Celebrity just tried to bump us

[Kevin7kodak7]

Good honest review. Glad you enjoyed the cruise. Would I book again after what happened. maybe but would let them know to put in the reservation not to have this happen again and ask for extra OBC.......

 

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[drsel]

How much OBC to ask for when the Cruise you booked is cancelled and you are automatically transferred to another ship (with the same itinerary), leaving from a different port, on a different date, 2 months later?

Edited October 2, 2017 by drsel

[villauk]

How much OBC to ask for when the Cruise you booked is cancelled and you are automatically transferred to another ship (with the same itinerary), leaving from a different port, on a different date, 2 months later?

 

Can you take the new cruise? Currently, there is no way in a million years we would be able to do that automatic change on any of our sailings :o. Surely you would have multiple change fees for many other elements related to the vacation? Is the cruise line paying for those items as well as offering OBC? Basically, what's the background to your situation?

[drsel]

Can you take the new cruise? Currently, there is no way in a million years we would be able to do that automatic change on any of our sailings :o. Surely you would have multiple change fees for many other elements related to the vacation? Is the cruise line paying for those items as well as offering OBC? Basically, what's the background to your situation?

 

The new sailing is is November (winter, off season) instead of September (peak season for Italy). Cruise line is offering 100 euros OBC pp as compensation.

Spent a lot of time researching a detailed land tour prior to the sailing (itinerary, routing, hotels prices, train timings, ticket costs, etc).

But no cash expense.

[villauk]

The new sailing is is November (winter, off season) instead of September (peak season for Italy). Cruise line is offering 100 euros OBC pp as compensation.

Spent a lot of time researching a detailed land tour prior to the sailing (itinerary, routing, hotels prices, train timings, ticket costs, etc).

But no cash expense.

 

If this is for next year, which I believe is the case as you mention September, then X has previously cancelled sailings a year in advance (sometimes even less than that if the ship was sold e.g. Century) and they offer some extra OBC approximately $50 to $250. On occasion, they have also offered a few select alternative sailings at the same rate to move the booking to. You can also just have your deposits returned.

 

It happened to us once when all the problems in Egypt occurred and the ships were returned to the US over that time period, instead of being in the Med (it was a Royal sailing). Luckily, no flights had been booked and we had to move our bookings to an alternative sailing to obtain the extra $200 OBC.

[CruisingUS]

I am the OP on this thread. We are back home now and had a wonderful time on this cruise. It was in the top three of eight cruises we have been on so far.

 

I do have some possible insight as to why Celebrity had to take this extreme action of trying to bump us involantarily. The ship was full of "affinity cruisers". Some maybe all were members of a literary group and an author was on the ship and conducted seminars on his work.

 

I suspect that late bookers of this cruise by members of this large group (maybe half the ship) led Celebrity to try to bump us to make room for them. Is this good business practice on Celebrity's part. Well, maybe. They certainly p%$#@ off me but maybe it generated enough good will on the part of the affinity group to make it worthwhile.

 

I have heard of these affinity groups previously but had no idea that they could be so large. I must say that other than seeing a large number of people with strange badges dangling from their necks, this group had no impact on our cruise experience.

 

Will we ever cruise with Celebrity again? Don't know.

 

David

What is an affinity cruise?

[shipshape sam]

I am the OP on this thread. We are back home now and had a wonderful time on this cruise. It was in the top three of eight cruises we have been on so far.

 

I do have some possible insight as to why Celebrity had to take this extreme action of trying to bump us involantarily. The ship was full of "affinity cruisers". Some maybe all were members of a literary group and an author was on the ship and conducted seminars on his work.

 

I suspect that late bookers of this cruise by members of this large group (maybe half the ship) led Celebrity to try to bump us to make room for them. Is this good business practice on Celebrity's part. Well, maybe. They certainly p%$#@ off me but maybe it generated enough good will on the part of the affinity group to make it worthwhile.

 

I have heard of these affinity groups previously but had no idea that they could be so large. I must say that other than seeing a large number of people with strange badges dangling from their necks, this group had no impact on our cruise experience.

 

Will we ever cruise with Celebrity again? Don't know.

 

David

 

Thanks for posting a post cruise follow-up. We have sailed a few times with fairly large affinity groups and other than they did take over pool at least twice on one cruise and a number of evenings had private parties in normally public venues on a couple of them, we have had a good time.

 

Sailed with HOGS, a Harley Davidson group, Country pickers group ( I really enjoyed their jamming around the ship) on 2 separate ships in 2 successive years and not by design, a smaller crafting group, and a large running group.

[melsblue]

$200 OBC isn’t enough. I would also inquire about receiving a credit shore excursions, speciality dining package, shuttle to & from the port, spa package.

 

 

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[Shadow9612]

We're still hoping our Eclipse Christmas sailing will be the X that we are used to sailing on. I'll let you know if it's similar to Reflection - I'm hoping that was just a one off 'blip' :o.

I look forward to hearing about your princess experience! I'm thinking the Reflection was a one-off and that you'll feel right back home on the Eclipse at Christmas[emoji7]

[upwarduk]

I look forward to hearing about your princess experience! I'm thinking the Reflection was a one-off and that you'll feel right back home on the Eclipse at Christmas[emoji7]

 

 

 

We are back to Celebrity after Crown Princess. Nothing that I can put my finger on, just that it wasn’t Celebrity.

 

 

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[villauk]

Nothing that I can put my finger on, just that it wasn’t Celebrity.

