BEWARE! Read this before you book with Celebrity

[rodndonna]

Just now, twsalso said:

That is a little personal but it was a geriatric pregnancy and they had all of the testing done before going public.

 

Understandable, Glad it all worked out in the end 😃

[Janedoe2012]

32 minutes ago, twsalso said:

None of this surprises me. I dealt with Hacksaw Laura when she was at RCCL. I was taking family and grandchild on a Caribbean cruise. Low and behold three months prior to sailing and two days after final payment my daughter in law informs me she is four months pregnant with second grandchild. I called RCCL and tried to rebook. Nope cancelation fees! Only thing that saved me was Covid.

That’s why you have the option of purchasing travel insurance.

The situation the original poster wrote about is completely different then the choice you made when you booked.

All cruise lines have made financial cuts. Name calling and deflecting blame is weak.

[1Virgo]

4 hours ago, twsalso said:

That is a little personal but it was a geriatric pregnancy and they had all of the testing done before going public.

shouldn't have to explain

 

I m amazed at the number of posters that feel they are entitled to explanations, or criticize on this forum.  I ve visited other cruise line boards  I am not seeing the same discourse, questioning, almost attacking, perhaps provoking as here.  The Celebrity board I assumed, perhaps incorrectly , was to express one s experiences and offer tips/suggestions and ask Appropriate questions       So ……..  what is the issue?  Trolls? 

[CaroleSS]

@1Virgo trolls, no. But when a first time poster comes along with a flaming post, people are suspicious. Some posts say some "questionable" things, so people ask for explanations. It is human nature to ask for details when things don't make sense to them. This thread has a number of them, so if the only thread you read was this one, maybe you got a skewed impression.

 

Yes, this board has some trolls (they all do), but most threads are pleasant, as you say are offering tips, asking for assistance and offering trip reports.

[1Virgo]

6 minutes ago, CaroleSS said:

@1Virgo trolls, no. But when a first time poster comes along with a flaming post, people are suspicious. Some posts say some "questionable" things, so people ask for explanations. It is human nature to ask for details when things don't make sense to them. This thread has a number of them, so if the only thread you read was this one, maybe you got a skewed impression.

 

Yes, this board has some trolls (they all do), but most threads are pleasant, as you say are offering tips, asking for assistance and offering trip reports.

I hear you. and I have been a long time member so this is not the only thread I ve read.  But it does seem  the last 6 months or more, there have been a number of postings that go over the top in challenging, ridiculing, or criticizing.  .   first. It is no one’s business as to why a pregnancy was revealed late.  4th or 5th month miscarriage, multiple miscarriages whatever.  Was not the op’s business or for poster to be questioned.    As I said, reading boards on the other cruise lines here , there truly seems to be a different feel on the Celebrity board/forum that was never there before. 

[CaroleSS]

There have been a lot of changes on X in the recent year.....some (ok most) not making folk happy. I can understand the angst people feel, but no, that should not mean it is ok to be "ugly" to one another or say hateful things. 

While it might not be someone's "business" to know details, if you post something and leave out those details that connect the dots, someone is going to ask. If you don't want to share, maybe it's best to pick a different example.

 

But, enough OT chatter, back to your regularly scheduled programming........

[the penguins]

11 hours ago, twsalso said:

None of this surprises me. I dealt with Hacksaw Laura when she was at RCCL. I was taking family and grandchild on a Caribbean cruise. Low and behold three months prior to sailing and two days after final payment my daughter in law informs me she is four months pregnant with second grandchild. I called RCCL and tried to rebook. Nope cancelation fees! Only thing that saved me was Covid.

Unfortunately we read this in various guises (cancer, accidents etc) all to often. Take out insurance the day you book or accept the risk. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 11/28/2023 at 5:46 PM, BOB999 said:

 

This is not true.  I was booked on the following week Apex cruise, cancelled and was not offered a refund.  I got 90% FCC because I had purchased the Celebrity insurance which includes a "cancel for any reason" provision.

 

Some customers in the UK received refunds because UK law requires it if there are "signifcant" changes in the itinerary.

