The Emergency Travel Team number on app is WRONG

[SalManila]

My husband and I just returned from our cruise on Celebrity Reflection from 1/28/19 to 2/8/19.   On 2/1/19, we went on a full day tour of Panama City and the Gatun Locks that we booked through Celebrity.  Our first stop was the Gatun Locks.  That was wonderful because the lock was opening and there was a cargo ship being pulled through.  Afterward, we were the first ones to return to the bus at the designated time. Our next stop was a market - to use the bathroom.  We were there far too long, IMO.  Again, my husband and I were the first ones to return to the bus as were not interested in purchasing anything from the market.  Just like at our first stop, we waited 10 -15 minutes for others in our group to board the bus.    

 

The tour included lunch of a dry turkey sandwich, a banana muffin, and water.  My husband is a pescatarian so he was unable to eat it.  We informed Alex, our guide, of this and he said he would pay extra attention to us when we get to Panama City.  At 3pm, Alex took us to Plaza de la Independencia and gave us 30 minutes to wander, shop, use the bathroom in Central Hotel Panama and, for us, get some lunch. He joked with the group to not drink too many beers...hahaha..."but we will not leave you."  He told us to be in front of the hotel at 3:30pm.  We went into the hotel's restaurant, ordered sandwhiches, and had 5 minutes to chow down by the time it arrived. When it did, we indicated to our server that we needed the check, but it took her a while to saunter over and run our credit card through. Thus, we were 10 minutes late meeting our group in front of the hotel.  We looked and walked around around the plaza but could not find Alex or anyone from our our group.  At 3:50pm we deduced that they left us despite saying he would not.  We hired a taxi via the hotel to take us back to the port which cost us $150, US, CASH!  Thank goodness we happen to have enough between the 2 of us.  We tried to call the emergency number listed on the Celebrity app, 1-305-982-2700, but got a recording in Spanish (see attachments). We speak enough Spanish to get in trouble, but that's it. My husband made a video recording of me calling the number as proof.  We spoke with Max in Shore Excursions when we got back on the ship and told him about the number being wrong.  Thank goodness we recorded it because he didn't believe us.  He said he was going to look into the mishap and get back with us with 24 hours. 

 

The next day, 2/2/19, we received a message from Max indicating he would give us a 25% refund of our tour fees or $24.75 each.  We spoke with him again later that day.  He told us that he emailed the tour company who said the guide waited for 10 minutes before leaving.  10 minutes?!  We told Max that 25% was unacceptable and we wanted a full refund plus reimbursement for the taxi fare. He said he doesn't have the authority to give us more than 50% and could do nothing about the taxi fare. He also told us that he sent a message to Guest Relations about the phone number on the app being wrong. I asked him to write down the name of Celebrity's CEO and the phone number to corporate HQ before we went to speak to Guest Relations.  Claudomo in GR did not believe us about the phone number until my husband played the video recording.  He made a call and a gentleman named Shane, who identified himself as the IT Director for the Reflection, came out to talk to us.  He said he was going to look into the matter and get back to us.  Not 20 minutes later, I received a call from Max saying that are refunding our tour fees at 100%.  We never got a call from Shane or GR.

 

On 2/6/19, 3-days after our Panama incident, when we were docked in Costa Maya, Mexico, the number on the app had not been corrected. I dialed the number again on my cell phone and got a recording in Spanish. The next day, 2/7/19, when the ship was docked in Cozumel, Mexico, I checked the app again to find that nothing has changed. Once again, I called it using my cell phone while standing in my cabin on the ship and once again got a recording in Spanish.  This time, we made a video recording of it.

 

I spoke with someone from their customer relations department yesterday, 2/10/19, regarding what happened to us in Panama and to bring the mistake on their app to their attention. I even offered to send the representative the recordings as proof. He was not interested and simply said that he has not heard of it happening before and was going to bring it to IT's attention. We’ve heard that before.  Not getting the response we were hoping for, my husband and I "tweeted" their president, @Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, and @CelebrityCruises, posted our story with attachements on both our Facebook pages and on Celebrity Cruises, and sent them private message via Messenger.   

 

Celebrity needs to fix this problem ASAP before it happens to someone else who may not have as much cash on them that day.  They also need to improve both the staff at guest relations and shore excursions and how they treat passengers who have experienced a mishap. We had to fight to get our tour fees refunded, but no passenger on any cruise line should have to do that.  The rest of the crew and cruise was wonderful otherwise.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Wonder if you were dialing the country code first.    I just tried the number from California and receive the Emergency team.  Your phone shows that the number you dialed appears to be in Mexico as it says that under your number dialed. 

