Jewel of the Seas showing N/a mid Sept to November 11 2007

[gkm]

We haven't seen anything "official" yet, but the writing's on the wall. They are in the process of making changes and if they list a new itinerary, it stands to reason that it's a work in motion and I would imagine within a few days we'll see and hear from our travel agents about it. I just want to be ready with a backup plan when the time comes.

 

Garry

[isujim]

Garry

 

Have you and Bob definetly decided to switch to the new transatlantic?

[PhoenixCruiser]

I just checked "my cruises" it is still showing Oct 6th Canada/New England........I know it is wrong.........but it is still showing up.

 

Interesting, the repo no longer shows up in my cruises.

 

###

[gkm]

Garry

 

Have you and Bob definetly decided to switch to the new transatlantic?

 

Jim, unless some fantastic itinerary appears all of a sudden, I would say we will be on the Jewel. I love that ship!

 

Garry

[isujim]

You know Garry........this is our second cancellation of 07 for the Jewel......our April 8 day Eastern was cancelled so we moved back to March ..........now this one appears to be cancelled.........

 

We are having dinner with our friends going on this Canada/New England cruise to try and determine which one to replace it with.........but we are holding on until we here from RC just in case they offer something.

 

Phoenix I was surprised our NE cruise was still showing up as well.......but I bet it isn't there long:)

[isujim]

Garry

 

This will make 4 out of the last 5 that we have had red flagged........you sure you and Bob want us to consider this.......:D

[isujim]

Sharon

 

Not necessarily a cancellation........it could be itinerary change, port change (I had one change embarkation from San Diego to LA), price adjustment..........or redeployment of schedule..........

 

Everything points to a change of schedule.............they ought to just tell us........I think we pretty much have this sized up.........could be wrong but don't think so.

 

Jim

[negc]

I still like the idea of setting up a pool to guess when the official notifications will be made. Of course by the time that happens most of the people who are affected will have learned of it from these boards or some other source. :(

[isujim]

Bill

 

I'm guessing sooner than later............you would think whatever itinerary they come up with........whether Europe for a few more weeks or whatever.........that they would realize they have to fill those cruises:D

[MBeamTX]

Sorry to be cynical, but I don't think RCI will be in any big hurry to notify us. If we cancel and move our deposits, then they won't have to offer any compensation at all. The longer they wait, the more likely people are to make a move on their own, in order to get the itinerary and cabin of their choice. (Not to mention the fact that they are still earning interest on our deposits.) So it's a big game of chicken ... who'll jump first?

 

I booked directly with RCI, so it will be interesting to see how long they take to call me. I plan to tell them that because they cannot offer a comparable cruise on an alternate date, that some compensation seems reasonable. I mean, if it was just another Caribbean cruise that was cancelled, you'd have dozens of alternatives, right? But not in this case.

 

I'm not someone who thinks compensation is due for every little annoyance or inconvenience. I've never sought any compensation for any vacation incident and I believe that if it's a maintenance or weather issue, then you just roll with it. But these changes were obviously revenue driven, so let RCI share a bit of the largesse with the people they've inconvenienced by these changes.

 

We'll see what happens! :D

 

Happy cruising,

Susan

[emilygrace]

I'm with you on this one Susan! Since there isn't anything else I really want to book I'm going to wait until they totally pull this one out from under me. Like you said, there isn't anything comparable, not in October. The Grandeur stops doing NE at the end of September. I wanted October.

 

Now, if by some chance they scheduled a few British Isles cruises in that time frame and let us keep our bookings, cabins, OBC, etc. I would jump on it in a heartbeat! It would be worth the extra airfare. But my agent says that's too late in the season. Hey, with this global warming (I'm sitting here sweating, with a fan blowing right on me!) I think we could stretch out the season another month!

 

Carol

[PhoenixCruiser]

I still like the idea of setting up a pool to guess when the official notifications will be made. Of course by the time that happens most of the people who are affected will have learned of it from these boards or some other source. :(

 

My pick is August 1 :D

 

###

[bob278]

Garry

 

This will make 4 out of the last 5 that we have had red flagged........you sure you and Bob want us to consider this.......:D

Jim,

 

Let me play a little game with statistics.

 

4 of your last 5 red flagged = 80%.

 

2 of 2 with you booked on the ship immediately after us = 100%.

 

I think I'd rather you book with us than after us.

 

We just don't want to cruise too close to Thanksgiving or Christmas and all of the other RCL & Celebrity ships are that late. The Splendour has a really interesting itinerary from Lisbon to Brazil, but it ends the week before Christmas and the air would be terrible. Two long flights and the add-on is over $1,400.

 

I want to do what we did on our last transatlantics - use FF miles for a roundtrip ticket and take one TA each way. Last time, we bought cheap tickets from Baltimore to Atlanta after the Galaxy and from Atlanta to Miami before the Brilliance and flew business class for both international legs. So we will do some kind of TA next fall. If the Jewel goes out before about Nov 8 or so, then we will probably be on it.

