Lift & Shift / Double Book / Question

[Noreen411]

Hi

 

I searched through the various lift and shift threads but haven’t found my situation so I’m hoping I can get some advice here.  My TA will be calling Celebrity (probably with me on the phone) to ask our options also, but I know that sometimes you get more accurate information here than when you call depending who answers.  I also want to have a suggestion ready to provide.

 

Here’s the story:

We are booked to sail on Reflection January 2021 in a Royal Suite with a refundable deposit.  It’s 11 nights ABC itinerary.  This has been booked for a while so we have a good price.  I don’t think it will sail given the pandemic and even if it does I don’t think we’re ready to be among the first group of cruisers.  

 

When I looked online at the Lift and Shift Options there are 3 choices and only 1 is an ABC itinerary - on the Constellation for February 2022.  Normally that would be the end of the story and we would just go forward with that.

 

Here’s the wrinkle...when we were on our last cruise, we booked on board - that same February Constellation ABC for February 2022, in a Royal Suite, but with a non refundable deposit.  At the time it was pre-Covid so they also sold us on the renovations that were scheduled.  The cost is about $5,000 more than our Jan 2021 sailing.

 

I’m looking for advice on my options.  Here is what I was wondering if I can do:

 

Can I Lift & Shift my January 2021 Reflection to the February 2022 Constellation and be double booked for February 2022?  With Lift & Shift I keep my lower price and my refundable status for the deposit.  

 

Then what should I do with my currently booked more expensive non refundable Constellation reservation?  Do I cancel under Cruise with Confidence and get a FCC for the $1,800 deposit, then apply that FCC to my Lifted and Shifted Constellation at the lower price?  If I do that would moving the FCC that came from a non refundable deposit automatically make my booking non refundable?  Can I even use FCC on the same sailing that I received it from for cancelling?  If I can’t apply the FCC back to the same date sailing, how long is it valid for?  Is it valid for 1 year from sail date so February 2023?

 

Or could I just have them move my non refundable $1,800 deposit to the newly lifted and shifted refundable one?  If I did that would that then make the booking non refundable and now they are holding double deposits of $3,600 for the sailing?

 

I’m open to any suggestions.

 

Sorry for the long winded question, but I wanted to explain the situation as best as I could.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions/advice

Noreen

 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

5 hours ago, Noreen411 said:

Hi

 

I searched through the various lift and shift threads but haven’t found my situation so I’m hoping I can get some advice here.  My TA will be calling Celebrity (probably with me on the phone) to ask our options also, but I know that sometimes you get more accurate information here than when you call depending who answers.  I also want to have a suggestion ready to provide.

 

Here’s the story:

We are booked to sail on Reflection January 2021 in a Royal Suite with a refundable deposit.  It’s 11 nights ABC itinerary.  This has been booked for a while so we have a good price.  I don’t think it will sail given the pandemic and even if it does I don’t think we’re ready to be among the first group of cruisers.  

 

When I looked online at the Lift and Shift Options there are 3 choices and only 1 is an ABC itinerary - on the Constellation for February 2022.  Normally that would be the end of the story and we would just go forward with that.

 

Here’s the wrinkle...when we were on our last cruise, we booked on board - that same February Constellation ABC for February 2022, in a Royal Suite, but with a non refundable deposit.  At the time it was pre-Covid so they also sold us on the renovations that were scheduled.  The cost is about $5,000 more than our Jan 2021 sailing.

 

I’m looking for advice on my options.  Here is what I was wondering if I can do:

 

Can I Lift & Shift my January 2021 Reflection to the February 2022 Constellation and be double booked for February 2022?  With Lift & Shift I keep my lower price and my refundable status for the deposit.  

 

Then what should I do with my currently booked more expensive non refundable Constellation reservation?  Do I cancel under Cruise with Confidence and get a FCC for the $1,800 deposit, then apply that FCC to my Lifted and Shifted Constellation at the lower price?  If I do that would moving the FCC that came from a non refundable deposit automatically make my booking non refundable?  Can I even use FCC on the same sailing that I received it from for cancelling?  If I can’t apply the FCC back to the same date sailing, how long is it valid for?  Is it valid for 1 year from sail date so February 2023?

 

Or could I just have them move my non refundable $1,800 deposit to the newly lifted and shifted refundable one?  If I did that would that then make the booking non refundable and now they are holding double deposits of $3,600 for the sailing?

 

I’m open to any suggestions.

