Summit Alaskan cruise disappointment (MERGER OF 5 THREADS ON THIS TOPIC)

[cechase]

Why oh why are you still beating this dead horse? And why are the Griswalds here, who were not on the cruise, cheering on those people who destroyed by their cruise by attending protests?

[FlyingTiger]

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? You may be able to book your next cruise cheaper through discounted travel agencies.

NOTE!!!!! Look for news out of Miami regarding this cruise on Monday!!!

 

Thanks Raymond & Berta, thats what I figure with the 30% off coupon. Celebrity did not give any details, in their offer it was just "take this or that". But from all I read in this forum, a x% off coupon seems to always be tied to a lot of restrictions and is based on brochureprice.

 

Can you say a little more about what is coming up on Monday?

Has someone in the US or UK already received an Celebrity compansation offer?

 

happy sailings to you

FlyingTiger

[FlyingTiger]

Good to hear from you again Flying Tiger. You are right that Celebrity did say that the $200 was a gift, but as you know we have been told many stories during this cruise. For missing more than fifty percent of the Itinerary either option is hardly fair. This offer is certanly in keeping with the way this whole cruise has been treated by Celebrity. I will let one of our math wizards come up with a percentage you would be receiving back with this new twist. As you know this is not the most unbiased place to ask questions. If I can be of any help and you want my email address please let me know.

 

Thank you cruiser2004. In the meantime I have a written proof from the captain, that the $ 200,- were ment to be a gesture of goodwill and not a part of the compansation. I agree with you, that Celebrity sticks to the same customertreatment they have shown on our cruise. No need to involve the maths, it is obvious a choice between two inadequate offers and an undecent one on top of it.

Since I had enough of strong headwind from all the Celebrity cheerleaders in my struggle to get to my right, your contactdetails would be very welcome.

 

happy sailings to you

FlyingTiger

[cruiser2004]

Flying Tiger

If you need more information you can contact me by email. I have put my email address in my signature under my screen name. To get my email address left click on my screen name and then click on "view public profile" the address appears under "signature".

If you need any help please let me know.

[FlyingTiger]

cruiser2004

copied, thanks. I will send you a mail.

FlyingTiger

[griswalds]

Fair question

 

As a dedicated cruiser and one who likes to remain informed and care about the industry, I feel that Celebrity has really droped the ball on this one. If Celebrity can abuse passengers this way, it will lower the standard in the industry overall. As well I see this a clear abuse of cruise passengers as Celebrity knows that the M class ships will break down on a yearly basis without warning. I understand their business decision to do so and the fact that they have successfuly rec'd money for the design flaw for at least one manufacturer. I assume the damages should be for both Celebrity and the passengers who by luck of the draw end up on the "Cruise from hell". Bottom line is, if you want to keep operating these ships without fixing the design problem, then you should be very generous with the passengers who by luck of the draw are stuck on a crippled ship.

I hope one can show support for their fellow passngers even though I was not on this specific cruise. Missing Hubbard glacier IMO was unforgiveable and I have yet to read a good reason why they were unable to do so.

 

The horse is not long dead but the opportunity of a lifetime for many passengers to see Hubbard Glacier probably is. It is time for Celebrity to make some "lemon aid" from their "lemon" class M ships.

 

Griswalds

 

 

 

Why oh why are you still beating this dead horse? And why are the Griswalds here, who were not on the cruise, cheering on those people who destroyed by their cruise by attending protests?

[OuiOnboard]

Why oh why are you still beating this dead horse? And why are the Griswalds here, who were not on the cruise, cheering on those people who destroyed by their cruise by attending protests?

Simple...it's all about expressing opinions....no more and no less.

[spongerob]

Simple...it's all about expressing opinions....no more and no less.

I thought we weren't allowed to have an opinion if we weren't there to experience things first-hand. Oops, different board, different rules.

