Japan 2024 canceled…

[wahwah1]

1 minute ago, Judy Arthur said:

 

I’ve heard 300.

I heard some cabins are triple booked from celebrity agent. Balcony is one of the most affected cabin category.

[Judy Arthur]

I wonder WHY they changed the ship, when there’s this much demand??

[anniegb]

3 minutes ago, Judy Arthur said:

I wonder WHY they changed the ship, when there’s this much demand??

Ship is moving to Australia - a more lucrative market??

[micruiser2002]

The ship was changed a long time ago when they had to cancel the last group of Japan itineraries.  Word is their IT dpt had a glitch and did not properly allocate assigned cabins with lift and shift bookings.  I am on the October 24 cruise but have heard nothing yet.  Someone posted today that they just got an email today canceling their march booking.  This whole situation is ridiculous on Celebrity's part.  They should have first asked for volunteers and they also should be more organized on how they are handling this.  

 

[anniegb]

13 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

The ship was changed a long time ago when they had to cancel the last group of Japan itineraries.  Word is their IT dpt had a glitch and did not properly allocate assigned cabins with lift and shift bookings.  I am on the October 24 cruise but have heard nothing yet.  Someone posted today that they just got an email today canceling their march booking.  This whole situation is ridiculous on Celebrity's part.  They should have first asked for volunteers and they also should be more organized on how they are handling this.  

 

IT is always blamed.  Was there no human involvement ?? 

 

Asking for volunteers may not have yielded Celebrity the cabins they wanted to cull.

 

Many of us suspected something was afoot months ago.

Edited April 22, 2023 by anniegb

[micruiser2002]

7 minutes ago, anniegb said:

IT is always blamed.  Was there no human involvement ?? 

 

Asking for volunteers may not have yielded Celebrity the cabins they wanted to cull.

 

Many of us suspected something was afoot months ago.

IT is humans.  Someone human in IT obviously did not update their system correctly and do proper testing.  Asking for volunteers could have been targeted at everyone in the categories they needed to get.  It is still better than just canceling others without trying that first.

 

[NMTraveller]

11 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

IT is humans.  Someone human in IT obviously did not update their system correctly and do proper testing.  Asking for volunteers could have been targeted at everyone in the categories they needed to get.  It is still better than just canceling others without trying that first.

 

They could have done it like the airlines do.  Increase compensation until all of the cabins are free and no one is involuntarily bumped.

 

Or like Royal did.  Where the compensation was generous and reasonable from the start.

Edited April 22, 2023 by NMTraveller

[micruiser2002]

1 minute ago, NMTraveller said:

They could have done it like the airlines do.  Increase compensation until all of the cabins are free.

 

Or like Royal did.  Where the compensation was generous and reasonable from the start.

Exactly, they had plenty of other options and yet in their email they had the nerve to say the exhausting all options.  I hope everyone impacted starts emailing th executive offices because this is turning into shxx show.  Also it is very concerning that they are still sending out emails as of today.  

[anniegb]

19 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

IT is humans.  Someone human in IT obviously did not update their system correctly and do proper testing.  Asking for volunteers could have been targeted at everyone in the categories they needed to get.  It is still better than just canceling others without trying that first.

 

I agree the carnage suggests that no UAT was done properly but IME, IT are not the best department to do this. The Sales Dept is ultimately responsible.

 

Solstice has 740 balcony cabins and the Millie less than 300.

 

Did Wah- Wah not post that a Celebrity Agent stated that some Balcony Cabins had been triple sold?? Worst case scenario and working on double occupancy, Celebrity could be trying to fit 4440 people into available space for 600 per impacted sailing.

 

I posted myself that asking for volunteers would be a good 1st move but Revenue Dept I assume has the numbers that may not support this.

 

Annie

 

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by anniegb

[TravelBluebird]

22 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Just an option to consider if you don't want to shift to 2024/2025. We took a land trip to japan through an organized tour company and really enjoyed it. This also gives you the ability to try many of the local traveling options like bullet trains, bento boxes, and luggae forwarding services. Japan is an extremely safe, clean, and developed country. we wouldn't hesitate to travel there on our own in the future. 

 

I highly recommend this. My daughter lives in Japan and except for the pandemic, we visit there about once a year. I would recommend a land tour company for a first time visitor, since the language barrier can be difficult, and they will be able to transport you to many more places than you can get to on your own.

