Celebrity Customer Care Wait Times

[Gull]

We are long-time Celebrity cruisers with two cruises coming up. 

I'm now on my 3rd call to Celebrity. 

My first call was about a missing FCC. I managed to speak to a customer care employee, the wait was over an hour and the entire call took close to 3 hours. Fortunately the problem was resolved and I was grateful.

This time it is to apply a large FCC to one of my two booked trips. It won't allow me to do it online. (I've tried multiple times).

This morning I called twice and was on hold for 40 minutes each time. First call was disconnected and I had to hang up the second time to work. I am on hold now for 48 minutes with no sign of a customer care person.   

Is there another customer care number/email other than what is on the website that works?

Thank you

 

 

[Gull]

After 1 hour and 10 minutes I got through to someone. After speaking for 15 minutes we decided to move our second cruise up by a week. He said he was going to connect me to someone who can help. A specialist. 

I then heard the same recorded music and alerts that I heard when I initially called.

At 1:51:08 in the call I was disconnected.

Any suggestions on what to do? 

Sign me Frustrated

 

[Ukigirl]

I’ve tried three times in the last week, waited over an hour all three times and gave up. Very frustrating 

[Jim_Iain]

Not much different for me.    I had to call the Zenith number about a reservation yesterday at 9:30 AM PDT,  I was on hold for 50 minutes 

[Redtravel]

They don’t answer. They don’t care.  I gave up yesterday.  

[journeymore]

I put the phone on speaker and continued with what I was doing. 1hr 18 minutes later someone answered. It took another 45 minutes to get my price adjustment.

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, journeymore said:

I put the phone on speaker and continued with what I was doing. 1hr 18 minutes later someone answered. It took another 45 minutes to get my price adjustment.

This is unfortunately the only solution if you have the time to wait with your speaker phone.

[TeeRick]

13 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

They don’t answer. They don’t care.  I gave up yesterday.  

They will eventually answer.  Celebrity needs to address this issue.  It is a customer-facing primary contact.  They need to put whatever resources they need on it to fix it.  More staff and more training to start.  They are overwhelmed.  It is well beyond the initial period where we all had patience.  Now it is just very bad customer service and bad business.

[LGW59]

7 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

They will eventually answer.  Celebrity needs to address this issue.  It is a customer-facing primary contact.  They need to put whatever resources they need on it to fix it.  More staff and more training to start.  They are overwhelmed.  It is well beyond the initial period where we all had patience.  Now it is just very bad customer service and bad business.

From what I’ve seen on other lines threads wait times are a serious issue, which is somewhat understandable, that said celebrity seems by far, to be the WORST!  Last week I called Oceania to cancel and request refund for an October cruise, total time from start to finish was 15 minutes.

[TeeRick]

6 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

From what I’ve seen on other lines threads wait times are a serious issue, which is somewhat understandable, that said celebrity seems by far, to be the WORST!  Last week I called Oceania to cancel and request refund for an October cruise, total time from start to finish was 15 minutes.

I called Celebrity a couple of weeks ago.  Waited over an hour on hold.  Finally got to a real person.  She said she was unable to help with my specific issue and just hit a button and transferred me.  That put me on hold again.  I was pretty furious and just hung up.☹️

[kpark895]

Hmm, I called this morning at exactly 8:00 AM EST to upgrade my drink package/wife on an upcoming cruise.  Got through immediately (after pressing all the right buttons), and everything was accomplished quickly.

 

[If only]

I have found that if you want to make a correction or change a cruise the fastest way to do this is to do a mock booking & most of the time at the bottom right hand corner “ask us anything” will appear. I have done many changes to reservations this way on their chat line.  They are quick & very efficient plus never had to wait long at all.   I have only had one person not be very helpful.

Edited June 15, 2022 by If only

[LGW59]

27 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I called Celebrity a couple of weeks ago.  Waited over an hour on hold.  Finally got to a real person.  She said she was unable to help with my specific issue and just hit a button and transferred me.  That put me on hold again.  I was pretty furious and just hung up.☹️

Prior to now, like late last year/early this year, having called Celebrity several times my wait time was 18 minutes, the longest time I waited.  I have a B2B booked with them for Dec this year, which after I made the reservation I transferred to a TA.  Glad I did so for these two cruises as I am canceling both and he can do the waiting on hold.  Right now I am only planning land trips and this is my plan for the foreseeable future.  BTW I am not canceling due to COVID fears, I am canceling due to the way Celebrity is handling the on-board "experience" right now, which from what I read here is a mess, a total hit or miss, who the hell knows what they are doing and the apparently and can change cruise to cruise.  Not paying good hard earned $$$ for a nice suite and not knowing if I have to be moved from that if I tested positive or was a close contact.  

