For U.K. followers - Block Bookings at U.K. airports

[Joecors]

I have booked a cruise with Celebrity in the Caribbean early next year. Mainly I cruise with Azamara usually booking the flight with Az. In fact it is often part of the package by way of a fly/cruise.

Unfortunately the flights are usually/often purchased from BA on a group allocation/block booking basis which means that you cannot reserve seats until you arrive at say LHR on the morning of the flight making it extremely difficult to get seats together on the aircraft.

Can anyone please advise of experiencing similar problems with Celebrity?

An additional problem is that Az. do not advise the flight details until a short while before the cruise when customers learn that instead of a direct flight they have been booked on an indirect one e.g. travelling form LHR to Venice via Amsterdam.

Does this happen with Celebrity?

[triona]

I have booked a cruise with Celebrity in the Caribbean early next year. Mainly I cruise with Azamara usually booking the flight with Az. In fact it is often part of the package by way of a fly/cruise.

Unfortunately the flights are usually/often purchased from BA on a group allocation/block booking basis which means that you cannot reserve seats until you arrive at say LHR on the morning of the flight making it extremely difficult to get seats together on the aircraft.

Can anyone please advise of experiencing similar problems with Celebrity?

An additional problem is that Az. do not advise the flight details until a short while before the cruise when customers learn that instead of a direct flight they have been booked on an indirect one e.g. travelling form LHR to Venice via Amsterdam.

Does this happen with Celebrity?

Hello, now I'm not sure if this will help as we have only been on one cruise so far,but here we go.. On our cruise last year ( we booked through a TA ) with Celebrity we had seats together.. We did fly with BA and our TA was able to book our seats..Next year's cruise we are doing the same but with Virgin... Both flights were/are direct.. We are very lucky that we have a first rate TA who will pull out all the stops. We always ask him for direct flights only and have not had a problem with this..So if you have booked through a TA just ask..They can only say no..Good LUCK..Sharon..

[excitedofharpenden]

I have booked a cruise with Celebrity in the Caribbean early next year. Mainly I cruise with Azamara usually booking the flight with Az. In fact it is often part of the package by way of a fly/cruise.

Unfortunately the flights are usually/often purchased from BA on a group allocation/block booking basis which means that you cannot reserve seats until you arrive at say LHR on the morning of the flight making it extremely difficult to get seats together on the aircraft.

Can anyone please advise of experiencing similar problems with Celebrity?

An additional problem is that Az. do not advise the flight details until a short while before the cruise when customers learn that instead of a direct flight they have been booked on an indirect one e.g. travelling form LHR to Venice via Amsterdam.

Does this happen with Celebrity?

Hi Joecors. I've been following the much chatter on the Azamara boards with regard to flight arrangements, especially the recent incidents flying to Venice and can only report that thus far on both Celebrity and Azamara I haven't had an issue. I've booked my cruises all ways, more recently over the past two or three years through Celebrity and Azamara directly. Wherever possible my carrier of choice long haul is Virgin Atlantic and as a Captain's Club Elite member have specified the carrier and routing. Virgin Atlantic are already ahead of the game as far as I am concerned because unlike BA they allow seat allocation as soon as the tickets are issued rather than relying on being in one of their higher Executive Club statuses, paying on line or waiting until 24 hours before the flight. Besides that I prefer the product. I've never had a problem going onto the VA website and allocating my seat, albeit sometimes only a month or so before the cruise and in line with the tickets being issued.

 

My flights within Europe via Celebrity and last month on Azamara have included Barcelona, Nice and Rome and the flights have been direct. As I said on the latest thread appearing on the ACC board my flights to VCE next month I did myself, most particularly because of what I had read on the boards and experience of friends who did the trip in August.

 

So in summary I haven't had an issue, but do take an active role in making sure my flights are as I want them.

 

Phil

[Onelung]

On our recent Celebrity Holy Land cruise we booked fly/cruise through Celebrity. We were given our flight numbers several months in advance and I was able to go onto the BA web site and pre-book our seats (admittedly for a small fee). In fact, I struck lucky as I managed to get Business Class seats without having to pay any extra (apart from the booking fee). It was just what came up as being available so we took advantage of it! I kept expecting someone to tap me on the shoulder when we got on the plane but nobody ever did.

[pretenda]

Hi there

We booked last month for Ultimate Caribbean in March next year. Our flights are with AA. The locator number was included with all the info from my TA and we immediately booked our seats through the AA website using the info provided. Hope this helps and have a great cruise.

Glenda

[Suzy Smith]

We are booked on a fly/cruise next month and when I try to access our booking on the BA website I get an error message saying we are part of a group reservation and cannot select seats at this time. Is there any way round this?

 

 

On one past occasion when we were part of a group booking, Celebrity had reps at the airport to help us through check-in and we all sat in the same area of the plane - which was good as we met some our fellow cruisers at that point. But if there is any way of making our seat selection now that would be even better.

[Project_gal]

I have booked a cruise with Celebrity in the Caribbean early next year. Mainly I cruise with Azamara usually booking the flight with Az. In fact it is often part of the package by way of a fly/cruise.

