C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 #1 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Thought I'd start a thread to combine the recent serious complaints about Celebrity decisions.. Constellation Sept. Transatlantic cancellation of Iceland, reducing length of cruise, and by offering only a $100 credit, increasing the cost of the trip... Century cancellation of booked cruises and relocation to Europe.. shafting many pax with booked flights.. Summit in Alaska fiasco... Pricing policy that reduces competition.. I'm a diehard Celebrity fan having sailed on Horizon, Zenith, Century, Galaxy, Millennium, Summit and Infinity... but when too many ships create problems in an industry based on good times and less stress... what's going on in head office? Posters... please no posts of bad meals, clothing issues etc...confine issues to $$ issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drink-in-Hand/Toes-in-Sand Posted December 27, 2004 #2 Share Posted December 27, 2004 I posted this on another thread, but think it fits here as well. Hope the folks from Celebrity ready these! We were booked on the September 4th sailing of Century, which was cut from 7 days to 4 days because of Hurricane Frances. We were offered a $500 on board credit, and "50% off a future cruise of 7 days or more" IF AND ONLY IF you showed up for the abreviated sailing. Since we were aware of the dangers of booking during hurricane season, we were just glad that they had not cancelled the entire cruise. This was our first Celebrity Cruise (we're RCCL fans) but were genuinely looking forward to trying the "upscale" line. However, the on board service was terrible, the staff was rude and I can't ever remember leaving a ship so deflated by the experience. Looking back I expect that the staff was disappointed at the low number of passengers that actually showed up--thereby they weren't getting paid the usual gratuities. That being said, we decided to give Celebrity another chance and booked an Alaskan cruise for next summer. We booked on board and paid a deposit. Imagine our surprise when we received a confirmation under our door an hour before debarkation that quoted a price nearly $800 more than we agreed to!!! The staff on board refused to fix their error--citing that the Celebrity representative that booked our Alaskan cruise was not qualified to do so and was just "helping out" in that capacity. Do I really care??? Heck no! When we came home I immediately wrote a letter to Celebrity demanding that they either honor the contract that they agreed to when they took our money or else cancel and refund the full amount we had paid. Thankfully they were able to fix the error and we are still booked for Alaska. I'm hoping that this will go smoother. If not, I have no problem with cruising another line. I hope that the folks from Summit got a favorable resolution on their issues. Happy cruising! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcicruiser Posted December 27, 2004 #3 Share Posted December 27, 2004 The Century being redeployed to europe was because of the demand. also if you did have your air booked and have to change it they are given a 100.00 onboard credit plus the other credits so they are making good on things. The price for the Constellation went down not up. It maybe going up now because it is selling. As far a the pricing policy get used to it all the cruiselines will be doing it soon. Both Carnival and Norwegian offer the same price to all TA. The only thing that will difference the TA is how much commission they are willing to lose to make a booking. With Royal Caribbean and Celebrity the do offer difference prices and group prices to TA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usha Posted December 27, 2004 #4 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Celebrity has only done me "right" so far.:D Of the 13 cruises I've booked with Celebrity, I have only wonderful memories of 13 incredible cruises. I'm not thrilled at all by the new pricing policy,:( though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #5 Share Posted December 27, 2004 The Century being redeployed to europe was because of the demand. Lack of demand in the Caribbean or chance of greater profits by filling demand for European cruisers? For the sake of public relations... once you start accepting bookings, the customers have the right to expect the vendor will honor in good faith the contract they implied... This is not a storm or engine failure.... those cancellations are part of cruising... Celebrity made a decision that they do not care about the customers affected, including long-term faithful fans, by saying stuff it, other pax elsewhere are more important than you and are willing to pay more as well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #6 Share Posted December 27, 2004 The price for the Constellation went down not up. The quality of the cruise went down when they cancelled Iceland... a port not readily available. The per-day cost went up because they did not reduce it by a proportionate rate.. $50 pp for one day reduction... I don't think you can book this cruise for $50 bucks per day.