Celebrity 2015 cruises sold out to charters

I haven't seen this addressed on the forum. I was looking at the cruises on Celebrity's site as I usually do tracking prices and etc.

All of the cruises for the Silhouette and Reflection in 2015 from Jan thru Apr are sold out for Canada BNG PKG Charters.

I have seen where packages were offered to the Canadians but didn't think that it closed off all of those cruises.

Not much to choose from in early 2015 for the Caribbean.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

What you are seeing is a very limited group of cabins with a package that includes flight/grat/transport. I thought you'd only see it from a Canadian IP address but perhaps that's another thing the IT depth has screwed up.

I've seen the same thing but when I dig deeper I've found the cruise available without that package.

Maybe it would be easier to take a peek on one of the popular travel booking sites. I just checked and both ships have plenty of cabins left for Feb and March.

So yes, we Canadians like to escape our winter, but not in numbers that would charter a cruise ship. :D

I saw that too...thought I was losing my mind:eek:...both ships are

totally unavailable for 4 months in a row......wow.

Well, that is weird...now I am seeing cruises open to the public......

Strange......

What you are seeing is a very limited group of cabins with a package that includes flight/grat/transport. I thought you'd only see it from a Canadian IP address but perhaps that's another thing the IT depth has screwed up.

 

I've seen the same thing but when I dig deeper I've found the cruise available without that package.

 

So yes, we Canadians like to escape our winter, but not in numbers that would charter a cruise ship. :D

I checked again today and saw what you mean. When I started another thread on this a week or so ago, the website was literally not showing any other cruises available on those ships at all for spring. In looking today, it appears that what I originally saw was a mistake on their website (go figure, right). Glad to see there are actually more options available than were originally shown! (of course at the time I got lectured quite soundly by some for being frustrated that the cruise line was not catering to my every whim by severely cutting back on spring Caribbean cruises, but that's another story......:D)

I give up.....why do some of the dates say they are open to the

public......then they have the same dates as charters:confused::eek:

Hi Lois, this might help: http://www.celebritycruises.com/htmlpage/canada-vacation-package?icid=hp_cr1_bkndg_1401_topg_lk_935896

Apparently it's a promo for Canadians with a set number of staterooms available. The rest are being sold to the public.

I give up.....why do some of the dates say they are open to the

public......then they have the same dates as charters:confused::eek:

It's not a true charter, just some package deals they put together.

Hi Lois, this might help: http://www.celebritycruises.com/htmlpage/canada-vacation-package?icid=hp_cr1_bkndg_1401_topg_lk_935896

 

Apparently it's a promo for Canadians with a set number of staterooms available. The rest are being sold to the public.

Hi Katie, thanks:)

This whole business of selling out cruises to travel agencies seems to be part of RCI's business plan. When we were on board Equinox in Feb, I was booking a future cruise and was looking into an Azamara cruise for the summer of 2014. I grabbed a brochure and noticed that for one ship, every single cruise was listed as sold out, from May through August. I asked the booking lady what the heck was going on and she told me that they "gave" all the berths to agencies in Australia, and they will not be available for anyone to book outside of those agencies until 5 weeks before the sail date, if all cabins weren't sold.

I just don't understand this kind of business model, and why a company would give an entire block of cruises to certain agencies in certain countries. It's not like these cruises can't be booked by Australians following the regular booking process.

This whole business of selling out cruises to travel agencies seems to be part of RCI's business plan. When we were on board Equinox in Feb, I was booking a future cruise and was looking into an Azamara cruise for the summer of 2014. I grabbed a brochure and noticed that for one ship, every single cruise was listed as sold out, from May through August. I asked the booking lady what the heck was going on and she told me that they "gave" all the berths to agencies in Australia, and they will not be available for anyone to book outside of those agencies until 5 weeks before the sail date, if all cabins weren't sold.

 

I just don't understand this kind of business model, and why a company would give an entire block of cruises to certain agencies in certain countries. It's not like these cruises can't be booked by Australians following the regular booking process.

