Celebrity Canceled our cruise

[HokiePoq]

Another possibility is that social media is getting the word out about changes to cruises (itinerary changes as well as charters) before the cruise line has set up its procedures for notification. In other words, Celebrity hasn't contacted customers or TAs on this one yet but they would have soon. I would guess this is two different departments, and in a big corporation these things take a little time to execute. But now the rumors start flying the minute the cruise disappears from the website, and it "seems" that the cruise line dropped the ball. [i'm not an apologist for Celebrity, but I have the perspective from my previous work life of being blamed for not doing things that were already in process -- and then the blamers take credit for "forcing" you to act.]

 

Cruise Critic has been here a while and we do network with each other. I don't read anyone blaming anyone in particular in this thread. However, it should be corporate policy not to delete reservations without first notifying TAs and/or passengers and assuring them that their refunds are being processed. It didn't take social media for folks to notice that their reservations had disappeared. At that point the company still has your deposit and the customer has nothing, not even the promise of a refund (which I have faith I will get eventually, but not in good time due to my credit card situation). Not good practice.

Edited December 28, 2016 by HokiePoq

[HokiePoq]

I too am on this cancelled cruise and feel betrayed by X. I have not heard from my agent which is the largest advertiser on this board.

For those who say there is no downside to airfare do not book like I do using points. I booked the first segment for JFK-Sin on Nov 22, 2017 Business class using points as the first part of an open jaw itinerary since I am doing a b2b on the Dec 10/2017 as well. When they become available I will book the second segment Hkg-JFK on Cathay Pacific when it become available in January. My insurance will not cover any change fees for points tickets since I did not pay cash for the tickets in the first place.

A company should not sell something to a buyer and then sell it to someone else for a supposedly higher price. I know the cruise contract allows them to do it but I feel it is a sleazy practice. What we need is a cruisers bill of rights to prevent this type of thing happening.

 

That's another complication! Losing points would be terrible. So sorry you have to deal with that aspect of the cancelation.

[Cruise Junky]

I too am on this cancelled cruise and feel betrayed by X. I have not heard from my agent which is the largest advertiser on this board.

For those who say there is no downside to airfare do not book like I do using points. I booked the first segment for JFK-Sin on Nov 22, 2017 Business class using points as the first part of an open jaw itinerary since I am doing a b2b on the Dec 10/2017 as well. When they become available I will book the second segment Hkg-JFK on Cathay Pacific when it become available in January. My insurance will not cover any change fees for points tickets since I did not pay cash for the tickets in the first place.

A company should not sell something to a buyer and then sell it to someone else for a supposedly higher price. I know the cruise contract allows them to do it but I feel it is a sleazy practice. What we need is a cruisers bill of rights to prevent this type of thing happening.

 

 

Go after X for the fee to move your points back into your account. They've done it in the past. Insist on being made whole.

[lovescarborough]

Does that mean that those on our roll call from the UK are losing their deposits due to this cancelation?

I will eventually get my money back but that really seems out of line if it's not the passenger canceling in the UK. Or do you just mean if a passenger cancels they cannot get their $$ back in the UK?

I have no doubt about my refund from X.....not so sure what is going to happen with the $800 we spent on the TAs insurance (not X). Transferred it to another trip one time when we were the ones to cancel but not sure what happens in this case where the cruise is linked to a land tour. Problem for the passenger goes beyond the cruise itself where it is no doubt crystal clear legally that this can happen.

 

In the UK passengers only get their deposits back if the cruise line cancels but not the other way round. This seems very unfair but nothing we can do about it. We had our New Year in Hong Kong cruise cancelled early this year due to a charter but fortunately before any flights were bookable. We were offered a choice of alternative dates at the same price and $200 OBC compensation. We weren't happy especially as the cruise we booked was initially more expensive because of he New Year celebrations and we could have had the alternative cruises cheaper had we booked one of those instead. We took one of the alternatives as we really wanted the itinerary but it does leave a sour taste.

[Platoon Leader]

That's one of the reasons why I now only buy trip insurance based upon the amount of the deposit. Then as I hit other charges, such as final payment, I increase my insurance coverage and pay just the added premium difference. Because I initially bought the policy within the required number of days from deposit, I'm still covered for preexisting conditions.

 

I learned that on the CC Insurance Board and from Steve at the TripInsuranceStore. I used to buy direct from the insurance companies and paid the full future value of the trip.

 

Another tip, if you don't mind me suggesting, is to make sure your trip insurance is primary coverage. That means you don't need to submit to your other insurance, wait for their denial even though you know they won't have coverage but you must be denied before submitting to your trip insurance company. If primary, you immediately submit for trip insurance reimbursement. That could save you a month or more.

Thanks for the excellent advice. I learn something new everyday from these posts.

 

Sent from my XT1650 using Forums mobile app

[CHUCKIE50]

Go after X for the fee to move your points back into your account. They've done it in the past. Insist on being made whole.

Thanks I never would have thought to ask X to pay for restoring my points.

You can learn something new on CC every day.

