X cancels Europe and Transatlantic sailings departing May - October 2021

[wrk2cruise]

I suspect Edge will be put in service in Caribbean this summer, probably why she was kept from Europe.  It's not clear which ships will actually sail in Europe yet.

[jelayne]

36 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

Has the infinity been revolutionized yet?  I was on the Edge may 24th not sure why they kept the old ship in service?  

As of now the Infinity has not been revolutionized.

[zitsky]

Wow.  I was thinking of a Spain/Portugal cruise in November 2021 on the Infinity.  I guess I should make other plans or just stay home?

[tenmile]

1 hour ago, Bruin Steve said:

I'm booked on two July cruises--Apex July 10 Barcelona to Rome and Infinity July 19 Rome to Venice...

These were "lifted and shifted" from two July 2020 cruises already...We are hopeful that we get vaccinated soon and these cruises are still on...after all, they are still six months away...

 

My take on why THESE are still "on" but other ships are not is this:  Celebrity is not quite ready to cancel EVERYTHING as they are likely also hopeful enough customers--AND CREW-- can get vaccinated...and that things are a bit better in the destination countries...and they hope to be cruising in Europe this summer...BUT, they don't think they will be able to fill up the whole fleet of ships scheduled to be there--especially if they have to require vaccinations...or just considering the number of customers afraid to go to Europe...

 

So, by decreasing the number of ships, they may get everyone consolidated on the remaining ships...Better to fill up two ships than sail four ships half empty...

 

My fear with MY set-up would be if they decided to keep the Apex cruises and cancel the Infinity...then I'd have to convince them to allow me to do two on Apex...I'm not flying all the way to Europe for a single seven night cruise...

Bruin Steve, I think it may be more likely that they would cancel the rest of the Apex European season before cancelling Infinity.  It costs Celebrity more to operate and staff the Apex, and my understanding is that the only way cruise companies can comply with CDC requirements including social distancing is to sail ships at only 50-70 percent capacity. We were scheduled to sail on the Apex TA May 1 and we were just cancelled. I wonder if Celebrity is planning to sail the Apex to Europe without passengers or will a TA sailing of that ship go later, if at all.  Perhaps they can get around CDC regulations if the Apex sails empty from FLL. I wish someone from Celebrity would respond to our questions, especially about plans for the Apex in Europe. 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, tenmile said:

Bruin Steve, I think it may be more likely that they would cancel the rest of the Apex European season before cancelling Infinity.  It costs Celebrity more to operate and staff the Apex, and my understanding is that the only way cruise companies can comply with CDC requirements including social distancing is to sail ships at only 50-70 percent capacity. We were scheduled to sail on the Apex TA May 1 and we were just cancelled. I wonder if Celebrity is planning to sail the Apex to Europe without passengers or will a TA sailing of that ship go later, if at all.  Perhaps they can get around CDC regulations if the Apex sails empty from FLL. I wish someone from Celebrity would respond to our questions, especially about plans for the Apex in Europe. 

 "It costs Celebrity more to operate and staff the Apex":  Just curious, do you actually know this or are you making an assumption?

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

It does indicate you can switch to the remaining ships sailing Europe, but it’d be awfully disappointing to switch and then have those sailings all get canceled. 

This. No way will those ships be sailing either. Not allowed to switch to 2022. This time I am asking for a refund. 

[LGW59]

Just now, Pushka said:

This. No way will those ships be sailing either. Not allowed to switch to 2022. This time I am asking for a refund. 

Honestly, at this point, unless you are locked in with a NRD, I just cannot imagine why any of us (speaking for myself) would not be taking the refund. 

[norn iron]

Part of the problem in the spike in numbers in Ireland is due to the fact that around 60000 people travelled to Ireland during the Christmas holidays. They travelled from around the world and the price is now being paid.

One example, a friend of mine has two sons living in the greater Seattle area and they flew to Dublin on December 22nd, returning on 28th. At no point on either of their journeys were they tested or asked for evidence that they were Covid free. 

[Pushka]

12 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Honestly, at this point, unless you are locked in with a NRD, I just cannot imagine why any of us (speaking for myself) would not be taking the refund. 

If the cruise line cancels then even the NRD clause doesn't hold. They have to refund. 

[tenmile]

13 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

 "It costs Celebrity more to operate and staff the Apex":  Just curious, do you actually know this or are you making an assumption?

You have me there. No. I don't have the facts. Just thinking about the number of crew employed, although the newer ship operates more efficiently I am sure. 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, tenmile said:

You have me there. No. I don't have the facts. Just thinking about the number of crew employed, although the newer ship operates more efficiently I am sure. 

OK thanks, was not trying to do a gotcha moment, was wondering if you had inside info.  

[Bruin Steve]

A little more explanation of why I think I can see what Celebrity is trying to do AS OF NOW:  The email they sent to canceled customers gave them the option NOT of lifting and shifting to NEXT YEAR, RATHER to "rebook on any other Europe...sailing of the same ship class...departing between May and October 2021..."...and would also throw in a little extra bonus of $100 in OBC.  This is VERY different from the lift and shift offers.  Those were originally worded to provide for the same ship, same itinerary, same exact number of nights and only within a small window from the original sail date.

 

This one allows for ANY summer season sailing on the same class ship.  It doesn't require the same itinerary, doesn't require the same dates...heck, it doesn't even state that it requires the same number of nights--though I'm guessing they figured out they're okay there since there will be no really long cruises so no one will be switching from a 7 nighter to a 4 nighter...more likely, they're hoping for switches from 9 or 10 nighters to the available 7-nighters...