[isujim]

Gee bob

 

Didn't realize we were batting 100% with you guys LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Susan I think they will offer compensation..........we had our 8 day Jewel cancelled and it was 12 months in advance.........we were offered a $200 shipboard credit for any sailing..........but........we had only 14 days to make up our mind and book something else........thus the research now.......just in case.........our cruise is almost 15 months away.......so there may be no compensation.........unless they drag their feet which really isn't in their best interests to do so..........except collect interest on all our deposit money:)

[dobie]

Jim, Jim, Jim, I just cannot believe this!!!! You are a magnet for "cancelled", "changed", "going someplace else" cruises!!!! Unbelievable!!!!

[negc]

My pick is August 1 :D

 

###

I was thinking July 28, but I'm not sure they can get their act together that quickly so I'll say August 4.:D

[MBeamTX]

Mark the cynic down for August 11. :D

[bob278]

Based on my memory of how long it took Celebrity to clear up a similar mess involving only the Millennium in 2004, I pick Sept 1.

[isujim]

Ah yes Bob.........the ol Millenium..........that was number one I think on my 4 of the last 5:p .............That took them 6 to 8 weeks if I remember correctly........I will say they learned from their lessons of the past and are more efficient now.........I say 3 weeks.......which would put it around August 3rd.........since it has already been about 10 days..........

 

Hi Dobie............yes.......once again:p

[isujim]

Have narrowed our replacement cruises down to 3.........I'm to the point I wish RC would just notify everyone so we can book cabins before all the Jr. Suites are gone.........we could go ahead and book.......or possibly trnasfer our booking.........but would also like to see if compensation is offered. They did 12 months out when we had the Jewel booked in April of 07........don't expect any........yet hate to not get it by cancelling the booking should they offer anything.

[Sillyjilly]

Based on my memory of how long it took Celebrity to clear up a similar mess involving only the Millennium in 2004, I pick Sept 1.

 

LOL

 

It's a good thing I re-booked. :D

 

Jill

[isujim]

You were wise to rebook...........we just may do the same thing.......but hate to forego any compensation:confused:

[Seatravelers]

We're scheduled to be on the September 10th transatlantic. Not sure what we're going to do, but are leaning towards staying with the 9/10 booking and staying in Europe. The reason we chose this TA was the time of year. We aren't available in November for a vacation, due to prior commitments. The new TA itinerary doesn't excite me anyway. As far as when we'll be notified, I'm optimistic - this coming week!

 

Seatravelers

[Host Kewlguy]

We're scheduled to be on the September 10th transatlantic. Not sure what we're going to do, but are leaning towards staying with the 9/10 booking and staying in Europe. The reason we chose this TA was the time of year. We aren't available in November for a vacation, due to prior commitments. The new TA itinerary doesn't excite me anyway. As far as when we'll be notified, I'm optimistic - this coming week!

 

Seatravelers

 

Considering what we paid for the transatlantic the new 14 day Western Europe itinerary would be quite a bargain. As long as they let us keep our original reservations we are good to go.

[bob278]

Jim, One way to book a new cruise and keep your chances for any compensation alive (plus any on-board credits that reservation may have) is just to put up a new deposit and don't mention the original one. Then once the dust settles and you have all the details, your TA should be able to get the right booking number hooked up with the cruise you really want to take. That's what we did on the Millennium/Galaxy TAs 3 years ago. If things get settled in 2-3 weeks, that's all the time you will have the extra deposit sitting out there.

 

kewlguy, I will be flat out amazed it they offer the option to keep your cabin at the TA rate for the 14-day Western Europe Cruise. After all, the prices are going to be much higher. Our JS was 2,250 when we booked and I can't see a JS on a 14-day European cruise being less than 3,600 - 4,000. But if they do, you're right, it would be an incredible bargain. I know Mary said they had her on the cruise at the same rate, but I know for a fact that they can change that. Jim is living proof. When our Millie TA was pushed back, he was on the next cruise (a 7-day Caribbean). He got written confirmation from Celebrity that he could have his cabin on the TA for his original price. But a few weeks later, Celebrity said "You must be kidding! We would never do that". Not to mention that his friend had MY cabin and we hadn't given it up. So if you can get it, great for you.

 

RCL has 3 options here:

 

1. Offer the WE cruise to people booked for 9/10 at either retail, with a discount or at original price. If it was your business, what would you do? If they are keeping the ship in Europe for additional revenue, why cut the price so much that a lot of people would be cruising with a huge discount?

 

2. Offer the people with the 9/10 booking the new TA with the same pricing options. I don't think those will vary nearly as much and maybe the new one might even be a little cheaper at the beginning. (I can dream, can't I?)

 

3. Cancel the cruise and basically say "See 'ya".

 

In all 3, they could offer some compensation, but I am not very optimistic and wouldn't expect much, but I've been wrong before and hope I am here.

 

Of course, in all three of these scenarios, I am assuming all of the cruises out of Boston will simply be cancelled. No particular logic except that's what they did the pervious time we had this happen. The cancelled all the cruises after the delayed TA until the schedule was back in synch. The folks on the cruise after us got a discount for a future cruise of about 25% if I recall.