Compensation - Millennium Alaska - Interrupted and Canceled Cruises

[swafluffy11]

We were on the cancelled Sept. 13 cruise. We purchased the air through Choice Air and the insurance. After it was confirmed that the total air was not going to be refunded, I called the credit card company that we used. They took down the facts, looked it up on our charge history and told me that they would get the refund and they did. Our credit card account was credited for the entire amount within 48 hours!

 

We too received a refund from our CC company. We felt the amount Celebrity gave us was completely unfair. Well guess what? A friend who traveled with us went to TA to use on his next cruise.... the agent called him and said Celebrity will NOT HONOR the FCC because he put in a dispute with his card company!! I called Celebrity today.. it was confirmed... FCC is null and void if you filed a claim... What exactly does a FCC, which I took as sort of a sorry we screwed up your dream vacation, have to do with the terrible compensation so many were given for being stuck on ship??? Again Celebrity has chosen its pocket over public relations. I also think this could just be plain illegal!?!?

[moebruin]

We too received a refund from our CC company. We felt the amount Celebrity gave us was completely unfair. Well guess what? A friend who traveled with us went to TA to use on his next cruise.... the agent called him and said Celebrity will NOT HONOR the FCC because he put in a dispute with his card company!! I called Celebrity today.. it was confirmed... FCC is null and void if you filed a claim... What exactly does a FCC, which I took as sort of a sorry we screwed up your dream vacation, have to do with the terrible compensation so many were given for being stuck on ship??? Again Celebrity has chosen its pocket over public relations. I also think this could just be plain illegal!?!?

 

As someone in the same position of you being someone Celebrity was disingenuous with I can say I am sure it is not illegal to pull your FCC. While my 100% refund and FCC, turned into 60% as I have stated in other posts my guess is that Celebrity is probably legally obligated to give nothing. Particularly in light that they fly foreign flags (avoiding US and Canadian laws) and when I look and see what airlines and other similar type of companies are obligated to do when things go wrong with them.

 

Whether there is any legal case to get a full refund, I guess will be determined by the credit card companies and the lawyers I suppose. Regardless, I believe it is safe to say that FCC is basically Celebrity's way of saying here's a little extra if you take our settlement on this manner. Being you chose not to take their settlement then I am sure they are under no legal obligation to give you the same things that people who did take their offer get. In fact I would guess you have a chance that this can all lead to losing the refund they did give if you don't prevail.

 

If it was me I would call Celebrity and see if you can work something out where you get the credit back for dropping the dispute. You may win the other way but it probably will be painful and you could loose even more.

 

I take satisfaction in knowing that Celebrity lost way more by at least 10 fold in future business profits from me by taking the actions that they took then the $1000 or so they made by being disingenuous.

 

So I cut my losses while realizing that Celebrity probably has all the laws stacked in their favor.

 

Best of luck.

[Jade13]

We too received a refund from our CC company. We felt the amount Celebrity gave us was completely unfair. Well guess what? A friend who traveled with us went to TA to use on his next cruise.... the agent called him and said Celebrity will NOT HONOR the FCC because he put in a dispute with his card company!! I called Celebrity today.. it was confirmed... FCC is null and void if you filed a claim... What exactly does a FCC, which I took as sort of a sorry we screwed up your dream vacation, have to do with the terrible compensation so many were given for being stuck on ship??? Again Celebrity has chosen its pocket over public relations. I also think this could just be plain illegal!?!?

 

I guess I do not understand. You were on the ship (even if you did not enjoy any of it), received a full refund of all monies paid (through CC company dispute - with airfare?), and also expect credit on your next cruise?

[Cindy]

Has anyone received air fair rebooking charges for arrangements made by themselves as promised? It has now been almost two months since I submitted. Also have never seen by future cruise certificate.

 

I have called twice and each time I have been told they are working on them and will be contacted soon.

 

I am starting to believe that this issue will never get resolved.

 

 

...as I've said before, we were to be on the 8/23........as of today, no FCC certs NOR airfare change credit......waiting......

 

We were to be on the 9/13 Coastal cruise. I have been completely refunded, including my $200/pp airfare change fees, for over a month. I made my air reimbursement request by e-mail, not snail mail, since I was told that would be faster.

