Letter from Celebrity stating our B2B cruise violates law HNL - Vancouver - Seattle

[JLMcruise]

I know this may have been discussed before but anyone who has experienced this your help would be appreciated. I received an email today that our B2B cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver - Vancouver to Seattle on the Edge violates a maritime law. Celebrity wants us either to add on the Sydney to Honolulu leg ( that is a rather expensive option) or cancel the second cruise from Vancouver to Seattle to make it "legal".  We did not book our airfare thru Celebrity so our airfare is not refundable and the airline we were suppose to fly out of Seattle does not fly out of Vancouver. My husband has mobility issues so traveling from Vancouver to Seattle is not an option. I know I read other threads on this topic last year but can't find them. Anyone who has experience with this - your input would be much appreciated. 

[JLMcruise]

I found the thread -  PVSA - I wonder why Celebrity let us book this? - They should have a warning on this or the agent should have informed us when I spoke with them on the phone....uggg

 

[prmssk]

I don’t know why they don’t do a better job catching it at the time of booking, but the itinerary you currently have booked is indeed a violation of the Passenger Vessel Service Act which doesn’t allow two different US ports to be your starting and ending points without what is considered a distant foreign port. None of your foreign ports on those two cruises are considered distant foreign ports. 

[Jim_Iain]

You may find this tread of interest.   It seems the OP found a possible work around.

 

 

[markeb]

When you put the two cruises together (they're two separate cruises) Celebrity is transporting you on the same vessel from Honolulu to Seattle. The only ports that matter are where you start and where you end, and they're different US ports. That's a violation.

 

I've never booked a back to back. Apparently the software treats the two cruises as totally separate events until some sort of compliance check that occurs later. I really don't know if the booking system even directly recognizes that you have a back-to-back booking at the time. It would be helpful if it did. If you booked with a live person, either at Celebrity or your own TA, and it sounds like you did, shame on them. 

[Northern Aurora]

The last time we booked a single cruise was in 2017.  We book B2B or longer, and generally book while onboard a Celebrity ship.  I have had questions regarding the PVSA, and was told by a future cruise staff person that Celebrity software is supposed to "flag" sets of cruises which would violate the PVSA.  Wonder if both cruises were booked at the same time.

[JLMcruise]

1 minute ago, Northern Aurora said:

The last time we booked a single cruise was in 2017.  We book B2B or longer, and generally book while onboard a Celebrity ship.  I have had questions regarding the PVSA, and was told by a future cruise staff person that Celebrity software is supposed to "flag" sets of cruises which would violate the PVSA.  Wonder if both cruises were booked at the same time.

I booked the 2nd leg a couple of days later with Celebrity directly and asked the agent to make them B2B - the agent was happy to do so and did. It has been almost a month since this occurred. The agent never said anything to me that is violated the PVSA. We do many B2B cruises. Celebrity and all cruise lines should have it flagged. This is very poor customer service in my humble opinion. 

[mahasamatman]

43 minutes ago, markeb said:

Celebrity is transporting you on the same vessel from Honolulu to Seattle.

 

Same vessel is not a requirement to violate the PVSA. It's same carrier - in this case Celebrity - so you couldn't take another Celebrity ship either. You can get around it by adding an overnight in Vancouver or switching cruise lines.

[JLMcruise]

45 minutes ago, markeb said:

If you booked with a live person, either at Celebrity or your own TA, and it sounds like you did, shame on them. 

I did book directly with Celebrity and asked that the cruises be marked as B2B.

[mahasamatman]

1 minute ago, JLMcruise said:

asked the agent to make them B2B

 

The only purpose in "making them b2b" is for the small discount.

 

2 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

The agent never said anything to me that is violated the PVSA.

 

Most cruise agents have never heard of the PVSA. They need to update their automated systems to act in real-time instead of batch mode.

[BettyCruiser]

11 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

Same vessel is not a requirement to violate the PVSA. It's same carrier - in this case Celebrity - so you couldn't take another Celebrity ship either. You can get around it by adding an overnight in Vancouver or switching cruise lines.

This is not true. PVSA applies to the vessel. A change of ship for either leg, be it Celebrity or another cruise line will satisfy PVSA. 

[Cruise Junky]

6 minutes ago, BettyCruiser said:

This is not true. PVSA applies to the vessel. A change of ship for either leg, be it Celebrity or another cruise line will satisfy PVSA. 

Correct hence it’s name 😂

[JLMcruise]

The icing on the cake with all of this - on February 20th I wrote the executive office an email - that the booking process needed to be fixed. I booked online and paid in full and as soon as the credit card went thru and I added my husband on - I was informed that I owed a balance because a "glitch" removed all of the discounts. I immediately called to have this corrected. The agent was trying to trying to charge us more. I had to "hold my ground" and read them the discounts that were offered online in order to get the correct price.  The executive office knew this was a B2B from my email and this should not have been permitted to happened. I even asked for the B2B discount LOL. You think someone from the office would have called me. I miss the old Celebrity. 

[abbydancer2003]

7 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

The icing on the cake with all of this - on February 20th I wrote the executive office an email - that the booking process needed to be fixed. I booked online and paid in full and as soon as the credit card went thru and I added my husband on - I was informed that I owed a balance because a "glitch" removed all of the discounts. I immediately called to have this corrected. The agent was trying to trying to charge us more. I had to "hold my ground" and read them the discounts that were offered online in order to get the correct price.  The executive office knew this was a B2B from my email and this should not have been permitted to happened. I even asked for the B2B discount LOL. You think someone from the office would have called me. I miss the old Celebrity. 

