Sometimes You Win

[Fouremco]

A couple of days after Christmas, I thought that I'd pay off the gratuities for our upcoming March cruise. I called our big box TA and they processed the request, sending me a new invoice reflecting the revised total amount paid. My online bank account showed the charge against my credit card.

 

Yesterday, I noticed that Celebrity has credited back the exact same amount to my card. As neither Celebrity nor the TA had informed me of this transaction, I called the TA to find out what was going on. As it turned out, due to some IT issue at Celebrity's end (surprise!), by time the accounting department got around to actioning the payment, the gratuities were already shown as having been paid, so they refunded what they thought to be a duplicate payment. OK, mistakes happen and I had to repay the amount, which had now gone up by a few dollars. Although the Canadian dollar had strengthened between the time of the initial gratuities payment and yesterday, Celebrity's exchange rate had gone in the opposite direction for some strange reason. Minor issue, and the TA actually picked up the added cost.

 

While a fairly simple issue to resolve, the whole thing took close to two hours due to an initial delay getting through to an agent with the TA, and she in turn having a really long delay getting through to Celebrity. In the mean time, I mentioned to the TA that I'd noticed a drop in price since final payment, and mused whether some OBC or an upgrade from our SV cabin might be in the offing. The agent, extremely helpful and the epitome of what a good agent should be, said she's definitely enquire to see if a C3 or C2 might be possible. She did warn me that if an upgrade was available, for a reduced amount or possibly even free, I might lose the Go Big perk acquired with the initial booking. As we really like our SV cabin and didn't want to lose our beverage package, I said that we would entertain the idea of an upgrade, but would have to see what Celebrity had to offer. While waiting for the agent to get through, I started looking at the available Concierge cabins. As it turned out, there were no C2 or C3 cabins that I would trade for our Deck 8 centre SV cabin, but noted that there were two C1s available that would suit us.

 

After finally getting through to Celebrity, the TA advised me of the gratuities issue and its resolution, and was happy to announce that Celebrity would give us a free upgrade to the C1 cabin of our choice! We would also get to keep our beverage package. We selected a cabin on Deck 11, directly above our Deck 8 SV, so we retained the view we love and picked up the concierge benefits. We've never viewed the latter sufficient to justify the additional price (usually over $1000 on the cruises we've booked), but we're quite happy to give them a try. :D

 

A big thank you to both the big box TA and to Celebrity!

[Barwick Cruiser]

Are you sure the higher cost for the grats is not due to the increase in rates by Celebrity as of Jan 1 and not the currency exchange? If so, since you prepaid before Jan 1 you should not have to pay the higher rates.

 

Also, with the current promo you'd get the "better" perks so 2 instead of one. Or does your sailing not qualify for that promo?

 

Enjoy your cruise, sounds like you've got an ideal cabin for you and you'll get extra CC points being in Concierge as well as the embarkation lunch!

[Cruise Raider]

Nice ... enjoy that concierge cabin!! Glad it all worked out for you!

[Fouremco]

Are you sure the higher cost for the grats is not due to the increase in rates by Celebrity as of Jan 1 and not the currency exchange? If so, since you prepaid before Jan 1 you should not have to pay the higher rates.

 

Also, with the current promo you'd get the "better" perks so 2 instead of one. Or does your sailing not qualify for that promo?

 

Enjoy your cruise, sounds like you've got an ideal cabin for you and you'll get extra CC points being in Concierge as well as the embarkation lunch!

No, definitely the exchange rate, not the new gratuities rate. The slight increase was just a few dollars, nowhere near the extra $28 the new rate would cost. When you book your cruise in CAD, everything purchased pre-cruise, such as dining, OBC, grats, etc., must be paid in CAD. Once upon a time, the exchange rate used by Celebrity was quite favourable, but that is no longer the case.

 

With the free upgrade, I was fortunate to retain the single perk offered at the time of the original booking.

 

Yes indeed, the extra points will push us into the next level. :)

 

Edited to add that I just noticed that you are from Barrie, so I guess that you too are familiar with the exchange issue.

[jelayne]

I don’t want to rain on your parade,but frompast experience with a free upgrade you get the Captains Club points for the cabin you booked, not the one your were upgraded to at no cost.

 

We just got upgraded from a SS to a CS but will get the points for the SS.

[Fouremco]

Thanks for the info, jelayne. No worries about the rain, I always appreciate getting information from those in the know. In this case, just giving us the upgrade was a nice gesture, so I won't be upset if Celebrity doesn't award the extra points.

[gerelmx]

After finally getting through to Celebrity, the TA advised me of the gratuities issue and its resolution, and was happy to announce that Celebrity would give us a free upgrade to the C1 cabin of our choice! We would also get to keep our beverage package. We selected a cabin on Deck 11, directly above our Deck 8 SV, so we retained the view we love and picked up the concierge benefits. We've never viewed the latter sufficient to justify the additional price (usually over $1000 on the cruises we've booked), but we're quite happy to give them a try. :D

 

A big thank you to both the big box TA and to Celebrity!

 

Don't forget to update your upgrade in the roll call

[rvlandandsea]

With your cc stateroom you get lunch on embarkation day in the MDR and real priority embarkation. We really enjoyed this benefit. Have fun.

[Keith1010]

Very nice.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

Glad it worked out!

[QE2_Fan]

A nice win, well done! Don’t forget to avail yourselves of the exclusive Concierge Class Lunch in the MDR on embarkation day!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk