Just Venting-Celebrity Excursion Dept

[Coolcruise02]

We booked the Whale Watching excursion in Maui four weeks ago for our December cruise. Now we get an e-mail that they have changed our time from the 9:15am trip to the 2:00pm trip with no explaination why. I called the excursion phone number and a young lady tells me she has no idea why they changed it and can't answer any questions, and that I need to talk with the Shore Excursion Desk. (I thought that was who I was calling) So, I ask her to transfer me. She said she couldn't, that I can only talk with them thru e-mails. She said they won't even talk to her!?? I can only imagine the kind of day that lady has when she was no answers to any questions a customer has!

 

So I e-mail a response that 2:00pm is not acceptable for us and to cancel the excursion if they can't change our time back to 9:15. They answered back that the excursion company was using their boats for snorkeling in the morning and doing whale watching in the afternoon.

 

We then booked with Pacific Whale Foundation, who of course are now booked up for 9:30 but did have openings at 10:30. Not great for us, but better than 2:00, since we have afternoon plans.

 

We book both ship and independant excursions so I don't mind going with PWF but I was willing to pay more money to do the ships excursion since this is a tendering port and would get off the ship before independent tours.

 

I will bet money when we get on the ship and get to Maui there are ship excursions for whale watching in the morning. I think we got "Bumped" for a group or some other excuse and they won't admit it. Something is fishy!

[wvufan]

Hi neighbor:)

 

I think when the dust settles, you will be glad you aren't taking the ship tour. We cruised to Hawaii in April, and there were a lot of problems all around with ship tours-cancellations, etc. I can almost guarantee that PWF will be much more informative and enjoyable than being herded on a ship tour. You might want to be at the PWF place before 9:30 in case they have some last minute room for you.

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[SheilaNC]

FYI,

 

We did PWF when in Maui several years ago and had good service and great snorkeling (we weren't there in whale Watching season). Good choice. By the way, say hello for us to the whales that we saw in Juneau in July :)

[rcicruiser]

So how do you know that the shore excursion company did not change the time. Did you go back in and see what times they are offering now. You said they will have morning trips when you get on the ship. Maybe you should check to see what time they are offering now.

[Coolcruise02]

Hi neighbor:)

 

I think when the dust settles, you will be glad you aren't taking the ship tour. We cruised to Hawaii in April, and there were a lot of problems all around with ship tours-cancellations, etc. I can almost guarantee that PWF will be much more informative and enjoyable than being herded on a ship tour. You might want to be at the PWF place before 9:30 in case they have some last minute room for you.

 

 

 

 

My parents live in Vienna. :) Thanks for the tip about checking in on the earlier trip. Since we will be walking around town, I'll do that. We were looking at doing PWF first, so it's fine with us.

[Coolcruise02]

So how do you know that the shore excursion company did not change the time. Did you go back in and see what times they are offering now. You said they will have morning trips when you get on the ship. Maybe you should check to see what time they are offering now.

 

?? Why should I check what time they are now offering?????

 

They have already told me my time slot has been changed and they can't/won't change it back!

 

What I said was "I'll BET when we get to Lahaina there are ship excursions for the morning whale watch." Meaning they are no longer available to me but others will be going. (If the time was sold out it should never have been an option on the on-line booking.

 

When we booked this on-line 4 weeks ago I believe there were three morning times to choose from (9:15, 10:30, 11:15) plus afternoon times. I would be curious to know if all these people were changed to afternoon also.