[FlyingTiger]

Fair question

 

As a dedicated cruiser and one who likes to remain informed and care about the industry, I feel that Celebrity has really droped the ball on this one. If Celebrity can abuse passengers this way, it will lower the standard in the industry overall. As well I see this a clear abuse of cruise passengers as Celebrity knows that the M class ships will break down on a yearly basis without warning. I understand their business decision to do so and the fact that they have successfuly rec'd money for the design flaw for at least one manufacturer. I assume the damages should be for both Celebrity and the passengers who by luck of the draw end up on the "Cruise from hell". Bottom line is, if you want to keep operating these ships without fixing the design problem, then you should be very generous with the passengers who by luck of the draw are stuck on a crippled ship.

I hope one can show support for their fellow passngers even though I was not on this specific cruise. Missing Hubbard glacier IMO was unforgiveable and I have yet to read a good reason why they were unable to do so.

 

The horse is not long dead but the opportunity of a lifetime for many passengers to see Hubbard Glacier probably is. It is time for Celebrity to make some "lemon aid" from their "lemon" class M ships.

 

Griswalds

 

Griswalds

I like to say, that I always enjoy your sharpminded contributions to this forum. You show a lot of healthy empathy towards the victims of the crippled Summit cruise. That is doing good and developing progress towards the original matters of this thread(s). The rest is pure entertainment.

 

PS. The horse is not dead at all. The race is on and will be over, by passing the finishline.

happy sailings

FlyingTiger

[Drew B]

Out of 2,000 people, how many is a slight majority and how many is a vast majority? And how does one quantify these terms? In other words, how do we verify that a number is a slight majority or a vast majority?

 

 

Well, 1,200 out of 2,000 is 60%. Does ANYBODY here think that constitutes a "vast majority"? I would say it's not a "vast majority" unless it's 90%+. I realize that is semantics, and I welcome anybody else's interpretation of what these terms mean.

[agabbymama]

DrewB,

 

You may be right, 1200 out of 2000 might not be a VAST majority, but it is certainly a MAJORITY of the passengers.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think the cruise lines are going to change their tactics until people quit spending money to cruise. Then they may take a second look at things. If the ships are only sailing half or a quarter full, then some changes might take place. As long as people continue to book, spending their money for a contract that may or may not be fulfilled, why should the cruise lines change anything?:rolleyes:

[Drew B]

You may be right, 1200 out of 2000 might not be a VAST majority, but it is certainly a MAJORITY of the passengers.

 

And I really have no idea how those 1200 actually feel. Some of them are probably terribly upset. Others (like myself) may have signed up in the heat of the moment, not even clear as to what the list was for, but later calmed down and enjoyed the trip. Still others, even if they weren't particularly unhappy, probably signed up because they didn't want to be left out if there was some fantastic outcome...

 

I think you'd be hard pressed to prove that a majority (vast or otherwise) was terribly upset about the situation. Perhaps that is the case, but I don't see proof of it.

 

On another note, my review (which I wrote WEEKS ago) is finally up on the member reviews section. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the transfer and it ended up with a lot of little boxes where hyphens should be and ampersands (&'s) where periods should be...

[tbelian]

Where is that breaking news out of Miami that was referenced earlier?

 

Nothing heard.

 

Beuller?

 

Or is that film at 11?

[cruiser2004]

I just received my official written response from Celebrity regarding the treatment of passengers on the May 7 Summit. The letter went into detail appoligizing for the long waits during boarding, which I never mentioned in my original letter. Delays in boarding, which as we all know happens on all cruise lines. After appologizing for all of the problems of the world the letter basically said that Celebrity would do nothing more to compensate passengers for missing more than 1/2 of their Itinerary. I have also called Celebrity and received the same response. These responses from Celebrity should answer those who have said that passengers should not have held meetings to discuss the many problems, should not have talked about the problems while on board and should have waited and dealt with Celebrity after the cruise. I still firmly believe that Celebrity mishandled this whole

ill fated cruise, and that lies, deception and insulting offers of compensation are totally unacceptable.

[Drew B]

These responses from Celebrity should answer those who have said that passengers should not have held meetings to discuss the many problems, should not have talked about the problems while on board and should have waited and dealt with Celebrity after the cruise.