Maybe we haven't been clear. These cruises that you're seeing the charters as sold out are all available. It gets a bit cramped as there are so many charters listed, but if you look at reflection from jan - Mar next year, they're all available if you wade past the charters

That's correct. I recently booked the Reflection for March. ;) Both the Charters and the public bookings are available on Celebrity and other TA sites. ;)

I went to book a Hawaii vacation cruise on Solstice last week that doesn't heppen till April 2015 , and noticed only 4 categories were showing ANY availability at all.

Did my research and found two groups had had reserved blocks of rooms. One a large medical convention of Canadian and American medical professionals, and the other a Travel Agency here in New York

I ended up booking it thrugh that travel agency, as they had about 10 categories of rooms available

It is confusing...I still see Red Sold Out across the board...

is this an offer to Canadians only? Will they be travelling with a group.?

if available to public, are all cabins available...? Are these leftover cabin?

More a metter of curiosity at this point, think we will just stick with our Connie cruise in January...easier to figure it out!

That's correct. I recently booked the Reflection for March. ;) Both the Charters and the public bookings are available on Celebrity and other TA sites. ;)

Is that the one you booked on Oasis, and did you eventually receive both the drink package and extra OBC? Wondered if you'd rectified the situation with the Captain's Club?

This issue has been addressed previously on Cruise Critic.

What's With All The Charters = http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=43870997

For convenience, and to make this topic / post more complete I will copy my reply from there here... With the addition of a few bits to answer further concerns that have been posed here.

== snip ==

When it comes to Celebrity there are 3 distinct types of Charters...

1- An Outside Charter, where Celebrity rents out the whole boat for a cruise, thereby not making it available to other bookings / Pax. An example of that would be The Legendary Blues Cruise that has happened on The Summit in the past.

2- An Inside Charter, where Celebrity itself (in this Celebrity Canada's Office) organizes / sells out large blocks of rooms on a ship as an AI package... Airfare, Hotel, Airport & Port Transfers, and the Cruise. This is what Celebrity has been marketing the last 2 years in select Canadian Markets in Ontario, Quebec & The Maritime Provinces (weekly full & 1/2 page ads in some of our larger cities newspapers ... Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax)

This is happening again this Winter on Reflection & Silhouette for all sailings February thru April. And maybe what you are referring to if you are looking at the Celebrity Website = http://www.celebritycruises.com/crui...Excluded=false

Celebrity Charters & respective Airport Codes:

Reflection

YHM = Hamilton, Ontario

YHZ = Halifax, Nova Scotia

YOW = Ottawa, Ontario

YQB = Quebec City, Quebec

Silhouette

YHM = Hamilton, Ontario

YOW = Ottawa, Ontario

YQM = Moncton, New Brunswick

YXU = London, Ontario

You will also notice that all these sailings are double listed* on the website (look for the sail dates). So there are cabins available for others wishing to book on these dates / cruises. Essentially what Celebrity has done is just put enough cabins on hold to manage the Charter Aircraft that it will be flying in weekly from Canada.

* At least when I look at this as a Canadian, I see listings for all these cruises in more than one format... One showing boxes where the cruise / cabins are available and with pricing... Then another set where the boxes are headed up by the respective Airport Codes, and listed as Sold Out. This is evidently an inside technical thing so that the cabins are not oversold, nor the available spots on each of the specific Chartered Planes and the cabins that correspond. Why we all can see it on the Celebrity Website isbeyond me (lol, another website / IT issue I assume) cause it most definitely is confusing for the Webiste User / Celebrity Customer

I am certain, that Pax who are part of the Cdn Charters on these Celebrity Charters will not impact the quality of anyone else's cruise as they'll just be other Pax aboard, and not an organized group with activities etc.

