Splendour Transatlantic "temporarily unavailable" - CHARTER?

[Ruth Cruise]

We are booked on the eastbound transatlantic crossing aboard Splendour of the Seas departing April 30th, 2005.

When friends tried to book the same cruise a few days ago, they were told that this cruise is "sold out". Considering, that the cruise is still more than 5 months away, this seems odd to me. RCI lists this cruise as "temporarily unavailable"..

Now, I am afraid that the Splendour is in the process of beeing chartered. Does anybody know, where to check for charters? We have already booked flights, hotels, etc.

Thank you very much for your help!!!

Ruth

 

PS: the same thing is happening to the eastbound transatlantic cruise of the Jewel of the Seas, departing May 1st, 2005.

[hobo1937]

We ran into a similar situation on Celebrity's Millenium 11/05 westbound transatlantic. We were booked on a back to back with a mediterranean cruise preceding the trans. In early Oct they pulled the trans off the schedule and calls to them ranged from itinerary adjustment to cabin inventory. Finally, on Nov 11th the word came out that the trans sail date was changing from 11/6 to 11/18 with a completely different itinerary. So it was impossible to now do the cruise we had planned and have since cancelled the whole thing. Hopefully your situation will not be the same.

 

 

 

We have sent a letter to upper management at the company regarding our dissatisfaction with the whole affair but have not received a response yet. We have cruised with RCCL and this would have been our first Celebrity cruise.

[critterchick]

I think that the Brilliance transatlantic that was originally scheduled for October 30 was also pushed back and another 12-day Med cruise inserted. Those cruises (Med) seem to be wildly popular, and they are a lot more expensive than the repos, so maybe corporate decided to maximize the amount of time their ships spend in the Med instead of the Caribbean.

[PSCruiser]

I don't think its odd for transatlantic and other repo cruises to be sold out early, since they are usually great deals. I'm booked on the Grandeur for a 13 night repo in Nov. 2005, and it's been sold out since this October - that's 14 months! However, my understanding is that the "sold out" includes blocks of rooms being held by TAs. Also, I think that the fact that RC is still showing some prices may mean that there is some looseness there, for the Grandeur they are showing all classes as not available. My advice is to contact every TA you can, I bet somebody is holding space.

[Ruth Cruise]

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. I will continue to "pester" RCI (and call every TA I can) until I know if they are going to change our travel dates or if the Splendour is simply sold out. Hopefully, they don't shift our cruise because in that case, I'd have to cancel..

Ruth

[Ruth Cruise]

We are booked on the eastbound transatlantic crossing aboard Splendour of the Seas departing April 30th, 2005.

In November, the availability of cabins suddenly changed from "all categories available" to "none available". Moreover, on the RCI homepage, Splendour of the Seas also does a Caribbean Sailing departing on April 30th 2005 which is also „not available“.

Considering, that the cruises is still 4 months away, the situation seemed odd to me and I feared that the cruise was in the process of being chartered or postponed.

 

In the meantime, I also got answers from RCI. A customer service representative e-mailed me from the US on 11/26/04 that I am scheduled to sail on the Splendour transatlantic cruise. On 12/16/04 my German RCI representative confirmed by phone, that the Splendour is sailing the transatlantic cruise and told me that the western caribbean cruise is posted by mistake and will be removed.

 

Just to clear things up – in case you also find the Splendour sailing two different cruises on April 30th, 2005

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Ruth

[bhughey]

Ruth Cruise:

I am booked on the May 1st Crossing of the Jewel, which is also showing as sold out ... I am also worried that something is "afoot" as this is my honeymoon!!