RichardRahl

That’s not how it works. You can’t get reimbursed for your flights if you haven’t experienced a loss. The only way to experience a loss is to cancel your flights (and I don’t mean “tell the airline you’re not showing up,” but rather canceling the flight and getting documentation of that showing it’s a non-refundable loss).

And I don’t know what you’re talking about with Celebrity backing out of compensating your the $500 you’ve been promised. One has nothing to do with the other. But even if that happened. It just means your third-party travel insurance would covert the entire loss (maybe - see next paragraph).

But like Reuben said, you need to read your insurance contract before doing anything. Some travel insurance will cover flights that become unusable due to a cruise cancellation, but others won’t (because the airline didn’t cancel the flight).

12 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Are you sure you want to cancel based on what you read here. 

15 minutes ago, RichardRahl said:

My last cruise earlier this year was so-so, and I’m likely going to cancel my Japan cruise based on everything I’ve ready here (assuming I don’t get canceled first). I just don’t trust this company any more.

Reading comprehension.

Did Celebrity’s management or key executives change since 2001? Because up until then, when asked about Celebrity, I couldn’t give less than effusive praise for the employees, staff, crew, and officers. Every booking and cruise was luxurious, relaxing, and made me feel special.

Now, though, I feel like it’s a different company. My last cruise earlier this year was so-so, and I’m likely going to cancel my Japan cruise based on everything I’ve ready here (assuming I don’t get canceled first). I just don’t trust this company any more.

It’s not like there aren’t a lot of alternatives for me (at least four other cruise lines come to mind right off the top of my head.)

So what happened? Did everyone who knew how to provide excellent customer service quit during the pandemic and get replaced by a bunch of lemmings who can’t think for themselves and don’t care about the customers?

This is a very bizarre metamorphosis for Celebrity, and I do not understand what the (new?) leadership thinks it’ll gain from being inflexible and incapable? Is the goal Carnival Cruises at Oceania prices?

That you know of…

8 minutes ago, Tarwood3 said:

So are you calling me a liar?  
 

So please don’t imply I was a crazy Lady (I’m a guy, BTW).

 

We booked 14 mos ago and are Elite Plus….. hard to believe they have been taking reservations still for the last year and I’m one of the first to go?

Not at all. I do believe you that you’re male, and I do believe you heard what you heard.

I’m also not trying to apologize for Celebrity – you did not deserve to have this cruise canceled on you, nor do you deserve to have Celebrity give you the runaround about why.

But I don’t believe that’s actually what the rep said because no one else can corroborate that assertion. Quite the contrary – almost everyone else who has contacted Celebrity so far and posted its response was told all 2024 Japan cruises are still scheduled and happening.

As for the cruise taking reservations for the past year, it has barely been on the website because it was completely sold out (and apparently oversold – how that can even happen is beyond me), but it’s not like anyone has been able to book anything on that cruise for many many months.

I am surprised that the cruise did pop up recently on the website with a couple balcony cabins when Celebrity knew it was force cancelling people who were already booked.

I still disagree with everyone who thinks the cancellations were random. I’m not saying the criteria were fair, but it most definitely wasn’t random. It is an extremely popular cruise, and it’s likely there were many people who booked before those who were cancelled and who have higher status… assuming that was even Celebrity’s criteria. For all we know, it could have been alphabetical.

Everyone on this thread is hysterically assuming that the cancellations are random. It is very unlikely that this is the case. Celebrity is probably cancelling the most recent bookings first, the lowest loyalty level customers, taking into consideration the number of times a passenger has been lifted and shifted for the same itinerary, and other such relevant criteria.

Considering the thousands of people who booked these cruises, hearing about 20 or 30 getting bumped does not concern me. Those cruises with cabins available are still showing on the website. Those cruises that are sold out do not show up. That’s how the celebrity website works.

And just because one angry customer misheard a representative tell her that “all of Japan is canceled” when the representative likely never said that, it doesn’t mean we should believe it. This is the Internet, after all.

There are better glaciers than Mendenhall. If you’re going to Skagway, there’s a Pilot’s Choice helicopter that lands on two different glaciers plus the ice fields. If you’re going to Glacier Bay or Hubbard Glacier, those too are better than Mendenhall.

