century 10/13 cruise cancelled in Nice

[excitedofharpenden]

Looks like the Century just docked in Marseille behind Costa Allegra and close the dry-dock where Seven Seas Voyager is. So right now the ship is not in dry-dock.

From Allegra's webcam. Hopefully not too long to wait:

 

 

Phil

[Almoran]

Well said Julie,

I was on the same cruise and I agree with you whole heartedly.

[pspercy]

Century being ready for the Transatlantic?.. Just in case I want to hold a Connie booking preemptively..

 

I'd get Plan-B set up asap.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/world/europe/19france.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

 

Century could sit in drydock strikebound, if she even gets that far.

[C 2 C]

From Allegra's webcam. Hopefully not too long to wait:

 

 

 

Phil

 

Thanks Phil.. looks blissfully calm..

[C 2 C]

Dear friends:

 

By not making a decision yet about whether the next Transatlantic cruise will go forward, Celebrity is setting itself up for even more liability.

 

I would suggest passengers leaving in the next few days to request written confirmation from Celebrity that the cruise is still departing. This will help you claim your airfare and pre-cruise arrangements against Celebrity should the cruise end up being cancelled.

 

 

Great advice but Celebrity people who handle the calls do not have the power nor are willing to make the effort. The emails they have received: "The sailing will leave as scheduled."

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

I was always lead to believe when growing up that the absolute pinnacle and ultimate standard of service was to be found in the United States.

 

I am now wondering if that holds true in the travel business.

 

You're saying that nobody at Celebrity has the authority to send a passenger a simple e-mail when requesting that this be done?

 

I have spoken many times to the RCCL/Celebrity office here in Madrid, Spain and have never waited on hold more than ten seconds and have always received prompt service, e-mails, and answers to other requests.

 

Is it not done that way in the United States anymore?

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[excitedofharpenden]

Thanks Phil.. looks blissfully calm..

Arno, I'm keeping fingers crossed for you, Sharon et al.

 

Phil

[C 2 C]

 

I have spoken many times to the RCCL/Celebrity office here in Madrid, Spain and have never waited on hold more than ten seconds and have always received prompt service, e-mails, and answers to other requests.

 

 

You could do many of a great service by getting the Madrid office to send you an email confirming that Century will sail or the names of the hotels that Celebrity will provide while we wait.. :D

[TenerifeSharon]

Dear friends:

 

I was always lead to believe when growing up that the absolute pinnacle and ultimate standard of service was to be found in the United States.

 

I am now wondering if that holds true in the travel business.

 

You're saying that nobody at Celebrity has the authority to send a passenger a simple e-mail when requesting that this be done?

 

I have spoken many times to the RCCL/Celebrity office here in Madrid, Spain and have never waited on hold more than ten seconds and have always received prompt service, e-mails, and answers to other requests.

 

Is it not done that way in the United States anymore?

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

Members of our roll-call were TOLD by the Redeployment Desk personnel that the transatlantic cruise of Century will depart on October 25, 2010. When asked to receive this information IN WRITING, the request was refused!

[CruisinGerman]

Do you know which office they called?

 

I'll gladly call here in Madrid tomorrow morning. I'll hold a cabin in the meantime. Just saw no suites available but balconies and below are still being sold.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[TenerifeSharon]

Do you know which office they called?

 

I'll gladly call here in Madrid tomorrow morning. I'll hold a cabin in the meantime. Just saw no suites available but balconies and below are still being sold.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

Since they are located in the U.S., I presume they spoke with the main office in Florida (that is, the number is in Florida. I think a lot of the CS and Captain's Club reps. are located in Kansas City.)

 

BTW, I too have -- in the past -- received quick and correct answers from the RCCL/X office in Frankfurt, Germany. But, then again, I never had to call to ask whether a cruise I was booked on had been canceled.:eek:

 

On behalf of all of us sailing -- hopefully -- next Monday, thanks for contacting the office in Madrid.:)

[oatmeal]

I feel that I must respond to the comments already made by those of you not on this cruise.

