Our cruise is allegedly overbooked..how does it happen?

[Fish Lover]

The main problem in my mind is that passengers in the U.S can book multiple cruises, then decide at final payment which they will cancel. The cruise company is ' covering themselves' by taking more bookings than they have capacity for, so that they won't loose out financially.

This scenario wouldn't happen in U.K, as we loose our deposit if we have to cancel.

It's about time all customers were treated equally.

 

This is not the fault of the cruise line. It's because the laws differ from country to country. You can hardly blame Celebrity for that.

I don't see how they are treating customers differently.

[Fish Lover]

I agree. While not from Australia' date=' our air is over $700pp and we also prepaid hotel. To add insult to injury, we are b2b with the Eclipse Feb.4. So if we are bumped, Celebrity will have to make good on all our extra expenses.[/quote']

 

Only the most extraordinary circumstances would forcibly bump you. If they are over sold, then they will offer a deal to passengers to move their reservation. If the passengers don't accept, then they will move on and make the offer to the next passenger until they have solved the problem. In your case, it most likely wouldn't make sense because of the ancillary costs. So, you would pass.

 

The other thread, which talks about bumping a passenger, is missing information. I really don't think all the facts are in evidence.

[redflag216]

My family and I are booked on this cruise as well. We made the booking while on board the Reflection back in the second last week of January. When we returned home from the cruise, we enticed my in-laws to come along with us...only to find that there were only inside cabins left for purchase. They ended up taking an inside because they really want to be with us for this cruise. I am aware of the motorcycle group, but no other group. This will be the first cruise ever for my in-laws, so I hope that it is not canceled!!!

 

 

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[Fish Lover]

We are also booked on this cruise. If this was to happen we would be truly frustrated and annoyed. Just offering to refund deposits is not ok. Especially if you have airfare booked. Refunding deposits is not much use when you have airfare booked from Australia and plans made a year in advance.

 

No where does it say, or has it been reported, that if Celebrity would like you to change your reservation that they would merely refund your deposit. Your post and the one you quoted are making assumptions which are simply not true.

[lostchild]

The main problem in my mind is that passengers in the U.S can book multiple cruises, then decide at final payment which they will cancel. The cruise company is ' covering themselves' by taking more bookings than they have capacity for, so that they won't loose out financially.

This scenario wouldn't happen in U.K, as we loose our deposit if we have to cancel.

It's about time all customers were treated equally.

 

All my families from UK book thru an US travel agent so they could cancel and get full refund outside of the 90 days. Onboard when they did another booking, the agent tried to do the 80 pounds non-refundable deposit to everyone from UK, they said no, they used US travel agent so everyone got the $100 refundable deposit instead. The celebrity cruise agent tried to tell them that is would difficult to communicate with the travel agent in US. Really? 2017... email, phone, facetime, whatsapp, etc... :p

 

BTW, we all took a random booking in 2018 or 2019 since we just wanted to lock in the perks. We all wanted to go on the same cruise but it is too soon to figure out the time and place yet.

[johhnnyt]

I really wouldn't worry about all the possible scenarios, you can give yourself a lot of anxiety of what could happen. Seems from what I gather there might be a biker group onboard (We had a group on Solstice, boy were they fun), and possibly some other group, but who cares as long as it doesn't impact you. Since Celebrity hasn't contacted you it doesn't seem to impact you.

[Can'tstopcruising]

Only the most extraordinary circumstances would forcibly bump you. If they are over sold, then they will offer a deal to passengers to move their reservation. If the passengers don't accept, then they will move on and make the offer to the next passenger until they have solved the problem. In your case, it most likely wouldn't make sense because of the ancillary costs. So, you would pass.

 

The other thread, which talks about bumping a passenger, is missing information. I really don't think all the facts are in evidence.

 

May you be right!

 

As long as they don't charter the entire ship, we should be fine.

[phabric]

Why did Celebrity remove this cruise from thei list of cruises?

 

I am on a river cruise that is chartered and they do not show this cruise on their list of cruises.

 

Other cruise lines mark sold out in each of the different categories and still show the cruise.

