Solstice Dec 14 2008 non inaugural pricing?

[Lois R]

Hi Arno, nice to see you. How was Galaxy? Hoping you were

going to give us some of your thoughts:)

 

As for that cabin, 100grand:eek: :confused: :rolleyes:

[BillyC]

As a UK cruiser I have just got up to speed with these dissapointing developments. My TA will be back from his leave on Friday, when I will be requiring some significant discounting to stop me cancelling, I'm certainly not paying well over the odds for what is now a standard out of season cruise when compared to the other sailings. What a shoddy way to treat their most loyal customers, like others on this board I have been looking forward to this for nearly a year now after booking during the Captains Club booking period!

 

I have been looking for an excuse to try HAL, it looks like this may be the time.:mad:

[like2cruz]

I couldn't pull up the pricing today for Dec 14th sailing either; maybe that's a good thing.

 

At least the 'View our new TV commercial' (link on Celebrity Home page) for the Solsitice still says 'Setting sail December 2008'. . . ! :D

[DCT61]

$100,000...for Dec 7? The Dec 14th cruise must be TWICE that!

[Coreopsis]

Ha! My overpriced cabins on 12/14 are a bargain in comparison!

 

I hope this is a good sign - (not the gross overpricing) but the fact they are updating pricing.

 

Our cruise critic party number keeps falling. Makes me sad so many of my pals are cancelling and opting for other vacations this week. :(

[lkettle]

As of today Wednesday the UK Celebrity site is working fine and the prices are still the same as before with no price drop.

Like the poster Billyc from UK we are fed up of not hearing anything at all from Celebrity so are emailing our TA tonight to confirm no loss of deposit due to them changing before we cancel and go with HAL

[vivavino]

I felt I had to respond to an earlier comment that was quoting a Celebrity Agent: "Celebrity has a good track record of righting wrongs and the process of evaluating and updating pricing has to go through analysts, etc. and it takes some time. "

 

My earliest experience with Celebrity was in the Fall 2001, shortly after 9/11 brought travel to a near halt. I had already paid fully double (i.e. 100% supplement) for single occupancy of a cabin, and then AFTER the final payment date Celebrity eliminated the single supplement for all new bookings.

 

There was NO concession made, no future cruise credit, no onboard credit, no nothing.

 

SO - as long as you're in the no-penalty refund period then YES, you can expect them to be reasonable, because you have a choice. BUT, in my experience, once you've made the final payment, you're on your own.

 

With that said, I was booked on the 12/14 trip, and have rebooked into the 12/7 trip - CC class (2105, which I'm hoping will have the expanded balcony and deeper cabin the floor plan indicates).

 

My advice - If you have the flexibility to change dates, but would prefer not to - Go ahead and make a cancellable reservation at the cheaper 12/7 pricing because those cabins are moving quickly. If Celebrity "does the right thing" and reduces the prices on the 12/14, trip, great - you can cancel. BUT - if you wait 'til June 12, you'll find that prices on the 12/7 trip are higher (S2's are already $100 more than they were on Sunday) AND, so Celebrity will be making less of an adjustment to get to parity.

 

One more thing - the 12/7 trip also benefits from the cheapest airfaires if you book your own. The other trips all involve something expensively close to TGiving or Xmas. When I switches airfares from the 12/14 to the 12/7 trip, it went DOWN by $160.

 

Cheers!

[cruzmaven]

Just a heads up to anyone considering booking the Eurodam to replace the Solstice. HAL announced today that its fuel surcharge for new bookings is going up effective 6/12. Complete info is on the HAL board and website.

[Coreopsis]

Well . . . the numbers continue to dwindle on our "original inaugural" roll call. I think the high was upwards of 150 . . . down to 61. I wonder how that might relate to overall passenger count.

 

Some are cruising on other lines, some on the other Solstice dates and some are just opting for a lovely land vacation. I'm hanging in there if nothing else because we've all been doing biz travel so we haven't had the chance to all be in one place to discuss options.

 

In the meantime, I've stopped checking the pricing (after the $100k and missing cruises) and hope that if something happens =X= could notify us first. Wouldn't that just be the perfect ending to being mistreated ... they finally lower the pricing but don't tell us and only new people get the correct price?!

 

I am thankful for these Boards and the many friends I have made as a result.

 

Thank you Cruise Critic community!

[cruzmaven]

Anyone else getting aggravated and frustrated over X now raising 12/7 prices several times a day yet not adjusting 12/14 prices at all?

