All of Solstice Europe 2010 is gone

[darrencantwait]

This is really unfortunate for all of you who were booked on the Equinox Barcelona-Venice itineraries! I find it difficult to believe they cancelled that one. To me, that seems to be the most "classic" of Med itineraries. Do you think it is possible they may move one of the Alaska M-class ships to the med to fill in this position?

 

As for Solstice moving to the Caribbean: members on these boards have been complaining for years that Celebrity has "abandoned" them for year-round cruising in the Caribbean. So, maybe X is trying to make good on that.

 

Sorry for all of you, and hope you get something that works out to your liking.

[vmarq]

We also got a call yesterday from Celebrity and our May 1st Equinox sailing itinerary is GONE. I can't believe that they won't have a sailing going to Venice. Venice is the number 1 port we want to visit so looks like we will be looking to another cruise line for our European cruise next year.

[Despegue]

Another thing:

The maximum length of a ship wanting to dock in Venice is 295m. This is due to the Quite narrow channel and tricky lagoon navigation when entering/leaving Port.

Equinox is more than 10m longer...

[UK Cruiser]

Eclipse will be the same length as Equinox and Venice is a port on the Eclipse itineraries.

[paulpest]

check rccl for oct 2010 bcn to bcn better ports, same price.

[hubofhockey]

Thankfully I am not on one of these itineraries that got cancelled and do feel bad for everyone that is affected. I have a feeling that Celebrity is just finding that Europe isn't currently as profitable as they would hope. Case in point, I am on the 25 May sailing of Solstice out of Rome. Prices were hovering at less than $1,500 for a little while for Concierge Class balconies, with $300 OBC thrown in. To have one of your largest ships having to deep discount that much to get people can't be good for business. I think what Celebrity is thinking is many people were turned off from Europe due to the high value of the euro plus the cost of getting to Europe. I know its a generalization, but most (not all, I know) families have a fixed budget for their cruise (air, hotel, cruise, etc.). When going to Europe, air is higher (although there are bargains), hotels cost more (and are needed more for pre/post cruise) leaving less money for Celebrity for the cruise portion. I bet they figure that they can keep a bigger part of the pot in the Caribbean and closer to home as flights will be less, people can fly in day of, etc.

 

Again, I know its a generalization. Moving these cruises causes some negative press and badwill and I do think they owe some sort of compensation (but nothing that makes anyone rich-the compensation is to compensate for inconvenience). If people are really unhappy with the moves, they should vote with their wallet and move to another cruise line (although, I think to do this on the basis of one cruise might be a lot--we're in tough times right now and they need to survive as much as anyone else).

 

I had been deciding between the Solstice and Ruby Princess because of a date problem and booked the Ruby Princess (a grand class ship and top of the line for Princess) because it did Venice, Barcelona, and Monte Carlo. The ships are pretty similar. The price on the Princess cruise was a bit more but similar for the July 4 timeframe when we can go. I was hoping for price drops down the road. But with Celebrity pulling a ship out, that may not happen now.

 

Since we are talking about 2010, I don't think Celebrity owes any booked passengers anything more than something minor ($100) for a small inconvenience. It's doubtful that anyone could have booked airfare over a year in advance or hotel.

[livylotte]

I'm still waiting to find out what has happend with my cruise as my TA is shut until Tuesday so I keep checking Celebrity's site but there is nothing on there yet. I think I will be ok from what I have read on here. I'm one of the lucky ones it seems as I was on the Solstice but I feel sad for the people booked on Equinox. It takes me ages to pick an itinerary and I'd be gutted if mine got cancelled.

 

I wonder what caused them to re-write 2010 in the Med?

[terrierjohn]

Another thing:

The maximum length of a ship wanting to dock in Venice is 295m. This is due to the Quite narrow channel and tricky lagoon navigation when entering/leaving Port.

Equinox is more than 10m longer...

I do hope you are wrong as we are expecting to visit Venice on the Eclipse next September.

