sailing impacted by our cruise suspension they will automatically receive a 125% Future Cruise Credit. If your clients wish to decline this higher value FCC and receive a lower value 100% refund of their cruise fare, 

 

Option 3:

Lift and Shift

If your clients simply wish to move their existing booking to an alternate sail date in the following year, we're happy to protect the original pricing and/or promotion if the alternate sailing is the same itinerary, length, and stateroom category. The alternate sailing needs to be dated within 4 weeks (before or after) of the original sail date, but for the following year.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens in the days to come - and I honestly doubt if there will be any ships departing the US maybe until the new year.  Right now there are still some 60,000 crew on ships that they lines are TRYING to repatriate - and some countries won’t even let their own citizens in!  How are they going to get hundreds of thousands of crew BACK on a month or two from all over the world.  The point is that tough days are ahead for those of us that really want to sail!

Edited June 12, 2020 by creek2014

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, creek2014 said:

From my TA.  

 

Unfortunately, your TA's descriptions of these options aren't completely accurate. For example, I have already received written confirmation from Celebrity that FCCs originally issued under the CWC policy with a "use by" date of December 31, 2021 can now be used for cruises departing up to April 30, 2022.

 

Similarly, the Lift & Shift information isn't entirely accurate and is lacking in detail.

 

While I applaud a TA who reaches out to customers in a proactive manner, it worries me that the information is inaccurate.