 

Normally from Mexico you would  dial   00 +1 then the phone number.  

 

I sympathize with you about your unfortunate problem with the shore excursion.  

Edited February 11, 2019 by Jim_Iain

[SalManila]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Wonder if you were dialing the country code first.    I just tried the number from California and receive the Emergency team.  Your phone shows that the number you dialed appears to be in Mexico as it says that under your number dialed. 

 

Normally from Mexico you would  dial   00 +1 then the phone number.  

 

I sympathize with you about your unfortunate problem with the shore excursion.  

 

We dialed the number according to what is listed on Celebrity’s app.  Dialing it from the US will connect you to Miami, but not if you’re in another country, and that’s what we’re trying to point out.

[Ross K]

It would appear you have dialled the number incorrectly. You must dial whatever your network international access code is first, when dialing it from abroad. This isn’t something celebrity can necessarily put in the app as it differs by country and network operator and we all use something different. Typically literally entering the number on an iPhone with a + in front following by the country code and then the number will usually work, though. Unfortunately, as harsh as this sounds, it is your responsibility to know how to dial international numbers from your own phone and you cannot expect the cruise line to have instructions for every setup.

 

Your best bet to approach any further follow-up with Celebrity is to drop the stuff about the number (since it is correct in the app) and focus on the dietary requirements bit. However, even if the food is/was late, If I’m pushed for time, I always ask for the bill when placing my order. I think it is unlikely you will be reimbursed for your taxi and I think a full refund of the excursion was a nice gesture in this case.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Ross K

[Jim_Iain]

6 minutes ago, SalManila said:

 

We dialed the number according to what is listed on Celebrity’s app.  Dialing it from the US will connect you to Miami, but not if you’re in another country, and that’s what we’re trying to point out.

That is correct.   I've used it outside of the U.S. and when I dial the 00 (country code for U.S.) I get through to Miami.   If I leave it off I get a Mexican number.

 

Don't shoot the messenger.     Try   dialing 00 +1   305 - 982 - 2700 

 

 

[Orator]

I feel very sorry for the OP. Usually the Tour Guide gives passengers a card with a cell phone number and instructions to call that number if you encounter any problems. I wonder if this was done on this tour. It was an oversight if this wasn't done and that too should be corrected.  I was on a ship's tour in Italy where the bus actually went to another location to pick up 2 passengers.

I agree that Celebrity's offer was very generous.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Orator

[Ross K]

The whole issue is caused by the “international exit code”, the bit you but in front of the telephone number to tell the local network operator you are trying to dial an international telephone number. In the United States, when you want to call an international number, the international exit code that you put in front of the number is 011, followed by the country code, followed by the telephone number. However, if you are making an international call from another country, this code may be different. For example, in the UK (and most of Europe) it is 00, followed by the country code and then the telephone number. So dialing a US number will be different, depending on where you are (and this is why the Celebrity app cannot take this in to account). However, mobile phones are a bit more clever, and so if you prefix a number in your phone book with just the + symbol, followed by the country code and then telephone number, you will not need to know the international exit code for the country you are in (in most cases). Therefore, saving the Celebrity emergency number in your mobile phone as +1 305 982 2700 (I.e. including the + symbol) should ensure you get through, no matter where your are (in most cases).

[JaneStarr]

8 minutes ago, Orator said:

I feel very sorry for the OP. Usually the Tour Guide gives passengers a card with a cell phone number and instructions to call that number if you encounter any problems. I wonder if this was done on this tour. It was an oversight if this wasn't done and that too should be corrected.  I was on a ship's tour in Italy where the bus actually went to another location to pick up 2 passengers.

I also feel terrible for the OP.

As a backup, what I usually do is take a photo (with my phone) of the “Port agent” contact info for the port from the listing in the Celebrity Today.  

I would hope the dialing directions listed would be sufficient to reach the port agent, but I’ve never had to use them.

Jane 

[SalManila]

5 minutes ago, Ross K said:

It would appear you have dialled the number incorrectly. You must dial whatever your network international access code is first, when dialing it from abroad. This isn’t something celebrity can necessarily put in the app as it differs by country and network operator and we all use something different. Typically literally entering the number on an iPhone with a + in front following by the country code and then the number will usually work, though. Unfortunately, as harsh as this sounds, it is your responsibility to know how to dial international numbers from your own phone and you cannot expect the cruise line to have instructions for every setup.

