Crystal cancels cruise because someone chartered the whole ship

[debway]

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? We are a group of 11 who planned this trip ages ago - to happen September 2021. All of a sudden we get an email that they are canceling our reservations because someone chartered the ship for the whole trip! *****?! (pardon my language, but seriously!) How can you sell something that  has already been sold? The ship was almost sold out. We all have flights, non-refundable rentals in cities before and after, vacation schedules, etc. How can they do this? I know it's probably in the fine print somewhere that they have the right to cancel a cruise for various reasons, but how do they stay in business doing this? How do people tolerate this? And no real recourse other than offering to rebook another time which doesn't really work given all the considerations above. Luckily we bought trip insurance, but I am so unbelievably disappointed in this experience. We were really looking forward to the trip after this past year and a half.

[Coral]

All cruise lines do this.

 

Usually it is farther in advance cancelled but it happens. This year is so weird in so many ways. It happens on river cruises and also on ocean cruise ships.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Coral

[Roz]

As @Coralalready pointed out, all cruise lines book charters.  They are more lucrative than trying to fill the ship with individual bookings, and a lot easier.  Sorry this happened to you.  You could book with another line and have the same thing happen. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Odd if the cruise was already nearly sold out with retail passengers.  Unless this is an all-German charter and Crystal thinks it's more likely to be able to sail than your international cruise?  But I agree this is a terrible way to treat customers, all of whom probably have their airfare booked.  Are they offering to cover your cancellation costs?

[gnome12]

19 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Odd if the cruise was already nearly sold out with retail passengers.  Unless this is an all-German charter and Crystal thinks it's more likely to be able to sail than your international cruise?  But I agree this is a terrible way to treat customers, all of whom probably have their airfare booked.  Are they offering to cover your cancellation costs?

I think you have the right idea. I think Crystal  thought that they would have to cancel the cruise and decided that a charter with European passengers was more likely to sail. 

[Coral]

With charters - they often deal with one person (organizer) verses if it is a retail ship, they have to deal with every cabin (either direct or through travel agents) in pre-cruising support.

 

It is far cheaper to deal with charters.

[notamermaid]

I am a little surprised that Crystal is doing this, I suppose I must have assumed that the company would somehow be different with their luxury, exclusive, cut above the rest approach. A bit puzzling, but as has been said by the previous posters, not rare in the industry. I also can imagine there being a European operator behind this but unless Crystal has found a very lucrative deal with that charterer the cruise offered on the European/German will have to be in a different price range from their standard or they will literally price themselves out of the market in my opinion. The cruises in 2019 were so much higher than competitors it was ludicrous. There is no way I would have chosen the company even after the best marketing.

 

Uniworld and AmaWaterways are already filling the luxury segment on the German market now.

 

I will see what I can find out about this.

 

To the OP: it is certainly very disappointing. I hope they will be very generous with refunds, etc.

 

Which itinerary and ship was it going to be?

 

notamermaid 

 

[Texas Tillie]

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I am a little surprised that Crystal is doing this, I suppose I must have assumed that the company would somehow be different with their luxury, exclusive, cut above the rest approach. A bit puzzling, but as has been said by the previous posters, not rare in the industry. I also can imagine there being a European operator behind this but unless Crystal has found a very lucrative deal with that charterer the cruise offered on the European/German will have to be in a different price range from their standard or they will literally price themselves out of the market in my opinion. The cruises in 2019 were so much higher than competitors it was ludicrous. There is no way I would have chosen the company even after the best marketing.

 

Uniworld and AmaWaterways are already filling the luxury segment on the German market now.

 

I will see what I can find out about this.

 

To the OP: it is certainly very disappointing. I hope they will be very generous with refunds, etc.

 

Which itinerary and ship was it going to be?

 

notamermaid 

 

 

I have a good friend who has done a river cruise with AMA and she tells me that it is nice, but is in no way at the same level as Crystal. As is used with ocean vessels, AMA is premium whereas Crystal is luxury.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I have a good friend who has done a river cruise with AMA and she tells me that it is nice, but is in no way at the same level as Crystal. As is used with ocean vessels, AMA is premium whereas Crystal is luxury.

Unless you want to sail on rivers other than the Rhine and the Danube, in which case AMA is premium whereas Crystal is non-existent...

