Celebrity Cancelled Our Cruise !

[gkm]

We are also considering the 3/23 sailing, but was told not to make any changes yet. Thanks !

 

Andy, if you decide to move to the 3/23 cruise, you'll find a lot of old friends going on that one. Go look at the roll call. Some of your feathered friends from the past are going.;) We'd love to have you join us.:D

 

Garry

[Andy]

Andy, if you decide to move to the 3/23 cruise, you'll find a lot of old friends going on that one. Go look at the roll call. Some of your feathered friends from the past are going.;) We'd love to have you join us.:D

 

Garry

 

Hi !

 

Thank you for the invite. I appreciate it. I am going to wait a few more days to see if it is officially cancelled. Things keep changing hour to hour, and I still think there is a chance our 4/13 sailing will remain. Once I know for certain, I will book either the Constellation 3/23 sailing, or Coral Princess on 4/18/07.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

The plot thickens....

 

Perhaps the Customer Service Supervisor I spoke with today, was right after all. She said the 4/13 sailing was not committed to being a transatlantic, and the website changes might be in error.

 

As of Midnight tonight, the Celebrity website PULLED off the 4/13/07 Constellation sailing altogether. While our sailing still does not appear, neither does the Transatlantic. Very interesting.

 

I am wondering if Celebrity listened to all the complaints today ? Who knows. This could be very good news. Stay Tuned.

[AFT_LOVER]

who tells me that last week, they did a scramble with ships & itineraries when a major employer is looking for a cruise for an awards banquet & training sessions for employees being moved to higher posts within the company. SO they have CHARTERED Constellation 4/13 doing a Transatlantic so they can visit 2 of the company locales internationally to introduce the employees that will be working with those in that country.

 

Major money for "X". Very bad that they have not contact travel agents about this change & what they are offering you since you do not have the cruise you booked. So be sure to stand on the soapbox for a bigger & better S Caribbean. Summit is the ship that you will be transferred to according to her but not a 4/13 sailing date, it will be MAY 2007.

 

 

We have reservations for the Constellation sailing out of Fort Lauderdale on April 13, 2007 on their Southern Caribbean route.

I was browsing around the Celebrity website and thought I would check our reservation ( made two months ago ) and it said I had no reservations booked.

I then checked their schedule for the Constellation in April 2007 and it does not list our cruise but instead shows a TA crossing.

I called our TA and she said that Celebrity has not advised her of this but she would check.

Is this a freak occurrence or do the cruise lines just aribitrarily cancel booked cruises ?

If this is true I am mightily disappointed as we were so looking forward to this cruise. :confused:

 

Ben

[CruisingChick]

I never thought I'd say this but Celebrity sucks....actually big business sucks.

 

I can't go away in MAY. My son's April break is that time April 13 - 23, so that is the only time I can sail.

 

Celebrity has NO 7 days cruises leaving 4/14 or 4/15 that a family with school aged children can take. Are they really trying to get those of us with families to go to another cruise line, because that is probably what is going to happen.

 

I could see if they canceled it because it needed service or there was something wrong with the ship, but to change the entire itinerary just to make money makes me even MADDER than I was before.

[chessbriar]

I wouldn't hold your breathe on a May cruise on the Summit. Why whould they screw up 2 ships and twice as many cruises.

 

I'm just a little confused as my booking is showing the 12 night TA. You'd think they would have made our booking NULL.

 

Plus they are starting to put in pricing for sales. It it would be a charter, I wouldn't be able to find any of this info.

 

Once again the Customer Service doesn't know what's going on.

[CruisingChick]

Rick,

 

You are right. I put in our booking ID number and it shows we are booked for the 12 night TA on Connie. Isn't that nice of them? I'd take it and leave my son home if they throw in the airfare for free. That's the least they could do!

[Andy]

I wouldn't hold your breathe on a May cruise on the Summit. Why whould they screw up 2 ships and twice as many cruises.