 

Sorry for the long winded question, but I wanted to explain the situation as best as I could.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions/advice

Noreen

 

 

Seems logical to L&S to 2022.  The put the $1800 toward 2022.  You cruise for less and it is probably a better deal than letting them cancel your cruise and certainly less stress.  Having $3600 in deposits doesn't sound like a big deal if you are doing a RS.I doubt the 2021 cruise will happen and would not cruise then anyway.  We elected not to book before July of 2021.  That will probably be good.

 

[upwarduk]

If Constellation hasn’t been refurbished by 2022, could you claim the sailing at a cheaper price? 

Friends were on her in January 2020 and said that parts were in real need of the upgrade.

[jelayne]

Curious why your deposit is $1800, we recently booked and the deposit was $900 our previous RS booking also had a $900 deposit ($450pp).

 

if you can use the FCC from cancelling the 2022 booking and L & S the Jan 2021 that would be my choice.  

[wrk2cruise]

Just this week I did a L&S of my Jan 2021 Connie cruise to Jan 2022 where I had an existing reservation.   The 2022 booking was B2B with the following sailing so my TA even unlinked the first cruise and linked the L&S to the B2B.  I told him that I would be moving that original reservation at some point in the future so I still have 2 bookings for the same sailing in 2022.

 

I believe you should have no problem cancelling the original NRD and getting FCC and applying it to the L&S reservation.  It will not affect the Refundable aspect of your reservation.  I would suggest NOT applying the FCC to the L&S reservation until final payment UNLESS they will take that as the deposit and refund your original deposit to your credit card.

 

This should be no problem at all

 

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

Curious why your deposit is $1800

 

Technically the deposits are double for CS and above suites.   Most times the reps forget about it.  I find TA's catch the detail more often.

 

From the Invoice:

Deposit amounts may vary by promotion. North American bookings will require a 200% deposit of standard deposit amount for deluxe suite categories. This amount is not reflected in the total deposit requirement listed above.

[jelayne]

55 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Technically the deposits are double for CS and above suites.   Most times the reps forget about it.  I find TA's catch the detail more often.

 

From the Invoice:

Deposit amounts may vary by promotion. North American bookings will require a 200% deposit of standard deposit amount for deluxe suite categories. This amount is not reflected in the total deposit requirement listed above.

Thanks for the info.   Neither the Celebrity website, CVP Or TA have ever charged the double deposit - thankfully as  Celebrity a fair amount of our $ already.

[Noreen411]

4 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Seems logical to L&S to 2022.  The put the $1800 toward 2022.  You cruise for less and it is probably a better deal than letting them cancel your cruise and certainly less stress.  Having $3600 in deposits doesn't sound like a big deal if you are doing a RS.I doubt the 2021 cruise will happen and would not cruise then anyway.  We elected not to book before July of 2021.  That will probably be good.

 

Thank you for confirming it makes sense

[Noreen411]

4 hours ago, upwarduk said:

If Constellation hasn’t been refurbished by 2022, could you claim the sailing at a cheaper price? 

Friends were on her in January 2020 and said that parts were in real need of the upgrade.

I don’t think that would work, there was an older thread about people looking for discounts on one of the other ships that didn’t get the full renovation (maybe Eclipse) after they booked assuming it would be done but it didn’t fly.

[Noreen411]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

Curious why your deposit is $1800, we recently booked and the deposit was $900 our previous RS booking also had a $900 deposit ($450pp).

 

if you can use the FCC from cancelling the 2022 booking and L & S the Jan 2021 that would be my choice.  

Our deposits have been $900 per person for Royal Suites.  Could it be based on length of sailing?  Ours were 11 or 12 nights.

 

We are definitely leaning towards the L & S and then applying the FCC (if we can)

 

thank you

[Noreen411]

3 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

Just this week I did a L&S of my Jan 2021 Connie cruise to Jan 2022 where I had an existing reservation.   The 2022 booking was B2B with the following sailing so my TA even unlinked the first cruise and linked the L&S to the B2B.  I told him that I would be moving that original reservation at some point in the future so I still have 2 bookings for the same sailing in 2022.

 

I believe you should have no problem cancelling the original NRD and getting FCC and applying it to the L&S reservation.  It will not affect the Refundable aspect of your reservation.  I would suggest NOT applying the FCC to the L&S reservation until final payment UNLESS they will take that as the deposit and refund your original deposit to your credit card.

 

This should be no problem at all

 

Hi.

 

This is great info, thank you very much for sharing.

 

Your situation sounds the closest to ours that I have read about.

 

I didn’t even think of holding off on using the FCC until close to final payment but that makes a lot of sense.

 

Thank you 

[Noreen411]

Next easy question...

 

Should I do the Lift and Shift online or wait for my TA to call to do it?

