Lots of questions about our existing cruise now being chartered

[nunuc2000]

Soooo... this is interesting... currently on hold with Celebrity because we've been trying to get another couple to join us on our April 10 Eclipse Hawaii cruise and couldn't find it on the website. Called Celebrity, and now being told the ship is now being chartered. WHAT!?!????  On hold trying to find out exactly what that means... can our friends still join us and book through the charter? Who chartered it? Are we all going to get cancelled? So many questions at the moment, and zero answers... really hoping it all sorts out well, but not feeling good about this.

 

Celine

[Algebralovr]

Generally, if there is a charter, the organization doing the charter will only book through themselves, and may even dictate the itiniary.  If the charter goes through and it is a full ship charter, you'll receive a call / email from either Celebrity or your TA and be given the option of a refund or different cruise, usually with some extra OBC.  If you've already purchased airfare to get the where the cruise starts, and not through Celebrity, you'll likely be reimbursed change fees so long as you re-book within a window.   If you booked the air through Celebrity, you may be able to cancel with no fee at all.

They will likely have a selection of cruises where you get a better OBC/perk if you  chooses one of their selected cruises.

If you've not yet gotten that call, but the ship isn't available to book, it means they are working on the charter contract.  Since the cruise is less than 6 months away, it means the ship was likely somewhat lightly booked.  They don't want to re-arrange 3/4 of a ship full of people unless the chartering company is going to pay BIG BUCKS.

So, give it a few days and see what happens.  I'm honestly surprised they said it was being chartered.  Usually you don't find out until they call to give you options to switch to.

[jelayne]

If the ship has been chartered you will bumped and you will not be on the cruise.  A charter takes the whole ship.  Sometimes a large group takes a portion of the ship but that isn't a charter.

 

We had a ship we were booked on chartered late last year.  We were given the option of moving to a choice of 4 or 5 different sailings with price protection.  We were doing a B2B and the cancelled cruise was the first of the 2.  One of the options was a cruise at the end of our remaining cruise, thereby creating another B2B.  The original cruise was 7 days the cruise we were offered and accepted was 9 days.  We only paid the price we had paid for the 7 day and were kept in the same  cabin category.  We were also given $200 OBC in addition to the perks we had from the original booking.

 

We had the option to move our deposit to another cruise if the offer cruise options didn't work but no price protection or the option to have our money refunded.

 

You should receive a letter/email from Celebrity explaining your options and by when they need your decision.  If you booked with a TA they will be providing you with the information on your options. 

 

Sorry your cruise is being chartered.  It is something that all cruise lines do but it is always disappointing.

[nunuc2000]

Our April 10 WAS part 1 of a B2B with the April 20 leg, which was April 10 From Vancouver to Hawaii, and then April 20 from Hawaii back to Vancouver.

 

When our friends decided to join us for the first leg,  we decided to cancel the 2nd leg, and then we booked non-refundable accommodations in Hawaii upon our arrival on the 20th for a stay until the 29th.  If we get bumped off of our April 10th cruise, then we have no way of getting to Hawaii, other than to have to book a one way flight there, and the place we're staying at does not have availability prior to arrival on April 20th... and we have to be back home by April 30th for other commitments. So that basically means we're screwed over if this happens, forced to pay extra fly one way there and only get a 9 day vacation instead of the original 19 day vacation we had planned. 

[Pushka]

If this is 2020 then its unlikely you would get bumped at this late stage. 

[nunuc2000]

Just now, Pushka said:

If this is 2020 then its unlikely you would get bumped at this late stage. 

 

Sure hope you're right... just 4 months away, which is why we went ahead with the reservations in Hawaii.

[Pushka]

Just now, nunuc2000 said:

 

Sure hope you're right... just 4 months away, which is why we went ahead with the reservations in Hawaii.

That would be seriously very poor form if they did. I suspect that its just a largish group that has taken the remaining cabins. 

[nunuc2000]

UPDATE**  "Zee" is the rep I was dealing with at Celebrity.. she's now clarified - it's NOT a charter. 

 

The Eclipse is going in for a dry dock prior to the April 10 cruise, and apparently it's going to take longer than expected.  So it will now be an 8 day instead of 10 day cruise, departing Vancouver on April 12 instead of the 10th.  It was just scheduled this afternoon, which is why even their own staff weren't aware of it yet and she had to go digging. It's a relief that the whole thing isn't chartered, but bummed that it's a bit shorter.  She advised that we should get an email in the next couple of days, followed up by a phone call to discuss the options, reduced price reflecting the shortened cruise, etc. 

[hcat]

Wow... at least it,s not the worst news.

Suggest you get some good pvt  trvl ins that covers  the whole trip...just in case things change again....scary!

[Fouremco]

Yikes, we are booked on this cruise too. I suppose we'll fly into Vancouver with our current flight arrangements and spend a couple of extra days there. I'm waiting to see how Celebrity will save the two days. I'd like to think that they'll pick up speed and cut the 5 sea days to four and skip Victoria, but that's just wishful thinking.

 

In some ways, I wish it was chartered out, as dealing with Celebrity and the insurance company might have been easier. I hope that the email with the details will arrive soon.

