Packard

Thankyou everyone for your input.

To respond to both posts,

No the cancellation policy does not mention the ship not docking. It merely read that the tour was weather dependent and, if cancelled, you could get a full refund. The sticking point was that the tour wasn't cancelled. Our group of 4 just couldn't get off the ship in port!

And yes, I won't use Viator or HW again. I have written Viator to suggest they change their cancellation policy to read, if ship doesn't dock but a tour goes ahead, a refund is not guaranteed as it is up to the tour operator.   
Just disappointed that neither Viator or HW took the circumstances under consideration and offered even a partial refund.

Hello,

Did anyone else on board this sailing book the Small Group food tour by Hungry Whales thru Viator on Oct 14? Did you get a refund?

The ship did not make it into port and HW is not providing any refund because their tour still ran. It was not cancelled. So Viator's cancellation policy did not kick in. They say they had staff assigned, reservations, considerable logistics and expenses. Apparently, they had 2 tours running that day because of the large numbers. The tour went ahead so their "logistics" were done anyway.
I understand there might have been additional expense to them for food but I think the food would have gone back into storage or sold to other patrons that day. Certainly not enough spoilage to warrant keeping the entire payment?

Has anyone else encountered this?

2 minutes ago, cantstopingcruising said:

We have cancellation insurance through our credit card, but only $2500 cad pp. So far we haven't bothered to buy extra because it is so expensive that we feel it'[s not worth it.

 

Last year we took our son , dil and grandkids on a cruise and booked in US funds for them in order to avail ourselves of the Celebrity cancellation insurance which was MUCH cheaper than what we could buy separately in Canada.

 

Since we are over 65, we buy travel health insurance annually.

Thanks for this informative post!

14 minutes ago, If only said:

Canadians have never been able to buy Celebrity’s insurance.  Have you been going through a US travel agent?

No I use a CDN agent. I have been able to buy Celebrity insurance anytime.

19 minutes ago, Highpeaklad said:

Just get insurance from someone else. 

Obviously that is what I will do. My point was the lack of communication from Celebrity and to let other CDNs know that they too will have to look elsewhere for their insurance needs.

I don’t know if they cancelled insurance for booked clients....I would hope not as I think that might cause a huge uproar!!

In my case, they just wouldn’t offer it.

I have travelled a few times with Celebrity and love it. I used their cruise medical insurance which I added before FP. While on a cruise last year, I booked a Caribbean cruise for 2020. When I went to add their insurance last week, I was told they no longer offer insurance to Canadians!

First question - Why not?

Second question - Wouldn’t it have been a nice gesture for Celebrity to let their booked clients know this fact when they changed their policy? It’s not like they don’t send notices for other reasons. Just this week alone, I have had 8 emails trying to sell me more cruises and deals!!

I switched from another cruise line to Celebrity because they seemed to have much better customer service but now I’m not so sure I made the right choice!

On 3/16/2018 at 8:03 AM, drake2014 said:

 

I'm so sorry I missed this one! After the storms I wasn't around here much so I'm trying to catch up now.

You've probably already been here but I'll answer anyway in case it helps someone.

The best off-the-beaten-path beach in the world is Sandy Point at the southwest tip of the island. There are no amenities there of any kind since it's a wildlife refuge, and it's closed from April-August for turtle nesting season, but if you time it right you may be the only people on 2 miles of perfect white sand beach. It's absolutely incredible!

There's more info here: http://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-beaches/sandy-point/

Please plan appropriately as there are no amenities of any kind and limited shade.

 

For good shopping in Frederiksted I would recommend the courtyard behind Polly's and walking along the waterfront, there are lots of cute boutiques and shops along there.

 

Hope this helps someone!

Drake, just saw this on CC. Looks amazing! We will be in St Croix early next year. 2 questions......cab ride there, how long and how much? Also, from the link to the website.....reads no stakes in the ground for shade umbrellas, but 1 of the pictures show a personal umbrella staked on the beach. Can we bring shade umbrellas or not, do you know?

Thanks so much!

THANK YOU everyone!! Now I am good to go!!

9 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

I think that I am misunderstanding you.  My question:  Pricing of what?  The cabin, the internet, beverage packages, excursions?  

