Campbell River; Prince Rupert shore excursions

[Symon]

ffwife,

 

I will guess Nanaimo, or at least hope it is Nanaimo. We went to Ketchikan on an Alaskian cruise a few years ago and it was our least favorite spot. (Not bad, just not as good as Juneau and Skagway)

[windermere]

Hi Everyone, Just got a email from my TA. she wrote that we are NOT going to Campbell River. It looks like the Cruise line will be doing a sea day . I am going to check the Celb. website and see what they say. That is the latest I know.

ffwife You are correct no C.C.Party under 7 days OOPS!

[windermere]

Hi Again everyone, I just looked at the Celebrity website it states nothing about Campbell River. The trip now shows 2 days at sea & no Campbell River!

[whatami]

I spoke with Celebrity on Saturday. They say it is very unlikely that there will be an additional stop to replace the Campbell River one. Instead we will have 2 days at sea and 2 stops (Vancouver, Prince Rupert). I'm a little disappointed by that.

[Symon]

Windermere and Whatami,

 

Thanks for keeping us up to date on what Celebrity is planning with our cruise. I too am disappointed that they are not substituting another port. I don't care where we stop, but I would like to stop somewhere.

[windermere]

Hi whatami, Hubby & I talked alot about not going because of the extra sea day. (It is no biggie to me) We are still going to go and just make the best of a sea day. We will use the gym,play bingo,go to the spa etc. I am wondering if anyone from the board will cancel their cruise because of this????

[windermere]

Hi Symon! We must have been posting at the same time. Are you still going??

[Symon]

We are definately still going! We have grandparents all set to babysit and are really excited about going, no matter what the ports are. An extra day at sea is not what we expected but not enough of a change to make us cancel or change plans. Trying to look on the bright side, more time to enjoy the ship and relaxation without feeling the need to "see it all" in a port. Also, maybe we can splurge on other shore excurtions, shopping or drinks since we won't be paying to do anything in Campbell River.

[ffwife]

Hello everyone;

 

Has anyone's travel agent mentioned refunding the port charges for Campbell River? Just curious, but our statement says we are paying $180 something each for port charges; with one less port should we be paying $120? I'm also a little jealous that the other 5 day itinerary got Astoria, Oregon substituted for the dropped Campbell River.

 

On the good news side, did you notice that our time in port in Prince Rupert has changed from noon to midnight to 7am to 6pm? What that means to my group is that the guys can now fish out of Prince Rupert! That's a deal-saver! Still would have preferred a third port...two sea days on such a short itinerary is not ideal to us.

 

Best wishes to all!

[BCHappyGal]

I have jack Williams e-mail address but he is no longer CEO of Celebrity.

 

However I do have Tensi Westreicher, Account Executive, Loyalty marketing, Celebrity Crusies, tensiwestreicher@rccl.com

 

I know from past experience that you will get little satisfaction or truth out of phoning Celebrity Shore Staff. thank goodness the crew on board the Celebrity Ships are totally different from the shore staff.

I will continue to sail with Celebrity but only because the crew and ships are great - however if I had to make my decision based on the service, courtesy and helpfulness (yes including truthfulness) of the shore staff I would never sail with them.

 

Good luck getting the correct information. If you can find out who Celebrity is using as a "Ship's Agent" in Cambell River they will know & be able to give you correct information.

[whatami]

We will definitely still be going. It's our first cruise, so we won't miss it. I do kind of feel like Symon, in that it will probably be more relaxing. Now we can stay up as late as we'd like without feeling like we have to get up early for an excursion. Plus I'll probably splurge for a really nice excursion in Prince Rupert.

 

No ffwife has me wondering about shore charges also. Maybe they'll justify it by saying that we're staying in P R longer and that'll cost more.

 

Perhaps I'll send an e-mail with a link to this thread. No one seems to be foaming at the mouth angry, as much as we are curious as to what's going on and maybe Celebrity will be able to help us out on the information front.

