Shout out to Celebrity and ChoiceAIr!

[PSULion101]

I see a lot of complaints on these boards, but I'd like to break that mold by highlighting a GOOD experience we had with Celebrity and ChoiceAir. We have been looking forward to our British Isles cruise on Eclipse, for our 30th anniversary, for 2 years.

 

Long story short(ish)...we missed our connections to Amsterdam, on Delta, by 15 minutes, enroute. We had splurged, paying for DeltaOne (business/first class) for this special trip. Delta customer service "offered" us two seats, in the middle and back of coach, with no refund for not getting business class, the next day, with no offer/possibility of a hotel for overnight in Detroit.

 

We called ChoiceAir...they found and paid for a hotel and to pay for transport. And, overnight, they got us DeltaOne seats that got us into Amsterdam within a few hours as we would have had if we had taken Delta's option.

 

But, that's not the end. Delta managed to lose all three of our pieces of luggage; two of which didn't show up until 6 days into our 12 day cruise, and the other 3 days before it was over (coincidentally, the same day we got our debarkation luggage tags!).

 

However, even though this was no fault of Celebrity's, when we boarded we informed them of our situation. They bent over backwards to make the best of it. They gave us some stuff to tied us over, free laundry (for our one change of clothes), attempted to get us our second week's meds (in the third bag...never do THAT again!), and took over working with Delta to get our baggage. In fact, I got chewed out, one day, by Guest Relations, for having checked the Delta/KLM web site to see what the status was: "you're on vacation. That's OUR job. Let US take care of it!".

 

And, to top it off, the Guest Relations Manager, Rodrigo Jacob, saw us, minding our own business, reading in the Sky Lounge...came up to us, and asked if he could ask us a question. We said, "of course", and he went on to introduce himself and ask if we were missing luggage. (note: the t-shirts they gave us were a dead give-away!) He knew exactly who we were (said that we were one of three on the ship) and told us what the status of our baggage was. Needless to say, we were extremely impressed that, not only would he pro-actively seek us out, but was that knowledgeable of the situation!

 

So, for all the complaints people have...this beats them all, in our books. This, along with Celebrity having great itineraries and, most of all, continuing to have knowledgeable and engaging sommeliers (Emina and Akhil), will keep us coming back! Although this is not a cruise we will "fondly" remember, Celebrity did more than their part to make the best of it for us!

Edited August 31, 2018 by PSULion101

[cmhdoogalsatsea]

I see a lot of complaints on these boards, but I'd like to break that mold by highlighting a GOOD experience we had with Celebrity and ChoiceAir. We have been looking forward to our British Isles cruise on Eclipse, for our 30th anniversary, for 2 years.

 

Long story short(ish)...we missed our connections to Amsterdam, on Delta, by 15 minutes, enroute. We had splurged, paying for DeltaOne (business/first class) for this special trip. Delta customer service "offered" us two seats, in the middle and back of coach, with no refund for not getting business class, the next day, with no offer/possibility of a hotel for overnight in Detroit.

 

We called ChoiceAir...they found and paid for a hotel and to pay for transport. And, overnight, they got us DeltaOne seats that got us into Amsterdam within a few hours as we would have had if we had taken Delta's option.

 

But, that's not the end. Delta managed to lose all three of our pieces of luggage; two of which didn't show up until 6 days into our 12 day cruise, and the other 3 days before it was over (coincidentally, the same day we got our debarkation luggage tags!).

 

However, even though this was no fault of Celebrity's, when we boarded we informed them of our situation. They bent over backwards to make the best of it. They gave us some stuff to tied us over, free laundry (for our one change of clothes), attempted to get us our second week's meds (in the third bag...never do THAT again!), and took over working with Delta to get our baggage. In fact, I got chewed out, one day, by Guest Relations, for having checked the Delta/KLM web site to see what the status was: "you're on vacation. That's OUR job. Let US take care of it!".

