Japan 2024 canceled…

[NMTraveller]

11 hours ago, cruiseconcious said:

I've been reading these posts with interest. So much speculation. So many people hoping that they are the lucky ones that don't get literally cast off. Maybe you will be lucky. Maybe you will dodge the bullet, and if so you have every right to be overjoyed; going on the cruise you planned for, you saved for, and that you rightfully deserve to be on.

All I would ask you is that you think of this: Celebrity did a bad thing to a lot of people. You were not affected so that will be easy to forget. But I will tell you from personal experience, we had every right you did to be on that cruise, and we are not. And what's worse is that Celebrity just didn't care. We have flights we are going to lose money on. They don't care. When they talked to me they used phrases like, "if you cancel you get nothing." If I cancel? We have been trying to find land tours now to take the place of the cruise, but of course all the good ones are sold out. When I told the Celebrity representative that she was canceling my cruise 13 months after I bought it and why did they wait so long, she curtly replied, "You still have another 6 months." They just don't care.

Maybe you got lucky. But don't you dare give credit to Celebrity for that, because if you think they care about you individually, they do not. It could just as well have been you. Try to eternalize that and you will be doing a service both to those they slighted, and to yourselves, as it may prepare you for a similar sad awakening in the future.

 

This is the post of the month.

[southwestie]

5 hours ago, luckybecky said:

What a clusterf***! 

 

I'm so sympathetic to all of you who have been cancelled. What a disaster, especially when you have a lot of other expenses (air, hotels etc) invested. 

 

For many reasons, we decided our Japan cruise just isn't going to work for us right now. We have (had?) a concierge veranda and an inside, both with rooms assigned since September of 2021.

 

So as I posted previously, we were willing to be voluntarily cancelled on our Sept 30, 2023 cruise which would be good for us but also hopefully be good for Celebrity -- that would be two less cabins they would have to involuntarily cancel resulting in very unhappy passengers, as many of you understandably are. 

 

I made a call on Tuesday. Bottom line is this: we know Celebrity has oversold this cruise. We are willing to cancel our two cabins, which would open those up for customers who do not want to be involuntarily cancelled -- but we don't want to lose our deposit. We asked our TA, is there anything we can do to make this work?

 

This seems to us a win-win. Celebrity has the opportunity to make some other customers happy by not involuntarily cancelling them -- especially when many passengers have invested a lot of money in travel expenses. And it would make us happy by not losing our deposit. Those cabins are still filled with paying customers, and Celebrity still keeps our money as FCC. It does not seem to me to be a difficult calculation.

 

Now keep in mind, we have not reached final payment date yet. Under the terms of our booking, we could choose to roll that deposit over to a different cruise as long as we do it before final payment -- we would only have to pay a change fee of $100 per person. 

 

So that was a viable option for us, but if we can just voluntarily cancel now and get the FCC, even better! We can take our time choosing how to spend the FCC -- but Celebrity still gets our business -- and someone on the current cruise is happy because our cabin can be assigned to them. Honestly I don't see any downside for anyone here, especially Celebrity.

 

And on Tuesday that was the option that was offered to us and we accepted.  Cancel our Japan cruise and receive an FCC for the full amount of our deposit.

 

But 48 hours later I had never received any confirmation. So I called back our TA. What a mess! I was on the phone for 2 hours. Big Box C travel agent says they show that our concierge veranda was cancelled, but the inside cabin was not. They had no information about any FCC.

 

They got Celebrity on the line. After much back and forth, bottom line is this:

 

1. Our concierge veranda was cancelled in the TA system, but is still showing as active with Celebrity. So we really aren't sure if we have that booking or not.

2. That concierge veranda on the Celebrity website has been downgraded from a confirmed cabin number (reserved and confirmed almost two years ago) -- to a guarantee cabin.

3. our kids' inside cabin appears unchanged and still active. We are a family traveling together. No way would we agree to cancel one and not the other. This was made VERY clear in our conversations.