 

Being stranded by your cruise line, is stranded--period. You needed to have been on board as I was to understand the incompetent handling of this serious situation. Yes, I agree that a ship having mechanical problems can and does occur; that the Century was not safely able to transport passengers, I also understand. Hertz does not rent ships!! My complaints have nothing to do with the ship issue. The passengers took the news well considering it was a tremendous let down. It wasn't until we had hours and hours of little or no information that people became justifiable anxious.

 

Once the problem with the rudders was established (and yes it was both rudders), we were given less than 24 hours to leave the ship. Celebrity did not have a single officer on site to assist and the Captain only made one announcement. They gave sketchy, poor, incomplete information to the singers, dancers, cashiers and purser's crew to disseminate. The information changed over and over again. We were finally given an extra day to get off, but they were pushing you out the door at 5 a.m. with only 4 hours notice (12 hours earlier than necessary). Yes, we were permitted to use the phones and internet for free, but not until the next day when it was the middle of the night in the States due to the 6 hour time difference. One trunk line was made available and with only 10 or so computer terminals, getting information was nearly impossible.

 

Yes they offered a 10 hour bus ride to Barcelona with limited room, after people had begun making arrangements on their own. Not one single hotel name was ever given to us to help us decide where to go next. We received on piece of paper after another to tell us that another piece of paper was coming. Why weren't the TV's used to disseminate information? Why wasn't an announcement made that the repo cruise to follow was up in the air and that people would be notified when a decision from Miami was made? Why were some people told that they could be tendered to Nice while others were told they needed to get there on their own? Why did they .................the list is endless.

 

Yes, I have travel insurance and it will cover some of my costs. The point is that Celebrity's main concern was to get rid of us - period. We were dumped by them either in Villefrance or Barcelona.

[cl.klink]

I feel that I must respond to the comments already made by those of you not on this cruise.

 

Being stranded by your cruise line, is stranded--period. You needed to have been on board as I was to understand the incompetent handling of this serious situation. Yes, I agree that a ship having mechanical problems can and does occur; that the Century was not safely able to transport passengers, I also understand. Hertz does not rent ships!! My complaints have nothing to do with the ship issue. The passengers took the news well considering it was a tremendous let down. It wasn't until we had hours and hours of little or no information that people became justifiable anxious.

 

Once the problem with the rudders was established (and yes it was both rudders), we were given less than 24 hours to leave the ship. Celebrity did not have a single officer on site to assist and the Captain only made one announcement. They gave sketchy, poor, incomplete information to the singers, dancers, cashiers and purser's crew to disseminate. The information changed over and over again. We were finally given an extra day to get off, but they were pushing you out the door at 5 a.m. with only 4 hours notice (12 hours earlier than necessary). Yes, we were permitted to use the phones and internet for free, but not until the next day when it was the middle of the night in the States due to the 6 hour time difference. One trunk line was made available and with only 10 or so computer terminals, getting information was nearly impossible.

 

Yes they offered a 10 hour bus ride to Barcelona with limited room, after people had begun making arrangements on their own. Not one single hotel name was ever given to us to help us decide where to go next. We received on piece of paper after another to tell us that another piece of paper was coming. Why weren't the TV's used to disseminate information? Why wasn't an announcement made that the repo cruise to follow was up in the air and that people would be notified when a decision from Miami was made? Why were some people told that they could be tendered to Nice while others were told they needed to get there on their own? Why did they .................the list is endless.

 

Yes, I have travel insurance and it will cover some of my costs. The point is that Celebrity's main concern was to get rid of us - period. We were dumped by them either in Villefrance or Barcelona.

 

Thanks for sharing. This really highlights the problem. Souns reminiscent of the stories of airlines waiting on tarmacs for hours and hours and people unable to urinate or drink water and such. What you relay to us sounds like a completely avoidable and undefendable job of poor communication and poor leadership somewhere. I'm trying to think what I would do in your place? What's a person to do if this happens?

