Celebrity Silhouette 1/4/15 Cancelled Sailing

[JustAGirl79]

My TA called Celebrity today and Celebrity confirmed the propulsion issue but also said they don't have any confirmed dry-dock date to fix the issue... Colour me confused. Did my TA just get someone on the phone who isn't aware of what's going on???

[jzad]

My TA called Celebrity today and Celebrity confirmed the propulsion issue but also said they don't have any confirmed dry-dock date to fix the issue... Colour me confused. Did my TA just get someone on the phone who isn't aware of what's going on???

 

 

My TA called the 1-800 number on the letter and got us switched

 

 

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[Ex-Airbalancer]

Dear Celebrity Cruises,

 

I am on the 1 November 2014 transatlantic cruise on the Silhouette. My flight home on the 16th of November. I have never missed a flight when docking the same day, as I always book a flight after 11:30am.

 

If the ship arrives lates to Port Everglades due to the propulsion problem, will Celebrity reimburse me for having to change my airline tickets?

 

Thank you,

 

Monica

 

I would more worried about custom in Port Everglades, last December it took 3 hours to get though once we left the ship :rolleyes:

[mrbocbox]

So, Got switched to the Reflection Jan 3rd. I got all excited when I first started looking at Fares while I was waiting for Celebrity to call me back. I was hoping the discounts and promotional pricing I was seeing would mean I would be able to upgrade to a better room and get money back. But, alas, those fares weren't available. So, I got an apples to apples switch and $200 per stateroom credit. Not too bad, but I guess I got my hopes up for a windfall!

 

I called and was told the wait would be 59 minutes, so I had them call me back. It was only like 20 mins later.

[Cindy]

I feel for everybody whose plans have been disrupted, but it's much better to know now while there's still plenty of availability on other ships and time to make alternate plans.

 

 

This was to be my first cruise on Celebrity. Kind of disappointing, but there's much worse things than having to change vacation plans.

 

I know how you feel...my first Celebrity cruise was also cancelled due to a propulsion issue -- but I had 3 weeks notice, not 5+ months. Hang in there...my first Celebrity cruise was fantastic and worth the wait and disappointment of the Millennium cancellation!:)

[SeminoleFan]

I know how you feel...my first Celebrity cruise was also cancelled due to a propulsion issue -- but I had 3 weeks notice, not 5+ months. Hang in there...my first Celebrity cruise was fantastic and worth the wait and disappointment of the Millennium cancellation!:)

 

Yikes, three-weeks notice would be very tough to take. I know we are fortunate to have this amount of notice. We will definitely give Celebrity another chance, maybe not in 2015, but at some point. :)

[beentothere]

Many of these issues are due to the high costs of schedule change. Five years ago the costs were not very high. Today they have mushroomed out of sight.

For example, a ticket change fee. That can be covered pretty much by allowances and/or insurance.

 

Big time problem is that with the increased price of a replacement airline ticket. What cost $400 now could cost $800 and that's for coach. An award

ticket could cost a full ticket fee and the cost of returning the miles. Or a major add on of miles required for a replacement flight. Insurance does not cover very much against those expenses. To get good prices, travel often must

be booked far in advance.

 

And then there are business class fares. A 125,000 mile award ticket that

needs changing is $300 Plus another 100,000 to 200,000 additional miles.

A $3000 business ticket could escalate to $8000. A economy $1200 ticket

could escalate to $2800. The above of course are for international travel.

 

OUCH! In my opinion:

 

The cruise lines need to address this issue through insurance. Either through

the cruise company itself or applying pressure to ensure that proper insurance

is available. And depending on the need of the individual, it might not be very

cheap, if the risks are high. But it is a good way to balance the varying needs

of the passengers.

 

I consider this issue an abandonment of the cruise line management to their

responsibility to their clients. If on the other hand, they have made a good

faith effort to have such insurance plans created, let them publish their

requests for all to see.

[beentothere]

Many of these issues are due to the high costs of schedule change. Five years ago the costs were not very high. Today they have mushroomed out of sight.

For example, a ticket change fee. That can be covered pretty much by allowances and/or insurance.

 

Big time problem is that with the increased price of a replacement airline ticket. What cost $400 now could cost $800 and that's for coach. An award

ticket could cost a full ticket fee and the cost of returning the miles. Or a major add on of miles required for a replacement flight. Insurance does not cover very much against those expenses. To get good prices, travel often must

be booked far in advance.