4. Neither cabin is eligible for an FCC -- even though they told us the EXACT OPPOSITE and we accepted two days ago.

 

When I repeatedly pointed out that this is not what we were told and accepted, the Celebrity rep said, "I'm not saying you are lying, but...."

 

Ooohh boy. It is NEVER good business to say to a customer, "I'm not saying you are lying, BUT"  😡

 

My blood is boiling. As it is for so many others who have so much time, money and effort invested into these cruises. 

 

When we ended our call today, nothing was resolved. Arthur from the resolutions department at Celebrity says they are going to pull our phone call from Tuesday and listen to it to see what they actually offered. No matter that the Costco contemporaneous notes from the call describe exactly what I said above.

 

Once they listen to the Tuesday call, they will contact us with their decision. OMG

 

Sorry for the long post. I'm just venting. I know there are many of you who have it much worse than we do. At least we had not yet purchased air fare, for example. 

 

But the point is, there are SO MANY  ways that Celebrity could have/ could still handle this better, and they just are not.

 

We have only cruised with them twice and loved them: loved the food, the ships, the decor, the crew, the entertainment, everything. Really wanted to make them our favorite cruise line and become dedicated customers. But now....

 

Thats really badly worked out. I hope you get sorted ASAP. 

[southwestie]

3 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

This is the post of the month.

I wonder how many this has happened too that don't share on here

[anniegb]

18 minutes ago, southwestie said:

I wonder how many this has happened too that don't share on here

How many cruises were impacted in total : 9

 

Millie has a capacity of approx 2000 x 9 =18000 ?? 

 

Do the maths.  I suspect at least 10% but again that is speculation.

 

 

[southwestie]

16 minutes ago, anniegb said:

How many cruises were impacted in total : 9

 

Millie has a capacity of approx 2000 x 9 =18000 ?? 

 

Do the maths.  I suspect at least 10% but again that is speculation.

 

 

Yes I read it was at least 9. It's crazy.   It would interesting to know how many and how. It should never have happened

[pukekolive]

57 minutes ago, anniegb said:

How many cruises were impacted in total : 9

 

Millie has a capacity of approx 2000 x 9 =18000 ?? 

 

Do the maths.  I suspect at least 10% but again that is speculation.

 

 

We are booked on 24 October 2023 and understand one TA/ big box agency lost at least 100 cabins from a huge group booking on our cruise.

[raananh]

On 4/25/2023 at 12:01 PM, wahwah1 said:

Also, for those who are considering lift and shift, I suggest to do it ASAP as Celebrity wouldn't assign you a higher cabin category, unless you pay for the difference at prevailing rate. I prefer Oct 6 2024 sailing (original Oct 12 2023) but I was told my cabin is U/A unless I downgrade to obstructed balcony or choose another sailing in Sept.

What do you mean by "unless you pay for the difference at prevailing rat"?

I thought the whole idea of Lift & Shift is the you you get the cruise for the same price.

[Bo1953]

5 minutes ago, raananh said:

What do you mean by "unless you pay for the difference at prevailing rat"?

I thought the whole idea of Lift & Shift is the you you get the cruise for the same price.

The comment is centering around a 'higher' cabin category and not same category cabin pricing.

 

As such, L & S remains in force and honoured.

 

bon voyage

[anniegb]

Just now, Bo1953 said:

The comment is centering around a 'higher' cabin category and not same category cabin pricing.

 

As such, L & S remains in force and honoured.

 

bon voyage

Hello Bo again

 

L&S is not being applied in the normal manner.

 

An example

 

Family had 3 of their cabins cancelled.  If they became available later, they can purchase them at rate prevailing in 2023 and not 2021 (date of original booking)

 

9 cruises were impacted.  Only 3 cruises were available for L&S.

9 into 3 doesn't go.  

[raananh]

Today we called Celebrity to cancel our October 12, 2023 "oversold" cruise. (We had an assigned cabin and it was a balcony cabin, higher grade, booked directly with Celebrity.)

We had to cancel because we can't use the Lift and Shift options for September and October 2024 - we have other obligations for 2024 in October and September. We also can't go on March/April 2024 Japan cruises, if they were even an option.