[jelayne]

We booked a cruise about 2 years out. It was selling well, many categories were sold out, prices kept climbing and we had a very active roll call. About 15 months pre-cruise the sailing disappeared from X's site. Lots of talk on the roll call that it had been chartered with various rumors as to who chartered it. Even though the cruise could still be booked on a few TA sites the charter rumor persisted.

 

A good number of the early bookers ( with great fares) cancelled fearing the ship was being chartered. Long story short- no charter. At final payment there suddenly appeared almost 200 cabins available and prices plummeted. We ended up moving to a Suite :D. Although Celebrity never said what happened to cause the cruise to go from sold out to having so many open cabins sure seems a group cancelled.

[hcat]

My family and I are booked on this cruise as well. We made the booking while on board the Reflection back in the second last week of January. When we returned home from the cruise, we enticed my in-laws to come along with us...only to find that there were only inside cabins left for purchase. They ended up taking an inside because they really want to be with us for this cruise. I am aware of the motorcycle group, but no other group. This will be the first cruise ever for my in-laws, so I hope that it is not canceled!!!

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If you read through the roll you will see the conversations about the large group...apparently an on bd cruise sales person said it was a Greek group...but could not say more & we cannot figure it out. Celeb confirms oversold status, large group, nothing more and says do not worry.

 

Aside from bumping concerns..too soon to worry I agree..not happy with a large group when we will be outsiders. This is the only 9 day cruise on Silhouette with this itin.. fingers crossed it works out.

[SantaFeFan]

The main problem in my mind is that passengers in the U.S can book multiple cruises, then decide at final payment which they will cancel. The cruise company is ' covering themselves' by taking more bookings than they have capacity for, so that they won't loose out financially.

This scenario wouldn't happen in U.K, as we loose our deposit if we have to cancel.

It's about time all customers were treated equally.

 

Don't blame the cruise lines if you think you aren't being treated equally. Blame your government representatives. The laws in the UK are different than in the US. It is your laws that are the reason you lose your deposit and we don't. Your laws provide you with protections that we don't have, but they come at a price. In this case, the price is losing your deposits.

[Pushka]

I think the laws are irrelevant. Australian cruisers get refunds on Celebrity and most other cruise lines but not Cunard for example. If our laws were the issue then all cruise lines would be the same.

[varoo]

.......I really do not understand how a cruise company can ever know whether a cabin is actually sold or not. It may simply be 'booked' while the customer continues looking elsewhere before making a final decision. It must be a business nightmare to have to second guess what all their customers, from the areas where the deposit is refundable, are actually going to do. I am not sure this happens in other industries.

 

But it does.

In the USA this happens all the time in the hotel industry, where you can cancel a hotel reservation up to 24 hours in advance and pay nothing.

 

Some hotels even let you cancel with no penalty up to 6 p.m. the day of your reservation.

 

Some offer two price tiers for the same hotel room, a lower non-refundable price as well as the regular price.

 

It also depends on how you book the hotel room.

There are a number of 3rd party discounters who sell hotel rooms for a much lower non-refundable price, and you pay them up front.

 

 

Another is the rental car business (I believe called car hire in the UK).

Rental car companies in the US give you a free upgrade if they have oversold the category you booked.

 

But unlike hotels, it is pretty easy to relocate rental cars from one location to another to match supply to demand.

 

Rental car companies also have a pretty good idea of how many no-shows and cancellations to expect. So they overbook, just as the airlines do.

 

When airlines overbook (which they do routinely), they normally ask for volunteers to give up their seats and keep sweetening the offer until they get enough passengers to bite.

 

There was a big scandal here just recently when an airline didn't do that but instead foolishly dragged a passenger off the plane when he refused to give up his seat, injuring him in the process.

That incident is going to make him a very wealthy man who will never need to work another day in his life.

 

 

I would like to know that when I pay a non-refundable deposit and choose my cabin that I have a contract with the company to deliver what I have paid for. I understand there are reasons, out of their control, that may cause cancellations and I am happy with that, but overbooking is not out of their control.

True, but they will still continue to overbook when they can, especially on larger ships, figuring that they will likely get some cancellations and/or no shows.

 

They typically start selling lots of guarantees as the departure date comes closer, to give themselves a lot of flexibility in assigning the remaining staterooms.

