Equinox Summer 2010

[rool]

Just a quick update. Nothing has been resolved yet. My TA says they sent me a letter detailing my options yesterday (which hasn't arrived). Unfortunately he couldn't confirm what is in the letter as he is in Accrington and the letter was sent from Bradford :rolleyes: (could be the other way round but I wasn't really paying attention!)

 

He then suggested I ring Celebrity and gave me their phone number :eek: I then suggested HE ring Celebrity, get my cabins on hold until my letter arrives and then give me a call back. He agreed that would be a good idea :rolleyes:

 

Hi livylotte.

 

The letters were sent to the TA's on 6/5. My UK TA forwarded my letter and I received it yesterday in the post here in Ireland.

 

However, you don't have to receive the letter yourself. The TA can complete the form on your behalf. Mine did exactly that on Friday as I knew it would take a few day to get to me in Ireland and, as none of the alternatives were suitable, I wanted to get the new booking done before the weekend.

[Sparkle 123]

Well my letter is on its way but havent got it yet.

Just noticed the Equinox April TA prices are on Celebrities website and are quite a bit more than the 12 night one. The pre paid grats are also at £215.00 The grats for the original 12 night cruise was £138.74 so it looks like they have adjusted the exchange rates on those now.

Just out of interest has any UK cruiser been asked to pay any extra than their original booking as here in the UK the clause 5.5 of the T&C's in the current brochure clearly states that

"If we have to make a significant change to a confirmed booking...

option (b) is

purchasing an alternative holiday from us of a similar standard. We will offer you at least one alternative holiday of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original holiday. If this holiday is in fact cheaper than the original we will refund the difference."

[rool]

Just out of interest has any UK cruiser been asked to pay any extra than their original booking as here in the UK the clause 5.5 of the T&C's in the current brochure clearly states that

"If we have to make a significant change to a confirmed booking...

option (b) is

purchasing an alternative holiday from us of a similar standard. We will offer you at least one alternative holiday of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original holiday. If this holiday is in fact cheaper than the original we will refund the difference."

 

Whether it was by design or not I don't know but none of the alternatives offered were suitable meaning we just cancelled. However had there been an alternative we fancied I would have used every available avenue to ensure that it would not cost any extra.

 

Whether that would have taken a simple phone call, trading standards or some other legal method I don't know but I do know that it is clearly stated in their T&C's and they would have no option but to honour it.

[rool]

Just as an aside as I've got into the habit of reading T&C's, if the same thing had happened on an MSC cruise they would pay compensation of £10 per person per night as well as allowing the booking of any cruise from their brochure of equal or superior quality at no extra cost, or if cheaper getting refund of the difference in price. Or of course you can still cancel but get the refund.

 

Now that's what I call customer service (part I), after all if I was to just decide to cancel I would lose my deposit, why shouldn't the cruiseline have to forfeit something when they do it?.

[kruzgal]

I have finally managed to get hold of some itinerary information today. On August 16th The Equinox is doing a 9 night from Venice to Athens. Then on 25th August it is sailing from Athens to Barcelona, arriving on September 2nd. Both these cruises are on 'code red' according to Celebrity UK which means they can't be booked. Don't know if they have been chartered or just not released yet. Ah well, back to the 'drawing board'!

[livylotte]

Thanks rool, it's looks like my TA has been sitting on this for a couple of days. My TA hasn't called me back and one of my cabins is still staring me in the face when I look on Celebrity :(

 

I will have to speak to Celebrity myself, its not right that I should be doing all the leg work. I always assumed that's what TA's were for! Although Celebrity caused all this in the first place and they haven't exactly been fast in sending out notification of these changes.

 

As far as I can see the prices at the moment are the same as I paid so hopefully I won't have a problem with that.

[seahorsecruising]

For what it's worth, I just booked some cabins on the May 14th itinerary. I checked first thing this morning and was able to get my friends on this cruise with the same price that was advertised for the Solstice.