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #7 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Celebrity has only done me "right" so far.:D Of the 13 cruises I've booked with Celebrity, I have only wonderful memories of 13 incredible cruises. I'm not thrilled at all by the new pricing policy,:( though. We have enjoyed all 20 weeks we have cruised so far... But just because I've not been affected by the negatives, I'm concerned by the recent decisions maded by management negatively affecting my fellow posters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseyguy Posted December 27, 2004 #8 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Celebrity is part of a public corporation, RCL, which has an obligation to its shareholders to maximize profits. If it can do this by re-deploying ships to Europe and the U.S. West Coast and by raising fares, then it is fulfilling its legal obligation to its shareholders (and RCL shares are now at an all-time high). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocngypz Posted December 27, 2004 #9 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Unless your cruise was shortened by one less day (14 nights down to 13 nights), your cruise fare did not change, nor did your per diem. Read the cruise contract, any cruise contract. RE: Summit.. ship happens. I've lost a prop blades mid-Atlantic in the past. So the rates, increased. Big deal. So has everything else. And thought most people are totally blind to the fact that eliminating the rebating of commission IMPROVES competition by allowing more sales outlets, it still proves that many cruisers are price shoppers...and price is the determining factor. Dispersion of fleet. ABOUT TIME! Loyalty works two ways. If you like the product and are looking for a cruise vacation, then get oneself to the port of embarkation. Mercury moved to SFO, so instead of booking a flight to FL, I just booked a flight to SFO. Century moving to Europe for the summer. Well..... her first summer at sea......that's where she was Europe! Summit to the west coast.......well.........why not?? And ditto to Cruiseyguy's post. Jeesh....all the bellyaching. It could be worse. Keep things in perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #10 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Unless your cruise was shortened by one less day (14 nights down to 13 nights), your cruise fare did not change, nor did your per diem. Jeesh....all the bellyaching. It could be worse. Keep things in perspective. My booking on the Constellation dated July 14.. $2,278.10 plus taxes ($610) for 13 Days. Dated Sept 16, now 12 days... $2,278.10 plus taxes... cabin shipboard credit..$100.... unless my math is different than yours I think the per diem changed.. There is a difference between bellyaching and reporting what has happened... And as a stockholder who bought at $29.. and received over $1,250 in shipboard credits, I'm very happy that RCL is sticking it to affected passengers... I'm not happy when any company does not give what it offers... Planning department sucks IMHO... False advertising should not go unpunished. Print the brochure, sell the tickets, go on the cruise, make customers happy... Celebrity: Print, sell, cancel, p*** off customers.. not long term thinking at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ma Bell Posted December 27, 2004 #11 Share Posted December 27, 2004 It's really simple. If the cruiselines had to keep doing business the way they have since 9-11, they would be going out of business as many airlines have. Corporations have to make a profit to stay in business. The complaints get to the point of being silly. Everyone wants a first-class cruise without having to pay for it. There is a delicate balance in trying to provide the best for the buck and I for one think Celebrity is doing a pretty good job of it. Nothing is perfect...sometimes there are disappointments...but there are business decisions that have to be made. If we don't like the way things are going, we can go elsewhere. We've tried lots of cruiselines and I can honestly say unless you are going to a premium cruiseline where you will pay really big bucks, Celebrity seems to be the best of the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greeneg Posted December 27, 2004 #12 Share Posted December 27, 2004 One comment. It would appear that Celebrity is concentrating the fleet in South Florida for the Winter and Europe, Alaska and the Northeast US for the Summer to the exclusion of the South Atlantic ports. With the exception of Galveston, it appears that Celebrity has already left Charleston, SC, and is leaving Baltimore and Jacksonville, the entire Southeast excepting South Florida. This affects us adversely here in the Southeast by forcing us to fly rather than to drive to a convenient port to catch the ship. I certainly would not have wanted to be flying this past weekend and trying to catch a ship. Let alone the issue of lost/misdirected luggage. We will have done two trips in 11 months out of JAX on the Zenith as of this weekend; both times the ship has been essentially full and I'm not certain that I understand the reasoning. It would seem to me that using some of the availble ports such as Jacksonville, Baltimore, Charleston, and even Wilmington, NC would broaden the customer base and perhaps even give a competitive edge. I would love to have Celebrity Management comment on this strategy; perhaps I will ask prior to the shareholder's meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ships R Great Posted December 27, 2004 #13 Share Posted December 27, 2004 We were on the Conmstellation transatlantic crossing this past Sept. We skipped Iceland due to 50 foot seas. I regretted not going but I was thankful that the Captain made that decision. I don't want to be in 50 foot seas. Do you? Maybe they have decisded not to schedule Iceland in Sept. because of that danger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCCruisin Posted December 27, 2004 #14 Share Posted December 27, 2004 It Is What It Is!!!!! Why not think of all the similarities of the cruiselines instead of the differences and the exceptional quality of a cruise you get from Celecrity vs the others. Think Positive!