BlackLion 213

I don’t find that curious at all. It’s basic supply & demand economics. Celebrity lowered the supply by redeploying Beyond. Therefore, demand for the "options" increased. Since they gave us limited time to do so, I am sure a lot of people scrambled to rebook as soon as they learned of the changes. The increased bookings continued to drive prices higher. For those that didn’t immediately jump at the bait and switch, and need to take the time to review their very sudden options (ships, itineraries, dates, extenuating plans both for the trip AND at home, etc), the potential pricing is now even more ridiculous. Which is just one of the arguments of this. If Celebrity had offered price protection, there would, imho, be fewer complaints, such as mine… Knowing how this was handled by Celebrity, I would not be surprised to learn they planned ahead and increased pricing in the days just before their big announcement. Thus, their rebook at “prevailing” rates… As you have stated, I just want X to price protect the booking I made on the Beyond.

Thank you!

Perhaps if you were directly affected by what had happened, you would appreciate the answer much better!

Rather odd comments... The following has been posted elsewhere, but for your perusal, I'll share the email I received from Celebrity... Do you believe it now? Do you still feel it is a misunderstanding? Sheesh!

I am not speaking for the op. Certainly they can do so. However, I believe compensation might not be the proper word, but in general... An offer of price protection from Celebrity would be appreciated. Many of us have booked the affected cruises months ago, and at rates that are significantly lower than what the "comparable options" are going for. Sure, it's business, but it's not customer service. To be advised "scramble to find & book an acceptable option sometime in the next 14 days, pay the new inflated rate, or we'll just hand your deposit back" is a complete disregard for your customers that you hope will stay with you.

For reasons not quite readily clear, we are attempting to stay loyal to Celebrity, at this moment. Hear me out… We have also dispatched a letter to the executive office, and await a reply before moving forward. But we have looked. And we have options. Non-Celebrity options. Despite still being furious with their level of callousness, I would like to discuss the matter further and hear someone with some authority actually tell me “No” before moving on. Be clear, I am not and will not pull the “do you know who I am…” card. That is not the point, nor something we would ever do. I am just willing to give them the benefit of a week’s worth of hindsight, and hope that they pull their collective you know whats out of you know where. Not just for us, but for the thousands they have railroaded. I really have little faith that it will do any good, but I would be remiss in not attempting. For years, we have been mostly loyal. We have had blunders with Celebrity here and there. Never at this level, but it’s also never been perfect. In the past, they have always fixed things or adjusted their errors. So we have stayed loyal, despite some frustrating, long-winded phone calls. Recently (even before this situation), we have questioned what we are really expecting, receiving or even hoping for from that loyalty. At the Elite Plus level, we’re not that impressed. Some laundry here, some meager discounts there, a complimentary this, that, or the other thing. Meh… I would much rather pay for those items and know that I am valued and being treated properly by the company providing them. Again, what are we expecting from that loyalty? Certainly more than we have seen in the last week. And it bites, hard, to be in this position. To use, and slightly modify, the adage; “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.” This week has clearly been the first half. Will we give them the chance to burn us again? Time will tell. It ain’t looking good. I’ll be sure to report back no matter what happens. Stay tuned!

I know your posts are mostly tongue in cheek, but I'll say it anyway, merely because I'm truly as frustrated as you appear... Because X handled the pax on the canceled cruises horribly, and has shown a terrible disregard for their customers.

Yup, to their social media! ZERO response. Captain Kate is not the person to be directing this to. While she has become quite the brand ambassador, her position is quite far and detached from having anything to do with this.

The financial aspects are all well & good. I am not disputing the decision to have X go to CocoCay. I am not disputing sending Beyond to CocoCay. If you want to go to CocoCay as a pax of X, great, here is your chance to do so, especially on the beautiful Beyond. If you don't like it, for whatever reason, don't book those itineraries. It's that simple. The burning sensation I feel is for them choosing to do so while disrupting So Many of their customer's plans. I cannot fathom the number, but 19 sailings (by my count) were canceled. Even at conservatively half-booked, that's in excess of 100k passengers. Sure, plenty scrambled and rebooked, others shrugged their shoulders and moved on... But there has got to be a large number of customers feeling what we feel. Why do that now! Why not wait and add CocoCay to the list of itineraries that have not yet been published? Finish what you have published, and have been offering for months... We board Eclipse in 2 weeks. I am somewhat sick to my stomach thinking about this cruise now with the utter disdain I have for this company at this time. If I could pull my booking without it costing anything, I would do so in a heartbeat. But I am not going to cut off my nose to spite my face. I am not going to lose more over their repulsive decision. However, the chance of me visiting the future cruise desk on board (as we have done on almost every one of our previous 20 Celebrity cruises) is less than zero. Sadly, I doubt the list of alienated customers will hurt them much, if at all.

