CENTURY Being Redeployed...........

[tlmlb]

[quote name='C 2 C']If you owned a store and advertised a product for sale... then reneged on the deal you offered you would be guilty of false advertising...
[/QUOTE]

no, I can cancel or change the itinerary and cruise lines disclose this in the written (rather than implied) contract

[quote name='C 2 C']If you then told the customers that they could replace the product they thought they had purchased with one costing much more .. and tell them to get over it... you would not be in business long.[/QUOTE]

It's called upselling and reacting to the market and the customer. Or haven't you heard that people are traveling abroad again?

[C 2 C]

[quote name='tlmlb']no, I can cancel or change the itinerary and cruise lines disclose this in the written (rather than implied) contract

It's called upselling and reacting to the market and the customer. Or haven't you heard that people are traveling abroad again?[/QUOTE]

You were comparing to a store buying/selling... if I paid for a blue suit I wouldn't accept a red one at twice the price.... (unless I was Santa)

If I went in to buy a Toyota I would hate paying for a Lexus that looked and drove like a Toyota...

I haven't heard about that traveling broad??? Is it a good one?

Reacting to the customer... is that the one you just p*$$ed off and sent to Princess or HAL or the ones you attract with implied contracts until a better deal comes along..

[Murphy]

Yes, LP56, we were booked in a Sky Suite, therefore the difference in onboard credit offered. We were told we would be getting $400 per cabin onboard credit. As of noon today, my TA had a "verbal" that they will honor that and allow us to do the Canadian sailing we found. I'm holding my breathe until she gets a fax so we have it in writing!

[Lp56]

Murphy,
I checked and we did recieve the $200 plus the cost of changing our airfare. Delta lowered the cost of changing to $50 per ticket so my friend and I each have $150 of credit each. I called customer service and asked them to check because I wanted to be sure the e-tickets I had faxed them was all I needed to send them. The e-ticket had the cost of ticket change on the bottom.
Lp56

[Sylvan]

"In the event of strikes, lockouts, riots, weather conditions, mechanical difficulties or for any other reason whatsoever, Celebrity may, at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing or port of call and may, but is not obliged to, substitute another vessel or port of call, and shall not be liable for any loss whatsoever to guests by reason of such cancellation, advancement, postponement, deviation or substitution."

This very plain and WRITTEN text is included in every brochure they send, on their website, and in the ACTUAL CONTRACT you sign before boarding ship. Where does it imply that there's no chance of your itinerary changing? And when did implied contracts trump the written contract?

[tlmlb]

"In the event of strikes, lockouts, riots, weather conditions, mechanical difficulties or for any other reason whatsoever, Celebrity may, at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing or port of call and may, but is not obliged to, substitute another vessel or port of call, and shall not be liable for any loss whatsoever to guests by reason of such cancellation, advancement, postponement, deviation or substitution."

 

This very plain and WRITTEN text is included in every brochure they send, on their website, and in the ACTUAL CONTRACT you sign before boarding ship. Where does it imply that there's no chance of your itinerary changing? And when did implied contracts trump the written contract?

 

Thanks Sylvan, for driving home the point.

 

Its unfortunate that every time there is some change people cry for "compensation".

 

I can't believe that some passengers just can't go back to the ol' drawing board and make adjustments. I'll bet that these folks really "have" a relaxing vacation obsessing over each and every little thing.

 

Those who think that the redeployment was done at the drop of a hat, get real, it wasn't. The deployment of ships was seriously altered by the events of 9/11 (one cruiseline, NCL, designed a marketing strategy called Homeland Cruising to reflect the traveling climate). Ships are moving back as people are traveling to Europe again. No one really knew how long it would take for people to be comfortable in traveling abroad, so it may seem like this decision was hasty and perceived as short sighted. Its simply a reflection of the market and it will please many more than those it angers.