 

Assuming this is true, the OP received the wrong or incomplete info.  It appears on the OP's sailing and the next sailing after, that UKers (perhaps additional countries like Australia, also) received refunds and no one else did.  It wasn't the sailing specific, it was country of purchase-specific

 

The UK pays higher cruise fares so it's a pretty safe bet that if X adds the major itinerary refund rule to the US, it's going to increase the cruise fares to cover their potential losses and many would still buy insurance to cover other circumstances

[mayleeman]

If asked about why it was not revealed earlier, and if the poster didn’t want to discuss it, he could have just said DIL didn't know about final payment. (A lesson were it actually true: make sure people cruising with you know the rules and date of final payment.)

 

If anyone doesn't want to reveal any info, just say a medical issue came up 2 days after final payment. No need to reveal anything.

[the penguins]

16 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Assuming this is true, the OP received the wrong or incomplete info.  It appears on the OP's sailing and the next sailing after, that UKers (perhaps additional countries like Australia, also) received refunds and no one else did.  It wasn't the sailing specific, it was country of purchase-specific

 

The UK pays higher cruise fares so it's a pretty safe bet that if X adds the major itinerary refund rule to the US, it's going to increase the cruise fares to cover their potential losses and many would still buy insurance to cover other circumstances

I think there is confusion here 

True the UK has the "significant changes" rule but it's the Tour Operator, in this case the Cruise Line, that defines "significant". For example book flying out and back to Heathrow and a change to out from Gatwick and back to Stansted would not be "significant".

I can't find BOB999' s original message so can't comment on "some UK passengers received a refund" without seeing the context.

If you book an inclusive package in the UK ( for example a cruise with flights done as one transaction) and any part is cancelled or not available you are entitled to a full refund which may explain why some UK passengers got refunds.

 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

I think there is confusion here 

True the UK has the "significant changes" rule but it's the Tour Operator, in this case the Cruise Line, that defines "significant". For example book flying out and back to Heathrow and a change to out from Gatwick and back to Stansted would not be "significant".

I can't find BOB999' s original message so can't comment on "some UK passengers received a refund" without seeing the context.

If you book an inclusive package in the UK ( for example a cruise with flights done as one transaction) and any part is cancelled or not available you are entitled to a full refund which may explain why some UK passengers got refunds.

 

Sorry sent to soon. I intended to add that when you book in the UK insurance is "sort of compolsary". That is the Booking Conditions state that if you choose not to have insurance then you will be unable to claim for anything that would have been covered had you done so.

"Cancel for any reason" insurance is not available in the UK.

UK insurance is generally a package covering: cancellation, baggage, and medical. For regular travellers there are also Annual Policies that cover an unlimited number of trips (usually up to 30 days each with extensions available) that offer the best value.

[DownByTheSea]

I wasn't on this cruise and have no dog in this fight, but I agree completely that if you sign up for an itinerary that was more expensive, and they switch out to a much cheaper itinerary -- that you didn't want to do anyway -- they should compensate you, at LEAST for the difference in fare.

 

I don't know what the pricing was before/after, but those itineraries are not comparably priced at all. This I know because we were alerted that a Celebrity "replacement" Greek Isles itinerary was sooooooo inexpensive we just added one of those in March. The web site for the 11 night Mar 25, 2024 Infinity sailing says "from $586pp" and "Was $2078." That gives you a sense of the difference. Also: We also have a sailing booked for the middle east in November on Azamara (fingers crossed it will go to most of the ports, just minus the one stop in Israel that I anticipate might be cancelled) -- which was in line with that $2000pp price when we booked, though after we booked it's gone up to insane levels like $7300pp for an INSIDE and almost $10,000pp for the least expensive balcony! Whoa!!  We had wanted to maybe upgrade, but, hoooo boy, no way now. 

 

So, yeah, Greece in October is like 75%+ less than the holy lands itinerary it replaced. I would definitely expect Celebrity to offer some serious compensation if I were the OP. It's only fair. They're earning high dollar itinerary rates and offering a low dollar replacement. Not fair at all to keep the money and run. War is horrible, but both the OP and Celebrity are impacted, so they should share the pain, not dump all the downside on the OP. 