 

Your best bet to approach any further follow-up with Celebrity is to drop the stuff about the number (since it is correct in the app) and focus on the dietary requirements bit. However, even if the food is/was late, If I’m pushed for time, I always ask for the bill when placing my order. I think it is unlikely you will be reimbursed for your taxi and I think a full refund of the excursion was a nice gesture in this case.

 

Thank you for your response.  However, we disagree with your opinion that it is listed correctly on the app especially since the ship was docked in 5 different counties after embarkation.  The solution, as you pointed out, is simply adding “00” or “+” before the number on the app - an easy program fix.

 

Dietary requirements? Everyone has to eat. And we did ask for the bill as soon as the food arrived. And since it was a restaurant and not McDonalds, they could not give us the check until after the food arrived.  

 

Again, thanks for your reply.

[Ross K]

2 minutes ago, SalManila said:

 

Thank you for your response.  However, we disagree with your opinion that it is listed correctly on the app especially since the ship was docked in 5 different counties after embarkation.  The solution, as you pointed out, is simply adding “00” or “+” before the number on the app - an easy program fix.

 

Dietary requirements? Everyone has to eat. And we did ask for the bill as soon as the food arrived. And since it was a restaurant and not McDonalds, they could not give us the check until after the food arrived.  

 

Again, thanks for your reply.

 

Right, so if they list the number with ‘00’, that is only going to work in *some* countries in Europe, and actually won’t work in most places worldwide and in that situation, the number will actually be wrong. If they list the number with a +, well that will only work on some phones. The number is correctly listed and it is up to everyone to take some responsibility and know how to dial internationally. I am very sorry for what happened, but I don’t think the telephone number issue is one you are going to get very far with; this is how telephone numbers are typically listed by any company.

[Jim_Iain]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree.   As someone else said there are different codes for each country.    You might have been better off calling the Port Agent that is listed on the daily at each port. 

 

 

[JaneStarr]

15 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

I also feel terrible for the OP.

As a backup, what I usually do is take a photo (with my phone) of the “Port agent” contact info for the port from the listing in the Celebrity Today.  

I would hope the dialing directions listed would be sufficient to reach the port agent, but I’ve never had to use them.

Jane 

Edited to add info.

I found a couple of pics of the Port Agent Info. See attached (I hope). My method apparently would've helped in Antigua but not St Kitts  The Antigua Phone number is listed with a +1 preface  

Edited February 11, 2019 by JaneStarr

[Jim_Iain]

14 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

I also feel terrible for the OP.

As a backup, what I usually do is take a photo (with my phone) of the “Port agent” contact info for the port from the listing in the Celebrity Today.  

I would hope the dialing directions listed would be sufficient to reach the port agent, but I’ve never had to use them.

Jane 

I do the same.   It usually has the Port Address also.    It came in handy in Japan where they had the port address in Kanji  in addition to English which was easy to show cab drivers who did not understand English. 

[SalManila]

20 minutes ago, Ross K said:

 

Right, so if they list the number with ‘00’, that is only going to work in *some* countries in Europe, and actually won’t work in most places worldwide and in that situation, the number will actually be wrong. If they list the number with a +, well that will only work on some phones. The number is correctly listed and it is up to everyone to take some responsibility and know how to dial internationally. I am very sorry for what happened, but I don’t think the telephone number issue is one you are going to get very far with; this is how telephone numbers are typically listed by any company.

 

I just looked at the back of my seapass.  It says, "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY WHILE IN ANY WORLDWIDE PORT, CALL OUR EMERGENCY TRAVEL TEAM IN THE U.S. COLLECT +1 305 982 2700".  Didn't occur to us to look at our cards.

[SalManila]

20 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

 

Sounds like everyone here is a "professional" cruiser which we are not.  This most recent trip is our 4th and 1st time on Celebrity.  

[Orator]

Always contact the most local number closet to the situation for the quickest response. In this case I'd first call the tour guide if you had their number. Then the Port Agent who would contact the ship. Calling the Celebrity number would only result in further delay as they would only contact the Port Agent and ship. 

I always take the Celebrity Today with the Port Agent information with me as I normally don't take my phone off the ship.

 

 

 

 

[JFontaine]

In this case, why bother with all of these calls?  It doesn't sound like the ship was about to leave and these passengers were going to miss it and they had enough cash to get back.  I do think this is helpful if this was a real medical or other emergency, so thank you.   

[Iamthesea]

What a great idea!  I usually stuff that paper in my bag.  From now on, taking a photo!

 

OP - I am sorry for all you went through.  DH and I would have panicked.  However, we also would not have gone into a hotel restaurant to eat if time was limited.  Actually, IF we had diet restrictions, we would  (and normally do) take snacks with us in case the food offered was undesirable.

