Are Celebrity about to cancel cruise?

Well you can't book flights more than 330 days out so at least they don't have to worry about that.

I would be astonished, though not 100% surprised, if X cancelled this cruise in favour of a charter, given that it is already sold out. The $$$ value of the charter would have to far outweigh the revenue from the booked out cruise, plus the nightmare of dealing with the cancelled passengers and no doubt having to offer $$$ OBC to move to another cruise.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

I have flight times and paid deposit so to me that's a booking. Regarding booking so far out - no choice when it gets booked up so early. I nabbed the last ocean view (there were no balconies) in July.

Just curious, what airline are you booked on that allows bookings 14 months ahead? & sorry if you're getting bumped, we like to plan ahead to & have had this happen to us, very disappointing.

Celebrity could do themselves a favour (and us) by leaving sold out cruises on the website showing sold out in each category. The Japan cruise everyone is talking about has been missing from X's website for months but now after final a few cabins have opened up and now it is back on the website.

If they would just leave it on the website instead of having your cruise disappearing when totally booked, people wouldn't have so many heart attacks lol It is just when the whole cruise/itinerary disappears that everyone starts worrying (or panicking) lol

Well you can't book flights more than 330 days out so at least they don't have to worry about that.

A lot of international airlines it's 356 but that's still not October.

An October 2016 cruise already "sold out"??? Very doubtful to me. Perhaps the charter group started by just reserving a number of cabins but increased them to the point of becoming a charter. I may well be wrong, but this sounds more likely to me.

If you have booked a package with a TA that includes the purchase of flights when they come out, and paid a deposit then that to me is a booked holiday. In Australia, if you cancel, the TA's impose a cancellation fee - up to $300 per person. Which is why I never use them.

Qantas releases flights 364 days out.

I note that they are still taking bookings for excursions for this cruise. Call me cynical but that way they they get our money up front only to refund later (excluding any interest foregone obviously)

Paying up front for ship excursions is the reason we won't book Celebrity excursions. Princess lets us reserve an excursion but pay for it on our shipboard account. So if you change your mind (up to the day before the excursion) you can cancel without paying.

We had a cruise cancelled for a charter and were told that many of the groups that charter a ship are "party hardy folks" who spend lots and lots of money on the ship - more than a typical ship full of folks would. Not sure that's true, but there must be some financial incentive for the cruiselines to be willing to tick off loyal customers. :rolleyes:

Trip insurance covers it.

You may be able to insure against such a cancellation in the USA, you certainly cannot in the UK. In fact, in the UK, the cost of insurance can be a major part of the expenditure for a cruise, and you cannot insure against the lost of your insurance premium. When Celebrity cancelled a cruise we had booked, the cost of our insurance was considerably more than some people spend on the cruise itself.

The Millenium December 6 pre Xmas cruise had all cabins on sale as well as 1 penthouse and 4 Royal suites many sky suites still available. This has completely disappeared from Celebrity's website as well as my travel agents booking sight.

Celebrity said at first it was on reservations hold while they adjusted reservations? Then they told us it was sold out? It has been on this "hold" now for 10 days.......I am hoping it is not a mainland Chinese group they are wholesaling this to. I was once on a cruise that had the men blowing their noses and spitting into the sinks.....it was a very different experience and culturally difficult for the cruise to cater to on many levels etc. Time shall tell.

I would be surprised if our cruise was chartered as it is leaving in 4 months....but stranger things have happened. There is absolutely no transparency on Celebrity's part though.

Safe Sails to all.

The Millenium December 6 pre Xmas cruise had all cabins on sale as well as 1 penthouse and 4 Royal suites---

 

Celebrity said at first it was on reservations hold while they adjusted reservations? Then they told us it was sold out? It has been on this "hold" now for 10 days.......I am hoping it is not a mainland Chinese group they are wholesaling this to.

 

I would be surprised if our cruise was chartered as it is leaving in 4 months....but stranger things have happened. There is absolutely no transparency on Celebrity's part though. .

'Stranger things have happened'- YES- they can sell the ship to the Chinese, as happened with Century.

We had booked on the final sailing Dubai - Rome, as the ship was being leased to the French arm of RCI ( I think known as CFS) and suddenly 6 months before sailing was sold elsewhere. The only compensation we were given was $100 OBC p.p.