 

Even with a tour company, just be sure you have good mobility if you are going to Japan (or at least discuss with the tour company the amount of walking their tour will require). I always seem to walk a ton in Japan (and that includes on the one land tour and one cruise I’ve taken there), and distances at train stations and between trains (such as the bullet train) can be far. 

 

I feel very sorry for everyone who has been cancelled and I hope you can make alternate arrangements to visit Japan.

[donald1039]

For those of you who received a call on this issue or called Celebrity you will receive a survey request. Please fill this out and make sure Celebrity hears from you.
The survey starts with rating  your experience with the call person and I was careful not to trash her but the last section asks “how was your experience with Celebrity”. You’re allowed 4000 words so use them all. I ripped them on lack of communication, no advanced warning and the poor handling of this issue leaving me with no confidence in Celebrity for future bookings.  

[mahdnc]

Here is a summary of the cabin count on Millennium compared to Solstice.  The sources for the information are in the hyperlinks in the previous sentence.  They are Fact Sheets that are currently posted in Celebrity's trade website.

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by mahdnc

[wahwah1]

no wonder why balcony is the most affected and got offered an oceanview.

[cruising sister]

This is very sad to read. What a disappointment especially for those cruising this fall who have air and hotels booked. What is being offered is not much but I bet the number of affected cruisers is huge and they are pinching their pennies. This is not fair to those that are cancelled and downgraded. 

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

Word is their IT dpt had a glitch and did not properly allocate assigned cabins with lift and shift bookings.    

 

When you look at the high level stats for the ship someone should have noticed that the Millenium was overbooked and was generating more revenue than it ever had before.  Perhaps it was an IT issue but all of the checks and balances seem to be broken also.

Edited April 22, 2023 by NMTraveller

[anniegb]

1 hour ago, wahwah1 said:

no wonder why balcony is the most affected and got offered an oceanview.

Some with an inside cabin have been cancelled too

[raananh]

3 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Hmmmm.

 

I wonder if booking shore excursions and specialty dining would get people off of the cancelled list?

No, it won't. We booked $1000s worth of excursions 2 months ago for the October cruise... and still got "oversold".

[Judy Arthur]

33 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Some with an inside cabin have been cancelled too

 

There’s a belief by some that the Japanese Government requires a block (or blocks?) of cabins (usually inside) to remain unoccupied as a reserve for possible Covid cases.

[NMTraveller]

So is Celebrity reducing all of the double and triple bookings down to single bookings?  Or is Celebrity keeping some double bookings in the hopes that there are cancellations?

[anniegb]

37 minutes ago, Judy Arthur said:

 

There’s a belief by some that the Japanese Government requires a block (or blocks?) of cabins (usually inside) to remain unoccupied as a reserve for possible Covid cases.

I have read that too but I am sceptical because of the planned downgrade of covid regs within Japan but you never know:

https://www.kanpai-japan.com/japan-travel-guide/border-closure-covid-downgrade-may-8-2023

 

[Parkland Hiker]

1 hour ago, Judy Arthur said:

 

There’s a belief by some that the Japanese Government requires a block (or blocks?) of cabins (usually inside) to remain unoccupied as a reserve for possible Covid cases.

 

[mahdnc]

22 minutes ago, anniegb said:

I have read that too but I am sceptical because of the planned downgrade of covid regs within Japan but you never know:

https://www.kanpai-japan.com/japan-travel-guide/border-closure-covid-downgrade-may-8-2023

 

Well that whole Diamond Princess Covid thing was a pretty big deal. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by mahdnc

[Parkland Hiker]

If this issue was a result of the Japan government requiring a certain number of cabins to be set aside for potential Covid quarantine, I don’t think Celebrity would have taken the blame on themselves as an error resulting in overbooking.  They would have laid the blame with the Japanese restrictions 

[anniegb]

5 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Well that whole Diamond Princess Covid thing was a pretty big deal. 

Yes 3 years ago.

 

I am surprised Japan allowed the ship back into Japan but she is there now sailing towards Aomori.

[Judy Arthur]

3 minutes ago, Parkland Hiker said:

If this issue was a result of the Japan government requiring a certain number of cabins to be set aside for potential Covid quarantine, I don’t think Celebrity would have taken the blame on themselves as an error resulting in overbooking.  They would have laid the blame with the Japanese restrictions 

 

That’s an excellent point, but even if it is a contributing factor, it sounds like only a small part of a much larger problem, admitted by Celebrity.   But you’re right in that it's likely they would’ve ceased the opportunity to shift at least part of the blame elsewhere, if they could.