 

The taxi amount was your responsibility because you were late to the bus.  The guide waited 10 minutes for the two of you. That sounds sufficient.  You must have JUST missed the bus.  Luckily, the excursion desk refunded your money and that covered some of your out-of-pocket.  Though frankly, I do not understand why you asked for a refund of the excursion when it appears the excursion went as planned.

 

If anything comes from this post, and the post that you made on Facebook, it is to remind travelers that phone numbers need to be preceded with a country code before dialing.  And that I thank you for! 😉

Edited February 11, 2019 by Iamthesea

[Orator]

8 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

In this case, why bother with all of these calls?  It doesn't sound like the ship was about to leave and these passengers were going to miss it and they had enough cash to get back.  I do think this is helpful if this was a real medical or other emergency, so thank you.   

Ships may and have leave before you are there unless you are on a Celebrity tour. Once they missed the bus they were no longer on a Celebrity tour. If the ship knows the situation they would, if possible, delay leaving. I've seen this happen several times. You must call! I've seen people running as the ship left and the Port Agent sent a golf cart to pick them up. A call might have helped!

[Fogfog]

31 minutes ago, Orator said:

Always contact the most local number closet to the situation for the quickest response. In this case I'd first call the tour guide if you had their number. Then the Port Agent who would contact the ship. Calling the Celebrity number would only result in further delay as they would only contact the Port Agent and ship. 

I always take the Celebrity Today with the Port Agent information with me as I normally don't take my phone off the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

I was just about to ask--"What to do?"

-if you get left behind by Celebrity tour operator....

-if you have a problem locally but not with a Celebrity tour operator

 

As a rule-- we should then have the Daily + passport, wallet, credit cards and cell phone with us ashore always. Yes?  We don't always take our phones

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Fogfog

[JFontaine]

4 minutes ago, Orator said:

Ships may and have leave before you are there unless you are on a Celebrity tour. Once they missed the bus they were no longer on a Celebrity tour. If the ship knows the situation they would, if possible, delay leaving. I've seen this happen several times. You must call! I've seen people running as the ship left and the Port Agent sent a golf cart to pick them up. A call might have helped!

Ships leave before the announced departure time when not everyone is on board?  Like weather or other unusual circumstance?  My point was - they didn't seem in fear missing the ship once they were in a cab with enough money for the fare (they didn't say so if they were). 

[cruisestitch]

As a rule-- we should then have the Daily + passport, wallet, credit cards and cell phone with us ashore always. Yes?

 

Yes, and some cash, too.

[Fogfog]

28 minutes ago, Orator said:

Ships may and have leave before you are there unless you are on a Celebrity tour. Once they missed the bus they were no longer on a Celebrity tour. If the ship knows the situation they would, if possible, delay leaving. I've seen this happen several times. You must call! I've seen people running as the ship left and the Port Agent sent a golf cart to pick them up. A call might have helped!

I thought ships would NEVER leave before a scheduled time

AND Celebrity would NEVER leave pax who were on a Celebrity tour it its running late--the ship waits) that is one of those "selling points of a Celebrity tour"

 

The OP doesn't say they were in fear of being left. He comment is they missed the tour bus... because they were late to the meeting place.

And had to find their own transportation back...

 

The tour operator evidently didn't give contact info out/didn't have cell phone/couldn't be reached to go get them?  Had they been really only 10 min late and the tour operated really stayed for 10 min waiting... theoretically the tour bus was super close by and could have swung back to get them

 

Its an unfortunate turn of events. If the emergency number requires a country code from outside the US--they it should be written that way on the docs /dailies so one would know to dial the country code. just my 2 cents

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Fogfog

[hcat]

A few cruises ago  we were  not picked up by our Celeb Excursion driver at Bucaneer Beach Club St Maarten..about 10 on the tour.   None had local cell svc.. We asked the Restaurant to call the port agent who contacted X...They sent a new  driver and van.. ship would have waited..we made it on time but  about 12 .others going around  on their own did not!

 

Here the issues were a  bad tour guide who did not wait altho he said he would, late arrival  to the meeting place ..always risky  and confusion over tel number.. Bad combo!

 

Sorry this  happened but at least OP did not miss the ship. And  a .big lesson learned for all of us!

[cruisestitch]

I think that the title of the thread is wrong, or at least, misleading. 

 

"We tried to call the emergency number listed on the Celebrity app, 1-305-982-2700, but got a recording in Spanish (see attachments)."

 

That number is correct.  

 

I hate to say, but the OP just didn't know how to use his/her phone when outside the US.