Its gone

My wife and I are booked on a 11 day Hawwaiin cruise this April aboard the Soltice(OH YA).WE already paid in full and are counting the days .I have been keeping an eye on the prices just for the heck of it .But lately I havent been able to find this cruise on any of the web sites.Is this what happens when a cruise is sold out or whats going on?Thank you for your time and have a nice day:)

Appears this cruise has more then one travel agency selling it as a gay and lesbian cruise. Try googling "11 Night Hawaii Gay Cruise" and you'll pull one of them right up. Am guessing these groups have large blocks of rooms, so there aren't any more available.

I see it being advertised still as "11 Night Hawaii Gay Cruise" on another travel web page. Am wondering if this is a large group that has a big block of room. I can't post the TA name, but you can certainly find it by using google.

Sounds like Atlantis Events or RSVP.

Edited my post because when I searched more, I found it on several other travel agency webpages. Can't post the names, but they are easily found.

OP, sometimes sailing with large groups means they have private parties that take over public venues, etc.

Or it's quite possible that it's now a full ship charter.

Contact the cruise line

Or it's quite possible that it's now a full ship charter.

 

Contact the cruise line

If it was a full ship charter, everyone sailing would have to purchase the cruise through the agency that chartered the ship. OP does not seem to have done that.

One thing I would suggest is he call Celebrity ASAP to be certain he is not being cancelled off. That has happened. It is rare for it to happen close to sailing though. Normally if a ship is going to full charter, it happens months in advance.

If OP used a TA, there is the possibility the TA was informed but never passed along the message if it was one of the big on line booking processors.

I'm not saying it is a full charter but I sure would be checking it out.

It also could have disappeared from the site because they are assigning cabins booked as guarantees. Until they get them sorted, sometimes they pull the cruise out of the listing.

If it is not a full ship charter but rather a very large group on board, OP should be prepared for the possibility some venues could be reserved for members of the group, whole dining times can be set aside for the group, a lounge could be taken over for private party...... all sorts of private events take place in public areas SOME TIMES. There are times it can inconvenience those not part of the group but often it is little but an annoyance here or there.

We were on with a very large group once and had a terrible experience. Cruise lines try hard to keep that information private for obvious reasons and even if directly asked do not always fully and accurately respond.

For me A large group on board = me canceling the cruise. Went on a cruise on Eurodam a very large group was onboard. On a sea day in the caribbean the ship closed the main pool for a private event!!!!! Several other things happened, but none so lacking in consideration as that. NEVER AGAIN. I always try and check if there are any large groups.

Pied Piper is the coordinator for the group on this cruise. They book large blocks of cabins but don't usually do full-ship charters like RSVP and Atlantis. I see cabins available on this cruise through some of the major travel websites.

That happens when either sold out or sold off as charter

Unfortunately though yours sounds like has sold through mini charter

Good you bought when you did

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Luckily it's early enough that you still have the option to cancel and get a full refund (unless you used a TA who has a cancellation charge). Personally, I'd cancel and find something else if a large percentage of my cruise was booked by a charter group - don't care if it's GLBT, car salesmen, folk singers, or whatever, as they WILL take up large portions of public venues. You might decide that it won't bother you, but if not, so sorry this is happening to your cruise!

Nothing good can come of this , cancel now . OP is fortunate to find out early on .

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WE are really not to worried about there being al arge group or not. What happens happens.

Wouldn't matter to me what the group was but any group that comprises 60% of the cabins is going to impact everyone who is not a part of the group. The cruise lines cater to the groups as they make a lot of money from them.

I would be selecting a different cruise/date but that is just my personal choice....... having been in that position before and not liking it.

We have been on a couple of cruises with very large groups -- back when we weren't able to check to see if there was a large group on board.

Not a good experience. Too many of the lounges were shut down for private parties. The show room was closed every morning and afternoon -- thus some activities were moved to smaller places that couldn't handle everyone -- like bingo.

Wouldn't matter to me what the group was but any group that comprises 60% of the cabins is going to impact everyone who is not a part of the group. The cruise lines cater to the groups as they make a lot of money from them.

 

I would be selecting a different cruise/date but that is just my personal choice....... having been in that position before and not liking it.