The Millenium December 6 pre Xmas cruise had all cabins on sale as well as 1 penthouse and 4 Royal suites many sky suites still available. This has completely disappeared from Celebrity's website as well as my travel agents booking sight.

 

Celebrity said at first it was on reservations hold while they adjusted reservations? Then they told us it was sold out? It has been on this "hold" now for 10 days.......I am hoping it is not a mainland Chinese group they are wholesaling this to. I was once on a cruise that had the men blowing their noses and spitting into the sinks.....it was a very different experience and culturally difficult for the cruise to cater to on many levels etc. Time shall tell.

 

I would be surprised if our cruise was chartered as it is leaving in 4 months....but stranger things have happened. There is absolutely no transparency on Celebrity's part though.

 

Safe Sails to all.

Showing as :Unfortunately, no staterooms are available on this cruise at the moment on another site.

An October 2016 cruise already "sold out"??? Very doubtful to me. Perhaps the charter group started by just reserving a number of cabins but increased them to the point of becoming a charter. I may well be wrong, but this sounds more likely to me.

Just going by what I was told. When I booked in July I got the last Oceanview and am wait-listed for a balcony. Apart from that only insides available.

Ahh, the power of the filthy lucre and the overwhelming needs of the shareholder. What an intoxicating blend of ingredients to secure the long term future of a business.

If for a moment, we assume that the cruise is about to get sold off to the highest bidder and not just that being fairly unique and having sold well in advance it's fuly booked, then it's a disastrous way to run a business. You get a short term gain with some company or group willing to pay over the odds for your ship. On the other hand you have 2000 disappointed passengers, a good half of whom will take this as a personal insult and never sail Celebrity again. Or RCCL or Azamara if they've got any sense at all. I certainly wouldn't. Do it a few times and you've destroyed part of your repeat customer base. Plus, the word gets around to a dozen people for every one you've cancelled. But at least your share options will be a little better when you cash them in before leaving the sinking ship.

Cancellations for essential maintenance like pod overhauls before a world tour are disappointing, but in the end they are understandable. Apologise, throw me a bone and I'll let you off. Cancellations for commercial profit are an entirely different kettle of fish and should be soundly punished by people voting with their feet.

End of rant. :mad:

p.s. I know that in the UK Celebrity has a habit of selling blocks of discounted cabins to big TAs and so it can look as if a cruise is sold out rather early on the X website. It's not unusual for some of them to find their way back on line, as others have said so it may not be time to panic yet.

p.p.s. Thought for Celebrity - DW and I are going Southampton to Amsterdam in April on Silhouette and flights plus hotels are already booked and paid for. Unrefundable, uninsurable, using the Airmiles that I spent hundred of hours of my working life to earn, sitting on cramped aircraft eating plastic food. Cancel my cruise and we're finished. You'd be dead to me.

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Cruising is popular. Affinity groups like getting together. These two things go hand in hand and make charters happen. Fares offered by affinity groups are higher than than those offered by the cruise line since the cruise line chartered their ship for more than they could from a sold out cruise. With charters there are no drink packages so all of the booze sold means profit. The problem really comes down to scheduling. Cruise lines often establish their various cruises from 2 to 3 years ahead while the affinity groups are working a little more than a year ahead. If charters could be arranged 2 or more years in advance, the cruise lines would be far happier. And charters are such big business that most of the cruise lines accept charters. How the cruise line treats their affected clients becomes the real story behind loyalty to "regular" customers.

Paying up front for ship excursions is the reason we won't book Celebrity excursions. Princess lets us reserve an excursion but pay for it on our shipboard account. So if you change your mind (up to the day before the excursion) you can cancel without paying.

 

We had a cruise cancelled for a charter and were told that many of the groups that charter a ship are "party hardy folks" who spend lots and lots of money on the ship - more than a typical ship full of folks would. Not sure that's true, but there must be some financial incentive for the cruiselines to be willing to tick off loyal customers. :rolleyes:

I didn't realize this....I have prepaid with a credit card. Are you saying I can't cancel one and choose another (well in advance) and get the charge back on my credit card? If so, I will think twice about prebooking ship's excursions on my two upcoming X cruises. Booked and changed mind several times on recent HAL cruise....very simple with $$$ back on credit card. I was going to book for January X cruise today.

