gblotter

I do think it would have been nice if Celebrity would have compensated you something (like onboard credit or a specialty dining experience or something) for all that stress and anxiety that the "system error" put you through.

 

Seems like the least they could have done for you. Would have been a nice little perk and would have shown that they really do care about their clients.

"System error" is just a lame way of Celebrity trying to deflect blame (it is their "system" after all).

Given that Celebrity was entirely at fault here, I am a little shocked that an upgraded cabin or suite was not offered.

Seems that Celebrity needs to embrace the idea of a "delighting their customers" instead of "delighting their accountants".

Look at each schedule very carefully to check for times of arrival in ports and if the port is tendered. We just did the Solstice in Alaska and the only problem was tendering in Juneau after the ship got into port in the afternoon. We were only able to do the tram and of course, the Red Dog Saloon! The M class ships are older and that is a consideration.

As far as tendering is concerned is there a difference between which ship you book? Is Juneau a tendering issue only for Solstice?

I strongly concur with the advice to check the port call times and to avoid at all costs tendering in Juneau.

Several folks have issued warnings about Solstice tendering in Juneau.

When I looked at some 2013 Solstice itineraries for Alaska, I did indeed notice tendering in Juneau.

However, my August 2014 Solstice itinerary for Alaska indicates that it is docked in Juneau.

Don't get worked up unnecessarily - Juneau tendering may not be an issue for the 2014 sailings of Solstice (but be sure to check your particular sailing).

I mailed our FCC certificates to Costco Travel nearly a month ago. Still waiting for Celebrity to apply them to our August 2014 sailing on Solstice.

With some nagging on my part, Celebrity has now applied the FCC certificates to our August 2014 reservation.

Our Millennium ordeal with all its refunds and reimbursements is now finished - 3 months later! I lost track, but it took well over a dozen phone calls to Celebrity and Costco Travel to get everything resolved. I do feel bad for those who are still in limbo waiting, and for those who had a less-satisfactory outcome (especially the unfair calculations for the Cruisetour folks).

Looking forward to a better experience on Solstice next summer (fingers crossed). We are taking our four children with us this time in two connecting staterooms. Even after applying the FCCs, this will be our most expensive vacation ever. Hopefully the experience will be worth it to our kids.

I received in the mail today the Future Cruise Credit certificates.

 

The amount of the FCC is for the full value of the cruise fare, but does not include the taxes and fees that we paid.

 

Now waiting only for the reimbursement of travel expenses to return home from the aborted August 16 cruise.

I mailed our FCC certificates to Costco Travel nearly a month ago. Still waiting for Celebrity to apply them to our August 2014 sailing on Solstice.

Does anybody know if I will get my deposit back that has already been paid to reserve a stateroom for next summer? I hope so!

Sorry - the fine print on the front of the FCC says: "Certificate value may not be deducted from the deposit amount."

Did your FCC match your refund or was it slightly less?

 

Our FCC's work out a couple hundred less than our refund even when we subtract the taxes refunded onboard.

The amount was the full cruise fare (not including taxes and fees).

Taxes and fees were left for me to pay (approx $286).

What are the dates and conditions on your FCC?

Language from the certificate ...

Booking Conditions:

* Applicable to all categories and price programs except Loyalty Reunion Cruises, Complimentary Cruises, Interline, T/A Reduced Rate, Individual and Group Incentive, and Charter sailings. Applicable to individual and group bookings to cruise fare only. Not applicable to shore excursions, tour packages, or other personal charges. Guest is responsible for taxes and fees where applicable.

* One certificate per person, per booking, and valid only for the person noted on the certificate. Excludes Xpedition unless you were on an Xpedition sailing.

* If credit is applied to a booking of lesser value, the difference will not be carried to another booking and it will be considered as used.

* Cruise must be taken by 09/30/2014 and not redeemable for inaugural or holiday sailings.

* Valid only for the cruise brand shown above (Celebrity Cruises).

* As are all requests for reservations, the offered space is subject to availability, and from time to time, itineraries may be altered or services on a specific ship may be discontinued. Certain restrictions apply.

* Non-transferable and may not be redeemed for cash.

I have now received all of the expected cruise fare refund.

 

The Captains Club credits have now appeared as well.

 

Still waiting on the reimbursement of travel expenses to return home from the aborted August 16 cruise.

 

Still waiting for the Future Cruise Credit as well.

I received in the mail today the Future Cruise Credit certificate.

The amount of the FCC is for the full value of the cruise fare, but does not include the taxes and fees that we paid.

Now waiting only for the reimbursement of travel expenses to return home from the aborted August 16 cruise.

With the promised deadlines now passed, I just spoke with Costco Travel again this morning for a status update.