So I asked:

1. "Can we Lift and Shift to an October 2025 cruises, which right now you do not have scheduled, but, for sure, you will have Japan cruises later in 2025?" Answer: "No!"

2. "Can we L&S to another cruise, somewhere else, because we can go in Oct/Sept 2024? (i.e. get another cruise for a special price because of this Oversold incident)" Answer "No!"

I really do not understand why the "No!" for this option, if Celebrity is trying to make compensate customers for this mishap.

3. "How long do I have to submit claims for non-refundable flights I made for October 2023?" Answer: "I do not know!"

This last answer really annoyed me: for sure some people had to cancel, and until now, Celebrity reps still do not know/told how to submit expenses for non-refundable flights?

[Bo1953]

1 minute ago, anniegb said:

Hello Bo again

 

L&S is not being applied in the normal manner.

 

An example

 

Family had 3 of their cabins cancelled.  If they became available later, they can purchase them at rate prevailing in 2023 and not 2021 (date of original booking)

 

9 cruises were impacted.  Only 3 cruises were available for L&S.

9 into 3 doesn't go.  

If I understand the situation correctly as you wrote, the family had nine (9) cruises booked and only three (3) cruises were on offer for L&S???

 

If that is the case, then this calls for their TA to spring into action to get it addressed correctly.

 

Now, if there were nine (9) cabins and only three (3) were offered L&S, there again their TA needs to spring into action to get it addressed correctly, especially if they booked a group or made it known to X they were traveling as a group.

 

I think there is a mis-connect in terms of communication on the situation here which requires special addressing.

 

Thank you and bon voyage

[clojacks]

7 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Hello Bo again

 

L&S is not being applied in the normal manner.

 

An example

 

Family had 3 of their cabins cancelled.  If they became available later, they can purchase them at rate prevailing in 2023 and not 2021 (date of original booking)

 

9 cruises were impacted.  Only 3 cruises were available for L&S.

9 into 3 doesn't go.  

I don’t believe that is correct regarding the 3 cruises offered. If I remember correctly, those with fall 2023 cruises affected were offered fall 2024 cruises, and those with spring 2024 cruises affected were offered spring 2025 cruises I believe. More like 6 cruises offered than 3.

[anniegb]

2 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

If I understand the situation correctly as you wrote, the family had nine (9) cruises booked and only three (3) cruises were on offer for L&S???

 

If that is the case, then this calls for their TA to spring into action to get it addressed correctly.

 

Now, if there were nine (9) cabins and only three (3) were offered L&S, there again their TA needs to spring into action to get it addressed correctly, especially if they booked a group or made it known to X they were traveling as a group.

 

I think there is a mis-connect in terms of communication on the situation here which requires special addressing.

 

Thank you and bon voyage

I think the family had a total of 6 cabins booked and it was a linked booking.

 

I am unsure if a TA was involved.

 

Thanks

[Bo1953]

1 minute ago, raananh said:

Today we called Celebrity to cancel our October 12, 2023 "oversold" cruise. (We had an assigned cabin and it was a balcony cabin, higher grade, booked directly with Celebrity.)

We had to cancel because we can't use the Lift and Shift options for September and October 2024 - we have other obligations for 2024 in October and September. We also can't go on March/April 2024 Japan cruises, if they were even an option.

So I asked:

1. "Can we Lift and Shift to an October 2025 cruises, which right now you do not have scheduled, but, for sure, you will have Japan cruises later in 2025?" Answer: "No!"

2. "Can we L&S to another cruise, somewhere else, because we can go in Oct/Sept 2024? (i.e. get another cruise for a special price because of this Oversold incident)" Answer "No!"

I really do not understand why the "No!" for this option, if Celebrity is trying to make compensate customers for this mishap.

3. "How long do I have to submit claims for non-refundable flights I made for October 2023?" Answer: "I do not know!"

This last answer really annoyed me: for sure some people had to cancel, and until now, Celebrity reps still do not know/told how to submit expenses for non-refundable flights?

r did you book direct with X or through a TA? 

