Celebrity just tried to bump us

I'm glad I answered when Celebrity called. I happily accepted their offer to upgrade to a Royal Suite for $400! Yes, it's likely the exception, but you never know!

What cabin category did you move up from? We recently received an offer to move from Concierge to Sky Suite for $700. Since we are Zenith really meant Luminae for $35 per person per day. Did not feel it was worth it since I could have bought the cruise worth of specialty dining for about $200 less.

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For those that doubt the OP because they have not seen any other postings about this happening, I found two other cases in the past year, in addition to the OP, where individuals have been contacted and told that they were bumped. One in Dec 2016 and 1 in April 2017. Not easy to find because there is no consistency in the terms used. One used bumped, another used denied boarding, a third indicated being bumped from their room, and only later indicated that since there were no other rooms available they were told that their cruise was canceled.

Also keep in mind that CC has a total of about 1.6 million members out of a 2016 cruise population of 24.2 million (less than 7%). If the criteria that the one fellow posted is accurate in any way the more active CC population (multiple cruises) are also the group less likely to be selected.

You are a class act David, I am glad that you are making the best of the vacation. I bet when you make your next cruise vacation, this experience will be remembered. Cheers to a good time and I hope you and your wife are having a great time.

I am the OP, sitting here in Celebritiy's cafe sipping a latte reading these posts. I am not going to give any more details or complain to the president. I started this thread to see how prevalent involuntary bumping was and fortunately it seems minimal. Yes, this is my side to the story but I think I have portrayed it accurately.

 

My wife got the call, spoke maybe a dozen words to the agent, broke down crying and handed the phone to me to deal with the agent as she couldn't. Believe me, the $200 OBC we were given to compensate for her distress doesn't begin to assuage the hard feelings we developed after this episode. We paid almost $7,000 for this cruise and its value to me at least is now a fraction of that. But DW wanted to go in spite of how we were treated, so here we are.

 

David

I am very happy for the retired folks who say it is an "opportunity". But, for those of us who work, obtaining time off for vacation involves a host of people at work adjusting their schedules for you. In addition, you have deposits for the dog, airline tickets, plans with friends in the area who may have arranged their schedules. Due to this post, I doubt we will be booking with Celebrity again unless they specifically say they will not be doing this again. For me, it would mean still having to take the time off as scheduled and basically losing a planned vacation. Not acceptable at all and perhaps if this continues there needs to be a bill of rights for cruise passengers. It is not worth the possible problems and loss of money when there are other cruise lines. Kudos for Princess taking the high road.

I suppose then you will not be flying or staying in hotels ever again as they overbook too.

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This whole thing just doesn't pass the smell test. If anything, Celebrity favors first time cruisers. I'm wondering if this wasn't in fact a move over offer that was mishandled by the Celebrity representative. Strange that because of a threatened $10,000 compensation suddenly the demand was rescinded. Just because you threaten that you want $10,000 doesn't mean they would have to give it to you so why would they back down because of that?? If this was a regular habit with Celebrity these boards would be on fire! Yes, there was a thread awhile back but that was due to an unforeseen and unpreventable circumstance of cabins being uninhabitable. Other than that I have been a Cruise Critic member for years and years, mostly on Celebrity, and I have never heard of this before.

 

Before heading to their Facebook page and posting comments on how awful this is, perhaps we need to all step back a bit. The OP is new to Celebrity, and this was his first post. Doesn't make it wrong or right, but this is not someone we 'know' as a regular visitor so we have only the word of a stranger to base our reactions on. Only the OP was there, so only the OP really knows what happened (or didn't). Let the OP do the escalating to the President of Celebrity, or the posting on Facebook. There may be more to the story, and/or another side to the story we are not hearing.

You can smell or wonder all you want. First post's are no less valid than the 5000th. Only the OP what happened in their case. What happened in my case or someone else's case is irrelevant.

I would think you'd be the exception. Yes, it would be upsetting but you don't have to lose your vacation over it. No need to stay home. Keep your flights, go do a land trip. Tons of ways of turning lemons into lemonade if faced with the same situation. I leave for Hawaii in 3 days on Solstice, do you think if I got the call I'd stay home or be booking the next flight to the islands?

So if I am bumped from my cruise from Athens to Rome, I should fly to Athens and spend the rest of my vacation making my way somehow to Rome so I can then fly back home?

So if I am bumped from my cruise from Athens to Rome, I should fly to Athens and spend the rest of my vacation making my way somehow to Rome so I can then fly back home?

Do you find that concept difficult? Seeing as there are a 1/2 dozen direct flights a day for under $200 Yeah. Fly to Athens go to Corfu, Rhodes, Crete, Tour the mainland then fly to Rome, Naples, Florence, the options are endless. Spend sometime in Italy. It's not rocket science but if someone would rather stay home and pout, be my guest. I'd make the best of things.