 

And, to top it off, the Guest Relations Manager, Rodrigo Jacob, saw us, minding our own business, reading in the Sky Lounge...cam up to us, and asked if he could ask us a question. We said, "of course", and he went on to introduce himself and ask if we were missing luggage. (note: the t-shirts they gave us were a dead give-away!) He knew exactly who we were (said that we were one of three on the ship) and told us what the status of our baggage was. Needless to say, we were extremely impressed that, not only would he pro-actively seek us out, but was that knowledgeable of the situation!

 

So, for all the complaints people have...this beats them all, in our books. This, along with Celebrity having great itineraries and, most of all, continuing to have knowledgeable and engaging sommeliers (Emina and Akhil), will keep us coming back! Although this is not a cruise we will "fondly" remember, Celebrity did more than their part to make the best of it for us!

 

Thanks for sharing this! And now that you've been forced to do it, could you share with us your discoveries regarding stuff you can do without packing wise?! :-) Seriously though, as someone who always packs too much I'd love to know your thoughts after having to make do for such a long time.

[Denny01]

Great to hear, thanks.

 

Den

[TMLAalum]

Great to hear your story and the help Celebrity gave you with your ChoiceAir fiasco AND your missing luggage.

 

When our luggage went MIA for 3 weeks thanks to AirBerlin, Niko Bella, the Concierge on the Silhouette, and our room attendant Katie were marvelous in everything they did to help us get by. And we were NOT booked in a CC cabin- just a lowly 2D! We were able to purchase clothing in Berlin, which we visited before our cruise, and in our emabarkation port of Amsterdam- nothing fancy but nice enough to get by even on evening chic nights. In fact I am wearing one of the tops purchased out of desperation as I post!

 

After that fiasco, we try even harder to pack some of our cruisewear in our carryon luggage so if checked bags are lost we still have some variety of items to wear. We have also tried cross-packing, but that method is too discombobulating for me.

[Hlitner]

Glad to hear about a satisfied customer, but we would love to know more about your tale of woe. Please post the entire story of how you missed a connection (how much time did you originally have between flights). Am also wondering if you had Delta Airlines app on your phone, which normally allows you to track each piece of luggage. The app normally shows when each piece is loaded and off-loaded onto aircrafts and each pieces last known location.

 

Your situation with Delta One really gets me angry. This is primarily an issue with US Airlines (less of a problem with foreign airlines) where they do not think they owe passengers any compensation when the airline fails to deliver what is booked (in this case Delta One). While I am not normally a proponent for government regulation, I do think that its time for our US Government to adopt some tough pro-consumer rules when it comes to the airlines. If one pays for Business/First Class and the airline does not deliver that service they should be required to refund the fare plus pay additional penalties. Probably the worst insult was that until recently the airlines would not refund the extra charges one paid to check luggage....even if the luggage was lost! Go figure.

 

Hank

[Marelaine]

Thank you for the positive post. I suspect you always walk on the sunny side of the street. I'm not sure how I would handle not having all the items that I carefully packed, but if it every happens (please don't ever happen to me ;) ), I'll think of your story.

[PSULion101]

Thank you for the positive post. I suspect you always walk on the sunny side of the street. I'm not sure how I would handle not having all the items that I carefully packed, but if it every happens (please don't ever happen to me ;) ), I'll think of your story.

 

Actually, I'm not a person that walks on the sunny side. On a good day, I've been known to describe myself as someone who sees the glass 1/4 full. It's taken 2 weeks to get to this point. Looking forward to when this becomes a "funny" story to tell. Maybe for our 50th!

Edited August 31, 2018 by PSULion101

[PSULion101]

Glad to hear about a satisfied customer, but we would love to know more about your tale of woe. Please post the entire story of how you missed a connection (how much time did you originally have between flights). Am also wondering if you had Delta Airlines app on your phone, which normally allows you to track each piece of luggage. The app normally shows when each piece is loaded and off-loaded onto aircrafts and each pieces last known location.

 

Your situation with Delta One really gets me angry. This is primarily an issue with US Airlines (less of a problem with foreign airlines) where they do not think they owe passengers any compensation when the airline fails to deliver what is booked (in this case Delta One). While I am not normally a proponent for government regulation, I do think that its time for our US Government to adopt some tough pro-consumer rules when it comes to the airlines. If one pays for Business/First Class and the airline does not deliver that service they should be required to refund the fare plus pay additional penalties. Probably the worst insult was that until recently the airlines would not refund the extra charges one paid to check luggage....even if the luggage was lost! Go figure.