I agree wholeheartedly with your rant. We were booked on Beyond on one of her Italy, Greece & Croatia cruises. To receive notice that the ship is being moved, we're being given 2 weeks to scramble and find an alternative (of which there is NOTHING comparable), and be advised there is literally NO price protection (when prices have skyrocketed since we booked), is just appalling! That is horrible customer service. I will only address the individual arrangements to say this... I absolutely believe there should be some understanding from Celebrity for those items, as well. You booked their cruise itinerary in good faith, expecting the ship to sail as published, by them. Now, if there had been other circumstances as to why it didn't or couldn't, that's a different story, of course. But that's not the case here. Celebrity canceled the published itineraries only to redeploy the ship to the Caribbean, and is doing NOTHING for those affected. Celebrity is showing a complete disregard for their customers.

Just didn't know where you were going... Unfortunately, you are correct. When things go well, most accept it as "expected" and move on, never to share that things went well. You will get the occasional positive posts, or posts about above & beyond, but few and far between. The moment something goes awry, however, everyone wants to gripe, tell the world, and hope that everyone will feel sorry for them and stroke their delicate ego. I do appreciate those that have been on the same sailings and come along to say, "We didn't experience that..." Makes me wonder!

And. Your. Point. Is...

Good guess! It looks like it's all gone, even from other booking sites... Grrr, we thought we'd actually make Croatia after having it pushed forward several times due to C19. Guess it's just not meant to be!

Thank you for your review!

Ok @kwagmyre, the cruise is over... Looking forward to your review - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and hopefully a whole lot of Awesome... Let's hear it!!!

You can research celebrity suites on ANY of the S-class ships (Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, Silhouette, & Reflection) for more information and pictures, as they are ALL the same. The balcony will differ depending on some of the locations, but the room is identical. We have been in seven of them across the different ships. What @chemmo has described pretty much sums them all up.

This 💯 !!!

Very well put, truly! And I'm not disagreeing with your assessment, but I just feel that when people's expectations are let down, BY THIS, the moment they step aboard, there's really nowhere left to go but down. Who Moved My Champagne, perhaps?

I truly cannot believe that there are SO many concerned, upset, disappointed (fill-in whatever term you'd like) about the embarkation bubbly. It's cheap stuff, not even worth the bottle it is served out of. Of course, this is just my opinion... What are ppl really missing? Go get a real drink from the bar, be it champagne or otherwise. Pay for it if you have to, god forbid! Enjoy your cruise! If you're going to let that bother you, you're setting yourself up for disaster. I'd prefer you don't step aboard, don't do a review, and don't cruise Celebrity!

Go in with an open mind, that's all you need. Everything you have read is nothing more than the opinion of others... Taken from a Google search... People's opinions can be right or wrong, depending on how you take them and how it resonates with your values and goals. Do the live thread! If ppl are sick of them, they can scroll past. There are many, many more who enjoy and benefit from each and every one! Enjoy! Looking forward to reading your perspective!

By the way, @Ken the cruiser, I read your live thread and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing and taking the time to do so!

True story! @kwagmyre Sure, it's very difficult to read so many negatives. But why be swayed by opinions, perception, or the subjective thoughts of others? You likely don't know most of the people posting, and have no idea how they are approaching many of the things they are posting about. Many post just to complain. And it seems for almost every negative I have read, there are others that have reported otherwise. It truly sounds as if you have already made up your mind as to what you will find. Sadly, I don't think that will suit you or your family appropriately. Please go in with an open mind. We board in four weeks. I look forward to your honest review, once you have experienced the cruise from your own perspective. I am not looking for a cheerleader to come back and report. I just hope that you have the opportunity to truly enjoy your trip.

I can't speak to how it would be handled on board... However, we have an upcoming Alaska cruise and I called X and was able to upgrade only my drink package by explaining that my wife just doesn't drink, period! We have since switched to a suite, so it's a moot point now. But I can't imagine what I did pre-cruise would have been an issue once on board.

Thank you for clarifying what others didn't find it prudent to do in their original post. It is helpful to have appropriate information in each post, rather than just expecting "most knew..." and having to go through every post to dig to the bottom.

We have an upcoming Alaska cruise where the pricing was $109pp/day. It is now the mentioned $149 in our planner. So, the price has jumped $672 for that 7 day cruise for 2 people with the 20% tip. I remember trying to explain to newbies coming with us that it was best to order and pay as you go. I think drinking some $900+ per person for the week might have some consequences. This just seems outrageous, no? I mean, it's gotta be a mistake...