Changing Sail Dates for Medical Reasons?

[Mystictraveler]

My wife broke her wrist a couple days ago and we have a cruise coming up in early January. Have not seen an orthopedic surgeon yet (hopefully tomorrow) so don't know if surgery is needed. Unfortunately, no trip insurance (appreciate no lectures). So worst case she will be facing surgery and best case she will be in a cast.

 

Our same itinerary is available in March. Under the assumption the doctor advises against traveling, I would appreciate any first-hand experiences of Celebrity taking pity and either 1) not invoking the penalty or 2) allowing a rebooking on the same itinerary to a different date.

 

We generally book suites, are Elite in the Captain's Club and the March cruise cost slightly more than the January cruise if those factors make a difference. Thanks for your insight.

[RickT]

Give them a call and plead your case.  Give them the option of moving you to the March cruise.  I’ve heard of some flexibility, you’ll never know unless you ask.

 

Good Luck.... and hope your wife gets better soon.

 

come back and let us know what happens.

[wrk2cruise]

I've also heard there is a Resolutions department which can handle some of these types of things.  That said they really don't have to do anything for you given the contract but they have been known to do some good will things in the past.

[Mystictraveler]

My TA spoke with a Celebrity representative this morning and they confirmed they had a separate group which handled these types of requests. However, the representative said they generally granted them only in dire cases such as a death in the family, an unexpected divorce, etc. My situation would most likely not qualify. 

 

But we visited the surgeon this afternoon and, while my wife does need surgery, he will do in on Wednesday and we should be good to go on our trip.

 

And for what it's worth, I had a credit card which had $10,000 in trip protection until a year or two ago and then they lowered it to $1,500. But about 6 weeks ago I got around to cancelling that card and picking up another one with the $10,000 in protection.

[RickT]

Hoping your wifeys surgery is a success.

[kkmiausa]

I think this is one of those times it would have been better to book direct with Celebrity instead of using  a private travel agent. I have heard as long as you book a more expensive itinerary they can be pretty flexible. We did buy the trip insurance which has the customer care where you can rebook within a year for a small fee.

Edited December 18, 2018 by kkmiausa