Unacceptable handling of missed cruise by Celebrity

[bEwAbG]

I don't know that those empty promises are unique to one company.  You have to have an ounce of skepticism when anyone is offering you anything that's too good to be true.  They're simply a travel broker and have to work within the realities of what can be done during these situations.  You also have to consider what they're promising.  "Flight disruption protection" means what, exactly?  Usually that they'll route you to catch up to the cruise.  But what does *that* mean, exactly?  When?  Where?  How?  So on and so on down the list of "guarantees."  

 

The consumer has to take some responsibility by 1) not believing what you think you heard an order taker say, because their company is certainly not going to stand behind false promises, real or implied; 2) not always going for lowest price when booking, especially if that lowest price comes with tight connections that everyone is right to be skeptical about; 3) not doing some independent research to figure out what the best strategies are, based on where you're going, e.g., flying domestic across the country is much different than flying international between continents.  When it works, it works, and it's great.  But you see exactly what you're buying once something goes wrong.  This is not unique to Celebrity or Choice Air.

[Denny01]

I have some sympathy for the OP because they thought they’d be taken care of, but there were options that most of us take that wouldn’t get us into that situation: 1 - never fly in the day of the cruise, and for us, that even includes ones out of Florida ports and we live in Florida. 2 - We never book or accept a booking with such minimal times between flights, especially international. We usually fly to Atlanta for international flights and we insure our bookings are a minimum 2-3 hrs prior, even more. 3 - if for some reason we’d get ourselves into missing a departure, we’d understand there has to be some flexibility and effort/work on our part to get to the next port; 4 - If we decide Not to go, I wouldn’t expect a full refund or full free cruise because I, along with Celebrity Air, put myself into that situation and I accepted and then decided not to try to catch up with the ship. I think I’d feel good about them giving me some portion of a refund/future cruise discount. 

 

I know this sounds a bit judgmental, but the OP shared a situation which most of us wouldn’t have allowed ourselves to get into, and if we somehow did, we’d understand our actions/choices were part of the issue. 

 

Den

 

 

[hcat]

In this case..Choice Air was not a good choice!  

[richsea]

So sorry this happened to you, but seriously, you are inexperienced cruiser, yet you planned to fly 5000 miles from the NE on the day of sailing during the height of winter????? And only a 40 minute window to make a connecting flight? Nothing could possibly go wrong with that scenario.

Edited May 10, 2019 by richsea

[XtaSea]

2 hours ago, bubbie1 said:

We have never left a day early and has never been a problem, maybe just lucky up until now.

Yes, you were lucky in the past. We, too, were same-day fliers for years, always arriving to the cruise ship with hours to spare. Then a thunderstorm in Dallas while enroute to Vancouver for an Alaska cruise left us grounded with no way to reach the ship before it sailed. In all fairness, ChoiceAir tried to make arrangements for us to board the ship in Juneau, but there are maritime laws preventing that (Jones Act? Passenger Vessel Services Act?). We found a hotel room in Dallas and flew home the next day while our packed luggage enjoyed a week-long international tour...but that's another story. Luckily our travel insurance (not through the cruise line) covered everything and we learned the two valuable lessons: always have good insurance, and always arrive at least a day early.

[Luvcrusn]

I'm sorry to hear about the OP's experience. For future travel perhaps it would be a good idea to be pro-active in making travel arrangements. If you are travelling long distances, particularly with connecting flights it's always a good idea to build in lots of extra time regardless of what you're told by a CA rep, TA or anyone else. As a seasoned traveler I'm sure you know that when flying nationally, internationally with or without connections the one thing you can be assured of is delays, snafus and things going awry. If possible always plan to be in the city of your port at minimum one day early. Good luck with your future travels.

