Celebrity Equinox Shore Excursion: Scheduling "Issue" for 7 November 2016 Sailing

[gw2fll]

Have never encountered this before, so I thought I would check with other Cruise Critic members regarding their experience and recommendations.

 

We are booked on the 7 November 2016 sailing for Celebrity Equinox out of Fort Lauderdale. Our original itinerary was changed over a year ago to include an overnight in Cartagena, Columbia on 12 November, which resulted with the dropping of one of the original ports. (We are OK with the itinerary change.)

 

Our issue / concern is regarding the ship sponsored Shore Excursions. Several of the Shore Excursions for Cartagena on 12 November are not "in synch" with the ships itinerary - which is creating a "nightmare" for us as we try to plan our time in this port. In particular, there are several excursions which are "scheduled" for an 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. pier departure; however, the ship is not scheduled to arrive in port until 10:00 a.m. Not sure how we are suppose to participate in a shore excursion if the ship is not in port - for another two hours (LOL).

 

Below is a schreenshot from our Celebrity Calendar which clearly indicates the issue between the shore excursion (8:00 - 12:00) and the ships "Arrival" at 10:00.

I have escalated this to the Captains Club desk, the general 800 number, and the Celebrity Excursions desk. The feedback we received has been "thanks for bringing this to our attention - we are looking into it". However, it has been over two weeks and we have not heard anything.

 

We would like to book an afternoon / evening tour for 12 November, but since we don't have a clear view of our schedule it makes it impossible to know how to plan. (I also have to admit we were shocked at the lack of excursions available for Sunday, 13 November. I wonder if these "8:00" excursions should actually be for the 13th??)

 

Part of our concern is if Celebrity ends up canceling the excursion. We don't need any additional OBC, so we would prefer the refund to post to the credit card instead of our onboard account. (I realize if we cancel now the refund will go to the credit card; however, if the cancelation occurs after we board I think the refund "normally" goes to our onboard account.)

 

• Our primary concern is the scheduling of our shore excursion(s). Do we explore only those that "synch" with the ships schedule?
   
   
  
• Has anyone experienced this before? Any suggestions on next steps, escalation paths? (No telling how many passengers are impacted.)
  

Appreciate any feedback / suggestions.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

I can't help with the timing issue, that is something Celebrity has to fix and I imagine the excursion times will be changed to align with the ship's docking schedule, say a 10:30 - 2:30 excursion, not 8:00 - 12:00.

 

If you book now and Celebrity cancels, or you cancel the excursion once on board & within the 24 hour cancellation window, Celebrity will refund the price to your on board account as a refundable on board credit. If you have a credit balance at the end of the cruise they will process the refund back to your credit card.

 

We overnighted in Barbados earlier this year and there was not much offered for the 2nd day, which was a Sunday.

[Xport]

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara have a shared Shore Excursion Planning Team at Corporate Headquarters in Miami... I strongly suggest that you send them an e-mail rather than call...

 

Their e-mail address is...

 

shorex@rccl.com

 

They'll send an automated e-mail reply acknowledging your inquiry upon receipt with further advice that they will respond--I'm doing this from memory--within 48 hours...

 

In my experience, they'll often meet that response goal if the information one requires is immediately at hand but sometimes--especially if excursion offerings and related contracts with tour operators are still under development or require change--it can take a few weeks... That said, I've always gotten a fairly timely response even if it is to say that related matters are still pending; in such cases, I've also gotten follow-up notes once the matter is resolved...

 

In the context of what the Shore Excursions Team needs to accomplish and the priorities/timelines that they need to observe [i believe that they understandably prioritize their work in cruise date order; your sailing is still a few months away], I've found them to be quite responsive...

 

Hope this helps...

[Xport]

We overnighted in Barbados earlier this year and there was not much offered for the 2nd day, which was a Sunday.

 

And our onboard overnight in Barbados was on 27 March, Easter [can't forget that day as I had a rather scary eye issue arise that night; treated upon return to Miami (no related medical capability in The Caribbean) and all is fine now]... We sailed for Aruba on Monday afternoon...

 

I did not object to the itinerary change which dropped our port call at Grenada so as to create our [mid-cruise] overnight in Barbados--it's a terrific island and, to my mind, one of the more interesting I've visited--but I do think that Celebrity should have been mindful of the long holiday weekend--Barbados was essentially shut down from Good Friday through Easter Monday--before scheduling our extended time there... In my opinion Sint Maarten, Aruba, or Curacao would have afforded us far better opportunity to capitalize upon/better enjoy the overnight experience without the holiday conflict...