 

I'm just a little confused as my booking is showing the 12 night TA. You'd think they would have made our booking NULL.

 

Plus they are starting to put in pricing for sales. It it would be a charter, I wouldn't be able to find any of this info.

 

Once again the Customer Service doesn't know what's going on.

 

Hi Rick !

 

Totally agreed on all counts. Nothing would make us happier than a May Caribbean Cruise on Summit, but I cant imagine that is going to happen at all. It is probably another creative story from Celebrity. I thought I heard them all, but this is a new one :)

[cruiser2004]

Well, Ben, rest assured that no matter what Celebrity does to your vacation there will be plenty of people on these boards to tell you that its no big deal. Apparently many of the posters here think that when we make reservations that we are simply expressing a desire to travel rather than entering into a contract, even though we give the lines money to hold our reservation. As you can see from my signature below, I have two more reservations with Celebrity - I've arranged for time off from work, care for our dog, bought plane tickets, made a hotel reservation, etc. Now I'm realizing that I could lose my vacation as well as thousands of dollars. In the rest of the business world a deposit usually entitles you to some guarantee of services. In the cruising world its apparently a different story. I would be upset with Celebrity for their lack of courtesy (at the least) for not notifying you, but then given that Celebrity reads these boards and sees so many of their customers defending X's "right" to screw up people's vacations what's their incentive to treat their customers with respect? It would be nice if some of these "don't worry -be happy" posters would show some empathy for their fellow cruisers instead of spending so much time defending X and pretending that it makes no difference whether your cruise goes to any of its ports, whether or not you get sick, or even whether or not your ship almost flops over on its side, like the Crown Princess. Apparently the RCL stock ownership shipboard credit is enough to make a lot of X loyalists look the other way when the line treats its passengers badly or basically refuses to deal with maintenance issues, like pods that don't work.

 

These boards are not just here to spread sunshine - they are here to help cruisers make decisions and find out things that could make their trips more enjoyable. Bashing any negative poster is basically a dishonest approach to being part of this cruising community and shows disrespect for those who take the time to share their expereinces, good or bad. I have made several very positive posts on this site about our experience on the Infinity in April of this year, and booking two additional Celebrity cruises within a week of disembarking from my first one should show that I like cruising and like Celebrity. However, when Celebrity screws up - which it seems to be doing a lot lately - there is no reason to pretend that its not happening or doesn't matter.

Captain Cosmo, I couldn't agree with you more.

It is almost unbelievable that Celebrity would have such a total lack of concern for their regular passengers that they would even consider such a bizarre move as changing cruise dates and ships for confirmed passengers simply because they got a "better offer". Until recently Celebrity was my favorite cruise line. The way Celebrity corporate seems to shoot from the hip on so many important decisions is unconscionable. Maybe Celebrity will have a change of heart after seeing some of the comments on this board, unless enough X loyalist can post the usual; stop whining, make the best of it, quit sailing X, get over it, read your cruise contract, cruising is not for everybody, take a land tour......

Unless something changes soon, maintenance issues and Celebtity's corporate attitude that they have a "right" to do and say anything that they want without regard to the impact on people's vacation is going to have a huge impact on Celebrity's future.

[Andy]

I never thought I'd say this but Celebrity sucks....actually big business sucks.

 

I can't go away in MAY. My son's April break is that time April 13 - 23, so that is the only time I can sail.

 

Celebrity has NO 7 days cruises leaving 4/14 or 4/15 that a family with school aged children can take. Are they really trying to get those of us with families to go to another cruise line, because that is probably what is going to happen.

 

I could see if they canceled it because it needed service or there was something wrong with the ship, but to change the entire itinerary just to make money makes me even MADDER than I was before.

 

Hi Anne Maria !

 

Before you get all upset about X changing the itineraries for a Charter, keep in mind that we have heard every excuse possible, so I would take it as one of many stories floating out there.... proabably NONE of which are true. While it is possible, it has as much credibility as everything else we have heard.