[wpgcycler]

4 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

I'm sorry to hear about the OP's experience. For future travel perhaps it would be a good idea to be pro-active in making travel arrangements. If you are travelling long distances, particularly with connecting flights it's always a good idea to build in lots of extra time regardless of what you're told by a CA rep, TA or anyone else. As a seasoned traveler I'm sure you know that when flying nationally, internationally with or without connections the one thing you can be assured of is delays, snafus and things going awry. If possible always plan to be in the city of your port at minimum one day early. Good luck with your future travels.

Nah, the OP already told us "We have never left a day early and has never been a problem". Clearly Celebrity/Choice's fault. 🙄

[citronella]

Unless there is some caveat attached to the insurance eg. Partial reimbursement if you fly the day of the cruise (and personally I think this is unwise) I think they should be given a credit for 100% of the cost.

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, Quo Vadis? said:

It's amazing that no matter what the problem is that has been created by Celebrity's handling of reservations or flights that some people will always support Celebrity.

 

Celebrity likes to point out, on their website:

 

Flights For Your Cruise

Low Fares 24/7 Service Flight disruption protection All flights compatible  with your scheduled cruise.   But when they mess up they will not give you real "service", or give you "protection" nor always offer "compatible flights"   We were once scheduled for connecting flights at Charles DeGaulle with what we thought was insufficient time.  We called Celebrity several times only to be assured there was enough time.  If the plane had not arrived nearly an hour early due to a strong jet stream, we would never have made the connecting flight.  I'm with the OP.  As always, I'm disappointed with the cheerleaders and their lack of empathy for people who actually have had the experience of imperfect Celebrity "service".

 

100% agree. Celebrity cheerleaders will always blame the victim.

 

Please show me where on Celebrity website it says that you have to leave a day before. Please show me where it says that you should not trust their air department and assume the connection they offer is not good. 

 

And yes, I would assume that reputable company like Celebrity would not make "empty promises". But I guess I would be wrong.

 

A lot of good advice on this topic. But not everyone is an expert, and not everyone has 100 flights a year. Sometimes you have to trust the cruise line and assume they give a good advice, and hope that if something goes wrong, they will support you. This was obviously not the case.

[wpgcycler]

2 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

100% agree. Celebrity cheerleaders will always blame the victim.

 

Please show me where on Celebrity website it says that you have to leave a day before. Please show me where it says that you should not trust their air department and assume the connection they offer is not good. 

 

And yes, I would assume that reputable company like Celebrity would not make "empty promises". But I guess I would be wrong.

 

A lot of good advice on this topic. But not everyone is an expert, and not everyone has 100 flights a year. Sometimes you have to trust the cruise line and assume they give a good advice, and hope that if something goes wrong, they will support you. This was obviously not the case.

As I understand it (and I certainly could be wrong), Celebrity guarantees to get the passengers to the ship at the earliest possible port - which they arranged to do and which the OP refused. The OP CHOSE to forego the remainder of the cruise - why should they be compensated for something they were offered and refused?

[SunNFunCruzer]

5 hours ago, bubbie1 said:

We left DCA 5 min before we were to land at JFK.  We immediately called Celebrity to tell them what happened.  They offered 2 seats to get us to Buenos Aires the next day and catch up with the ship the day after.  We were 4 people, 2 seats.  Who would not be going?  Then we were offered the following night to go to Buenos Aires and then catch up with the ship late Sunday night, 5 days later.  When I asked about who would be meeting us at the airport and what arrangements would available I was told (with quite a nasty attitude) we have to get you to Buenos Aires and then we will worry about further arrangements.

 

Hi OP: Thank you for clarifying.  But, I do have one more really important question:  Were all 4 of you sailing in the same cabin? If not, did the 4 of you have the same booking number?  Or 2 booking numbers?

 

The reason I think this is important:  if you had individual numbers, then Celebrity did offer 1 couple the opportunity to just miss 1 cruise day. Under the circumstances, most people would jump on that opportunity.  But in your case, All 4 of you turned it down (did they speak personally to one person in each group -- if there were two reservations?).  If you were on the same reservation and they could only transport 2 of you 1 day late and the rest 5!!! days later, then maybe Celebrity breached the contract and you should get a 100% credit.  If you were on individual reservations, then whoever Celebrity made the offer to directly, I believe, is in a much weaker position to argue for a full refund (since 2 of you ~could~ have had a cruise just 1 day short of full and been compensated with OBC, etc).