 

If direct, you may have been assigned a CVP who can possibly go to bat for you and most definitely if through a TA they need to step up and advocate for your needs.

 

Unfortunately, here in the US, most CSR's are trained to say no with upper management believing that we will accept it  and move on ... I say splash those waves and go up the ladder.

 

Good luck and bon voyage

[anniegb]

13 minutes ago, clojacks said:

I don’t believe that is correct regarding the 3 cruises offered. If I remember correctly, those with fall 2023 cruises affected were offered fall 2024 cruises, and those with spring 2024 cruises affected were offered spring 2025 cruises I believe. More like 6 cruises offered than 3.

I know of one poster who had originally a 2023 booking.  They phoned Celebrity to transfer to Oct 2024 cruise and were advised that the cruise was sold out.

 

Cruises were made available but what we have not read how is many cabins were impacted in total and how many cabins were made available on the L&S dates.  I have my suspicions............

Edited April 28, 2023 by anniegb

[dlh015]

It appears that when there is an opportunity to do the right thing, X simply refuses to do it...even when it helps X...I mean, geez, there are people willing to voluntarily cancel but the answer is still no...

 

Why?? It's not like they don't have bookings that could be assigned to those cancelled cabins...quite the opposite...it makes no sense whatsoever...

[anniegb]

2 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

It appears that when there is an opportunity to do the right thing, X simply refuses to do it...even when it helps X...I mean, geez, there are people willing to voluntarily cancel but the answer is still no...

 

Why?? It's not like they don't have bookings that could be assigned to those cancelled cabins...quite the opposite...it makes no sense whatsoever...

JMO their short term goal is to maximise income.

[Judy Arthur]

1 minute ago, anniegb said:

JMO their short term goal is to maximise income.

 

At the expense of devastating loyal passengers who booked in good faith!

[anniegb]

1 minute ago, Judy Arthur said:

 

At the expense of devastating loyal passengers who booked in good faith!

Yes!

 

We are witnessing a cruise line whose senior management team may be on 'gardening leave' ?? - JMO.

 

May 1st there will be a new broom.

[Mark_T]

56 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

If I understand the situation correctly as you wrote, the family had nine (9) cruises booked and only three (3) cruises were on offer for L&S???

It confused me for a moment as well...

 

The '9 into 3' bit is a reference to 9 different cruises being impacted by the overbooking problem, but only 3 cruises being offered for L&S, not directly related to the unfortunate family on one of those 9 impacted cruises with 6 cabins booked and 3 cancelled out from under them. 

[anniegb]

6 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

It confused me for a moment as well...

 

The '9 into 3' bit is a reference to 9 different cruises being impacted by the overbooking problem, but only 3 cruises being offered for L&S, not directly related to the unfortunate family on one of those 9 impacted cruises with 6 cabins booked and 3 cancelled out from under them. 

Sorry my convoluted brain.

 

Has anyone read an update from any of those cruisers who were, IIRC, had B2B2B cruises booked and Celebrity cancelled their 2nd leg??

 

This really isn't rocket science.......................

Edited April 28, 2023 by anniegb

[clojacks]

3 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Sorry my convoluted brain.

 

Has anyone read an update from any of those cruisers who were, IIRC, had B2B2B cruises booked and Celebrity cancelled their 2nd leg??

 

This really isn't rocket science.......................

I guess I'm still confused. 

 

I read factually about a family who had 6 rooms booked and 3 were cancelled. 

 

I have not read about a family who had 9 separate cruises booked.

 

I do know someone a while back...about 20 pages or so... posted a list of Milly cruises affected in fall of '23 and spring of '24 that totaled 9 separate cruises.

 

I have seen copies of letters that cruisers with a fall '23 cruise affected that offered a "suggested" list of 3 fall of '24 cruises as L&S's.

 

I have seen copies of letters that cruisers with a spring of "24 cruise affected that offered a "suggested" list of 3 spring of '25 cruises as L&S's.