 

I am guessing she would need to call anyway to change the cabin number if I don’t like where they place us.

 

Should we wait to cancel the current 2022 cruise until after L&S is squared away?

 

Thank you

Noreen

[wrk2cruise]

When my TA did a prior L&S they used a similar request form they had available on CruisingPower.  I didn't see any reason to involve the TA to initiate the last one.  I sent him an email telling him I made the request and yes I had him switch cabins after it was done (I'm not sure he had to call Celebrity to do that).

 

I would definitely wait to cancel the original reservation until after you were all set with the L&S.

 

 

[Noreen411]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

When my TA did a prior L&S they used a similar request form they had available on CruisingPower.  I didn't see any reason to involve the TA to initiate the last one.  I sent him an email telling him I made the request and yes I had him switch cabins after it was done (I'm not sure he had to call Celebrity to do that).

 

I would definitely wait to cancel the original reservation until after you were all set with the L&S.

 

 

Thank you again for great advice

[Noreen411]

Hi

 

OK - step 1 is done.

I went on line and requested the Lift & Shift

 

I will keep you posted as things move along

 

Thank you all for your help

 

Noreen

[wrk2cruise]

Watch your future sailings in your Celebrity account as you won't get any confirmation when it's actually processed but I suspect your TA will.   Hopefully by mid week you will see the sailing change and you will have 2 reservations under the same sailing in your upcoming sailings list.

[Noreen411]

10 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Watch your future sailings in your Celebrity account as you won't get any confirmation when it's actually processed but I suspect your TA will.   Hopefully by mid week you will see the sailing change and you will have 2 reservations under the same sailing in your upcoming sailings list.

Thank you again for all your help

[mahdnc]

14 hours ago, Noreen411 said:

Our deposits have been $900 per person for Royal Suites.  Could it be based on length of sailing?  Ours were 11 or 12 nights.

 

We are definitely leaning towards the L & S and then applying the FCC (if we can)

 

thank you

 

Thanks for your timely posting.  We have a very similar situation where we may lift and shift a cruise to a sailing that we have already booked.  I have to make a decision in the next week.

[Noreen411]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

 

Thanks for your timely posting.  We have a very similar situation where we may lift and shift a cruise to a sailing that we have already booked.  I have to make a decision in the next week.

I knew I wouldn’t be the only one in such a situation.  Thank you for posting about yours. 

 

Would you mind keeping me posted on your progress?   I am thinking that since we have similar situations we can leverage each other’s experiences if either of us run into any issues.

 

Noreen

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, Noreen411 said:

I knew I wouldn’t be the only one in such a situation.  Thank you for posting about yours. 

 

Would you mind keeping me posted on your progress?   I am thinking that since we have similar situations we can leverage each other’s experiences if either of us run into any issues.

 

Noreen

 

Yes, I will.

 

David

[mahdnc]

@Noreen411,

 

Well I pulled the trigger today.  Here are the details:

 

My family of 4 was booked in an FV cabin on the Dec 20 2020 Hong Kong to Singapore 14 night cruise aboard Millennium.  My family also holds a reservation for an S2 suite on the Dec 19 2021 Hong Kong to Singapore 14 night cruise, but this time on Solstice.  Obviously both are Christmas and New Years sailings.  

 

Each reservation was held with a $400 deposit because we booked them on board (a year apart).  The Millennium deposit was fully refundable while we chose the non-refundable option on Solstice.

 

So today through our travel agent, we lifted and shifted the Millennium reservation to the same holiday sailing that we hold the S2 reservation on Solstice.

 

The interesting thing for us here is that, for now, the FVs are not available on Solstice because they are being offered as Sunset Suites which was the plan after Solstice gets her Revolution makeover.  So there was a question as to what cabin would Celebrity Lift and Shift us to.

 

So Celebrity placed my family of 4 in two connecting balcony cabins (Cat 1B).  Overall we came out ahead financially.  On the good side, our adult kids are now 1st/2nd passengers in a balcony cabin but only paying 3rd/4th passenger fare ($999 pp) thanks to the Lift and Shift.  Also, because they were holiday cruises, we were shifted from M class to S class which generally is in the more expensive direction. 

 

Also the cruise fare for the 2 balcony cabins together were $4,400 cheaper than the S2 reservation (and more space and 2 bathrooms).

 

One negative was that the port charges + fees are $94 pp higher on the Solstice sailing.  Incredibly, the Millennium port charges and fees were only $48 pp. 