 

Catching the ship 5 days later, sounds stressful and not worth it. But, if you each could have chosen that option AND gotten a 57% refund, then that almost would have made you whole (except for the stress and aggravation).   Where did they expect you stay for the 5 days in between?

 

Finally, do you have any of this documented in writing via email or text?  Did you document every agent's name and the time and date of the offer?

 

I might suggest that you escalate to Celebrity Management asking for the 100% refund, but my advice would be dependent on the answers to the questions above.  Good luck and hope this helped!  

[Gonzo70]

34 minutes ago, citronella said:

Unless there is some caveat attached to the insurance eg. Partial reimbursement if you fly the day of the cruise (and personally I think this is unwise) I think they should be given a credit for 100% of the cost.

 

If Celebrity had not offered an option for them to catch the ship in-progress, 100% would be warranted. However Celebrity offered to fly them to catch the ship; the OP declined. A credit for the portion of the cruise the OP would have missed even if they had caught the cruise in progress is owed to them, but certainly not 100% in this case.

 

It is too bad Celebrity did not communicate better about the logistics of catching the ship with the OP (as maybe if more information was provided the OP would have taken that option and salvaged some of the vacation) and that Choice Air permitted such a ridiculous connection time to be booked in the first place. However the OP also shares some responsibility - risky flying in day of and an experienced traveler should know that connection time was insane. Also am surprised an experienced traveler was so nervous about spending some time in another country in order to catch the ship; generally areas such as airports, hotels and areas that attract tourists have plenty of people who speak English if one does not know the language of the country they are visiting.

 

A shame things did not work out for the OP, but hopefully they have learned a valuable lesson so they can take steps to ensure something like that is unlikely to occur again. Also serves as a valuable lesson to other less experienced travelers - and to those who think Choice Air can do no wrong.

[Luvcrusn]

39 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

100% agree. Celebrity cheerleaders will always blame the victim.

Name calling is never appropriate.

Please show me where on Celebrity website it says that you have to leave a day before. Please show me where it says that you should not trust their air department and assume the connection they offer is not good. 

No one here claimed that it says anywhere that you shouldn't trust CA, but many posters did recommend that you travel at least a day ahead.

And yes, I would assume that reputable company like Celebrity would not make "empty promises". But I guess I would be wrong.

Any employee of any business can make an error. 

Finally, the OP indicated that they were experienced travelers, and so many here suggested that they should in future travels exercise caution when making future plans to minimize the possibility of a repeat situation. For example, we don't fly anywhere near 100 times a year, but have flown enough over our lives to know that delays are a common occurrence when flying, and connections increase the likelihood of missed flights. The suggestions have been about preventing future disappointments by building in common sense precautions.

[Mike981]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

100% agree. Celebrity cheerleaders will always blame the victim.

 

Well I am far from a cheerleader. Heck they never even sent me the skirt and pom-pom's. Luckily I have my own.
 

You know those absolute words can come back and bite you (always). It seems by many of your latest posts, you are upset with Celebrity in some way, as well as people who don't agree with your opinion.

Cool. That's cool. I would never tell anyone they can't share their opinion. It's beating the same drum that gets old.

This thread is heading into, "I know you are, but what am I?" Territory.

[K12Guy]

14 minutes ago, Mike981 said:

Well I am far from a cheerleader. Heck they never even sent me the skirt and pom-pom's. Luckily I have my own.
 

You know those absolute words can come back and bite you (always). It seems by many of your latest posts, you are upset with Celebrity in some way, as well as people who don't agree with your opinion.

Cool. That's cool. I would never tell anyone they can't share their opinion. It's beating the same drum that gets old.

