Summit 4/1/05 & 4/11/05 On Hold

[angelpug]

Hi i-m!

 

My TA basically refered to the 1/28 cruise in the same breath with ours on Friday. She said now that the 1/28 cruise was cancelled for the longer drydock, that ours was now "safe."

 

I don't know exactly what that meant, but I've been playing it around in my mind, and I'm thinking that Celelbrity was trying to decide when to do the long drydock...and WHY do they need to do the LONG drydock? What exactly are in the plans for Summit, and WHY have the prices gone up so drastically ($700.00 on most cats.) over the last week for the cruises AFTER the drydock?

 

I know that they are planning on the new paint so Summit will look like the Millennium, and the Infinity, but that can all be done in 10 days. Could the new "Cirque Du Soliel" be in the works? Nothing's been mentioned about that in a while, and it was stated that the ships that would have it would need some changes....HMMMMMMMMM...the plot thickens!

 

Take Care,

Jaime

 

Until We're on the Summit or Sun Princess

 

[i-m-ed]

The Cirque Du Soliel would be alot of fun.

 

Even if the 1/28 cancellation / rebooking isn't true I feel alot more confident today.

[BB5953]

Interesting theory angel... wouldn't that be a nice surprise.

 

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[Millenium]

I hate to tell you guys, but I went back to that long earlier posting on the 1/28/05 cruise and this was their offer from Celebrity:

 

My brother just received a call from Victoria. The 1-28 cruise is cancelled.

the Help Desk is 1-888-837-5676

 

They offered him several options including:

Feb 28 11 day Summit

Mar 11 10 day Summit

June 30 14 day Zenith

June 30 Millenium (7 day with a 25% credit)

(The poster later corrected these to Jan. 30)

 

$200 cabin credit

 

Sorry other 1-28 cruisers, we won't be together on the Summit

 

So, that doesn't seem to help us.

 

If its the Cirque, will they charge extra?

 

Millennium

[Millenium]

Didn't the Summit hit a big rock last summer in Alaska. I remember recently seeing an old posting on another website about how the passengers weren't given good information about the incident at the time. The posting said Summit got a hole and long gash and took on water. Celebrity did temporary repairs by attaching a piece inside the hold, with the plan to do a permanent repair at the next dry dock. Could that be part of this?

 

Millenium

[Millenium]

Hi All,

 

Below is part of a review of a Summit cruise in Alaska last summer which I found on Cruisereview recently. The review includes information on the accident in which a rock cut a hole through the Summit hull. I only pasted below the part of the review about the accident:

 

Age: 41

Occupation: Business Analyst

Number of Cruises: 5

Cruise Line: Celebrity

Ship: Summit

Sailing Date: July 11th, 2003

Itinerary: Seward to Vancouver

 

 

The Bad News

 

I’ll start off with the exciting (read "bad") news for this cruise. Then I’ll leave that bit of trouble behind and give you the good news – because, despite the problems, we were in a beautiful place, the weather was terrific most of the time, and we had a great time! Please note that this information has been culled from various sources including my own experience, newspaper articles, web reports, and conversations with members of the Summit's deck crew.

 

On 7/9/03, two days before our cruise’s departure from Seward, the GTS Summit struck a rock below the water line in Yakutat Bay after visiting Hubbard Glacier. Although the collision was obvious to the crew and many of the passengers, we were told that some passengers did not even notice the event as it was occurring. At the next regularly scheduled stop at Valdez, divers were put over the side to inspect for damage. At that time, the divers noticed that the starboard prop had a “slice†in it. However, due to poor visibility, no other damage was evident and the Summit proceeded to its final port – Seward. During this leg of the voyage, the crew noticed that the water level in the starboard ballast tank was rising, indicating a possible breach. Upon arrival in Seward, divers performed a second inspection that resulted in the discovery of additional damage. There the divers found a 140-foot long crease along the hull – as if somebody drove their car along a post and it just put a dent all the way down the length of the side of the car. In the middle of this crease, the divers discovered a 10-foot long by 5-inch high hole through the hull of the ship that breached the starboard ballast tank.

 

It was determined that the damage to the prop was not critical, and neither was the crease. However, it was obvious that the hole would need to be repaired before leaving Seward. The repair involved welding a temporary seal to the outside of the hole, then draining the ballast tank, and going into the ballast tank from the inside of the ship. Once inside the ballast tank, the repair crew fabricated a steal box that was welded to the inside of the hull over the hole, and finally, the entire box was filled with a marine compound to form a permanent seal. Once completed, both the Coast Guard and Lloyds approved the repair plan, and the ship was finally able to sail. The repair has been approved to be kept in place and monitored on a continuing basis until the next scheduled dry-dock for the Summit in 2005.

 

What made this most frustrating for me personally was not the fact that the ship was damaged – hey, stuff happens – but rather the fact that complete information was not provided to the passengers, and worse, misinformation was given. For a company like Celebrity who is renowned for their service, I found this alarming. We did all our check-in (documentation, ticketing, proof of citizenship, cabin assignment, etc.) in Anchorage that morning. We were never told of a problem. Then, we spent several hours on the train to Seward (with a cruise rep on board) and were told nothing. We finally found out about the problem upon getting our room key in Seward. At that time we were handed a letter that started off “As you already know…….†WRONG! The letter told only about the hole in the ballast tank, the fact that we would miss our port at Juneau and that Celebrity would be giving us a $300 per cabin credit, that there would be an open bar before dinner on Friday, that excursions were available for booking in Seward, and that the ship would depart Seward at 9:00pm on Saturday. We were never told about the crease or the damage to the prop. Most importantly, we were never told that this happened when the ship was under the command of a Marine Pilot, and not the Captain – it never occurred to many of the passengers that pilots are used for anything other than going in and out of ports.