 

Hank

 

No...CruiseCritic doesn't have the bandwidth for "the rest of the story"! ;)

 

Suffice it to say...we missed the flight (along with a few other people we met) by 15 minutes. We had a 1-1/2 hour layover. Our bags came to us via three VERY different routes, including one they delivered to the hotel the night we sailed, which chased us for 9 days. I'd been locked into United for so long, wanted to give others a try. Delta blew this one!

 

Oh...and Delta DID offer us DeltaOne seats....the only ones they claimed they had...three days later (after the ship sailed). I (and ChoiceAir) found three very reasonable options quite easily.

Edited August 31, 2018 by PSULion101

[PSULion101]

Thanks for sharing this! And now that you've been forced to do it, could you share with us your discoveries regarding stuff you can do without packing wise?! :-) Seriously though, as someone who always packs too much I'd love to know your thoughts after having to make do for such a long time.

 

You know, we thought we did everything right...went 3 days ahead, divided everything up between the three bags (though not as well as we thought), and carried a weeks worth of meds with us. So, yes...now ALL meds go with us, plus a few days worth. And a change of clothes. And, if it's gone missing, we buy additional clothes right away, not wait (for the ship to sail, literally). Otherwise, never thought ALL the luggage could/would go missing...for so long.

[maxsales]

I see a lot of complaints on these boards, but I'd like to break that mold by highlighting a GOOD experience we had with Celebrity and ChoiceAir. We have been looking forward to our British Isles cruise on Eclipse, for our 30th anniversary, for 2 years.

 

Long story short(ish)...we missed our connections to Amsterdam, on Delta, by 15 minutes, enroute. We had splurged, paying for DeltaOne (business/first class) for this special trip. Delta customer service "offered" us two seats, in the middle and back of coach, with no refund for not getting business class, the next day, with no offer/possibility of a hotel for overnight in Detroit.

 

We called ChoiceAir...they found and paid for a hotel and to pay for transport. And, overnight, they got us DeltaOne seats that got us into Amsterdam within a few hours as we would have had if we had taken Delta's option.

 

But, that's not the end. Delta managed to lose all three of our pieces of luggage; two of which didn't show up until 6 days into our 12 day cruise, and the other 3 days before it was over (coincidentally, the same day we got our debarkation luggage tags!).

 

However, even though this was no fault of Celebrity's, when we boarded we informed them of our situation. They bent over backwards to make the best of it. They gave us some stuff to tied us over, free laundry (for our one change of clothes), attempted to get us our second week's meds (in the third bag...never do THAT again!), and took over working with Delta to get our baggage. In fact, I got chewed out, one day, by Guest Relations, for having checked the Delta/KLM web site to see what the status was: "you're on vacation. That's OUR job. Let US take care of it!".

 

And, to top it off, the Guest Relations Manager, Rodrigo Jacob, saw us, minding our own business, reading in the Sky Lounge...came up to us, and asked if he could ask us a question. We said, "of course", and he went on to introduce himself and ask if we were missing luggage. (note: the t-shirts they gave us were a dead give-away!) He knew exactly who we were (said that we were one of three on the ship) and told us what the status of our baggage was. Needless to say, we were extremely impressed that, not only would he pro-actively seek us out, but was that knowledgeable of the situation!

 

So, for all the complaints people have...this beats them all, in our books. This, along with Celebrity having great itineraries and, most of all, continuing to have knowledgeable and engaging sommeliers (Emina and Akhil), will keep us coming back! Although this is not a cruise we will "fondly" remember, Celebrity did more than their part to make the best of it for us!

 

Great to see a positive post!

[Hlitner]

You know, we thought we did everything right...went 3 days ahead, divided everything up between the three bags (though not as well as we thought), and carried a weeks worth of meds with us. So, yes...now ALL meds go with us, plus a few days worth. And a change of clothes. And, if it's gone missing, we buy additional clothes right away, not wait (for the ship to sail, literally). Otherwise, never thought ALL the luggage could/would go missing...for so long.