They probably wouldn't have caught it on the old Celebrity either.  

 

I'm sorry this happened, but it's not unique to Celebrity.  I seem to recall people doing them same on Princess, and then getting a letter or a call saying they had to cancel one.

[sasset]

We had the 'glitch' happened to us. We had a dedicated Celebrity cruise planner  and it still took her almost a month to fix it. She had been told it was a computer glitch too. It was only $75, so the first time I saw it I paid it. Then Celebrity refunded it  and put it back on the next day.

[JLMcruise]

4 minutes ago, sasset said:

We had the 'glitch' happened to us. We had a dedicated Celebrity cruise planner  and it still took her almost a month to fix it. She had been told it was a computer glitch too. It was only $75, so the first time I saw it I paid it. Then Celebrity refunded it  and put it back on the next day.

Mine was 3400.00 dollars!!

[mom says]

2 hours ago, JLMcruise said:

our airfare is not refundable and the airline we were suppose to fly out of Seattle does not fly out of Vancouver. My husband has mobility issues so traveling from Vancouver to Seattle is not an option.

Back to your problem. I'm mystified why you can't cancel your second Cruise and fly from Vancouver  to Seattle, and then catch your original flight home. Your husband's mobility issues do not seem to prevent him from flying or getting from a port to an airport.

[cruisestitch]

40 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

Same vessel is not a requirement to violate the PVSA. It's same carrier - in this case Celebrity - so you couldn't take another Celebrity ship either. You can get around it by adding an overnight in Vancouver or switching cruise lines.

Check that — I believe it is the vessel that matters not the cruise line

[hcat]

8 minutes ago, mom says said:

Back to your problem. I'm mystified why you can't cancel your second Cruise and fly from Vancouver  to Seattle, and then catch your original flight home. Your husband's mobility issues do not seem to prevent him from flying or getting from a port to an airport.

That's what I thought could work... stay a few days in Vancouver and or Seattle, take that flt as planned   and fight with X to get a full refund on the second cruise!

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

The last time we booked a single cruise was in 2017.  We book B2B or longer, and generally book while onboard a Celebrity ship.  I have had questions regarding the PVSA, and was told by a future cruise staff person that Celebrity software is supposed to "flag" sets of cruises which would violate the PVSA.  Wonder if both cruises were booked at the same time.

Other possibility is that it was booked via an Agent that didn't check on it.   As we all know,  Celebrity IT isn't the brightest star in the sky and could possibly miss.  

[JLMcruise]

44 minutes ago, mom says said:

Back to your problem. I'm mystified why you can't cancel your second Cruise and fly from Vancouver  to Seattle, and then catch your original flight home. Your husband's mobility issues do not seem to prevent him from flying or getting from a port to an airport.

Sorry I meant traveling from Vancouver to Seattle same day would be difficult. Last time we were in Seattle airport it was a very long distance between terminals - our flight was an 2.5 hours late coming into Seattle  - I literally had to find a wheel chair and run - made our connection in a knick of time. My husband tires out easily so we like the slow go approach.  Flying out of Seattle is quite a bit cheaper than Vancouver - thought we would save money and extend the cruise - well that didn't work out. LOL.  We have been to Vancouver many times - checking with the airline to see if we can move the flight to a few  days earlier  maybe take in Victoria - lessen to be learned - don't book non refundable! 

[Ferry_Watcher]

OP, I wish you had looked at the CC thread for the Vancouver - Seattle May 11-17 thread:

 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2901610-celebrity-edge-may-11-17-2024-alaska/#comment-64506979

 

Back in May '23 those of us who know about the PVSA rule were cautioning folks like yourselves who had booked the Honolulu - Vancouver B2B with the Vancouver - Seattle cruise that there would be a problem with these two sailings. 

Sadly, this scenario does happen, and there isn't much you can do about it.  

 

Glad that you are thinking about Plan B.

 

 

Edited February 26 by Ferry_Watcher

[abbydancer2003]

2 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

Sorry I meant traveling from Vancouver to Seattle same day would be difficult. Last time we were in Seattle airport it was a very long distance between terminals - our flight was an 2.5 hours late coming into Seattle  - I literally had to find a wheel chair and run - made our connection in a knick of time. My husband tires out easily so we like the slow go approach.  Flying out of Seattle is quite a bit cheaper than Vancouver - thought we would save money and extend the cruise - well that didn't work out. LOL.  We have been to Vancouver many times - checking with the airline to see if we can move the flight to a few  days earlier  maybe take in Victoria - lessen to be learned - don't book non refundable! 

We've sailed into Vancouver and flown out of Seattle lots of times, but not the same day.  You could consider renting a car or van (don't know if that's feasible), and driving to Seattle, staying overnight and then flying home.  

[wb3hyde]

Unfortunately this is not just a Celebrity IT issue.  We had the exact same thing happen to us on b2b cruises we booked direct with Princess last year.  We ended up having to cancel the second segment of the b2b.  I know it is frustrating and disappointing.

[Northern Aurora]

31 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

Sorry I meant traveling from Vancouver to Seattle same day would be difficult. ......

 

Not only does Alaska Airlines/Horizon have multiple flights, but have you considered keeping your current flight out of Seattle and taking Amtrak from Vancouver to Seattle?  Have no idea about the current Amtrak schedule, but 8 or9 years ago we took Amtrak from Seattle toVancouver prior to a cruise out of Vancouver and found it very enjoyable.  Lovely scenery.