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I have a good friend who has done a river cruise with AMA and she tells me that it is nice, but is in no way at the same level as Crystal. As is used with ocean vessels, AMA is premium whereas Crystal is luxury.

I am sure that is true. From a German perspective, Ama is luxury segment.

 

I have found out that there are agents in Germany that think there is a market for Crystal luxury in Germany and there are river cruises available to book. It is not clear if this year will mean that Crystal has given those specific sailings exclusively to those agents to sell on the European market or if a charterer has booked an entire sailing independent of that. If the OP wishes to post the specific sailing I may inquire how one specific German agent operates. For the moment I will not post the name or link as I do not know if the agent falls under the travel agent regulation or if it is the true operator of the cruises.

 

notamermaid

 

[Coral]

6 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I have a good friend who has done a river cruise with AMA and she tells me that it is nice, but is in no way at the same level as Crystal. As is used with ocean vessels, AMA is premium whereas Crystal is luxury.

There are not at the same level.

 

Ama didn't start with a huge fleet of ships either. Everyone has to start somewhere.

[Texas Tillie]

6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Unless you want to sail on rivers other than the Rhine and the Danube, in which case AMA is premium whereas Crystal is non-existent...

 

But then we are not comparing apples to apples.

[Coral]

15 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 I also can imagine there being a European operator behind this but unless Crystal has found a very lucrative deal with that charterer the cruise offered on the European/German will have to be in a different price range from their standard or they will literally price themselves out of the market in my opinion. The cruises in 2019 were so much higher than competitors it was ludicrous. There is no way I would have chosen the company even after the best marketing.

 

Both times I priced Crystal river cruises out as a single (one time sailed, the other time, I didn't) - Crystal was cheaper than Uniworld and Amawaterways as a single. Both were last minute cruises (2-3 months before sailing). I would not rule them out.

[notamermaid]

15 minutes ago, Coral said:

Both times I priced Crystal river cruises out as a single (one time sailed, the other time, I didn't) - Crystal was cheaper than Uniworld and Amawaterways as a single. Both were last minute cruises (2-3 months before sailing). I would not rule them out.

Oh, that is interesting. Compared to German cruises both Uniworld and AmaWaterways in their standard form are higher in price and Crystal far higher (I saw prices in 2019). But I have never checked prices for singles travelling at all. The scaled-down version of the Amawaterways river cruises for the German market this year are very competitive and they already proved very popular last year.

 

I do not know what the Crystal river cruises look like when they go through the German travel agent and if they are exclusive sailings. I can only see that when I know when the OP intended to sail and I contact the German agent.

 

notamermaid

 

[Coral]

6 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Oh, that is interesting. Compared to German cruises both Uniworld and AmaWaterways in their standard form are higher in price and Crystal far higher (I saw prices in 2019). But I have never checked prices for singles travelling at all. The scaled-down version of the Amawaterways river cruises for the German market this year are very competitive and they already proved very popular last year.

 

I do not know what the Crystal river cruises look like when they go through the German travel agent and if they are exclusive sailings. I can only see that when I know when the OP intended to sail and I contact the German agent.

 

notamermaid

 

The double prices were good also. Again, I did not price them far out but 2-3 months before sail date.

[ebdb]

Four of us were booked to cruise Basel to Amsterdam on Crystal Debussy 27 Sept to 4 Oct 2021. Crystal has canceled that cruise; it's now a chartered sailing.  We've rebooked for 5-12 Sept 2022 instead.

[Canal archive]

ebdb did you have any ancillaries booked? Such as flights and extensions if so we’re you out of pocket? CA

[cruiselvr04]

This is one time that booking air through the line would be in your favor.  I would then assume they would be required to refund everything except lodging you booked on your own.

 

Hoping you can get it all back or rebook with another line for the same time frame. I would also be very upset.  When a line does something like this it makes you not want to return to them.  
 

I’ve had 4 ocean cruises yet in the future, cancelled due to moving of ships or piers not being constructed in time. It happens and since they were all at least 8 months away I was refunded everything.  I’m still not happy as they were all at lower prices then I can ever get again or the itinerary offered as a replacement is not as good.  

[Love.II.Cruise]

On 4/16/2021 at 3:19 PM, Roz said:

As @Coralalready pointed out, all cruise lines book charters.  They are more lucrative than trying to fill the ship with individual bookings, and a lot easier.  Sorry this happened to you.  You could book with another line and have the same thing happen. 

Agree