Closed already!!!!!

[Jimsgirl]

My agent and I have been exchanging messges for days re the Mercury going "Down under"

 

She received the Celebrity official declaration at 10p.m yesterday. got on line at 6A.M. today only to be told that all sailings are closed!!!!!!!

 

Can only say I am completely "Bewitched, and Bewildered"

 

Has anyone else tried to book Mercury? Yesterday no one even knew the prices, how can something only announced yesterday be sold out?

[uktog]

I suspect it is not in fact "open" - it certainly is not bookable in the UK yet nor available from X direct on line

[Trixsea]

You are right, it has not yet opened.

[Andy]

I am sure they are not available for booking yet, so dont worry. Try it again in a few days.

[thomasale]

I think they read Brians' reviews and are back at the drawing board :) I'm kidding by the way!

[ocngypz]

The sailings have not opened for sale. That is why they appear as closed.

[FinelyCruising]

Anyone besides myself receive a survey to respond to on liklihood of choosing this itin and/or the opportunity for packages?

[Andy]

Anyone besides myself receive a survey to respond to on liklihood of choosing this itin and/or the opportunity for packages?

 

Hi Finelycruising !

 

Not me. Not yet anyway.

[Texed]

Anyone besides myself receive a survey to respond to on liklihood of choosing this itin and/or the opportunity for packages?

 

Yes we did.

[Andy]

Yes we did.

 

Hi Ed !

 

Did you get it today ? What did it ask ? Do you remember any of the questions ?

[Brucemcdou]

Hi, Andy - Don't mean to step on Ed's toes, but we got the survey as well. After determining that you were interested in an Australia/NZ itinerary (we are) it asked a series of questions about in which cruise-tour packages you might be interested. It gave a set of six options for tour packages ranging from 2 days in Sydney with one city highlights tour, an all-day bus pass, and all transfers, three days with a day in Sydney, then fly to Cairns, barrier reef, then fly back, then four-, five- and six-day tours including more things, such as a flight to Ayres Rock, flight to Cairns, and back.

 

They also separately asked you to rank your interest in specific tours, such as catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Highlights tour, Sydney highlights and shopping, etc.

 

It also asked about what class of hotel (from 3-star to five-star) you would expect and/or want included on a cruise-tour.

 

As with other surveys, they asked the same question in different ways to narrow down the responses.

 

I hope that helps!

[FinelyCruising]

Also to add to this...

 

for the hotels a no preference was an option.

 

The excursion asked you to select which three you would likely choose. The key seemed to be the Sydney City tours. Some included them, some did not. So for example if you wanted to do Sydney on your own, you might not have wanted this included in a package 2-6 day package. The key is that you will be home based in Sydney at some point, athough depending on the package you chose, you could be jumping to another overnight location. So it is really an intensive land and sea vacation.

 

Also, one of the questions was related to how much time on excursion you prefer devoted to tour time or on-your-own time. The referance was to select from a variety of percentages of time for informational guided tours or on your own shopping and sight seeing and is based really on a personal preference. I guess this will be the most difficult for them to assess, and proably can't but asked for an opinion.

 

One of the questions that was completely open ended came at the end of the survey and pertained to what other factors may impact you from booking if you did not already respond to why you would not take this itin to begin with.

 

I thought a well designed survey, and I thought the packages were very, very good and allowed a cruiser to reaally make the most of this distant destination by selection a pre/post cruise option for possibly up to 6 days with well thought out ideas. I expect anyone taking a package at the time these open up will really be pleased with the offereings. They seems to be focusing on at least 4 star hotels, so expect pricing to be similar.