Are cruises ever cancelled for poor patronage

[nenasmum]

We are booked on the Silhouette for an Adriatic Cruise in September. There are very few members on our roll call and I noticed on another website that estimates the amount of bookings per cruise that only 20% of the cruise has been booked. Does Celebrity ever cancel cruises because they don't have enough passengers or can I anticipate a price drop? I know ports etc may change and indeed this cruise was originally scheduled for the Holy Land. I would be fairly gutted if it did not happen at all as we have booked our - nonrefundable airfares and hotels already. We are booked on a RCL cruise the next week and it looks a lot more healthy with 45% occupancy. Jennie

[dkjretired]

We are booked on the Silhouette for an Adriatic Cruise in September. There are very few members on our roll call and I noticed on another website that estimates the amount of bookings per cruise that only 20% of the cruise has been booked. Does Celebrity ever cancel cruises because they don't have enough passengers or can I anticipate a price drop? I know ports etc may change and indeed this cruise was originally scheduled for the Holy Land. I would be fairly gutted if it did not happen at all as we have booked our - nonrefundable airfares and hotels already. We are booked on a RCL cruise the next week and it looks a lot more healthy with 45% occupancy. Jennie

 

Never heard of it being done...Also, don't ever remember them cancelling a port for poor patronage...

[Orator]

We are booked on the Silhouette for an Adriatic Cruise in September. There are very few members on our roll call and I noticed on another website that estimates the amount of bookings per cruise that only 20% of the cruise has been booked. Does Celebrity ever cancel cruises because they don't have enough passengers or can I anticipate a price drop? I know ports etc may change and indeed this cruise was originally scheduled for the Holy Land. I would be fairly gutted if it did not happen at all as we have booked our - nonrefundable airfares and hotels already. We are booked on a RCL cruise the next week and it looks a lot more healthy with 45% occupancy. Jennie

 

Don't think you have anything to worry about. Somehow the ships tend to sail full.They do offer special deal,such as "Exciting Deals" to encourage new bookings. Monitor prices and if you are not in final payment you can take advantage of price adjustments. You can still upgrade your cabin after final payment. Enjoyyour cruise.

[beaver]

I noticed on another website that estimates the amount of bookings per cruise that only 20% of the cruise has been booked.

 

We are booked on a RCL cruise the next week and it looks a lot more healthy with 45% occupancy. Jennie

 

 

What website provides this information?

[nenasmum]

What website provides this information?

One of the websites that moniters price drops. I don't know how accurate they are- it is only an educated estimate. I dont think you can mention names here. Jennie

[ondeckatsea]

We've had two cruises "changed" or more like it, cancelled. One was a 10 day wine cruise which was cancelled and the last one was a nice 14 day European out of Amsterdam ending in Istanbul which suddenly changed to a 12 night "wine immersion" cruise out of Southhampton. I'll never get over that one. It was a beauty.

[Lsimon]

I don't recall hearing about this for cruises as close as yours. I do think it happens from time to time a year or so out. Most of the time I've seen this happen is is before the time airfare goes on sale which is generally 11 months in advance.

 

What I have seen happen is Celebrity start to discount the cabins to fill up the ship - so keep a close watch on prices.

[Chunky2219]

I've seen some spectacular price reductions when lines are trying to fill up a ship, often very close to the date of sailing. Don't forget that they have to get the ship from "last finish port" to "next start port" anyway, so cancelling just isn't very smart unless it is really early and they have an alternative for the ship.

 

Having said that, Celebrity have changed a lot of Eastern Med cruises recently and swapped them for wine cruises. There's a big thread about it. I can't say I'm surprised. With all the problems of the Arab Spring and the chance of Greece falling over any minute I can understand if a lot fewer people want to sail out of Athens or visit Egypt.

 

I've noticed for some cruises later this year I've been looking at that general cabin availability is much, much better than it was for comparable cruises last year. Not just Celebrity. Maybe the economic crisis and the political uncertainty is strating to bite a little. Expect some good deals to pop up!

.

.