Unfortunately the flights are usually/often purchased from BA on a group allocation/block booking basis which means that you cannot reserve seats until you arrive at say LHR on the morning of the flight making it extremely difficult to get seats together on the aircraft.

Can anyone please advise of experiencing similar problems with Celebrity?

An additional problem is that Az. do not advise the flight details until a short while before the cruise when customers learn that instead of a direct flight they have been booked on an indirect one e.g. travelling form LHR to Venice via Amsterdam.

Does this happen with Celebrity?

 

We have never had this problem with Celebrity but, then, we have never had the problem with Azamara either. With both, we have been told our flight details within days of them being made available by the airlines [around 11 months before the cruise] and, when we have not liked the route offered, been able to change both airline and route. They have never been block bookings. The only time we have not been able to do exactly what we want is when Celebrity do not have a contract with a particular airline [for our flights home from South America for our next cruise] but we were still able to organise something acceptable to us. Unlike our friend from Harpenden, we would never choose to fly with VA have had a vad experience the only time we flew with them [not for a cruise] and prefer BA for their clear luggage policies. In the UK, it is the same team who deal with flights for both Celebrity and Azamara.

 

Sue

[Mr Blue Sky]

Hi

 

We also sailed Celebrity Ultimate Caribbean last November, and we flew

Virgin Atlantic to Miami, we booked over a year in advance and found via our Travel Agent quite early on the airline, and about 6 weeks before flight

we had our flight ticket number allocated to allow us to book seats together both ways via VA website.

 

Could be worth asking your TA or Celebrity for the Record locator number this will give you access to a travel website (sorry forgotten name)with flight details, we have just booked our flights for Med Cruise with Celebrity and have been able to choose flight times to suit us for a small supplement.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise

 

Mrs Blue Sky

[Joecors]

... but we have the locator no. and the following is a quote from an e-mail from RCCL flycruise dept. received just yesterday

 

 

"The flights assigned to your cruise booking, are part of a group allocation we have taken with British Airways. Thus meaning that normally all check in and seat requests can only be actioned at the airport

 

Earlier this year we travelled wth Az. by Virgin and were able to book seats in advance; as we were six weeks ago when cruising with Az. when we flew BA to Istanbul. Last year again by Az. we experienced the "group allocation" problem.

 

Reason for checking with Celebrity cruisers was to try to establish some logic to the problem. Is Azamara just the poor relation in the RCCL set up?

 

 

[martin1970]

We came back off our celebrity cruise last week and were part of a block booking made by Celebrity on BA out of Gatwick we could do absolutely nothing with the booking even tried with our Executive membership to do something but BA could do nothing to help so could only get seats on check in, in both directions and believe me there is not much choice left at check in as most people check in on line now... so thanks Celebrity for that not a great start or end to the holiday.

[scarlet o'hara]

Has anyone flown from one of the regional airports? Do they try to get direct flights or route via London. We are on our first Celebrity cruise next year to the Eastern med which sails from Rome. We have arranged to stay a couple of days in Rome before, but don't really want to spend the best part of a day getting there because of a connection. We had a bad experience last winter when Scotland was snowbound although London wasn't so we missed a holiday. Although we eventually got a refund for the flights, it was a hassle making separate claims, so we would rather have all the booking through Celebrity. Hopefully snow wont be an issue next September!

[Project_gal]

Is Azamara just the poor relation in the RCCL set up?

 

As I said in my previous post, our experience [no block booking] has been identical with Celebrity and Azamara.

 

Sue

[Sekhmet]

... but we have the locator no. and the following is a quote from an e-mail from RCCL flycruise dept. received just yesterday

 

 

"The flights assigned to your cruise booking, are part of a group allocation we have taken with British Airways. Thus meaning that normally all check in and seat requests can only be actioned at the airport

 

Earlier this year we travelled wth Az. by Virgin and were able to book seats in advance; as we were six weeks ago when cruising with Az. when we flew BA to Istanbul. Last year again by Az. we experienced the "group allocation" problem.

 

Reason for checking with Celebrity cruisers was to try to establish some logic to the problem. Is Azamara just the poor relation in the RCCL set up?

 

 

I'd be interested in this "block booking" problem, too. We are leaving on a tour operator organised land tour of India soon, and get a similar message when we look at the BA Manage my Booking website.

[Joecors]

[quote=Mr Blue Sky;30876930]Hi

 

...... we have just booked our flights for Med Cruise with Celebrity and have been able to choose flight times to suit us for a small supplement.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise

 

Mrs Blue Sky

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Thank you for your wishes for the cruise. We are certainly not adverse to paying £10 (whatever) to book seats in advance. In fact I would think that most people subject to "block booking" problems and cruising with Celebrity based cruise lines and paying a minimum of say £1000 per person for a cruise would be only too happy to pay extra to avoid the problems that block booking produces.

