Infinity / oct 2017 ???

[hcat]

Just booked a Pacific Coastal Cruise on Celebrity Infinity for 10/1/2017, replacing a Ruby Princess Coastal cruise for April 2017, cancelled for "re-deployment" (seems they are going to have shorter cruises to Mexico)

 

Does anyone recall the dates and name of the annual Conference that usually bumps Infinity cruises in Sept/Oct...for use as a floating hotel? ( Happened to us for our Oct 2016 ABC Island Cruise...but I can't recall the original date or name of this large Convention group)

 

In view of past cancellations around that time of the year, we might consider Choice Air (from NY) and a Celeb pre cruise hotel. Is this a good idea, just in case, or would we be better off using SW air on our own?

 

Also with Choice Air , can you pick your flights and airport?(we like the smaller LA airport near San Pedro, assuming that is the actual port???)

 

Any assistance will be appreciated.

[hcat]

Used google...it was Salesforce Dreamforce convention...seems it was 9/15 to 9/18 in 2015 and 10/4 to 10/7 in 2016.. could not locate info on 2017, but looking into it,,.

 

hope they do not cause us to lose yet another cruise..but they do like to book Infinity!

 

Still interested in opinions about Choice Air and X hotel program...

Edited February 12, 2016 by hcat

[az_tchr]

Think you answered your own question. If the cruise might be cancelled then Choice air helps - but they cannot get you your money refunded. They simply are a TA. All depends on the fares. If SWA is cheap then do that as it is 100% useable for a year type money and book your own hotel.

[hcat]

Thanks for the info...I thought Choice Air came with some type of guarantees...so it would not help in this situation.

..

once I find out the dates for the 2017 convention, we can switch if it's a conclusively bad date, or possibly breathe a sigh of relief..

 

.last year Celeb left many cruisers dangling while it negotiated the contract. The change wiped out a number of cruises...not just the Conference week., oh well...lots of time to look into this..,

[Cruise Raider]

We also booked this cruise as well as the one right before it for a B2B. We were booked on the Infinity up to Alaska for 14 nights when they decided to charter the boat out for a floating hotel in the city for 5 nights.

 

They did tell us in plenty of time so not a lot of changes needed to be made for flight arrangements. Going with Choice Air is always a viable option and yes, they do allow you to pick your airline and days which you choose to fly in and out ... in this case, Los Angeles. But if your concern is with the possibility of Celebrity canceling this sailing, Southwest would be the way to go. If you are able to buy extra points when they put them on sale, those points are not subject to the same expiry....so they can go back into your bank. I always wait until you get an additional $40%-50% before I buy them, though. At 50% more for free, that is really close to your breakeven point. The segment fees are always refundable.

 

It didn't even dawn on me that they might cancel this cruise but will keep that in mind when turning down any other plans during that time period.

[hcat]

Thanks for the heads up about SW points on sale and non exp of points...just had to send some pts back due to change of plans with the snow...,.guess we will have to follow this more closely,..

 

I am sorry to have mentioned the possibility of cancellation/change for 2017 ..did not mean to rain on the parade,,....I was so excited to find the Celebrity Pacific Coastal after Princess cancelled us...but then I remembered Infinity 2016!

 

Hoping it all works out.....seems wierd Celeb wiped out so many booked cruises...just to be a hotel for a 3 day Convention!

Edited February 13, 2016 by hcat

[hcat]

Dup post...sorry,.

Edited February 13, 2016 by hcat

[Cruise Raider]

Thanks for the heads up about SW points on sale and non exp of points...just had to send some pts back due to change of plans with the snow...,.guess we will have to follow this more closely,..

 

I am sorry to have mentioned the possibility of cancellation/change for 2017 ..did not mean to rain on the parade,,....I was so excited to find the Celebrity Pacific Coastal after Princess cancelled us...but then I remembered Infinity 2016!

 

Hoping it all works out.....seems wierd Celeb wiped out so many booked cruises...just to be a hotel for a 3 day Convention!

 

No need to apologize. We are retired so very flexible and live on the west coast ... so absolutely no problem for us if they change or cancel our cruise as we are never too far from another one. It will just prompt me to also book our flights on Southwest. We've done several Pacific Coastal cruises so doesn't really matter when our next one is. :)

[hcat]

Your post about back to back gave us an idea...we will book the cruise before the one on 10/1...7 days, same ports...no sea day...either one works for us...