Internet.......please and thankyou.

10 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "internet pricing" and "daily."  I have never seen pricing other than by the voyage.  I assume that you are referring to HAL's website?  If you are referring to a third party's website, please be aware that CC forbids giving the name of any travel agency or service.  

Yes, I mean HAL’s website. It has been a few years since we travelled with them and back then they only had a price per day. I can’t see anything on their website that gives pricing by the voyage. Even the CC roll call for our voyage doesn’t have clear pricing. Someone there suggested I try the main board.

Hello,

We are heading out in March on the Eurodam, 28 day cruise. Can anyone out there tell me if the internet pricing is only daily or is there a package that covers the entire voyage? If so, what are the $$ figures? Thanks!

Just to update everyone......I received a call from Corporate today and they are putting the cost of the shore excursion back on my credt card. They do read letters and do respond. Nicely done Celebrity!

We saw this show on the Royal Feb 16. It was absolutely fabulous! Great entertainment...don’t miss it!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Live and learn for me and I will take your comments to heart.

To address some of them.....I wrote yesterday to Celebrity CEO....other than this issue, loved ABCs! We did day pass at Hilton Curacao which was great.....and eandj, you are right - having liquor does not make it a typical booze cruise, but the loud music and dancing from the open bar deck didn’t help matters....also, there were 5 of us who went to shore excursion desk to complain immediately after the tour.

Next time, I will push while on board ship.

Thanks again all!!

We recently booked a sunset tour on our overnight in Curacao through the Celebrity Eclipse. We picked it over a private excursion because most of the private ones appeared to be ‘booze cruises’. Celebrity’s description made no mention of food or drink and noted we would enjoy an ocean sunset after touring the inner harbour.....not so!! After an hour touring outside the harbour (with many enjoying the open bar, so it was a booze cruise after all), we did go through the floating bridge at 6pm to the inner harbour.....and ended up in the industrial part of the harbour. We saw oil storage tanks, a metal scrapyard, freighters and cranes. We did not make it out of there for sunset so our sunset pics are not at all what we had hoped and paid for. The tour operator employee on our upper level deck even apologized to us when the captain announced we would not be getting out in time. She noted it was wrong, had even gone below to tell him he needed to turn around in order to make the 6:44pm sunset.

We complained to the shorex desk and showed them our sunset pics when we returned and were given a 15% refund!

Not acceptable. :mad:

Al Katz is the funniest comedian we have seen on a cruise ship....and not a foul word in his entire act! What a refreshing change that is!

Princess, please bring him back!

Does anyone know the current 2017 prices for retreat and/or lido cabanas?

No. That's the point ! They SHOULD !

My understanding is that the head of VW stepped down because of it! Your turn Jan!

Please add Packard to the list thanks!

Westerdam - April 2016 - 33 day San Diego to Vancouver

FYI - I booked my air through Celebrity ChoiceAir last month. Last week, I noticed that my credit card had been charged a higher amount than my booking confirmation showed. My TA checked and was told they charge a $25 fee for international flights and $15 for domestic ones. I thought, ok, there's my answer.

This week, while browsing their cruise brochure, I noticed on their air page they stated that there was no service fee. TA called again......the fee will be taken off my final payment....I was not supposed to have been charged!!!

Had I booked the cruise in $US, I probably would not have noted the discrepancy when my CC company did the exchange to $CDN. It was a fluke that I caught it anyway.

$25 does not break the bank but thought I would give everyone a heads up to doublecheck their card statements vs their booking statements.

Sorry folks, I am not getting into the nuts and bolts of this discussion but I have just finished reading all the posts and am laughing because it reminds me of that scene in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"....the one where the characters are trying to decide the fairest way to divide up the $$ when they find it....anyone know the one I mean?

Thank you everyone. iT is because of our loonie that I thought to ask the question.

Can you prepay HAL's gratuities online ahead of the cruise? Can't seem to find it on website? Thanks.

I believe that they serve the soft-shell crab with an Orange Ponzu sauce.

Thanks for your reply. I will look up the sauce recipe that was sent as well from another poster.

O must have changed their sauce because when we were there, it was light green in colour!