Celebrity: What's up with Infinity September-October 2016

[islandgirlejfan]

Hello my friend Pat. Rudy and I have a March 2017 cruise on Equinox which lost a port in favor of an overnight in St. Maarten. I found a similar cruise on Royal so we too will be cancelling our Celebrity cruise. We have NOT been advised of the change either. Will Sharon and Mike be sailing with you?

 

Waving hi Grace! :D Booked Princess so we could go where we wanted. Most of the problem has been worked out. The way things have been going, any cruise would be a good one!

 

Yes Mike and Sharon are joining us, We are looking forward to visiting the ABC islands together. We cant do Panama for 16 days so we switched. :) People are more irritated with the lack of communication and the rumors around whether or not we were cancelled sort of put people on edge.

 

Panama was curling my toes....but not for 16 nights. Too much going on to do that right now. A call from our TA or something from Celebrity would be great. They cared so much that our AQ room is now back in the system for the Panama Canal.:mad: Not sure how we are going to deal with future cruises, but I'm thinking with JetBlue flying out of BWI in the next few months, it's going to give SWA a little competition. Maybe we will just save up and go last minute. For the moment, it may work out better for us since I never seem to know what my immediate future holds.

 

Customers should have been informed once the plans were in place. I find out from my bestie and Cruise Critic that there may be no cruise. (of course we know ours has been cancelled now) Not the best way to keep customers happy.

[Celebrity Cruises]

Dear all,

 

We are currently contacting our guests to let them know that Celebrity Infinity has been chartered for a private voyage, and this regrettably means we need to make changes to sailings departing from September 11, 2016 - October 17, 2016. We want to provide guests with ample time to book an alternate itinerary and do everything we can to minimize any inconvenience.

 

A dedicated team is available to assist guests and can answer any questions. For individual bookings please call: 1-888-281-9343 ext. 48846

 

We are sorry for the changes and we will help each guest find an alternative sailing date. All guests will also receive an onboard credit as we truly appreciate their understanding.

 

Sincerely,

 

Celebrity Cruises

[rugbypopsie]

And I would have appreciated getting some form of communication while they were working out the details not the bs we were all given

Rude and unprofessional.

 

I don't mind that they had an opportunity to maximise profit that's commercial good sense but to treat already booked passengers in the way that we have been that's just not acceptable.

 

Sue..

[CL-JW]

Dear all,

 

We are currently contacting our guests to let them know that Celebrity Infinity has been chartered for a private voyage, and this regrettably means we need to make changes to sailings departing from September 11, 2016 - October 17, 2016. We want to provide guests with ample time to book an alternate itinerary and do everything we can to minimize any inconvenience.

 

A dedicated team is available to assist guests and can answer any questions. For individual bookings please call: 1-888-281-9343 ext. 48846

 

We are sorry for the changes and we will help each guest find an alternative sailing date. All guests will also receive an onboard credit as we truly appreciate their understanding.

 

Sincerely,

 

Celebrity Cruises

 

What we want is protected pricing and benefits from the cruise we booked 9/18 Panama to the new Panama sailing date out of San Francisco. I am sure Salesforces.com is paying Celebrity more than enough to cover the difference. You changed use from a 15 day Panama to a 7 day coastal to our HOME TOWN for the same price as the 15 day Panama.

 

We and our TA are still waiting for some sort of official notification. The Princess PC cruise is looking better and better.

[Pamster]

Dear all,

 

We are currently contacting our guests to let them know that Celebrity Infinity has been chartered for a private voyage, and this regrettably means we need to make changes to sailings departing from September 11, 2016 - October 17, 2016. We want to provide guests with ample time to book an alternate itinerary and do everything we can to minimize any inconvenience.

 

A dedicated team is available to assist guests and can answer any questions. For individual bookings please call: 1-888-281-9343 ext. 48846

 

We are sorry for the changes and we will help each guest find an alternative sailing date. All guests will also receive an onboard credit as we truly appreciate their understanding.

 

Sincerely,

 

Celebrity Cruises

 

THANKS for the telephone number - since I still haven't heard from Celebrity myself. Called the number - cancelled cruise - refund on the way... I'm out. No more Celebrity cruises for us.

[texkan]

Dear all,

 

We are currently contacting our guests to let them know that Celebrity Infinity has been chartered for a private voyage, and this regrettably means we need to make changes to sailings departing from September 11, 2016 - October 17, 2016. We want to provide guests with ample time to book an alternate itinerary and do everything we can to minimize any inconvenience.

 

A dedicated team is available to assist guests and can answer any questions. For individual bookings please call: 1-888-281-9343 ext. 48846

 

We are sorry for the changes and we will help each guest find an alternative sailing date. All guests will also receive an onboard credit as we truly appreciate their understanding.