Edited August 30, 2016 by Xport

[CHEZMARYLOU]

And our onboard overnight in Barbados was on 27 March, Easter [can't forget that day as I had a rather scary eye issue arise that night; treated upon return to Miami (no related medical capability in The Caribbean) and all is fine now]... We sailed for Aruba on Monday afternoon...

 

I did not object to the itinerary change which dropped our port call at Grenada so as to create our [mid-cruise] overnight in Barbados--it's a terrific island and, to my mind, one of the more interesting I've visited--but I do think that Celebrity should have been mindful of the long holiday weekend--Barbados was essentially shut down from Good Friday through Easter Monday--before scheduling our extended time there... In my opinion Sint Maarten, Aruba, or Curacao would have afforded us far better opportunity to capitalize upon/better enjoy the overnight experience without the holiday conflict...

 

We were on this cruise also and missed going to Grenada because we had a snorkeling excursion booked that we really wanted to do. It was our 4th time in Barbados but we had only been to Grenada once. My DH broke a tooth on board and had to wait until we got home to get it fixed. Luckily he was not in pain.

[wallie5446]

And our onboard overnight in Barbados was on 27 March, Easter [can't forget that day as I had a rather scary eye issue arise that night; treated upon return to Miami (no related medical capability in The Caribbean) and all is fine now]... We sailed for Aruba on Monday afternoon...

 

I did not object to the itinerary change which dropped our port call at Grenada so as to create our [mid-cruise] overnight in Barbados--it's a terrific island and, to my mind, one of the more interesting I've visited--but I do think that Celebrity should have been mindful of the long holiday weekend--Barbados was essentially shut down from Good Friday through Easter Monday--before scheduling our extended time there... In my opinion Sint Maarten, Aruba, or Curacao would have afforded us far better opportunity to capitalize upon/better enjoy the overnight experience without the holiday conflict...

 

So the people of these country's don't celebrate Easter?

 

Barbados has a population of 285,000. The others Aruba 104,000, Curacao 150,000, St Maarten 33,000

Looks like they picked the largest country that would have the possibility of more heathen's that would be open.

Edited August 30, 2016 by wallie5446

[Xport]

So the people of these country's don't celebrate Easter?

 

But in the context of our overall itinerary, we were in Sint Maarten well before the long Easter weekend and we were in Aruba and Curacao well after the long Easter weekend...

 

It wouldn't have taken a whole lot of ingenuity or thoughtfulness on Celebrity's part to have reengineered our schedule--seven port calls over fourteen days with many of the islands quite close to each other--to have enhanced the onboard overnight experience from a guest perspective... Nothing--and I do mean nothing--was open in Barbados on Easter Sunday/Monday and, for all the hype that Celebrity dished about our itinerary having been changed to provide a wonderfully innovative overnight experience, it was--on our sailing--largely unfulfilled...

 

Sorry if my observation was less than clear...

[wallie5446]

But in the context of our overall itinerary, we were in Sint Maarten well before the long Easter weekend and we were in Aruba and Curacao well after the long Easter weekend...

 

It wouldn't have taken a whole lot of ingenuity or thoughtfulness on Celebrity's part to have reengineered our schedule--seven port calls over fourteen days with many of the islands quite close to each other--to have enhanced the onboard overnight experience from a guest perspective... Nothing--and I do mean nothing--was open in Barbados on Easter Sunday/Monday and, for all the hype that Celebrity dished about our itinerary having been changed to provide a wonderfully innovative overnight experience, it was--on our sailing--largely unfulfilled...

 

Sorry if my observation was less than clear...

 

No it's clear, and yes I was being a bit of a twit! :D

 

But the dock space is secured months in advance, and I don't thin it would have mattered what country you were in on Easter. It would have had many of the business closed. We are booked 430 days out, many schedules are set well into 2018 now. I am only saying that there is a lot more detail that goes into the planning than a simple, Hey, lets change the port stops around.