[Gull]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

They will eventually answer.  Celebrity needs to address this issue.  It is a customer-facing primary contact.  They need to put whatever resources they need on it to fix it.  More staff and more training to start.  They are overwhelmed.  It is well beyond the initial period where we all had patience.  Now it is just very bad customer service and bad business.

Agreed! Customer Service should have been improved by now. 

[Gull]

1 hour ago, If only said:

I have found that if you want to make a correction or change a cruise the fastest way to do this is to do a mock booking & most of the time at the bottom right hand corner “ask us anything” will appear. I have done many changes to reservations this way on their chat line.  They are quick & very efficient plus never had to wait long at all.   I have only had one person not be very helpful.

I'll give this a try shortly as my issue was not resolved. (Thank you for this idea).

[If only]

3 hours ago, Gull said:

I'll give this a try shortly as my issue was not resolved. (Thank you for this idea).

If you get Maria on the Chat, she will tell you to call Celebrity but everyone else has been great.  I have done a few changes in both moving cruises, upgrading a cruise & getting a lower price.  Good luck!

[OysterD]

If it gets much worse we will have to start measuring on hold wait times with a calendar!

[Gull]

So I tried the idea of contacting assistance via their online assistant.  The conversation has been copied and is below.  I followed their suggestions. The new phone number connects you to the same information as the other number they publicize.

I tried adding my FCC to my NZ cruise which expires 4 days before the cruise. My Plan B is to move to an Australia Wine cruise leaving in early Feb. 

I tried calling. Useless.

I tried calling as if to make a new booking. Person was lovely and did offer some suggestions including asking to speak to a supervisor.

I called again to try to get help. Made contact with someone after 35 minutes who was at least helpful and polite. On the phone for over an hour and was told that they will not extend the certificate for 4 days so that we can use them. She is now trying another supervisor office to see. Will I get a call back?

This is just ridiculous.

Me Hi, We have a New Zealand cruise booked for February 16, 2022. This is replacing a New Zealand cruise from 2021 that was canceled due to COVID. Is it possible to move the cruise up to the Australia Wine cruise on February 7? We have two $1,000 certificates I thought I'd be able to use but they expire on February 12? Or could they be applied to my original New Zealand cruise? Thank you.

Chat started

Customer Service Thank you for choosing to chat with us. We are experiencing high chat volume. One of our agents will be with you shortly.

Anna joined the chat

Anna Hello! Thank you for contacting Celebrity Cruises, where we take you to unforgettable destinations. My name is Anna, with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?

Me

I can provide you with my Captain's Club number and reservation number if that helps

Anna hello

Me Hi!

Anna we are removing redemption and sail-by date parameters from your Future Cruise Credits. Here are some additional details of what is changing as of today: • The portion of the FCC value that represents 100% of the cruise fare paid on your original reservation will no longer expire. • The incremental 25% bonus value that was provided will expire on the original expiration date or on 12/31/22, whichever is later.

you can redeem your Future Cruise Credit here -> https://www.celebritycruises.com/future-cruise-credit

Me I tried and it wouldn't let me

Anna please call our customer service team to assist you

The phone number for our Customer Service Team is US (800) 556-8209 option #3 or Canada (888) 303-6067 option #3. They are available 7:00 am-12:00 am EST

Me I called them Yesterday and was on wait for and hour and 10 minutes before speaking to someone. 15 minutes later he said he was connecting me with someone else and 5 minutes later I was disconnected. It was not at all helpful.

Anna hold shouldn't be longer that 15-20 mins at this time

Hi are you still there? If you need anything else let us know. If you have any questions after the chat has been disconnected, please feel free to message us again.

Me I will try again but if it doesn't work I'm about to give up on Celebrity and change my allegiance to another line.

 

[Gull]

And....finally....

After all the headache, I called again. 39 minute wait time. Somehow, I managed to end up with someone named Coral who was WONDERFUL!!!

I believe she is based in Jamaica and she should be elevated to Manger/Supervisor because she optimizes great customer service.

She tried one group while I waited for over an hour and in the end not helpful. She said she'd try one other option and would it be ok if she would call me back.