 

Just because a cruise contract we have no ability to negotiate says "we'll put you on a ship for N days, nothing more" -- unless it's a booze crooze we all know we're not really buying N days on some ship any random place in the world when we book a cruise. We are definitely booking for seeing specific ports, maybe missing a small percent of them -- but a sudden, completely different, much cheaper, itinerary? With no option even to cancel because you're already on board? Not fair at all, no matter what the forced legalese says. That just generates huge bad will.  Silversea did this to us 10 years ago, epically bad cruise, worst cruise of the 45 cruises we've done, all things under their control they failed at, and they refused to do anything despite a revolt of most of the pax. Unknown to use beforehand, the problems had gotten so bad their CMO was (secretly-but-discovered) on board to troubleshoot. Exec. office thumbed their nose at us. We haven't sailed with them since. I'm sure it's cost them many times what it would have to make it right, but that was their call.

 

I hope Celebrity comes to realize treating pax badly costs them more in the end. We've got two Celebrity cruises booked, so I sure hope we don't run into the same bad treatment! 

 

OP -- you have my sympathies.

Edited December 3, 2023 by DownByTheSea

[prmssk]

1 hour ago, DownByTheSea said:

The web site for the 11 night Mar 25, 2024 Infinity sailing says "from $586pp" and "Was $2078." That gives you a sense of the difference.

Was that sailing ever actually for sale for the $2,078 price or that is that just the full price they always discount with some sort of ever changing sale?  And how does that difference compare to the normal up and down that comes with dynamic pricing?

 

And how exactly do you (and others who have made similar comments on this thread) suggest they figure out the difference in value when an itinerary changes mid-cruise?  Cruise lines use dynamic pricing that is constantly changing so passengers on the same cruise usually paid vastly different prices for the same cabin type and cruise.  And last week's price is often very different than this week's price.  The same would be true for any comparison itinerary you are trying to use to come up with that difference in price.  

[RD64]

@DownByTheSea - did you price out an equivalent high season Greek Isles cruise in July or August 2024? Or did you just pick the random - lowest of the low season Greek Isle price for  March 2024? 
 

If your rerouted cruise was more expensive than the one originally booked and altered, I assume that you would have been first in line to make up the cost differential.

 

Celebrity, Norwegian, Oceania (and others) - perusing these cruise boards it seems that none of them have dealt with it in a way that all disrupted passengers were satisfied. But at the end of the day they all had to deal with a truly unexpected situation at the drop of a hat, and there is no way everyone will be happy with the resolutions.

[IDL]

14 minutes ago, RD64 said:

@DownByTheSea - did you price out an equivalent high season Greek Isles cruise in July or August 2024? Or did you just pick the random - lowest of the low season Greek Isle price for  March 2024? 
 

If your rerouted cruise was more expensive than the one originally booked and altered, I assume that you would have been first in line to make up the cost differential.

 

Celebrity, Norwegian, Oceania (and others) - perusing these cruise boards it seems that none of them have dealt with it in a way that all disrupted passengers were satisfied. But at the end of the day they all had to deal with a truly unexpected situation at the drop of a hat, and there is no way everyone will be happy with the resolutions.

The overarching point is that there are exceptional/extraordinary/atypical situations that the cruise should take into account on a case by case basis and in the interest of good customer service take care of affected passengers accordingly.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

The overall point of this thread was the OP’s claim that no one on the OPs sailing was compensated and that everyone on the next sailing could have been refunded if they cancelled.  It was some extra salt in the wounds when OP claims the on board crew promised some sort of compensation by email which never happened.  We only have limited info, taken at face value it does appear this claim is false.  More probable was that the OP heard from passengers outside of the US who were refunded but most likely paid a higher cruise fare to begin with.  Perhaps more info will be revealed to provide some clarity

 

If you believe X should add a major itinerary change refund rule, you should create a separate thread with why you believe this should be the case.  In the US, we have not had this rule in the cruise contract on any of the major cruise lines.  While they are rare, they have happened including a Bermuda one which only went to the Bahamas.  Cruise companies are a for profit business and understandably are not going keep a ship at its home port while they iron out itineraries.  Lastly, one assumes an element of risk if they book a cruise in an unstable region.  There was most recently an uproar when Russian ports got cancelled

[RD64]

@NutsAboutGolf - a very good post that creates food for thought. Should Celebrity, and others, create a major refund rule /option it will come as either an additional option like insurance (which truly nobody would elect to pay for), or higher cruise fares for all to compensate for the potential risk. Which becomes the better option?