My mother was also scheduled to cruise on the 13th. She spoke with Celebrity last week to go over her refund since it was a little complicated. She asked about the FCC, and was told for our cruise it would not be issued for another month or so. The certificates are being processed in order of the cancelled cruise date. We have been assured an FCC can be applied to a already booked cruise as soon as it's received.

[timbom]

Thanks for info I guess I will just have to ramp up my bitching. All over a couple of hundred dollars. let you know how it goes tomorrow.

[varoo]

...as I've said before, we were to be on the 8/23........as of today, no FCC certs NOR airfare change credit......waiting......

When I spoke to them yesterday, the agent said that they had just completed processing the FCCs for the August 16 cruise and the August 23 cruise would be next.

 

So your FCCs should be next in line!

....... If other agents are giving out the same story.

 

 

Sorry, I did not bother calling back to see if a different agent would tell a different story, as has so often been the case.

Maybe someone else here can confirm, or contradict this.

 

[specialdiet]

On 8/16.. got the bulk of our refund early September back on our credit card. Seemed a bit less than we thought, so I'd called and reviewed it with one of the corporate guest relations people who agreed it seemed a bit iffy. Got an email a couple days ago saying that on followup with the accounting people it was short a couple hundred bucks (price of post-cruise ship-to-airport transfer) that was being sent out by cheque to our TA.

 

Exchanged some phone calls and emails with Katilee Jones (corp. guest relations) regarding our change-of-plans expenses that we submitted. Those were being refunded back on our credit card, effective just under a week ago. Of note, we ended up just booking an entirely new flight from YVR->YEG (a short hop, approx. $425/pp, and much easier than trying to adjust our existing flight via SEA) and they had no problem reimbursing that.

 

FCC's arrived in the mail today, with the amounts matching the original refund we had gotten, which seemed close enough to correct to me that I'm not going to waste any more brain cells on it.

[satdan]

FCC just arrived in the full amount that we paid for our cruise and that was then refunded. We are now done, just need to apply this FCC to our Feb 9 western Caribbean on the silhouette

 

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Forums mobile app

[bigmohes]

Spoke yesterday to guest relations she was very helpful and informative. Only waiting for one excursion refund and getting home expenses and FCC. I did not even ask about the FCC only because in the whole scheme of things it was not on my priority list. Next month that may change but for now not so much. I was told in process probably in the next 7-10 days.

[BEAV]

Today I received an email from Celebrity indicating our AMEX card will be credited for the airline cancel fees.

 

I replied back, thanking them for the reimbursement, but also asked if there is a timetable we can expect the Future Cruise credits as we have final payment for a February cruise due in about 2-3 weeks from now. I also asked if we don't receive the FCCs by final payment time, can we apply them later, and be reimbursed for what would then be an over payment on the February voyage.

 

Stay tuned.......

[NJBeast]

Aug 16th refund status:

Received call from Celebrity on 10-9 to verify my extra expenses and get CC number to issue refund. Told it would not hit CC until next week. I asked about FCC issuance and deadline to use and was told that if booked by exp date is OK but they did not want to reprint the FCCs. On Friday, 11th, received 2 FCC certs, 1 for myself, 1 for DW, for full amount paid for cabin split between the 2 of us.

 

Credits (3 total) for extra expenses posted to my CC on 10-22. I have FCCs in hand and trying to figure out where to use them.

Wishing good luck to those still waiting.

[varoo]

.......I also asked if we don't receive the FCCs by final payment time, can we apply them later, and be reimbursed for what would then be an over payment on the February voyage.

The agent with whom I spoke said that the amount of the FCC will be refunded back to the passengers when a FCC is applied to a new cruise that has already been paid in full.

 

Hope you get the same story, but if not, please report back.

 

[satdan]

I don't think the cruise has to be paid in full. Mine was applied yesterday to my upcoming cruise where final payment is not due until end of November

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Forums mobile app

[dolson367]

From 8/16 cruise, I received my reimbursement for "get home" expenses on my CC today. Thankful there were no headaches with our $1,500 of airfare due to having non-cancellable/changeable flights for our original travel dates.

 

I have all refunds/reimbursements to my satisfaction and FCC in hand. All that's left is to apply the FCC to our "redo" trip planned for next June.

 

Hope everybody else gets their final loose ends tied up soon!

[varoo]

The agent with whom I spoke said that the amount of the FCC will be refunded back to the passengers when a FCC is applied to a new cruise that has already been paid in full.