 

Those 2 fall on the possible convention weeks, so we will be set with one...hopefully..We get a reduced deposit amount for E+ so not so bad to tie up the funde.. the earlier cruise week is our anniv and the preferred 10/1 is dh b-day...who knows, we may do both if schedule is not revised...

 

We live on the east coast and have only been to San Diego and San Pedro (pre cruise)...thought this itin was a good way to see a bit more!

[Cruise Raider]

Your post about back to back gave us an idea...we will book the cruise before the one on 10/1...7 days, same ports...no sea day...either one works for us...

 

Those 2 fall on the possible convention weeks, so we will be set with one...hopefully..We get a reduced deposit amount for E+ so not so bad to tie up the funde.. the earlier cruise week is our anniv and the preferred 10/1 is dh b-day...who knows, we may do both if schedule is not revised...

 

We live on the east coast and have only been to San Diego and San Pedro (pre cruise)...thought this itin was a good way to see a bit more!

 

Great....we will see you on one or the other in that case. We plan on doing the B2B but if it works out that we just do one due to a cancellation, well, so be it. We ended up paying a full deposit on both but it isn't doing any better in the bank so that doesn't even concern me. My only wish is that it would sail in and out of SF.....but LA isn't all that far.

I will book an extra flight on SW as well ... one for flying down and back from each itinerary if they have great pricing. For us, it will all work out ...

glad to hear the same for you! Our anniversary is in mid-Sept and my birthday is at the end of Sept so Sept is always our choice month to cruise.

 

PS -- I looked and no roll call as of yet. I am not great at initiating them, either so will just keep peeking.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Cruise Raider

[hcat]

Great....we will see you on one or the other in that case. We plan on doing the B2B but if it works out that we just do one due to a cancellation, well, so be it. We ended up paying a full deposit on both but it isn't doing any better in the bank so that doesn't even concern me. My only wish is that it would sail in and out of SF.....but LA isn't all that far.

I will book an extra flight on SW as well ... one for flying down and back from each itinerary if they have great pricing. For us, it will all work out ...

glad to hear the same for you! Our anniversary is in mid-Sept and my birthday is at the end of Sept so Sept is always our choice month to cruise.

 

PS -- I looked and no roll call as of yet. I am not great at initiating them, either so will just keep peeking.

 

Sounds like fun...plenty of time for a roll call to start...our next cruise is Oct 2016...the ABC Island cruise on Infinity... we are also booked on Equinox for Jan 2017...but that one includes Panama, Costa Rica, etc. & will depend on mosquito updates!

 

Hope we find out the Convention dates in advance & have them posted!

[hcat]

We booked the back to back....same AQ stateroom...starting to sound appealing to do both...

 

Someone already started a roll call for the 10/1/17 sail date....they are doing the 10/1 back to back with a Panama Canal transit afterwards...

[Buccaneergirl]

Glad I saw this thread! I just booked the 10/1 cruise 30 minutes ago and I think I will now also book the sailing before it just to be safe. We also have to cruise around the Bucs home game schedule since we have season tickets, so it would help me to book both for that too since the football schedule won't be out until May 2017.

[hcat]

See you on the roll call(s)

 

I hate to tie up 2 bookings but necessary in this case....and we are considering doing both...maximize our airfare out west...

 

Hope the cruise & football schedule work out for you!

[Pat&Paul]

Just an FYI, Infinity is NOT doing the Salesforce thing this year. They were originally chartered for that conference Oct 4-7 2016 and the preceding cruise was only going to be a 9 night cruise. However Salesforce canceled the charter and the pacific coastal cruise was expanded to a 12 night cruise that now goes all the way to San Diego and hits Catalina Island. We originally booked the 9 night onboard our pacific coastal last September, but had decided we wanted longer, so we are now on the 11 night Infinity pacific coastal San Diego to Vancouver in May.

 

I have no idea if Salesforce will want to charter Infinity in 2017 or not. I just wanted to let you know the skinny for 2016.

 

Thanks,

 

Pat

[Andy]

Sounds like fun...plenty of time for a roll call to start...our next cruise is Oct 2016...the ABC Island cruise on Infinity..

 

Hi Hcat,

 

Is that the 10/27/16 sailing ? We're booked too - but have no idea if we will definitely sail or not. Just too soon to know - especially with Mom's age and all, but I think the chances are good. It would be wonderful to see you !

