Celebrity Charters Bumped Me Again

[TxKroozer]

For two years in a row Celebrity has Chartered the Infinity in January, 2020 bumping me from the middle cruise of a planned Back 2 Back 2 Back. Previously was able to substitute comparable cruise similar date and retain benefits from what I booked. Not so with this time. Celebrity apparently with new pricing is being a (pardon French) horses ass.

 

Anyone else in my boat so to speak. What was your resolution?

[MAFIAMOM]

Just curious, what was the sail date that got canceled?  I'm sorry they keep bumping you.  

[TxKroozer]

Infinity - January 9, 2020 - 4 Night

[MAFIAMOM]

Thanks for the info.  It seems like the Infinity is chartered  a lot in January and February, 2020.  I keep having to change my dates.  Bummer!!  Good luck to you.  

[TxKroozer]

Thanks. If I had only one cruise booked it would be fine, but we book multiple sequential cruises and it causes a mess. Preserving pricing from when we book to time when we have to rebook after charter costs more as rates have gone up.

[phoenix_dream]

Lately Infinity has been the home to specialty cruises like the current Flower Power cruise.  I would steer clear of it going forward during the month of January for that reason.

[hcat]

Sorry..we had an issue with Infinity a few yrs ago when it was booked as a hotel for a convention in Ca.   They dangled us  for sev months..at least you know now..

 

Infinity has quite a few short cruises..apart from the Panama Canal.  They seem set up for charters. 

 

Maybe you could enjoy a land based resort during the middle time of the other cruises ..

[warmwinds]

How did they let you know?  (call, e-mail?).  We're on the New Year's cruise right before it, hoping they don't mess with that one (I believe that's your first of the sequence?).

 

I can't believe they don't bend over backwards to get you accommodated somewhere else (maybe 2 longer cruises on another ship instead of 3 short ones?) with no increase in price for the same category.  That would be the only thing that seems fair.

[TxKroozer]

I suggested the same, replace 3 cruises on Infinity total 14 days with 2 cruises on Equinox total 14 days. Price for Oceanview on Equinox was $2,000 more than what I paid for the three Infinity. I won’t pay that. Inside was only $200 more which I would be agreeable to pay if they extended same perks they agreed to on Infinity cruises. So far it seems Celebrity isn’t agreeable to do this.

[TxKroozer]

11 minutes ago, warmwinds said:

How did they let you know?  (call, e-mail?).  We're on the New Year's cruise right before it, hoping they don't mess with that one (I believe that's your first of the sequence?).

 

I can't believe they don't bend over backwards to get you accommodated somewhere else (maybe 2 longer cruises on another ship instead of 3 short ones?) with no increase in price for the same category.  That would be the only thing that seems fair.

Celebrity sent letter to our Travel Agent who email the same to us. Then the saga of resolution started. Last year they did exactly what you thought was a fair resolution. This year they are playing hard ball.

 

It isn’t fair to book cruise early lock in fare and come to get bumper facing much higher fares to rebook and even lose benefits since they have changed promotions.

 

We have now learned DONT CRUISE CELEBRITY and more important Infinity short cruises.

[warmwinds]

I think that is horrible.  THEY are the ones who cancelled and left you hanging, I can't believe it's that important to extract $2,000 more rather than keep goodwill.

 

What happens if you cancel the whole shebang and book on another line?  Will they refund everything, including non-refundable airline tickets, etc?  

[cheeseclan]

I would talk to your travel agent who can contact the local representative from your state.  He or she should help you out!   Keep bugging them...

 

good luck

[TxKroozer]

11 minutes ago, warmwinds said:

I think that is horrible.  THEY are the ones who cancelled and left you hanging, I can't believe it's that important to extract $2,000 more rather than keep goodwill.

 

What happens if you cancel the whole shebang and book on another line?  Will they refund everything, including non-refundable airline tickets, etc?  

No airlines booked yet so only have deposits paid to get back if I cancel. The frustration is getting Celebrity to agree to a lateral or degraded class and maintain onboard benefits. They did it before and Travel Agent negotiated. Now same Travel Agent is not getting support from Celebrity. Canceling all and rebooking will be our only option and NOT ON CELEBRITY. Their enticing everyone to pay their higher fares to get the Perks they offer will leave you hard to get comparable onboard benefits. It’s why they offer them and build it into cruise price. Ala Carte adding on Perks costs more.

