Celebrity Infinity- April 2 Panama Canal Cancellation

Hello,

Many of you know by now that Celebrity has cancelled their April 2 Infinity Sailing to Panama Canal. I want to share how extremely disappointed my wife and I are with not only the trip being cancelled, but more importantly how poorly Celebrity is handling the communications for dealing with questions on the refund process.

Celebrity sent out a vague letter informing their travel agents and customers of the decision to dry dock the infinity They notified the customers that they are cancelling the sail and indicated what they will do to re-accommodate and compensate us. In the letter it is clear that we will be receiving a 100% refund of what we paid for the cruise and that we will also receive a 50% Future Cruise credit that will be issues soon (not sure of the actual terms and deadlines for the credit).

This is GREAT. However, what is NOT clear at all is the issue around refunding passengers for the airfare that we booked. Mention is made that they will refund passengers "up to $250 per person for any change fee reimbursement and that we need to show the amount paid for air changes". But NO mention is made on the refund for Choice Air.

The letter provides an 800 number to call One Touch hospitality who will be there for 2 weeks up to Feb 1st to address questions and rebook cruises. The problem is that the letter is vague on how the refund process is to be handled particularly for airfare. I called that number today and while we thought we finally have a definitive answer to our questions about the refund process, I am still not sure!

Our situation is that we booked one leg of the trip using Choice Air and the return leg using American Air. It has been a total nightmare trying to get definitive answers from Celebrity and Choice Air on what we can expect for refunds. Even our TA from Online Vacations is frustrated as she has gotten mixed signals from Celebrity. There is so much misinformation and inconsistent answers being tossed around on what we can expect for airfare refunds.

CHOICE AIR - First, since we booked the 1st part of our trip with Choice Air, we expect to receive a FULL refund since it was Celebrity who cancelled the cruise. I called Celebrity last week and I was told by a Celebrity agent that we are to receive a FULL refund for the Choice Air booking and that the refund will be applied to my credit card. Our friends who are travelling with us also called and they received the same answer. Our agent called and she received the same answer. So we were expecting a full refund from Choice Air and we did not have to do a thing. NOT!

Our agent contacted us today and said that she was able to confirm we will be getting a full refund for the cruise and a 50% Future Cruise credit. But now Celebrity is saying that we have to email Celebrity One Touch to find out about the air as they have the final say!

Today I called One Touch and spoke to a very pleasant young rep. She told me that air ticket is a Non-Refundable ticket. Celebrity is going to do a "mass cancellation" and they will now only give us a credit for what we paid for the air and the credit has to be applied for airfare when we book another Celebrity cruise!

My friend also called Celebrity after I did. She was put on hold and finally transferred to a One Touch rep who told her that she will in fact receive the Full Refund from Choice Air as Celebrity was the one who cancelled the trip. He made notes on her file attached to her Booking number. She then conferenced me in on the call and I was able to speak to that rep who also updated my file with notes saying I will get a full refund.

So at this point, I am still not 100% convinced as to what is happening, but I am hopeful that Celebrity does the honorable thing and fully reimburses us for the Choice Air booking.

OTHER AIRFARE REFUND - I did clarify that we will in fact be reimbursed for the rebooking fee for our airfare with American Air. American assesses a $200 cancel/rebooking fee for changes. So although I paid $250 for the ticket, at least I will be reimbursed the $200 cancel fee when I cancel the trip. The issue I now have is where/when can I apply the remaining $50 that I paid on the ticket as I need to rebook a flight prior to end of summer. I was told that I only have to provide a copy of the original receipt for the booked flight and a copy of the cancellation fee that American will assess when I cancel/rebook. Again, I hope this is correct information that was given to me.

Celebrity also offered to rebook passengers on similar Itineraries in 2018 only the costs would be at the prevailing rates and current promotions offered. Well now the costs are about $1400 more per person and they do not offer the same perks when we booked over a year ago. So if you booked the cruise early in 2017 (like we did so we could receive the best deal) we are now being penalized for planning ahead!