 

Sincerely,

 

Celebrity Cruises

 

My TA was able to work out a fair transfer booking for us.

 

I am upset with X for Not communicating honestly with TA every time she contacted X as to why the Infinity cruise was missing. I learned about the cancellation here on CC board last night and passed the info to TA, who had just yesterday been advised by X that the cruise was NOT being chartered.

 

Celebrity please in the future be honest with all Celebrity passengers - this is only good Business Practice. Honesty is always the Best Policy.

[JLBellaCC]

I was called today by Celebrity and told the sailing we are booked on Infinity October 17 2016 has been chartered and so we have been cancelled off the cruise.

[LMKohler]

Still no word from Celebrity or my TA-so I am waiting. Maybe tomorrow???

[tcsmithh]

Still no word from Celebrity or my TA-so I am waiting. Maybe tomorrow???

 

x called mine today, 100 obc the oct 7 sailing at the price we paid for the abc sailing. or change at rack rate. not at that impressive if you cant be gone 16 days. we are going to try to stay with the booking. i always wanted to go through the canal.

 

have a good evening

-tom

[Gig103]

Just do not understand WHY Celebrity does not advise customers what is going on with cruises that have disappeared :confused: Not a good business practice.

 

I don't think it's a comfort, but they aren't alone in this silence B.S. My upcoming, non-Celebrity cruise went "sold out" for almost a month, and then I got an e-mail with a revised itinerary and the cabins are available to book again.

[Surrey_Pirates]

Exceptionally poor customer service over our cancelled Infinity cruise 17th October 2016. We were offered only 1 alternative on Equinox on the 9th November. We cant do this as it will mean my wife has to take an extra weeks leave.

 

Asked Celebrity if we can move to the Eclipse on the 16th October and they have said only by losing our booking perks (obc, grats and drinks).

 

Reading our terms and conditions I think they are wrong. I have reached out to Celebrity to find a solution but in the UK they seem to be very un-sympathetic.

 

We dont want to leave Celebrity and all we are asking for is a fair deal. If that is not forthcoming I guess we will try Princess as I cant be walked all over like this and do nothing. A shame because onboard we think it is great.

[puppyluv1]

Hi Surrey Pirate. Do you mean Dec 9 (not Nov 9)? My TA called to say that was the offer for the Oct 17th cruise. The email he received from Celebrity offers $100 OBC or $200 for suites. Airfare change fees are not reimbursable.

 

On a personal note, Dec is unfortunately not going to work for us, plus I don't really want the itinerary of the Dec 9 cruise. I had booked our first royal suite for this cruise as a special birthday gift for DH. So Now I'll start looking for alternatives across cruise lines, or perhaps a land tour. Very disappointing, but stuff happens, right? I'm sure I'll manage to book something special in the end. I hope everyone impacted will find suitable alternatives they can be excited about.

[J&G]

Really getting annoyed that we still have not heard a word from Celebrity and we had 2 cruises affected - Sept 11 & 18. Some people were contacted as early as last Wednesday and here we sit waiting for a call. Not the least bit impressed with how Celebrity is going about this.

 

Gail

[LMKohler]

If the affected dates are from 9/11/16 to 10/17/16, how can we be switched to 10/7/16? What am I missing? In any event our booking has been switched-still no details on same cabin, or additional OBC as mentioned above.

[villauk]

Really getting annoyed that we still have not heard a word from Celebrity and we had 2 cruises affected - Sept 11 & 18. Some people were contacted as early as last Wednesday and here we sit waiting for a call. Not the least bit impressed with how Celebrity is going about this.

 

Gail

 

P l e a s e, give them a break, they are far too busy handing out 400 picnic baskets :rolleyes:. You'd probably have more luck venturing to your local park :p!

 

Joking apart, I can't believe the amount of charters for next year. I do sympathise with you; we're still waiting for Equinox August sailings to reappear :confused:.

[NancyIL]

Really getting annoyed that we still have not heard a word from Celebrity and we had 2 cruises affected - Sept 11 & 18. Some people were contacted as early as last Wednesday and here we sit waiting for a call. Not the least bit impressed with how Celebrity is going about this.

 

Gail

 

I wasn't contacted by Celebrity. Instead, when my reservation disappeared when I logged onto My Celebrity on June 3rd (Wednesday) - I emailed my travel agent, and SHE contacted Celebrity. She was told the booking options, and my reservation was switched from 9/11/16 to 9/25/16 that same day.

[JP1947]

Really getting annoyed that we still have not heard a word from Celebrity and we had 2 cruises affected - Sept 11 & 18. Some people were contacted as early as last Wednesday and here we sit waiting for a call. Not the least bit impressed with how Celebrity is going about this.

