clojacks

As you suggested I do, I searched through the whole 26 pages of posts on this thread, and did NOT find anywhere that said Fall 2024 was “Oversold”. I did find reference to at least 1 fall sailing in 2024 having no cabins available in a specific category, AFTER all the L&S started, implying that it was not “Oversold” in the context of Celebrity selling more cabins than they had, but rather sold out in some categories of the cabins that were available.

Not available is possibly not the same as "oversold", like you said. It is very possible that those cruises are now full already. I apologize if I'm sounding short, but this topic has veered from its course, sometimes from misinformation, sometimes from word context. I'd just like posters to be accurate in what they are posting as there have been a ton of people negatively impacted by Celebrities actions, and inaccuracy doesn't help those still waiting with baited breath.

This was my issue with the person who posted that, and what posts are now becoming in general on this topic. It's gone from early posts providing factual info on what happened to them, and how it was being handled by Celebrity, to now becoming an "I heard" cavalcade of questionable opinions. If the poster comes on and tells us where she heard the Oct 2024 oversold bit, and it isn't another third party unconfirmed source, I stand apologetically. But if it is an unconfirmed story, leave it off here.

This is what I am referring to regarding facts. I, personally, haven’t heard of ANY overbooked fall ‘24 cruises. I may have missed it, but if you could find it and copy and paste it, I’d be curious.

I guess I'm still confused. I read factually about a family who had 6 rooms booked and 3 were cancelled. I have not read about a family who had 9 separate cruises booked. I do know someone a while back...about 20 pages or so... posted a list of Milly cruises affected in fall of '23 and spring of '24 that totaled 9 separate cruises. I have seen copies of letters that cruisers with a fall '23 cruise affected that offered a "suggested" list of 3 fall of '24 cruises as L&S's. I have seen copies of letters that cruisers with a spring of "24 cruise affected that offered a "suggested" list of 3 spring of '25 cruises as L&S's. It seems like this 25 page thread has veered from affected cruisers sharing what happened to them to a plethora of opinions on how it has been handled....which is fine, that's what message boards are for... but there might be value in checking back to see if what someone is posting is really what has happened or a guess at what they think they remember reading on this thread a week ago.

I don’t believe that is correct regarding the 3 cruises offered. If I remember correctly, those with fall 2023 cruises affected were offered fall 2024 cruises, and those with spring 2024 cruises affected were offered spring 2025 cruises I believe. More like 6 cruises offered than 3.

I've never heard of "being required" to have travel insurance in Europe, and we have multiple Med cruises. Can you name who these cruise lines are??

Belgian, the question I have is, is the "official Agent of Celebrity" an employee of Celebrity in Belgium or is he/she an independent travel agent who "represents" or "offers" celebrity cruises. The only difference might be how they acquire their information. It's impact on you doesn't really make one way or the other any better...just helps us understand how they could be feeding you such obviously incorrect info.

It's very possible that is their way of phrasing that they do not have travel insurance...

Gone out isn’t the same as “received”. Particularly if it is in the hands of a TA who has hundreds of them to forward.

Back in the end of June, I noticed that our March 28, ‘24 sailing had disappeared from Celebrity’s and our TA’s websites. I contacted Celebrity at that time and was told the ship was sold out. Wouldn’t you think at that time they might have noticed something was might be a little unusual and cross check the inventory’s? 21 months ahead of sailing? How simple it would have been to catch some of this.

Here is an example of an email pertaining to one of the sailings being affected by overbooking. Maybe show this to your Belgian Celebrity agent, because it appears they are out of the loop.

Is your “alternate vacation” land based or a cruise with another line?

Unfortunately, there are an awful lot of “I think” and “I heard” and “they used to” comments starting to take the place of actual facts and personal impact reply’s. Unfortunately, that is what is proliferating the FB boards related to the Millennium right now….tons and tons of wasted comments, particularly to those who have already been impacted to those waiting for dreaded email or phone call. I know every bodies opinion is valuable, but in this unfortunate situation, factual information becomes way more valuable than someone’s guess. Let me add that some of the trash opinions on the FB Millennium thread make it totally unreadable. The value of comments on CC are infinitely more informed it appears.