3- The third category of Charters are true Group Bookings (vs an outright Charter like # 1) and these are the ones to be most concerned about. This is when a group with a common interest books a large block of cabins on a particular sailing. It is not uncommon for such groups to have organized activities in what otherwise be public venues (Sky Lounge - Pool Deck Parties etc)

Past examples of this have included... At the extreme end The American Girl Cruise, 500 little girls and their dolls (November 2011)... and at the other end The Cdn Legion Cruise, a small handful of Vets sightseeing (2012, 2013, & 2014). And somewhere in the middle, one set up for enthusiasts of a particular sport (such as the middle aged motorcyclists we saw in The Caribbean back in 2013)

The key is knowing if there is going to be a group on the cruise you are booked on, and whether they fit into Cat 2 or 3 above.

This info is usually not hard to find by Googling your ship & date... And there is also a website that maintains a list that people can post on.

http://themecruisefinder.com/

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

For some reason, the page at Celebrity that has the available sailings continues to show those package deals for Canada to those of us nowhere near Canada. I even received an email about them!

I'm on Reflection and not at all worried about the groups of neighbors from the north. There are plenty of available cabins on Reflection that are outside the Canada blocks. Just keep looking. I usually sort by date, and the available sailings show up first. Be aware that prices are fairly high this year. I also saw that the Midwest expects higher than normal snowfall this year. Makes me glad we'll be spending two weeks on Reflection.

This whole business of selling out cruises to travel agencies seems to be part of RCI's business plan. When we were on board Equinox in Feb, I was booking a future cruise and was looking into an Azamara cruise for the summer of 2014. I grabbed a brochure and noticed that for one ship, every single cruise was listed as sold out, from May through August. I asked the booking lady what the heck was going on and she told me that they "gave" all the berths to agencies in Australia, and they will not be available for anyone to book outside of those agencies until 5 weeks before the sail date, if all cabins weren't sold.

 

I just don't understand this kind of business model, and why a company would give an entire block of cruises to certain agencies in certain countries. It's not like these cruises can't be booked by Australians following the regular booking process.

Agree with the reply by CRUISE JUNKY... As stated these cruises are all available for bookings (see my Reply # 15, for more of an explanation).

You need to Just scroll down further on the Celebrity Webste to see availability for whichever Sailing you are interested in

As for the business model...

As I stated in my reply above, at least in this situation this IS NOT an outside charter nor is it being sold out to Travel Agents. This is Celebrity themselves thru Celebrity Canada.

Considering the HUGE percentage of Canadians who take at least one trip South (Florida or beyond) each Winter... I think it is extremely smart of Celebrity / RC to offer this package deal... And it is meant to go truly head to head with all the AI va actions that Canadians favour.

I went to book a Hawaii vacation cruise on Solstice last week that doesn't heppen till April 2015 , and noticed only 4 categories were showing ANY availability at all.

 

Did my research and found two groups had had reserved blocks of rooms. One a large medical convention of Canadian and American medical professionals, and the other a Travel Agency here in New York

 

I ended up booking it thrugh that travel agency, as they had about 10 categories of rooms available

The situation you describe is a Group Booking... Arranged by an organization (see my Reply # 15 above, and point # 3). These types of bookings can present the most issues to fellow passengers... As it not uncommon for venues to be reserved for the Group's activities... And so not available to other Pax. The larger the Group... The more problematic it is for other's aboard.

Between the theme cruise website link that I provided, and sometimes GOOGLE and the name of the Organization you can determine the size of the Booking / Event / Number of Pax.

A small group and I'd have no problem being on the same cruise probably... But a large booking like the 500 or so Pax that American Girl was back in 2011... And ya, I'd be looking to cruise elsewhere (another time, ship, whatever)

Hope this helps,

The mid-August 2015 cruise departing Barcelona has disappeared off the radar, it's no longer advertised or visible; it is obviously an outside charter.

It's odd, in that this is peak season.

It is confusing...I still see Red Sold Out across the board...

 

is this an offer to Canadians only? Will they be travelling with a group.?

if available to public, are all cabins available...? Are these leftover cabin?

 

More a metter of curiosity at this point, think we will just stick with our Connie cruise in January...easier to figure it out!

Read my Reply # 15 here... It will explain all.

Your fears truly are unfounded.

All categories are available to both Canadians on the Charters, and to anyone else wanting to sail on the Relection or Silhouette from February to April.