[CaroleSS]

I looked at sailings in October 2024 to compare a Greek Islands cruise versus Israel, Egypt and found this. Granted the ships are different, but it's the best I could find. I'm seeing similar prices for close to the same number of nights.

 

I must be missing something as it doesn't look like as @DownByTheSea says....."Greece in October is like 75%+ less than the holy lands itinerary it replaced"

Edited December 4, 2023 by CaroleSS

[kirtihk]

On 11/28/2023 at 5:45 PM, YukonCanadianCruiser said:

The reason for my post was not to incite hateful comments. We and many other folks who spoke with staff on the cruise were promised something that didn’t materialize. The only purpose of the post was to let others know when you book with X expecting exceptional treatment (a reasonable assumption based on their marketing materials), you may leave disappointed. Take care, everyone.

It’s so true.  Hate or whatever it is has been developing for last 5 years and not just around cruising sentiment.  From the other hand, open mind is strongly prohibited (AKA dismissed) these days.

Edited December 4, 2023 by kirtihk

[DownByTheSea]

5 hours ago, RD64 said:

@DownByTheSea - did you price out an equivalent high season Greek Isles cruise in July or August 2024? Or did you just pick the random - lowest of the low season Greek Isle price for  March 2024? 
 

 

We were not looking at Greek isles itineraries, no: We chose this one because it was marked down and was so extraordinarily inexpensive—precisely because it used to be a holy lands itinerary that X turned into a Greek isles itinerary and X had to drastically lower the price as a result. We had no prior interest in a Greek isles sailing, but this popped onto our radar because it was a cheapy and sounded fun for the super low price.  My point being that Greek isles itineraries are much less costly than holy lands itineraries. At last, at the times of year in question. Thus, if I had one of the latter converted to the former while I was on board, I too would feel it equitable to receive a price adjustment, as the OP talked about.
 

Indeed, we DO have a 26 day b2b Middle East itinerary booked for next October, on Azamara, and we’re in a quandary whether it will see this same fate. We have no interest if it’s not substantially the itinerary we booked. That’s why we booked it.—Which gets back to the OP’s point, that itineraries are not all equal so the cruise line should share the pain with pax when events like this happen, not keep the money and put the full burden on the pax just because the have a legal weasel clause that lets them. (And before you ask what we plan to do about the Mideast sailing, if by final payment it looks questionable that it won’t do the Mideast itinerary, we’ll likely cancel.) 

 

All itineraries are not equal. Cruise lines should refund at least the difference when they drastically change itineraries for people who’ve paid. It’s only fair. 

[prmssk]

1 minute ago, DownByTheSea said:

We chose this one because it was marked down and was so extraordinarily inexpensive—precisely because it used to be a holy lands itinerary that X turned into a Greek isles itinerary and X had to drastically lower the price as a result. We had no prior interest in a Greek isles sailing, but this popped onto our radar because it was a cheapy and sounded fun for the super low price.  My point being that Greek isles itineraries are much less costly than holy lands itineraries.

It dropped in price because of the new uncertainty in the Middle East and the sudden shift in itinerary.  Celebrity's trying to make the best of a situation out of their control and fill this ship with all the cancellations from people who wanted Israel/Egypt and not Greek Isles.  That doesn't mean it's a cheaper itinerary.  It's just shifting demand a bit late in the game.  That's all part of dynamic pricing and responding to a changing situation.

 

No itinerary is equal but that doesn't mean you can so easily put a value on one itinerary over another or say that one is worth more than another.  The price you pay has to do with how many cruises they offer with that itinerary (supply) and how many people want to book it for that specific time frame (demand).  

 

And Celebrity is sharing the pain.  It takes time and money to shift an itinerary last minute like they had to do in early October.  They don't just snap their fingers and the new itinerary appears.  Furthermore, with those cruises that followed the initial declaration of war, it means loss of customers who preferred one itinerary over the other and increased marketing costs to attract those that would like the new itinerary.  

[Mickey S]

On 11/28/2023 at 3:57 PM, 1Virgo said:

that does not mean the passengers the following week were getting a free cruise!    they had a choice of taking a 100% refund and not cruise or go on the changed itinerary 

when you are talking about a med cruise where someone has booked international flights and perhaps made accomodations, a 100% refund leaves a tough decision. get the 100% refund to offset the cost of cancellations, or just take the cruise and miss out on the key ports.

