stevenr597

I have found that if you book while currently on a cruise, you get a pretty good deal with a lot of credit for the upcoming cruise. Otherwise it is more a matter of luck. We usually are fairly selective in the type of room we book, Aqua Class on Celebrity and Reserve Class Mini-Suite on Princess, and quite often these rooms go fast, and we often see little in the way of sales. In respect to changing or missing ports, on Carnaval several years ago we missed most ports because of Hurricanes. The missed Disney’s Private Island because of thunderstorms, and and recently on Trans-Atlantic we arrived at the Azores 10:00 PM instead of 8:00 AM because of weather. Missing ports is something that is never liked but will happen. In the end my wife and I joke that a rainy day at sea is better than a sunny day at work.

Many years ago we were on the Sovereign of the Seas (RCCL) and stopped for a day at Labadee. It was a time of great turmoil in Haiti and the United Nation had sent peacekeepers. We were sitting at the beach and a Jeep came by with the United Nations Logo and several Canadian Soldiers. They stopped for a friendly “chat” with us and joked that they were there to make sure none of the “Yanks” misbehaved. I am sure that you will have a great time in a great and beautiful port.

I do wish that Princess would stock Laphroaig and Isle of Jura. Both are heavily peated and smoked scotch Whiskey.

Have to disagree with your comments….again. Suggest that you read my first posting, which was quite clear in respect to the problem we had experienced.

Must disagree, it is also the responsibility of the cruise line to make it clear, exactly what your are purchasing.

Why???

We received the notice of booking within 1-2 days after we requested our T.A. to book this cruise, as well as a E-Mail from Celebrity welcoming us back. In the bottom of the E-Mail of the notice from our agent that he made the reservation, there was a PDF box with the actual invoice. Once you clicked that I believe that there was a small notice that the booking was non-refundable. In any case, I am pleased to note that the problem has been rectified.

There has been poor communication between the Travel Agent & "Client" Not at liberty on a public forum to discuss why this occurred. However, when the T.A. was clearly informed of the problem, he did the correct thing and refunded our deposit. Note that we had offered with Celebrity to take the $300.00 penalty and actually book another cruise. However Celebrity declined stating that since we booked with a T.A. it is there responsibility to handle the problem.

I did not place this post to start a debate about Celebrity. We are Elite Cruisers with this line and generally have had positive experiences in the past with both the Millenium and Solstice Classes. The posting's function was for the cruiser to be cautious in respect to restrictions on deposits with Celebrity. I do hope and believe that I achieved this purpose. In respect to my case, my travel agent has refunded the deposit for this cruise. We did make a new reservation with Sun Princess. So in the end it did turn out well.

Our invoice listed the deposit as non-refundable only after we made it.

Agree, I initially started this post to inform people in respect to restrictions on Celebrity Deposits. By the way, my travel agent is refunding the deposit to us.

We believe it is the responsibility of the travel agent who makes the reservation and deposit to inform the customer in respect to the terms of the deposit and booking.

Celebrity and Princess offer fairly similar products. But the way they handle deposits is a major advantage of Princess. We did not rebook Celebrity, instead we booked Sun Princess.

Like I said, my comments stand, there is no problem in scrolling past the page in which they mention that there are two classes of deposits, and you can indeed put down a deposit and not learn it is non-refundable until "AFTER" you commit.

Only if you scroll down the page. When you are ready to put down a deposit, there is no warning that your deposit might not be non-refundable. Remember...competitors do not have such restrictions on their deposits.

Certainly one should do their homework. I always check on the location of a room and comments about it using web sights such as cruisedecks.com. However this doesn't take away the responsibility of the cruise lines, such as celebrity, to make clear the restrictions and obligations inherent in putting a deposit on a cruise,

Did explain it, suggest you re-read my posts. In addition, as I mentioned I booked through a travel agent, and my inital point is that I should have been notified that the deposit was non-refundable.

I did a “mock” booking three separate times and you can easily bypass the page. When you commit there is no warning by Celebrity that your deposit is non-refundable.

Yes and no, you can book a cruise without chosing any of these options, and bypass the page Perhaps Celebrity should have a box at the bottom of the page that you must check before you can proceed further. In any case Celebrity should make it clear that unless you choose otherwise your cruise deposit will be non-refundable.

Not blaming in for everything. But if there is an option in respect to drink packages, time of dining, or even a deposit the travel agent should make his customer aware. Otherwise, what is the value of an agent.

Unless you decide not to customize your trip. Individuals often wait to they board to take options such as a beverage package, and even when to dine. In any case, as I have said before, we were of the old school that used travel agents. For a variety of reasons, which I do not wish to disclose, our travel agent failed us in respect to this booking. However, when we discussed the problem, he did offer to reimburse us for the loss in deposit.

Celebrity Cruis Yes....but you have to know that there is a difference between deposits before you can ask questions about them. Typical "Catch 22"

Like I said and will say again, we booked through a travel agent and never received notice that our deposit was non-refundable. In addition, my comments about booking through the Princess website stand. You have to across down the entire page to find mention of two different types of deposits. If you decide to bypass “additional options” for the cruise and go to putting down a deposit, no mention is made….before…between the different types of deposits. In addition, a window, that can be opened on said page talks about cancellation penalties, but no mention of two types of deposit. Celebrity should have been more explicitly in respect to deposits

We booked the cruise through a travel agent and only receivedt the invoice after we included a deposit. There was no warning that the deposit was non-refundable. In addition, if you decide to book directly with Celebrity, when you get to the page you listed above, unless you decide to customize your cruise and scroll down, you will never see the option for a refundable compared to a non-refundable deposit. In addition when you get to the final page and are about to commit, Celebrity does give the option to look at cancellation penalties but says nothing about the option between the two types of deposits. Misleading at best.

Never transferred to a higher booking. Booked a room, paid the deposit, then within several days, noticed a conflict in my schedule. Notified my travel agent who cancelled, then was informed several days later that it was booked with a non-refundable deposit. Many other cruise lines such as Princess do refund the deposit. I do feel that Celebrity as well as many other lines have made the system overly complicated.