 

Hope things look brighter for you.

 

- Joel

[flagger]

I'm trying to think what I would do in your place? What's a person to do if this happens?

If you used a travel agent and or had travel insurance, get on your own cell phone or computer and make a call or send an email. I know some guests were able to make calls from the ship using either the ship's service or leaned out their balcony and got service from the French mainland. Don't worry about the costs of the call at the moment. This is the reason many of us originally got cell phones in the first place and really this is not an emergency in the true sense of the word, but is urgent.

 

A good TA will be available 24/7 for this type of an emergency or have coverage if they are not or they are traveling. Not all TAs will, but ones you have a relationships with will.

 

An insurance policy that is great has a 24/7 dedicated desk for travel delays and interruptions that you can work with for alternate arrangements.

 

DO NOT WAIT for information from the supplier. Be proactive. If you are able, go on and enjoy what life has thrown you and go explore. If you are not comfortable with that, go swim in the pool or enjoy the food available and do not take it out on your servers. They have mostly NEVER had to deal with this.

 

This may sound insensitive and I hate that my clients are missing the cruise of their dreams, but they were worried about the costs of all these changes before knowing what would be covered. In the end however, they are spending less than they had budgeted for each of the ports before with this disruption.

 

By the way, it is not just the cruise line that offers no information. The airline is still saying they are flying tomorrow when all indications are the flight may be canceled due to the strike. I will be watching to see if the flight inbound is in fact going. I now wish my clients had taken my advice and gone to Barcelona, but tomorrow is another day.

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

My heart goes out to all of you. I can understand the captain's priority in getting everyone off the ship so that the ship can be repaired and passenger safety is not compromised.

 

However, in my opinion, this should have been accompanied by sending everyone to a hotel in Nice immediately, providing them with lodging, meals, etc., where an entire team of Celebrity employees (with decision-making capacity) was waiting to assist each and every passenger with ongoing and/or repatriation arrangements.

 

RCCL/Celebrity has some very large offices both in the UK and in several countries in Continental Europe (including Spain). They could have gotten a team of employees there on the ground very quickly.

 

All cruise lines use port agents and ground operators in every port of call. They could have contracted their local ground operator in Nice/Villefranche (which I understand happens to be a large tour operator) to handle re-booking and repatriating all of the displaced passengers.

 

They could have chartered planes to transport passengers back to Barcelona. Royal Caribbean owns a Spanish subsidiary based in Madrid, Pullmantur, that happens to operate a fleet of 747's called Pullmantur Air, back and forth from Mexico and the Caribbean. Those planes could have been easily sent to pick up the passengers, in between their Caribbean runs, and take them to Barcelona rather than having them endure a 10 hour bus ride.

 

I don't think Celebrity handled this situation elegantly at all. Please dear friends, save all of your records and receipts and seek reimbursement of all of your expenses from Celebrity. Celebrity already knows it has to pay for certain things to European customers, so if you make your claim insistently enough, I hope all passengers will be treated fairly.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[Lsimon]

Dear friends:

 

I was always lead to believe when growing up that the absolute pinnacle and ultimate standard of service was to be found in the United States.

 

I am now wondering if that holds true in the travel business....

 

I am sad to say that customer service from large companies that market to individuals is worse than ever in the USA. Many companies inadequately train customer service telephone reps and leave them with scripts or basic information that can only handle routine requests. At least Celebrity uses reps in our own country who at least have a decent command of the English language and decent communication lines. Many companies, including some of the larger airlines, have sourced almost all of their customer service to lower labor cost countries where language and communication lines compound problems. In many cases reps refuse to pass calls to supervisors and at some companies (not run into this at Celebrity) it isn't uncommon for reps to just hang up when they sense a problem will be difficult to resolve. I suspect it is because of evaluation programs that make spending time on a difficult problem not worthwhile for the rep as far as the statistics they are evaluated on.