[livylotte]

No letter this morning. I spoke to another operator at my TA and although the letter was posted on Monday it wasn't until after the post had gone and posted 2nd class (didn't we scrap 2nd class?) so I shouldn't expect it until end of the week.

 

He looked at my booking and said that the operator yesterday has posted that he was unable to reserve my cabins as Celebrity said they couldn't do it :confused: Somehow, I don't believe that, he mustn't have rung them :mad: 2nd Operater agreed with me that that was strange and he said HE would ring them.

 

So, here I am another day, still waiting... meanwhile my cabins are still up there on Celebrities site. I am talking about the UK's biggest TA here!!

 

Sorry to rant on here, I know it's not really anyone else's problem but I need somewhere to vent :p

[bremenkat]

No letter this morning. I spoke to another operator at my TA and although the letter was posted on Monday it wasn't until after the post had gone and posted 2nd class (didn't we scrap 2nd class?) so I shouldn't expect it until end of the week.

 

He looked at my booking and said that the operator yesterday has posted that he was unable to reserve my cabins as Celebrity said they couldn't do it :confused: Somehow, I don't believe that, he mustn't have rung them :mad: 2nd Operater agreed with me that that was strange and he said HE would ring them.

 

So, here I am another day, still waiting... meanwhile my cabins are still up there on Celebrities site. I am talking about the UK's biggest TA here!!

 

Sorry to rant on here, I know it's not really anyone else's problem but I need somewhere to vent :p

 

Rant away.

 

I gave up with my TA in the end. Apparently my refund will come through them, so that is another battle I will face.

 

I found it amazing when they sent me through the letter that they put in a note, saying they were sure their agents could find me another cruise if I gave them a call.

 

Not surprisingly I have used another agent for the replacement cruise booking. They have been a lot more helpful and professional in their dealings so far. And they were a lot cheaper. Always a bonus :)

 

Hope you manage to get your cabins.

[livylotte]

2nd Operator rang me back as promised and Celebrity are going to reserve me 'similar' cabins until I get back to them with my decision. I don't see why I can't have the ones I want as they are there plainly available for all to see.

 

Thanks bremenkat it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has been dealing with idiot TA's. If the letter gives me the option to cancel with a full refund of my deposit I will do that and then re-book directly. I don't think I could trust another agent after this. I usually book direct but for this booking I used a TA because they gave a 7% discount but then soon after Celebrity started offering their 5% online discount so the difference now isn't much at all.

 

Good luck with your refund ... I can see another thread all about refunds sometime soon! Mine also said they are sure they could find me another cruise.

 

LOL it must be getting to me, I had a nightmare last night about our next cruise on Indy and we had the tablemates from hell :eek:

 

Off to check 'my celebrity' now to see which cabins I've been given.

[livylotte]

I don't know if anyone in the UK is still having problems but today, I finally managed to get through to someone helpful at my TA :) I must have called them least a dozen times, neither the letter or the promised emails ever reached me but hopefully it will all be resolved today. Such a lot of stress over a simple switch of ships.

 

The operator today, managed to get Celebrity to fax him a copy of the letter which he read out to me. I can either switch to the Equinox keeping same dates and itinerary with prices at the prevailing rate, or I can switch to 'other' listed itineraries which I'm not really interested in or I can cancel and get my deposit back. I have until the 15th to decide (today) so I just made it in time!

 

I think after all this I will cancel and book again ... but direct with the cruise line this time!

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Livylotte

Dont forget that the booking conditions in Celebrities current UK brochure state that they have to offer you a similar cruise for which you will be asked to pay no extra money.

They have conveniently forgotten to mention that within their letter.

I am currently trying to negotiate via my travel agent a switch to the new Equinox April transatlantic cruise for the same price as my original transatlantic booking. I notice they have reinstated the reservation on their website but my travel agent hasnt heard anything official yet.

Its been such a long drawn out process, hopefully the end is in sight:rolleyes:

[rool]

I was booked on the Solstice Rome - Rome on Aug. 6, 2010. I had booked directly through Celebrity. I got a call from Celebrity about a week and a half ago. We were switched to the Equinox on Aug. 6, 10 nights, Rome to Venice. .

