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Celebrity falsely advertising inside passage


LMZinSC
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Beware! Celebrity Cruises is advertising many of it's Alaska sailings as doing the Inside Passage when in fact it doesn't do any sort of Inside Passage at all. We sailed on the 9/12/14 Solstice sailing and the day we were "sailing the Inside Passage" we saw nothing but water. We were in the Pacific Ocean, nowhere near any sort of land. When I called Celebrity to inquire they gave all sorts of excuses - "the ship couldn't fit, we didn't have time, we did an alternate inside passage not the typical inside passage". I have asked to speak with a supervisor repeatedly and the people who call back are just regular customer service reps. Today's excuse really took the cake - "it was dark when you went through". This was our 5th time to Alaska, so it wasn't really a huge deal for us, but I am really upset that they are using such false advertising. Please pay attention to the map and the timing of the "inside passage" if you are booking an Alaska cruise with Celebrity.

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Beware! Celebrity Cruises is advertising many of it's Alaska sailings as doing the Inside Passage when in fact it doesn't do any sort of Inside Passage at all. We sailed on the 9/12/14 Solstice sailing and the day we were "sailing the Inside Passage" we saw nothing but water. We were in the Pacific Ocean, nowhere near any sort of land. When I called Celebrity to inquire they gave all sorts of excuses - "the ship couldn't fit, we didn't have time, we did an alternate inside passage not the typical inside passage". I have asked to speak with a supervisor repeatedly and the people who call back are just regular customer service reps. Today's excuse really took the cake - "it was dark when you went through". This was our 5th time to Alaska, so it wasn't really a huge deal for us, but I am really upset that they are using such false advertising. Please pay attention to the map and the timing of the "inside passage" if you are booking an Alaska cruise with Celebrity.

 

We were on that cruise as well and wondered the same thing? Did we miss it?? It was really rocking and rolling that day when we were supposed to be in the Inside Passage. I started thinking, shouldn't we be having calm waters ... even wondered if we did go through it at night but then saw we didn't go through it at all. Still a fun cruise but I know what you mean.

Anyhow, I was over on the Princess forum and someone was complaining there as well, that they missed Tracy Arm. They were told they couldn't go to the glacier due to too much ice. Really?? I saw ice but we go up to Alaska almost every year in Sept and there was not too much ice. They were also told the ship was too big. I am sure the Solstice is larger than any of the Princess ships up that way. Somebody on the Celebrity forum said they heard the excuse that there was too much ice in the Inside Passage and that is why our cruise didn't sail through it. Too funny. Guess the excuses are running the circuit.

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The term "Inside Passage" covers a lot of territory, in both Canadian and US waters.

 

So technically all Alaska cruises do go through at least part of the Inside Passage, and even those that do the bare minimum often include the words "Inside Passage" in their descriptions.

 

It is a well-known fact that some Alaska cruises travel a great deal more of the Inside Passage than others.

When we book an Alaska round-trip Seattle cruise, we can pretty well count on spending at least two days cruising out in the Pacific Ocean instead of spending those days cruising in the scenic Inside Passage.

 

 

It is a good idea to look at the route map for any cruise to see where the ship actually goes instead of relying on a written description.

But unfortunately, sometimes the route shown on the map in the brochure or on the website is not the route that the ship will actually take.

 

Inside Passage - Wikipedia

 

 

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There was a thread about this about 3 weeks ago, referencing the same cruise. You may want to search for that thread. In it you will find what the captain told folks regarding this at 2 different events he attended.

I was also on this cruise & had a great time.

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Just want to add that if you are on a September cruise that leaves Skagway or Juneau in the evening, you are going to miss the great scenery that you would see if you took the same cruise earlier in the season.

 

The scenery is still there and you cruise right through it, but can't see it when it gets dark out early. That's one of the main reasons why the cruise fares are so much lower then.

 

 

Also want to add (for someone who may not already know this) that you can tune to the ship's navigation channel on the TV in your cabin so you can actually see for yourself where the ship is taking you and don't need to depend on somebody else's word for where the ship did or didn't go.

(That is, if the navigation channel is on and broadcasting. Sometimes they turn it off.)

 

 

Edited by fleckle
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....

It is a good idea to look at the route map for any cruise to see where the ship actually goes instead of relying on a written description.

But unfortunately, sometimes the route shown on the map in the brochure or on the website is not the route that the ship will actually take.

 

For this cruise the route map was a gross misrepresentation of where we actually went, however, I had a fantastic time and the weather was spectacular for the time of year!

 

BILL

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If you go to Juneau or Ketchikan you have spent time in the inside passage. You cannot get to either place without it. Now the inside passage covers a lot of area and they don't claim to do the entire inside passage.

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This is one of the reasons I'd sail out of Vancouver for Alaska - those itineraries seem to actually do the inside passage rather than the Seattle trips that just seem to include the words in the description. Just a shame X prefer Seattle......

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False advertising? Or unplanned route change due to weather, traffic or other conditions? Or did the OP misunderstand just where the InsidenPassage really is .

