rosadilla

 I had planned a cruise next September. I ended up cancelling that on March 10th, and was told by Celebrity Cruises that I would get a refund in 10 days or so. Well, it's April 3rd and I still don't have my money. They keep saying it is "in process". Outrageous!

 I had planned a cruise next September. I ended up cancelling that on March 10th, and was told by Celebrity Cruises that I would get a refund in 10 days or so. Well, it's April 3rd and I still don't have my money. They keep saying it is "in process". Outrageous!

 I had planned a cruise next September. I ended up cancelling that on March 10th, and was told by Celebrity Cruises that I would get a refund in 10 days or so. Well, it's April 3rd and I still don't have my money. They keep saying it is "in process". Outrageous!

I cancelled on March 10th, and have yet to see a refund.  I called Celebrity and they said it could be 20 or more days.  Outrageous!

I cancelled on March 10th, still have not seen a refund, when I call and ask, they say it will be coming sometime.  They don't say when.  So when do I start worrying they can't meet all the refund requests?

I loggeded into my cruise planner for our January, 2017 Liberty cruise and saw this was an option. Has anyone done this and could give their opinion? For $65 each, I really want it to be good! We are travelling with our two older teen sons and 9 year old daughter and I thought we'd let this be our one adults-only night! Would appreciate any input!

I just did it on the Serenade and really enjoyed it. It was "hokey", but they limited the number of people, and we were all "into" it, so it was lots of fun. Serenade did it at the Italian specialty restaurant, and the food was superb. A bit of advice though -- your teens and 9-year-old would enjoy it too, maybe do something else for an "adults" night.:D

Anyone docked at La Seyne sur Mer and taken the ferry to Toulon?

Hey Wine-O -- it's Pat -- we were tablemates on the Constellation -- How's Maureen?

I'm going on my first ever Mediterranean cruise -the Equinix leaving Barcelona May 11. Any tips for things to do in Toulon?

Great - just to add to our concern over the May 9th sailing to the Baltic, Putin is now making noises about Estonia, a NATO ally! http://www.news.com.au/world/russia-talks-tough-with-estonia-as-protecting-russian-speakers-excuse-wheeled-out-again-after-justifying-crimean-takeover/story-fndir2ev-1226859957676

My granddaughter has cruised 3 times on Celebrity starting when she was 8 & we went on an Alaska cruise. The other 2 times were to the Caribbean during school break when she was 10 & 11.

When she was 12 I took her & a friend of hers (same age) on Royal Caribbean for school break. She had fun on all cruises - but after this last one, she said, "Grandma, I had a really great time -- but I like Celebrity better."

Taking Julius Caesar's advice to heart, Putin's divide and conquer strategy has netted Russia Crimea, and coming soon, Eastern Ukraine:

"Demonstrators in Kharkov, north-east Ukraine, have appealed to Russia to pass to the UN their demands over a referendum on the federalization, while hundreds of protesters in Donetsk stormed a prosecutor’s office demanding to free a local “governor”.

... Sunday in eastern Ukraine was marked by a fresh series of pro-Russian rallies."

The dominoes will continue to fall ... 'back in the USSR' ...

Originally posted on the Roll Call for my Baltic Cruise May 9th:

Comments on St. Petersburg in USA Today March 14th from Celebrity...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2014/03/14/black-sea-cruise-ukraine/6410151/

Hit the ground running here!

 

The ship was immaculate--saw absolutely no signs of wear & tear.

 

We didn't breakfast in Blu. Since dinner is so long, we prefer to grab quick breakfasts & lunches. Plus we find that breakfast is breakfast--we had an omelet made each morning in the buffet, then I grabbed a coffee in Cafe al Bacio. (buffet coffee was very bitter)

 

Also never made it to Persian Garden--not my idea of relaxation. If I am going to sit & sweat, give me the sun!

 

YES we will definitely book AQ again for Blu alone--it was that good, in ambiance, service & food. I noticed someone from our Roll Call commented that the everyday steak was like shoe leather; DH ordered it one night medium & said it was good. If it isn't good, send it back! The night of the filet I ordered Ahi--it was quite good. But DH gave me a bite of his filet & it was fantastic! (high praise for a girl from Nebraska!) The waiter saw my pleasure & got me that steak! He also ordered the filet salad the next night & we both felt it was the same meat, though more thinly sliced. DH used to order steaks medium well; over the years I have gotten him to medium, but even he tasted the difference between MRare & Med--good medium, fantastic MR.

 

Just glanced at our future booking again...yep, it shows BEV123GO option on the reservation. There was a flyer on board that showed you could combine offers (123GO plus the future cruise OBC) & no expiration date--how could we not? And we have over 18 months to change to the cruise of our choice.

 

My mom is looking at another family cruise over New Years this year & I notice this cruise is available...wondering how the teen club is. The 6 kids would be 19-18-16-15-14-13. Of course, the dynamics change this year with the older one...hmmmmm

I took my granddaughter & her friend (both age 13 at the time) on a 7 night Caribbean cruise, and they LOVED the teen club.

Your tour money is going to the tour company' date=' not to the government.[/quote']

 

You are suggesting the Russian govt. doesn't get a cut of any of the money? Sure! Just like the US govt. doesn't get a cut of all the $$ spent in the US. Here we call it taxes. I suspect they call it the same thing.