A few hundred of OBC woudl ease the pain.

 

[the penguins]

52 minutes ago, Mickey S said:

when you are talking about a med cruise where someone has booked international flights and perhaps made accomodations, a 100% refund leaves a tough decision. get the 100% refund to offset the cost of cancellations, or just take the cruise and miss out on the key ports.

A few hundred of OBC woudl ease the pain.

 

Throwing in international flights and hotel costs just "muddies the waters". Yes for some Greece is a long haul destination but for many it's only a short flight. Hotels can be booked as refundable or nonrefundable - you make that choice not the cruise line.

Every cruise line has the same booking conditions regarding changes and will also do so as they face to many variables not to do so - weather, port closures, mechanical issues, diseases, war etc.

To date the OP has not produced a shred of evidence that they were promised anything just hearsay from other passengers.

As always, speak directly to the most senior officer you can. Write down exactly what they say including their name, date and time. Follow it up on the ship always adding the name, date and time of any follow up 

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

Throwing in international flights and hotel costs just "muddies the waters". Yes for some Greece is a long haul destination but for many it's only a short flight. Hotels can be booked as refundable or nonrefundable - you make that choice not the cruise line.

Every cruise line has the same booking conditions regarding changes and will also do so as they face to many variables not to do so - weather, port closures, mechanical issues, diseases, war etc.

To date the OP has not produced a shred of evidence that they were promised anything just hearsay from other passengers.

As always, speak directly to the most senior officer you can. Write down exactly what they say including their name, date and time. Follow it up on the ship always adding the name, date and time of any follow up 

Pretty much agree with everything except for “evidence”.  Even if the OP had the crew members name, they could issue the OP a $50 future cruise credit and claim they provided compensation.  The OP claims it was verbal so evidence doesn’t exist unless someone recorded it and even then with background noise, accents, etc, may be difficult to accurately capture a clear voice

 

Many seem to forget the OPs claim that the other sailing received a full refund and their sailing received nothing despite the on board crew claiming they’ll receive something.  As stated, I believe it was misinformation that the OP received that the entire next sailing were offered a refund

 

Lastly, whenever there’s an itinerary deviation of any kind, someone somewhere demands compensation for it.  This has been going on for decades and will likely continue to do so.  Cruise lines like most in the travel industry want to display the lowest price so I do not see them increasing cruise fares do add passenger friendly compensation rules unless forced to

[billc23]

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

Every cruise line has the same booking conditions regarding changes and will also do so as they face to many variables not to do so - weather, port closures, mechanical issues, diseases, war etc.

Silversea - owned by RCI - had a pre final  payment itinerary change and offered this:

 

"The safety and security of our guests and crew are always our top priority. Due to significant geopolitical unrest in Myanmar, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our calls in Yangon. We will now visit Hambantota and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka and enjoy an extended guest experience in Phuket, Thailand. A stop in New Mangalore, India has also been eliminated from the itinerary due to restrictions by local authorities.

We know this information is unexpected, and we appreciate your understanding. Please know these adjustments are intended to safeguard your well-being, and you should feel confident that we are wholly committed to protecting your expected guest experience during this much-anticipated adventure through Asia. If you choose to stay booked on this voyage, you will receive a 15% future cruise credit issued 60 days prior to sailing and a shipboard credit of 500 USD per suite to enjoy while on board."

 

Along with other generous options to rebook any other future sailing, except the world cruise,  at a 10% discount. The booking conditions are similar but the goodwill is not.

 

Absolutely not related to the OP's issue but I was on a Millennium sailing in 2007 that had mechanical trouble on day 2 of a 14 day sailing. We were "stuck" in Civitavecchia for 10 days . All received free internet, free international phone calls, free excursions every day and free transportation to the planned debark city. All were refunded 100% of the cruise cost. Then all received a 100% cruise credit to be used in 18 months. I felt like I won the lottery!! My TA received her full commission and I received all of my payment back from Celebrity in addition to OBC from my TA. The treatment by Celebrity made me a  loyal customer. It was pre Retreat and we were in a suite with an outstanding butler. The refunded cruise cost was over $20,000 as was the amount received as FCC. How times and Celebrity have changed.