A Guarantee is not a Guarantee...

[schmidlapp]

Well, we're not so lucky, still in a 1B with our CC guarantee.

Lots of promises made to us as to getting CC amenities when onboard.

Hopefully this will be the case.

Not much we can do at this point but go in with open minds.

NO blowing of gaskets by myself either.

I think we're last on the list because its all about money.

We booked the CC guarantee for not much more than a regular balcony

guarantee. I think Celeb is trying not to pay out big OBCs to make up the

difference.

[schmidlapp]

sorry about double post, website slow, and did not know first reply went thru...

[Shep_Proudfoot]

I was thinking about saving a few bucks by switching from a C3 to an XC, but after reading this I am glad I did not! Good luck to you getting what you paid for.

[Gonzo70]

A quick update...Celebrity came through today. Got a call saying we have now been assigned a CC room, however the onboard credit they offered has been removed. That's only fair as we are now getting what we paid for. Very happy with the new room and location, plus there will be no fighting to get the amenities in a non-CC room. Kudos to Celebrity!

 

Great news. Thanks for the update; I am glad Celebrity came through. This was truly an unusual situation. Hopefully Celebrity also bumps up the other poster on this thread with this issue or at least ensures they have an equivalent experience on board. The vast majority of the time Celebrity does seem to do the right thing when they erred; it just sometimes can take a bit of time.

 

Have a great cruise. :)

[Jade13]

My understanding is this snafu is Celebrity's fault due to overbooking, not the TA's. Our rep was mortified to find out about this and has been wonderful in trying to resolve with Celebrity.

.

 

HAL overbooks too assuming people will cancel before final payment, BUT, if that doesn't happen they always make offers for people to move to other sailings and the offers keep going up until someone accepts. Why is Celebrity not handling this the same way?

 

HAL may start by offering another sailing that is twice as long for no more money or moving from an OV to a Veranda. If that doesn't work they can go as high as putting someone on another sailing for free. If people want to keep their original booking that is fine but they find another passenger to move. They usually send out emails making offers. Something is totally wrong with the way Celebrity is handling this. Everyone on this thread should be getting what they paid for and Celebrity should be finding others to move. There are people who are retired, don't have to fly, and always feel like they hit the jackpot.

 

Check out the HAL board.

[Solstice23]

Next time Write a comment on the Celebrity Facebook wall! on a weekday 2 times! and you should get a call! Just saying :)

[excitedofharpenden]

A quick update...Celebrity came through today. Got a call saying we have now been assigned a CC room, however the onboard credit they offered has been removed. That's only fair as we are now getting what we paid for. Very happy with the new room and location, plus there will be no fighting to get the amenities in a non-CC room. Kudos to Celebrity!

Cool. Glad you got it sorted and enjoy your cruise.

 

HAL overbooks too assuming people will cancel before final payment, BUT, if that doesn't happen they always make offers for people to move to other sailings and the offers keep going up until someone accepts. Why is Celebrity not handling this the same way?

 

HAL may start by offering another sailing that is twice as long for no more money or moving from an OV to a Veranda. If that doesn't work they can go as high as putting someone on another sailing for free. If people want to keep their original booking that is fine but they find another passenger to move. They usually send out emails making offers. Something is totally wrong with the way Celebrity is handling this. Everyone on this thread should be getting what they paid for and Celebrity should be finding others to move. There are people who are retired, don't have to fly, and always feel like they hit the jackpot.

 

Check out the HAL board.

See above post. It's been sorted out.

 

Phil

[mom23guys]

Just want to know, had either of you been assigned an actual cabin number on the guarantee? We have a guarantee but a cabin number was assigned immediately so I'm assuming that's that. As least I hope it is.

[JFontaine]

Well, we're not so lucky, still in a 1B with our CC guarantee.

Lots of promises made to us as to getting CC amenities when onboard.

Hopefully this will be the case.

Not much we can do at this point but go in with open minds.

NO blowing of gaskets by myself either.

I think we're last on the list because its all about money.

We booked the CC guarantee for not much more than a regular balcony

guarantee. I think Celeb is trying not to pay out big OBCs to make up the

difference.

 

If the upgrade doesn't come through before you board, this is what I would do: before you get to the ship I would write a short note to the Hotel Director stating what happened and ask to meet with him. Drop it off at the customer relations desk as soon as you board, and then go off, have lunch, do whatever you want to do. Stop by at your cabin and make a note of what CC amenities are there or are not (bring a list with you - check the blue information book for the CC breakfast door hang menu) - you might be pleasantly surprised. Don't waste your first afternoon hanging around to meet with this guy. I have a good feeling that you will hear from him or his staff that day; if not, you can try again. Cabins do open up, and the officers on board have the ability to treat you like VIPs. They are often more imaginative and gracious than the people you are dealing with at the office. Good luck to you on a happy resolution and a great cruise.

[shipshape sam]

Hope it works out for everyone to enjoy a GREAT cruise! I for sure would expect Celebrity to award the additional cruise credit. Also, since they are going to 'try' to provide you with CC service in your newly assigned cabin along with an additional OBC, that seems reasonable. I am sure there will be some slips in service and you will have to be more attentive to what perks CC afforded to make sure you get them.

 

I am surprised Celebrity didn't refund you the FULL difference, provide the CC amenities and offer the extra cruise credit up front. To me, that gets beyond, for most people, the feeling of not being made whole.

 

Again, have a GREAT cruise!