 

I don't see anything wrong with doing that as long as they ask for volunteers when necessary and do not bump anyone involuntarily.

 

They will also continue to aggravate passengers who hold reservations by canceling scheduled cruises for charters when they can make more money that way.

The sad reality is that we must agree to their contract, which totally favors the cruise line, if we want to go on their cruise.

Edited April 21, 2017 by varoo

[bengaltiger1]

I am interested to know where in British law it states that non refundable deposits are part of travel legislation? I am not being confrontational, but would be interested so that I could look for myself.

 

 

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[Saab4444]

In the UK ( and other European countries like Germany and Scandinavia) hotel and rental car bookings can be made with flexible and free cancelation as well. only cruise lines and other holiday package providers charge guests for changes and cancelation even years in advance. It is not a legal requirement, it is just what the market is used to.

 

 

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[misprint]

The main problem in my mind is that passengers in the U.S can book multiple cruises, then decide at final payment which they will cancel. The cruise company is ' covering themselves' by taking more bookings than they have capacity for, so that they won't loose out financially.

This scenario wouldn't happen in U.K, as we loose our deposit if we have to cancel.

It's about time all customers were treated equally.

 

I so agree with this. In the U.K. we have a completely different set of terms and conditions both for booking and insurance. Our prices appear to be higher yet ultimately we are booking the same product with the same company.

[villauk]

In the UK ( and other European countries like Germany and Scandinavia) hotel and rental car bookings can be made with flexible and free cancelation as well. only cruise lines and other holiday package providers charge guests for changes and cancelation even years in advance. It is not a legal requirement, it is just what the market is used to.

 

 

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Agree, it's more about 'standard practice' rather than legislation. Basically, we have accepted it. Furthermore, why do some cruise lines accept UK pax booking with US TAs and others don't (btw, X and Royal do)? Can't be a legislative issue - must be because the terms favour the cruise line more.

 

Back to question of the OP, having read recent events on the board, it does concern me that X appear to have taken a different approach lately to customer service. I stated on another thread that I wasn't referring to the onboard service, which is usually brilliant, but I did wonder if Miami had taken their eye off the ball with all the euphoria of 'Edge' and in the process many of their other services had suffered: pax bumped from sailings 5 days before the cruise, pax still waiting for refunds weeks after cancelled sailings, new wave of charters beginning causing more grief to pax, not informing pax who had pre-booked speciality restaurants that the venue is being removed, the never-ending IT and website issues, even official posts on here from them not matching attachments etc. They haven't been instilling much confidence in me of late - 'fighting fires' comes to mind. Good job they still have their excellent onboard staff.

Edited April 21, 2017 by villauk

[Flamencacha]

I read the same events.

 

So yes worry.

 

 

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[hcat]

We heard our cruise is Code Red (?)... res temp closed but rooms are or willl be available...but not becoming a charter.

 

Because we don't trust X based on our Infinity cancellation experience last yr, we looked at alt itins on Silhouette. But only our date has the 9 day itin with great ports ( making it popular) .

 

 

We are not interested in a Western Carib itin as an alt; and there are several large groups advertising on the cruises after ours (and some before us) that would not be a good fit for us. Seems Jan and Feb on Silhouette are group cruise months .

 

Hoping we can find out about the large group on our cruise

[DYKWIA]

In the UK ( and other European countries like Germany and Scandinavia) hotel and rental car bookings can be made with flexible and free cancelation as well. only cruise lines and other holiday package providers charge guests for changes and cancelation even years in advance. It is not a legal requirement, it is just what the market is used to.

 

 

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Yes, I book hotel reservations each week for work and the vast majority of my bookings are completely cancellable up to 24 hours before and sometimes up to noon the same day. Despite what others state, some of these things are of the cruise lines making.

 

I am also unaware on any UK legislation that means that an assigned guarantee cabin can't be changed to another cabin in the same category by the customer, yet this is applied to UK bookings but is allowed in US bookings - clearly discriminating against UK customers. Any duff cabin assigned to a US customer stands a good chance of been thrown back into the room stock until assigned to a UK customer who will not be able to change.

[njaloha]

We heard our cruise is Code Red (?)... res temp closed but rooms are or willl be available...but not becoming a charter.