 

And then there are business class fares. A 125,000 mile award ticket that

needs changing is $300 Plus another 100,000 to 200,000 additional miles.

A $3000 business ticket could escalate to $8000. A economy $1200 ticket

could escalate to $2800. The above of course are for international travel.

 

OUCH! In my opinion:

 

The cruise lines need to address this issue through insurance. Either through

the cruise company itself or applying pressure to ensure that proper insurance

is available. And depending on the need of the individual, it might not be very

cheap, if the risks are high. But it is a good way to balance the varying needs

of the passengers.

 

I consider this issue an abandonment of the cruise line management to their

responsibility to their clients. If on the other hand, they have made a good

faith effort to have such insurance plans created, let them publish their

requests for all to see.

 

addon: those who save for some special event, retirement celebration, wedding, 50th anniversary...etc... and since many cannot afford a second

shot....they need insurance against involuntary events. Given my actuarial

training this is simple insurance. It can be affordable if the cruise lines contribute pennies and add it to the taxes based on the coverage ...etc...

 

If such a cruise for these folks were canceled for any good reason, they would

today be totally out of luck due to the rescheduling costs.

 

The cruise lines promote and support these events, but do not defend them in the morning, in my been over the hills for too many years.

[Vivere LaDolceVita]

While I am certainly glad this is being addressed, I'm wondering why it's being put off until January. :confused:

 

That's nearly 6 months of potential problems for thousands of passengers. Problems that may not need to occur.

 

Thankfully Celebrity is up front about the situation and the passengers aren't being left in the dark.

 

It's being put off until January b/c there are no dry dock berths available. Most dry docks are reserved years in advance (regularly scheduled maintenance). So when something like this happens, cruise lines generally have to swap with other lines or negotiate to take an emergency spot. Maybe it could go in a little earlier than January, but =X= like all other lines will evaluate the cost-benefit. Most likely the booking rate/prices on the affected sailing were lower than on other earlier cruises.

 

Allure OTS sailed 6 months on exactly the same issue (azipod malfunction) with no discernible problems. So there's no reason to think cruises before dry dock will be negatively impacted (aside from possible port time changes).

[beentothere]

It's being put off until January b/c there are no dry dock berths available. Most dry docks are reserved years in advance (regularly scheduled maintenance). So when something like this happens, cruise lines generally have to swap with other lines or negotiate to take an emergency spot. Maybe it could go in a little earlier than January, but =X= like all other lines will evaluate the cost-benefit. Most likely the booking rate/prices on the affected sailing were lower than on other earlier cruises.

 

Allure OTS sailed 6 months on exactly the same issue (azipod malfunction) with no discernible problems. So there's no reason to think cruises before dry dock will be negatively impacted (aside from possible port time changes).

 

Question: And how do you know exactly what the issue is except there is a reported loss of speed capacity, for which there could be so many reasons?

 

And so, unless we are advised with sufficient detail to understand the exact nature of the condition we cannot actually know the impact to risk. You see,

there is a difference in interpretation of the statement. Like saying, there is a leak in the hull, above the water line or below? Large, small, or tiny? What is large?

 

Vivere...there are about 3 dozen passengers who would love to vivere but their captain decided to take a detour. As the passengers who asked the question, if any so dared, why are we sailing over here, would likely have been told that our captain always has safety as his number one priority. The Sil is on a transatlantic Nov 1st. Given the ocean stretch and the potential for weather extremes at that time of year in the South Atlantic, should the potential arise, and should the capacity deteriorate, the passengers could be, just say could be, in harms way. We observed the result of such an event in the Antartica, and its on you tube. Ship lost power, all had to be taken off in the middle of a Huge storm. I think its called the cruise from hell 2010.

 

This will be my 5th transatlantic on the Sil. On the last one, the internet was down due to on board failure. However, the relations and computer center for days kept reporting it as satellite, which they had to know it was not!

 

So our route today is perfectly safe, our pilot and those providing guidance have our safety as their top priority. I think we need to raise our voices in complaint that there have been too many lapses in such definitions of priority.

And did not some ships have some fires with no real capacity to service the passengers and no backup plans as to what they would do IF?

 

So sometimes we are not told of what we should be, for some good reasons.

