Constellation redeployed from Asia to Tampa 2020/21

[C 2 C]

9 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

 I expect more of the old celebrity demographic folks (pun intended).

 

I'm not a pun.... unless I'm missing the pun(ch) line... but we fit your demographic more than the others intended victims.. er desired marketing objects. 😉

[ghstudio]

I too am a pun 🙂  I fit the description on both counts.

[Ride-The-Waves]

5 hours ago, kearney said:

I am looking forward to sailing out of Tampa... not a bad drive from Atlanta.  The problem with Tampa and Port Canaveral is the distance from other Caribbean ports... so it is nice to see that they will be offering some longer cruises out of Tampa. I like being able to go to ABCs or Columbia...  The other problem with Tampa is the bridge which limits cruise ship size.

 

 I wonder if Celebrity is concerned about Iranian activity in the strait of Hormuz... not far from Dubai. Perhaps this is why the change in itinerary.

 

I would love to sail out of Savanah or Jacksonville....but again these cruises would have to be at least 10-11 days to get much past USVI.  We really really really hate flying.

 

Celebrity has already informed that the relocation of Connie has nothing to do with politics and the "activity" in the Strait of Hormuz/Persian Gulf.  Its a economic decision.  Cruise lines generally follow warnings promulgated by national governments and neither the US, not UK nor EU have issued anything concerning the Strait.  

[upwarduk]

3 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

 

Celebrity has already informed that the relocation of Connie has nothing to do with politics and the "activity" in the Strait of Hormuz/Persian Gulf.  Its a economic decision.  Cruise lines generally follow warnings promulgated by national governments and neither the US, not UK nor EU have issued anything concerning the Strait.  

If the re location had anything to do with the political unrest, they would already have made changes to the 2019/2020 Dubai- Singapore winter itinerary.

[kearney]

7 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

 

Celebrity has already informed that the relocation of Connie has nothing to do with politics and the "activity" in the Strait of Hormuz/Persian Gulf.  Its a economic decision.  Cruise lines generally follow warnings promulgated by national governments and neither the US, not UK nor EU have issued anything concerning the Strait.  

After I speculated, I googled it and found that P&O had pulled out due to tensions...but others were not doing so... I now see the story you are talking about concerning it being a demand situation as the reason for moving the ship to Tampa. 

[little britain]

9 hours ago, kearney said:

After I speculated, I googled it and found that P&O had pulled out due to tensions...but others were not doing so... I now see the story you are talking about concerning it being a demand situation as the reason for moving the ship to Tampa. 

P&O are a U.K. cruiseline with a mainly UK audience. Sales were not good so they bailed out.

MSC reconfirmed their commitment to the area and in a smart marketing move offered OBC to any displaced P&O customers who rebooked with them.

 

[Dejlig Ko]

Anyone else booked on the April 2021 sailing Dubai to Athens miffed that Celebrity does not have their Transatlantic or Europe sailings for  April 2021 available for us to move to? Other lines already do 😞 

[ECCruise]

10 minutes ago, Dejlig Ko said:

Anyone else booked on the April 2021 sailing Dubai to Athens miffed that Celebrity does not have their Transatlantic or Europe sailings for  April 2021 available for us to move to? Other lines already do 😞 

Celebrity never releases their itineraries for Europe and crossings until the October/November time frame (last year late November)....which used to be January/February years ago.

[Toftwood]

I really don’t think they are going to bring forward any schedule announcements because of the Constellation redeployment.  As frustrating as it is, looks like you are going to need to wait.  Celebrity has clearly worked out over many years that the unnecessarily early schedule releases of other cruise lines is not financially beneficial and a game that they don’t want to join.

[coaster]

Looking forward to another option out of Tampa. Have not been on Celebrity since 2002 on Zenith out of Tampa. Getting a little tired of Rhapsody on Royal. NCL and Carnival options out of Tampa are ones I won't even consider. NCL lost me years ago when they got rid of traditional dining.

[RoLoHa]

39 minutes ago, coaster said:

Looking forward to another option out of Tampa. Have not been on Celebrity since 2002 on Zenith out of Tampa. Getting a little tired of Rhapsody on Royal. NCL and Carnival options out of Tampa are ones I won't even consider. NCL lost me years ago when they got rid of traditional dining.

I toured the Carnival ship that was in Tampa a couple years ago and decided it was not for me...although I am booked for a Carnival Cruise on another older ship of theirs next year.  I have never done an NCL cruise and did not know they even sail out of Tampa.....I think if I were to try them I would do it from a port where there are less limitations and try a little bigger one that what is able to come here to TPA.