 

It is quite apparant, that nobody knows what is going on, OR they dont care to tell us at this point. Hopefully, we will know what their plans are for us, soon enough.

 

At any rate, our sailing on 4/13 is looking less likely each day, and that is quite disappointing. I do agree that Celebrity stands to lose a great deal of bookings to competitors over this fiasco, and I am very surprised they could not find another way to keep 3 sailings in tact. I would love to know the real reason why all of this happened, but we probably will never know the real reason.

 

At this point, all I am hoping for, is that Celebrity will come up with some sort of plan to make us happier about this mess. I dont know how they can make 3 sailings worth of passengers happy, but I am going to leave that part to Celebrity to figure out.

[CruisingChick]

Does anyone think if all of us that are effected send e-mails to Ellen Taaffe it would do any good?

[sal7202]

Actually, I read the entire thread. As for personal slams against Celebrity, I’m frankly getting quite tired of their obvious disdain for paying customers. I have sailed many times on X and over the years have observed a growing pattern of disregard for those who have made a deposit and booked a vacation. This is just the latest example. It seems that if they can sniff out a bit more profit, contract be damned, they will go for a couple bucks more and completely disregard the feeling of people who have invested much time and emotion into selecting a vacation. Then just to further compound the inevitable hard feeling, they provide people with scant information to make decisions or change their plans, leaving them hanging while the company firms up its plans to pull the vacation out from under them. Very nice.

 

I’m sorry if you don’t appreciate the way I used your statements. It was done to make a point. Last time I checked the Constitution the 1st amendment hadn’t been suspended.

[Andy]

Captain Cosmo, I couldn't agree with you more.

It is almost unbelievable that Celebrity would have such a total lack of concern for their regular passengers that they would even consider such a bizarre move as changing cruise dates and ships for confirmed passengers simply because they got a "better offer". Until recently Celebrity was my favorite cruise line. The way Celebrity corporate seems to shoot from the hip on so many important decisions is unconscionable. Maybe Celebrity will have a change of heart after seeing some of the comments on this board, unless enough X loyalist can post the usual; stop whining, make the best of it, quit sailing X, get over it, read your cruise contract, cruising is not for everybody, take a land tour......

Unless something changes soon, maintenance issues and Celebtity's corporate attitude that they have a "right" to do and say anything that they want without regard to the impact on people's vacation is going to have a huge impact on Celebrity's future.

 

 

Well said Cruiser. We consider ourselves very loyal Celebrity customers. I would say roughly 90-95% of our last 20 Cruises have been with Celebrity. After this whole fiasco, combined with Celebrity reducing Caribbean sailings in late 2007/early 2008, and disappointing itineraries, it is going to be extremely hard for Celebrity to retain our loyalty, and that is very disappointing for us. As a matter of fact, we have booked 2 Princess Cruises this week, and that is something we never would have considered a few weeks ago.

 

I am very concerned that many of these short term decisions will come back to bite Celebrity over the coming years. I have seen some great Cruise lines fail, due to very bad management decisions. I truly hope that Celebrity will listen to all of the discontent out there, and take whatever steps necessary to get things back on track.

[Andy]

Does anyone think if all of us that are effected send e-mails to Ellen Taaffe it would do any good?

 

Hi Anne Maria !

 

I emailed Ms. Taaffe about the Welcome Home Gift mail issue a few weeks ago. She did not respond, and pushed it off to someone at Captains Club, who did not have any answers. From my personal experience, she does not respond to emails.

 

You can give it a try though. It cant hurt.

[Saga Ruby]

I have a friend who was booked on a Jewel of the Seas cruise in 2007 and RCI recently cancelled it. It was as heartless a corporate decision as is this thread's story about your cruise. In the case of the JOS cruise, RCI went for six extra weeks of Euros rather than let hundreds of pax enjoy a fine vacation time together.

 

The cold black heart of RCI's Revenue Dept. is on record as being insensitive to the joy of cruise vacations for its passengers - who pay RCI for a product which disappears.

