Sigh....Tried to Book Another Cruise But.... Sad....

[tymike]

Hi all...

Just off the Summit and got a new offer in the mail for a Blue Chip deal.

I called and was on hold for nearly 2 hours.  I expected this so that is not my gripe.

When I finally spoke to a human I told him that I wanted pricing to upgrade to either an Aqua Suite (I had the suite number showing available on the website) or any number of  available verandas that I wrote down from the deck plan.

He initially said there were no aqua suites available (even though it was available on the website) and then tried to say that a regular sky suite was available.  The only problem was that the stateroom number he said was NOT a sky suite at all!

To top it off, I tried to say that I literally looking at the deck plan and I was confused about the cabin number he mentioned.

Please know I was totally polite and appropriate in my conversation with him.

 

Yup.  Got disconnected.  And no call back.

 

Sigh.....

Long time Celebrity cruiser but getting weary over kind of everything at this point.

Our most recent cruise was a mix of really great (some staff) and really disappointing (food, most service, cutbacks)

 

Like I said....sigh.   

I won't call back to try and book an offer.  

Sad.....

[Bo1953]

As far as I know, Blue Chip is a very different entity from X, is it not?

 

If in fact this is true, calling X would not be the correct contact point, only BCC who books rooms.

 

As such, it appears that you have gripes with two (2) entities, BCC on how they treated you when calling in and X for their reduction and changes in service...

 

A double whammy I would say...

 

bon voyage

[tymike]

Hi Bo....

I'm a long time admirer of your posts and tone.

Yes...you are correct. 

 I struggled while on the latest cruise with many things that have changed over time.

 

Blue Chip has varied with both their offers and their phone wait times on the phone over the years but I 'lost the bet' tonight in trying to call them;  both in wait time and being disconnected with no call back.

 

I feel Celebrity defeated at the moment.  And I have no cruises booked with them for the first time in many, many years.  

 

Sad.  Sigh.....

[Georgia_Peaches]

Go to URComped and turn your blue chip offer into a comp on another line. I have loved celebrity but there are so many fine products out there. Now is as good as anytime!

Edited August 9, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[ymncruise]

10 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Go to URComped and turn your blue chip offer into a comp on another line. I have loved celebrity but there are so many fine products out there. Now is as good as anytime!

Sounds like a great idea. Which line did you end up switching your comp to? I may do this as well. 

[awhcruiser]

Why don't you get a TA to do the grunt work for you?  Much better than being on hold for two hours!

[Purplsmurf]

That’s too bad. I just booked 2 cruises through BCC last week. Got the exact cabin I asked for and was only on hold for 2 minutes. Great experience!

[micruiser2002]

23 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

Why don't you get a TA to do the grunt work for you?  Much better than being on hold for two hours!

I do not think Blue Chip club will work with TA's.  You cannot even transfer a BCC booking to a TA.

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

38 minutes ago, ymncruise said:

Sounds like a great idea. Which line did you end up switching your comp to? I may do this as well. 

MSC. You can present your comp and then upgrade as available. In our case we would only go MSC if Yacht Club was available. As it happens, we are currently on MSC Seaside in YC based on a veranda stateroom offer. We paid $1000 pp for 7 nights all included. Incidentally, the casino has been very user friendly this cruise and we are well ahead of where we started. On one of the machines we scored what would have been a hand pay but apparently MSC doesn’t collect tax info so no hand pays….as explained by one of the casino hosts. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[cruisegirlppp]

13 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

That’s too bad. I just booked 2 cruises through BCC last week. Got the exact cabin I asked for and was only on hold for 2 minutes. Great experience!

Every time I read posts about BCC offers I genuinely wonder, how much time/money would I need to spend in the casino to receive one of these?  In the distant past my husband spent time at the black jack table while I did my donations at the roulette wheel- is this the type of thing that would be tracked now-a-days? 

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 minute ago, cruisegirlppp said:

Every time I read posts about BCC offers I genuinely wonder, how much time/money would I need to spend in the casino to receive one of these?  In the distant past my husband spent time at the black jack table while I did my donations at the roulette wheel- is this the type of thing that would be tracked now-a-days? 

Absolutely!  They will swipe your card at the tables as well. And there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who gets blue chip offers. My first BCC sailing wasn’t even a Celebrity offer…it was Carnival, but I switched it to Celebrity and they accepted it without hesitation. Since then, I’ve received more offers than I can consume based on my time constraints and their own rules. 

[39august]

Am I understanding correctly that the fact that your card is swiped at a table automatically "counts" toward Blue Chip?  We always play a little roulette on every cruise. Yet we both still show "Pearl" and never have gotten an offer. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 hours ago, tymike said:

Hi all...

Just off the Summit and got a new offer in the mail for a Blue Chip deal.

I called and was on hold for nearly 2 hours.  I expected this so that is not my gripe.

When I finally spoke to a human I told him that I wanted pricing to upgrade to either an Aqua Suite (I had the suite number showing available on the website) or any number of  available verandas that I wrote down from the deck plan.

He initially said there were no aqua suites available (even though it was available on the website) and then tried to say that a regular sky suite was available.  The only problem was that the stateroom number he said was NOT a sky suite at all!

To top it off, I tried to say that I literally looking at the deck plan and I was confused about the cabin number he mentioned.

Please know I was totally polite and appropriate in my conversation with him.

 

Yup.  Got disconnected.  And no call back.

 

Sigh.....

Long time Celebrity cruiser but getting weary over kind of everything at this point.

Our most recent cruise was a mix of really great (some staff) and really disappointing (food, most service, cutbacks)

 

Like I said....sigh.   

I won't call back to try and book an offer.  

Sad.....

.Calling the BCC is ironically a gamble!

 

X only releases a certain number of room types per sailing to the BCC.  It does sound like the rep you were dealing with was very new/inexperienced as I'm not sure how they could screw up the room type

 

I will say, it seems some concierge rooms have been re-purposed to Aquaclass but are not given the panel shower or balcony footrests

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

I do not think Blue Chip club will work with TA's.  You cannot even transfer a BCC booking to a TA.

 

 

This is accurate; essentially the BCC is your TA.  However, on board, you can use the Future Cruise desk to book BCC rooms