Equinox 29 Feb-Mar 7, 2020 Smooth Sailing Until Today

[cluso]

Just now, RickT said:

@cluso, how are things on board?  Any reported illness (Covid/Noro/etc)?  We are supposed to board tomorrow using the new screening process.. should be interesting.  DW will not be happy if the shops have been picked clean!

Everything has been fine on board.  Haven’t heard of any illness.  They will probably be restocking inventory.  Hoping that getting off will be no problem—we have a long drive back to the Destin area.  We did spend a little more time on board this trip.  

[Greenie715]

Thanks so much for the information we will be boarding tomorrow and your report was helpful.

[hrhdhd]

1 hour ago, RickT said:

@cluso, how are things on board?  Any reported illness (Covid/Noro/etc)?  We are supposed to board tomorrow using the new screening process.. should be interesting.  DW will not be happy if the shops have been picked clean!

 

I was thinking the same thing about the shops. 😳

 

See ya at the M&G.

[cluso]

19 hours ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

 

Can you ask at the Future Booking desk if you can use the NonRefund OBC toward a cruise deposit on a future cruise?  It's a stretch, but maybe?!

 

 

 

They said things are changing daily, you need to ask when you are ready.

[cluso]

19 hours ago, RickT said:

@cluso, how are things on board?  Any reported illness (Covid/Noro/etc)?  We are supposed to board tomorrow using the new screening process.. should be interesting.  DW will not be happy if the shops have been picked clean!

 

Getting off was a breeze (self disembark).  Immigration was facial, did not need to show passport (but have it available just in case).

Please let us know how the new screening went.

[RickT]

@cluso - boarded around noon.  Took a minute or two to scan our body temperature (dw and I were both fine). Total time to go through security and other checkpoints probably the quickest ever. Think we were on board in 15 minutes. 
 

Thanks for leaving the ship clean and tidy... dw is concerned about low inventory in the shops 😪

[keesar]

On 3/6/2020 at 1:14 PM, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

 

Can you ask at the Future Booking desk if you can use the NonRefund OBC toward a cruise deposit on a future cruise?  It's a stretch, but maybe?!

 

 

 

We were refused when asked about using those funds.  Needed to use a credit card.

[Covepointcruiser]

This is upsetting.   We have been on countless cruises with Celebrity missing ports but have never been offered any cabin credit other than the return of port fees.   You guys have gotten a great deal!

[Lastdance]

31 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

This is upsetting.   We have been on countless cruises with Celebrity missing ports but have never been offered any cabin credit other than the return of port fees.   You guys have gotten a great deal!

 

Four  of us were traveling on May 4, but a friend received a cancer diagnosis.  Two of us received a full refund without any paperwork, but the other two, myself and another friend were finally offered a $200 pp. fee, with the rest to be credited to our credit cards.  We have now received everything but 25%, so are hoping the rest is refunded.  Two dealt just with Celebrity, but myself and friend used the big box store.  I keep being reassured that we will receive the rest, but a few days has turned into many  weeks now.  My representative is not someone that takes good care of customers at all, always refering to someone else or giving a "no" answer.  Captain's Club at least cares, as they know how many cruises I have booked in the future.  I believe I will get the money back, but also have to file with insurace for the two-hundred within 90 days, and so far it has been over 30+.  I do have all my paperwork in order, and Celebrity has the doc's note etc.  Justy a conundrum for two of us right now.  I just do not want them to forget about us with all that is going on, and my TA is someone I would never recommend to anyone.  Once she received our booking, she would not answer any of my questions, even though I refered a passenger to her.  Celebrity is my line of choice, but over $1,000 is not peanuts, and I would be happy to apply it to another booking or whatever.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Lastdance

[cluso]

40 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

This is upsetting.   We have been on countless cruises with Celebrity missing ports but have never been offered any cabin credit other than the return of port fees.   You guys have gotten a great deal!

 

I think one of the reasons this decision was made was because people sat in their excursion holding areas for over 3 hours.  We gave up early.  All that  $$$ had to be used within 2 days, so Celebrity probably made out fine.

[mom says]

This is the first I've heard of anyone complaining because they received an unexpected windfalll because they missed a totally missable port call. One person complaining that they could not possibly spend it all? Oh, Boo Hoo. 99.99% of the people I talked to that day were surprised and grateful for the unexpected OBC, and were enjoying the challenge of spending it all. DH and I received about $500US, and it was mostly spent by the last evening. The amount left over was applied as extra gratuities to our staff, who really went above and beyond that day, opening and serving delicious lunches in all the dining rooms with only an hour's notice.

 

I heard a few grumblings around noon, wondering why we didn't just leave. But the Captain later confirmed my theory that it was more prudent to wait for a clean bill of health, rather than repeat the same scenario at the next port.

 

It was a very enjoyable cruise, with both embarkation and disembarkation easy and fast.

[ipeeinthepool]

I'm sorry things haven't gone well but don't let you Non Refundable credit expire at the end of the cruise.   You can give it to the staff or go down to the casino and convert it into chips and bet it at the roulette table.  You can keep you winnings but you need to keep betting your chips from the credit until you lose them.  It would be a great gift to give it to the staff.

[cluso]

21 minutes ago, mom says said:

This is the first I've heard of anyone complaining because they received an unexpected windfalll because they missed a totally missable port call. One person complaining that they could not possibly spend it all? Oh, Boo Hoo. 99.99% of the people I talked to that day were surprised and grateful for the unexpected OBC, and were enjoying the challenge of spending it all. 

 

I don't think anyone was complaining, just surprised at the generous goodwill from Celebrity.  As seen above, some people have previously enjoyed that port, each to their own.  Many people forwarded some $$ to the crew.  And, some people spent  money on a lot of "junk".  Again, different strokes.  🤪

[CruiserN1]

My husband and I were extremely disappointed to miss whale watching in Samana. We picked this itinerary for this cruise stop as we love seeing humpbacks. We got up early and waited hours in the Equinox theater, where we were repeatedly told that things were moving along with the port authorities and that we should continue to wait in the theater. Finally around 11am we were told that it was unclear when we would be cleared and we could leave the theater and wait elsewhere for an announcement to return to the theater. 

 

I stopped at the spa to book a massage and then went to the buffet for lunch. The captain announced the decision to depart just as we finished eating. We were disappointed and annoyed to have lost half a day of vacation and the opportunity to see the whales, but counted our blessings that we are healthy. The OBC was a nice gift, we got about $350 and between the massage, dinner at Murano, and a sale on Nautica that my husband took advantage of, we spent it.

 

I too have been on cruises where ports were missed due to weather or issues at the port and it's always disappointing. I think this one was different due to the uncertainty of being allowed to disembark keeping people captive in the theater for so long.

 

By the letter of the law, Celebrity could have refunded just the port tax (we got that too, about $7 each) but we left the cruise feeling like they understood that it was a big deal to quite a few of us and that we were taken care of.