[CHUCKIE50]

I heard from my TA the our cruise was officially cancelled. Celebrity is offering $200 obc for a future cruise and if we book from among several specific Millenium cruises "protected/lowest available rate" What is a protected rate? Does anyone know how this differs from a publicly available rate?

[4774Papa]

I heard from my TA the our cruise was officially cancelled. Celebrity is offering $200 obc for a future cruise and if we book from among several specific Millenium cruises "protected/lowest available rate" What is a protected rate? Does anyone know how this differs from a publicly available rate?

 

That rate may be what X did when our Millennium Japan cruise was chartered and cancelled.

 

We were give four cruises to choose from and our rate from the cancelled cruise was transferred to the new cruise, even though the new cruise had higher rates.

[Cruise Junky]

I heard from my TA the our cruise was officially cancelled. Celebrity is offering $200 obc for a future cruise and if we book from among several specific Millenium cruises "protected/lowest available rate" What is a protected rate? Does anyone know how this differs from a publicly available rate?

 

Make sure your TA knows your flights are booked

[CHUCKIE50]

Make sure your TA knows your flights are booked

Thank you. It's only one leg so far but still worth the fight.

Edited December 28, 2016 by CHUCKIE50

[Cruise Raider]

I heard from my TA the our cruise was officially cancelled. Celebrity is offering $200 obc for a future cruise and if we book from among several specific Millenium cruises "protected/lowest available rate" What is a protected rate? Does anyone know how this differs from a publicly available rate?

 

This is the rate that you paid for your chartered cruise within the same category.

We were booked on a cruise that was canceled a little over a year ago. I was a 14 night Alaska cruise on the Infinity and they gave us a list of options to choose to switch to and we'd be offered the same price as the cruise that was chartered, plus, we kept all the perks that we originally were to receive. In addition, they offered us $200 OBC for whichever cruise we chose. Unfortunately, the one we wanted was only a 9 night Pacific Coastal cruise and there was no way it should have been as expensive as a 14 night Alaska itinerary. We transferred our deposit to, OBC and the perks nevertheless. It ended up going way down in price and everything was locked in so it ended up being a great deal and a fantastic cruise, even though we were originally very disappointed. Had the price stayed so high, we probably would have ended up cancelling the Pacific Coastal cruise. Our main incentive to staying with the Pacific Coastal was the embarkation / debarkation port of San Francisco, same as the original Alaska itinerary.

Thus, we had no airfare changes to contend with. Others on our roll call were not as easily satisfied, though, most of which decided to simply cancel with Celebrity altogether. I understand their disappointment, though, as Alaska was a bucket list item for many of them, as was San Francisco.

[fshagan]

Another tip, if you don't mind me suggesting, is to make sure your trip insurance is primary coverage. That means you don't need to submit to your other insurance, wait for their denial even though you know they won't have coverage but you must be denied before submitting to your trip insurance company. If primary, you immediately submit for trip insurance reimbursement. That could save you a month or more.

 

Well, it depends. I bought through Steve at tripinsurancestore.com and the site did have a tip to take into consideration what happens if your primary trip insurance doesn't cover the entire cost. Your other insurance will not recognize the primary trip insurance as "in network" and will not consider the amount they cover as part of your deductible. So you will be stuck with the full deductible and co-pay for anything left over after the trip insurance pays.

 

Example (trip insurance as primary):

$15,000 medical bill

Primary trip insurance pays out it's max of $10,000

Your insurance applies your $3,500 deductible to the balance of $5,000, and pays $1,500.

You are out of pocket $3,500.

 

Example with trip insurance as secondary:

$15,000 medical bill

Your insurance applies your $3,500 deductible and pays 80% of the balance - $9,200. You have a balance of $5,800.

You file with trip insurance for the $5,800 and it gets paid.

You are out of pocket $0.

 

We always get $100,000 medical on our trip insurance, so I doubt this would be a factor for us. But our regular medical insurance is basically unlimited, so I'm more comfortable using trip insurance as secondary. Here's their explanation of it.

[ChucktownSteve]

Well, it depends. I bought through Steve at tripinsurancestore.com and the site did have a tip to take into consideration what happens if your primary trip insurance doesn't cover the entire cost. Your other insurance will not recognize the primary trip insurance as "in network" and will not consider the amount they cover as part of your deductible. So you will be stuck with the full deductible and co-pay for anything left over after the trip insurance pays.

 

Example (trip insurance as primary):

$15,000 medical bill

Primary trip insurance pays out it's max of $10,000

Your insurance applies your $3,500 deductible to the balance of $5,000, and pays $1,500.

You are out of pocket $3,500.

 

Example with trip insurance as secondary:

$15,000 medical bill

Your insurance applies your $3,500 deductible and pays 80% of the balance - $9,200. You have a balance of $5,800.

You file with trip insurance for the $5,800 and it gets paid.

You are out of pocket $0.

 

We always get $100,000 medical on our trip insurance, so I doubt this would be a factor for us. But our regular medical insurance is basically unlimited, so I'm more comfortable using trip insurance as secondary. Here's their explanation of it.

 

That's a very good point. And like you, I usually buy the higher limits because I know my Health care coverage does not extend outside the U.S.

 

There are always nuances. Therefore I believe it's good practice to use a knowledgeable agent who can take your individual circumstances into account and make the appropriate suggestions/recommendations.

[jshli]

There is one more thing I believe everyone should be aware of if preexisting coverage is needed. I purchase the Travelex Max policy within 30 days of our cruise deposit to be covered for preexisting conditions (enough to cover my deposit). As I add new components to my vacation that I want covered, such as airfare, etc., I need to pay Travelex an additional premium to cover each new component within 30 days of purchase in order to be covered under the preeisting clause. This was told to me by Steve at trip insurance store.com and confirmed by Travelex. I don't know if all travel insurance policies have this requirement but I think it is worth looking into.

[HokiePoq]

In the UK passengers only get their deposits back if the cruise line cancels but not the other way round. This seems very unfair but nothing we can do about it. We had our New Year in Hong Kong cruise cancelled early this year due to a charter but fortunately before any flights were bookable. We were offered a choice of alternative dates at the same price and $200 OBC compensation. We weren't happy especially as the cruise we booked was initially more expensive because of he New Year celebrations and we could have had the alternative cruises cheaper had we booked one of those instead. We took one of the alternatives as we really wanted the itinerary but it does leave a sour taste.

 

No, that doesn't seem fair! Am glad that you do get deposits back if the cruise line cancels...would be piracy if you didn't, lol.

[HokiePoq]

I heard from my TA the our cruise was officially cancelled. Celebrity is offering $200 obc for a future cruise and if we book from among several specific Millenium cruises "protected/lowest available rate" What is a protected rate? Does anyone know how this differs from a publicly available rate?

 

Do you know if any of these dates have our same itinerary? I'm hoping so but did not find any when I looked earlier before our cancelation. If there is one and our land trip just gets moved by the company, all would work out. Very concerned that X picked our one time only itinerary to take for their charter.

Thanks for posting that information...have not heard what our TA is going to offer if anything to replace this trip. In fact they were still advertising the whole trip in an email I got yesterday. Our roll call figured out what was going on before even the TAs advertising it were notified.

[Lastdance]

Nonsense, we've had cruises cancelled on Celebrity long before "Princess Lisa". I group decides to charter a ship so be it. It happens on all lines.

 

Man, are you coming off as really negative towards X lately. Maybe it's time to try another line, Oceania maybe? I've always liked your input and respect your opinions, but the last couple of weeks you have been a bit of a downer regarding Celebrity.

 

We sailed on Eclipse right after you and had a totally different experience.

 

Sorry

 

 

Totally agree! It might be time to move on....you are also proving informationn about Blu and Luminae that are untrue. Sorry Hank, but if we are noticing others are too...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited December 29, 2016 by Lastdance

[HokiePoq]

Do you know if any of these dates have our same itinerary? I'm hoping so but did not find any when I looked earlier before our cancelation. If there is one and our land trip just gets moved by the company, all would work out. Very concerned that X picked our one time only itinerary to take for their charter.

Thanks for posting that information...have not heard what our TA is going to offer if anything to replace this trip. In fact they were still advertising the whole trip in an email I got yesterday. Our roll call figured out what was going on before even the TAs advertising it were notified.

 

Heard again from the TA who told me the offered cruises are not our itinerary. This is what really bugs me about the cancelation. There is NO equivalent cruise to replace it. The dates were okay but they do not go where I want to go. Will wait and see if TA comes up with an Angkor Wat package before canceling totally.

Sorry for responding to my own post, but did find out the info.

[OCA REP]

That's great your health insurance covered it. I suspect that's because you were still in the U.S. Had you been in a foreign port, would they still have covered?

 

Not sure about that. We always take trip insurance, so who knows. Something for me to investigate during a slow day at work!

[SandG]

We had a cruise cancelled on us in July 2014 for an August 2015 cruise. The ship got chartered, and I remember being very upset too, but at least it was too early for us to have booked flights. In general, I always put off buying flights anyway, I find that I usually get better fares if I wait until we are a few months away from the cruise date.

 

This was a Mediterranean cruise on the Eclipse, and when this happened, I searched through the CC boards, and discovered that they'd cancelled a similar itinerary the year before for a charter to the same company (which specializes in LGBT cruises).

 

We were offered a more expensive cruise for the same price, but the timing of that cruise couldn't work for us. We were also given compensation in OBC. So we picked a different cruise, but a few months later we discovered that was a bad set of days too. The good news is that we were able to transfer that OBC to yet another cruise, which was almost as nice as our original choice.

 

Anyway, the point is that this has been happening for years and it's not exclusive to Asian sailings. If you read the fine print, the cruise companies reserve the right to cancel your cruise, although it is a pain for those who are affected.

 

BTW, my TA was not told about the cancellation until over a month after someone on our roll call noticed that it had disappeared from the list of cruises.