 

I think what he mentioned is that tCelebrity told pax a myriad of excuses of why they didn't do the inside passage. So, don't think he misunderstood what the inside passage really is.

 

PS -- the weather was beautiful!!

Edited by Cruise Raider
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This is one of the reasons I'd sail out of Vancouver for Alaska - those itineraries seem to actually do the inside passage rather than the Seattle trips that just seem to include the words in the description. Just a shame X prefer Seattle......

 

They aren't just words.

 

There are at least THREE ports on those ships that can only be reached via the inside passage. Unless ALL those ports had to be avoided, the ship clearly DOES cruise the inside passage.

 

Perhaps the OP just didn't understand that some of the trip was just getting from one place to another via the Pacific ocean.

 

Some ships spend more time cruising the inside passage than others.

 

It is up to the consumer to understand the route that their ship of choice takes. It is clearly shown on ALL of the cruise line websites.

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Here's a map of what constitutes the "inside passage":

 

map.jpg

 

You'll see that a good chunk of it to the west is ocean. However, from Vancouver to Ketchikan to Juneau to Skagway is mostly all land mass on port and starboard. There's no way around that, unless you miss Juneau and Skagway for some reason.

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Cruising from and to Seattle, ships travel west of Vancouver Island while ships leaving Vancouver travel the Johnstone Strait. From Queen Charlotte Sound north to Cape St. James all ships are in the open Pacific Ocean. Then the hips veering east are in the very wide Hecate Strait which is protected waters and considered "inside" but might not provide views of shore either to the west or east until relatively close to Ketchikan. Ships going west of the Queen Charlotte islands are not in the Inside Passage. From Ketchikan to Juneau to Skagway routes can vary depending on the order of the ports but all are "inside" routes. The problem with the routes of round trips from Seatle is that they often do "inside" one direction and "outside" the reverse. So even if the ship travels the relatively short distance from Cape St. James to Ketchikan and is east of the Queen Charlotte Islands for one leg of the cruise, the company can say it is an "Inside Passage Cruise." On the reverse many times the ships operate west of the Queen Charlotte Islands in the open Pacific waters.

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Cruising from and to Seattle, ships travel west of Vancouver Island while ships leaving Vancouver travel the Johnstone Strait.

 

Not all Vancouver departures travel that way. There are quite a few ships out of Vancouver that also travel west of Vancouver Island. I've personally seen Princess, Royal, and Celebrity ships all going west of Vancouver Island out of Vancouver. The Solstice in particular is too tall to get under the cables at Seymour Narrows, so the Solstice can never travel the portion of the inside passage between Vancouver Island and mainland BC.

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Not all Vancouver departures travel that way. There are quite a few ships out of Vancouver that also travel west of Vancouver Island. I've personally seen Princess, Royal, and Celebrity ships all going west of Vancouver Island out of Vancouver. The Solstice in particular is too tall to get under the cables at Seymour Narrows, so the Solstice can never travel the portion of the inside passage between Vancouver Island and mainland BC.

 

 

Which is exactly why they need to stop advertising ( see map above) that they go that route. Its blatant false advertising. They have zero intention of travelling that route

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Which is exactly why they need to stop advertising ( see map above) that they go that route. Its blatant false advertising. They have zero intention of travelling that route

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So, none of the Celebrity ships ever travel that route?
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I don't know about upcoming cruises, but we have sailed the full inside passage on Celebrity in the past - on the Infinity for example.

 

Well, that is what I thought. I did Alaska on Celebrity and could swear that we sailed the inside passage, but when the poster said they have zero intention of travelling that route, I was totally confused and thought maybe Celebrity had changed their routes. Thanks for the clarification.

Edited by NLH Arizona
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So, none of the Celebrity ships ever travel that route?

 

 

Of course they do but solstice never will. The map used to advertise her Vancouver cruises shows the same route in between Vancouver and the island. It's a blatant lie.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I started a thread on this after we returned from the same sailing on Solstice. The "official" response from Celebrity was that there was too much in the passage.

The itinerary said, until we were on the ship, "cruising the inside passage".

Yes, the rest of the cruise was wonderful. But, Celebrity did a lousy job of explaining the change to its guests.

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I started a thread on this after we returned from the same sailing on Solstice. The "official" response from Celebrity was that there was too much ice in the passage.

The itinerary said, until we were on the ship, "cruising the inside passage".

Yes, the rest of the cruise was wonderful. But, Celebrity did a lousy job of explaining the change to its guests.

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For what it's worth, I've noticed errors in a couple of itinerary maps. The 10/5 Summit map shows Saint John way up around Saguenay. That led me to believe someone who doesn't know how to read maps might have a little too much responsibility.

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If the ship visits Juneau or Skagway or Ketchikan, it has to cruise through at least that part of the inside passage, so they may truthfully list it on the itinerary.

 

It is kind of they way they may list asparagus on the menu with your entree when they include only one small piece of asparagus. :D

 

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