 

A corporate office in disarray, a greed for revenue in the face of proffered vacation fun for its customers - it is so offensive and insulting.

 

My heart goes out to all of you who thought you were going on a nice cruise and now have to scramble to find out if your "dream vacation" will come true. Don't forget - you can vote with your wallet.

 

Ruby

[Andy]

[quote name='MACOP'] Summit is the ship that you will be transferred to according to her but not a 4/13 sailing date, it will be MAY 2007.[/QUOTE]

Hi Macop !

Probably another story from Celebrity. It's a beauty though :).

I would like to believe it, and I did some searching around. I just checked Celebrity's website, and they have 3 sailings for Summit in this timeframe. The first sailing is on April 28th (14 night Alaska), the next is on May 12th (13 night Alaska), and the last sailing is May 25th (7 night Alaska). All 3 sailings are open for bookings as of this morning. Besides, are they going to take a ship from the West Coast, and bring it to Florida ? Doubtful.

While I wish it were true, I would say it is highly unlikely.

[CruisingChick]

So doesn't Celebrity want to keep all their customers happy in light that they will have 3 new bigger ships coming out in the near future? How will they fill them if we are all p.o.'d at them?

Between POD problems and Norwalk Virus you think they would have enough to deal with, without intentionally causing so many people grief.

[psychboss]

We use to sail on Celebrity ONLY. That is to be "nevermore". We chose this cruise after Celebrity changed the ordinary on the Hawaii cruise. We canceled that one and chose this cruise. NOW is appears this cruise is not going to happen. I sell cruises and often recommend Celebrity to my clients. I have had a number of my clients have problems recently. I now worry whenever I book anyone on Celebrity. And DH and I will NOT be booking on Celebrity. Our next cruise is on HAL and I am taking a group on Carnival in February. This is what Celebrity told my Boss yesterday about this cruise:

[COLOR=navy][FONT=Arial]I called again yesterday afternoon and still nothing in their system – even called Customer Service who indicated they are waiting for the sailing reps to publish the info which in turn starts the process to notify affected passengers as well as provides whatever they may offer (price protection, shipboard credit, etc.).[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Wilcoam]

Bill...

I understand your frustration with X, but my recent exp with trying to book a HAL Carribean cruise in Jan 07 on a Vista Class ship was even worse. HAL is the nu charter king.

40-50% of the Vista class ships have been chartered, after many booked, and bought flights. HAL isn't offering much compensation of these cancellations. Look at the threads on HAL here, and you'll find endless complaints about this, and the way they've handled the bumps.

I switched to Princess, though I know it's still owned by Carnival...I couldn't switch to X because they only offer one 7 day itin in the carribean out of FLL, and I've already done it.

Stick with X, to my knowledge, this case aside, they have less charters, less drydocks, and usually, this case aside, offer past pax with more respect, anyway, IMO...

jc
Galaxy Sept 25
Bumped by HAL Zuidy Jan 27th
Now on Princess Star

[bailey2004]

cruisinchick - I agree with you. Celebrity has very family unfriendly itineraries. I figured it was done purposefully to keep kids off the ships. I can't find a decent 7 day cruise to bring my kids on during their school vacations. They're out of the carribean in the summers and they don't have any vacation week 7 day cruises. We've begun to sail RCCL (I know they are the same company) which we don't enjoy as much but they are more family friendly. We are thinking of booking the 4/15/07 mariner of the seas out of port canaveral. The connie was another choice but it looks like thats a no go. So RCCL again it is.