[cherylroslyn]

If the upgrade doesn't come through before you board, this is what I would do: before you get to the ship I would write a short note to the Hotel Director stating what happened and ask to meet with him. Drop it off at the customer relations desk as soon as you board, and then go off, have lunch, do whatever you want to do. Stop by at your cabin and make a note of what CC amenities are there or are not (bring a list with you - check the blue information book for the CC breakfast door hang menu) - you might be pleasantly surprised. Don't waste your first afternoon hanging around to meet with this guy. I have a good feeling that you will hear from him or his staff that day; if not, you can try again. Cabins do open up, and the officers on board have the ability to treat you like VIPs. They are often more imaginative and gracious than the people you are dealing with at the office. Good luck to you on a happy resolution and a great cruise.

I think you have offered great advice and I would follow it to a tee. I can tell you that there is plenty of flexibility within the ship to make sure that certain passengers are provided special amenities. The hotel director will undoubtably be able to direct his staff to ensure your needs are met. The most valuable of benefits that you have paid for is the double credit for the cruise...all the on ship things can be aquired. I know I have had CC benefits extended to me in an inside cabin nestled between suites and CC rooms (obviously none of the verandah accessories and no extra credit, but I did get the better bag, pillow menu, breakfast menu, sparkling wine, flowers, and canapes). ...I think there is a lot of discretion on board.

[schmidlapp]

What a great idea!!

I'm going to compose a note to the hotel dir. tonight and take it along with us. Thanks for all the replies and concerns.

We got our cabin assignment on Monday, and the first one they offered,

our TA rejected because it was a deck 6 obstructed view.

We are now on deck 9 in a 1B veranda vs the CC we were supposed to get. The best news so far is we were upgraded to first class on Delta!

[Margarita Jane]

We usually book balcony guarantees because location does not matter to us and sometimes we get a nice bump. However, I would be very upset to find we had been downgraded.

 

Just curious, wouldn't this be a breach of contract if you paid for Concierge or better?

 

~ Jane

[cherylroslyn]

We usually book balcony guarantees because location does not matter to us and sometimes we get a nice bump. However, I would be very upset to find we had been downgraded.

 

Just curious, wouldn't this be a breach of contract if you paid for Concierge or better?

 

~ Jane

Technically it would be a breach of acontract, albeit a very long confusing contract with complicated jurisdictional and venue issues. The question is what are the damages. And the answer could not be determined until the contract is performed in the manner Celebrity has suggested by placing them in a traditional Balcony room and giving the CC perks, as well as an OBC. My suspicsion is that Celebrity will deliver the CC perks to this cabin even better than they would to a true CC cabin.

 

I frequently see complaints on these boards that the CC perks have not been delievered like the pillow menu or binoculars...not life shattering. I doubt he will have any such complaints because a special emphasis will be placed on his cabin.....if Celebrity is smart (and I think they are) they will have the hotel director meet with him in person and give his phone number to contact if he as any issues while on board and perhaps even invite them to dine in a specialty restaurant one night for the inconvenience.

 

Now to the issue of breach of contract. So what happens when there is a breach of contract, but every effort is taken to make the other side whole. The answer is that there are no damages or they are nominal and the aggreived party does not recover. I am not sure the ship he is sailing on, but many CC cabins are identical to other balcony cabins. For those that are different minimal issues in square footage would most likely not result in the litigant collecting damages. Punitive damages do not come into play in a case such as this where the acts were unintentional and the damages were mitigated by proactive efforts on the part of the cruiseline.

 

Now this is a rather rosey view because I believe Celebrity will come through. If they do not they may have a case, the problem lies with litigating such a case.

 

I would not even litigate my own case if something like this happened. The most difficult case I could imagine would be a lawsuit against a cruise line. As part of your cruise contract you agree to the forum the lawsuit will be litigated in the case of Royal Carribean International it is the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida located in Miami-Dade County. all claims ineligible to be heard in Federal Court are heard in Florida State Court in the same county. You also agree not to sue as a group, so class action suits against cruiselines are prohibited by the contract that you sign before you board. This would make it nearly impossible to find a lawyer that knows what he or she is doing to take a case for a small breach of contract action because it is simply cost prohibitive.

 

The only litigation against a cruiseline worth engaging in would be one arising from a death or very serious injury due to the cruiseline's negligence or possibly the intentional acts of a cruiseship employee and those cases always settle because generally speaking the cases would not have been brought unless there is a very viable claim and in the end the cruise line wants to limit its exposure to bad press.

 

Sorry to get all legal...but i thought your question deserved a serious answer because I see the thought of litigation floating around here on occasion. And most of the time it is simply not an option.

[JFontaine]

I think they would be stuck with arbitration under the terms of the contract.

 

If the amenities are not delivered this case is a winner - there is little dispute about what "guarantee" means. The damages would be the amount that they paid for their CC cabin minus the cost of the cabin that they got on the date that they booked, plus interest from the date of their payment, minus their expenses and any other compensation that they used, like on board credit. I don't think they would be entitled to consequential damages pursuant to the terms of the cruise contract (my vacation/anniversary/birthday was ruined because I didn't get CC).

 

But I agree - I think the folks on board will come through for them. This is a very bad precedent for Celebrity to set; I don't know who would book a guarantee in the future if this is a possible outcome, especially if they have to fight for a refund. I hope you guys will report back. Thanks

[schmidlapp]

My note is written to the Hotel Director, bags are packed, boarding passes

printed and am relaxing with a cold one now. We fly out tommorow and overnight in FLL. This will be my last post until we return, hopefully we will have a good review to post at that time...

Thanks to all for the good words and ideas.

[Margarita Jane]

I appreciate the legal answers - I think it puts everything into perspective when you're thinking the cruise line "has done you wrong".

 

I hope Celebrity does come through with the cc benefits and that our posters who were put in this position have the best cruise ever. How bad can things be when your at sea with an umbrella drink to hold onto?

 

~ Jane

[zebra36]

Good to see that the OP got their room issue resolved, thanks for posting the results.

[JFontaine]

Anyone back with an update on what happened? Thanks