 

It is a sad situation here and customer service has a negative connotation to the general public in the USA. Most of the people I know, including myself, will avoid calling customer service at most companies unless there is no other alternative as it is so often a negative experience.

[stereo]

I guess that many of you believe that just compensation is refunding out of pocket expenses---I believe that C should also pay the passenger for his inconvience--pain and suffering--or any expression that you want to use---What about the mobility challenged--those in handicapped cabins???If a passenger felt that he or she was stranded in France as a result of the action of C--what then?? Should a passenger ask a Korean War veteran what KMAGYOYO actually means???

[fernem]

I took Gunther's advice and called the Captain's Club to ask for a simple email confirming what Pamela, the rep, said verbally: that as of October 18th, the Century would sail as scheduled out of Barcelona on October 25th. Pamela politely refised to send an email to this effect. No reason was given.

 

She transferred me to the Redeployment desk where a VERY RUDE woman named Erin, who said she was a supervisor, reiterated that the ship would leave as scheduled on the 25th, told me tersely that she would absolutely not send me an email to that effect. When I asked why, she hung up.

 

I have been quite a Celebrity loyalist, but I sure don't like being treated as if my request were outrageous, given I and many of us have to fly momentarily with only faith in Celebrity to go on. The ship sits still in Marseille, at a pier, not a dry dock place. They robotically give out information, without even paying lip service to the predicament and are careful to warn that cancellation at this late date would incur a stiff penalty.

 

Not nice. Not helpful.

Fern

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

Perhaps our consumer protection laws work for us in Europe because we don't have the concept of damages that you do.

 

Americans tend to think of damages as pain and suffering, consequential damages, lost income, etc.

 

Here in Europe, we basically stick to the premise of actual damages.

 

In my opinion, because the cruise was cancelled right on the second day, fair compensation by Celebrity in this case would be refunding the entire cruise, refunding the round-trip airline and pre-cruise hotels whether or not they were booked through Celebrity (as well as ancillary expenses such as transfers), paying for the passenger to get home, and providing some form of additional compensation (such as 25% or more of the trip value).

 

My idea (and that supported by EU protection laws) would be to place the passenger in his or her original financial position as if the cruise had never been booked in the first place, PLUS an additional penalty to be paid by Celebrity because the contract was breached due to Celebrity's fault.

 

To perceive other types of damages would be opening up Pandora's box or a slippery slope. What if a passenger used up all of his vacation time for the next three years to go on this trip. Does he deserve extra damages?

 

I think covering all of the above expenses, plus providing something extra, would be fair and standardized and could be applied to all passengers.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[Jade13]

I took Gunther's advice and called the Captain's Club to ask for a simple email confirming what Pamela, the rep, said verbally: that as of October 18th, the Century would sail as scheduled out of Barcelona on October 25th. Pamela politely refised to send an email to this effect. No reason was given.

 

She transferred me to the Redeployment desk where a VERY RUDE woman named Erin, who said she was a supervisor, reiterated that the ship would leave as scheduled on the 25th, told me tersely that she would absolutely not send me an email to that effect. When I asked why, she hung up.

 

I have been quite a Celebrity loyalist, but I sure don't like being treated as if my request were outrageous, given I and many of us have to fly momentarily with only faith in Celebrity to go on. The ship sits still in Marseille, at a pier, not a dry dock place. They robotically give out information, without even paying lip service to the predicament and are careful to warn that cancellation at this late date would incur a stiff penalty.

 

Not nice. Not helpful.