I am not concerned about using the 50% credit for a future cruise. I was told we have up to a full year from the time the voucher is issued to rebook a cruise (originally we were told we have to actually SAIL by the date that the voucher expires but that was clarified twice by Celebrity...I HOPE). We would love to sail the Panama Canal in the Spring of 2019, but Celebrity is not offering that date. So we will wait to see what is offered for 2020 and decide.

Bottom line is that I have sailed with many cruise lines (Viking, Princess, and Emerald), but we have sailed several times most recently with Celebrity because their food is terrific, their ships are clean and the service is excellent. But I am VERY disappointed with the way that Celebrity is handling the process for dealing with this cancellation issue. There is absolutely NO excuse for Celebrity to not have a consistent and clear message that should be delivered to their clients and Travel agents. I worked in management for a Fortune 100 company and when we experienced a crisis of this nature, we knew how to handle it. We set up a "war room" with a team of professionals from all disciplines with the company to ensure we were on the same page when dealing with the customer and handle situations like this. To the customer, it was seamless and they were made whole.

I question how adept the Celebrity management team is in dealing with crisis situations. They knew in advance thatthey need to dry dock the ship. So why didn’t get their crisis team together ahead of time, lay out their plans for reimbursement,train their staff and provide them with prepared scripts to deal with thesebasic questions?

My friends who are travelling with us, and who never sailed on Celebrity,are also very disappointed and extremely frustrated with this experience. Theyexpressed to me that at this point their expectations for taking a Celebritycruise are so low that they almost don’t want to take advantage of the 50% credit!

I just hope Celebrity gets their act together and can redeem themselves quickly on this issue. Otherwise, there goes my loyalty in sailing with them and I will sail with another cruise line (i.e.Viking) who I know provides superb customer service.

I would like to know what other folks are hearing from Celebrity regarding this issue. Thanks,

Steve

I’m so sorry this is happening to you. While the need to make needed repairs is valid, the way this is handled is not right.

I would think you would be given a choice of a 100% refund and the future cruise credit, or a replacement cruise on the same itinerary at the SAME rate you had booked previously (basically a swap) and the 50% future cruise credit.

They need to get their act together regarding the air fare as well.

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I agree with everything Cool Cruiser posted.we got a call from OV last week saying cruise cancelled. Got same info,total refund, 50% credit for future cruise. $250 per person air refund.

Found out today they will only cover rebook in charge so we are out about $600 for flights.

Since we had consierge Veranda we had all 4 perks. Asked if Celebrity could try to book the return Panama Canal from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale April 17 they said no. Had to pay approx $1000 more per person PLUS TAXES. Unsure about the perks.like he said book a year in advance and get poor service for a loyal customer .

They wanted me to pre pay the total amount for Apr.17. Nobody would tell me when my refund was coming. Well that's 10 grand. If I pay the new cruise my card may be over the limit.

My OV agent was on the phone for me and was trying her best. Kept getting different answers.

Very UPSET at Celebrity. Was going to Elite this trip. No complaint about ships,service,perks etc. They dropped the ball on this one. If I get good or bad news will,post.

My

Well you are doing better than me. I booked with NCL and had my October 1st cruise cancelled. I had already purchased airfare for the return flight. Got a great deal so I booked. Cost to change flight is almost as much as the tickets cost.

NCL offered us nothing. I had to fill out a form online and show proof that I purchased airfare and still nothing. Friday it will be two weeks since I filled out the form. Still not sure if they will pay the $200 in change fee or $230 for the tickets.

They wanted us to switch to their new ship the Bliss and pay more than double for the same itinerary but downgraded to an inside since they don't have any oceanview left. Oh and they won't transfer over any of the extra free items we got when we booked on the Pearl. I said no thanks and decided to book with Celebrity.