!

Wow! Sounds like a true travel nightmare. For what its worth, "WE ARE!" This last will be lost on many :).

 

Hank

[cachouonacruise]

I see a lot of complaints on these boards, but I'd like to break that mold by highlighting a GOOD experience we had with Celebrity and ChoiceAir. We have been looking forward to our British Isles cruise on Eclipse, for our 30th anniversary, for 2 years.

 

Long story short(ish)...we missed our connections to Amsterdam, on Delta, by 15 minutes, enroute. We had splurged, paying for DeltaOne (business/first class) for this special trip. Delta customer service "offered" us two seats, in the middle and back of coach, with no refund for not getting business class, the next day, with no offer/possibility of a hotel for overnight in Detroit.

 

We called ChoiceAir...they found and paid for a hotel and to pay for transport. And, overnight, they got us DeltaOne seats that got us into Amsterdam within a few hours as we would have had if we had taken Delta's option.

 

But, that's not the end. Delta managed to lose all three of our pieces of luggage; two of which didn't show up until 6 days into our 12 day cruise, and the other 3 days before it was over (coincidentally, the same day we got our debarkation luggage tags!).

 

However, even though this was no fault of Celebrity's, when we boarded we informed them of our situation. They bent over backwards to make the best of it. They gave us some stuff to tied us over, free laundry (for our one change of clothes), attempted to get us our second week's meds (in the third bag...never do THAT again!), and took over working with Delta to get our baggage. In fact, I got chewed out, one day, by Guest Relations, for having checked the Delta/KLM web site to see what the status was: "you're on vacation. That's OUR job. Let US take care of it!".

 

And, to top it off, the Guest Relations Manager, Rodrigo Jacob, saw us, minding our own business, reading in the Sky Lounge...came up to us, and asked if he could ask us a question. We said, "of course", and he went on to introduce himself and ask if we were missing luggage. (note: the t-shirts they gave us were a dead give-away!) He knew exactly who we were (said that we were one of three on the ship) and told us what the status of our baggage was. Needless to say, we were extremely impressed that, not only would he pro-actively seek us out, but was that knowledgeable of the situation!

 

So, for all the complaints people have...this beats them all, in our books. This, along with Celebrity having great itineraries and, most of all, continuing to have knowledgeable and engaging sommeliers (Emina and Akhil), will keep us coming back! Although this is not a cruise we will "fondly" remember, Celebrity did more than their part to make the best of it for us!

 

 

 

Wow! Thank you very much PSULion101 for sharing your experience and congrats to Celebrity Choice Air for a job well done!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jelayne]

Great to hear. Thanks for sharing your positive experience.!

[mnocket]

I love to hear about great customer service. It's nice to see Celebrity stepping up.

[alcpa1]

I really am glad that Celebrity did what it could to help but there are some things you should think about in the future. I think you got superior servicefrom the shipboard staff.

Any airline could have lost your luggage. It's happened to us too.

Your connection time in Detroit should have been long enough so did you encounter a weather or mechanical delay? Both are handled differently. If the delay was known at your originating airport then you should have been working with the gate agent there to book you via another route.

Delta would have refunded the difference between D1 and Main Cabin. I don't know who led you to believe this was not accurate. It might have needed intervention by a supervisor but that is company policy.

You could also have received compensation from Delta for the delayed luggage. This would be for clothing and necessities needed during the delay. You might still try to work with Delta if you have receipt.

I'm sorry you had such a miserable start to your dream cruise.

Just remember it could have happened on any airline. But you found Celebrity there for you and that's something we all need to know. Thank you.

[eddiethekub]

!

Wow! Sounds like a true travel nightmare. For what its worth, "we are!" this last will be lost on many :).

 

Hank

"penn state"

[waterbug123]

If one pays for Business/First Class and the airline does not deliver that service they should be required to refund the fare plus pay additional penalties.

