Dottymac

Thanks for reply Harrisonkid, That sounds like a completely normal / rational reply in this uncertain world we live in. Lets hope you have the happiest anniversary, and hopefully on board. Thank you. My question was really aimed at other posters. I really don't understand why people feel the need to share their stress in this unsubstantiated way. We obviously want the best and most wonderful experiences, however, no matter how much we pay for it, stuff happens. All the time. And most of the people on here are experienced cruisers and know that. So let us deal with the facts. Until we know any different. Let's not speculate in an already uncertain and scary world. Let's not cause undue worry for other passengers. Celebrity are a business. Fact. They want our money. Fact. They are going to try and keep Customers. Fact. We have choices. Fact. They don't make us book a cruise with them. Fact. So please can we stop speculating until Celebrity announce any cruise-crushing facts. In which case it will be highly disappointing and really annoying, but at least we wont be stuck in a war-torn part of the world with no hope of ever going on a lovely cruise. Let's get real.

If you are so sure something is up with the ship why don't you cancel or re-arrange. Would save you a whole lot of stress etc?

It appears that continuing to speculate is a waste of time and energy as it seems clear that noone really knows the facts for the itinerary changes, except Celebrity of course. I get the impression that they are not going to respond to this thread, so Customers will just have to wait and see. If it is overly worrying to people to do this they are entitled to cancel or move their cruise and plan something more definite. Nothing in life is certain (except the obvious).

Thank you for such a positive post. Great to read.

Thanks chengkp75 It is really interesting to understand this and thank you for the clarification on hours vs miles. I will speak to my TA tomorrow. We do not have to pay the full balance for another few months so will watch with interest to see if Celebrity are not disclosing a bigger issue, as suspected by the more experienced cruising community, or not. I am hoping not. I just want to look forward to a nice holiday

Thanks PinkT, Do you know if the routine engine maintenance just occurred during your cruise or for the whole cruising season as implied by the number of Celebrity cruises affected by sailing speeds this year? Is the description of "routine engine maintenance" transparent enough for the cruisers out there or would it cause more speculation? At what level of technical detail would the speculation stop? Or would that explanation just make Customers less confident as NMTraveller implies (if I have read his reply correctly). To me cruise ships must be permanently having ongoing maintenance going on as a result of the 10's of thousands of miles they must sail each year with B2B itineraries, so isn't this just business as usual? Or is this a unique situation?

Thankyou Chengkp75. That is my experience so I do not understand why so many people deem Celebrity as not being transparent and being secretive in this instance. Maybe people have had bad experiences with Celebrity that I am not aware of and there is a mistrust issue based on that which is understandable. If that is the case why would people book with them. I am not trying to be difficult - I am trying to understand if there is a genuine reason to be concerned about having booked this cruise. I will contact my TA tomorrow.

I understand your concerns/frustration Tommy921 regarding your Norwegian cruise. And am sorry your wife has had medical issues. I have had a dreadful 4 years caring for a mother with Alzheimersand a F-I-L dying of cancer, so booking this cruise was seen as a ray of light for me, only now to be dashed that it may not happen. My genuine question still remains regarding what is the norm for Cruise lines? Are they usually far more explicit in terms of technical issues and detailed reasons for changes? I would be grateful if someone could respond to this as it may put this all more into perspective for me. Thank you.

Thanks BigAl94, As I explained initially I am an amateur cruiser and I didn't realise that Customers are supposed to be informed on all the technicalities and issues a ship may or may not have. Is this Cruise line-specific? How much detail do they usually give when there are changes to itineraries? Good job we don't have this detailed information on airlines, trains and all other modes of transport otherwise we wouldn't travel anywhere. Once again my point is that the speculation causes unnecessary alarm. And the problem with speculation is that many people treat it as fact and then take unnecessary action. It's just an observation coming to this forum afresh after a long break.

Hi Tommy921 Thanks for replying and sorry you are so disappointed with Celebrity. Celebrity is not a cheap cruise line so expectations are high. We are on the same cruise as you in September. Personally arriving 30 minutes later in Porto and Lisbon and an hour later in Valencia doesn't really bother me and I will be glad of the extra hour in bed arriving back at Southampon at 7am rather than 6am ;-). At least they are still (currently) stopping at these ports and haven't been cancelled altogether (yet). From my minimal experience cruising and lifelong experience flying/travelling, delays and changes are always par for the course, so my expectations are not high generally in this area. We had a cruise cancelled in 2022 only a few weeks before we were due to sail as a result of Covid and European cruises not being sold out at the time. That was highly frustrating and disappointing but, as a result of world events, life seems to be increasingly unstable and unreliable. I understand people are frustrated and want to share this information/frustration. My point of the post was how quickly the information turned into speculation without any obvious foundation that the ship is "unseaworthy". This currently is not fact and therefore unhelpful and a further cause of unnecessary worry. I also don't understand why people think Celebrity are being "secretive". I think it is quite helpful giving advance notice to amend any plans. Personally I wouldn't expect a "detailed" explanation of why a few arrival/departure times have been changed. When Jet2 change my flight times (which they regularly do) I never get an explanation. Hopefully the cruise will still go ahead and see you on board.

Hi, I am back on the CC forum because I have just booked a second Celebrity Cruise after our first in 2016 which my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought getting back up to speed online with the Cruise world would help us with uptodate information before our cruise on Apex later this year. However the speculation on this thread has completely alarmed me. I too received the email stating that only 5 of the 16 arrival/departure times on our cruise have been amended by up to an hour at most due to "sailing speed restrictions". In my naiviety I accepted this notification at face value, without alarm, especially as the changes are minimal and it will not affect our cruise in the slightest. I am obviously an amateur cruiser but I can't believe Celebrity would allow an "unseaworthy" ship out on the open seas. Or am I wrong? Such random speculation in many of the previous posts (and that is what it appears to be at the moment) seems unnecessary when booking a cruise is supposed to be such a positive experience to look forward to, in an already unsettling world. I'm hoping to gain more positive and helpful information from this forum going forward as we are really looking forward to a much-needed holiday. Thank you.