[mo&fran]

It is amazing how people on Cruise Critic know more than most of the customer service reps!

 

I am booked on the 10/31/2010 Solstice Transatlantic that appears to be in the process of being taken over by the Equinox. I just called customer service to see if my reservation would automatically be transferred from Solstice to Equinox with the same stateroom and price. The person insisted that both ships were doing their own transatlantics in October of 2010. Eventually he put me on hold and said that "something was up" but he had no details at this time and that someone would likely get in touch with me next week.

 

Unfortuneately, this seems to be a common problem with cs. Cruise line changes things online without telling customer service. Several years ago we saw a change in Millienium schedule on a Friday afternoon. ustomer service and Captains Club were clueless. By the end of the weekend, we found out what was going on fram Cruise Critic , well before. I posted at that time that when changes are being made, customer service should be notified before the person who puts the changes online.

 

FRancis

[bajathree]

I had been deciding between the Solstice and Ruby Princess because of a date problem and booked the Ruby Princess (a grand class ship and top of the line for Princess) because it did Venice, Barcelona, and Monte Carlo. The ships are pretty similar. The price on the Princess cruise was a bit more but similar for the July 4 timeframe when we can go. I was hoping for price drops down the road. But with Celebrity pulling a ship out, that may not happen now.

 

Since we are talking about 2010, I don't think Celebrity owes any booked passengers anything more than something minor ($100) for a small inconvenience. It's doubtful that anyone could have booked airfare over a year in advance or hotel.

 

 

The pricing on Princess for 3rd and 4th passenger is absurd. I am in the exact same time frame and while honestly I like the idea of Venice with Ruby I can't justify the price. I choose RCCL Independence out of Southampton instead. When pricing a Owners Suite out for the 2 ships, IOS came out to just over 15K for 4 of us verse over 25K for Ruby....rooms are very comparable...and with RCCL's new suite perks, other than the free dry cleaning with Princess they are pretty equal....plus IOS is 14 night verse 12 night on Ruby.

[Albert Ross]

Say I had spent hours of planning and picking my cabin and I was booked in #1234 on Equinox and then they cancelled the equivalent Solstice cruise - would they put the person who was in #1234 on the Solstice cruise in my room and kick me out, or would they put the SL person in any room of that same category.

Thus leaving the Solstice person who had spent hours of planning and picking their cabin in a 'lesser' location and cabin...

 

(I use #1234 just as a number!)

[Cruise Junky]

This is not meant to start a smoking war, but do you think Celebrity's smoking policy has anything to do with them not selling well in Europe?

[UK Cruiser]

Eclipse has been heavily marketed here in the UK and seems to have been selling exceptionally well if the number of sold out cabin categories is anything to go by.

 

All the other major lines also have large ships sailing from the UK so it's not a case of people not sailing, maybe the market is just becoming saturated. There aren't that many of us in the UK to fill all the berths and with the recession maybe less people are choosing to cross the Atlantic.

 

Many of the cruises from the Mediterranean ports traditionally attracted UK cruisers who maybe are now choosing to sail from a home port.

 

I don't know how much marketing takes place in other European countries, but there are the competing lines, for example MSC and Costa who are also sailing mega ships.

[star453]

Well, we were on the Equinox TA in October 2010. Now the question is the same as a lot of peoples. Will our cabin and reservation transfer to the new date? The new itinerary is just as good if not better than the old and the 10 day difference ( 31st instead of 21st) isn't a big deal now. Our PVP will not be back i the office until tomorrow, so we'll see what happens when I get a hold of him.

[macmax]

I was informed by Celebrity on saturday, that the Press Release regarding the itinerary changes is still in their legal dept.

[wrk2cruise]

This type of thing happened to us when they canceled Aust/NZ and moved the Mille to replace Mercury in San Juan. My suggestion for getting specific cabins is to get to the reaccomodation desk ASAP when they open it up.

 

We were able to snag an Aft cabin (any one we wanted) by calling to find out when they would start processing requests.

