Phone call from Executive office on Redeployment of Beyond

[hawkesbaynz]

@bikerunner I understand why you are so bitter at Celebrity. We book cruises far in advance and make complex and expensive arrangements built around them. You have good reason to be PO. All power to your elbow complaining. Another example of corporate greed.

 

Wonder why they are moving Beyond to Carib. Not sure I would like a cruise there in a hot & humid hurricane season. Recollect the ship weren't too booked up in previous Summer seasons. Did they have too many ships in Europe this year (still plenty of available cabins).

 

Our last few cruises have been on Oceania and Princess. Previously several X and a few more booked in the future. With these sorts of stories it gives me no reason to have any brand loyalty to X or any other cruise line. Only myself and my $$$. 

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

What do you actually want Celebrity to do, what would appease you?

I don’t know about the OP, but I want X to price protect the booking I made on the Beyond TA in November. 
 

Curiously, the suite prices on Ascent, which was one of the “options”, have increased since the Beyond cancellation. It was already $4K more than Beyond for one less day, and now it’s up another $400. Sorta wipes out that generous OBC. 🙄🙄

On a pppd basis, it’s now 43% higher than Beyond was. 
 

mac_tlc

[vickykay]

This is the third time Celebrity cancelled cruises on us. We did rebook on the Ascent but at at a much higher cost).  They did allow us to “lift and switch” for the two cancelled Japan cruises ( although we were not able to for the second one smaller ship and no availability for the same category).

It would have been appropriate ( and the classy thin to do) for Celebrity to offer that again for all of us who were cancelled on the Beyond sailings.

[montythecat]

@bikerunner, what a  splendid and well argued rant. I

share the sympathies being expressed by almost

everybody contributing to this thread and hope that

there is some sort of satisfactory solution, however 

unlikely that might seem to be at the moment.

[bikerunner]

3 hours ago, C4HCG said:

What do you actually want Celebrity to do, what would appease you?

Im not sure, Im more at this point would have been fine, not happy, with price protection and better acknowledgement with the press release. As I said it makes sense financially, I do own stock, got it in the 40ish area so Im happy with it, but to me from working in the the hospitality industry 25+ years this is about as bad customer service I have seen.  But now I really do not care and want it to be known they don't care about loyal customers

Edited July 2, 2023 by bikerunner
context

[weregoingcruising]

3 hours ago, C4HCG said:

What do you actually want Celebrity to do, what would appease you?

Have you told Celebrity what would appease you? If you do then they will have a chance to respond to your specific request. 

[bikerunner]

44 minutes ago, weregoingcruising said:

Have you told Celebrity what would appease you? If you do then they will have a chance to respond to your specific request. 

I had the call, mentioned nothing outlandish, price protection, be able to purchase my upgrades at the price I had purchased on the beyond cruise etc maybe some additional obc but nothing outlandish.  This had to be in the plans for a few months, a shift like this does not happen right away, it's corporate or the board, No idea.   Very easy things, was not looking for free cruise etc.  Nothing at all. I think now its more looking at how they handled this, itineraries out for 8+ months and all of sudden goodbye, yes they are allowed by the cruise documents no one reads, but sorry inside the window of air purchase and the measly 100 obc offered for a change is just bs.  

[jagoffee]

3 hours ago, bikerunner said:

I had the call, mentioned nothing outlandish, price protection, be able to purchase my upgrades at the price I had purchased on the beyond cruise etc maybe some additional obc but nothing outlandish.  This had to be in the plans for a few months, a shift like this does not happen right away, it's corporate or the board, No idea.   Very easy things, was not looking for free cruise etc.  Nothing at all. I think now its more looking at how they handled this, itineraries out for 8+ months and all of sudden goodbye, yes they are allowed by the cruise documents no one reads, but sorry inside the window of air purchase and the measly 100 obc offered for a change is just bs.  

The only compensation Celebrity offered for your redeployed cruise for next April was $100 OBC and a full refund to the original form of payment?

[bikerunner]

36 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

The only compensation Celebrity offered for your redeployed cruise for next April was $100 OBC and a full refund to the original form of payment?

Yep.  Anyone booked had to find a new cruise at prevailing rates.  That is probably the most upsetting thing tbh.   As said was not looking for free cruise etc.   yes upsetting but what celebrity did was just bad in loyalty wise.   What comes out of it who knows   But it is something I am going to push as best I can.  Shipboard is great corporate is bs.  