[hcat]

49 minutes ago, coaster said:

Looking forward to another option out of Tampa. Have not been on Celebrity since 2002 on Zenith out of Tampa. Getting a little tired of Rhapsody on Royal. NCL and Carnival options out of Tampa are ones I won't even consider. NCL lost me years ago when they got rid of traditional dining.

Wow..Zenith was awhile ago. Never tried it  or Horizon but loved Mercury

 

If you try Constellation, it will be much more updated..  Not quite like EDGE or Solstice Class ships...but very nice size,  good amenties & dining ;   and hopefully good decor after it is renovated 

[cruise kitty]

7 hours ago, Dejlig Ko said:

Anyone else booked on the April 2021 sailing Dubai to Athens miffed that Celebrity does not have their Transatlantic or Europe sailings for  April 2021 available for us to move to? Other lines already do 😞 

 

Hi Dejlig,  yes I was booked on it,  received a call from Celebrity today,  they booked me on a "placeholder" cruise with the extra OBC & the perks that I had with my booking.  When the Europe itineraries are released in November, I"ll move the booking to the new cruise.   Hope this helps :)

[Cruise Junky]

9 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Celebrity never releases their itineraries for Europe and crossings until the October/November time frame (last year late November)....which used to be January/February years ago.

One would have said the same of Princess. They were always after Celebrity. Last year they moved them up to around the same time, this year they surprisingly came out last week. All lines are getting earlier and earlier. 

[miXterOB]

I'm very happy about Celebrity returning to Tampa as I live half nudge to the north of the port.

The assortment of choices on the sailings are varied and I love that. We'll be doing Silhouette out of Lauderdale in 3 months heading to the ABC's so the one 11 day that includes the 2 Columbia stops make another Southern Caribbean an interesting option. The initial cruise out of Tampa, the 7 day Western Caribbean to all the usual suspects while droll might be nice for an intro to the M-Class category for both of us who have only done S Class

Likely we'll choose some on our November cruise.

Very much looking forward to Celebrity in Tampa!

[rocky4648]

On 8/14/2019 at 1:14 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

I too have received no notice of the cancellation/changes; learned of it on CC last night. 

 

I was eager to give Constellation a try as I like smaller ships and interesting itineraries. I will NOT be sailing on her out of Tampa, for sure. 

We had a family cruise - 6 cabins - booked for Xmas 2020. Received cancellation notice late last week, and were given until yesterday to rebook (with a pathetically small "compensation" offer) or receive our deposit back. We decided we would like to "follow" the Constellation to the new route out of Tampa, and asked if our now cancelled booking for the ex Singapore cruise could be transferred to the ex Tampa cruise - which is actually 2 days shorter but is the only one that fits our window due to school and Uni terms in 2 countries - but the transfer was refused.  If we want to rebook that cruise it will cost an extra $7800 !!!!!  So Celebrity can shove their cruise somewhere it hurts most, they have now lost forever 10 customers who have done 15 cruises with them.  But never again.     

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

Anyone having problems with their refund for a cancelled Dubai cruise? We were booked on the Dubai to Singapore cruise with a deposit of £300 paid. Nearly 3 weeks later and my TA informs me that they can't refund the deposit because Celebrity haven't paid them yet.

 

I suspect this is a TA issue because my contract was with them, but before I unleash the big guns (😁) it would be interesting to know if this is a general thing from Celebrity.

[FlorenceItaly]

1 hour ago, Rotherham_Cruiser said:

Anyone having problems with their refund for a cancelled Dubai cruise? We were booked on the Dubai to Singapore cruise with a deposit of £300 paid. Nearly 3 weeks later and my TA informs me that they can't refund the deposit because Celebrity haven't paid them yet.

 

I suspect this is a TA issue because my contract was with them, but before I unleash the big guns (😁) it would be interesting to know if this is a general thing from Celebrity.

We were booked on Venice to Athens(11/9/2020) AND Athens to Dubai(11/19/2020)B2B.  On August 19th I received the refund on the Venice to Athens portion.  This was booked with a refundable deposit(on board).  I am STILL waiting on the Athens to Dubai portion(total $900).  This was booked with a nonrefundable fare, but, as you know since Celebrity cancelled it is ALL refundable.  My theory is that it was processed AS a NRD and they kept my $200 initial deposit(penalty fee for cancel) and are holding my $700 for a future cruise.  These are the terms of a NRD.  I have been communicating with my PCC and I received an email saying I should see it by the end of the week.  She did not confirm or deny my theory was correct.

[kruznkanuk]

We were booked B2B on Nov 9 (Mediterranean) and Nov 19 Suez transit)on Constellation in a Royal Suite. Got a very VERY confusing email from Celebrity about getting the best price on India and SE Asia and several phone calls from various people, some of whom said the Nov 9 Med. cruise was cancelled and the Nov 19 Suez was a go. The person we settled on talking to clearly said we'd get 'price protection' if we changed to various sailings, including Australia and South Pacific and we spent tons of time trying to find B2B sailings with Royal Suites available for the same # of days.  When I called back to book the best new options, she wasn't available and another guy said the price protection was ONLY for the India/SE Asia options which are of no interest (been there, done that). The initial person didn't return any of 3 messages--probably because she didn't want to admit she screwed up. We've rebooked as close as we can get to preserve various OBCs... but it's nearly $20,000 total more money so we're unlikely to take the new cruises. The current prices are very high for fall 2020 and X isn't willing to do anything beyond the $500 per suite credit. We sailed the old Galaxy class ships back in the 1990's and about 50 X cruises since... and boy, are we looking for other cruise lines to try! 😖

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

10 hours ago, kruznkanuk said:

We were booked B2B on Nov 9 (Mediterranean) and Nov 19 Suez transit)on Constellation in a Royal Suite. Got a very VERY confusing email from Celebrity about getting the best price on India and SE Asia and several phone calls from various people, some of whom said the Nov 9 Med. cruise was cancelled and the Nov 19 Suez was a go. The person we settled on talking to clearly said we'd get 'price protection' if we changed to various sailings, including Australia and South Pacific and we spent tons of time trying to find B2B sailings with Royal Suites available for the same # of days.  When I called back to book the best new options, she wasn't available and another guy said the price protection was ONLY for the India/SE Asia options which are of no interest (been there, done that). The initial person didn't return any of 3 messages--probably because she didn't want to admit she screwed up. We've rebooked as close as we can get to preserve various OBCs... but it's nearly $20,000 total more money so we're unlikely to take the new cruises. The current prices are very high for fall 2020 and X isn't willing to do anything beyond the $500 per suite credit. We sailed the old Galaxy class ships back in the 1990's and about 50 X cruises since... and boy, are we looking for other cruise lines to try! 😖

 

We booked Royal Caribbean ovation of the Seas Tokyo to Seattle for £1800pp instead of the £2500 we were paying for Constellation. 

 

Pleased in the end

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

My this IS fun. Travels agents blame Celebrity Cruises. Celebrity Cruise blame the travel agent and piggy in the middle here still doesn't get his deposit refunded

 

😡😡

 

If people from Celebrity read these boards, be aware that my wonderful Hawaian island cruise 15 years ago will now be the first and last time I cruise on your ships. A shame, but your entire conduct regards Constellation and the switch is nothing short of shameful.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Rotherham_Cruiser

[FlorenceItaly]

On 8/27/2019 at 2:40 PM, FlorenceItaly said:

We were booked on Venice to Athens(11/9/2020) AND Athens to Dubai(11/19/2020)B2B.  On August 19th I received the refund on the Venice to Athens portion.  This was booked with a refundable deposit(on board).  I am STILL waiting on the Athens to Dubai portion(total $900).  This was booked with a nonrefundable fare, but, as you know since Celebrity cancelled it is ALL refundable.  My theory is that it was processed AS a NRD and they kept my $200 initial deposit(penalty fee for cancel) and are holding my $700 for a future cruise.  These are the terms of a NRD.  I have been communicating with my PCC and I received an email saying I should see it by the end of the week.  She did not confirm or deny my theory was correct.

An update of sorts.  Our $700 was refunded but still waiting on the $200 to show up.  In the meantime, the credit card we used for the $200 on board deposit was compromised so it may be the reason it is taking awhile to show up since we were issued a new cc number.  Although, I wouldn't be surprised if IN ERROR they kept the $200 due to the NRD.   It will get sorted out eventually, but, it is frustrating.

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

7 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

An update of sorts.  Our $700 was refunded but still waiting on the $200 to show up.  In the meantime, the credit card we used for the $200 on board deposit was compromised so it may be the reason it is taking awhile to show up since we were issued a new cc number.  Although, I wouldn't be surprised if IN ERROR they kept the $200 due to the NRD.   It will get sorted out eventually, but, it is frustrating.

 

It's more than frustrating though.

 

THEY instigated the cancellation because there were bigger bucks to be made elsewhere, and yet they can't show the common decency of treating their displaced and disappointed customers with an ounce of respect and ensure they at least got their money back pronto.

Shocking customer service. 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by Rotherham_Cruiser