[Bangus]

I am very unhappy with the accommodations that they have offered for compensation. I booked a cruise for 20 folks 5 families for this summer because we have kids and can’t go during winter or fall. They have offered a shorter cruise on Explorer of the seas but it is going to cost me $1,600 to do that. What recourse do I have if any at this point? What I hear is basically too bad....not what I would have expected from Celebrity

 

.:mad:

[tromvest]

We are in the same boat, although not a large group like yours. We had a cruise booked on the Century for this summer. We too are (were) traveling with our family and our kids are in school in the fall and spring so summer is our only option. My husband has made numerous phone calls and each call to Celebrity he asked to speak to that persons supervisor. He climbed the ladder as far as he could to a man that told us the next and only move is to write a letter to the CEO, Jack Williams. We are in the process of composing a letter to send to him. Celebrity offered us a Royal Caribbean cruise as well. The RCCL cruises are now all higher than what we paid 5 months ago when we booked the Century. We booked very early so we could take advantage of the early booking lower rates. We are stuck with non-refundable airline tickets too. If you would like to email us, we can give you the name of the person that was in customer relations that we had to fight to speak with. He could not offer us any reasonable compensation but IF he gets enough calls just maybe Celebrity will rethink their current proposal to us poor folks that are now without a cruise and have to dip into our pockets to rebook a new one. The whole thing has forced us into not ever wanting to use Celebrity again.

Our email is tromvest@aol.com

[C 2 C]

The whole thing has forced us into not ever wanting to use Celebrity again.

 

This is a serious public relations problem...

I think every Cruise Company would have the same policy, not just Celebrity. I don't think there is any fair solution to your problem...

There is a cruise warning that they can d*** well do anything they please when it comes to sailings.. This is not a consumer-friendly policy but aside from

Force Majeur cruise companies SHOULD have an obligation.. an implied warranty so that people can make travel arrangements.

 

In this "discussion" there will be people that support all warning labels... that small legal print that requires younger eyes than mine to read.... It is found in the ticket book you receive just before sailing and after final payment is made...

 

Celebrity may, at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing or port of call

 

If the Caribbean is picked for a winter holiday, I don't think an Alaska cruise would be substituted...

This spring I hope to sail to Istanbul, a port that was dropped from my Mediterranean cruise last year. I would cancel in a heartbeat if they were to drop it again.

 

In 1998(?) the Pacific Princess was impounded in Piraeus (Athens) because some employees were selling drugs... in port. Cruise cancelled. Passengers who arranged their own transport to Athens were out of luck...

 

Be careful when you arrange your own air... eventually it will cost you.. either through bad weather (insurance), cancelled cruises (no insurance).. drugs (no insurance).. etc..

 

If you read other threads..every cruise company will shaft someone sometime.. and the shaftee will swear he won't cruise with the shafter again.. until he finds another company that is just as bad..

 

Don't give up on Celebrity... it's still offers some of the best products available... most of the time....

[Susan501]

We (2 couples) are booked on the Century April 30th which appears by these post that this will be the last Caribbean cruise before the ships sails to Europe. Should we be concerned? We booked through Celebrity not a TA and my husband has a call into them as we speak. We cruised on NCL to Bermuda a few years ago on their last voyage there and the poor ship was falling apart.

[Bangus]

It just continues to get more unreasonable I tried to get on Voyager of the Seas one day later than the original sailing basically the same islands leven a ower class cabin this one would cost me $8994 additional. I would like to have the name of the person you called if you would share with me. It makes no sense that they will not change people to a similar or as they would clasify it a lower class boat and not match the price. My email is sla1061@msn.com. I will let you know what I hear maybe we do need to write a letter to the CEO

[4 cruisers]

After looking at our son's school schedule...the week of April 16th was a week that was between the old semester and the beginning of the state testing. We decided that that was a week he could stand to miss. Maybe you can see if there is a week that your kids could miss that wouldn't be too much of an academic strain.(?) Just a thought...join us on the Çentury!!! :)

[canderson]

They are trying to help as mcuh as they can, but Caribbean sales ahave been weak and Europe sales have been incredibly brisk.

One could far more easily imagine that "Caribbean margins have been low (due to intense competition) and European margins have been incredibly good".

[canderson]

Hi Lp !

 

Glad to hear you are on the same sailing.

Enjoy it while you can. If you haven't already noted, the "Ultimate Caribbean" runs of the Summit aren't going to be available next winter, either. They're really screwing with the schedules this year - mostly at the expense of any of the less profitable Caribbean runs. I'm almost surprised to see that RCI isn't moving their other fleet, too -- but where would they put them all???

 

Next fall/winter, the Summit switches to the Infinity's old itinerary -- a mix of Panama and Hawaii runs, and it looks like the Infinity will be spending more time down on those high margin South American waters.