I was recently part of a group on a non-full ship charter, and to be honest it sucked for us, too. We were issued special cards to get the extra benefits afforded us as part of the group, and every time we went to use them, the people around us would grumble and complain about how they weren't given special perks and made snide comments. We know that many also complained to guest services, the bartenders, etc. as well. We were only 15% of the passenger load. I can't imagine how it would have been if we had been 25% or more. :(

As an FYI--we only had two activities that took place in space that would have otherwise been open to others. One was a 90 minute cocktail party in one of the bars and one was a dinner that took over one of the alternate restaurants one night. (There was no guarantee that someone wanting to book that restaurant that night would have been able to even if we didn't have it reserved.)

It's one thing to have a group of 40 scrapbookers on a ship that holds 2800 who use conference rooms or restaurants that would be otherwise closed at that time and a large group that pretty much dominates the entire ship.

I agree, I'd re-book. I also feel that cruise lines should be required to be upfront with passengers about large groups and notify them at the time of booking of any group that will be more than 20% of the passenger load and allow them to cancel without penalty or provide a substantial reason to stay (ie partial refund, large on board credit, etc.)

Oh come on. So the have an event in one of the bars how many bars are on the ship and how long is it going to last anyway.The ship was already sixty precent full when this Travel web site bought the rest of the rooms and put them for sale on their web site.Who knows the might not even be able to sell all of the rooms.It is not the end of the world to us we will enjoy are cruise.People need to be a little flexable and enjoy life.So you might not be able to go to the bar you want to at that exact minute or the pool is closed for a couple of hours or you have to wait a day to eat in a special resturaunt Is that really a life changeing event:eek:

If it was a full ship charter, everyone sailing would have to purchase the cruise through the agency that chartered the ship. OP does not seem to have done that.

 

 

 

............

 

Looks like OP booked before the charter was confirmed.

Either it's a partial charter or s/he didn't receive notification of a full charter.

One of our cruises had a large group. Almost 50% of the ship was for an singer. His shows were later in the showroom but the (now one) show for regular pax was at 7:30. A bit too early for the early dining pax and a little too late for the late dining pax.

This group also took over the card room for the while cruise.

Looks like OP booked before the charter was confirmed.

Either it's a partial charter or s/he didn't receive notification of a full charter.

 

One of our cruises had a large group. Almost 50% of the ship was for an singer. His shows were later in the showroom but the (now one) show for regular pax was at 7:30. A bit too early for the early dining pax and a little too late for the late dining pax.

This group also took over the card room for the while cruise.

The ship was 60% full when the rest of the rooms were put up for sale on a certain web site. So they may not even be able to sell all of the rooms. In which case they would be put back on the main market Any one can go to this web site and book this cruise if they so desire.So as far as I am concerned its not a charter or even a partial charter.;)

I don't think there is anything called a 'partial charter'. I believe the ship is either fully chartered or it has a large group aboard.

I agree if a group is 20% or less of the total number of guests, that wouldn't be too bad. When it starts to get to 30% it can be very inconvenient for other guests.

When a group takes over the outdoor pool on a gorgeous Caribbean day at sea, that is an inconvenience to the other guests they should not have to endure. They did not purchase use of that pool 'sometimes'. They certainly thought they would be using it (if they wished) on a sea day in the Caribbean. It happened to us so this is not hypothetical.

Not sure why they pulled my post from yesterday, but it is definitely a large group from a gay and lesbian club that has taken 60% of the cabins, any cabins they can't fill will be given back to the cruise line 60 days before sailing. I gave the web site yesterday and that may be why my post was pulled.. happy cruising

I can't find out how to see if a group has booked on your cruise. Thanks

I can't find out how to see if a group has booked on your cruise. Thanks

google 'april 20, 2015 celebrity solstice'

Looking at the itin---Both Kona and Lahaina are tender ports. That's four days of possibly missing port.

Unless you've experienced a large group on a cruise, you have absolutely no idea how bad it is. Large groups don't take over just one venue, they take over many venues. And because these venues have been taken, it means less activities for those not with the group. On our cruise, this group totally took over the pool every single day, they brought on their own entertainment and took over the entire theater four of the seven nights, which meant no entertainment in the big theater for anyone not with the group. They also took over all the alternate restaurants every night, so no one was able to get a reservation in any of them.

So, do you still think it's not a big deal?????

Having been on ten or so of the Pied Piper Groups, it's not the Pied Piper group holding a large block or rooms, generally the Pied Piper groups are less than 50 people w exception being their post Thanksgiving day cruise.

My guess is that it's the CME Group (Continuing Medical Education)

It's a large group of mostly Canadian (and American) Medical Professionals

that does quite a few enrichment programs like this for their members

This years focus is "Charting a New Course for improved patient Care"

And they have advertised this April 20th cruise on Solstice to their membership