[wrk2cruise]

46 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

The only compensation Celebrity offered for your redeployed cruise for next April was $100 OBC and a full refund to the original form of payment?

 

No you only got the OBC if you booked another cruise at prevailing rates.   I don't believe if you cancelled that they would allow the OBC to be applied to another existing reservation but it would be worth at try.

[bikerunner]

36 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

No you only got the OBC if you booked another cruise at prevailing rates.   I don't believe if you cancelled that they would allow the OBC to be applied to another existing reservation but it would be worth at try.

yes that's correct.  

[MustBCruzn]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

No you only got the OBC if you booked another cruise at prevailing rates.   I don't believe if you cancelled that they would allow the OBC to be applied to another existing reservation but it would be worth at try.

 

That's what I was told when I called about our cancelled Adriatic sailing next May. We had worked our schedule of family events to make this sailing work, and the thought of trying to find a substitute during this time window was too much so I said to cancel it. The gentleman on the phone stated that we would loose our OBC, and he would send a request to waive our FCC penalty (we had 3 applied to this cruise), but that decision would be made at a higher level. Really??? Needless to say, I'm frustrated. I still haven't received confirmation or an invoice showing how all this plays out.

[Susanb10567]

I am not booked on these sailings but have had other cruises canceled by Celebrity and we were offered price protection… I think that is the least they should do….

[vickykay]

Agreed!

[sasset]

4 hours ago, bikerunner said:

Yep.  Anyone booked had to find a new cruise at prevailing rates.  That is probably the most upsetting thing tbh.   As said was not looking for free cruise etc.   yes upsetting but what celebrity did was just bad in loyalty wise.   What comes out of it who knows   But it is something I am going to push as best I can.  Shipboard is great corporate is bs.  

Try this email: mathanadenose@celebrity.com. She was the Executive Concierge as of several years ago. If she's still there it might be worth a shot.

Edited July 2, 2023 by sasset
grammar

[neverlaysup]

At a minimum, they should have allowed for a lift and shift to any similar cruise for the 2024 Mediterranean season. That would still create issues for some but keeping your customers sailing on a different ship for the same money would not have hurt their bottom line.

[ChucktownSteve]

On 7/1/2023 at 6:51 PM, ECCruise said:

But I guess that since bookings and prices are booming,  they feel they can call the shots. Especially when some support what I consider a bit of hubris. 

 

 

 

In business, it's well known that if you kick your customers on the way up, they WILL kick you on your way down!  Is this the new Celebrity culture? Customer be damned.

[Sigyn]

I've authored many travel articles in my career, and I've been on staff as an editor and/or reporter at publications with tens of millions of readers that compete with Condé Nast. I don't see this as an article that would get the attention of the editors. It's far too common of a tale, and the fact that you're trying to get yourself banned makes it less interesting than if you were simply banned without reason. So your efforts will probably result in nothing but frustration for you. 

[Cap_D]

36 minutes ago, Sigyn said:

I've authored many travel articles in my career, and I've been on staff as an editor and/or reporter at publications with tens of millions of readers that compete with Condé Nast. I don't see this as an article that would get the attention of the editors. It's far too common of a tale, and the fact that you're trying to get yourself banned makes it less interesting than if you were simply banned without reason. So your efforts will probably result in nothing but frustration for you. 

These mags aren't in the business of being negative.  In recent years, they mostly serve as vehicles for advertising, lists and more lists, and faux awards, with an interesting article or two.  

Edited July 3, 2023 by Cap_D

[BlackLion 213]

For reasons not quite readily clear, we are attempting to stay loyal to Celebrity, at this moment. Hear me out…

 

We have also dispatched a letter to the executive office, and await a reply before moving forward. But we have looked. And we have options. Non-Celebrity options.

 

Despite still being furious with their level of callousness, I would like to discuss the matter further and hear someone with some authority actually tell me “No” before moving on. Be clear, I am not and will not pull the “do you know who I am…” card. That is not the point, nor something we would ever do. I am just willing to give them the benefit of a week’s worth of hindsight, and hope that they pull their collective you know whats out of you know where. Not just for us, but for the thousands they have railroaded. I really have little faith that it will do any good, but I would be remiss in not attempting.