While demand for 12/7 may have been way up because of low initial pricing, demand for 12/14 has to be way down now that its no longer the inaugural.

Can't understand why they are able to make adjustments to 12/7 but not 12/14.:mad:

[lkettle]

I would not be surprised if Celebrity waited until atleast after 12th June before changing the prices, by that time the 30th Nov & 7th Dec cruise prices will have gone up and I think that they will probably reduce them to that level.

[cruzmaven]

I would not be surprised if Celebrity waited until atleast after 12th June before changing the prices, by that time the 30th Nov & 7th Dec cruise prices will have gone up and I think that they will probably reduce them to that level.

 

I agree. It looks like that's the plan. So not only do we miss out on the inaugural sailing, we miss out of those great rates they offered to the general public when 11/30 and 12/7 were first made available.:mad:

[Karynanne]

Anyone else getting aggravated and frustrated over X now raising 12/7 prices several times a day yet not adjusting 12/14 prices at all?

While demand for 12/7 may have been way up because of low initial pricing, demand for 12/14 has to be way down now that its no longer the inaugural.

Can't understand why they are able to make adjustments to 12/7 but not 12/14.:mad:

 

My theory is that the original 12/14 sailing was posted quite awhile ago...and the subsequent 11/30 and 12/7 sailings were just added last week. Since those 2 sailings were added much later than Celebrity's usual time period...they have to sell these cabins quickly. 6 months is a short period of time. JMHO.

[lkettle]

Hi we had a reply from Captains Club to our concerns below, we are happy to have cancelled and are now on the EURODAM AFT Cabin, for less than our Solstice cabin on a NON-INAUGURAL.

 

 

 

Dear Dr. Kettle,

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write us. We appreciate the feedback we receive from our guests and recognize how important that feedback is to our success.

 

We understand your disappointment that the December 14, 2008 sailing will no longer be the "Maiden Voyage" of the Celebrity Solstice. It has been recently determined that the Celebrity Solstice will finish construction ahead of schedule. Our company was faced with the decision to let our ship sit idle in port for a few weeks while we paid our idle crew or we could recoup a fraction of our investment by generating further revenue. We have a certain responsibility to our shareholders by maintaining sound economic judgement.

 

This decision was not made lightly and without difficulty because we also have a responsibility to our loyal Captain's Club members and customers. This is why we offered our guests the opportunity to move their sail date to one of the subsequent sailings at their protected rate. For guests that incur a fee for changing their air schedule, we have put into place a $100 reimbursement for air change fee. Since we did not modify or cancel the December 14, 2008 sail date compensation will not be offered.

 

Dr. Kettle, thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

[Waterlily777]

Hi we had a reply from Captains Club to our concerns below, we are happy to have cancelled and are now on the EURODAM AFT Cabin, for less than our Solstice cabin on a NON-INAUGURAL.

 

 

 

Dear Dr. Kettle,

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write us. We appreciate the feedback we receive from our guests and recognize how important that feedback is to our success.

 

We understand your disappointment that the December 14, 2008 sailing will no longer be the "Maiden Voyage" of the Celebrity Solstice. It has been recently determined that the Celebrity Solstice will finish construction ahead of schedule. Our company was faced with the decision to let our ship sit idle in port for a few weeks while we paid our idle crew or we could recoup a fraction of our investment by generating further revenue. We have a certain responsibility to our shareholders by maintaining sound economic judgement.

 

This decision was not made lightly and without difficulty because we also have a responsibility to our loyal Captain's Club members and customers. This is why we offered our guests the opportunity to move their sail date to one of the subsequent sailings at their protected rate. For guests that incur a fee for changing their air schedule, we have put into place a $100 reimbursement for air change fee. Since we did not modify or cancel the December 14, 2008 sail date compensation will not be offered.

 

Dr. Kettle, thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

 

I am really and truly floored by that response.

 

How could Celebrity actually think that they have NOT modified the December 14th sailing, when they sold it originally as an inaugural cruise at premium prices, and now have have eliminated its status as an inaugural, and have made it a regular cruise at what is historically a period of low fares. That is, without question, a material change to the product and I don't understand how they could even try to argue otherwise.

 

I hope people who are on the December 14th cruise and cannot switch will press forward with their requests for lowered rates. I don't believe that Celebrity will be able to fill the ship at the current pricing and will have to drop the rates. It is just sad that they didn't do it for existing December 14th cruisers at the same time as they announced the addition of the new inaugural.

[rolfecms]

Hi we had a reply from Captains Club to our concerns below, we are happy to have cancelled and are now on the EURODAM AFT Cabin, for less than our Solstice cabin on a NON-INAUGURAL.