[CruisingChick]

[quote name='bailey2004']cruisinchick - I agree with you. Celebrity has very family unfriendly itineraries. I figured it was done purposefully to keep kids off the ships. I can't find a decent 7 day cruise to bring my kids on during their school vacations. They're out of the carribean in the summers and they don't have any vacation week 7 day cruises. We've begun to sail RCCL (I know they are the same company) which we don't enjoy as much but they are more family friendly. We are thinking of booking the 4/15/07 mariner of the seas out of port canaveral. The connie was another choice but it looks like thats a no go. So RCCL again it is.[/quote]

Hey we were thinking of booking that 4/15 RCL cruise after all this fiasco with Celebrity, but the price came out to be MORE than the 10 night Caribbean on Celebrity. We are not into the Rock Climbing, etc. that RCL has on their ships, plus I really don't want to sail with 500 kids on board. We love Celebrity and want to be loyal to them, but they are making it VERY HARD.

I have a feeling they want people to go over to RCL since they will honor the Captain's Club tenure on RCL ships.

[bailey2004]

We reached 7 cruise credits on Celebrity and now will have 3 with RCCL. It still won't bump us up anyplace tho. Its like starting over with a new loyalty program. We're stuck in the middle!

[AFT_LOVER]

I just placed a call to D Hanrahan's office & got his Assist Ingrid who states that they are in INVENTORY MAINTENANCE (my new term of the week) for April-June 2007 with ships premiering with new itineraries getting ready to be introduced. She shows a charter 4/13/2007 on Connie doing E bound TA. Many ships will be in drydock to get the ice bar & other new additions, many ships will start to new ports such as Australia/New Zealand in December, which I told her I was ready for by from Honolulu or San Diego there instead of 18 hour flight there to board a ship to cruise in a circle, so S Pacific first the to NA/Aussie. 2 week cruise would sell out faster too. So I got my idea heard. S America with Antarctica included also was another idea I had.


[quote name='Host Andy']Hi Macop !

Probably another story from Celebrity. It's a beauty though :).

I would like to believe it, and I did some searching around. I just checked Celebrity's website, and they have 3 sailings for Summit in this timeframe. The first sailing is on April 28th (14 night Alaska), the next is on May 12th (13 night Alaska), and the last sailing is May 25th (7 night Alaska). All 3 sailings are open for bookings as of this morning. Besides, are they going to take a ship from the West Coast, and bring it to Florida ? Doubtful.

While I wish it were true, I would say it is highly unlikely.[/quote]

[Andy]

[quote name='MACOP']I just placed a call to D Hanrahan's office & got his Assist Ingrid who states that they are in INVENTORY MAINTENANCE (my new term of the week) for April-June 2007 with ships premiering with new itineraries getting ready to be introduced. She shows a charter 4/13/2007 on Connie doing E bound TA. Many ships will be in drydock to get the ice bar & other new additions, many ships will start to new ports such as Australia/New Zealand in December, which I told her I was ready for by from Honolulu or San Diego there instead of 18 hour flight there to board a ship to cruise in a circle, so S Pacific first the to NA/Aussie. 2 week cruise would sell out faster too. So I got my idea heard. S America with Antarctica included also was another idea I had.[/QUOTE]

Hi Macop !

Well, I suppose one can say.... never say never :). Anything is possible. Personally, I would love to see Summit in the Caribbean this Summer. I would be one of the first to book her, if she was sailing out of South Florida. However, I am not holding my breath on it happening. If it does, I will tip my cap to you. We will see.

[AFT_LOVER]

for folks like us that love a challenge to find the truth to a problem. Folks book 4.13.07 S Carib cruise that is now E TA. Is it a charter, which I tender to believe the Supervisor that told me this. Yet travel agents know -0-. Call that unprofessional. Or it is July & the cruise isn't til April, so it change change again like Delta Airlines flights. When even the Executive Office doesn't really know the answer. That really stinks in my book. But get injured, like I did on Summit last November & really learn how bogus Execs can get. But that is what cruise insurance is for........

So I may still dial them up for the fun of it, since it is getting quite comical when I state what I was told by C/S on a charter happening, and the Exec office gal states, that she doesn't know that for sure. So stay tuned Andy, I haven't finished yet. THIS IS FUN!

You are with me on 10/15 Freedom?