Numbers are actually limited for the Cdns based on seats on the planes Chartered by Celebrity with Canadian North (not a large airline) and as I understand it they will be doing pick ups in more than one city.

So if I as a Cdn wanted to join in on this deal, I would be paying an AI rate (essentially "the break" is on airfare) and picking an available cabin of my own choice... Same as you would be doing as a regular pax

So it isn't like the Celebrity Charter has a monopoly on the best cabins... As I take it some fear.

This isn't a Group Booking (see my Reply # 15 and point # 3) so the average Pax will not be impacted whatsoever...

Lol, just a nice bunch of Canadian "snowbirds" who chose to all fly down south altogether. :D

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

The mid-August 2015 cruise departing Barcelona has disappeared off the radar, it's no longer advertised or visible; it is obviously an outside charter.

It's odd, in that this is peak season.

That is a different situation than the one being discussed here (the Cdn Charters of Silhouette & Reflection February thru April)

Yours could be an Outside Charter ... Or it could be just another IT Glitch on the Celebrity Website

I suggest that you either (if you have not done so already)

1- Post about it on thread entitled

What's With All The Charters = http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com...php?p=43870997

2- Or post an entirely new topic... With a bit of the details in the title to up visibility (Has "Sail Date / Itinerary" been Chartered ??? )

In that way your Question / concern will come to the forefront / eye of other Cruisers

I know that in the past month, that others who did so got noticed by the CC CELEBRITY CRUISES Rep that posts here, and got answers

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

Read my Reply # 15 here... It will explain all.

 

Your fears truly are unfounded.

 

All categories are available to both Canadians on the Charters, and to anyone else wanting to sail on the Relection or Silhouette from February to April.

 

Numbers are actually limited for the Cdns based on seats on the planes Chartered by Celebrity with Canadian North (not a large airline) and as I understand it they will be doing pick ups in more than one city.

 

So if I as a Cdn wanted to join in on this deal, I would be paying an AI rate (essentially "the break" is on airfare) and picking an available cabin of my own choice... Same as you would be doing as a regular pax

 

So it isn't like the Celebrity Charter has a monopoly on the best cabins... As I take it some fear.

 

This isn't a Group Booking (see my Reply # 15 and point # 3) so the average Pax will not be impacted whatsoever...

 

Lol, just a nice bunch of Canadian "snowbirds" who chose to all fly down south altogether. :D

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

Thanks for your very painstaking presentation and detailed info...Did not encounter this for our last cruise on Silho, booked early as usual and never saw website listings like the ones I noticed today. We are now happily booked through Jan 2016 .....and we'll see what we look at after that....hoping for a 10 day to Aruba Bonaire and Curacao...so far only Royal offering that..,, We are snowbirds too!,,

The mid-August 2015 cruise departing Barcelona has disappeared off the radar, it's no longer advertised or visible; it is obviously an outside charter.

It's odd, in that this is peak season.

If you're referring to 14th-24th Aug 2015 on Equinox, I believe it's been stated on another thread that it's a private charter (Atlantis).

Thanks for your very painstaking presentation and detailed info... Did not encounter this for our last cruise on Silho, booked early as usual and never saw website listings like the ones I noticed today. We are now happily booked through Jan 2016 .....and we'll see what we look at after that....hoping for a 10 day to Aruba Bonaire and Curacao...so far only Royal offering that..,, We are snowbirds too!,,

Glad I could help.

Celebrity test drove this Charter Program last year in a very small market... It worked so well for them... That this year they expanded it to 8 Cities each weekend February thru April (4 for the Saturday Reflection Departures and 4 for the Sunday Silhouette Departures)

Agree 100% tho that by Celebrity showing these Cdn Charters on the website is VERY CONFUSING... As I said, I am not sure why that is being done (Glitch ?)

Cheers!

May I say that your posts - SloopJohnB - are very helpful and appreciated.

It's not a true charter, just some package deals they put together.

If it was supposed to be a "true" Canadian charter, one would hope they would develop packages for more than 6 EASTERN cities. Wonder if they thought about the west? Especially the province that drives our economy nation wide.