 

Because we don't trust X based on our Infinity cancellation experience last yr, we looked at alt itins on Silhouette. But only our date has the 9 day itin with great ports ( making it popular) .

 

 

We are not interested in a Western Carib itin as an alt; and there are several large groups advertising on the cruises after ours (and some before us) that would not be a good fit for us. Seems Jan and Feb on Silhouette are group cruise months .

 

Hoping we can find out about the large group on our cruise

 

Seems that way (see red above) and who knew? I certainly didn't until you suggested in the 2/4/18 roll call to google the ship and date.

 

FYI - anyone who is interested.

Here's one group on our 2/4/18 Western Caribbean - http://queensoverboard.com/

Here's the other on 2/4/18 - http://bearracuda.com/caribbean-cruise/

They explain in their cruise description that they do not have sole charter of the ship and that there will be entertainment especially for them on board. Not sure how big the groups are but we've got the same S1 corner aft cabin for a b2b that we booked in January 2017 at a great price. If we were to change, to another ship that same week (Equinox out of Miami), we'd not only be cruising Eastern Carib both weeks but the cost diff from Silly to Eq would be an increase of $1000 for an S2 from an S1 corner aft.

 

Gritting my teeth and bearing it for 7 days. I guess....:eek:

[newchappers]

Just hope the problem isn't solved in the style of United Airlines !

[hcat]

Seems that way (see red above) and who knew? I certainly didn't until you suggested in the 2/4/18 roll call to google the ship and date.

 

FYI - anyone who is interested.

Here's one group on our 2/4/18 Western Caribbean - http://queensoverboard.com/

Here's the other on 2/4/18 - http://bearracuda.com/caribbean-cruise/

They explain in their cruise description that they do not have sole charter of the ship and that there will be entertainment especially for them on board. Not sure how big the groups are but we've got the same S1 corner aft cabin for a b2b that we booked in January 2017 at a great price. If we were to change, to another ship that same week (Equinox out of Miami), we'd not only be cruising Eastern Carib both weeks but the cost diff from Silly to Eq would be an increase of $1000 for an S2 from an S1 corner aft.

 

Gritting my teeth and bearing it for 7 days. I guess....:eek:

I take it that "bearing it" was not an intentionsl pun..

 

Jan and Feb are months we will be careful about on X....some groups we could enjoy..some not at all. (Thinking maybe Azamara would have fewer large groups and thus fewer overbooked itins??)

 

Celebrity Silhouette January 7, 2018 Parrothead ..The Villages fundraising cruise

 

Chubb Cruise:

Step on board and join our friendly group of chubs, chasers, bears, friends, and more as we set sail January 7-14, 2018. We'll be aboard the magnificent Celebrity Silhouette leaving from beautiful Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

Topics in Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

and

Child & Adolescent Psychopharmacology

14 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™

14 Contact Hours

7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise Conference

Round-trip Fort Lauderdale

Celebrity Silhouette

January 7 -14, 2018

January 7, 201

Edited April 21, 2017 by hcat

[njaloha]

I take it that "bearing it" was not an intentionsl pun..

 

Jan and Feb are months we will be careful about on X....some groups we could enjoy..some not at all. (Thinking maybe Azamara would have fewer large groups and thus fewer overbooked itins??)

 

Celebrity Silhouette January 7, 2018 Parrothead ..The Villages fundraising cruise

 

Chubb Cruise:

Step on board and join our friendly group of chubs, chasers, bears, friends, and more as we set sail January 7-14, 2018. We'll be aboard the magnificent Celebrity Silhouette leaving from beautiful Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

Topics in Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

and

Child & Adolescent Psychopharmacology

14 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™

14 Contact Hours

7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise Conference

Round-trip Fort Lauderdale

Celebrity Silhouette

January 7 -14, 2018

January 7, 201

 

Did not intend the pun but hahahaha. that's a good one.

 

Parrotheads yes! Oh well. It could be worse and we'll have plenty of stories for the nonexistent grandkids.

[NLH Arizona]

Did not intend the pun but hahahaha. that's a good one.

 

Parrotheads yes! Oh well. It could be worse and we'll have plenty of stories for the nonexistent grandkids.

I think the Queensoverboard cruise would be a hoot, plus I could probably get some good makeup tips.