Celebrity Cruises Cancels One Hawaii Cruise

Celebrity Cruises Cancels One Hawaii Cruise

MIAMI, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Celebrity Cruises is canceling one cruise on Infinity to replace the starboard thrust bearing in the ship's propulsion system. The ship must enter drydock to replace the bearing, which will result in the cancellation of its March 27 sailing. The ship is expected to return to its scheduled sailings on April 6.

The cancelled sailing, scheduled to depart this Sunday, is a 10-night cruise from Ensenada to Honolulu. Infinity is currently sailing a 14-night trans-Canal cruise that will end in San Diego, Sunday, as scheduled.

Guests booked on the cancelled sailing will receive a full refund and free Celebrity cruise of 10 nights or less, departing on or before March 27, 2006, excluding holiday and Celebrity Xpedition sailings. Travel agents will receive full commissions for the cancelled sailing, plus a $50 rebooking fee per stateroom when their clients reschedule their cruise.

"I apologize to our guests who are affected by this cancellation," said Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises. "Although the ship continues to operate safely, this is a matter that must be addressed now. An unscheduled drydock can never happen at a good time and I am sorry about the disruption to our guests' vacations. We will do everything we can to assist them."

Celebrity has established a special Help Desk to assist guests and travel agents with rebooking, air transportation and other issues. That toll-free number is 1-888-837-5676.

The cancelled cruise is expected to have a negative impact on the earnings of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. of $.03 to $.04 per share.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a global cruise vacation company that operates Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, with a combined total of 29 ships in service and two under construction. The company also offers unique cruisetour vacations in Alaska, Canada and Europe. Additional information can be found on http://www.royalcaribbean.com , http://www.celebrity.com or http://www.rclinvestor.com .

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=rcl&script=410&layout=9&item_id=688385

Just received this one. Posted as a FYI

MIAMI, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Celebrity Cruises is canceling one cruise on Infinity to replace the starboard thrust bearing in the ship's propulsion system. The ship must enter drydock to replace the bearing, which will result in the cancellation of its March 27 sailing. The ship is expected to return to its scheduled sailings on April 6.

The cancelled sailing, scheduled to depart this Sunday, is a 10-night cruise from Ensenada to Honolulu. Infinity is currently sailing a 14-night trans-Canal cruise that will end in San Diego, Sunday, as scheduled.

Guests booked on the cancelled sailing will receive a full refund and free Celebrity cruise of 10 nights or less, departing on or before March 27, 2006, excluding holiday and Celebrity Xpedition sailings. Travel agents will receive full commissions for the cancelled sailing, plus a $50 rebooking fee per stateroom when their clients reschedule their cruise.

"I apologize to our guests who are affected by this cancellation," said Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises. "Although the ship continues to operate safely, this is a matter that must be addressed now. An unscheduled drydock can never happen at a good time and I am sorry about the disruption to our guests' vacations. We will do everything we can to assist them."

Celebrity has established a special Help Desk to assist guests and travel agents with rebooking, air transportation and other issues. That toll-free number is 1-888-837-5676.

The cancelled cruise is expected to have a negative impact on the earnings of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. of $.03 to $.04 per share.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a global cruise vacation company that operates Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, with a combined total of 29 ships in service and two under construction. The company also offers unique cruisetour vacations in Alaska, Canada and Europe. Additional information can be found on http://www.royalcaribbean.com , http://www.celebrity.com or http://www.rclinvestor.com

Perhaps they may need to re-think the lack of new construction on the way...;)

Wow Infinity broke down last year in March too. I know because I was scheduled on Millennium and they switched Millennium with Infinty and I ended up on the Infinity after dry dock instead of Millennium (did that make any sense)?

What the heck is going on with my favorite ship.

My sympathies to all who had their cruise canceled. That's a real bummer.

Anne Maria

That is really a bummer. But it does appear that they are being a little more sensitive in the compensation. The people affected are getting, in effect a free cruise, and that's not too bad.

However, there will be those who can't go within a year and I hope they work something out for them.

And there is just no cure for "cruiseus interruptus". I'd sure hate to be packed and not go. And oh boy, will there be complaints from people who left early for pre-cruise vacation.

Get ready for people who will be blasting Celebrity for insufficient compensation. It'll seem to some that Celebrity went out of their way to inconvenience people.

I agree that Celebrity is going the max to compensate those affected.

While there will be some cases of folks simply not being able to take advantage of the offer and others whose plans will be totally disrupted, most people should be very pleased once they get over the initial frustration.

