Aug. 4, 2023 Solstice to Alaska Cancelled

[KellyCz]

We got a call from Celebrity today to say our Alaska cruise was cancelled. The rep said it's now a charter cruise. Does that mean some entity has reserved the entire ship?

 

They're offering $200 OBC to switch to another week. But a quick search of the Aug. 11 date (same itinerary, same cabin type, same deck) shows pricing of $1,000 less than we paid for the two of us. We might cancel and book the following week, but our anniversary is during the original week, so we might choose another cruise instead so we can be traveling on our actual anniversary. Either way, we'll be celebrating our 30th somewhere awesome!

[jbcallender]

Heart Attack.  We are on Millenium northbound on August 4.  Typically, that means there is a music cruise that chartered it.  Those seem to be getting very popular.

 

[KellyCz]

19 minutes ago, jbcallender said:

Heart Attack.  We are on Millenium northbound on August 4. 

 

Didn't mean to scare you! We're looking at your Millenium northbound as a possible option. Need to check flight cost Vancouver vs. Seattle.

[1025cruise]

Yes, an organization has fully booked your ship. You would need to book through that organization, most likely at a higher price, if you wanted to stay on that cruise.

[kayehall]

16 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Yes, an organization has fully booked your ship. You would need to book through that organization, most likely at a higher price, if you wanted to stay on that cruise.

Do they advise what that organization is?  We have sailed with some "questionable" groups and it was a horrible experience.  Cruise line did not advise of the groups prior to sailing.

[39august]

With a full ship charter no one but that organization can book the  cruise.  So no chance of annoying other passengers. If simply a large group is booked on your cruise,  you will have no advance notice of that or any group, questionable of not. We were on a Princess cruise years ago with a business group who took up public spaces for meetings, training, etc. And they jammed the theater shows as well. Not fun. However, one of these days, I'd like to do a jazz charter. They are so expensive tho'.

[14 months and counting]

In 2020 we were on the second part of a btb and a large group came onboard the SILHOUETTE.  The bars were packed at noon and continued all day and night.  The ship was filled with loud,  drunken passengers who took over the venues.  This continued for the next nine days.  Spoiled our cruise.  I wish they had chartered the ship and had told us in advance so we could have changed our plans.

[Ferry_Watcher]

It will be interesting to see what group chartered the 2800 passenger Solstice.  During the 2022 Alaska season, there were three (3) separate 800 passenger Thai Amway charter groups that sailed on Royal Caribbean out of Seattle.

[FourNines]

1 hour ago, 14 months and counting said:

In 2020 we were on the second part of a btb and a large group came onboard the SILHOUETTE.  The bars were packed at noon and continued all day and night.  The ship was filled with loud,  drunken passengers who took over the venues.  This continued for the next nine days.  Spoiled our cruise.  I wish they had chartered the ship and had told us in advance so we could have changed our plans.

That would piss me off to no end.

Can you imagine some poor family's yearly vacation ruined by such nonsense?

I hope the cruise line stepped up somehow, but I'm sure they didn't.

[1025cruise]

For full ship charters, it's easy. That's the only way to book.

For partial charters/groups, no, they don't announce ahead of time. Sometimes if you google your ship and the date, you might find out about a partial charter.

[danceswithphones]

I've used this resource in the past. 

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

 

Trust me. Partial charters can be a pain. We booked a cruise on the Century and it was mostly participants of a Mahjong tournament. They had several venues blocked off.

 

[Algebralovr]

If you switch to a different week and that week is less expensive, you should pay the prevailing rate that is less.  If the other week is more, they should price protect you.

You might also look at Eclipse, since she should do round trip out of Vancouver.  You can still fly into Seattle… there are shuttle services that will do the transfer from SEATAC to Vancouver.  You would want to look at timing, and allow an extra day coming and going for the transfer. 