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #15 Share Posted December 27, 2004 We were on the Connstellation transatlantic crossing this past Sept. We skipped Iceland due to 50 foot seas. I regretted not going but I was thankful that the Captain made that decision. I don't want to be in 50 foot seas. Do you? Maybe they have decisded not to schedule Iceland in Sept. because of that danger. Totally agree... Read all the problems of the Rotterdam last year and this year in those same waters and would not want to experience those seas.... but why not just add another day in Europe or North America to replace it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #16 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Why not think of all the similarities of the cruiselines instead of the differences and the exceptional quality of a cruise you get from Celecrity vs the others :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcicruiser Posted December 27, 2004 #17 Share Posted December 27, 2004 C 2 C did you book with a TA because the price did go down maybe the agent did not lower the price for you. Other people who have booked had there prices reduced. It also says in the brochure they can change the ports at anytime if they want. There was agreater demand for europe than for the Caribbean, you go where the money is. Changes happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitte Posted December 27, 2004 #18 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Gitte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobo1937 Posted December 27, 2004 #19 Share Posted December 27, 2004 In July 2004 we booked a back to back Med/Transatlantic on the Millenium for Oct/Nov 2005. In early Oct the Transatlantic disappeared off Celebrity's schedule. The customer service reps gave stories ranging from itinerary adjustments to cabin inventory. Finally in mid November, some others who were posting on our roll call said their travel agent had gotten a call from Celebrity and the date for the transatlantic was now 2 weeks later, which made a back to back impossible, and the itinerary was completely different from the original cruise. On the initial call our travel agent made to Celebrity she was told that nothing had changed from the original cruise. It was only after calling and talking to a supervisor that she got the new info. This would have been our first cruise with Celebrity, having cruised with RCCL and Princess, but after all this we decided to cancel the whole thing as we also found out the ship is going into drydock after the Med cruise we had scheduled. So we booked a Med cruise on the Brillance and a 29 day Australia/Transpacific on Princess in early 2006. The whole experience left us with a bad impression of Celebrity and we have no desire to ever book with them again. I understand rescheduling because of weather and mechanical issues, but they should not put out a sailing schedule just to pull it out from under their customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscapeFromConnecticut Posted December 27, 2004 #20 Share Posted December 27, 2004 This raises some interesting questions. I'd be interested in getting an analysis from a genuine expert in the field of maritime finance and international exchange rates .... but at first glance, I've got to wonder if the weakened dollar is damaging the value/profitability of carrying American passengers. Certainly the price of fuel is hurting all cruise companies, since nobody can do a long-term hedge of 100 percent of their fuel needs. So SOMEBODY is going to have to pick up the price for that extra expense, and that somebody will be -- sensibly and fairly -- the passengers. We won't see the tiniest bit of extra service or new amenities, but we'll pay a higher fare all the same ... and the only folks reaping the extra profits will be the oil producers & middlemen. But more importantly, the cruise lines are presumably paying the bonds for their new ships in euros ..... yet collecting passenger fares mostly in U.S. dollars. As the dollar keeps weakening, it would seem that European passengers would become a much more attractive market to serve -- and thus justify repositioning some of the fleet in that direction. And as the value of the U.S. dollar drops, the cruise lines have to charge U.S. passengers a hefty price increase JUST TO KEEP THE CURRENT PROFIT MARGINS INTACT. Doesn't sound like a promising situation for U.S. passengers seeking super-low bargain prices in the near future -- but it's not something to blame the cruise lines for. Any thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ma Bell Posted December 27, 2004 #21 