anniegb

I think the family had a total of 6 cabins booked and it was a linked booking. I am unsure if a TA was involved. Thanks

Hello Bo again L&S is not being applied in the normal manner. An example Family had 3 of their cabins cancelled. If they became available later, they can purchase them at rate prevailing in 2023 and not 2021 (date of original booking) 9 cruises were impacted. Only 3 cruises were available for L&S. 9 into 3 doesn't go.

In the UK yes we buy car insurance. It is the law.

Thank you and I agree. Alas the air ticket to Japan is in excess of USD1000 and the USD500 offered by Celebrity leaves a large shortfall for many especially family bookings. However if the cruiser had purchased air tickets via Celebrity, the pain would be lessened. Bottom line and JMO this debacle has not been Celebrity's finest hour but I suspect that senior management, mentally, has left the building.

How many cruises were impacted in total : 9 Millie has a capacity of approx 2000 x 9 =18000 ?? Do the maths. I suspect at least 10% but again that is speculation.

Possibly a Singapore regulation, I don't know - just pondering. I know UK Package Tour Regulations are not generous if the cancellation is made so far in advance. My contract wth Celebrity is for Cruise Only. If I was cancelled, I would not expect them to refund my air ticket.

One lesson I have learned from this whole debacle is NOT to purchase non-refundable air tickets esp for long haul destinations unless you are prepared to bear any losses. If you have booked a package, different rules are applicable. The premium for a fully refundable air ticket may not be as much as you think. When a cruise line cancels a booking so far in advance, I am unsure, contractually, what their obligations are but I suspect they are not as generous as many of us think.

Someone posted on their roll call that Celebrity advised they are not allowing anyone to volunteer for cancellation unless they pay the cancellation penalty.

I think Marella (European cruise line), part of the Tui group, may have introduced this policy post-covid. I like it. We had a medi-vac incident on my cruise.

Different market, different policies. I have never purchased 'cancel for any reason' travel insurance in the U.K. I have never investigated the market to that extent. I know 'cancel for any reason' policy is available from certain cruise lines but claims are restricted to 80%?? I checked the cost of a such a policy for a 2024 cruise I have booked and the premium exceeds the cost of my annual policy by 100%. I agree if Celebrity cancelled my Japan cruise, my insurance policy would not pay any claim for my cancelled flight. However the premium for my refundable flight is very modest and I would revert to a land trip.

Apologies, I should have made it clearer. I was referring to Travel Insurance. You stated you had travelled previously without purchasing travel insurance. In Europe, there are cruise lines that will not allow you to board without evidence of a travel policy.

Different rules in different parts of the world. I cruised January this year, from a European port, and had to produce evidence of travel insurance valid for the cruise. I overheard one agent advising a couple unless they produced evidence of a purchased policy, they were not allowed to board. The cruise line advised all guests beforehand that policies would be checked.

Thank you for that. I suspect like many UK cruisers, I have a multi-trip travel policy which is renewed annually.

Possible. The cruiser is resident in North America. However let us assume, they purchased travel insurance in 2018 at time of original booking. Would it still be valid?? or would they have to renew the policy annually??

I don't know and have not/will not enquire. They are understandbly upset. A trip booked 5 years ago is cancelled and they are upset. I am unsure if my UK travel insurance would cover a non-refundable air ticket cancelled because a 3rd party cancelled onward travel plans. However I have a refundable air ticket.

Someone on the Oct 12 cruise has received the dreaded 'pink slip'. They had originally booked in 2018 for a 2020 cruise which did not happen and has been subsequently L&S multiple times. Revenue dept made the decision ?? Why ?? We can all speculate but fare paid was probably a factor. They are left with non-refundable USD3000 air tickets which are not covered by travel insurance.

I picked this up from a roll call. A contact within Celebrity has stated that all 'purged' letters have been sent. I know we have thought that before but I thought I would share.

You beat me to it! I was thinking the same. The initial cancellations were sent circa 17th April therefore 2 weeks until 1st May. Therefore 2 weeks is not an reasonable period and a case could be made. Further we know of at least 1 cruiser who was not given a deadline date for responses.

Agreed. Made a similar statement on my roll call a few days ago. If I followed my roll call correctly, one cruiser was moved from waiting list to confirmed booking 5th April 2003. 19th April the TA had 200 cabins purged - same agency. I hope the purging was done in order of sailing date.

Thanks for letting us know. As long as you are happy - enjoy. Annie

Thanks - I have escaped unscathed so far and I have a refundable air ticket. Plans B and C are in place. The cynic in me thinks they have treated the linked bookings in the manner they have hoping to release more cabins if the whole linked booking cancels. I appeciate as a solo, I could not obtain my pricing in the current market place for Japan by cruise ship. To end on a positive note, I know organising a land trip to Japan to make use of non-refundable air tickets is not difficult( I have done it) and possibly more relaxing. Just use the Ta-q-bin service.

OK different dates. Thanks for respondin. I know one of the linked bookings is definitely on my date - October 24th.

May I ask what is your sailing date?? I ask because of I know of at least 2 linked bookings (one with 2 cabins and another with 6 cabins) that have had inside and ov cabins cancelled for half of their party.

No worries. Good luck today - keep us posted. Annie

Wahwah had an assigned balcony cabin for triple occupancy and is now assigned to a triple occupancy OV cabin and that is an upgrade?? Further they enquired if they could move to a concierge cabin and was advised that option was not available for their booking.