This thread is heading into, "I know you are, but what am I?" Territory.

Reading the comments I think the common opinion seems  to be that the Original Poster (OP) could and perhaps should, have done things differently from booking flights to catching up with the cruise.

 

I find it odd that anyone would think that just because I, or anyone else, thinks the OP might have made choices that Celebrity was exempt from any liability. All things told now, I think the 57% Future Cruise Credit was a good offer and I will assume the amount lost may have been covered by trip insurance. Perhaps not.

 

In any case I don't think this is a case of cheer leading in any way, shape, or form. Simply offering written opinion.

 

If someone doesn't like our opinion that's not a bad thing. Nor is it bad that some of us might not like his.

[mayleeman]

1 hour ago, Mike981 said:

It seems by many of your latest posts, you are upset with Celebrity in some way, as well as people who don't agree with your opinion.

Perhaps some context: @ak1004 is the poster who is mad at Celebrity about events occurring after a significant drop in cruise price after final payment. Since then, there have been a stream of accusations against "Celebrity cheerleaders"--apparently anyone who discusses ways various complainers might have avoided problems, or anyone who thinks a complainer's own actions may even have contributed to their difficulties. 

 

[Mike981]

49 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

Perhaps some context: @ak1004 is the poster who is mad at Celebrity about events occurring after a significant drop in cruise price after final payment. Since then, there have been a stream of accusations against "Celebrity cheerleaders"--apparently anyone who discusses ways various complainers might have avoided problems, or anyone who thinks a complainer's own actions may even have contributed to their difficulties. 

 

Thank you very much mayleeman. Clarity is refreshing.

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, msmayor said:

My experience with Choice Air was that I chose the flights...I had the ability to pick the day and time I flew...so it would have been on me to choose from the available flights that worked best with my schedule.

 

Did someone else book the flights for the OP?

 

I have only used Choice Air once and picked my own flights.  Well, United changed them .. then, Choice Air updated that in their system.  After quite the runaround, United changed our flights back to ones that actually worked for us and the cruise.   Choice Air was no help ... they never updated their system.  Well, long story short ... it took me about 3 weekends to get this fixed for all four of us (at one point, they fixed only 3 of the 4 tickets for our group ... and scheduled me on a completely different flight) and we were finally put on the flights that we purchased ...  but what a complete and total hassle!!  Our Celebrity insurance covered us for our flight only if we booked through Choice Air.  Now, others claim to have never had such issues but this experience has steered me away from using them again.  BTW ... I made it to my cruise and made it on the flight back as well ... but if I wasn't checking carefully ahead of time, that would have been a disaster.  

Now, I just book my flights separately!  

[wpgcycler]

5 hours ago, Gonzo70 said:

 

 

 

It is too bad Celebrity did not communicate better about the logistics of catching the ship with the OP

 

None of us have any idea how Celebrity communicated with the OP.

[packedandready]

I'm sorry this happened. It must have been very frustrating and disappointing. But, I have a question. You said that CA only offered 2 seats for 4 people. Was CA not going to get them to the ship? Did they book through CA or book separately and were just on the same flight? Why would CA leave the other 2 stranded? If you 2 were the only ones booked through CA and chose to not leave the other 2 behind that might be why your refund was what it was. 

[ak1004]

5 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Well I am far from a cheerleader. Heck they never even sent me the skirt and pom-pom's. Luckily I have my own.
 

You know those absolute words can come back and bite you (always). It seems by many of your latest posts, you are upset with Celebrity in some way, as well as people who don't agree with your opinion.

Cool. That's cool. I would never tell anyone they can't share their opinion. It's beating the same drum that gets old.

This thread is heading into, "I know you are, but what am I?" Territory.

 

Poor choice of words on my part.

 

Sharing opinions is fine. But it looks like many people would just justify what Celebrity does no matter what.

 

I sailed with Celebrity in the past, and I'm booked twice for this year and at least once next year. But we need to be objective, give a credit where it's due, and criticize when they are wrong.