We originally booked the 14 day Millennium for 3-28-21, on 1-31-19. It got cancelled due to COVID. When it cancelled, we rebooked onto the Solstice 14 day for 3-27-22. Due to uncertainty in the region, we it switched to the 14 day 3-28-23 on the Solstice, that Celebrity turned around and cancelled, offering us the 12 day 3-28-24 sailing on the Millennium, that we took. So, 4 booked sailings later, a largely different itinerary than we originally were excited about, and 2 days less in Japan, there is a very large part of me that would love to have Celebrity take my A2 cabin and I would jump at the paltry, insulting $450 offer!

A number of years ago, my wife and I booked a New England/Canada cruise down the St Lawrence Seaway from Boston to Quebec City during fall colors on NCL. I had worked in Quebec and along the Seaway a number of times and the colors were always spectacular in the fall. About 2 weeks before our cruise, NCL called to inform us that our cabin had been double booked. At that point, they offered us a refund OR, we could sail in an inside cabin for free, with the exception of us paying the taxes and fees of around $200. We jumped at our first and only inside cabin, and didn't regret it. Different lines know how to handle situations like this, and unfortunately, they possibly happen more in smaller amounts than we know of. NCL handled it correctly in our opinion, in that case.

I’m curious why you feel the urge to pay in full? Are you close to your final payment date? I have a real problem believing cruiselines can manage my money better than I can. 1 of the main reasons I have yet to cruise with Viking is because I refuse to give them my money over a year in advance.

It appears that the most likely answer, barring some poor info provided by Celebrity, is that NO CRUISES are cancelled, but a significant number of passengers had their cruise cancelled due to overbooking of certain cabins.

You might want to catch up on the reading…..

What makes you think it is “20 or 30” affected cruisers. I believe from just looking at roll calls now a days, that it is pretty easy to assume that the number of passengers using CruiseCritic is tiny compared to years ago. When roll calls used to be dozens of pages long, it is not uncommon now to participate in a roll call that may end up in single digits by sailing time. I personally believe the number of affected passengers is many times the 20 to 30 you suggest, just from speculating how few people continue to use the this resource. I, like many others, have been trying to get to Japan since being cancelled in 2021. And then ‘22, and then ‘23. Hoping out loud that we finally get to visit in ‘24 isn’t exhibiting hysteria, but rather sharing similar concerns with others in the same boat, figuratively.

I would offer a similar sentiment. We were on the Apex in the end of January for 7 days. It was our return to sailing cruise after Panademic and prior to stoppage in Feb ‘20, probably our previous 10 cruises were enjoyed almost exclusively on Celebrity. This one opened our eyes in an u fortunate way. We were shocked at the lack of variety, uniqueness, and service in the MDR’s on the Apex. In addition, the buffet was basically a 2 station circle of very meh offerings. Hardly anything special. No ethnic special evening. I almost felt like we were at Old Country Buffet! Ironically, the morning we disembarked in Fort Lauderdale, we Ubered down to Miami to catch a trans Panama Canal sailing on the Norwegian Joy, with low expectations following our previous NCL cruise of about 10 years ago. Surprisingly, to us, NCL blew Celebrity’s dining experiences out of the water. The variety of different venue’s was amazing. The variety of different special evenings in the Buffet was broad. We typically only eat evenings in the buffet if a return to the ship makes it the best option or if a show timing makes it convenient, but on the Joy, we actually started to check to see what they were serving in the Buffet almost daily. In fact, we purchased future cruise deposits for 3 more sailings on NCL, largely on the strength of their food and dining venues. We currently have 2 cruise booked on Celebrity, but if the dining experience is repeated on them, we have no problems switching lines from what was almost an exclusive attachment to Celebrity.

Why would you do this? People who have paid in full have also been cancelled. It's not just those who only have a deposit down? I'm kind of confused by this strategy. As has been mentioned, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to those bookings that are getting cancelled.

Except that, it appears from early reports that they are only giving people until May 1st to Lift and Shift, which if they do as you suggested isn't fair to the last people notified.

From reading about this on multiple social media threads, CC, FB, etc it sounds like it has affected people who have paid in full, only paid a deposit, booked direct, booked with a TA, in other words, not much of an algorithm other than it "appears" that all I have heard of are Balcony's being affected. I don't know what category of balcony. I don't know if it is specifically "Balcony's" and not Aqua or Concierge. I hope more factual information comes out today, because there is a tremendous amount of "I think" going on, on these boards, including now from me.

My TA offered 10% of the Cruise Fare as OBC. I guess different ones offer different perks.