For me it’s not even close – whale watching and salmon bake.

The salmon bake is a relaxing, informal, delicious excursion. I don’t know if it’s more crowded now than in past years, or if they still use the old school buses to transfer you over, but I always loved it. Some of the best salmon and cornbread I can remember. And there’s usually a musician playing guitar singing folk songs.

Whale watching is exactly what it sounds like, and with conservation programs working well, it’s more and more likely you’ll definitely see some whales.

31 minutes ago, Oville said:

Are you anti-Canada?

Blame Canada!

2 minutes ago, rangerette said:

How many days do people think they will keep everyone on board before they get them off and send them home? I’m not really familiar with ship operations so is there any chance conditions deteriorate on board (sanitation for instance)?

They’re not marooned at sea! They’re docked at Canada Place. Why would conditions deteriorate? The tug is on strike, not the Eclipse.

Ah! Got it.

2 minutes ago, silkismom said:

Is anyone on board who can tell us what's going on there? Is the wifi blocked?

Why would the WiFi be blocked? And have you heard of LTE, 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.? They’re docked - anyone can access the Internet if they want.

7 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

you've got a federal port authority, local unions (not just the tug operators but the dockside port staff and security who may be reluctant or outright not allowed to interfere), a major marine corporation owned by an American billionaire, plus an international cruise line.

Perhaps the billionaire could pull a Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne and just buy the tug company, fire everyone, and hire another company to move it! All in 6 hours time 🙂

15 minutes ago, wayne_trisha said:

There is no space center in Orlando. It is on the coast at Kennedy Space Center.

You’re splitting hairs… it’s only 45 miles east of Orlando. We all knew what she meant. The Kennedy Space Center is on Merritt Island, just northwest of Cape Canaveral. Saying the space center is at the space center is just as vague.

9 minutes ago, Speirsdr said:

I think the Dweeb checking us in got it wrong, but we were told the reason we were denied was because the booster didn't comply with the 12 day rule.

The “dweeb” checking you in was following clear company policy; he didn’t get anything wrong. It was not his fault that you and andy1sfufan weren’t allowed to board the ship.

While an inflexible policy doesn’t make people happy who don’t follow the guidance, it does make people safe. (Maybe not safer, but safe.)

26 minutes ago, andy1fsufan said:

We both are fully vaccinated, just no booster shot. So we are not fully fully fully vaccinated with all the boosters.  

That’s the only reason why you couldn’t board. This has been in NCL’s documentation for some time. All the complaining about Spain or the EU changing its rules at the last minute has nothing to do with it, as evidenced by how the significant majority people were able to successfully board the ship with no problem.

That having been said, I agree that NCL overreacted, especially since you tested negative at the pier. But as I noted before, NCL is not nimble enough to make exceptions to their very clearly stated policy. Either you follow it and are safer, or you ignore it and you’re refused boarding. It’s not necessarily fair, but that’s why people buy travel insurance.

Found this old thread, and am very disappointed to report that the Celebrity Cruises' website still sucks. It may be the worst consumer portal I've used in the past 5 years (except perhaps for its eerily similar sister website, Royal Caribbean International).

As of a few days ago, the Celebrity website has stopped working in Chrome entirely. It barely functions in Firefox, and works a little better in Safari (when it's working at all). How a company this large can have such a joke of an order and information system is beyond me.

On 8/24/2021 at 2:09 AM, Couple-Somerset said:

 

I was under the belief the basic wage was approx $260 per month so around $50 per week (plus free board and lodgings)

 

As highlighted above, a Butler could be getting $420 per week in pre-paid gratuities.

 

So, a weekly amount of $470 with free lodging and board.

 

(1) Seriously, how many people at home have that amount of disposable income every week?

 

(2) Yes, they work long hours - which is the normal for where they live. Its only the rest of us who are "lazy" in comparison.

 

(3) Yes, they send money home for their families - but being blunt, that is their choice. Do remember the cost of living at "home" is much much less too so that $1 of purchases might be $5 in the USA. The average daily wage in the Philippines is $20 too.

 

(4) Why aren't western workers doing the job? - too lazy and not as friendly perhaps.