 

Generally speaking, if you buy business class tickets the airline WILL reaccommodate you in business. However, since the business class cabin is smaller, options maybe more limited so your new flight might not be til the next day or even a day after that. Meanwhile, there may be coach seats available much more quickly. If you take those, it is considered a voluntary downgrade, meaning you give up the right to a refund because you are voluntarily saying, "no, I do not want you to rebook me on next available business class seat, I want you to rebook me on ANY seat that gets me there sooner." And if the reason for the delay is out of the airline's control (ex. weather) they don't have any further responsibility to you. This is where travel insurance can be good to have.

Without full details, it's impossible to say why Delta was seemingly unable to reaccommodate the OP in the way that Choice Air was. I'm glad things worked out for the OP. Unfortunately, others have reported an experience quite opposite to this. Inconsistency seems to be the name of the game.

[Iamthesea]

Would independent travel insurance have paid for the difference between their Business class seats and Economy class had they chosen to take the downgraded seats that Delta offered?

 

I think if the OP had purchased the Delta flight insurance, they probably would have been reimbursed.

 

This is not the same situation, but we once had a flight where the equipment was changed and our booked "extra comfort" seats turned out to be standard economy seats. When we returned from our trip, I called Delta and received a refund for the price difference between the seat prices.

 

Luggage: If the OP was 15 minutes late for their flight, doesn't that mean that their luggage was also late and did not make it to the plane? Can you hunt luggage down while it's in the airport?

 

I use that Delta luggage app, but don't always get updates until we have landed in the destination city. It would be nice to have that information before take-off so that we can relax during our long haul flights knowing that our luggage is with us. :D

[PSULion101]

!

 

Wow! Sounds like a true travel nightmare. For what its worth, "WE ARE!" This last will be lost on many :).

 

 

 

Hank

 

 

 

Penn State!

[PSULion101]

Generally speaking, if you buy business class tickets the airline WILL reaccommodate you in business. However, since the business class cabin is smaller, options maybe more limited so your new flight might not be til the next day or even a day after that. Meanwhile, there may be coach seats available much more quickly. If you take those, it is considered a voluntary downgrade, meaning you give up the right to a refund because you are voluntarily saying, "no, I do not want you to rebook me on next available business class seat, I want you to rebook me on ANY seat that gets me there sooner." And if the reason for the delay is out of the airline's control (ex. weather) they don't have any further responsibility to you. This is where travel insurance can be good to have.

 

Without full details, it's impossible to say why Delta was seemingly unable to reaccommodate the OP in the way that Choice Air was. I'm glad things worked out for the OP. Unfortunately, others have reported an experience quite opposite to this. Inconsistency seems to be the name of the game.

 

 

 

Yeah. This is basically what they told us. It was weather related. It was “voluntary”...or we could wait three days (and miss our cruise). But, the fact that I found at least three options to get there about the same time, flying DeltaOne, makes me question the sincerity of their customer service to make things right.

[PSULion101]

Would independent travel insurance have paid for the difference between their Business class seats and Economy class had they chosen to take the downgraded seats that Delta offered?

 

I think if the OP had purchased the Delta flight insurance, they probably would have been reimbursed.

 

This is not the same situation, but we once had a flight where the equipment was changed and our booked "extra comfort" seats turned out to be standard economy seats. When we returned from our trip, I called Delta and received a refund for the price difference between the seat prices.

 

Luggage: If the OP was 15 minutes late for their flight, doesn't that mean that their luggage was also late and did not make it to the plane? Can you hunt luggage down while it's in the airport?

 

I use that Delta luggage app, but don't always get updates until we have landed in the destination city. It would be nice to have that information before take-off so that we can relax during our long haul flights knowing that our luggage is with us. :D

 

 

 

The app said it was “expedited to Amsterdam”. And we explicitly had the agent confirm, in the morning, that our luggage was on our flight. But, when we checked the baggage tags, after we got them...one flew with us and was lost there, one went to Amsterdam ahead of us and was lost there, and one went to Amsterdam ahead of us and continued on to Munich (which happened to be where we connected at, before flying to Amsterdam). So, the app wasn’t really very accurate

[waterbug123]

Yeah. This is basically what they told us. It was weather related. It was “voluntary”...or we could wait three days (and miss our cruise). But, the fact that I found at least three options to get there about the same time, flying DeltaOne, makes me question the sincerity of their customer service to make things right.

