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I don't understand why people sail Celebrity


QueenofEverything
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Ok, rant coming. I think our upcoming first cruise with Celebrity may be our last and we haven't even set foot on the ship. We have been on many cruises on about 8 different cruiselines and never, never have we had so much trouble just trying to get it set up! What the heck is up with their website. Really??? In 2018 they don't have any tech people that can make a website that consistently works? There are probably high school kids that could do a better job. I can get into the website about 30% of the time.

 

We booked a Panama Canal tour over a year and a half ago. In November of 2016 we booked the one shore excursion we really wanted to do, the dome car train ride. A couple of months ago they cancelled it with no explanation. On the phone they said they just weren't doing it anymore. It is still available on other cruiselines. Major disappointment.

 

Then of course, they cancelled the whole cruise. I do understand that these things happen but how they have handled it is the biggest disappointment. The lack of informed employees and the total lack of follow up is driving me crazy. The only official notification was a phone call where the woman told me we would receive a refund and a 50% future cruise credit. Also offered was $250 towards airline change fees. Sounds good, right? She also said the future cruise credit would not have an expiration date, wrong. It must be used within a year. Not a biggie, but the people calling should have the correct information.

 

The refund eventually came thru and we booked a new cruise for the same time. We were told when the future cruise credit certificate came, we would be refunded the 50% we had to pay upfront because it was past final payment. It came, I called and a week later, no refund. I have actually called 3 times.

 

As far as the $250 for airline cancellation fees (even though our cost is $400 ea), they keep promising they will take care of it, but I have called and emailed 3 times and each time nothing. They promise they will let me know that they got my emails, but they don't.

 

I really don't think taking a cruise should be this frustrating. I do know this is an unusual circumstance, but when someone tells me they will follow up, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect that they do so. Rant over.

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Interesting rant. When it comes to Celebrity's web site we agree with the OP....and one might consider that the web site now is working a lot better than a year ago :(. Unfortunately, we think the obvious management incompetence (reflected by paying a small fortune for a web site that is not very user friendly) has also carried through to many changes (cut-backs) on the Celebrity ships. This has gradually been driving us away from the line for the past 3 years....and now we have finally reached the point where we have no future Celebrity cruises booked (or contemplated) even though we still cruise 70-100 days a year.

 

But I am actually an optimist and do believe that "the worm turns" .....so we look forward to the future. On the other hand, as a stockholder...given the opportunity we would vote to replace many of the top Celebrity management team...starting at the very top!

 

Hank

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It will be far easier to understand once you finally get your first Celebrity cruise. We are repeat customers who are willing to put up with the nonsense of the ridiculous website and some of the incomprehensible corporate decisions because we love our time aboard. The book had it right: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It's All Small Stuff.

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Sorry you had such difficulties. We were on a cancelled cruise a few years ago. It was booked thru an online travel agent .. I too rebooked another cruise which was in the final payment phase, with a different agency.. I called corporate who were very proactive. They transferred the payment from the cancelled cruise to the new booking, extended the full payment until the future credit could be applied. Since our airfare was one way and just over the amount they would cover, they refunded the entire ticket, which was purchased thru Celebrity choice air. Now for the kicker..this was for 3 couples..

We are embarking on our Elite Plus status.. yes their website is not good, but I have a great TA who takes care of my needs. I have 4cruises booked 2 on X, One on Holland America, which I haven’t sailed on since 1998.. and one on Viking Ocean, which will be my first.

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It is understandable that you would be frustrated! The website is not as user friendly as the Princess website.

And, you had so many problems not usually found on a regular booking.

However, we have never encountered the amount of issues you have (we have sailed Celebrity many times.) I guess that our "secret" is that we usually book after final payment. They have only about 4-8 weeks to screw up on our bookings! And we don't have to wonder if we got the best price. If the price doesn't come down by 6 -4 weeks before sailing, it probably won't come any lower. And if the price for that particular sailing we are eyeing increases in price, we just look at other options. That said, we are pretty flexible as far as dates go. Everyone doesn't have that option. I do hope you take a deep breath and enjoy the ride!

We do love the S class ships. Recently we cruised on 2 other lines on newer ships--and, although they were pleasant, I still missed the S class--and can't wait to book another sailing.