We are still waiting for the letter on the cancellation from Celebrity. It is supposed to be to us by 2/1, but we only have until 2/1 to change the flights. We rebooked for the Sep 2017 cruise - but it's costing about $1000 more - for the same itinerary - which is crap! At least we can use the 50% credit off for the cruise we rebooked - or so I was told. Since we booked the cruise on the ship (almost 2 years ago), we are getting our perks. I have insurance on our flights, so hopefully we can keep the seat upgrades. When we booked the original cruise, we were told that it was practically sold out. I'm wondering how they can get all the people from the April 2 cruise on the remaining 5 2017 cruises - since "these sell out quickly".

The first we heard was an odd email yesterday telling us that because our reservation status had changed, all of the shore excursions that we had booked, were also cancelled. At first I couldn't quite work out what was going on - I checked my reservations in "My Celebrity" and saw that the reservation had been removed from the list! I checked with our travel agent and she hadn't heard anything either. She tried to call Celebrity to find out what was going on only to be told that there was no one who could help her and to call back 2 days later! In fact, we weren't even sure of what was going on until we saw this thread. Extremely frustrating and really tests my loyalty to the brand - this would have been our 10th cruise, and although we have "future cruised" 2 more cruises in 2019, we will really think twice before booking with them again. Let's face it, if Celebrity cares so little about the value of their brand, why should we continue to be loyal to it! :mad::mad::mad:

KatyaM, try calling the 800 number help desk that was in the letter. 844.418.6824. Tell them you want to speak with One touch hospitality rep.

Good luck.

The first we heard was an odd email yesterday telling us that because our reservation status had changed, all of the shore excursions that we had booked, were also cancelled. At first I couldn't quite work out what was going on - I checked my reservations in "My Celebrity" and saw that the reservation had been removed from the list! I checked with our travel agent and she hadn't heard anything either. She tried to call Celebrity to find out what was going on only to be told that there was no one who could help her and to call back 2 days later! In fact, we weren't even sure of what was going on until we saw this thread. Extremely frustrating and really tests my loyalty to the brand - this would have been our 10th cruise, and although we have "future cruised" 2 more cruises in 2019, we will really think twice before booking with them again. Let's face it, if Celebrity cares so little about the value of their brand, why should we continue to be loyal to it! :mad::mad::mad:

Thanks, will do. Good luck to you too!

KatyaM, try calling the 800 number help desk that was in the letter. 844.418.6824. Tell them you want to speak with One touch hospitality rep.

 

Good luck.

The first we heard was an odd email yesterday telling us that because our reservation status had changed, all of the shore excursions that we had booked, were also cancelled. At first I couldn't quite work out what was going on - I checked my reservations in "My Celebrity" and saw that the reservation had been removed from the list! I checked with our travel agent and she hadn't heard anything either. She tried to call Celebrity to find out what was going on only to be told that there was no one who could help her and to call back 2 days later! In fact, we weren't even sure of what was going on until we saw this thread. Extremely frustrating and really tests my loyalty to the brand - this would have been our 10th cruise, and although we have "future cruised" 2 more cruises in 2019, we will really think twice before booking with them again. Let's face it, if Celebrity cares so little about the value of their brand, why should we continue to be loyal to it! :mad::mad::mad:

I’m surprised your travel agent didn’t know my travel agent called me on January 18 to notify me that the cruise had been canceled and he was holding two rooms for me to pick from on the next cruise leaving April 17. They were only two sky suites left and he wanted to let me have a choice.We have a full refund coming and 50% credit which for ours came to $4900 credit even though the cruise had gone up $1500 per person we were still ahead almost $2000. I would check back with your travel agent or maybe find a new one if they don’t have the answers that you needed. I thought Celebrity was very fair and the fact is they had to fix the problem I was very upset at first since we book this December 2015! I am glad they made good and we were able to get on the next cruise good luck with you and rebooking!