What's in your wallet? Who do you trust?

 

The transatlantic on the Sil keeps high speed over the 7 days run non stop to

FLL. If the long continuous run could further affect the condition then there is pause to reflect. However, we don't know!

 

Well, excuse me!

 

First cruise on Celebrity: Inaugural of the Zenith.

First cruise on any ship: Carla C, early 1950's.

First transatlantic: The France.

Last cruise: don't want to take it

[SeminoleFan]

I cancelled my cruise as the other dates did not align well with work schedules. I checked this morning and the payments made with my debit card have been credited back, but not without errors. It looks like a portion was withheld, maybe cancellation fee or service charge. I thought that we would be refunded in full as the cancellation was an issue with the ship. I am going to call Celebrity, but wondered if anyone had a similar experience.

Edited July 24, 2014 by SeminoleFan

[Vivere LaDolceVita]

Question: And how do you know exactly what the issue is except there is a reported loss of speed capacity, for which there could be so many reasons?

 

And so, unless we are advised with sufficient detail to understand the exact nature of the condition we cannot actually know the impact to risk.

 

This issue has been covered (repeatedly) on several threads. So as not to repeat myself or others (who are more expert than I on this topic) I refer you to the merged thread for all discussions of the current Silhouette propulsion problem:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2068449

 

I'm not saying that the issue couldn't be (or develop into something) more serious than what has already been disclosed, but that is true for any ship/sailing. Unexpected things happen. Nothing from what I've read, including accounts from people who've sailed on Sil since the problem (there have been at least 2 or 3 completed cruises since the issue was first announced), indicates that there is anything amiss other than the declared issue regarding a departure from top speed.

 

FYI, on TA crossings, the avg speed is 18-19 nm/hour. Sil is currently sailing at 18 nm/hour. So I don't expect you'll notice anything out of the ordinary.

[OBX-Cruisers]

I cancelled my cruise as the other dates did not align well with work schedules. I checked this morning and the payments made with my debit card have been credited back, but not without errors. It looks like a portion was withheld, maybe cancellation fee or service charge. I thought that we would be refunded in full as the cancellation was an issue with the ship. I am going to call Celebrity, but wondered if anyone had a similar experience.

 

We were on a Sept. 2013 cruise of the Millenium that was cancelled. We got reimbursed in several different pieces but in the end we got all of our fare back when you added it all together

Edited July 28, 2014 by OBX-Cruisers

[OBX-Cruisers]

Duplicate post

Edited July 28, 2014 by OBX-Cruisers

[MissMapp]

I would more worried about custom in Port Everglades, last December it took 3 hours to get though once we left the ship :rolleyes:

 

 

That was an anomaly because that was during the government shutdown.

 

 

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[dateacher]

Not comforting to know we are on the last cruise before the repairs.

[Canadian_J]

[quote name='dateacher']Not comforting to know we are on the last cruise before the repairs.[/QUOTE]

What difference does it make? As others have said, work like this is usually difficult to schedule due to the availability of dry docks. The fact that your cruise is the week before is sheer coincidence. I'll bet you 99% of the ship has no idea it's going into dry dock the next week.

Unless the issue worsens (and none of us are experts enough to say the odds of that, but Celebrity isn't expecting it to happen), your cruise will be completely normal. Don't stress over this.

[dateacher]

Just concerned that taking a break will affect the employees and how they work that week. It's too an expensive a trip (because of the time of year) to have less than the normal service because the crew has one foot out the door.

I hope you are correct that we shouldn't notice any difference.

[Red Grape]

Yes I agree with the posts on the need for repairs, but as I had already booked rental of cars and houses in Florida as well as air travel. I have sent two letters one in July and second in September outlining my problems as yet I have had no reply from Celebrity UK . This has been followed by email to Ms Kathy Barbrooke
Head of Customer Relations UK.
I would like to know if anyone else has had the same response?
Plus the best way to get in touch with Celebrity.

[cruisestitch]

Sorry to learn that you are having problems. It is doubtful that Celebrity will do anything about your related travel plans, as they are independent of that cruise. Were you able to take advantage of the re-booking offers?

[Waterloo4]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Update: This dry dock will only be addressing the propulsion system.[/quote]

Dear Celebrity,
Can you please update customers around Jan. 11, 2015 on if the Silhouette propulsion system was totally fixed?
Thank-you.