I had booked a B2B2B cruise Singapore to Vancouver for spring 2015 - booked it 18 months out... and yes X chartered out the ship for the Singapore to Hong Kong leg... as I did not want to fly all that distance for jsut a B2B cruise I opted to transfer to the 2016 sailing which I am much happier with as in 2016 they are reposing the ship via the southern route instead of the normal northern route...

I had to wait for new itineraries to be realeased and do my own hunting ... but am very happy with my new upcoming adventure.

I had booked a B2B2B cruise Singapore to Vancouver for spring 2015 - booked it 18 months out... and yes X chartered out the ship for the Singapore to Hong Kong leg... as I did not want to fly all that distance for jsut a B2B cruise I opted to transfer to the 2016 sailing which I am much happier with as in 2016 they are reposing the ship via the southern route instead of the normal northern route...

 

I had to wait for new itineraries to be realeased and do my own hunting ... but am very happy with my new upcoming adventure.

But...even assuming that the same cruises were offered in the following year there will be no guarantee that they won't do the same dirty trick again.

This just received...

Thank you for your email addressed to Jo Rzymowska. Jo kindly shared the query you have regarding your sailing with Kathy Barbrooke Head of Guest and Trade Services and myself, Sarah Sotheron, Customer Experience Manager.

I am sorry for the delay in confirmation to you, I wanted to ensure that I attained the most accurate information from the right departments to reassure you.

Your sailing onboard the Celebrity Millennium on 16th October 2016 is confirmed and I have assurance that there are no deployment or itinerary changes pending and the cruise has indeed sold out. We have a mixture of individual bookings and groups onboard this wonderful itinerary.

I hope this information assists you in your planning and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Kind Regards,

Sarah

Sarah Sotheron

Customer Experience Manager

Celebrity Cruises

Looking forward to seeing you all aboard! :) :) :)

This just received...

 

Thank you for your email addressed to Jo Rzymowska. Jo kindly shared the query you have regarding your sailing with Kathy Barbrooke Head of Guest and Trade Services and myself, Sarah Sotheron, Customer Experience Manager.

 

I am sorry for the delay in confirmation to you, I wanted to ensure that I attained the most accurate information from the right departments to reassure you.

 

Your sailing onboard the Celebrity Millennium on 16th October 2016 is confirmed and I have assurance that there are no deployment or itinerary changes pending and the cruise has indeed sold out. We have a mixture of individual bookings and groups onboard this wonderful itinerary.

 

I hope this information assists you in your planning and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Sarah

 

Sarah Sotheron

Customer Experience Manager

Celebrity Cruises

 

Looking forward to seeing you all aboard! :) :) :)

Good news! Thanks for coming back and sharing.

It’s good to know there were no actual dirty tricks being perpetrated by Celebrity regarding the subject cruise and this was all just a wild rumor propagated by the removal of a sold-out itinerary from the website.

"Why do Estate Agents post a 'Sold' Board outside a sold property, why do car showrooms stick a 'Sold' sign in sold cars, why do theates post 'Sold Out' stickers over billboards... to show how popular they are.'

What we have here is a situation more like going to the Marriott website and putting in your requested date, if a hotel is sold out, it simply doesn't appear on that site. Or try to book an airline seat, if the plane is sold out, it simply doesn't appear on the airline website. It's a shame that Celebrity, and other cruise lines, do charter cruises out from under people, but in this instance it is a case that the ship is sold out.

You may be able to insure against such a cancellation in the USA, you certainly cannot in the UK. In fact, in the UK, the cost of insurance can be a major part of the expenditure for a cruise, and you cannot insure against the lost of your insurance premium. When Celebrity cancelled a cruise we had booked, the cost of our insurance was considerably more than some people spend on the cruise itself.

If you're paying so much for insurance in the UK, then I think you need to change your insurer. We pay £70 a year for worldwide insurance for the 2 of us.

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Dave - Would your insurance reimburse the costs of the second of a back to back pair if the first was cancelled? What about the flights booked separately and any non-refundable excursions booked? This is one area UK insurance lets us down.

We have 'free travel insurance' with our Bank Account.

Actually, it is no longer free, as my husband & I are now over 70, so we pay £50 age related surcharge. But 10 years ago when we cancelled QE2 due to my replacement knee operation, they paid out.

No idea however about non health related claims.