 

I didn't spot this earlier but I was surprised that those of us originally booked on Equinox Barcelona-Venice Aug 5 2010 were not offered this as an alternative. It certainly would have sorted those with school kids better than what was offered. Maybe it was planned that way, who knows?.

 

Hopefully everone is sorted now but must say Celebrity didn't cover themselves in glory during this episode.

[lauralou2]

Hi everyone involved with this SWITCH Im pleased to say we are at last sorted and satisfactorily,we have 2 extra days with 3 extra ports , the cost of the cruise stays the same but we have to pay 14 pounds per person port charges . I can live with that . hope it works out equally well for all of you .I did have some issues with Celebrity but my TA has told me that the girls at Celebrity UK were kept in the dark except for info gleaned from people like us ,when they were informed of the change they have had 600 switches to deal with Thanks for everyones imput it certainly helped through a stressful time hope to see some of you on the transatlantic April 19th

[livylotte]

I am glad that everyone now seems to be sorted!

 

abbafan, I hope you manage to sort your T/A

 

rool, yes maybe they held those itineraries back for a reason, it certainly didn't help those needing to book in the school holidays.

 

bremencat, it sounds like you have found yourself a good agent and a great deal too.

 

and lauralou2, you have a great deal too! I want to start afresh, I don't think I could cope with anymore stress negotiating with my TA!

 

I have just called the 'helpful' operator at my TA and broken the news that I want to cancel. I felt bad because he was actually very helpful and if all their employees were like him I'd be happy to keep my booking with them. However, I really have no faith in the company now and don't wish them to be my agent anymore. Celebrity UK haven't exactly handled this well either. I think a lot of the problems in my case have been lack of communication between Celebrity UK and my TA so, I may re-book with them direct or choose a different cruise altogether but one thing is certain I will never again book through an agent.

 

I think we are all finally getting somewhere. A big thankyou to all the posters on Cruise Critic who alerted us to the changes. I am absolutely convinced that without this place I would be oblivious to all these changes and still be booked on a cruise that doesn't exist.

 

I am now going to make myself a nice cup of tea, raid the cupboard for packet of chocolate hobnobs and find myself another cruise :D

 

Oh! and do a bit of packing for Indy next week :D

[Sparkle 123]

I am now going to make myself a nice cup of tea, raid the cupboard for packet of chocolate hobnobs and find myself another cruise

 

Good for you! I'm gonna open the chardonnay in about 2 hours!!

Its looking like I have managed to move to the 14 night for the same price like lauralou.

My travel agent who is dealing with it is out of the office today so I will have to wait till tomorrow to find out for sure. I must say its been very frustrating having to negotiate via a 3rd party all the time.

Its good that we can come here and vent our frustrations!

Hope you manage to find a replacement cruise:)

[rool]

I am now going to make myself a nice cup of tea, raid the cupboard for packet of chocolate hobnobs and find myself another cruise :D

 

Oh! and do a bit of packing for Indy next week :D

 

mmmm hobnobs, enjoy. Be careful of dunking accidents.

 

Take a look at the Scandinavia/Russia cruise out of Southampton on the brand new Eclipse next year. The prices are quite favourable for a 14 nighter on a brand new ship.

 

Overall it cost us €500 more for the four of us but we get the extra three nights so swings and roundabouts at the end of the day.

[livylotte]

Its looking like I have managed to move to the 14 night for the same price like lauralou.

 

That's great news!

[livylotte]

mmmm hobnobs, enjoy. Be careful of dunking accidents.

 

 

:( There wasn't any, someone beat me to it. Had to settle for custard creams :rolleyes:

 

Will have a look at Eclipse thanks!

[rool]

Its looking like I have managed to move to the 14 night for the same price like lauralou.

 

Hi Abbafan, did you switch to one of the alternatives Celebrity offered?

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Rool

Yes the 14 night Transatlantic was one of the alternatives to my original 12 nt one.