I said fine and thanked her for all her assistance. I assumed I would not hear back. 2 hours later she called back. Credits extended the extra days and applied to my cruise!

 

I do hope someone on Celebrity reads our comments.

[TeeRick]

23 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Prior to now, like late last year/early this year, having called Celebrity several times my wait time was 18 minutes, the longest time I waited.  I have a B2B booked with them for Dec this year, which after I made the reservation I transferred to a TA.  Glad I did so for these two cruises as I am canceling both and he can do the waiting on hold.  Right now I am only planning land trips and this is my plan for the foreseeable future.  BTW I am not canceling due to COVID fears, I am canceling due to the way Celebrity is handling the on-board "experience" right now, which from what I read here is a mess, a total hit or miss, who the hell knows what they are doing and the apparently and can change cruise to cruise.  Not paying good hard earned $$$ for a nice suite and not knowing if I have to be moved from that if I tested positive or was a close contact.  

Your comments are very spot on and reflect what a lot of people think right now.

[1Virgo]

Not sure what is going on with Celebrity. One used to have a representative assigned to you if you wanted.  Unfortunately ours quit during the pandemic.  We booked a cruise for January and I have had to do the call, wait on hold 3 x now because when I look at my account, the balance keeps going up, and even though we booked the “everything “ included, it keeps showing a gratuity charge.  Their accounting is ridiculous and the wait times to Customer service unacceptable.  

[jelayne]

33 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

Not sure what is going on with Celebrity. One used to have a representative assigned to you if you wanted.  Unfortunately ours quit during the pandemic.  We booked a cruise for January and I have had to do the call, wait on hold 3 x now because when I look at my account, the balance keeps going up, and even though we booked the “everything “ included, it keeps showing a gratuity charge.  Their accounting is ridiculous and the wait times to Customer service unacceptable.  

Every time I put a cruise on Hold I get a email from my "new" Cruise Vacation Planner.

I don't book with a TA so I never reach out to them but you might want to try putting a cruise on hold to get the name & # of a CVP

[Spif Barwunkel]

 When under duress, we tend to hurl our imprecations at those with whom we are communicating, as well as the entity responsible for their employment. I plead guilty to those charges – on occasion - although I try my best to understand the circumstances.

 

Celebrity’s customer service leaves a lot to be desired, but I will not assume that the CSR and/or X does not care about me and you and a dog named Boo. As much as we, the passengers feel unappreciated and underserved and disrespected at times, I can only imagine the pressure each CSR is under and the disrespect they encounter every day. I do not pretend to know what goes on behind the scenes and what the immediate future of the customer service experience will be like. Perhaps I can offer an analogy.

 

During my 53 years in the workforce, there were occasions when my boss or a fellow employee came to me for help in finding answers or solving problems. In some cases the quicker the solution, the more beneficial to the program. At times I could provide results myself, fairly quickly. More often than not I needed resources and research and help from others. When relying on others, you are at the mercy of their obligations and the people they must reach out to in order to help. Considering we had a full workforce and full capability, resolution could not always be achieved in the most satisfactory timeframe.

 

Celebrity’s customer service department, including Celebrity Air, is fractured. It is not the easiest source from which to get answers and solve problems. Therefore, our frustrations will continue as we continue to seek help from an understaffed, dismembered body of unseen talking heads.

 

We have three upcoming X cruises booked. By the end of this year we will have more. Obviously, we would hope that all interactions with Celebrity will go smoothly. If not, we will try our best to understand and respect the reasons why.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Spif Barwunkel

[duncrieviedude]

My query wasn’t time critical  as I just wanted to change the dining time in the MDR from the 6pm slot which was auto allocated, so I sent an email. I got an automated reply stating that it could be 4 to 5 weeks before they answer. I find it appalling that Senior Management cannot see that these sort of timescales are completely unacceptable in any environment, especially a so called service industry.

[LGW59]

21 minutes ago, duncrieviedude said:

My query wasn’t time critical  as I just wanted to change the dining time in the MDR from the 6pm slot which was auto allocated, so I sent an email. I got an automated reply stating that it could be 4 to 5 weeks before they answer. I find it appalling that Senior Management cannot see that these sort of timescales are completely unacceptable in any environment, especially a so called service industry.

It's no wonder the phones are clogged with calls like this wanting to change dining time on an upcoming cruise, then come here and whine about it.