KiwiCouple34

1 minute ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Assuming that this is your own receipt (not sure what you meant by "other members" then a  couple of comments:

 

Given the Deposit due date, I assume that you must have received this receipt in early October - with the comment in the red box stating that the reservation is Non-Refundable. If this is truly a mistake, is is a shame that you did not address the discrepancy then rather than now.

 

Your original post mentioned an expiration date for a refundable deposit of April 9.  However, a standard refundable reservation would remain refundable right up until your final payment date of June 28.  Where did you get the April 9 date?

 

Sincerely hope that if this is truly a mistake that it is soon corrected.

 

Best wishes.

The top one is mine. The two below are from other members for comparison to show how the NZ contract differs. Possibly why the call centre says it's not refundable because they don't know any better.

02 October was the date I booked and paid the deposit. The No-Risk deposit expiration date 09Apr was shown on the website as I booked and it's also when the first cancellation penalty kicks-in on the schedule of penalties. I posted an example earlier of what it looks like on the website doing a phantom booking. Unfortunately I didn't screen-capture my live one. 

Anyway, I'm done with it. If the cruise doesn't cancel, I'll either write a complaint to the government watchdog or just kiss it goodbye.

3 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

Kiwi - none of us knows what you are talking about.  You have ranted about a plan offered in NZ.  Your confused dates and lack of details about your booking are certainly confused.  It sounds like this was made very recently - a time of total chaos for the cruise industry - you might have not understood what you were booking, a good reason to always use a TA, or you might have gotten incorrect phone info.  People make mistakes.  Your initial post though is not appropriate for Cruise Critic.

In hindsight, I would have put all the ensuing details for clarity and corrected the mistyped years, but the forum is super-basic with no enduring editing or deletion tools. 

As far as appropriate, it would have been highly useful reading someone else's experience of this glitch (or whatever you care to call it) and the refusal of the call centre to respond with other than a scripted answer. Sure people make mistakes, but theirs has cost me unfairly.

19 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

Can you post your receipt so people trying to help you can see what you were operating from?

Yes. I'll put mine at the top and the other two postings from other members below.

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

if your Corporate TA is recommending waiting for Celebrity to cancel maybe mistakenly (yours or X’s error) ended up with a Non Refundable deposit.

If the Cruise  is cancelled your all set.  

I paid attention to make sure it was refundable before paying, but the call centre disagrees. Others have said their paperwork shows clearly if it's refundable or not. Mine says nothing about that. Maybe the consumer laws in NZ means a different presentation of the deposit, which just says it's been paid. Pretty good chance they'll cancel the cruise anyway, which the TA is thinking is the line of least resistance compared to a complaint to the government watchdog.

35 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

OP - it appears you used a US TA, are they available to run some of this to ground for you? 

 

Yes, my Corporate TA is helping and I should have started with them before paying anything. They are the ones saying to sit on our hands and wait for Celebrity to cancel the cruise, which is quite likely.

Consumer protections in New Zealand are strong. I can always lodge a free complaint to escalate it above the call centre.

15 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

... but by any chance did you take a snip of the promo that was being shown on the website at the time of booking? 

Unfortunately not, but it's a great idea to get screen shots. I will from now on if I book another one, although I'll probably just use my Corporate Travel Agent from the outset.

Incidentally, I initiated a similar booking just to see what's changed, and nothing has. The presentation is identical to when I booked in October 2019. See attached screen shots.

1 minute ago, txjim09 said:

You responded just to rant?  Feel better now?

Nope. Just contributing my experience so others can ask the right questions when booking with Celebrity. I did plenty of reading on this website to choose a cruise, so only fair I add to the data for others to learn. The whole point of this website, right? 

8 minutes ago, cl.klink said:

 

What's the difference between dishonest, and not correct or consistent?

 

- Joel

Call it what you like. Inconsistency, misleading advertising or a website error. I call it corporate dishonesty when they refuse to investigate my experience.

I won't book with them again, but I'm sharing as a warning that the statement of "No risk deposit" at the purchase stage is not necessarily true. 

2 minutes ago, RickT said:

 

And sorry to disagree with you, but the No Risk Bookings have only been an option since the Virus started affecting new bookings.

No risk bookings are new, but no risk deposits are not.

It's a New Zealand based booking.

When I booked the cruise in October 2019, the payment instructions said:

No risk deposit $800 NZD

Refundable until April 10, 2020

Lock it In

I hit the button to "Lock it in", paid via credit card, and and got an email confirming the transaction. There's nothing about RD or NRD. I did not select any promotional fares at a discount that make it un-refundable or anything like that.

On 07 April, I went to cancel and they informed me the deposit was not refundable, saying I was mistaken thinking it was a "No Risk Deposit".

They also informed me that No-risk deposits had only just started to be offered and they weren't around in October 2019 which I know is untrue.

We have spoken to three different call centre people who are just reading off their screen. I understand they are busy and probably brand-new staff with the crisis, but I don't particularly feel like donating $800 to a multi-billion dollar corporation.

If it was a small business, I would have a different attitude.

We weren't 100% sure if we could do the trip, so I booked fully-refundable airline tickets, did not pre-pay hotels, and read carefully the T&Cs for the cruise deposit. So this wasn't a case of not being diligent. That's why I say the company acted dishonestly and to be wary when they make offers.

Suspecting the port will remain restricted (two countries involved), I have left the booking in place. If I cancel; they keep the money; if they cancel, I get it back.

I mistyped. Booked October 2019 for August 2020. Not a rant; just a warning about dishonesty.

Oh yeah...good pickup. Booked October 2019 for August 2020.

Just a warning to all booking Celebrity.

In October 2020 I booked a cruise for August 2021with a deposit that was "No-Risk" refundable until 09 April 2020. Due to work commitments I wanted to cancel the cruise and get a refund of the "Refundable" deposit a few days prior to the expiry of the refundable period.

Long story short, Celebrity Cruises are refusing to refund the deposit claiming it was not refundable (the first lie). They say the "No-risk" deposit scheme only started being offered in March 2021, so I must have been mistaken. (Second lie). The "No-risk" deposit is mentioned on the forums way back.

They have been dishonest.