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We are also taking our first X cruise. I believe the positive comments here regarding X far exceed the negative. That is, I believe, significant since people have a tendency to grouse loud and long when something goes against them while staying silent when things go well. So we're looking forward to being on Silhouette next month in spite of the poorly designed and often dysfunctional website. Every site problem I have had I was either able to work around it or resolved it with a call or email to CelebrityOneTouch. That group, in my opinion, is one of the best customer service teams I've ever dealt with.

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Ok, rant coming. I think our upcoming first cruise with Celebrity may be our last and we haven't even set foot on the ship. We have been on many cruises on about 8 different cruiselines and never, never have we had so much trouble just trying to get it set up! What the heck is up with their website. Really??? In 2018 they don't have any tech people that can make a website that consistently works? There are probably high school kids that could do a better job. I can get into the website about 30% of the time.

 

We booked a Panama Canal tour over a year and a half ago. In November of 2016 we booked the one shore excursion we really wanted to do, the dome car train ride. A couple of months ago they cancelled it with no explanation. On the phone they said they just weren't doing it anymore. It is still available on other cruiselines. Major disappointment.

 

Then of course, they cancelled the whole cruise. I do understand that these things happen but how they have handled it is the biggest disappointment. The lack of informed employees and the total lack of follow up is driving me crazy. The only official notification was a phone call where the woman told me we would receive a refund and a 50% future cruise credit. Also offered was $250 towards airline change fees. Sounds good, right? She also said the future cruise credit would not have an expiration date, wrong. It must be used within a year. Not a biggie, but the people calling should have the correct information.

 

The refund eventually came thru and we booked a new cruise for the same time. We were told when the future cruise credit certificate came, we would be refunded the 50% we had to pay upfront because it was past final payment. It came, I called and a week later, no refund. I have actually called 3 times.

 

As far as the $250 for airline cancellation fees (even though our cost is $400 ea), they keep promising they will take care of it, but I have called and emailed 3 times and each time nothing. They promise they will let me know that they got my emails, but they don't.

 

I really don't think taking a cruise should be this frustrating. I do know this is an unusual circumstance, but when someone tells me they will follow up, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect that they do so. Rant over.

 

Not a rant at all, those are 100% valid concerns

 

Hope you'll give Celebrity a chance though, as several have mentioned once you experience the ships and the teams onboard, it's usually a well oiled organization and a fantastic time

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I’m a loyal repeat customer of Celebrity, but I keep my sanity only because I book through a travel agent. When strange things happen from the office side, and there have been a few things through the years, she goes to bat for me. I find many reasons why I like using an agent, but for Celebrity bookings I feel I NEED to use an agent!

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The website is awful, no arguments on that point. I use the website for research and then when I've decided on a cruise, I phone Celebrity to finalize things. Their agents have found some discounts and upgrades that I would have missed. By the time we board the ship, we have forgotten about the website issues.

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It is understandable that you would be frustrated! The website is not as user friendly as the Princess website.

 

 

We sailed Princess for the first time last year, but are going back to Celebrity this year.

Yes, the Princess web site is better and so are the internet minutes allocated for Elite status ( we gained Platinum status as we had sailed on P& O previously)

I would rate the service on Princess as 4* but Celebrity 4*+.

What really annoyed me with Princess was:

A) I had to ask for the refund of OBC that I had not used, I had pre purchased. I was told that it is refunded automatically if you live in USA after 4-6 weeks, but you have to apply for it if you live in UK.

Celebrity refund it back to your Credit Card on the final morning.

B) I also had to ask for my status to be upgrade from Ruby to Platinum on the final evening. Others cruisers had been sent letters to their cabin, I was told that this would happen, but it didn’t, so I had to waste time going yet again to the rep to get it sorted.

C) I had to go to Guest Relations to ask for a refund of a tour that didn’t take place. I was told I would be telephoned. I wasn’t and again I was told that the phone call had been made, ‘ I must have been out.’ I was in, I had been packing. Yet more time wasted by going to Guest relations to get it sorted on our final day.

 

 

They tried cooking fish and chips, as the passengers were mainly British. Never, ever have I had such soggy fish batter, not once, but twice. The Yorkshire puddings were cremated.

 

 

Can you see why I am going back to Celebrity?

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OP I share your frustration - especially with regard to Celebrity's website. What's even more frustrating is that the issues have existed for years and Celebrity seems unable to fix them. It's clearly a sign of very poor management.