 

I wish I could find an old TV program in which RCI head Richard Fain went aboard a ship and worked in various departments. He readily admitted how physical the stateroom attendant role was but was visibly shocked to discover they were earning something like $50,000 per year inc tips (pro rata based on contract length).

Anyone this incredulous about tipping has either never worked in the service industry, is European, is a cheapskate, or has a misconception of how and why Americans tip.

I don’t ask my waiter or busboy at Cheescake Factory what they make before I tip them. I don’t ask my local bartender how many hours she works each day before I tip her. I don’t ask my Uber driver if he sends part of his income to family members before tipping. And I don’t compare what I do to what my housekeeper at the Las Vegas MGM Grand does when considering her tip.

Rather, I ask my self, “did this person do a good job, make me feel like a valuable customer, did it all with a smile despite my many requests, and went the extra mile for me?” If the answer is “yes,” I tip. If the answer is “absolutely,” then I tip a lot.

I sure don’t try to figure out if the hotel, restaurant, employer, or pub passes on any portion of my bill to the server. If they get paid twice for great service, that’s fine with me!

And I should note – if a server sucks, I still might tip if I know the establishment pools their tips (but it won’t be a lot).

As for that Celebrity gratuity form discussed earlier, I’ve asked multiple purser staff on various ships if my butler, room steward, and waiter get the full amount I put down on the form. The answer I consistently get is “Yes, but write down their name under the amount box just to make sure.”

However, under the general housekeeping and restaurant boxes, it’s distributed to all staff in that specific department. If you want to tip a specific waiter, you’ll have to do it with an envelope – but he/she still may be required to submit it to the general department gratuity pool.

A lot of these crew members don’t see their families for 6-8 months at a time, share an inside cabin with 1 or 2 other crew members, eat in a cafeteria below decks with no access to passenger dining areas, and work 8-16 hour days depending on the position. If they make $50,000 each per year, they’re worth it. Because you couldn’t pay me enough to clean up 24 passengers’ sh*tty toilets every day, worrying if they have COVID, and being treated like a lowly servant by most of them. And yet they do it… often with a smile.

15 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

In addition, they offer testing at the FLL airport I don't know how much easier it could be, aside from taking someone by the hand and leading them to the nearest pharmacy and walking them to the pharmacy window.

Most pharmacies don’t take walk-ins for COVID testing, so the above isn’t helping anyone. And unlike making an appointment at a pharmacy for testing, FLL airport isn’t free (it’s actually quite expensive).

22 minutes ago, atexsix said:

For those of you that are vax'd and sailing on Millie, have you considered switching to Holland America?  They don't require a covid test presumably because they are sailing at 100% vax'd. 

 

I just looked, plenty of staterooms available for all sailings in all categories.  

 

That's what I'd do if it were me, as opposed to this nonsense your all going through. 

 

 

Give it a week or two. Every cruise line is going to start doing this. The ones that don’t will have a Delta variant outbreak and will have to cancel cruises. I’d rather be on a Celebrity cruise that sails than a Holland America one that gets cancelled.

It’s better than nothing! Very little is 100% sure in life, so we do the best we can. Requiring a COVID test no more than 3 days prior to boarding is much better than no testing at all, that’s for sure. But yes - giving everyone a rapid test at the pier would have been even better – until you factor in false positives that ruin some people’s vacations and false negatives that fail to protect everyone.

1 hour ago, GA Dave said:

Absolutely agree with you.  It is obvious that the OP has a real hard spot for RCCL right now.  To think that he may actually still cruise on this line is incredible.  If some business pisses me off that much in advance of me utilizing their services, I would never consider using their services.  Particularly in this case, as Royal has a well documented policy of offering a 100% refund to anyone not wanting to/able to follow the protocols in place for their specific cruise.

I completely agree. We cancelled our three suites on the Ovation and RCI agreed to refund our fare.

Still considering what to replace it with, if anything. Not a fan of Princess, as their suite products are far inferior to RCI, Celebrity, and NCL (the Princess Sky Suite doesn't hold a candle to the NCL 3-Bedroom Garden Villa Suite, Celebrity Penthouse Suite, or RCI Royal Loft Suite).