 

i just hate the way Celebrity Charters a ship out from under thousands of signed up cruisers. Their cruise contract allows them to cancel on you at anytime with no recourse.

[SeaHunt]

15 minutes ago, TxKroozer said:

We have now learned DONT CRUISE CELEBRITY and more important Infinity short cruises.

 

ITA they really should have a better resolution policy for cruisers who plan ahead.  

 

Here's wishing you some luck to get them to offer something comparable 

 

Looking at January/February 2020 I found this partial list of full ship charters on different lines:

 

January 2020

Mon 6

 

RCI Navigator of the Seas

 

4 Night Friendship Cruise

 

 

Tue 7

 

RCI Independence of the Seas

 

4 Night 70000 Tons Of Metal Cruise

 

 

Tue 7

 

MSC Divina

 

5 Night Jam Cruise 18

 

 

Thu 9

 

Celebrity Infinity

4 Night Groove Cruise Miami

 

 

Thu 16

 

RCI Independence of the Seas

 

8 Night The SuperCruise XIII

 

 

Sat 18

 

Celebrity Infinity

 

7 Night The Smooth Jazz Cruise 2020 Sailing 1

 

 

Mon 20

 

RCI Brilliance of the Seas

 

5 Night Singing At Sea

 

 

Mon 20

 

Norwegian Pearl

 

4 Night Chris Jericho Rock N Wrestling Rager at Sea

 

 

Wed 22

 

HAL ms Veendam 

7 Night Olivia Cuba And Caribbean Cruise

 

 

Sat 25

 

Celebrity Infinity

 

7 Night Blue Note At Sea

 

 

Sat 25

 

HAL ms Nieuw Amsterdam

 

7 Night The Country Music Cruise

 

 

Wed 29

 

RCI Independence of the Seas

 

5 Night KLOVE Cruise

 

 

February 2020

Sat 1

 

Celebrity Infinity

 

7 Night The Jazz Cruise

 

 

Sun 9

 

RCI Allure of the Seas

 

7 Night Love Like You Mean It Cruise

 

 

Mon 10

 

Celebrity Infinity

 

5 Night Ultimate Disco Cruise

 

 

Thu 13

 

RCI Brilliance of the Seas

 

5 Night Temptation Cruise

 

 

Fri 14

 

Norwegian Pearl

 

4 Night Train Sail Across The Sun

 

 

Sat 22

 

HAL ms Oosterdam

 

7 Night All Star Irish Cruise

 

 

Sun 23 

Carnival Legend

 

7 Night Big Nude Boat

 

 

Thu 27

 

RCI Independence of the Seas

 

4 Night Rock Legends Cruise VIII

 

 

[Xfedcruiser]

 Navigator of the Seas is showing a cruise, Jan. 10-13 out of Miami. It could substitute for your cancelled cruise - assuming they don't cancel it also.

[TxKroozer]

2 minutes ago, Xfedcruiser said:

 Navigator of the Seas is showing a cruise, Jan. 10-13 out of Miami. It could substitute for your cancelled cruise - assuming they don't cancel it also.

Thanks for all the offered of replacement cruises. Replacements are not the same as Celebrity allowing me to move to another of their cruises. A replacement cruise in another line doesn’t come close to the onboard Perks obtained in original Celebrity Booking. They gave me OBC, Drink Package, Prepaid Tips, Internet, for Oceanview. To get these Perks I have to stay on Celebrity which no longer is offering those perks on cruises as they have changed their pricing models.

[cheeseclan]

You can also ask to speak to your local Celebrity rep.  Post on Celebrity FB page as well.

 

i have in the past used the info I found at Elliott.org.   He is a guy who helps travelers out with their problems.  I have used his email contacts when I had issues with Avis.

Thete are quite a few contacts on the site for Celebrity higher ups.  I would go there too.

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, TxKroozer said:

Thanks for all the offered of replacement cruises. Replacements are not the same as Celebrity allowing me to move to another of their cruises. A replacement cruise in another line doesn’t come close to the onboard Perks obtained in original Celebrity Booking. They gave me OBC, Drink Package, Prepaid Tips, Internet, for Oceanview. To get these Perks I have to stay on Celebrity which no longer is offering those perks on cruises as they have changed their pricing models.

I believe Celebrity is in fact still offering those perks for an Oceanview cabin, but it is probably a question of the price.  