Never a good sign - the State Department has issued a travel warning for Russia.

I am conflicted at this point. If Celebrity does NOT change the itinerary, I feel like I don't want to support Putin and the Russian thugs because of the coup they are pulling off; it looks like when Crimea falls, they will be well on their way to being able to reassemble the USSR with impunity. But much as I'd like to cancel my shore excursions and not give them any money, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see St. Petersburg.

I gotta think on this one.:(

True, I couldn't really see that being possible. The issue is to go there, they'd need to change the dates of all the other stops either before or after SPB (since they couldn't travel from SPB to Oslo on the same date!), which means even more complications as well as availability concerns.

I understand that Celebrity and all the other cruise lines and tour companies want to go to StP, and you can bet they will only cancel if they have to because of sanctions of some kind. And I know Oslo is a long shot if they have to cancel, but I'd still rather go there than Gdansk or Riga, two other possibilities.

Would you please share the e-mail address? Thanks

I got the email addresses off of the cruise critic threads on this board: concerns@celebrity.com and contactmichael@celebrity.com.

Finally, a post about Celebrity that doesn't complain about the decline in customer service.:)

I am on the Baltic cruise that leaves Amsterdam May 9th, and I had emailed Celebrity suggesting that if for any reason StP had to be cancelled due to the Russian situation, they consider Oslo as an alternative.

I got a phone call this morning thanking me for the suggestion. Of course they are monitoring the situation and have not made any decisions, but they are considering all alternatives, including Oslo. This doesn't mean it will happen, but it was so nice that they just didn't ignore my email. An actual phone response!:D

Good on Celebrity!

I had emailed celebrity to suggest that if for any reason StP has to be cancelled that they consider Oslo as an alternative. I just got a phone call from them this morning thanking me for the suggestion. Of course they are monitoring the situation and it is too soon for a decision, but just the fact they called and responded to my email was great! They said they are weighing all the options at this point, which is what I expected to hear, and that Oslo was in the mix.

Good on Celebrity!

If it comes to StP being cancelled, which I don't think it will, after all, the Russians want the tourist $$, but if it does, anyone who thinks Oslo might be a good substitute could email Celebrity like I did. It might help.

I didn't complain in my email, after all, whatever happens in StP is beyond their control; I just suggested Oslo as a substitute port.

I actually took the plunge and emailed Celebrity suggesting that if things deteriorate and StP has to be scrapped, they substitute Oslo. I'm sure it will get scanned by someone sitting at a desk, immediately deleted, and never be remembered again ...:rolleyes:

Ashamed? You have to be kidding. We have about as much control over events there as Russia would have if we invaded Quebec. Suggest you look at a map.

 

However, feeling for the people of Ukraine - I could not agree more.

Sorry, didn't mean to start a political discussion, I veered off from my original reason for this thread which was to see if there is some way to get Celebrity to go to Oslo if StP has to be cancelled because of the situation with Russia.

Unfortunately things in Ukraine seem to be heating up rather than cooling down. I fear that Crimea is a "fait accompli", and the US/EU are just paper tigers at this point. I'm hoping Putin does not further invade into Eastern Ukraine, but he doesn't have much in the way of stopping him.

The "paper tigers" may still impose sanctions that affect all of us.

I feel for the people of Ukraine. They stand alone, and we should be ashamed.

Is there some secret to cruising regularly that I am not aware of? I just booked my second cruise in 10 years and it is costing me a fortune for a Sky suite, specialty dining and beverage package, let alone the flight and hotel stays. Is everyone out there a billionaire or am I just paying rack rates stupidly? I researched a bunch of online cruise sites, but Celebrity offered just the same price for the cabin I wanted. So what gives, get up off your secrets to great cruising, I want to join you....

In addition to what NJ Fred posted:

"1. We work for the majority of our adult lives.

2. We save what we can.

3. We retire.

4. We spend our children's inheritances."

I'll add 5. I plan on spending the last years of my life living in a cardboard box ...:rolleyes:

There are a number of posts on this topic. Too early to tell but there definitely is a chance that Celebrity might have to drop St. Petersburg from it's Baltic cruise itinerary.

 

Should that happen (who knows what the odds are) the passengers would most likely not get a vote on what replaces it.

 

My guess would be that an overnight in either Stockholm or Copenhagen along with a stop in either Poland or Belgium would be the most likely replacements. Oslo would also be a possibility.

 

The main thing at this point is to send your thoughts and prayers to the people of the Ukraine and to keep an eye on these boards in case Celebrity or other lines decide to make changes. Still too early at this point to know.

You are absolutely correct about sending thoughts and prayers to the people of Ukraine, and I do. What has happened there is outrageous!

I don't think the situation will get close to St Petersburg. The Ukraine is quite a bit south of the area you'll be cruising. But, I know from experience that when a port is cancelled, passengers have no input whatsoever.

Sorry to hear that, I really wanted to put Oslo in the running. And I know Ukraine is very far from St. Petersburg -- I wasn't worried about violence, I was thinking that if the US and/or EU impose sanctions, Russia might deny visas, so the port would have to be cancelled. Too soon, I know, for the cruise lines to make any decisions, but you can bet they are monitoring the situation closely, because to change ports/tours they will need lead time to make arrangements.