A few years ago, our cruise on the Summit was cancelled at the last minute. We ended up with an 11 night cruise with a veranda for less than $1000 for the two of us-needless to say, we were very pleased. We learned of the changes over these boards, which is one reason we are CC fans. I feel for those who may not be contacted or learn of the cancellation until they show up.

Even those who may have gone over for a pre cruise visit should be able to extend their time some and pay for airfare back with the promised refund, and still be able to get a cruise in the future at no extra charge.

I don't mean to trivialize the logistical mess and inconvenience, but machines break down and I think Celebrity is to be commended for their responsiveness and generosity.

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

I wondered why RCL stock has been going down the last couple of days. This explains it, since this one cancellation will have such a negative impact on earnings. The "big boys" knew about this in time to sell. Hopefully the bleeding will end today. Might be a good time to buy more, eh?

Could customer service improvements be on the way? While a great disappointment for those on this cruise it is refreshing to see new leadership emerging at Celebrity.

Compensation that is far more realistic; a special help desk; clear explanation of the problem and an apology for the problem. Some will be satisfied and some will not, but now the issues, if any, can be focused on knowns instead of unknowns.

Thank you Dan - you are off to a great start, in this person's opinion.

Now if only Celebrity can deal with and come to a final solution on this recurring propulsion problem on their earlier "M" class ships. The cancelling of a cruise so close to being scheduled to leave sure makes it tough for people to rethink their vacation plans. The compensation seems to be much better than in the past, but it does not address the recurring problem of the pods. Celebrity get a fix on this, please.

To all those affected by this- WAHHHHHHH! I feel your pain!

When and if you get to the point of being able to cope with thoughts of what to do next...consider just hopping on a plane and going to Hawaii. Your next cruise vacation is paid for as a result of this. Even tho last minute flights to Hawaii are costly you might be able to get a package within reason.

A good TA can often get last minute deals through suppliers that are not accessible to us just using the internet alone. If I had to put myself in your position I would be spending next week at a hotel or condo in Maui- it's not the same as 10 days on Infinity and overall maybe pricier, but I would NOT be deterred. Vacation is just to da-- important.

Condolences. :(

Hi Everyone !

While I am VERY sorry for those who are affected, you just have to say that Celebrity is doing EVERYTHING they can in this situation, to make everyone as happy as possible.

I know that most of us, have had alot to say about Celebrity's Customer Service, and I have to say, that this is a HUGE step forward for Celebrity, and my congratulations to Mr. Hanrahan, for going above and beyond.

While a cancelled Cruise is very disappointing..... at least the next one will be on the House.... Way to go Celebrity !

I commend Celebrity for being forthcoming and honest about this engine problem and that they are going to great lengths to make their passengers happy for the inconvenience.

It's because of a similiar problem on my November 2004 cruise on the Dawn Princess why I will never be cruising with Princess again.

The Dawn was suffering from a disabled engine for several month that ended up requiring drydocking. Because of the engine troubles ports were being shortened and missed on all cruises. When I heard of this problem and the drydocking that was going to take place just before our cruise I contacted both my TA and Princess to ask if the ship would be back to it's original schedule after dry-docking. I was assured that not only would the ship be on schedule it would be all fixed up and "like new". After final payment was made we were informed that the new engine would require a "breaking in" period and that we would be missing 2 ports completely and 2 other port days would be shortened. Our compensation for this was to be $100pp. Though some people might enjoy the extra sea days and the $100, we were not happy. We had booked that cruise for the ports. We love visiting new places and with 2 children in tow, we didn't look forward to 5 sea days out of 10 and only a few hours in Curacao and Dominica. Princess would not let us change ships (the Sun Princess was leaving the day before on an eastern Carribean 10 day from the same port....we could have made that ship easily) without penalty. Over the course of several weeks I wrote letters and talked to several people, none who would help us.

We went on the cruise with an attitude that we would have a wonderful time and we would deal with Princess afterwards. The cruise was not a good cruise. Though we enjoyed being with our family and cruising in general, the ship was not "like new" and in fact there were many areas of the ship not available, jacuzzis not worked, toilets not working, internet cafe not working for 1st week of cruise, much of the ship was looking pretty worn and the crew seemed to be in a daze the first 4-5 days. Service in dining rooms was terrible (we had traditional dining) and the food was very mediocre.....actually too many things were wrong to actually list here.

Afterwards we contacted Princess again to informed them of our pre-cruise and cruise problems. They gave us a future credit of $80 a person. A lot of good that will do since I will never be cruising Princess again.

The bottom line was for months Princess denied there was an engine problem. They didn't inform people of the port changes until AFTER final payment. Their customer service people were rude.