 

 

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If you'd been on our Reflection cruise in the summer (Shadow was also cruising on this sailing), you'd understand why we were thinking exactly the same as your comment above.

[drsel]

We are back to Celebrity after Crown Princess. Nothing that I can put my finger on, just that it wasn’t Celebrity

I read here on CC that Celebrity is overall a little better than Princess

 

 

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[jagoffee]

I read here on CC that Celebrity is overall a little better than Princess

 

 

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You can also read on CC that Celebrity is a lot better. Or that Princess is a little better or a lot better.

 

I like both Princess and Celebrity, but the Solstice Class ships are my favorite.

[Muffinz]

Wow - just read this thread and had no idea that Celebrity (or other cruise companies) over book and have to bump some passengers off..... in my opinion if you pay for a cruise in full and you don't show up then that's your problem - Celebrity have your money.....

We are on Solstice in March 2018 - it's a special cruise for wifes 50th birthday - we've paid for return airfares to Sydney, hotel accommodation and will be paying the balance of the cruise in early January.

If they try to bump us off the cruise (our first ever cruise) I will not be happy!

[NordicPrince]

OP: Enjoy your cruise and come home and tell them to stick it and with an email telling them exactly why. Talk with your feet, some one else will love your business.

 

Enjoy your cruising days

[hcat]

Thanks for posting a post cruise follow-up. We have sailed a few times with fairly large affinity groups and other than they did take over pool at least twice on one cruise and a number of evenings had private parties in normally public venues on a couple of them, we have had a good time.

 

Sailed with HOGS, a Harley Davidson group, Country pickers group ( I really enjoyed their jamming around the ship) on 2 separate ships in 2 successive years and not by design, a smaller crafting group, and a large running group.

 

Is an Affinity group the same as a large, medium or small group?

The late comers should not be given any priority over already booked cruisers.

[Beejay4016]

I am not sure if they were going down a list. I got the impression that they had selected us among others in the same catagory (first time Celebrity cruisers I suspect) to bump. Their initial approach was absolute, it was going to happen whether we liked it or not.

 

Will we cruise with Celebrity again? Probably not. The whole episode has left me cold, even though we came out better ($200 more OBC) than before.

 

David

 

Post removed.

[PaperSniper4]

.......Believe me, the $200 OBC we were given to compensate for her distress doesn't begin to assuage the hard feelings we developed after this episode. ....

 

David

 

I'm with you 100%. I'm assuming Celebrity has lost a customer forever?

 

PS - We're booked on a Celeb cruise the middle of next month.....a very special cruise for us, our 50th anniversary. I will probably be hotter than you should we get a similar call!:eek:

 

 

Doug

[sippican]

Is an Affinity group the same as a large, medium or small group?

 

An Affinity Group can be any size (as long as it meets the qualifications of the cruise line). It is just a group of "like-minded"cruisers. It can be a club, professionals,etc. You don't even need to be a formal group. You can get a group of your neighbors together to cruise and be considered an Affinity Group.

[SPacificbound]

There have been posts on Royal Caribbean about the same issue. Same parent company, same policy.

 

You handled it well, hopefully you will not hear from the cruise wrecker dept. again.

[hcat]

An Affinity Group can be any size (as long as it meets the qualifications of the cruise line). It is just a group of "like-minded"cruisers. It can be a club, professionals,etc. You don't even need to be a formal group. You can get a group of your neighbors together to cruise and be considered an Affinity Group.

 

Thanks....we sail as a couple in AQ./BLU. Also .have sailed with friends met on other cruises but usually it's just us. We avoid groups..other than roll call get togethers.

[Dancingqueen5479]

I have sailed on celebrity cruise lines twice before and when I go to look up past guest number it does not come up. Or comes up unable to find. What do you suggest?

[PaperSniper4]

I have sailed on celebrity cruise lines twice before and when I go to look up past guest number it does not come up. Or comes up unable to find. What do you suggest?

 

I would call them directly. I had a similar problem and they corrected it. I did not see our prior cruises on their web page. I was told the web page only shows cruises I'd taken in the last 8? 10? years. We have taken two prior Celebrity cruise, but the earlier was 2004. I suspect your lack of guest number might be related.

 

Anyway, I have had very good results speaking to a Celebrity agent on the phone; zero with emails.

[DrKoob]

Just a couple of thoughts:

 

First, I believe that the OP were chosen because they had reserved and paid early and that meant they may have had a great price. While those who booked closer to a full cruise (especially an affinity cruise) probably paid a BUNCH more.

 

Second: If you want to avoid this in the future, one good defense would be to NOT book your air with the X. I truly doubt they would have come to us (we always book our own air) and had to pay off air that we paid for (in our case, BA FC from Seattle). It would have cost them a FORTUNE! They would never have even made the offer. With the OPs, they knew exactly what it was going to cost them.

 

Jim

[Shadow9612]

We've booked the Princess cruise based on itinerary, so unfortunately it's not on a newer ship but we're willing to give it a try. I think the Reflection episode just gave us that extra push to venture out. After all, no good moaning and then not doing anything about it. If we're not impressed, we'll reconsider our options for the next one - variety is the spice of life ;).

You must be getting excited for your cruise! Wishing you a fantastic Alaskan cruise. I enjoyed the Princess cruise I took earlier this year (Regal). Did you enjoy your Eclipse XMAS cruise and did you plan any future Celebrity cruises?