 

Oh, and ffwife. I live about an hour from Astoria (and spend a lot of time there in the fall during Salmon season). I guess it's a neat little town if you haven't been there before. They've just started in the last year or so to have cruises stop there. If you ever do make it, stop in at the Union Cafe. It's right underneath the bridge (Astoria Bridge that goes to Washington), and has the best Smoked Salmon Clam Chowder ever made.

[ffwife]

Whatami:

 

Just so you do not let anyone convince you we are in Prince Rupert more hours and therefore not entitled to port charge refund... the written literature I have shows us originally in Prince Rupert from noon to midnight; that's 12 hours. We are now scheduled to be there from 7am-6pm; that's 11 hours. By the way, I was looking in to fishing in Prince Rupert and the person I was talking with did not have the updated info, but checked with their Port Authority and those new times are officially changed with them.

 

I figure Celebrity is in line to already make lots more off of us with a sea day rather than a port...through the casino, spa, bingo, drinks,etc. I consider it a real rip off if they also charge us the port charges (just think what we could do with that $60 each!).

[whatami]

I sent an e-mail to the address I was given above. Below is my e-mail and the response given.

 

Good afternoon,

 

My girlfriend and I will be making our first cruise this fall. We'll be aboard the Mercury leaving out of (and returning to) Seattle, Washington, USA.

 

Recently, the itenerary has changed and we (along with several other cruisers) have some questions that we're hoping you or someone else can help us with. (A link to the discussion is available here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=153498 )

 

The cruise will no longer be stopping in Campbell River, BC, and that stop has been replaced with an additional day at sea. Some questions that we have.

 

Will any part of the port charges be refunded, or credited to our shipboard account? Perhaps a liquor package instead?

 

Is there any possibility that stop will be replaced with a stop somewhere else? Perhaps Nanaimo?

 

I chose Celebrity for my first crusie because of the expreience other cruisers have had. I've not been disappointed in the help I've received up to this point and look forward to sailing on your ships now and in the future. If we could just be informed of what's happening, that would be great!

 

Best regards,

 

and the response

 

Dear Mr. Mansheim:

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

We understand the disappointment with the ship's deviation from the advertised itinerary and apologize for any inconvenience this change may have caused you. The Mercury's 5 night Pacific Northwest itinerary was modified due to berthing conflicts and operational constraints. Please understand that as our brochures and Cruise Ticket Contract reflect, we may need to change a ship's itinerary for various reasons.

 

Mr. Mansheim, with reference to your request for a refund of port service fees, please note that such fees are part of the cruise fare. As such, these port service fees are non-refundable. We regret any disappointment with our response.

 

Revised Itinerary:

 

No. Day Date Port Location Arrive Depart T/D

 

1 MON 09/19/05 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 5:00p D

 

2 TUE 09/20/05 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA 7:00a 5:00p D

 

3 WED 09/21/05 INSIDE PASSAGE (CRUISING) C

 

4 THU 09/22/05 PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. (CANADA) 7:00a 6:00p D

 

5 FRI 09/23/05 INSIDE PASSAGE (CRUISING) C

 

6 SAT 09/24/05 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 7:00a D

 

Thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

 

Tula Khabeer

 

Customer Service Representative

 

I'm dissappointed, but not hugely suprised. oh well, I'll still have fun!

[windermere]

Hi! I thought I would bump this thread up. It is getting close. Is everyone still sailing??

[whatami]

We'll be there for sure. We got our train tickets last month and our cruise booklet about a week ago. I've filled out all the info for the Xpress Pass and am hoping that boarding will be smooth.

 

Windemere, do you know the easiest way to get to the pier from the Train Station in Seattle? I suppose we'll probably just do a cab.

[windermere]

Hi there! I think a cab will be your best bet. Are you booked for any shore excursions. We booked the North coast rail explorer in P.R. We also booked GROUSE Mt. & the Capilano suspension bridge in Vancouver. We got our docs. a few weeks ago. Not to many days left. Hubby & I are going to the mall this weekend for a few things then I am READY!!! How about you are you ready?