 

On the bright side - as others have said, the on-board experience is much much better.

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The website is awful, no arguments on that point. I use the website for research and then when I've decided on a cruise, I phone Celebrity to finalize things. Their agents have found some discounts and upgrades that I would have missed. By the time we board the ship, we have forgotten about the website issues.

 

This is the way i book too and it works for me. The web site is awful. To add insult to injury a couple of years ago it changed My Celebrity from me to DH. It still uses my ID and password, but now it says Welcome DH and gives his Captain's Club number and cruise history. We have both tried to change it back, but apparently it can't be done. It isn't a big deal, just annoying since I do all the planning and booking. It has also suddenly started to give me prices in $US when for years it gave $CAD. I won't go into detail about the time our cruise was cancelled and the only way we found out was through Cruise Critic a couple of weeks later.

 

Once we are on board, the problems are behind us and we enjoy our cruises.

Sheila

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The experience onboard is much better than the stuff you have to put up with on land, which is what has been said for years and years and years on this board and elsewhere. It's a shame that they cannot make it a seamless experience across-the-board because it does turn a lot of people off to the overall product, especially if they never book or cancel in advance because of the hassle. The advice to deal with a travel agent is a good one.

 

One thing that you should consider in terms of the timing for everything is that there are almost 2,200 cabins on Infinity and each one that was sold for this cancelled trip is having to also be dealt with. That's a lot of work involved, so I think I could understand some of the delay, especially if your re-accommodation is further out than those trying to re-book for cruises that leave soon.

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As a previous loyal Celebrity cruiser, I agree with your concerns/complaints about their website. Since their upgrade (hah!) last year, I can't get anything to work on it. I had two cruises and could not book shore excursions, drink packages, etc., unless I called. And then, nothing I booked showed up. I had a terrible time trying to get my documents since the website didn't work--I tried for weeks, and finally, one day, it just worked.

 

We currently have 4 cruises booked over the next 18 months. Not one is on Celebrity, which is a departure for us.

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We are also taking our first X cruise. I believe the positive comments here regarding X far exceed the negative. That is, I believe, significant since people have a tendency to grouse loud and long when something goes against them while staying silent when things go well. So we're looking forward to being on Silhouette next month in spite of the poorly designed and often dysfunctional website. Every site problem I have had I was either able to work around it or resolved it with a call or email to CelebrityOneTouch. That group, in my opinion, is one of the best customer service teams I've ever dealt with.

 

It is the CelebrityOneTouch group that keeps telling me they will follow up and don't

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OP:

Has your question been answered?

 

Yes! Thank you all for your kind responses. I was kind of afraid I would get flamed! People are awfully defensive about their favorite cruiseline.

 

Everything will work out and as soon as we board it will all be a distant memory. I fully intend to sit on my veranda with a frosty beverage in my hand and leave my cares behind at sailaway!

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Yes! Thank you all for your kind responses. I was kind of afraid I would get flamed! People are awfully defensive about their favorite cruiseline.

 

Everything will work out and as soon as we board it will all be a distant memory. I fully intend to sit on my veranda with a frosty beverage in my hand and leave my cares behind at sailaway!

Have a wonderful cruise. Bet you book another one :)

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That surprises me. I called just yesterday and not only were they professional and helpful but the rep even called me back when he found related information he thought would interest me.

I've had two recent interactions, three if you include a call back. The first was a waste of time, an uninterested rep telling me what she thought I wanted to hear. The second and third were with a rep who took ownership of the problem and told me she'd call back when it was resolved. She did, and sure enough, the problem had been resolved. I like to think that the first one was the exception, not the second.

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I like to think that the first one was the exception, not the second.

 

Maybe it was quittin' time for the first. Not really a joke. The corporation I work for has a significant global presence. A few years ago I was on an emergency conference call in the middle of the night. It was called by someone on the other side of the world with a cast of dozens. When it came time for the end of his shift he just hung up. No handoff. No notice. He just left. :(:(:(

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Maybe it was quittin' time for the first. Not really a joke. The corporation I work for has a significant global presence. A few years ago I was on an emergency conference call in the middle of the night. It was called by someone on the other side of the world with a cast of dozens. When it came time for the end of his shift he just hung up. No handoff. No notice. He just left. :(:(:(

As you so rightly commented yesterday: "Sometimes our sense of humor is all that keeps us going.:D"

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