Celebrity Cruises Cruise Notification - Millenium Reflection cancellations

[bob278]

I didn't get that e-mail.  Guess it's because I already  made the change.  Nothing except additional OBC, but that basically covered the additional cost (had military discount but it isn't being offered on any cruises that i see right now).

[peteukmcr]

3 hours ago, D C said:

No change in the offer?

No, still the same and the deadline of 28th December. We’re cancelling because not prepared to pay prevailing rates which will mean a £600 increase in fare and the only ship with suitable alternatives is Infinity. Silhouette is even more expensive and cannot be justified. 

[LGW59]

19 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

No, still the same and the deadline of 28th December. We’re cancelling because not prepared to pay prevailing rates which will mean a £600 increase in fare and the only ship with suitable alternatives is Infinity. Silhouette is even more expensive and cannot be justified. 

As they are the ones who made this change, I find it hard to believe that passengers who were already booked, will not be honored for their current rates, it is not right!  Future/new bookings sure, that makes sense, but not for those who had already booked.

[D C]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

As they are the ones who made this change, I find it hard to believe that passengers who were already booked, will not be honored for their current rates, it is not right!  Future/new bookings sure, that makes sense, but not for those who had already booked.

Any idea what Celebrity's procedure was for a similar cancellation pre-covid? Such would be the case if a booked cruise was chartered as I think that's more common than a complete itinerary reassignment. 

[wrk2cruise]

I have had a cruise changed due to a similar deployment change, keeping the ship in Europe longer as well as 2 different sailings cancelled for an extended dry dock.    In all cases they provided a few select cruises at the protected price plus a small amount of OBC for the trouble and also and amount to cover air change fees if change was within the timeframe where air itineraries are open (330 days).

[D C]

36 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I have had a cruise changed due to a similar deployment change, keeping the ship in Europe longer as well as 2 different sailings cancelled for an extended dry dock.    In all cases they provided a few select cruises at the protected price plus a small amount of OBC for the trouble and also and amount to cover air change fees if change was within the timeframe where air itineraries are open (330 days).

Thanks. That seems like reasonable treatment. 

[bob278]

For a great many of the COVID-related changes, they had the Lift & Shift program going where you could move to a similar cruise (same lentgth and general itinerary Caribbean-Caribbean, repositining-repositioning, etc) within a month either way the next year of your canceled cruise with price protection.  That program ended (I think) the first of December.

 

We managed to use that for a 2020 TA on Constellation, but it took some pleading and persistence as it was similar (TA), but the 2021 cruise was 15 days instead of 14.  They finally compromised by charging us 1 /14 of the 2020 cruise fare for the additional day.  I thought that was extremely fair to all parties.  We did lose the starting point of Barcelona for Rome which was a slight disappointment but not really very bad.  We had just made some nice plans for pre-cruise in Barcelona.

 

I suspect that Celebrity feels that 18 - 20 months notice does not require as robust a compensation offer.  I also believe they are counting on a real pent-up demand for cruises so price push-back is not going to be as prevalent as in normal times.

Edited December 21, 2020 by bob278

[wrk2cruise]

But they took a deposit in good faith to deliver a product that they at their discretion are no longer offering .   Covid was nobody's fault.  This was a decision on the part of the cruise line for their benefit. 

 

FYI L&S currently expires Jan 31, 2021 but has no impact on these 2022 sailings.

[bob278]

OK.  So the time allowed expires soon.  I knew there was a reason that our April Summit/reflection nightmare was not eligible.

[D C]

2 hours ago, bob278 said:

 

 

 

 

I suspect that Celebrity feels that 18 - 20 months notice does not require as robust a compensation offer.  I also believe they are counting on a real pent-up demand for cruises so price push-back is not going to be as prevalent as in normal times.

They're only 13 months out for the millennium itinerary. 

 

As far as pent up demand goes, I think that celebrity's new attitude is going to bite them in the ass.  I can book a 7n cruise on the Sky Princess on Jan 22 or 29 for far less than Celebrity thinks I should pay for any alternative cruise with the same perks. 

[bob278]

Hard to say how people will react.  In looking at several cruises in 2022 (some with almost obscene pricing), there are a LOT of cabins sold.  Since we don't sail with Princess, Carnival, HAL, etc. I have no idea if they are also keeping prices very high for when cruising resumes.

 

But from reading here on Cruise Critic, I see many more posts about how anxious peple are to get back on a ship than I do saying simply that they don't plan to cruise again or will be moving to another line.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that things will be a lot different for all of us (and all the cruise lines) for the next few years.

 

[D C]

21 hours ago, bob278 said:

Hard to say how people will react.  In looking at several cruises in 2022 (some with almost obscene pricing), there are a LOT of cabins sold.  Since we don't sail with Princess, Carnival, HAL, etc. I have no idea if they are also keeping prices very high for when cruising resumes.

 

But from reading here on Cruise Critic, I see many more posts about how anxious peple are to get back on a ship than I do saying simply that they don't plan to cruise again or will be moving to another line.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that things will be a lot different for all of us (and all the cruise lines) for the next few years.

 

Knowing us and our friends, we're not willing to pay Celebrity prices for alternative cruises on Celebrity.  For the first time, we've cross shopped to Princess, and simply can't justify the premium that Celebrity is charging. 

 

We're eager to get back on a ship, but we're either done cruising or we'll find a home elsewhere. 

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, D C said:

Knowing us and our friends, we're not willing to pay Celebrity prices for alternative cruises on Celebrity.  For the first time, we've cross shopped to Princess, and simply can't justify the premium that Celebrity is charging. 

 

We're eager to get back on a ship, but we're either done cruising or we'll find a home elsewhere. 

Understandable, we all need to be comfortable with what we spend for the product we expect.  Good luck, hope Princess will provide that for you, being at sea is being at sea!!!

[D C]

17 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Understandable, we all need to be comfortable with what we spend for the product we expect.  Good luck, hope Princess will provide that for you, being at sea is being at sea!!!

We've not committed yet, so we'll see how it goes. 

 

We booked the Millennium a year ago for under $2k total with 3 perks (balcony).  Right now, a 7n western on the edge is over $2k per person and a 7n on the Reflection is just under $2k per person. I hope that anyone willing to pay that has a marvelous time, but Celebrity is fast on their way to making a week at Disney World look inexpensive. 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by D C

[peteukmcr]

Well after a few emails between me and Celebrity, I assume our 16th April reservation has been cancelled as the deadline was yesterday. 

 

Celebrity couldn't offer anything more other than moving the booking to the 2nd April sailing at the same rate, but we can't sail earlier than already planned. No new Caribbean sailings will be released until early possibly early 2021. So bye bye Celebrity.