Celebrity Cancels Icy Strait Point Stop

Has anyone seen or heard of Celebrity cancelling ports of call (like Icy Strait Point) for Alaska sailings?

I just checked the Celebrity website and they still show the Infinity sailing to Icy Strait Point on the May 27 sailing. We are on that cruise and do not want that port to be cancelled.

I know Icy Strait Point was cancelled from the May 7 Infinity repo cruise (SF-Vancouver), however can't comment on any other sailing. Check out the May 7 roll call thread, maybe they'll know the reason why over there.

We are on the Infinity r/t San Diego Hawaii San Diego on 4/22 and due to their limited speed (pod problems) we are arriving at our first port two hours late and they cut 12 HOURS off our last port. Top speed has been reduced. That may be the problem.

The section of the Celebrity board that lists the various cruises will not show the elimination of a port or a change in scheduled port times. If you are using the "My Celebrity" feature on their board, you can see the latest schedule for your cruise by calling up the "Cruise Calendar" page of the "My Reservation" section of the board.

Les

This was the cruise that was featured on "happy hour" a week ago and became overbooked (see posts below). Isn't it true that Celebrity delayed announcing any schedule changes on this cruise until AFTER the big sale, even though the pod problems have been going on for months and current cruises have had schedule changes????

Hi Seasonal Cruiser:

Please come and join our roll call http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=339464&page=56

The information regarding changes is on page 52, posting 1552

See you there!

I am sorry, I forgot to mention we are on the May 7 Celebrity Infinity cruise to Alaska. Anyone else have any more information on if we should expect any other changes on this cruise?

The other changes are as follows:

Victoria is now 10am to 7pm instead of 8am to 5pm

Hubbard Glacier is now noon to 4pm instead of 2pm to 6pm

Juneau, 3 hours added, is now 7am to 10 pm instead of 7am to 7pm

It would be too bad if Icy Strait Point is cancelled. Next to the Hubbard Glacier, it was for me the highlight of our Alaska Cruise.

There are 26 days left until the sailing, Infinity to Alaska. The changes have been listed above and YES Icy Strait Point was unfortunately canceled and replaced with a sea day. Celebrity has announced on board credits and I can only speak to ours, we are in a CC balcony cabin and we receive $200.00. This is in many peoples opinions a pretty generous offering on Celebrity's part as they are responsible for giving us nothing.

There has been a roll call going for this cruise since April 29, 2006 and a great group of people have corresponded for almost a year. So, although a port will be missed this cruise is still thirteen days. It begins in San Francisco, will port in Victoria, Nanaimo, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, and Juneau, Alaska. We will have two days at sea and two days cruising the Inside Passage as well as a day cruising with a viewing of Hubbard Glacier. We end our cruise in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

It is sad we will miss Icy Strait but it's a small, small part of a wonderful Itinerary. Good people, beautiful ports, great service on a terrific ship........I think we can all live with it.

How is everyone being notified of this cancellation of Icy Strait Point and shipboard credits. I just spoke with my TA yesterday regarding the balcony rooms (we were one of those that upgraded to a balcony during the happy hour sale). I was inquiring about compensation for downgrading to an oceanview. She called Celebrity and they didn't mention anything about this to us. hmmmm! Do we have to call in or will this be automatic?

Raider, something is screwy? The notifications began last week, Friday I think it was. celebrity notified folks who booked directly with them via telephone and/or e mail.

E-Mails/Memo's from Celebrity were sent to T agencies that had bookings. The agency we use was close Fri, Sat, Sun last for the holiday. I got a phone call at 9 am Monday morning from our agent. I already knew the circumstances by this time but I was told the info had been sent to the agency Saturday.

These OBC to the best of my knowledge will be automatic. While your TA was on the phone with them they should have asked about it?

See you on the ship!

Unfortunately, drydocks aren't as available as car garages, nor are the parts to azipods or even ship engines. So its going to be difficult to win a lawsuit in court unless you can provide evidence that a week to two weeks drydock was available, and the necessary parts for repair were available. Good luck.

Million dollar parts aren't sitting on a shelf anywhere, nor are extra ships available. Much of the large expensive rare parts are built to order, and take months to be delivered. This includes azipods.

The good thing is that ships are built with two azipods, and with four engines. Ships keep going, although slower, which changes a itinerary.

Unfortunately, drydocks aren't as available as car garages, nor are the parts to azipods or even ship engines. So its going to be difficult to win a lawsuit in court unless you can provide evidence that a week to two weeks drydock was available, and the necessary parts for repair were available. Good luck.

 

Million dollar parts aren't sitting on a shelf anywhere, nor are extra ships available. Much of the large expensive rare parts are built to order, and take months to be delivered. This includes azipods.

 

The good thing is that ships are built with two azipods, and with four engines. Ships keep going, although slower, which changes a itinerary.

:cool: Good morning,

SPOT ON !!! Thanks for that post.

Keeps the whole issue in proper perspectives.

Cheers

;)

I think almost everyone who reads these boards is aware that Infinity has been unable to make her full speed since early December. The problem is that Celebrity has also been aware of that fact and yet is still making last-minute changes to itineraries as though this problem is new. Its not as though the problem was going to fix itself between December and May without a drydock, so this hardly qualifies as an unexpected set of circumstances.

Don Haynes makes a valid point that its not easy to schedule into drydocks, nor is there a warehouse full of pod parts, so there's no quick fix available. However, if Celebrity had been honest with their passengers (and themselves) they would have revised ALL of Infinity's itineraries after the Dec 3rd sailing to allow for the ship's reduced speed. That way those on the remaining South American, Hawaiian and Alaskan cruises could have made informed decisions about whether or not to cancel their bookings.