Again, if Princess had handled our situation in the same way as Celebrity is doing this one, they wouldn't have lost a lot of customers....there were many hundreds of unhappy people on that ship with us.

I applaud Celebrity and I am glad my next two cruises are with this company.

Now if only Celebrity can deal with and come to a final solution on this recurring propulsion problem on their earlier "M" class ships. The cancelling of a cruise so close to being scheduled to leave sure makes it tough for people to rethink their vacation plans. The compensation seems to be much better than in the past, but it does not address the recurring problem of the pods. Celebrity get a fix on this, please.

Hi Wv !

Yes, it is a shame that they simply cannot get to a final solution on this problem. We can only hope they will resolve it just as soon as possible.

I wondered why RCL stock has been going down the last couple of days. This explains it, since this one cancellation will have such a negative impact on earnings. The "big boys" knew about this in time to sell. Hopefully the bleeding will end today. Might be a good time to buy more, eh?

Hi Southall !

While this latest problem does not help RCI's stock....it is not probably not the reason the stock has been going down in recent weeks.

It is likely more a factor of oil prices, which is a huge headache for anyone in the transportaion industry. Also, the stock market has been awful the past few weeks, so that is not helping either.

I just wanted to shed a little more light on the subject.

As an RCL shareholder, I applaud Celebrity's generous and wise reponse to this annoying and unfortunate situation. While RCL's stock may go down temporarily, Celebrity's "stock" will rise among its passengers, which is good for the company in the long run.

I heard on the Bloomberg Money Report yesterday that earnings were down because of increased gas prices and the hurricane season last year. There were a lot of cancelled cruises, shortened cruises, and compensation from that.Garry

I'm just curious, has anyone kept up a list of the affected ships and logged the dates and repairs they have had?

It would be interesting to see, for example, a history of the pod repairs for Infinity over the years. One might be able to make a somewhat educated guess as to when it was "about that time" for another repair... and pick their cruise accordingly.

Theron

:( I feel very sorry for those who had planned their cruise and have now had the rug pulled from beneath their feet, so to speak, but it's good to see Celebrity dealing with it properly. I remember tbelian, I think, posting last year when there were pod problems "book M-Class and receive a free cruise". Looks like it's happening again. It must drive the people at Celebrity wild as well as those booked passengers.

Does anyone know how Celebrity is doing with its claims against Rolls Royce Alstom? I suppose it's set to run and run.

Phil

I remember tbelian, I think, posting last year when there were pod problems "book M-Class and receive a free cruise".

Yup, that was I. See, even if you don't like what I have to post most of the time, reading between the lines might be to your advantage <G!> :)

I am so sorry if you were already booked for this. What a bummer! I know how hard it can be to schedule vacation. Good luck to everyone affected!

Yup, that was I. See, even if you don't like what I have to post most of the time, reading between the lines might be to your advantage <G!> :)

We're booked on Summit next year. I really do want to go. We have such a great group of people with us, but if it happens, it happens:rolleyes:

Phil

I too feel for the folks who were booked and also agree the comp is not bad!

There is a line in the movie Young Frankenstein, Dr. F and Igor (that's eye-gore) were in the graveyard, digging. Dr. F, "what a filthy mess." Igor, "could be worse." Dr. F, "how could it be worse?" Igor, "could be raining!" and of course the clouds opened up and it started to pour.

You have to admit that no one is better at disappointing customers than cruise lines. One normally doesn't just decide to cruise tomorrow. It usually takes months of preparation and arrangements. Another cruise sounds good but I wonder how they are going to move all those weddings, anniversaries, retirements and birthdays people had planned on celebrating.

We're booked on Summit next year. I really do want to go. We have such a great group of people with us, but if it happens, it happens:rolleyes:

 

Phil

Hi Phil,

If that happened to the Summit next year, I guess we could all take the refund and stay in Los Angeles for 2 weeks. The city would never be the same!

In all seriousness, I really do feel bad for those poor souls and hope they can take advantage of the free cruise.

You have to admit that no one is better at disappointing customers than cruise lines. One normally doesn't just decide to cruise tomorrow. It usually takes months of preparation and arrangements. Another cruise sounds good but I wonder how they are going to move all those weddings, anniversaries, retirements and birthdays people had planned on celebrating.

One of the dangers of staying on something "mechanical" for your holidays and being so influenced by the elements too.

Phil

There is a line in the movie Young Frankenstein

Yes there is:

"Igor... will you help with the bags....?"

"Sure you take the blonde and I'll take the one in the turban!"....

What hump??