 

Why is that? What exactly did the meetings accomplish? Even with all of the meetings, aren't you STILL getting nothing more than what Celebrity is offering? The difference is that perhaps you and others could have enjoyed more of the cruise if you hadn't spent half of it in meetings...

[FlyingTiger]

What exactly did the meetings accomplish?

 

I will tell you. A group of about 1.000 passengers still beeing in contact with each other, standing united and getting stronger every day.

Happy sailings

FlyingTiger

[Drew B]

I will tell you. A group of about 1.000 passengers still beeing in contact with each other, standing united and getting stronger every day.

Happy sailings

FlyingTiger

 

I do agree with that, my friend. The one thing the group did that I support wholeheartedly was the exchange of contact information. However, once that was accomplished, I'm not sure what the point of additional meetings was...

[lafan42]

Why is that? What exactly did the meetings accomplish? Even with all of the meetings, aren't you STILL getting nothing more than what Celebrity is offering? The difference is that perhaps you and others could have enjoyed more of the cruise if you hadn't spent half of it in meetings...

 

How many meetings were there? 8? 9? How long did they last? 20 minutes max? Now after the meeting did some PAX hang around and chat? I did twice. Anyone that thinks the PAX spent to much time at those meetings has no grip on reality.

 

We had a great time with my parents and the passengers we met and cruised with us, we made the best out of the cruise that limped along ejoying all those extra SEA DAYS.

 

I will remind everyone I am a shareholder in RCCL and 30% is an insult, but we STILL may get nothing more than what Celebrity is offering. But for now we will support the (hummmm "vast" NO "simple" NO) 51+% majority.

 

And we will cruise again, and most likely we will cruise RCCL again.

[NotAanofCelebrity]

Well, 1,200 out of 2,000 is 60%. Does ANYBODY here think that constitutes a "vast majority"? I would say it's not a "vast majority" unless it's 90%+. I realize that is semantics, and I welcome anybody else's interpretation of what these terms mean.

 

Drew,

1. The U.S. Senate considers 60% a 'Super Majority"

2. There are more people than the 1200 who signed up who were very upset.

a.

[NotAanofCelebrity]

Well, 1,200 out of 2,000 is 60%. Does ANYBODY here think that constitutes a "vast majority"? I would say it's not a "vast majority" unless it's 90%+. I realize that is semantics, and I welcome anybody else's interpretation of what these terms mean.

 

Drew,

1. The U.S. Senate considers 60% a 'Super Majority"

2. There are more people than the 1200 who signed up who were very upset. I know of a number who have signed up since the cruise.

a. People who chose not to stand in long queues to sign up.

b. People who wanted to check with their lawyer before doing anything.

c. There were about 400 German citizens who thought they were going get some satifaction from the 2 travel agencies that they booked through which reduces the number of pax to 1500.

d. There were a number of other linguistically challened passenger who did not get involved because of their limited english.

 

Consequently the percentage of angry pax was at the very least 1200/1500 or 80% this would constitute a vast majority in most people's mind. Unless the "many" people you spoke to numbered more than 300.

Especially when certain politicians believe they have a madate with 48% of the vote.

 

You also stated we wasted our time in the meetings. If we hadn't people like you who are willing to tolerate Celebrity deceptions would not have what many of us concider worthless 30% Future Cruise Credits. These were not part of the original generous offer of $200 per cabin and a 2 hour happy hour. Have you written to tell Celebrity you don't want your FCC because you had a wonderful cruise ? It is the "happy folks" who will be the first with their hands out for the FCCs.

Flying Tiger, I agree with you that we have bonded together in a common cause. We are not going to go away as Celebrity believes or hopes.

[cruiser2004]

I can try and answer the question about why there were additional passenger meetings.

Some of the points for having additional passenger meetings are the following:

not everyone, including myself, was either aware of every meeting or able to attend each meeting; the additional meetings gave more people a chance to hear the truth about what was going on; some of the meetings were prompted by the continuing cruise dissappointments. The last passenger meeting, (the day after the 30% FCC was delivered) was the largest meeting that I saw during the whole cruise. It was amazing that, with only word of mouth communications, even more passengers would turn out for a meeting called at the last minute to discuss this latest insult.