 

Gail

 

10/07 is now a 16 day cruise through the panama canal---not the 10 day cruise you booked. same thing happened to me so I changed date to 10/27 for the 10 day cruise

[Cruising Is Bliss]

It sounds like they're re-arranging scheduled cruises before and after the charter to have the ship in place for the charter.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Cruising Is Bliss

[bigmjh]

We were booked on a B2B2B on the Infinity:

09/18 - 15 day Panama Canal (San Diego to FLL)

10/03 - 4 day Bahamas (FLL to FLL)

10/07 - 10 Dutch Antilles (FLL to FLL)

 

Celebrity got a 5 day charter from 10/02 to 10/07 and started messing around changing their schedules to accommodate this. The 09/18 cruise became a 7 day Vancouver to Vancouver (roundtrip down the coast to San Francisco and back). For 09/25 they added a 7 day Vancouver to San Francisco. Made room for the 5 day charter in San Francisco. The Panama Canal cruise now leaves from San Francisco (as a 16 day cruise) on 10/07 ... the 4 day Bahamas has moved to 10/23 ... and the 10 day Dutch Antilles moved to 10/27.

 

Being retired, we were able to re-book essentially the same itinerary (except the PC cruise now leaves from San Francisco) ... but moved back 19 days.

 

$$$ rules at Celebrity ... loyal passengers get kicked down the ladder! :mad:

[Semi Retired]

The official notice of change was last Wed. If you haven heard from your TA, then you may be waiting "in line" for Celebrity to call TA. I told my TA about the change before he was called. He had to wait for Celebrity to give him the "deal" to be translated to us. That was last Fri. We have cancelled (my brother and DW also) and all 4 of us are , as of yesterday, rebooked on a 14-day Bahamas/Caribbean B2B with another cruiseline....to which they benefit our money that we put out, which is twice the amount that we were booked with Celebrity.

I believe in Karma. Celebrity might be hustling to fill these new sailings and may have to "give it away" at a "steal of a deal"......oh, well.

[Driftwoodgal]

I wasn't contacted by TA. I contacted him after promedic (Greg) got a call from Celebrity. He was not booked with a TA so maybe they are getting in touch with individuals first.

[j6819h]

My husband and I were booked on the Infinity for Panama Canal September 18th and received a call from Celebrity Representative, stating that sailing was cancelled due to the boat being charted. We were offered to switch to the October 7th sailing for the same price and was offered $50.00 per person for onboard credit. This is mess. With everyone possibly moving to the October sailing, I can see why the prices are increasing. My first time with Celebrity and not good.

[hcat]

Exceptionally poor customer service over our cancelled Infinity cruise 17th October 2016. We were offered only 1 alternative on Equinox on the 9th November. We cant do this as it will mean my wife has to take an extra weeks leave.

 

Asked Celebrity if we can move to the Eclipse on the 16th October and they have said only by losing our booking perks (obc, grats and drinks).

 

Reading our terms and conditions I think they are wrong. I have reached out to Celebrity to find a solution but in the UK they seem to be very un-sympathetic.

 

We dont want to leave Celebrity and all we are asking for is a fair deal. If that is not forthcoming I guess we will try Princess as I cant be walked all over like this and do nothing. A shame because onboard we think it is great.

 

So sorry you are having issues...will you and they consider the 10/27 ABC itin..?

.folks from 10/17 roll call have switched....

 

you should be persistent with them to get another choice with perks.....yrs ago they cancelled us for Milenium due to a charter.. and only offered 1 choice...but our vacation leave was a fixed date ...eventually they relented and we switched to another ship....and fell in love with Mercury! Good luck...

[RCI Cruisers 004]

Hello, just wanted to add my two cents. We were called on Friday by Celebrity and told our Oct 3rd cruise was chartered and we needed to switch to the Oct. 23rd cruise....our only option for the same cruise. We did receive $100 OBC and were able to get the same room we originally had booked for the same price. I did receive an Email later that night with a more detailed explanation of why this happened !

[Chooz2Cruz]

The fact that they were only offering to replace either of the 2 ABC cruises in October to the Equinox, Dec 9! is absolutely horrible!. The itinerary is nothing like the canceled cruises, and not to mention the timeframe. December cruises are the least expensive ones, and they are just trying to fill a sailing that probably is not selling well. They are not comparable at all! I had all 3 OCT ABC cruises booked from the 1st day they became available. I really wanted the Oct 7 sailing as that is our actual 35th anniversary. But now must do the October 27th, our least favorite sailing of the 3. X would not give me any compensation for not being able to do my preferred cruise, since I already had the 27th booked. Terrible customer service CELEBRITY!