 

Ikettle: You got a great deal on your cabin - is that on the Verandah deck? New ship to enjoy too! Have you sailed HAL before?

[cruzmaven]

I am really and truly floored by that response.

 

How could Celebrity actually think that they have NOT modified the December 14th sailing, when they sold it originally as an inaugural cruise at premium prices, and now have have eliminated its status as an inaugural, and have made it a regular cruise at what is historically a period of low fares. That is, without question, a material change to the product and I don't understand how they could even try to argue otherwise.

 

I hope people who are on the December 14th cruise and cannot switch will press forward with their requests for lowered rates. I don't believe that Celebrity will be able to fill the ship at the current pricing and will have to drop the rates. It is just sad that they didn't do it for existing December 14th cruisers at the same time as they announced the addition of the new inaugural.

 

Well stated and my feelings exactly. I've pretty much decided to move forward with the 12/14 sailing, since we cannot move to an earlier date and other options do not present sufficient savings to warrant a change. At this point I fully expect X will do nothing to acknowledge the frustration and disappointment suffered by those who booked early and cannot change plans. However, I plan on having a great time on the Solstice anyway. In the future though, I will fully explore all other options before booking on X again and will only book on X if nothing comparable is available. In addition, I will almost certainly cancel my 2009 holiday sailing on Equinox. In a service industry, its all about brand loyalty and customer service. When you send out letters to aggrieved customers like the one quoted above, you're shooting yourself in the foot, IMO.

[caribbeanboy]

Booking for an inaugural is a gamble you take. I was booked for the inaugural of the Ruby Princess for Nov.15 and now it has been moved to the 8. And still I'm waiting before buying my airline ticket, because there is still a chance that it can be changed to the 1st of Nov. or last week of Oct.

[cruzmaven]

Booking for an inaugural is a gamble you take. I was booked for the inaugural of the Ruby Princess for Nov.15 and now it has been moved to the 8. And still I'm waiting before buying my airline ticket, because there is still a chance that it can be changed to the 1st of Nov. or last week of Oct.

 

Its a little different in that the Ruby, while a new ship, is not the first of a new class of ship like the Solstice is? Did Princess heavily promote the Ruby inaugural to its past customers as a major event that we should book a year and half early at premium prices? Did Princess then open up two new sailing dates at bargain prices and not give you the courtesy of either first shot at those sailings or matching the prices on 12/14?

 

What, if anything, did Princess do for people who couldn't move from 11/15 to 11/8?

[lkettle]

I totally agree with you Cruzmaven , we too have the Equinox booked for Nov 09 TA cruise so will see that type of ship eventually. We will continue cruising and are looking at Australia & New Zealand but it will certainly not be with Celebrity as a first choice as we have done before.

 

We have got an Aft on the Verandah deck and have not previously cruised with HAL in fact we have also booked an Alaskan for May 09 with them

 

We will probably see those of you staying on the Solstice 14/12 cruise as we are in San Juan on the same day and as we arrive earlier will be able to see you cruise in.

[rolfecms]

ikettle: I see that you just sailed on Spendour of the Seas- we did a 10-day Mediterranean for our honeymoon in 1998. How has she held up, and did you enjoy the cruise?

[lkettle]

Thank you for asking the ship is in great shape for her age and the staff did a great job. We enjoyed it much more than we thought we would and were very impressed as it was our 1st RCCL cruise We have done Fred Olsen, NCL and of course Celebrity so as so looking forward to HAL

Regards

Lynn & Dave:p

[rolfecms]

Thank you for asking the ship is in great shape for her age and the staff did a great job. We enjoyed it much more than we thought we would and were very impressed as it was our 1st RCCL cruise We have done Fred Olsen, NCL and of course Celebrity so as so looking forward to HAL

Regards

Lynn & Dave:p

 

Glad to hear she's held up nicely. :)

 

Shall we compare notes after we sail the new Solstice and you sail the new Eurodam?

[lkettle]

That would be a good idea there is nothing like first hand experience. I'm sure that despite they way Celebrity have handled things that once on the cruise you will all have a great time. I know that we will

[rolfecms]

That would be a good idea there is nothing like first hand experience. I'm sure that despite they way Celebrity have handled things that once on the cruise you will all have a great time. I know that we will

 

Great! I've lived long enough to realize that sometimes the anticipation of the event turns out to be better than the event itself. Let's hope that both our journeys surpass the five-month build-up. ;)