 

From previous conversations, I was expecting two additional refunds of $500.48 and $286.24

 

The $500.48 refund is stuck in processing and it will now be processed manually because of my complaining. I should receive that within the next two weeks (or so I am now promised).

 

I will not receive the refund of $286.24 because that amount was already given back to me in the form of a refundable Costco OBC of $285 and also a minor refund of taxes that I received while still on the ship. I can live with that.

 

The Costco agent said it would be another 6-8 weeks before I receive the promised FCC (not very definitive - she was just relaying information from Celebrity).

 

Regarding reimbursement of our travel and food expenses to get home, I was given the telephone number of guest relations and told to call myself. Guest relations confirmed that my email with receipts was received and that the reimbursement will be processed within the next 3-4 weeks. The agent was very courteous but I don't put much credibility in her promised timeline.

 

Guest Relations = 800-529-6918

I have now received all of the expected cruise fare refund.

The Captains Club credits have now appeared as well.

Still waiting on the reimbursement of travel expenses to return home from the aborted August 16 cruise.

Still waiting for the Future Cruise Credit as well.

We also used Costco Travel for the August 16th cruise.

 

I just spoke with Costco this afternoon. Costco told me that Celebrity is reclaiming their commission of $500.48 for the cruise and will then refund that amount to us on our credit card. Doesn't seem fair, frankly. Celebrity - not Costco - should bear the cost of this screwup. Travel agents incurred greater-than-normal expenses related to the August 16 cruise and yet they will be given no compensation through commissions? If the Costco OBC ($285.00 for our stateroom) already constitutes a partial return of that commission, I am wondering if we will really see the full $500.48 refunded to our credit card.

 

Costco said that we are also expected to receive an additional refund of $286.24 related to gratuities and taxes (that refund comes from the ship). We already received a small refund of taxes while still on the ship, so once again I am wondering if we will really see the full $286.24 refunded to our credit card.

 

There are obviously a lot of different buckets here, and I do not have a full understanding of how all of this works. If both of those refunds (commission and taxes) come through as promised, then we will have received a full refund of everything we paid. Fingers crossed. With the various moving parts, I can now better understand why the refunds are showing up piecemeal.

 

Whatever the amounts, I do think it is reasonable to expect Celebrity and Costco Travel to provide a full and detailed accounting of the refunds after the dust finally settles.

 

All of our refunds are supposed to be finalized by Sept 23rd (according to Costco Travel anyway).

 

Regarding the reimbursement of travel expenses to get us home after the ship evacuation - that's a different story. Except for a robo-reply to my email - nothing from Celebrity about that.

With the promised deadlines now passed, I just spoke with Costco Travel again this morning for a status update.

From previous conversations, I was expecting two additional refunds of $500.48 and $286.24

The $500.48 refund is stuck in processing and it will now be processed manually because of my complaining. I should receive that within the next two weeks (or so I am now promised).

I will not receive the refund of $286.24 because that amount was already given back to me in the form of a refundable Costco OBC of $285 and also a minor refund of taxes that I received while still on the ship. I can live with that.

The Costco agent said it would be another 6-8 weeks before I receive the promised FCC (not very definitive - she was just relaying information from Celebrity).

Regarding reimbursement of our travel and food expenses to get home, I was given the telephone number of guest relations and told to call myself. Guest relations confirmed that my email with receipts was received and that the reimbursement will be processed within the next 3-4 weeks. The agent was very courteous but I don't put much credibility in her promised timeline.

Guest Relations = 800-529-6918

Where I disagree with Costco is their claim they are losing their commission. I can't imagine Celebrity taking back a TAs commission for a sailing that departed and was aborted midway through. I'm of the opinion that Costco Travel simply didn't explain it correctly to you if you went away with the understanding that they're going to lose out on their commission.

The agent at Costco Travel said her information came directly from a conversation with the Celebrity "redeployments office" which is the department tasked with processing the refunds. She spoke to me in very clear terms including specific dollar amounts. I took notes during the conversation. So this is not a matter of me misunderstanding what Costco Travel meant to say. However, I hope that what she told me is wrong.

Hopefully, some of the terrific TAs that hang out on this board can elaborate and save some further confusion.

While the Costco agent was very clear in her explanation, I hope that she was misinformed about the facts. It would certainly be nice to hear firsthand from another TA if Celebrity intends to take back commissions for the August 16 cruise. I would expect travel agents to scream bloody murder given that the cruise departed and was aborted midway through.

The OBC and perks should not count against the cruise cost. For example, we booked through an online TA. We received her on-board credit on our ship invoice, and our tips and wine went against our OBC. Since we also received a prorated credit of the taxes that we paid, we actually had a credit balance on our ship invoice, which was applied to the credit card that I gave Celebrity on boarding.