I realize that for many the loss of one port is not a big deal, but when X knows 6 months in advance that its ship can't do its published itinerary they do have a moral obligation to let their passengers know, so that each of us can make their own choice about whether or not a revised itinerary or missing port is okay with us.

Captain Cosmo.....it's a real pleasure reading a post that states your opinion without all the rants and yells about lawyers. Maybe you're right, maybe Celebrity KNEW back in December they were going to be altering ports. I don't know that, although I hate to think they knew and decided not to share the knowledge until it was to late for cancellation. I'm not excusing anything here but if I knew then, what I know now.......I STILL would be on this cruise.

Honestly, maybe it's just so easy for me, I've been to Icy Strait Point? I just can not see someone wanting out of this wonderful itinerary just because of this one port?

Hi Catmand - Thanks! Since you've already been to Icy Strait it makes sense that you would decide to go ahead with your cruise in spite of the change, and I'm sure it will be great. I'm not booked for this cruise but since I've never been to Alaska I would probably want to cancel and go later when I could see the whole itinerary. I'm still working and will probably only be able to do about one cruise a year so the stakes are a bit higher for each cruise at this point.

On Celebrity's handling of this I do believe that they were aware that the pod problem would impact some of their future itineraries. I was on the Dec. 3rd Infinity cruise and the pod problem impacted our itinerary. Since the ship wasn't going to be in drydock until ??? they had to have known that the problem would impact future cruises and should have made the appropriate changes in the itineraries. I think that full disclosure and adjustments to the itinerary well in advance would help avoid disappointments for passengers and customer service issues for Celebrity.

Have a great time in Alaska and make sure to post a review!

Most of the people on our Infinity board (4/22 San Diego / Hawaii / San Diego) were not pleased with the changes to the itinerary - and yes they were announced AFTER final payment which is a little smelly. We end up with a 14 day cruise and only 4 days in Hawaii. Which is okay with me because I LOVE being at sea and suites are receiving an on board credit of $500!

I think its a business decision Celebrity made - they figure that $500 in on board credits, if used for drinks or merchandise only costs them a small percentage of $500 - and they would rather give that away after final payment than risk customers canceling the cruise if they deliver the bad news before final payment. I think if they expect us to trust them in the future they should announce changes as soon as they know, but my plan is to go to the casino and get $500 casino cash charged to my card so that it really costs them $500.

Hi Catmand,

We had Victoria as a port in Sept 2005 and had the most fantastic whale watching trip we have ever been on. There are three pods of Orcas living in the area of the San Juan Islands and we ended up right in the middle of one of the pods. We had the entire pod surrounding our boat, swimming under it and around it. Moms and babies and several were "talking". We got some great photos and had an absolutely wonderful day. We booked through the cruise (RCCL) line. It was magical.

Then we tried to get to Skagway and had 30' seas and gale force winds for almost 24 hours with waves splashing onto our 10th floor balcony. We never made it to Skagway, but stopped in Icy Strait instead.

Enjoy your cruise.

I think its a business decision Celebrity made - they figure that $500 in on board credits, if used for drinks or merchandise only costs them a small percentage of $500 - and they would rather give that away after final payment than risk customers canceling the cruise if they deliver the bad news before final payment. I think if they expect us to trust them in the future they should announce changes as soon as they know, but my plan is to go to the casino and get $500 casino cash charged to my card so that it really costs them $500.

Well, I would recommend that somebody do what you are going to do and go to the casino if they wouldn't have spent as much as the OBC anyway. You shouldn't spend MORE than you normally would just to spend the OBC, or X is getting away with a lower expense. If you would have had a final tally of $500 or more anyway, it makes no difference whether you take the money out at the casino or not...

Thanks Catmand! I did receive a call from my TA yesterday while at work and was informed of the schedule change and the SBC. To me, I love those days at sea so much that they could probably cancel all the ports and I will end up using all the credits they would offer. I have, however, been to Alaska on three previous cruises, all of which were 10+ nights....so have seen much of what there is to see in Ketchikan, Skagway, Victoria, Vancounver and Juneau. Sitka is the one place I hope they don't cancel. I do feel badly for those really looking forward to Icy Strait. In looking back at how cruiselines tend to compensate, however, I do think the $200 SBC is generous.

I think its a business decision Celebrity made - they figure that $500 in on board credits, if used for drinks or merchandise only costs them a small percentage of $500 - and they would rather give that away after final payment than risk customers canceling the cruise if they deliver the bad news before final payment. I think if they expect us to trust them in the future they should announce changes as soon as they know, but my plan is to go to the casino and get $500 casino cash charged to my card so that it really costs them $500.

While you can certainly get the cash from the casino as you wrote, it isn't necessary. If you don't use all of the OBC, Celebrity will post a credit to your credit card at the conclusion of the cruise.

Does this cancellation apply to all Alaska cruises? We just signed up for the June 3 Infinity cruise and would like to know if Icy Straight is cancelled for us. We just printed up our tickets and IS is still on our itinerary.

Does this cancellation apply to all Alaska cruises? We just signed up for the June 3 Infinity cruise and would like to know if Icy Straight is cancelled for us. We just printed up our tickets and IS is still on our itinerary.

AFAIK Icy Strait Point has not been cancelled for any Infinity Alaska cruises after the May drydock. The port times for Icy Strait Point have been modified for the Aug. 12th and Sept. 2nd sailings due to the tides. I don't believe any other of this summer's cruises after the drydock have been modified.

From experience, I woudn't count on getting any OBC that's from Celebrity back if you don't use it. Unless they're different from some other lines. Nancy