 

Unfortunately some airline agents are better than others. In the frequent flyer world and especially among elite level flyers, where a passenger sometimes actually knows the airline policy better than the agent on the phone, there is common tactic known as HUCA....meaning Hang Up, Call Again. Try another agent. It also sometimes helps to have already looked at options online so you can say specifically, for example, "Can you rebook us on the 7:30 Air France flight connecting to XXX at such and such time?"

[Kingofcool1947]

I see a lot of complaints on these boards, but I'd like to break that mold by highlighting a GOOD experience we had with Celebrity and ChoiceAir. We have been looking forward to our British Isles cruise on Eclipse, for our 30th anniversary, for 2 years.

 

Long story short(ish)...we missed our connections to Amsterdam, on Delta, by 15 minutes, enroute. We had splurged, paying for DeltaOne (business/first class) for this special trip. Delta customer service "offered" us two seats, in the middle and back of coach, with no refund for not getting business class, the next day, with no offer/possibility of a hotel for overnight in Detroit.

 

We called ChoiceAir...they found and paid for a hotel and to pay for transport. And, overnight, they got us DeltaOne seats that got us into Amsterdam within a few hours as we would have had if we had taken Delta's option.

 

But, that's not the end. Delta managed to lose all three of our pieces of luggage; two of which didn't show up until 6 days into our 12 day cruise, and the other 3 days before it was over (coincidentally, the same day we got our debarkation luggage tags!).

 

However, even though this was no fault of Celebrity's, when we boarded we informed them of our situation. They bent over backwards to make the best of it. They gave us some stuff to tied us over, free laundry (for our one change of clothes), attempted to get us our second week's meds (in the third bag...never do THAT again!), and took over working with Delta to get our baggage. In fact, I got chewed out, one day, by Guest Relations, for having checked the Delta/KLM web site to see what the status was: "you're on vacation. That's OUR job. Let US take care of it!".

 

And, to top it off, the Guest Relations Manager, Rodrigo Jacob, saw us, minding our own business, reading in the Sky Lounge...came up to us, and asked if he could ask us a question. We said, "of course", and he went on to introduce himself and ask if we were missing luggage. (note: the t-shirts they gave us were a dead give-away!) He knew exactly who we were (said that we were one of three on the ship) and told us what the status of our baggage was. Needless to say, we were extremely impressed that, not only would he pro-actively seek us out, but was that knowledgeable of the situation!

 

So, for all the complaints people have...this beats them all, in our books. This, along with Celebrity having great itineraries and, most of all, continuing to have knowledgeable and engaging sommeliers (Emina and Akhil), will keep us coming back! Although this is not a cruise we will "fondly" remember, Celebrity did more than their part to make the best of it for us!

 

Nice end to a nightmare story.

But why on earth did you/do you put your meds in checked baggage?

Happy cruising.

King

[Iamthesea]

The app said it was “expedited to Amsterdam”. And we explicitly had the agent confirm, in the morning, that our luggage was on our flight. But, when we checked the baggage tags, after we got them...one flew with us and was lost there, one went to Amsterdam ahead of us and was lost there, and one went to Amsterdam ahead of us and continued on to Munich (which happened to be where we connected at, before flying to Amsterdam). So, the app wasn’t really very accurate

 

That's too bad. Glad things worked out for you, though.

[RickT]

Sounds like even the best laid plans can go wrong.... glad you made the most of it. Also glad to hear Choice Air came through for you. I use them when it makes sense and have only missed a connection once with a booking they made. In that case Lufthansa gave me a number of options and after choosing which one seemed best they allowed me to call Choice Air who confirmed that although my arrival at the ship would be very tight they felt it was the best choice and would notify the ship of my delayed arrival. They also said that if I missed the ship (I didn’t :D) to call them and they would make hotel arrangements and get me to the ship at the next allowable port of call.

 

After missing my connection (also an hour and a half) I now try to book a minimum of 2 hrs just to add an extra safety net.

 

Also very glad to hear the ship took good care of you.