 

What I do not understand is how AFTER accepting final payments and assigning cabins to guarantees, the cruise line suddenly discovers it is overbooked...how does that happen so late in the process?

 

a) There are usually some last minute cancellations due to illness or other reasons. But sometimes the anticipated number of such cancellations does not occur and then all GTYs cannot be filled without someone giving up their cabin, either voluntarily or not.

b) There have been posts about people losing their cabins when a VIP makes a last minute booking. Yes, VIPs can get booked at the last minute on a sold out cruise.

So, are guarantee cabins the first to be bumped off?

For those that doubt the OP because they have not seen any other postings about this happening, I found two other cases in the past year, in addition to the OP, where individuals have been contacted and told that they were bumped. One in Dec 2016 and 1 in April 2017. Not easy to find because there is no consistency in the terms used. One used bumped, another used denied boarding, a third indicated being bumped from their room, and only later indicated that since there were no other rooms available they were told that their cruise was canceled.

 

 

Also keep in mind that CC has a total of about 1.6 million members out of a 2016 cruise population of 24.2 million (less than 7%). If the criteria that the one fellow posted is accurate in any way the more active CC population (multiple cruises) are also the group less likely to be selected.

Not that difficult to find as I posted links on page 5 of this thread ;).

There have been a couple this year:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2483289&highlight=Bumped

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2431082&highlight=Bumped

And here was the mysterious leak thread, that none of us actually on Connie at the time knew about and was not going to be repaired for 2.5 weeks (with a cruise in between) :rolleyes:, when several balconies were offered downgrades to OVs:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...highlight=Leak

Suddenly some took the offers of compensation and downgrading to OV and magically the 2A cabins became available ;). It's worth also noting that offers were made to those in Aqua and Concierge cabins which were nowhere near each other (as per the roll call), but the cruise had been sold out for months prior to the sailing :confused:.

There have also been threads on CC where GTY Concierge was oversold so X reassigned some 1C cabins as Concierge Class (I'll try and post the links to the threads - it was awhile back ;)).

Commendable research, Villauk. Keep it up!

So if I am bumped from my cruise from Athens to Rome, I should fly to Athens and spend the rest of my vacation making my way somehow to Rome so I can then fly back home?

Sounds like a really good idea to me - especially as my wife likes the cruises and I generally like the DIY land trips.

DON

Do you find that concept difficult? Seeing as there are a 1/2 dozen direct flights a day for under $200 Yeah. Fly to Athens go to Corfu, Rhodes, Crete, Tour the mainland then fly to Rome, Naples, Florence, the options are endless. Spend sometime in Italy. It's not rocket science but if someone would rather stay home and pout, be my guest. I'd make the best of things.

Apart from your post being quite rude, you have absolutely no idea of caribill's circumstances. What works for you may not work for them. For my own situation the land trip you describe would not be an option because of physical limitations that I have. And if I'd booked a cruise as a favourite vacation then why would I want to change the whole thing to a land trip to make use of the flights?

Phil

—————you have absolutely no idea of caribill's circumstances. What works for you may not work for them. For my own situation the land trip you describe would not be an option because of physical limitations that I have. And if I'd booked a cruise as a favourite vacation then why would I want to change the whole thing to a land trip to make use of the flights?

 

 

 

Phil

That’s why most of us cruise, less hassle, when we have fitness limitations!

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Do you find that concept difficult? Seeing as there are a 1/2 dozen direct flights a day for under $200 Yeah. Fly to Athens go to Corfu, Rhodes, Crete, Tour the mainland then fly to Rome, Naples, Florence, the options are endless. Spend sometime in Italy. It's not rocket science but if someone would rather stay home and pout, be my guest. I'd make the best of things.

misses the point of being mandatorily bumped 2 days ahead of a long planned cruise being an awful circumstance....

Many of us cruise because we would not or could not do these places on our own,,.

Do you find that concept difficult? Seeing as there are a 1/2 dozen direct flights a day for under $200 Yeah. Fly to Athens go to Corfu, Rhodes, Crete, Tour the mainland then fly to Rome, Naples, Florence, the options are endless. Spend sometime in Italy. It's not rocket science but if someone would rather stay home and pout, be my guest. I'd make the best of things.

Wow. You have no idea if the person posting has a disability, age, or other circumstances preventing them from wanting to take an independent land vacation which also likely requires an additional flight between the countries. Also many are solo travelers on this board who picked a cruise to be around others, not to navigate and work out transportation between all of these islands and locations on an independent land trip.

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Apart from your post being quite rude, you have absolutely no idea of caribill's circumstances. What works for you may not work for them. For my own situation the land trip you describe would not be an option because of physical limitations that I have. And if I'd booked a cruise as a favourite vacation then why would I want to change the whole thing to a land trip to make use of the flights?

 

Phil

Well then say that not how on earth am I supposed to make my way from Athens to Rome. If there are physical limitations then admit it as it's a whole different kettle of fish. And keep in mind my initial response that carbill quoted was to someone who claimed he'd lose their vacation because they couldn't switch dates.