[ClaireP]

We've had two cruises "changed" or more like it, cancelled. One was a 10 day wine cruise which was cancelled and the last one was a nice 14 day European out of Amsterdam ending in Istanbul which suddenly changed to a 12 night "wine immersion" cruise out of Southhampton. I'll never get over that one. It was a beauty.

 

I agree. We were on the cruise after yours, round trip Istanbul, for DH 50th next year and it suddenly became a wine cruise! We don't drink, so not much use to us. I have booked something else but ended up leaving earlier, less days cruising, lower class of cabin and it cost more - despite being v loyal celebrity cruiser, not impressed at all!

 

My guess would be that sales coupled with troubles in that region, caused a change in plan

[Hlitner]

We do not think you have anything to worry about regarding the Silhouette cruise (and it is a gorgeous ship). That cruise is just part of a continuing cruise schedule and X will not change one particular cruise just because of booking issues. And keep in mind that you are talking more then 8 months out and we suspect your ship will be near full by the time of the cruise. Many cruisers (including moi) will often book cruises at the last minute (within the final booking period) which can often yield amazing deals. And by the way, you will be in the Med during a wonderful time of year as the weather should be near perfect and the crowds will be tolerable since its the shoulder season.

 

Your only concern is that there can always be some slight changes in itinerary due to political turmoil in some countries if you have booked the 9/29 sailing. The other two cruises (earlier in the month) are to countries where there are no issues.

 

Hank

[dkjretired]

I don't recall hearing about this for cruises as close as yours. I do think it happens from time to time a year or so out. Most of the time I've seen this happen is is before the time airfare goes on sale which is generally 11 months in advance.

 

What I have seen happen is Celebrity start to discount the cabins to fill up the ship - so keep a close watch on prices.

 

What was the reason that cruise was cancelled. The wine cruises are just a change in marketing strategy....

[Ine]

Since this cruise starts in Europe, I am sure also europeans will be sailing. However most of them never heard about cruise-critics or roll-calls.

A slow roll-call doesnot mean there will be many empty cabins.

Also europeans in general donot book as early as many americans do.

[Lsimon]

I don't recall hearing about this for cruises as close as yours. I do think it happens from time to time a year or so out. Most of the time I've seen this happen is is before the time airfare goes on sale which is generally 11 months in advance.

 

What I have seen happen is Celebrity start to discount the cabins to fill up the ship - so keep a close watch on prices.

What was the reason that cruise was cancelled. The wine cruises are just a change in marketing strategy....

I think it was a similar situation - they decided to reposition some ships and change the itineraries. Their excuse was they thought the demand was low for the one way cruises and they wanted to better serve their customers. We were booked on a one way cruise from Venice to Barcelona and they decided to reposition a ship to a different area and changed several European cruise itineraries eliminating the one way trips in the time of year we wanted to sail.

 

This was for the fall of 2010, but the changes were done in mid-2009 several months after the bookings opened for 2010 but still about a year before the cruise. So while we were upset it wasn't too much of a hassle to make the changes since airfare had not gone on sale yet.

 

Wasn't the timing similar for the changes made when they switched some itineraries to the wine cruises?

[dkjretired]

I think it was a similar situation - they decided to reposition some ships and change the itineraries. Their excuse was they thought the demand was low for the one way cruises and they wanted to better serve their customers. We were booked on a one way cruise from Venice to Barcelona and they decided to reposition a ship to a different area and changed several European cruise itineraries eliminating the one way trips in the time of year we wanted to sail.

 

This was for the fall of 2010, but the changes were done in mid-2009 several months after the bookings opened for 2010 but still about a year before the cruise. So while we were upset it wasn't too much of a hassle to make the changes since airfare had not gone on sale yet.

 

Wasn't the timing similar for the changes made when they switched some itineraries to the wine cruises?

 

The wine cruises were announced on Oct. 11, 2011..

[Lsimon]

The wine cruises were announced on Oct. 11, 2011..

 

Was this before or after airfare could be purchased for the cancelled cruises?