 

Clearly, what this particular offer is attempting is NOT to provide for a complete cancelation...but, rather, to move people booked on Edge over to Apex and move people booked on Constellation over to Infinity.  It is really the only way to have this option make sense.  They've removed a couple of ships, but don't want to lose the bookings...and it all assumes they WILL be sailing May to October...Obviously, sailing or not is still subject to change...based on a number of current unknowns.  They don't really know if enough customers, enough crew or enough people in port will be vaccinated at THAT time...but, like ME, they are hoping...After all, the vaccine is now out there.  Some countries are better at administering it than others, early production and distribution is limited...but the HOPE is that production, distribution and vaccination will ramp up...and who knows where things will stand 3-9 months out?

[mandream]

4 hours ago, njcanuck said:

Celebrity, is really screwing over loyal customers by not offering lift and shift to the same sailing next year.

  

Yes, this is super disappointing.  We already moved our July 20 sailing to July 21 at the prevailing rate when they wanted us to make final payment on a cruise that we knew was going to be cancelled.  Now for us to move this sailing to July 22 will cost us approx $1,600 more.

 

I don't see why they don't offer the same options as the other sailings that have been cancelled.  I get that this is killing them financially - so part of me understands - just really disappointed in the options available.  I'm going to wait it out a week or two and hope they reconsider the options (I know, very unlikely.  but possible) - otherwise we'll just take the refund.  The bonus FCC only amounts to $200 so totally not worth it.

 

Mike

 

[sydbarrett]

1 hour ago, Lonedaddy said:

Has the infinity been revolutionized yet?  I was on the Edge may 24th not sure why they kept the old ship in service?  

No, not yet. I just booked Infinity with the newly extended FCC! Moved from an Apex sailing which is a disappointment, but the Infinity ports are much better.

[Lonedaddy]

27 minutes ago, sydbarrett said:

No, not yet. I just booked Infinity with the newly extended FCC! Moved from an Apex sailing which is a disappointment, but the Infinity ports are much better.

yes it is a disappointment no retreat on the infinity is not worth the suite price IMHOP.   I'm looking at alternative lines might never come back to X after this decision.

[Lonedaddy]

form X via my TA  nice excuse X sorry but the APEX is the same size:  So Celebrity does have European sailings available in May, the issue is the Edge class ships are very large and the occupancy rules and CDC regulations make it not fiscally feasible to sail those ships right now.

 

Your options is to book another cruise and they will match the per day price on the Celebrity Apex, which is sailing Spain, Italy, Malta and Greece.  They have sailings on May 15, and May 27th, but you can move as fare out as October 9th.

 

You can also choose a future sailing and you will get a 125% credit for the cost of your cruise as well as the excursion you have paid for and spa services.

 

Option 3 is to get a refund of the cruise and we can start the search again to see what cruise you would like to book.

[Bruin Steve]

54 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

form X via my TA  nice excuse X sorry but the APEX is the same size:  So Celebrity does have European sailings available in May, the issue is the Edge class ships are very large and the occupancy rules and CDC regulations make it not fiscally feasible to sail those ships right now.

 

The "agents" at Celebrity are well known for spouting misinformation...and your TA is probably just trying to appease you.  Of course it has nothing to do with the size of the ship...and the economics issue is also not because of the size...Likely, they are looking at a half-full Edge and a half-full Apex...Yes, neither would be fiscally feasible...But moving as many as possible from Edge to Apex would give the a much more full...and fiscally feasible Apex...

[Mr. Click]

Still waiting on "the" letter but I have already told our TA and insurer that Celebrity canceled and we want our money back. The deposit is only 50 bucks but....the insurance was pretty steep.  I am just glad they did it now before I started looking at airfare, hotels, tours etc.  was originally supposed to be Oct 2019 for us did the L&S to this one. No L&S option here so show me my money.

[Bruin Steve]

14 minutes ago, Mr. Click said:

... was originally supposed to be Oct 2019 for us did the L&S to this one. ...

Oct 2019???  That one would have sailed!  We cruised in January 2020!!!

[prish]

Our May 2020 Apex was cancelled and we rebooked Apex for May 15, 2021 (no L&S option at that time). This was to be our big annual family vacation, but am going to cancel right away as I’m not quite convinced this will sail. In any case, except for my niece and nephew, we’re all late fifties early sixties and won’t have access to the vaccine by then, so cancel we must!

 

Unfortunately I don’t find any interesting Med itineraries for 2022, the Apex s based in Amsterdam...😟

[TeaBag]

no way would I elect for a FCC.  We bought one on board once and used it on a cruise which I knew, because of port closure in Vancouver, was going to be cancelled.  Unfortunately our final payment date was due 3 days before Celebrity cancelled the cruise. We cancelled before Celebrity cancelled and lost one half of the FCC.  Not good or even fair.

[dabear]

5 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Could be many reasons why.  Booking levels, Edge may sell better here.

And there is, perhaps, the fact that a number of people would rather sail Infinity than Edge.  Including us.  We have zero desire to sail an E class ship.  And that doesn't even factor our dislike of the Revolution (not the revitalization) of M and S class.

We also prefer to sail on m or s class ships rather than E class. E class is just too big for our tastes.

[Mr. Click]

4 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

Oct 2019???  That one would have sailed!  We cruised in January 2020!!!

Yeah, life has been that crazy. I lost a year.  Oct 2020 was moved to Oct 2021 and that is now canceled.........so show me the money folks.

[dutchclogs]

11 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Honestly, at this point, unless you are locked in with a NRD, I just cannot imagine why any of us (speaking for myself) would not be taking the refund. 

 

11 hours ago, Pushka said:

If the cruise line cancels then even the NRD clause doesn't hold. They have to refund. 

 

That's the rub -- at this stage, disappointing though it is,  I hope X cancels our September Silhouette cruise before final payment in June. 

[DLTcard]

If you already had one cancelled and took FCC, then you can't get a refund....you are stuck and must take another FCC with no bump.