 

The other negative is that we will not be able to apply for the $250 RCL shareholder credit for the L&S booking while we had it successfully applied to our S2 reservation (because of when the reservations were made).  I will apply anyway to see what happens, but it was turned down when I submitted a request for the Millennium reservation a few months ago. 

 

We went ahead and cancelled our S2 reservation and we will get an FCC for the non-refundable deposit which we will apply to the Lifted and Shifted reservation.

 

So overall, I am pleased with the outcome.

 

David

Edited September 7, 2020 by mahdnc

[Noreen411]

30 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

@Noreen411,

 

Well I pulled the trigger today.  Here are the details:

 

My family of 4 was booked in an FV cabin on the Dec 20 2020 Hong Kong to Singapore 14 night cruise aboard Millennium.  My family also holds a reservation for an S2 suite on the Dec 19 2021 Hong Kong to Singapore 14 night cruise, but this time on Solstice.  Obviously both are Christmas and New Years sailings.  

 

Each reservation was held with a $400 deposit because we booked them on board (a year apart).  The Millennium deposit was fully refundable while we chose the non-refundable option on Solstice.

 

So today through our travel agent, we lifted and shifted the Millennium reservation to the same holiday sailing that we hold the S2 reservation on Solstice.

 

The interesting thing for us here is that, for now, the FVs are not available on Solstice because they are being offered as Sunset Suites which was the plan after Solstice gets her Revolution makeover.  So there was a question as to what cabin would Celebrity Lift and Shift us to.

 

So Celebrity placed my family of 4 in two connecting balcony cabins (Cat 1B).  Overall we came out ahead financially.  On the good side, our adult kids are now 1st/2nd passengers in a balcony cabin but only paying 3rd/4th passenger fare ($999 pp) thanks to the Lift and Shift.  Also, because they were holiday cruises, we were shifted from M class to S class which generally is in the more expensive direction. 

 

Also the cruise fare for the 2 balcony cabins together were $4,400 cheaper than the S2 reservation (and more space and 2 bathrooms).

 

One negative was that the port charges + fees are $94 pp higher on the Solstice sailing.  Incredibly, the Millennium port charges and fees were only $48 pp. 

 

The other negative is that we will not be able to apply for the $250 RCL shareholder credit for the L&S booking while we had it successfully applied to our S2 reservation (because of when the reservations were made).  I will apply anyway to see what happens, but it was turned down when I submitted a request for the Millennium reservation a few months ago. 

 

We went ahead and cancelled our S2 reservation and we will get an FCC for the non-refundable deposit which we will apply to the Lifted and Shifted reservation.

 

So overall, I am pleased with the outcome.

 

David

Thank you for the update.  Sounds like you were able to get it solved quickly with your TA.  I agree the two rooms for 4 people sounds much better than 1 room.

 

I forgot about the shareholder OBC but the cruise is so far away I will do that as it gets closer.  Most of the time they find some reason to deny it for me.

 

I will post once my lift and shift is resolved as it’s still in process.

 

Thank you

 

Noreen

[jelayne]

23 hours ago, Noreen411 said:

Our deposits have been $900 per person for Royal Suites.  Could it be based on length of sailing?  Ours were 11 or 12 nights.

 

We are definitely leaning towards the L & S and then applying the FCC (if we can)

 

thank you

I must  be lucky RS for 15  nights, $450 pp deposit.  

[wrk2cruise]

10 hours ago, Noreen411 said:

I forgot about the shareholder OBC but the cruise is so far away I will do that as it gets closer.  Most of the time they find some reason to deny it for me.

 

The rules changed for bookings made June 1, 2019 and later to make it combineable with pretty much everything.   It will depend on when your original reservation was made for the L&S sailing.  If it's before June 2019 and you have any perks from Celebrity it will probably be denied but always submit it anyway.

 

If it were me I wouldn't wait.  They probably don't have too many requests at this time.

[Noreen411]

Hi

 

Just a quick update...

 

I checked Celebrity’s website This morning to see if my original Reflection Jan 2021 sailing showed my cabin available.  It did so then I checked the Feb 2022 Constellation sailing to see what Royal Suites were showing (just being curious to see what my options would be to change if I didn’t like where they’ve placed me).

 

Next step was logging in to check...they put me in the one I would have chosen (aside from the originally booked one that I already have).  I’ve just on the other side of the ship.

 

I won’t bother my TA right away since the Lift/Shift part seemed to work and I’m guessing she’ll see an updated confirmation to send me.

 

Next step will be cancelling the more expensive, non refundable booking for the FCC, but it doesn’t seem like that’s a rush to do immediately.

 

I will continue to update as we move along with the process

 

Thank you all for your help/advice

Noreen