 

Next, was the issue of not reporting what was known when it was known. The captain had made periodic announcements throughout the day on Friday and Saturday stating that the repairs were moving along as expected. The only thing we noticed was that the language regarding our 9pm Saturday departure time was changing slightly as the day went along. First it was “confident.†Later in the day it became “hopeful.†Finally at 9:30pm on Saturday we were told that we would be leaving “sometime after midnight.â€

 

On Sunday morning we awoke to a very familiar picture – Seward. During breakfast we were told that the repairs we taking longer than expected, that we would be missing our second port of call at Skagway, that we were again “hopeful†that we would be departing by 3:30pm, and that once we were under way, we would be advised of additional compensation. We were told that we could take a tender into town and that the last tender would be leaving at 3:00pm. With this in mind, we made our way to town to find a pharmacy. There we purchased a newspaper for the sole purpose of finding yesterday’s baseball scores. It wasn’t until we returned to the ship that we noticed that the Summit was on the cover of Sunday’s Anchorage Daily News – top of the page no less. This is where we finally learned of the damage to the prop and the crease in the side of the ship. Most upsetting (from a customer service standpoint) was a quote from a Coast Guard officer that was made sometime on Saturday afternoon. The Coastguardsman was commenting on the cruise lines statements that the ship would be leaving on Saturday evening at 9pm: “But the Coast Guard was skeptical that the ship would leave so soon. ‘I don’t think that’s possible Coast Guard Lt. Commander Jim Robertson said. They’ve got a lot of work to do.’ Passengers apparently hadn’t heard the official line.†After reading that, we were just a bit peeved. We had been strung along with misinformation for at least a day. It appears that it had been obvious to everyone in the know that the ship would not be leaving on Saturday, yet Celebrity apparently kept that story alive until we woke up on Sunday morning.

 

At 3:15pm on Sunday, we were told that the repairs we completed, that we were awaiting approval from the Coast Guard and Lloyds to sail, that we should be sailing by 6pm, and that there would be an open bar for the next hour. Mayhem instantly ensued at every bar on the ship. The sight of grown men and women fighting over six packs of beer was almost enough to make me wretch – and I do mean that they were walking away with a six pack in each hand. We finally left Seward at 6:30pm on Sunday. Shortly thereafter we were advised that Celebrity would be providing each passenger with a 50% off coupon for a future cruise as compensation for the delay – in addition to the previously announced $300 on-board credit per cabin.

 

_____

 

It seems a long dry dock must be needed either in Jan. (or in March/April!!!!-I hope not) for this major repair. Since they cancelled the 1/38/05 cruise and made the Jan. dry dock longer, I sure hope they plan to finish the repairs then and not in March/April.

 

Millenium

[angelpug]

Supposedly the "Gash" is part of the original 12 day drydock along with the new paint (suppose to be an easy fix once it's out of the water), but now they've added an extra 10 days onto the drydock with the 1/28 cruise cancelled. 22 days is a LONG drydock for a quick repair!

 

I'm no longer worried about the 3/21 cruise, but I'll feel LOTS better once I see it added back onto the Celebrity site, along with our friends here on the 4/1 and 4/11 cruises!!

 

Take Care,

Jaime

 

Until We're on the Summit or Sun Princess

 

[i-m-ed]

I'm not as worried but I'm still a little apprehensive so I'm not going to cancel my Princess booking just yet. I just hope the Celebrity CS woman was just blowing smoke at me to get me off of the phone.

[SeaGal]

We booked the 4/1/05 Summit cruise while on the Infinity this past April. It fits our spring break perfectly and we are pleased with the ports and even have a corner FV. I really want this cruise to happen! I have looked at alternatives, but nothing else appeals to us or fits our time frame.

 

Now I am concerned about the rates being raised on other cruises so that if I book a "back up" cruise I will be paying more than if I had booked it back in April when we selected the Summit.

 

I guess we just wait and see.

 

4/1/05 Summit 10-day

[MHoward909]

Just booked Summit 4/01/05 and 4/11/05 back to back It just came availabe

MHoward

[Millenium]

Yes, our cruises are back on the Celebrity website!!! (3/21/05 & 4/1/05 & 4/11/05) I'm so happy!

 

This is wonderful for the bride with the honeymoon booked on Summit.

[Ma Bell]

Good news for all of you booked on these cruises. Now you can relax and have the joy of anticipating your cruises. The Summit is a wonderful ship. Enjoy!

[angelpug]

Thanks for all the support during this Ma Bell!

 

We really appreciated it!

 

Take Care,

Jaime

 

Until We're on the Summit!!

 

[lovinsea]

Yes, our TA called and said saiings are open

again, we originally were booked on the 4/01

but when it looked like it may not go switched

to 3/11 and now we are back on the 4/01, wanted

a later date. Paying $500 less than the 3/11

for the same cabin, in fact the same #. This

will be our first Summit cruse and really

looking forward to it. Happy for those who were

really sweating this out. Maybe now we can get

a roll call going. We were already confirmed

for a CC party on the 3/11 sailing.

I'm going to check and see if a roll call is

started on the 4/01.

Have a great day everyone.

Ann

[BocaRoo]

We are Booked on 4/11/05! I have already started a Roll Call for anyone interested. Let the anticipation begin!!

 

Jill

 

Summit 4/04

Millennium 10/02

Millennium 11/01

Century 12/99

Sovereign of the Seas 4/99

Splendour of the Seas 5/98