 

For years, we have been mostly loyal. We have had blunders with Celebrity here and there. Never at this level, but it’s also never been perfect. In the past, they have always fixed things or adjusted their errors. So we have stayed loyal, despite some frustrating, long-winded phone calls. Recently (even before this situation), we have questioned what we are really expecting, receiving or even hoping for from that loyalty. At the Elite Plus level, we’re not that impressed. Some laundry here, some meager discounts there, a complimentary this, that, or the other thing. Meh… I would much rather pay for those items and know that I am valued and being treated properly by the company providing them.

 

Again, what are we expecting from that loyalty? Certainly more than we have seen in the last week. And it bites, hard, to be in this position.

 

To use, and slightly modify, the adage; “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.” This week has clearly been the first half. Will we give them the chance to burn us again? Time will tell.

 

It ain’t looking good.

 

I’ll be sure to report back no matter what happens. Stay tuned!

 

[jagoffee]

10 hours ago, bikerunner said:

Yep.  Anyone booked had to find a new cruise at prevailing rates.  That is probably the most upsetting thing tbh.   As said was not looking for free cruise etc.   yes upsetting but what celebrity did was just bad in loyalty wise.   What comes out of it who knows   But it is something I am going to push as best I can.  Shipboard is great corporate is bs.  

 

10 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

No you only got the OBC if you booked another cruise at prevailing rates.   I don't believe if you cancelled that they would allow the OBC to be applied to another existing reservation but it would be worth at try.

Since we are apparently talking about some cruises that are within the potential flight booking range, this is really terrible.  In the past, Celebrity has been much more generous.  If so many people were not reporting that they are only receiving $100 OBC and have to pay the prevailing rate for a replacement booking, I would not have believed it.

 

A cruise in April 2024 should be offered a lift and replace or a significant amount of OBC.

A cruise more than year away are a different story IMO.

 

Good luck to those of you affected. I would hope that this is a misunderstanding by someone. Perhaps the offer/compensation will change.  

Edited July 3, 2023 by jagoffee

[BlackLion 213]

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

If so many people were not reporting that they are only receiving $100 OBC and have to pay the prevailing rate for a replacement booking, I would not have believed it.

 

  

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

I would hope that this is a misunderstanding by someone.

 

Rather odd comments...

 

The following has been posted elsewhere, but for your perusal, I'll share the email I received from Celebrity...

 

Do you believe it now?

 

Do you still feel it is a misunderstanding?

 

Sheesh!

 

[chemmo]

3 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

Since we are apparently talking about some cruises that are within the potential flight booking range, this is really terrible.  

Agree…

 

When we sometimes book cruises as they open 2+ years out. We do see them as ‘provisional’ in that we don’t know what may happen to us, the world or the cruise line in the meantime….We may peruse hotels and tours but won’t book them. It is about 10 months out in our experience the cruise becomes ‘real’ and we will book flights, hotels tours etc…To say nothing for the fact that many people need to fix in holiday dates one year out…
 

Quite simply Celebrity has really dropped the ball on this. I am not affected by this change but really feel for those who are….

 

No matter how the world economy is major itinerary decisions should be made 12 months plus to reduce flight and hotel booking issues for guests. I do understand major breakdowns etc can’t be predicted but this decision could have been made sooner. I feel the same about cruises that become charters. Do it before guests commit to further expenses!

 

Why not allow a bigger selection of cruises to swap to? I do understand they may want to block out one or two ‘hot’ itineraries but there are lots of cruises at present with capacity…Surely it would be to Celebrity’s advantage to keep as many bookings as possible? Surely they have made the decision to move the ship to ensure the remaining ones cruise at capacity…
 

Sincere best wishes to all of you caught up in this mess…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by chemmo

[ChucktownSteve]

I wonder if there was too much capacity to fill two ships in the Med so they're moving one to accommodate more Caribbean demand from the U.S. for people not wanting to fly to Europe? Then they're attempting to shift the current bookings to the remaining ship?

 

The at "prevailing rates" sticks in my craw and would definitely be a straw that broke the camel's back for me.   In the past, the lift and shifts were at the protected rate.  This appears to just be a money grab for the bottom line.

As BlackLion213 so aptly pointed out, the loyalty to the cruiser and perks at Elite+ are minimal.  I never used the paltry discounts. The bag of laundry or internet were nice but nothing special.  They're low out of pocket expenses for Celebrity. 

It's too bad that Celebrity shifted their paradigm to this direction. The "death by 1,000 cuts" torch has been passed along..

Edited July 3, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[tony s]

I hear these complaints and know corporate has already factored dissatisfaction in. The only thing they understand is to quote the Lizzio song, “ walk your fine a** out the door “ and go to another cruise line.