 

Hope you get the same story, but if not, please report back.

Well, I am now delighted to be able to confirm that the agent gave me correct information.

 

Today, when I opened my email I found two updated Celebrity invoices (Booking Confirmation - Guest Copy) for a couple of new cruises that we had paid in full.

 

Each invoice is now showing that a credit from one of our cancelled cruises has been applied.

 

I checked and both FCC amounts are correct.

 

I am really impressed. The only thing I did was ask the Celebrity agent who happened to answer the phone how the FCCs would be handled.

She asked for our reservation numbers and apparently she took care of processing the whole thing so we won't even need to bother with FCC certificates at all.

 

That is excellent customer service and now I regret that I did not get her name.

 

With all the complaints that we see about Celebrity's customer service on land, it is really nice to have the good reports about the competent customer service people who do their jobs well.

 

Edited October 26, 2013 by varoo

[fleckle]

It looks like there has been inconsistency in the processing of refunds and FCCs for the cancelled Millennium cruises.

 

Some passengers have already been fully refunded and had their future cruise credits handled efficiently with no problem.

Others are still waiting for resolution, months later.

 

While the circumstances involved were more complicated for some than for others, there also appears to be some luck involved as to which agent happened to be handling your claim.

 

[karensc]

We are patiently waiting for the FCC for our cancelled September 6th Southbound cruise. Has anyone who was also to be on that one received theirs yet?

[gblotter]

I received in the mail today the Future Cruise Credit certificates.

 

The amount of the FCC is for the full value of the cruise fare, but does not include the taxes and fees that we paid.

 

Now waiting only for the reimbursement of travel expenses to return home from the aborted August 16 cruise.

Two checks arrived in the mail today with full reimbursement of our travel expenses to get home. I provided Celebrity with my credit card number for applying the reimbursement, but they chose to send checks instead - go figure.

 

I mailed our FCC certificates to Costco Travel nearly a month ago. Still waiting for Celebrity to apply them to our August 2014 sailing on Solstice.

[Cindy]

I am starting to get annoyed. I just can't believe how slow they are with processing the FCC's and some people's refunds. In my (not so humble;):o) opinion, 2 months since my sail date and almost three since the cruises were cancelled is more than enough time to expect everything to be taken care of.

I really want to love Celebrity, but they're making it hard! Everybody who knows me or has cruised with me thinks it's going to be a perfect match, I love that I get reciprocal benefits, and they have some really good itineraries. However, at this point, they're really going to have to wow me in May. I put a lot of stock in how a company treats its customers, and in the case of the Millennium cancellations Celebrity's performance has been less than stellar.:(

[gblotter]

I mailed our FCC certificates to Costco Travel nearly a month ago. Still waiting for Celebrity to apply them to our August 2014 sailing on Solstice.

With some nagging on my part, Celebrity has now applied the FCC certificates to our August 2014 reservation.

 

Our Millennium ordeal with all its refunds and reimbursements is now finished - 3 months later! I lost track, but it took well over a dozen phone calls to Celebrity and Costco Travel to get everything resolved. I do feel bad for those who are still in limbo waiting, and for those who had a less-satisfactory outcome (especially the unfair calculations for the Cruisetour folks).

 

Looking forward to a better experience on Solstice next summer (fingers crossed). We are taking our four children with us this time in two connecting staterooms. Even after applying the FCCs, this will be our most expensive vacation ever. Hopefully the experience will be worth it to our kids.

[nanakatandpop]

We too are still waiting. We were scheduled for the Sept 6 as well :(

[nealberk]

Just checked back with my wife, and we still have not received our reimbursement for our expenses for our stay in Anchorage and our transportation to Seward. We did get a $250 credit but we cannot figure out what it was from.

 

Interesting......

 

Another email was sent to them tonight.

[Cruisebaza]

The $250 "smells" like the hotel reimbursement which was capped at $250. That's my guess!!

[BILL-WI]

We were scheduled to be on the September 13, 2013 sailing. I just received my FCC today and they are already applied to my next sailing.

 

BILL

[Cindy]

My Future Cruise Certificates arrived today! Celebrity must have known I was talking bad about them on Cruise Critic!:eek:

The total is $10 less than I expected, but I'm going to happily apply the certificates to my Baltic cruise and close the file on the wine cruise.:( Hopefully that was our first AND LAST cruise cancellation!