 

Tell Costco that their OBC and perks should not count against the cost of the cruise. I would assume that all TAs, including Costco, will be allowed to keep their commissions for the sale of our cruise. The OBC is the part of their commission that they are rebating to us.

We also used Costco Travel for the August 16th cruise.

I just spoke with Costco this afternoon. Costco told me that Celebrity is reclaiming their commission of $500.48 for the cruise and will then refund that amount to us on our credit card. Doesn't seem fair, frankly. Celebrity - not Costco - should bear the cost of this screwup. Travel agents incurred greater-than-normal expenses related to the August 16 cruise and yet they will be given no compensation through commissions? If the Costco OBC ($285.00 for our stateroom) already constitutes a partial return of that commission, I am wondering if we will really see the full $500.48 refunded to our credit card.

Costco said that we are also expected to receive an additional refund of $286.24 related to gratuities and taxes (that refund comes from the ship). We already received a small refund of taxes while still on the ship, so once again I am wondering if we will really see the full $286.24 refunded to our credit card.

There are obviously a lot of different buckets here, and I do not have a full understanding of how all of this works. If both of those refunds (commission and taxes) come through as promised, then we will have received a full refund of everything we paid. Fingers crossed. With the various moving parts, I can now better understand why the refunds are showing up piecemeal.

Whatever the amounts, I do think it is reasonable to expect Celebrity and Costco Travel to provide a full and detailed accounting of the refunds after the dust finally settles.

All of our refunds are supposed to be finalized by Sept 23rd (according to Costco Travel anyway).

Regarding the reimbursement of travel expenses to get us home after the ship evacuation - that's a different story. Except for a robo-reply to my email - nothing from Celebrity about that.

For the August 16 cruise ...

I received a partial refund (approx 80%) to my credit card on September 6.

The Celebrity accounting department wouldn't talk to me - needed to go through my travel agent to get more information.

My travel agent (Costco Travel) then called Celebrity and who said that the total refund will be divided between three separate payments back to my credit card. The remaining payments should appear within the next two weeks.

Apparently some of the refund comes from the cruise fare, and some comes from on-board ship expenses and taxes. But I was told that the total amount of the three refunds would equal the amount I paid - so not to worry.

I have not yet submitted my receipts for reimbursement for airfare and meals after leaving the ship.

Quick note to those interested in the Balcony Dividers on the S Class ships...as already answered, they do fold back, and you do need your cabin steward to take care of this for you, naturally only with cabins with both parties consenting.

 

The detail to be be mentioned is that the glass portion (not at all flimsy by any strectch) that folds back does so only partially. In other words when folded back, the two balconies will still remain bisected by the stationary metal partition that the folding glass extends from. The balcony will not be one gigantic open expanse, if that is what anyone is envisioning, it will open sufficently enough to be walked through for going back and forth.

 

Works quite well in that regard, but there are some limits to say setting up the tables and chairs in a wide open fashion if that is what one is looking for. Best bet to accomplish that would be to move all of the furniture towarard the glass rail/balcony end.

 

Hope this helps. :)

We will be sure to have the cabin steward take care of this on the first day.

Yes, dividers are removable.

I'll get you a picture of 1233-35 balcony.

Are the glass dividers removable between all balconies in general, or just the specific suites that were mentioned by the questioner?

First of all - THANK YOU cruisetail for posting so many helpful photos and answering so many questions. And thanks too for enduring the occasional negative comment.

I am an engineer too, so I understand and appreciate your approach in this thread.

Our family (2 adults, 4 kids) is booked on Solstice in staterooms 9272 and 9274 on the "hump".

We chose these staterooms because:

1. They are adjoining rooms with connecting outer doors.

2. 9274 has a pull-down upper bunk for kids.

3. Located near the elevators/stairway.

4. Located mid-ship for stability.

5. Balcony views to the front and rear of the ship.

6. No overhang/strut issues on the hump.

7. No public areas above or below.

8. No obstructions from lifeboats or other equipment.

9. No "X" obstruction on the balcony glass.

Question for cruisetail: Do you happen to have any photos that show what the pull-down upper bunk looks like and how it works in a cabin like 9274? Is it a real eye-sore that inhibits usability when not in use?

Another question: Our staterooms are located directly across from the card room on Deck 9. Do you anticipate that we will have to endure any particular noise/disruption because the card room is so close? Does the card room get used much in reality? I was thinking that having the card room close by would actually be nice for our kids if they wish to play some UNO games, etc (but not sure if children are allowed in the card room).

Thanks again.