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Hobo, RCCL owns Celebrity so you better not sail with them either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocngypz Posted December 27, 2004 #22 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Hmm.. do the luxury lines sail the Caribbean in the summer??? What about Oceania - a true premium line? The rise in the Euro has offset the normally high oil prices in Europe. I read that last week in one of the trades. What I do not know is if there's an appreciable difference versus the US oil prices. However, the cruiselines purchase bulk rate fuel contracts as protection against price spikes. Unless there are promotional fares available (normally for US departures) Europeans do pay more for their cruises than North Americans. Agents have not rebated their commissions. Why do you think we've often seen posts from Europeans asking for names of discount cruise brokers in the US? There are some cruiselines which have just one or two "clearing houses" in Europe for their bookings. So it doesn't matter what individual agent you book with, the bookings all clear at one central location before going to the cruiseline. Okay, the cruise was shortened by one day. Where was your travel agent to correct your booking??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted December 27, 2004 #23 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Lack of demand in the Caribbean or chance of greater profits by filling demand for European cruisers? For the sake of public relations... once you start accepting bookings, the customers have the right to expect the vendor will honor in good faith the contract they implied... This is not a storm or engine failure.... those cancellations are part of cruising... Celebrity made a decision that they do not care about the customers affected, including long-term faithful fans, by saying stuff it, other pax elsewhere are more important than you and are willing to pay more as well.. Hi C2C ! I agree with much of what you said. I wanted to make a few comments. If Celebrity said anything about "Lack of Demand in the Caribbean"... that would certainly not be true at all. I have been sailing the Caribbean quite a bit, and the ships have been very full. What it really comes down to, is that putting Century on a 9/10 night itinerary was a bad move from the very beginning. I always said that itinerary would not sell well, and apparantly, it didnt. Another reason I feel it did not sell well, is that Celebrity priced it MUCH too high for a 9 year old ship with very few balconies. Apparantly, potential customers thought the prices were simply too much. So what does Celebrity do ? Because of their mistakes on all of this... they put the ship somewhere else ??? What they should have done, was reverse this mistake, and put the ship back on a 7 night alternating East/West Caribbean itinerary. And while they were at it, they should have done the drydock that the ship needs. This way, they would not have alienated so many current & past passengers, as they have left themselves without any South Florida Caribbean options this coming Summer. IMHO, this is very bad planning. I totally understand that Europe is selling well.... and IF Celebrity had a few more ships, and had something to replace Century with, I would be all for this idea. But, it seems that Celebrity has done some very bad planning, and keep finding ways to annoy/alienate their past Loyal Customers. I dont see why you would EVER want to give a Loyal Customer a chance to look at a competing Cruise Line, and they are doing just that. I just dont see that as good business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise freak Posted December 27, 2004 #24 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Arno, I am booked on the Constellation for September 10, 2005 transatlantic. I booked when the sailing first was available. I never saw that Iceland was a port. The two ports that they took away were Plymouth England and Newfoundland. Also when the new itinerary came out we not only got $100.00 per cabin onboard credit but also a reduction in the fare. We were given an additional $150.00 off per person. I am not sure why you wouldn't have gotten the same reduction. I personally love Celebrity and have only sailed with them two times and have two more planned. All companies can have problems but I have been satisfied. Jean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 27, 2004 Author #25 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Before anyone gets the wrong impression.... I too love Celebrity.. We're booked on the Zenith Jan 30, Galaxy May 7th and 23rd (transatlantic and Turkey) and the Constellation Sept 10.... I'm objecting to the lack of consideration that Celebrity has for the people who love Celebrity... I want them as my cruise company.... and when I plan for a trip 6 months down the road, I want that cruise to take place so that I can make arrangements to make that a memorable (positive) experience... Celebrity offers a $200 onboard booking credit and a $250 shareheolders credit per two week cruise.. I love the way Celebrity employees onboard treat me royally.... I just want Head Office to treat its passengers the same way.. Show that they care about their passengers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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