Wow. You have no idea if the person posting has a disability, age, or other circumstances preventing them from wanting to take an independent land vacation which also likely requires an additional flight between the countries. Also many are solo travelers on this board who picked a cruise to be around others, not to navigate and work out transportation between all of these islands and locations on an independent land trip.

 

 

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I actually do know that Carbill is not disabled.

.not everyone is that personally flexible, travel saavy, multi language fluent and has extra funds to create a new vacation in two days time! Cruising is cost effective and avoids many travel issues,.,That's why many people cruise. Glad you could do it all but many could not.

But to the main issue of the thread,,,...glad OP got their cruise and hope the sting from the Modern Luxury Celebrity treatment wears off.,,,.

Wow! I have been cruising a long time, but I must live with my head in the sand! This is the first time I have heard of this. I have heard of VIP's coming on board and someone getting moved to a cabin they did not book or want, but not because of overbooking on the cruiseline's part.

This is also my first time on Celebrity and I am very excited. :D My group will be with you, hcat, on the January Sillouette, and we had 3 or 4 booked for months before they gave them a cabin#. We all have one now, but all this talk makes me nervous. :eek:

I'm not going to worry overmuch tho...never heard of it before, and hopefully will never hear of it again. (fingers crossed :D)

I do hope the OP and his wife are having a wonderful time. I would have reacted badly to the call, but would put it behind me once all was settled. I sincerely hope they can, too.

Sheila

I also believe that this was an "offer" to move, not a demand. As already posted, there are typically enough people (especially those retired who are flexible) that jump at the chance to save money by being moved (either to a different cabin or date).

I also believe that this was an "offer" to move, not a demand. As already posted, there are typically enough people (especially those retired who are flexible) that jump at the chance to save money by being moved (either to a different cabin or date).

I thought that at first too but there's a post on Facebook from someone claiming they were bumped. Not the name of this OP so maybe they got his cabin instead.

Wow! I have been cruising a long time, but I must live with my head in the sand! This is the first time I have heard of this. I have heard of VIP's coming on board and someone getting moved to a cabin they did not book or want, but not because of overbooking on the cruiseline's part.

 

This is also my first time on Celebrity and I am very excited. :D My group will be with you, hcat, on the January Sillouette, and we had 3 or 4 booked for months before they gave them a cabin#. We all have one now, but all this talk makes me nervous. :eek:

 

I'm not going to worry overmuch tho...never heard of it before, and hopefully will never hear of it again. (fingers crossed :D)

 

I do hope the OP and his wife are having a wonderful time. I would have reacted badly to the call, but would put it behind me once all was settled. I sincerely hope they can, too.

 

Sheila

Looking forward to meeting you and your friends onboard..going to be a lovely cruise!

To those who think it's easy to deal with a canceled cruise . . . as another poster says, it really depends on the individual.

We had an analogous situation 5 years ago. We'd booked a two day tour of Normandy. Arrived in Paris and asked the hotel concierge to book us train tickets on the relevant days. He said, "You really don't want to do that." I said, "Actually, we do. We have this great tour planned . . ." To make a long story short, there was a planned petrol/fuel strike. Tourbus wouldn't be able to get gas; planes wouldn't be able to get fuel; trains wouldn't run. So, we ended up spending 3 days in Paris. Most people would kill for that but it was very disappointing for us -- still, we made the best of it and had a good time. A few months later the tour company disbanded (not quality related) and we never did get the tour we'd so much wanted. We did get to see Normandy a few years later.

About 8 years ago, we got a call from RCCL asking if we'd be willing switch dates of an Alaskan cruise. We said we couldn't do it and they said, "OK." That was it.

The fact is that, for some people, a particular cruise vacation is just another time away -- the destination, the time, the method of transportation aren't all that relevant. For others, one of more of those may be nearly impossible to adjust. In some cases (e.g., hurricanes, fuel strikes), there may be nothing anyone can do about the situation. When there are options (as with the OP), it is SO much better if the cruise line or airline or hotel comes up with a solution that costs them very little (or nothing) and leaves the "inconvenienced" person with a smile on his/her face. Didn't happen here and that's unfortunate.

I agree with the poster above that the situation is rare or it would be ALL over these boards. We may comprise only 7% of cruisers, but are a vocal lot. :p

Lots of good information to consider if this happens to any of us. I have only experienced an excellent move up to a suite, but now I am hooked, so Celebrity made out quite well after that move. My DH and I also had a chance to move from an S1 to a CS, but I did not want to move from the corner aft.

You always hear of stories where people are asked or told that they have to move. I guess we all should expect that this could happen; however, even with a plan, it may not work in your favor. I am very happy it did in the OP's situation, but wonder who was next.

It is always about one's reaction to situations that make the difference in so many instances...we are all different due to our own personal situations.

I am so glad that you made your wife's birthday very special by handling it the way you did!

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