If I can find some suites on NCL, that might work, but they don't seem to have much availability in Alaska. Celebrity has a few suites on certain voyages, but some of our older travel companions might not like that there are unvaccinated passengers on board, even though it's 5% or less and only children who have tested negative prior to the cruise. (I think on Celebrity out of Seattle, everyone needs to show a negative COVID test prior to boarding.)

Since I'm no longer on this sailing, I shall stop posting my thoughts here. Problem has been resolved, and those passengers who are happy with the Alaska COVID protocols will likely have a very nice cruise on August 13th. RCI handled our cancellation well, so no hard feelings from us (although we'll probably be less likely to look at them first when choosing future cruises).

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

My concern is that even though Royal has been very open and direct about what the mask protocol is for this cruise, you seem unable to accept the reality of it.

If only RCI had been open and direct about allowing non-vaccinated passengers on the ship back when the cruise was first sold, we would have known to book a different cruise line. There's no transparency here; just the illusion of it – that's the actual reality of it.

Anyone who is most likely to bring COVID on the ship is the lowest common denominator. Right now, that's children 11 and under. Princess and NCL agree, requiring 100% vaccination (i.e., no kids 11 and under). Celebrity is satisfied with 95%+ vaccinated so there are some children on there, but the vaccinated still don't have to wear masks like on its baby sister company.

If RCCL wants to allow children on board, all it needs to do is make sure they and their families make up less than 5% of the passenger complement. Then RCCL can be just like Celebrity with common-sense, reasonable protocols. That's how RCCL sold the Seattle/Alaska cruises, and the calculated bait-and-switch is a selfish double-take.

I'm all for being careful and wearing masks when there's a statistically advantageous improvement to safety. But with all passengers over 12 being fully vaccinated and everyone else testing negative for COVID, the likelihood of a catastrophic outbreak is almost 0%.

Of course, that's different than the chance of at least one family testing positive for COVID during the cruise, which is almost a 100% chance. But if everyone is careful, wearing masks in crowded, indoor situations where non-vaccinated are present, that won't matter. But requiring masking outdoors and in spacious venues where there might be an unvaccinated person is ridiculous.

It's RCCL's decision to apparently allow more than 5% of its passengers to be unvaccinated that's the problem, not the masking requirements in general. And it's RCCL's decision to allow the small minority of non-vaccinated passengers into too many public areas that's also the problem. They're allowing 5-10% of the passengers to dictate how the other 90-95% of passengers enjoy their cruise. This after making such a big deal of sailing out of Seattle where vaccination status can be required before boarding.

The solution is to require the unvaccinated to be tested daily and ditch the mask requirements for vaccinated passengers. The end result will be the same.

36 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

The best thing you could do right now if you really need a vacation and do not want any masks, social distancing, etc., is go to Florida and visit the themeparks.  They have gotten rid of all protocols and are back to the original "normal".

The goal is to go to our favorite destination – Alaska, not Disney or some boring Caribbean itinerary.

We were led to believe that RCCL would be 100% vaccinated since they’re sailing out if Seattle and aren’t hamstrung by Florida’s ignorant anti-vaccine law. Had we known RCCL was going to betray our trust, we would have booked on Princess, NCL, or Celebrity (all of which have stuck to their guns in favor of vaccinated passengers).

The lack of common sense coming out of the CDC and RCCL is on par with Florida’s, which is just as frustrating. If every passenger over 12 yrs old is vaccinated, and every passenger under 12 tests negative for COVID, then what’s the maskless danger? Adventure of the Seas didn’t have any problem with this.

5 minutes ago, seabeew said:

Celebrity Millennium is sailing from Seattle to Alaska with very few protocols. You would not have to wear a mask except when in the cruise terminal and boarding. On your own tours are allowed.
 

I have only sailed on Celebrity Edge, but Celebrity has a suite program that rivals or exceeds Royal Caribbean’s.

Celebrity is also $10-$15,000 more than Royal Caribbean for the same size room. That’s why we chose RCCL in the first place – a little more budget friendly for our first return to cruising. I guess the old adage “you get what you pay for” applies here, unfortunately. We won’t be making that mistake again, for sure. Our 15 years of RCCL loyalty is truly being tested, and I’m quite happy to give our future business to better cruise lines if RCCL comes up short.