 

PS: If you had of been in the East there would not have been any issue. The Western part of the world is where 75 ish % celebrate the same tow High Holy days, Christmas & Easter,

Edited August 30, 2016 by wallie5446

[Xport]

But the dock space is secured months in advance, and I don't thin it would have mattered what country you were in on Easter. It would have had many of the business closed. We are booked 430 days out, many schedules are set well into 2018 now. I am only saying that there is a lot more detail that goes into the planning than a simple, Hey, lets change the port stops around.

 

PS: If you had of been in the East there would not have been any issue. The Western part of the world is where 75 ish % celebrate the same tow High Holy days, Christmas & Easter,

 

I am--after having completed 33 cruises within the Royal Caribbean family of brands [vast majority of which have been with Celebrity] since March 2009--well aware of itinerary planning dynamics/challenges... But in this case, a few things are true and I will always believe that Celebrity--I am among their biggest cheerleaders--could have done a far more planful job in this instance...

• I booked this cruise 444 days in advance of sailing... Celebrity changed the itinerary--and I was fine with it--months later...
  
• I never said that we ought not have a port call on Easter or at any time over the long holiday weekend [not me but some were peeved to find that alcohol sales were prohibited when we were ashore in Antigua on Good Friday]... I said that I didn't find it the ideal time to have our onboard overnight which--per their advertising--is designed to provide opportunities for dining/enjoying nightlife ashore...
  
• Other Eclipse sailings--doing the same Southern Caribbean itinerary during the most recent Caribbean season without the Easter consideration--did have their overnights in Sint Maarten and Curacao... I suspect that many took full advantage of them...
  
• I'm sure that Celebrity didn't schedule our overnight in Barbados--with the island essentially shut down over Easter weekend--intentionally... Rather, I suspect that the implication to guests and crew [many of whom were looking forward to the opportunity to party ashore] never occurred to them; an unfortunate miss and--admittedly--initially I missed it too...

 

I'm boarding Equinox next week for a B2B [both segments booked 667 days prior to initial sail date]... The first cruise was scheduled--until two months ago--to depart Istanbul [an upfront overnight there was, back in January, rescheduled for Barcelona]... Within two days of the incident at the airport in Istanbul, our embarkation port was changed to Athens and Crete, not on our original itinerary, was substituted for our intermediate port call at Athens [both fine with me; some are less than happy]... While it is possible that Celebrity may have created contingency plans long before invoking them as circumstances progressively unfolded in Istanbul this year, they well showed their ability to adapt to changing circumstances [and I'm not suggesting that timing of our Barbados overnight was analogous] quickly, nimbly, thoughtfully, and creatively despite all the future planning that went into creating our original itinerary as initially published in November 2014...

 

And finally... As a devout Catholic, I did attend Easter Mass aboard Eclipse back in March; it was very nicely done!

[gw2fll]

Thanks for all the great information. Dispatched an email (as suggested above). Hopefully, that will do the trick.

 

Also, was unaware of the OBC credit back to the credit card. That makes us feel better vs. going on a "shopping spree" the last day of the cruise for items we really don't need.

 

Thanks again.

 

Doug

[CHEZMARYLOU]

To clarify the issue of the OBC refund, if you have any unused OBC that was given to you by Celebrity they will not refund that, use it or lose it.

 

If a TA gave OBC I'm pretty sure Celebrity would refund it (we don't use TA so not 100% sure but this is what I've read on CC.)

 

If you cancel an excursion that you booked pre cruise and do not spend that part of an OBC Celebrity will refund it.

 

I've also been told that if you have a lot of OBC you can use it to add extra gratuities to the wait and room staff. I'll be checking that out in December because we have a large OBC from Celebrity.

[gw2fll]

Quick update:

 

Sent suggested email last night (with a cc to Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO) and amazingly we had a correction this morning by 10:00 a.m. Not sure if the email did the trick or not, but at least things are being addressed.

 

Received email changing departure time to synch with ships arrival in port. Yippee.

 

Thanks again...

 

Doug

Edited August 31, 2016 by gw2fll

[Xport]

Quick update:

 

Sent suggested email last night (with a cc to Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO) and amazingly we had a correction this morning by 10:00 a.m. Not sure if the email did the trick or not, but at least things are being addressed.

 

Received email changing departure time to synch with ships arrival in port. Yippee.

 

Thanks again...

 

Doug

 

So glad that the excursion scheduling matter has been resolved... I've never sent a copy of my tour inquiries to Lisa but--wow--that's service!

 

Enjoy your sailing; enjoy Cartagena!