I can certainly understand why your situation is rather unique and thus difficult.  You have booked a B2B2B and the only cruise that has been cancelled is the 4 day cruise in the middle?The other two cruises are still valid and scheduled.

Still Celebrity, working with you TA, should find a way to make it work for you without an increase in cost.  I do not know if the new program just announced is going to help you or make it even more difficult.  I suspect the later.

 

Have you found a couple of Celebrity solutions that would work for you?  If yes, I hope your TA is at least making a proposal to Celebrity.  

 

Good luck.

 

P.S.  I just noticed that non one ever joined your rollcall, so it is difficult to know what Celebrity is doing for others affected.  Perhaps your TA can find out.

Edited April 2, 2019 by jagoffee

[villauk]

Yes, it appears to be a regular occurrence now for her to be chartered in the first few months of most years. I do hope you get a favourable resolution.

[Cruise Raider]

Sorry to hear this happened to you.  We've been booked on 3 sailings with Celebrity that have been switched on us, 2 were charters and 1 turned from a 7 night into an 11 night sailing.  Each and every time they did these changes, we've come out way ahead ... but, we just had to speak to the right person down at Celebrity.  Also, we booked directly through Celebrity maybe making the transition a bit easier for us.  

Now, it sounds like Celebrity is not being very flexible about the rebookings when they've chartered the ship and gone with a new pricing model.  I think they  may change their minds on how they  are dealing with booked passengers but it sounds like they've added that extra straw that broke the camel's back for you.  I hope you are able to find a suitable replacement.  I know how disappointing this can be.  

[TxKroozer]

10 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Sorry to hear this happened to you.  We've been booked on 3 sailings with Celebrity that have been switched on us, 2 were charters and 1 turned from a 7 night into an 11 night sailing.  Each and every time they did these changes, we've come out way ahead ... but, we just had to speak to the right person down at Celebrity.  Also, we booked directly through Celebrity maybe making the transition a bit easier for us.  

Now, it sounds like Celebrity is not being very flexible about the rebookings when they've chartered the ship and gone with a new pricing model.  I think they  may change their minds on how they  are dealing with booked passengers but it sounds like they've added that extra straw that broke the camel's back for you.  I hope you are able to find a suitable replacement.  I know how disappointing this can be.  

Thank You for your post. I decided to forgo waiting on my Travel Agent to resolve and took actions on my own contacting the Celebrity Reaccomodation Dept myself. I feel my Travel Agent is doing the same but I wanted them to hear direct from me. The person I spoke with listened well, heard my suggestions for an equitable resolution and what my limits were and agreed to reach out to their Revenue Dept. it would appear Revenue might be making decisions based on numbers and not emotions and is not factoring the loss or gain in goodwill an equitable but not according to rules would be. Still awaiting the results of Revenue Dept.

 

i am not sure Celebrity is taking into consideration the cost of losing or replacing a Loyal customer.

[ken_ll]

In the same boat with the Jan 9 Infinity.  On Summit now and had brought it up to Future Cruise staff 2 days ago that no communication from Celebrity.  Yesterday received phone call at home, seems that there are 2 replacement cruises in Jan and 2 more in April.  My problem is that we are also on Jan 13 Infinity.  Deal with it when we get home.

[PTC DAWG]

My thoughts on this subject are that IF you (the cruiser) can cancel without penalty, usually outside 90-120 days, then the Cruise Line has the same right...seems fair to me.  

 

Hopefully you you can work out something that works for all...obviously the cruise line thinks it works out just fine for them. 

 

Most all mainstream lines do it...

 

 

[warmwinds]

Question...if X cancels you out of a cruise, will they also refund any non-refundable airline tickets you booked in good faith, and will they do all this...and this is key...without you having to pay for the insurance premium?

[TxKroozer]

7 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

My thoughts on this subject are that IF you (the cruiser) can cancel without penalty, usually outside 90-120 days, then the Cruise Line has the same right...seems fair to me.  

 

Hopefully you you can work out something that works for all...obviously the cruise line thinks it works out just fine for them. 

 

Most all mainstream lines do it...

 

 

I do appreciate your perspective, however if you open your eyes a bit to understand the impetus for booking a cruise is based upon an “offer” the cruise line makes. Once you book you are locking in a contract to pay. Yes the cruise line can cancel the cruise but not your individual contract. You can if abiding by their rules cancel your cruise but nowadays not without harm as most good deals came with non refundable deposits. It’s a win win for them not the consumer.