[Marelaine]

1 hour ago, packedandready said:

I'm sorry this happened. It must have been very frustrating and disappointing. But, I have a question. You said that CA only offered 2 seats for 4 people. Was CA not going to get them to the ship? Did they book through CA or book separately and were just on the same flight? Why would CA leave the other 2 stranded? If you 2 were the only ones booked through CA and chose to not leave the other 2 behind that might be why your refund was what it was. 

 

I think there were only 2 seats available on that flight. When OP rejected that offer, CA offered to get flights for the 4 of them, but they would be 5 days into the cruise before they could get them onto the ship. OP rejected that offer because they didn't speak the local language and were worried about how they would manage travel arrangements to the port. It seems like Celebrity refunded them the first 5 days of the cruise because there was no way to get all 4 of them onto the ship prior to that. 
 

[mayleeman]

15 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

But we need to be objective, give a credit where it's due, and criticize when they are wrong.

That is a good approach. All too often, it is necessary to develop a lot more information before arriving at a black or white conclusion. And even more often, the answer lies somewhere in a gray area.  A passenger could have saved the situation, but X could have also, and unfortunately neither did so. 

 

I expect mistakes from people and businesses, which is why I am obsessive about arrival schedules and checking and rechecking all the details. If an airline gives me bad information I usually know immediately on cross-checking it. My brother thinks I am nuts and prefers to "go with the flow"--and ends up assigning blame elsewhere when a snafu arises (that I usually think he could have avoided with more caution).

 

To each our own!

[Marelaine]

duplicate post

Edited May 11, 2019 by Marelaine

[waterbug123]

On 5/10/2019 at 8:54 AM, bigdawgs said:

since there is another flight one hour later, I presume that if we miss our connection, that the airline will book us on the later flight without penalties.  Is my thinking correct?

 

 

Likely they will TRY to book you on that flight but it may well not have available seats.  Or it may have seats available but those seats are not in the class of service you paid for.

 

On 5/10/2019 at 9:47 AM, hiccups said:

What is a valid connection time by the airport standards may not leave you comfortable, so check out all the options Choice Air offers.

 

Also keep in mind that minimum connect time is just that- MINIMUM connect time.  If you are seated in the back of the plane, a likely scenario if purchasing bargain basement fares from the cruise line, it could take a significant amount of that minimum connect time just to get off the plane.

 

23 hours ago, bubbie1 said:

When I asked about who would be meeting us at the airport and what arrangements would available I was told (with quite a nasty attitude) we have to get you to Buenos Aires and then we will worry about further arrangements.  I told her we don't speak the language and have no way of getting in touch with Celebrity once we arrive. 

 

1.  You will always be able to find someone who speaks English in an international airport.  It's the official language of flight, and for the record, pilots and air traffic controllers all communicate in English so that they have a common language.  Within airports themselves, you will find signage in English and as I said, people who speak English.  Same with most large international hotels.

2.  Did you ask how to get in touch upon landing?  Did you try hanging up and calling again to get a more helpful agent?  You shouldn't have to, but it seems like that would have been an easy attempt to get a better solution, i.e. answers to your questions.

3.  Let this be a lesson in preparedness.  Well in advance of any future international trip, take it upon yourself to figure out how to make arrangements to call back to the US from another country.  Take it upon yourself to download a translation app to your phone to assist with communication in a foreign language.  Take it upon yourself to argue more vehemently against a short connection that raises red flags in your mind.  Etc.

 

19 hours ago, ak1004 said:

And yes, I would assume that reputable company like Celebrity would not make "empty promises".

 

Read the fine print.  Celebrity's promises are more along the lines of "we will TRY" with no absolute promise or guarantee to get you to the ship on time.   It's a shame that the OP reached a CA agent who appeared less than willing to answer their questions, but I still say a simply hang up, call again approach might have yielded a more satisfactory outcome, at least in terms of assuring them of the transit plans upon delayed arrival in Buenos Aires.