[pfman]

One of the websites that moniters price drops. I don't know how accurate they are- it is only an educated estimate. I dont think you can mention names here. Jennie

 

When the site says 20% full, it is most likely they are looking at 20% of the Cabin categories are full, not 20% of the cabins.

[gelo7]

I have never heard of it happening.

[excitedofharpenden]

September is a long way off. You'll be amazed at how the ship fills up. They'll have some great deals nearer sailing if they need to try harder and if they aren't "new bookings only" it is worthwhile looking out for them to see if you can get a price reduction/upgrade. I'm on Azamara in February and the last I heard was 150 cabins booked and 153 to fill.

 

Look at it this way. If they don't manage to fill the ship you won't need to worry so much about chair hogs on sea days!;)

 

Phil

[ccletzgo]

The cruise lines offer interline fares through interline agency's at last min to fill the cabins. Sept travel is known for GREAT interline rates.:D

 

 

 

 

Interliners

 

* Airline Employees

* Retired Airline Employees

* Spouses and Dependents of Airline Employees

* Parents and In-laws of Airline Employees

* Major Courier/Cargo Companies Employees

* Military Employees

* Air Traffic Controllers

* FAA, MATCA, NPA, IATA, ALPA, SITA and ARC

 

Cruise Line Employees

 

* Active Cruise Line Employee

* Spouse or friend, traveling in the same cabin, of Active Cruise Line Employee

* Spouse of Active Cruise Line Employee

* Dependent children traveling with Active Cruise Line Employee

* Parents of Active Cruise Line Employee

* Retired Cruise Line Employee

 

* EXCEPTIONS *

* Royal Caribbean Celebrity Interline rates are not available to employees of RCI/Celebrity.

* Carnival Cruise Line rates are not available to employees of Carnival Cruise Lines.

[dolittle]

Dont know if X does but we had a Baltic cruise on Carnival canceled in 09 they did not even call just refunded the deposit on our credit card.When we called they said sorry it was an oversight but they were pulling all there ships out of Europe.

[Lsimon]

Dont know if X does but we had a Baltic cruise on Carnival canceled in 09 they did not even call just refunded the deposit on our credit card.When we called they said sorry it was an oversight but they were pulling all there ships out of Europe.

 

How far in advance was this?

[edYYZ]

I think unless they run into major technical problems or suddenly change something at a corporate level, it's far more costly to fully cancel a cruise than sell it at rock bottom prices to encourage people to sail, so I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, if you're lucky and the ship isn't so full, it's much better from a crowd density point of view!

[uktraveller]

We are booked on the Silhouette for an Adriatic Cruise in September. There are very few members on our roll call and I noticed on another website that estimates the amount of bookings per cruise that only 20% of the cruise has been booked. Does Celebrity ever cancel cruises because they don't have enough passengers or can I anticipate a price drop? I know ports etc may change and indeed this cruise was originally scheduled for the Holy Land. I would be fairly gutted if it did not happen at all as we have booked our - nonrefundable airfares and hotels already. We are booked on a RCL cruise the next week and it looks a lot more healthy with 45% occupancy. Jennie

 

It is my feeling that the lack of bookings so far is related to the prices they are currently asking..... we would like to do one of Silhouette's adriatic cruises in Sept/Oct but the same category balcony cabin is 40% higher than we paid on Equinox last summer, so we're not prepared to book at that price. We're watching and waiting!

[phoenix_dream]

We had a cruise cancelled barely four months out, as they were chartering it to a certain group (this was the Galaxy if I recall). Thank goodness we had not bought our airfare. On this cruise, due to the size of the ship I cannot see them doing something like that. And canceling would do them little good as they have contracts on all their staff and have to pay them regardless. As long as they can make enough to pay for port charges, fuel, etc., I imagine they will sail. I would expect price deals to start showing up - if you have not made final payment keep a close eye - you may snag a better room, or get some money back,.

[nenasmum]

Thanks a lot everyone. You have put my mind at rest. And I am checking for price drops daily!! Full payment is still 5 months away! Jennie