 

It seems like this 25 page thread has veered from affected cruisers sharing what happened to them to a plethora of opinions on how it has been handled....which is fine, that's what message boards are for... but  there might be value in checking back to see if what someone is posting is really what has happened or a guess at what they think they remember reading on this thread a week ago.

[anniegb]

5 minutes ago, clojacks said:

I guess I'm still confused. 

 

I read factually about a family who had 6 rooms booked and 3 were cancelled. 

 

I have not read about a family who had 9 separate cruises booked.

 

I do know someone a while back...about 20 pages or so... posted a list of Milly cruises affected in fall of '23 and spring of '24 that totaled 9 separate cruises.

 

I have seen copies of letters that cruisers with a fall '23 cruise affected that offered a "suggested" list of 3 fall of '24 cruises as L&S's.

 

I have seen copies of letters that cruisers with a spring of "24 cruise affected that offered a "suggested" list of 3 spring of '25 cruises as L&S's.

 

It seems like this 25 page thread has veered from affected cruisers sharing what happened to them to a plethora of opinions on how it has been handled....which is fine, that's what message boards are for... but  there might be value in checking back to see if what someone is posting is really what has happened or a guess at what they think they remember reading on this thread a week ago.

The goalposts are shifting all the time ........... One 'pink slip' party tried to L&S from Oct 23 to Oct 24 but that was overbooked.  They are now booked on a Sep 24 cruise which was not on any list.

 

I suspect Celebrity may have to expand the number of L&S cruises as there could be a supply issue................

 

 

[Bruin Steve]

First, I truly feel for those canceled.  It really sucks.  And, it should never happen.  AND the cruise line should bend over backwards to accommodate those affected.  But, of course, they really aren’t set up well to deal with it.  So, I get it.  It still sucks.

 

That said, I appear to be among those spared.  And I do keep asking myself why and believe I understand it all.  Since everyone has or knows only pieces of the puzzle and since speculation can be wild, no one can really put together the entire picture.

 

So, I will throw in my speculation based on my case.  I originally booked in 2019.  Two cruises, back-to-back. I lifted and shifted every time—through my now upcoming March/April 2004 sailings.  I have two other family couples cruising with me on the first of the two. I am Elite Plus Captains Club.I appear to have survived the purge.

First, I reject the conspiracy theory idea that Celebrity is weeding out the cheaper bookings.  I am pretty certain that MY bookings, based on when they were made, early pricing at 5he time an$ how they progressed through lifting and shifting, are among the lowest prices o& anyone booked.  If the conspiracy theory were correct, I would, no doubt, have been 5he first to be canceled.  I wasn’t.  
 

From what I gather, there were many DOUBLE BOOKINGS—in other words, same cabin.  I think what they did-easily the simplest explanation therefore usually the best— was to merely cancel the SECOND booking.  And that is where it gets tricky.  If you take it cabin by double booked cabin, the first booking IN THAT CABIN is not necessarily the one who booked earliest overall.  Since they changed ships twice, our cabin, for example, has changed every time.  So, the first booked is whoever booked into that precise cabin on Millennium, the second time around, first.  So, it’s Not when you originally booked, it’s when you booked next season’s Millennium…often the date of your lift-and-shift election.  So, anyone who quickly grabbed the new sailing is more likely to be safe.  Those who paused a second, for any reason, are more likely to have found a cabin that might have been booked just ahead of them.  Still sucks, but may explain why some who have had their bookings carrying over for multiple lift-and=shifts still got scr*wed.

 

Also, for us, trying to reconstruct our B2Bs in the same cabin, somewhere along the line, we negotiated an upgrade to Concierge…not because we knew the overbooking was coming…but just to get the same cabin for both as cabins were scarce.  Turns out we got lucky as Concierge cabins didn’t seem to have the overbooking issue.

 

 

 

 

[jerseylily]

Some good news just posted on the UK government website?

 

All travellers

All travellers arriving into Japan from 29 April will no longer be required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a COVID-19 test result for travellers who are not vaccinated. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs websites have details of the entry requirements for all travellers to Japan, including the ‘fast track’ entry system. Rules may be subject to change at short notice.