[KellyCz]

Thanks for all the input. We ended up changing to a different week for the same ship and itinerary. Celebrity gave us $200 onboard credit, and, as someone mentioned, we're now paying the lower fare since the new week is less expensive.

[Captain-John]

Different line but I can sympathise with the issue. NCL told me due to 'Data Protection' they could not confirm to me if a group was onboard (nor obviously who the group are) - BS! They assured me my experience won't be impacted. It's obvious all lines are clamouring for the $. Although in this case it seems to have worked out OK for the OP with the OBC offern and rebooking being cheaper.

[horseymike]

2 hours ago, KellyCz said:

Thanks for all the input. We ended up changing to a different week for the same ship and itinerary. Celebrity gave us $200 onboard credit, and, as someone mentioned, we're now paying the lower fare since the new week is less expensive.

 

[horseymike]

Hope you have a great cruise and a wonderful anniversary.🚢

Sometimes things work out for the best.

[the penguins]

On 12/8/2022 at 1:52 PM, 1025cruise said:

Yes, an organization has fully booked your ship. You would need to book through that organization, most likely at a higher price, if you wanted to stay on that cruise.

We joined a full charter classical music cruise on Reflection out of Southampton absolutely fantastic.

Ask Celebrity who has chartered it, for what type of cruise. If you can book it could be that an extra cost would be well worth it.

[Captain-John]

6 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Ask Celebrity who has chartered it, for what type of cruise

I would be very interested if they shared that detail. They should, but my experience with another line had them hide behind "data protection" nonsense as mentioned. 

 

I'd switch to X for their transparency alone if they do share! 

[TMLAalum]

Re: Anniversary

Even if not the exact date, select a night during your rescheduled cruise to celebrate. Probably not the first or last as those nights are more challenging for the waitstaff. Let Celebrity know your "new" anniversary date. On our last cruise our anniversary was a couple of days after we disembarked so we celebrated the fake date on the ship and were given a few surprise treats by Celebrity.

[Jim_Iain]

On 12/7/2022 at 7:15 PM, KellyCz said:

We got a call from Celebrity today to say our Alaska cruise was cancelled. The rep said it's now a charter cruise. Does that mean some entity has reserved the entire ship?

 

They're offering $200 OBC to switch to another week. But a quick search of the Aug. 11 date (same itinerary, same cabin type, same deck) shows pricing of $1,000 less than we paid for the two of us. We might cancel and book the following week, but our anniversary is during the original week, so we might choose another cruise instead so we can be traveling on our actual anniversary. Either way, we'll be celebrating our 30th somewhere awesome!

 

Usually when they cancel they offer you a Slip and Shift offer.   Same price and perks.   Make sure you call and ask for them to give you the same pricing.  The $200 obc will be in addition to your existing offers.

 

 

[mpdog42]

On 12/8/2022 at 6:22 AM, 39august said:

With a full ship charter no one but that organization can book the  cruise.  So no chance of annoying other passengers. If simply a large group is booked on your cruise,  you will have no advance notice of that or any group, questionable of not. We were on a Princess cruise years ago with a business group who took up public spaces for meetings, training, etc. And they jammed the theater shows as well. Not fun. However, one of these days, I'd like to do a jazz charter. They are so expensive tho'.

These are two reasons are we need a Cruise Line Passengers Association to fight for cruisers rights

Right not to have a "Group" charter a ship within 6 months of sailing and to be informed of any "large groups " that will be on your sailing...

[SbbquilterUT]

We are sailing the following week - originally looked at 8/4 as that is our 45th anniversary and chose a week later.  Glad you found another solution.

[upwarduk]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:12 PM, TMLAalum said:

were given a few surprise treats by Celebrity.

We celebrated our Golden Wedding anniversary on Eclipse in 2015.

The waiters brought a cake and sang Happy Birthday to us.!!🎉😱

Quite a miracle that we must have looked only 50- we were 72 & 74 at the  time.

Edited December 28, 2022 by upwarduk