[Drew B]

You also stated we wasted our time in the meetings. If we hadn't people like you who are willing to tolerate Celebrity deceptions would not have what many of us concider worthless 30% Future Cruise Credits. These were not part of the original generous offer of $200 per cabin and a 2 hour happy hour. Have you written to tell Celebrity you don't want your FCC because you had a wonderful cruise ? It is the "happy folks" who will be the first with their hands out for the FCCs.

 

If I am able to utilize the FCC (which I very well may not), I think it will be a win-win for me and for X, as I DON'T normally take a major vacation as often as every 18 months, and probably wouldn't otherwise be cruising. They get me (and my 70% plus all of my other expenditures) and I get a reduced-cost trip.

 

I have no idea if this FCC had anything to do with your meetings. In fact, from what they SAID, it had to do with subsequent things that went wrong (the glacier and the inside passage). Perhaps your meetings were responsible. However, perhaps the FCC would have still happened without your meetings. Perhaps they would have even done MORE if the passengers had been gracious and conciliatory. I don't know. However, neither do you.

 

As for how many people are angry, I would say pretty close to 100% have some anger about the situation. However, that is not what Cruiser2004 was saying. He (and I apologize in advance if Cruiser is a she) said that the vast majority of passengers feel like he does. I don't think that is true. Despite some anger and disappointment, I don't think that many (including some of the ones who signed the list) feel as extremely about the situation as he does. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's the impression I got.

[tbelian]

NOTE!!!!! Look for news out of Miami regarding this cruise on Monday!!!

 

So where is this news anyway? Why did you post this? Are you planning on giving us 'the rest of the story' (with apologies to Paul Harvey .... Good DAY!) ...?

[docjph]

I can not believe after a month this bantering back and forth is still going on. I am just looking for any updates if anyone got any results from Celebrity. For those of you who do not agree with the “1200”, go book another cruise on Celebrity or RCCL, join that web site and get to know the people you will cruise with and have a good time. For the rest of you, stop the bickering and just get to the facts. What have you done and what response did you get. In Germany and England some people started receiving their 30% coupons with a list of restrictions. How many people disputed the charges with their credit card companies?

I for one would really like to sail on Celebrity again. The best cruise we were ever on was to Bermuda on Celebrity, and the worse cruise was to Alaska on Celebrity. We liked the ships and the staffs of both cruises. The reason why we can not go back to Celebrity is due to corporate management. I just wish they would do the right thing and admit they screwed up on that cruise and make amends. All these web sites will be hurting their business to some degree. They do not see it now because this just happened 1 month ago and most people book their cruises 3 to 6 months ahead of time. Let’s be honest, when you tell someone you went on a cruise, don’t they ask you, “What cruise line did you go on and how was it?” When I tell people, most times I’m asked “What do you think about Princess?” Why they ask about Princess Cruise Lines, I don’t know, but that name comes up the most.

I would much rather say, “Due to some mechanical problems, we missed two ports, Hubbard’s Glacier and a lot of the Inside Passage but Celebrity more then made up for it by giving us a one week cruise to make up for it. I’d sail with them anytime.” I am still hoping Celebrity does the right thing in the next week or two.

[cruiser2004]

I have sent registered letters to both Celebrity and it's parent company Royal Ceribbean. I have had no response at all from Celebrity and I received a standard form letter, from Royal Caribbean, that did not even address the questions that I had asked.

I have called Celebrity customer service and as soon as they hear the words "May 7 Summit" I am put on hold for 20 minutes, or so, and then informed that Celebrity plans on doing nothing more to rectify the situation.

One of the many good things that came out of the passenger meetings, besides getting to meet a lot of wonderful people, was that I learned several options that the passengers do have to seek fair compensation for missing 1/2 of our cruise.

I too hope that, even at this late date, Celebrity will do the right thing, but from the total lack of concern shown by Celebrity, so far, I am not counting on it.