 

As noted before, it appears not so much driven by demand (demand is still quite high in the Caribbean) as margin opportunities. If they can make more $ per day per pax somewhere else, they're there, and the competition in the Caribbean is just too tough to maintain whatever margins they think they need.

[Andy]

Enjoy it while you can. If you haven't already noted, the "Ultimate Caribbean" runs of the Summit aren't going to be available next winter, either. They're really screwing with the schedules this year - mostly at the expense of any of the less profitable Caribbean runs. I'm almost surprised to see that RCI isn't moving their other fleet, too -- but where would they put them all???

 

Next fall/winter, the Summit switches to the Infinity's old itinerary -- a mix of Panama and Hawaii runs, and it looks like the Infinity will be spending more time down on those high margin South American waters.

 

As noted before, it appears not so much driven by demand (demand is still quite high in the Caribbean) as margin opportunities. If they can make more $ per day per pax somewhere else, they're there, and the competition in the Caribbean is just too tough to maintain whatever margins they think they need.

 

 

Hi Canderson !

 

Thanks for your post. Yes, I am very aware of Summit's changes for 2005/2006, and I am not happy about it. I agree that it looks like Celebrity is trying to put their ships in places where they can get higher per diems. The thing is, Summit was getting some of the highest per diems I have ever seen this Caribbean season. It looks like the per diems will be LESS than the Caribbean Itineraries, on many sailings, when they move Summit to the West Coast next season.

 

In addition, Celebrity will have a very limited Caribbean Schedule for much of 2005 (not to mention having NOTHING in the Caribbean in the Summer of 2005), and this is IMHO, is very poor planning.

 

Celebrity is forcing many loyal passengers to book with other Cruise Lines, and I dont know why they would ever want to let a happy passenger, book elsewhere. As we all know, Celebrity has many people who are very loyal to them, and I do feel they will lose passengers who have been VERY loyal to them in the past. To me, that is a wrong path to take.

 

Perhaps it just might work out well for Celebrity, and I hope it does. Time will tell. For now, many of us looking for Caribbean itineraries similar to Summit, will be sailing with other Cruise Lines, and that is a shame.

[4 cruisers]

In looking at the swing of itinerary to Europe...it makes sense for a couple of reasons....I tried to help a friend place her family on a cruise similar to our Splendour of the Seas out of Barcelona last year for the upcoming summer...the better cabins were all sold out for the ENTIRE summer!!! This was well before Celebrity changed the Century's itinerary. The dollar is so weak that European travelers (who filled our cruise last summer) get a great bargain when you consider they are paying in US $'s, not Euros!!! Their airfare is also nothing compared to us trying to fly, say coast to coast (we have to use 50,000 miles to fly from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale on an odd date in April...!!). I would hate to be one of those bumped. Hey, we could still be bumped, for that matter. :( I just really do understand how this all came about. I wished it was being handled in a "better" manner by Celebrity, though.

[alpal1993]

I was booked on Century June 2.I was very upset to find out that the ship was pulled.On Dec 22 I went to my T/A and I don't know why,but Celebrity gave me an offer I couldn't refuse.So it is off to Scandinavia.Wow my head is still spinning.My T/A says I am the only on she knows that could turn a 10 minute drive to the port into a 10 hour flight.LOL

Needless to say I am very pleased with Celebrity.

Anyone else going.I already have a roll call board going.

Ann

[tromvest]

Without being too nosy, what did Celebrity offer you to rebook on the Scandanavia cruise? We were on the June 11, 2005 and were cancelled also.

We are looking for something else to book.

[cove]

Have cruised for several years, but this was my first booking with Celebrity. I heard good things from freinds that went on past cruises. We booked a CC cabin on the May 7th curise and was offered $100 dollars per stateroom if we rebooked with RCL or Celebrity. Not much of an incentive, I have been offered more by Princess when they missed a port. Also the only cruise available on those dates is from RCL and much more expensive.

 

I had purchased airline tickets through airmiles and I could not make any changes or I would be out the airmiles and the taxes which are over $300.

Celebrity was not very helpful and never did respond to any emails or calls I placed to them for the past 2 weeks to find out if they would reimburse me for the taxes or honour the price on RCL. Seems like people are being offered better deals than I was able to get. Won't make the mistake of booking with Celebrity again.