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We are still waiting for the letter on the cancellation from Celebrity. It is supposed to be to us by 2/1, but we only have until 2/1 to change the flights. We rebooked for the Sep 2017 cruise - but it's costing about $1000 more - for the same itinerary - which is crap! At least we can use the 50% credit off for the cruise we rebooked - or so I was told. Since we booked the cruise on the ship (almost 2 years ago), we are getting our perks. I have insurance on our flights, so hopefully we can keep the seat upgrades. When we booked the original cruise, we were told that it was practically sold out. I'm wondering how they can get all the people from the April 2 cruise on the remaining 5 2017 cruises - since "these sell out quickly".

I must be misunderstanding. You received 100% refund for the cruise that is canceled. You also received 50% off of a future cruise. Why are you complaining about extra cost. You are getting a refund plus 50% off another cruise! Even if the cruise cost is more, you are still ahead of the game because of a total refund for the cruise you did not take. I will expect the be offered the same deal if they cancel our cruise and I would use the airfare change money to vacation somewhere else.

What a nightmare. So sorry for everyone on the cancelled cruise. :eek:

Their experiences reinforces why She Who Must Be Obeyed and I carry annual travel insurance. :cool:

Has anyone actually received their refund yet? We ended up booking another Celebrity Cruise to "fill in the gap" in our itinerary, following this cancellation, which we had to pay for in total as Celebrity would not apply the AUD13,500 payment that they are holding for a product they have not delivered. Apart from the obvious cashflow implications, I am finding the now 2.5 month delay (and counting!) extremely annoying and significantly testing my loyalty to their brand. Interested to hear if anyone yet has received a refund?

Has anyone actually received their refund yet? We ended up booking another Celebrity Cruise to "fill in the gap" in our itinerary, following this cancellation, which we had to pay for in total as Celebrity would not apply the AUD13,500 payment that they are holding for a product they have not delivered. Apart from the obvious cashflow implications, I am finding the now 2.5 month delay (and counting!) extremely annoying and significantly testing my loyalty to their brand. Interested to hear if anyone yet has received a refund?

We had most of our refund within 2 weeks. There was a small amount that took longer. I contacted Captain's Club and they handled it and kept me posted. They called and emailed when the final credit was issued. Even though I booked through a TA, Captain's Club was able to talk to me. I have found them to be extremely helpful with several matters recently. Give them a call.

I received the credit about 4 weeks on my credit card. Due to some ridiculous price increase for this cruise I hesitated to rebook. I then saw a huge reduction for my Concierge so I immediately rebooked.they applied the credit to this cruise. It was very frustrating as info. To the T/A,s was not forthcoming. We have been on Celebrity many times. Ships great, management and Web info bad.

KatyaM,

Like others on this post, we also received our refunds about 2 weeks after we received the cancelation letter. Celebrity reimbursed us for entire trip including the Choice Air flight we made to Ft Lauderdale. And then we needed to cancel our flight from San Diego to home with American as we booked it on our own. We had to find another use for the American ticket else we would lose the entire purchase amt. Celebrity refunded us the $400 change fee after we rebooked the flight to another destination and had proof we used the ticket for another flight. Our agent (Online Vacations) also refunded us the initial deposit. We also received the Future Cruise voucher credit (about 50% of what we paid less taxes) which we will apply to another cruise next year. So we were made whole for the entire trip.

We dealt with the OneChoice Hospitality team who handled this and they came through. When you speak with your travel agent or Celebrity, tell them that other people have already been made whole. The two couple we were traveling with also received everything in a timely fashion. I noticed that your post references AUD so you may be from Australia - I wonder if Celebrity is reimbursing the US customers before other countries? It should not make a difference but who knows what their process is?

At any rate, you should contact them again and find out what the delay is. Hope you get satisfaction soon.

Steve

We also received ours in about two weeks and our change fees on the flight $400 dollars not too much longer after that! We rebooked on the April 17 cruise the same day we found out about the cancel and they let us wait to pay until we had the credit applied. We were very happy about the outcome! hopefully they can you get it figured out soon

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