Fern

 

Fern, OMG, "Erin", "I AM a supervisor" (when I asked to speak to one). I am positive she is the same women that I spoke to the other week at the Resolutions Desk and she is rude and should not be working in the service industry. Now, my issue was not as serious as yours (just a loss of money based on another Rep giving me false info in September that we would receive OBC if our cruise fare went down, than another telling me to call back with that Reps info, wasting my time. I spoke to Erin who would do nothing even though I had the name of the Rep and so on. Since we have Celebrity Cancel for Any Reason Insurance we could cancel and rebook and eventually receive a chunk of money to use on a future cruise. You know what. We decided not to go this route because not sure if we want to go on another Celebrity cruise. Erin also lied and said we could not re-insure the same itinerary. Well, she was wrong. I spoke to Berkley and this Cancel for Any Reason means Any Reason and they would insure us on the same itinerary with another booking number. I had to listen to Erin telling me I was trying to committ insurance fraud...A good Resolutions Representative would have given us some OBC based on the error directly from Celebrity.

[Lsimon]

I guess that many of you believe that just compensation is refunding out of pocket expenses---I believe that C should also pay the passenger for his inconvenience--pain and suffering--or any expression that you want to use...

 

While I'm not one of those effected by the problems, I'll bet that most would be very happy if they had all of their out of pockets reimbursed.

 

Personally, I think that is what should be done for the most past and that a substantial future cruise credit should be what covers the emotional part needed to retain a customer.

[Jade13]

While I'm not one of those effected by the problems, I'll bet that most would be very happy if they had all of their out of pockets reimbursed.

 

Personally, I think that is what should be done for the most past and that a substantial future cruise credit should be what covers the emotional part needed to retain a customer.

 

The 25% of what one paid towards a future cruise is what Celebrity is offering to cover emotional and ruined vacation, etc. They are refunding the cost of the cruise and paying airline change fees, which would make the majority of passengers whole. Trip insurance should cover the out of pocket if one did not wish to take a 10 hour bus and hotel in Barcelona (which we would not wish to do).

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

If you are worried that the cruise really won't depart as scheduled and you might lose vacation time, and significant sums of money on airfare and pre-cruise hotel stays, perhaps you should start taking a pro-active stance to protect yourself:

 

1. Look on the cruise contract for the address to send official notices. Send a certified letter to that address with your booking information stating that it is merely one week before the cruise and you are entitled to be told whether or not the cruise is cancelled, and that because Celebrity has refused to put it in writing, should the cruise in fact be cancelled but you travelled to Europe on the good faith information you received by telephone from Celebrity indicating it would not be cancelled, you hold Celebrity liable for all expenses (round-trip airfare, pre-cruise hotel, transfers, ancillary expenses) apart from the general refund plus damages.

 

2. Written confirmation is also important for those of you who have travel insurance. Most insurance policies include language to the effect that claims will be denied if you willingly went on the trip with a potential cancellation or interruption being foreseeable before you left. It would be quite tragic if your insurance companies denied your potential claims saying that you knew from what was going on that the cruise could be cancelled but you went on the trip anyway. (Of course, nobody would have proof that you actually knew this, but that is another matter of debate.)

 

3. Send an e-mail directly to Adam Goldstein (RCCL CEO). His e-mail address is widely listed on this and on the RCCL Board if you do a search.

 

4. In any case, just to provide you with a sense of hope, I would like to think that your cruise won't be cancelled, since Celebrity and RCCL are well aware of the liability they would be facing vis-à-vis passengers by cancelling the cruise on the spot, or even less than one week in advance knowing that many passengers travel from other continents to take the cruise, knowing full well that this mechanical problem already exists and is in the process of being repaired.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

You are suggesting that by refunding the cruise, paying $250 for airline change fee, and giving a 25% credit, should satisfy everybody.

 

I believe that the round-trip airline ticket should be refunded in full, PLUS Celebrity should pay the ticket to get the stranded passenger home.

 

Whether or not there is an argument on Celebrity's side that the passenger used the airline ticket, the fact of the matter is that passengers did not fly half way across the world to have a short weekend in Barcelona/Nice, and I believe that is a reasonable perception.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[smeck]

In light of all these issues with customer service from Celebrity why should I book a future cruise with Celebrity. I realize RCCL who I have a cruise booked with in April is one and the same it will be a long time if ever I book with them again. Too much competition to put up with this kind of customer service.