[Gerrym]

This is not meant to start a smoking war, but do you think Celebrity's smoking policy has anything to do with them not selling well in Europe?

 

 

I have no idea what this post means and actually feel it is a little strange.

[Cruise Junky]

I have no idea what this post means and actually feel it is a little strange.

 

Princess has six ships in Europe, they allow smoking on balconies and in staterooms. Celebrity had four, had to pull one, they don't allow smoking on balconies and in staterooms.... clearer? I don't want to start a smoking thread, I'm a vehement non-smoker. I'm just asking if anyone feels the reason that Celebrity isn't selling very well in Europe has anything to do with their smoking policy?

[livylotte]

I don't understand your logic. I think there are more non smokers than smokers so surely not allowing smoking on the balcony would bring in more bookings. However, I don't believe smoking has anything to do with it. I think the decision to withdraw Solstice from the Med this year is purely due to the economy.

[Cruise Junky]

I don't understand your logic. I think there are more non smokers than smokers so surely not allowing smoking on the balcony would bring in more bookings. However, I don't believe smoking has anything to do with it. I think the decision to withdraw Solstice from the Med this year is purely due to the economy.

 

I hope so. This is Celebrity's first european season with the no smoking rules. Just wondered if it was effecting bookings. Don't know why you're bringing logic into it, I was asking a question not making a statement.

[willysgrandma]

I'm still waiting to find out what has happend with my cruise as my TA is shut until Tuesday so I keep checking Celebrity's site but there is nothing on there yet. I think I will be ok from what I have read on here. I'm one of the lucky ones it seems as I was on the Solstice but I feel sad for the people booked on Equinox. It takes me ages to pick an itinerary and I'd be gutted if mine got cancelled.

 

I wonder what caused them to re-write 2010 in the Med?

 

Probably the fact that ships aren't filling because of the ridiculously priced airfare to Europe and the economy. I was speaking to a rep. at another cruise line this morning who told me they are getting many cancellations and almost every client that is canceling is canceling due to the economy.

[hubofhockey]

The pricing on Princess for 3rd and 4th passenger is absurd. I am in the exact same time frame and while honestly I like the idea of Venice with Ruby I can't justify the price. I choose RCCL Independence out of Southampton instead. When pricing a Owners Suite out for the 2 ships, IOS came out to just over 15K for 4 of us verse over 25K for Ruby....rooms are very comparable...and with RCCL's new suite perks, other than the free dry cleaning with Princess they are pretty equal....plus IOS is 14 night verse 12 night on Ruby.

 

Princess has weird pricing. The price online is ridiculous and TAs have much better rates. My issue with RCI (and I like that line) is that they none of their ships in Europe is new and the Ruby is less than a year old.

[bajathree]

Princess has weird pricing. The price online is ridiculous and TAs have much better rates. My issue with RCI (and I like that line) is that they none of their ships in Europe is new and the Ruby is less than a year old.

Independence was launched May 2008....thats pretty darn new;)and she has ALL the bells and whistles....heck what is she 6 months older than Ruby.

I just came off Indy a few weeks ago and that ship is just awesome:)

[hubofhockey]

Independence was launched May 2008....thats pretty darn new;)and she has ALL the bells and whistles....heck what is she 6 months older than Ruby.

I just came off Indy a few weeks ago and that ship is just awesome:)

 

My mistake. I had been looking at Med cruises and the 12-day one that includes Venice (what was being discussed in this thread) is 7-year old Brilliance which will be 8 next year.

[Gerrym]

Princess has six ships in Europe, they allow smoking on balconies and in staterooms. Celebrity had four, had to pull one, they don't allow smoking on balconies and in staterooms.... clearer?

 

 

Hmmm, not really. I thought this is what you meant/

 

Surely smoking or non smoking cannot be a justification for reducing the fleet in Europe.

I am still not sure I get the point. Are you saying there are more smokers in Europe?????

 

 

:confused: