Unknown Cruise

All of our roll call cruise critic members have sent e-mails to Michael Bayley CEO of Celebrity to try & get a determination on whether our Sept 4 ,2015 Alaska cruise on Infiniti is to continue or be a charter .:eek:

The cruise has been delisted from Celebrity web site since early September .Yes we did receive phone calls back from people in his office & they were very professional & nice to talk with ,yet ,there is still no answer to whether our Alaska cruise is on or that Celebrity will charter Infiniti for a shorter period of time than the 14 night round trip Alaska cruise from San Francisco:rolleyes:

Now we can only imagine the dilemma that people who booked this cruise & are not cruise critic members .They are totally in the dark:o

All of us are concerned that Celebrity could drag this on for a considerable time with out regard to peoples plans /vacation time :(

The cruise will be cancelled as the ship has been chartered for the second week to be used as a floating hotel (my guess is for the SalesForce.com Dreamforce conference). During the first week they are going to do some sort of coastal cruise(s) out of San Francisco as a replacement. No word yet on what that coastal cruise will look like. None of this is official and Celebrity are likely to drag their feet in making the announcement. If I was booked on that cruise I'd start making alternative plans and make a deposit on something else. I actually might be interested in the coastal so I'm anxious to see what they come up with.

And I would be raging as folks from the UK will have flights booked already

I'm sorry to hear about what is happening to your cruise.

Hopefully you can make other arrangements.

On the other hand the thought of a Pacific Coastal would be awesome as it is one the cruises that I wanted to do before Celebrity stopped doing them this past year.

I will be very disappointed if that's the case and it's canceled. We just did the Century's 12 night Alaska roundtrip San Francisco and it was great. Many on our cruise enjoyed it so much and when we told them we were booked on Infinity to do it again next year, they booked it while onboard! Others already had that cruise and the b2b Panama Canal booked and looking so forward to it. There will be lots of disappointed people...

If they only need a week for their conference cruise charter, why not take one of the one-week cruises instead of breaking up our two-week cruise?

.Yes we did receive phone calls back from people in his office & they were very professional & nice to talk with ,yet ,there is still no answer to whether our Alaska cruise is on or that Celebrity will charter Infiniti for a shorter period of time than the 14 night round trip Alaska cruise from San Francisco:rolleyes:

So what did they say when they called?

So what did they say when they called?

The lady in Michael Bayley's office said that they will let us know . That is all that was said in a lot of words .:rolleyes:

About those traveling from Europe & booking their flights for this cruise , that is terrible for Celebrity to do this to them :(. There is got to be some sort of repayment to them from X .

It is bad business to let people hang on like in this situation .Plans disrupted ,out of pocket costs ie does not make for wanting to give Celebrity future business :eek:

We are fortunate in that we have planed to drive up & back & thus adding onto our vacation . We are retired so we could do the extra road trips . We also just have $200 in a passages deposit & trip insurance of $192 in out of pocket cost .:)

We do have a lot of empathy for our fellow cruise members whom X thinks nothing of letting them hang :eek:

We are fortunate in that we have planed to drive up & back & thus adding onto our vacation . We are retired so we could do the extra road trips . We also just have $200 in a passages deposit & trip insurance of $192 in out of pocket cost .:)

 

We do have a lot of empathy for our fellow cruise members whom X thinks nothing of letting them hang :eek:

Really feel for you all. It makes it ten times worse when they won't give you a definite answer, especially for those that need to reschedule flights etc.

The lady in Michael Bayley's office said that they will let us know . That is all that was said in a lot of words .:rolleyes:

 

About those traveling from Europe & booking their flights for this cruise , that is terrible for Celebrity to do this to them :(. There is got to be some sort of repayment to them from X .

 

It is bad business to let people hang on like in this situation .Plans disrupted ,out of pocket costs ie does not make for wanting to give Celebrity future business :eek:

Flights for early Sept just became available for booking this week. I don't think too many people will have booked yet.

And I would be raging as folks from the UK will have flights booked already

Can you book flights earlier than 330 days out?

Wonder about the bad press that X would get on the internet if they don't financially reward those already booked ? Those postings would be on web sites where folks go to check about complaints against companies:eek:

Can you book flights earlier than 330 days out?

Depends who you fly with. Some low cost airlines have their flights open for booking earlier than others. Our return flights for Europe next year (September) have been available for booking since the end of August. Presently, you can book right through October 2015 ;). Btw, they also offer transatlantic flights too.

Depends who you fly with. Some low cost airlines have their flights open for booking earlier than others. Our return flights for Europe next year (September) have been available for booking since the end of August. Presently, you can book right through October 2015 ;). Btw, they also offer transatlantic flights too.

Good to know, thanks! Are these European airlines or are you also able to book North American airlines early as well from the UK

Wonder about the bad press that X would get on the internet if they don't financially reward those already booked ? Those postings would be on web sites where folks go to check about complaints against companies:eek:

How exactly would you want them to financially reward you?

Wonder about the bad press that X would get on the internet if they don't financially reward those already booked ? Those postings would be on web sites where folks go to check about complaints against companies:eek:

They always seem to. We got OBC, rates protected for new booking, airfare change fees and refunds on the Millie charter. They compensate for the inconvenience.

Good to know, thanks! Are these European airlines or are you also able to book North American airlines early as well from the UK

The national airlines stick to the 11 month rule. But as I previously stated, the low cost carriers do release their's earlier, and frequently, their flight prices only go one way - just like their planes :D.

RCI use some of these carriers for Europe for those booking flights via a cruise package in the UK. I know from personal experience as I have flown, on the same flight, with other pax that have booked air through X/Royal when I have booked independently ;).

Doesn't Celebrity usually make those good whose cruisers are chartered? I thought that on previously ones chartered, they give them a list of cruises they could book, give them the change fee back on their flights and offer some sort of OBC. Why do you feel they won't do it on this cruise?

 

How exactly would you want them to financially reward you?

There is no answer from me on this subject .All I am doing is showing what could happen .

Would be nice if X will take care of us who are already booked on this Alaska cruise for our troubles :).However ,the reimbursement is not here as yet .Thus the proof of what you say is not proof of how Celebrity will handle this case ,at this moment .We hope that it all works out ;but ,if you were in our shoes you too would wonder how this all will turn out; as well ,since it is not into conclusion .We have no idea how long X will drag their feet.:eek:

There is no answer from me on this subject .All I am doing is showing what could happen .

 

Would be nice if X will take care of us who are already booked on this Alaska cruise for our troubles :).However ,the reimbursement is not here as yet .Thus the proof of what you say is not proof of how Celebrity will handle this case ,at this moment .We hope that it all works out ;but ,if you were in our shoes you too would wonder how this all will turn out; as well ,since it is not into conclusion .We have no idea how long X will drag their feet.:eek:

Of course, anyone in your shoes would wonder how this would turn out, but since you spoke to Celebrity and they said they would let you know, have you called back and told them you want an answer now, opposed to later, so you can make your decisions as to what to do and at that time ask them if and how they are going to compensate you? Or you can just cancel your cruise and not have to deal with the issue at all or ask if you can change your cruise now to another.

You seem to be assuming that they will not take care of those on the cruise. I didn't say that is how they will handle your situation, I merely mentioned what Celebrity's track record on chartered cruises are which was backed up by another poster who had been in the same situation:eek:.

 

Of course, anyone in your shoes would wonder how this would turn out, but since you spoke to Celebrity and they said they would let you know, have you called back and told them you want an answer now, opposed to later, so you can make your decisions as to what to do and at that time ask them if and how they are going to compensate you? Or you can just cancel your cruise and not have to deal with the issue at all or ask if you can change your cruise now to another.

There is no assumption on our part .We just plainly don't know . imo good business practice would be to let us know one way or the other ;as it gets worse as time drags on . Human nature interacts when there is the unknown

I for one can not push a company for answers .We all appreciated that they did respond by phone to many of us on this cruise ,who had sent e-mails to the CEO .We all are in limbo .We all rather have this cruise than be disappointed with some other cruise .It is that special

I just e-mailed our TA & explained the current status & that the cruise is no longer on the Celebrity web site ,since last month

They always seem to. We got OBC, rates protected for new booking, airfare change fees and refunds on the Millie charter. They compensate for the inconvenience.

We rather have this cruise . Compensation will be appreciated :). We must wait to hear

There was a delay in the Millie charters as well. I think when X is negotiating and finalizing a charter, the first thing they do is pull the itinerary to prevent more bookings. As soon as X has a signed contract in hand then they will announce the charter and also the compensation to booked passengers. So while the negotiations are going on it is a waiting game. Even if it looks like it is chartered I sure wouldn't cancel now as then you wouldn't receive all the compensation:D

There was a delay in the Millie charters as well. I think when X is negotiating and finalizing a charter, the first thing they do is pull the itinerary to prevent more bookings. As soon as X has a signed contract in hand then they will announce the charter and also the compensation to booked passengers. So while the negotiations are going on it is a waiting game. Even if it looks like it is chartered I sure wouldn't cancel now as then you wouldn't receive all the compensation:D

Thanks for your input ;).We agree that we must wait for Celebrity's decision :).

There was a delay in the Millie charters as well. I think when X is negotiating and finalizing a charter, the first thing they do is pull the itinerary to prevent more bookings. As soon as X has a signed contract in hand then they will announce the charter and also the compensation to booked passengers. So while the negotiations are going on it is a waiting game. Even if it looks like it is chartered I sure wouldn't cancel now as then you wouldn't receive all the compensation:D