We will by the end of October have travelled on four cruises in the past year and the score reads:-

Oct 2010 Flying to Med. with BA(block booking)- horrendous problems at LHR on day of flight in getting seats together

March 2011 Flying to Caribbean with Virgin out of LHR - no problem booking in advance

Sept 2011 Flying to Med. with BA - able to book seats in advance

Oct 2011 Flying to Med with BA(block booking) not able to book seats in advance

All the cruises were/are with Azamara but fed up with the system, or lack of it, we have resorted back to sailing with Celebrity next March. Have we solved the problem?? I'm not so sure!!

[Project_gal]

[quote=Mr Blue Sky;30876930]Hi

 

...... we have just booked our flights for Med Cruise with Celebrity and have been able to choose flight times to suit us for a small supplement.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise

 

Mrs Blue Sky

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Thank you for your wishes for the cruise. We are certainly not adverse to paying £10 (whatever) to book seats in advance. In fact I would think that most people subject to "block booking" problems and cruising with Celebrity based cruise lines and paying a minimum of say £1000 per person for a cruise would be only too happy to pay extra to avoid the problems that block booking produces.

We will by the end of October have travelled on four cruises in the past year and the score reads:-

Oct 2010 Flying to Med. with BA(block booking)- horrendous problems at LHR on day of flight in getting seats together

March 2011 Flying to Caribbean with Virgin out of LHR - no problem booking in advance

Sept 2011 Flying to Med. with BA - able to book seats in advance

Oct 2011 Flying to Med with BA(block booking) not able to book seats in advance

All the cruises were/are with Azamara but fed up with the system, or lack of it, we have resorted back to sailing with Celebrity next March. Have we solved the problem?? I'm not so sure!!

 

I'd be really interested to know at which point you discovered that you were on a block booking. I cannot understand why we seem to be one of the few people not to have had this problem, and I want to be forewarned. As soon as flights are allocated [about 11 months prior to a cruise], I expect to be given my airline booking reference. If, at that stage, I discovered it was a block booking, I would complain and expect to come to a satisfactory resolution. Were you led to believe that you did not have a block booking until it was too late to do anything about it?

 

Sue

[Joecors]

g As soon as flights are allocated [about 11 months prior to a cruise], I expect to be given my airline booking reference. If, at that stage, I discovered it was a block booking, I would complain and expect to come to a satisfactory resolution. Were you led to believe that you did not have a block booking until it was too late to do anything about it?

 

Sue

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I believe that In the past, if we had queried whether a block booking was involved, 11 months in advance of the cruise the response was, or would have been ,"too early to give details of flight". Often too the 'Record Locator' has not been available 11 months in advance. On the Confirmation Invoice under the heading Recorder Locator is a note including the following:-

... If no locator number is showing then you will not currently be able to view this information and a new invoice will be sent when the flight details have been assigned to your booking...

That's when the bells start ring in your mind

The quote is from an Az. invoice.

[Project_gal]

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I believe that In the past, if we had queried whether a block booking was involved, 11 months in advance of the cruise the response was, or would have been ,"too early to give details of flight". Often too the 'Record Locator' has not been available 11 months in advance. On the Confirmation Invoice under the heading Recorder Locator is a note including the following:-

... If no locator number is showing then you will not currently be able to view this information and a new invoice will be sent when the flight details have been assigned to your booking...

That's when the bells start ring in your mind

The quote is from an Az. invoice.

 

Thanks for the confirmation. I have to admit, by 11 months I am starting to fret and will chase my Personal Cruise Consultant if I have no confirmed flights within a few weeks but have not had to do so for a while. Now I know I am doing the right thing and will continue to keep on top of this.

 

Sue

[hancock]

We had booked our flights through Celebrity for a TA out of Barcelona. It turned out that we were part of a group booking. I bugged Celebrity and was able to get the record locator #. When I used it, all the names in the group booking appeared. There were 2 other couples in the booking. I changed our assigned seats as we had been placed in the back of the plane with seats that didn't recline. Thinking about the others in the booking having bad seats as well, I tried looking up their names in the White Pages. I found one. Can you imagine the consternation of that person when I called them? Who was this calling them about a cruise they were going to take? Well, they did check their reservations with the airline and found they had lousy seats. We ended up doing several tours together on the cruise.

[mike x ftc]

We are having exactly this problem for our Equinox cruise on the 20th out of Rome. We can not do anything with any of the references for flight. I phoned our TA and they advised that as it was a block booking there was nothing we could do - if they released the necessary details to enable us to book we would have access to everyone else in the group's information.

 

We are going to gatwick the night before and will be (hopefully) be checking in using BA's previous day check in, apparently you can do it after 4pm the day before.

[okimot]

We are going on Celebrity Constellation in January 2011 sailing from Fort Lauderdale. Our TA arranges the flights with Continental Airlines and pre books the seats at the same time. This is flying from Manchester to Newark and then to Fort Lauderdale. Have done this several times without any problems.

Will not go via Heathrow or Gatwick.

[ClaireP]

When I have fly cruise bookings, I usually do my research on what airline and flight timing i would like. Then I ring Celebrity or via my travel agent if I booked via one, and request the flights I would like

 

As long as the flights are available on the airline websites - usually c50 weeks before - then celebrity will advise you or your travel agent, which flights they would support and you can get it booked there and then - it has worked well for me and I have always got the airline and flight which I wanted - hope this helps