[NancyIL]

Just an FYI, Infinity is NOT doing the Salesforce thing this year. They were originally chartered for that conference Oct 4-7 2016 and the preceding cruise was only going to be a 9 night cruise. However Salesforce canceled the charter and the pacific coastal cruise was expanded to a 12 night cruise that now goes all the way to San Diego and hits Catalina Island. We originally booked the 9 night onboard our pacific coastal last September, but had decided we wanted longer, so we are now on the 11 night Infinity pacific coastal San Diego to Vancouver in May.

 

I have no idea if Salesforce will want to charter Infinity in 2017 or not. I just wanted to let you know the skinny for 2016.

 

Thanks,

 

Pat

 

We were originally on the Sept. 11, 2016 7-night Pacific Coastal cruise. When Celebrity first changed things around in June, the Sept. 11 cruise became another Alaska cruise, so we changed to the new Sept. 25, 2016 7-night (not 9-night) Pacific Coastal cruise. When Infinity was no longer being chartered, our 7-night cruise became a 12-night cruise. The 12-night does sail to San Diego, but it still ends in San Francisco, as that's where the following Panama Canal cruise departs.

Edited February 27, 2016 by NancyIL

[hcat]

Just an FYI, Infinity is NOT doing the Salesforce thing this year. They were originally chartered for that conference Oct 4-7 2016 and the preceding cruise was only going to be a 9 night cruise. However Salesforce canceled the charter and the pacific coastal cruise was expanded to a 12 night cruise that now goes all the way to San Diego and hits Catalina Island. We originally booked the 9 night onboard our pacific coastal last September, but had decided we wanted longer, so we are now on the 11 night Infinity pacific coastal San Diego to Vancouver in May.

 

I have no idea if Salesforce will want to charter Infinity in 2017 or not. I just wanted to let you know the skinny for 2016.

 

Thanks,

 

Pat

 

Wow,....how interesting, never knew that!

 

X put many folks through the uncertain waiting and then re-grouping.....we bailed early & landed on the 10/27/16 Infinity ABC Island cruise...with many who were dumped or jumped on their own from the affected cruises....and others who were on it from the beginning.

 

So it looks like we are in the clear for Oct 2016, and have hope that Oct 2017 ,Infinity, Pacific Coastal will not lead to a repeat of being left in the dark...

 

Thanks for posting...enjoy your cruise.

Edited February 28, 2016 by hcat

[hcat]

Hi Hcat,

 

Is that the 10/27/16 sailing ? We're booked too - but have no idea if we will definitely sail or not. Just too soon to know - especially with Mom's age and all, but I think the chances are good. It would be wonderful to see you !

 

Yes 10/27/16

Andy...that would be a highlight of our cruise...getting to meet you and your mom. Hope she is feeling up to it. The itin seems nice and a great ship from what we hear!

 

There's a very active roll call...I assume you might hold off joining in on that til you know if you are sailing & also for some private vacation time with your mom. Many on the roll call have cruised together before, one couple is having a 50 yr vow renewal...seems like a friendly group. We met some of them on our Jan EQ cruise and another couple who recently bought a condo near our vacation home in Venice Fl...

 

Anyhow...best regards to you and your mom!

[Cruise Raider]

Just an FYI, Infinity is NOT doing the Salesforce thing this year. They were originally chartered for that conference Oct 4-7 2016 and the preceding cruise was only going to be a 9 night cruise. However Salesforce canceled the charter and the pacific coastal cruise was expanded to a 12 night cruise that now goes all the way to San Diego and hits Catalina Island. We originally booked the 9 night onboard our pacific coastal last September, but had decided we wanted longer, so we are now on the 11 night Infinity pacific coastal San Diego to Vancouver in May.

 

I have no idea if Salesforce will want to charter Infinity in 2017 or not. I just wanted to let you know the skinny for 2016.

 

Thanks,

 

Pat

 

You know...I just think that Salesforce convention from last Sept didn't work out as well as they thought. There were a lot of write ups in the local papers that this was a big disappointment. Who knows??

[Rob the Cruiser]

You know...I just think that Salesforce convention from last Sept didn't work out as well as they thought. There were a lot of write ups in the local papers that this was a big disappointment. Who knows??

 

It was also a huge disappointment for the crew. They were not allowed to leave the ship the entire time they were in port. Several crew members told us that morale was quite low.

[norwegianwood57]

Yes we were cancelled off that one. Now booked may, 2017 instead.