 

Does anyone know why the Eclipse is even going in to dry dock? I've seen nothing about a scheduled visit at this time.

[Wolf 8]

1 hour ago, nunuc2000 said:

Soooo... this is interesting... currently on hold with Celebrity because we've been trying to get another couple to join us on our April 10 Eclipse Hawaii cruise and couldn't find it on the website. Called Celebrity, and now being told the ship is now being chartered. WHAT!?!????  On hold trying to find out exactly what that means... can our friends still join us and book through the charter? Who chartered it? Are we all going to get cancelled? So many questions at the moment, and zero answers... really hoping it all sorts out well, but not feeling good about this.

 

Celine

 

If your sailing becomes a "Charter" pray you get the option to bail out.  God knows what sort of shared "appetites" the charter types will put on display.

[Pushka]

55 minutes ago, Wolf 8 said:

 

If your sailing becomes a "Charter" pray you get the option to bail out.  God knows what sort of shared "appetites" the charter types will put on display.

It’s only 4 months away and it’s not a charter anyway. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, nunuc2000 said:

UPDATE**  "Zee" is the rep I was dealing with at Celebrity.. she's now clarified - it's NOT a charter. 

 

The Eclipse is going in for a dry dock prior to the April 10 cruise, and apparently it's going to take longer than expected.  So it will now be an 8 day instead of 10 day cruise, departing Vancouver on April 12 instead of the 10th.  It was just scheduled this afternoon, which is why even their own staff weren't aware of it yet and she had to go digging. It's a relief that the whole thing isn't chartered, but bummed that it's a bit shorter.  She advised that we should get an email in the next couple of days, followed up by a phone call to discuss the options, reduced price reflecting the shortened cruise, etc. 

 

Fingers crossed for you and all on the sailing that the extra days they are building in for drydock are “just in case”. Booking the sailing or two before or after a drydock is always risky.

[Wolf 8]

3 minutes ago, Pushka said:

It’s only 4 months away and it’s not a charter anyway. 

 

I was replying to the original post which says the ship was being chartered.  My point remains valid, however for anyone unwilling to find themselves on a ship chartered for individuals engaging in behaviors they find morally repellent.  It's a quality of life matter, nothing more.

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Wolf 8 said:

 

I was replying to the original post which says the ship was being chartered.  My point remains valid, however for anyone unwilling to find themselves on a ship chartered for individuals engaging in behaviors they find morally repellent.  It's a quality of life matter, nothing more.

Oh yes. I totally agree. Avoid a charter like the plague. We had a very large tour group of Russians on one of our cruises. Never again. Actual fights occurred when the group chair hogged seats both in and out of the shade and another passenger removed one towel after a couple of hours being unused. We then found out how large this tour group was. 

[abbydancer2003]

The Eclipse  goes to drydock for the X revolution (AKA Edge-ifying) in April of 2021.  It was, I believed moved because of the incident with the Oasis of the Seas in drydock - it threw off a lot.  They changed the later cruises completely, cancelling the cruises to Hawaii and then onto Vancouver, instead doing some Asia and then from Japan straight to Vancouver.  (We were on the 4/22/21 to Hawaii) and got moved to the Solstice a couple of weeks later, with price protection and some OBC.)  So I don't think it would be in dry dock twice a year apart.

[jelayne]

24 minutes ago, Wolf 8 said:

 

If your sailing becomes a "Charter" pray you get the option to bail out.  God knows what sort of shared "appetites" the charter types will put on display.

A charter only has those from the chartering organization or group.  No need to worry about the “appetites” of others.

[Cruise Junky]

Hopefully they don’t drop too much hawaii and drop that stop in Victoria. 

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, Wolf 8 said:

 

I was replying to the original post which says the ship was being chartered.  My point remains valid, however for anyone unwilling to find themselves on a ship chartered for individuals engaging in behaviors they find morally repellent.  It's a quality of life matter, nothing more.

 Charters bump everyone off when they charter the ship.  No one needs to be concerned about being on a ship that was chartered by a group whose beliefs or behaviors are different than theirs.  To sail on a charter you have to book or be invited on the sailing.  John Q Public book through X on a ship that has been chartered. 

[hcat]

Would rather be bumped by a full Charter than Sail with a large group of any kind....It becomes "their"  cruise.   Not always but often enough...

[nunuc2000]

37 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

The Eclipse  goes to drydock for the X revolution (AKA Edge-ifying) in April of 2021.  It was, I believed moved because of the incident with the Oasis of the Seas in drydock - it threw off a lot.  They changed the later cruises completely, cancelling the cruises to Hawaii and then onto Vancouver, instead doing some Asia and then from Japan straight to Vancouver.  (We were on the 4/22/21 to Hawaii) and got moved to the Solstice a couple of weeks later, with price protection and some OBC.)  So I don't think it would be in dry dock twice a year apart.

 I agree it sounds very unlikely… And while she use the words “drydock“ I’m guessing it was more likely a very quick wet dock… There was a non-booked gap between April 6 and April 10 following the San Diego to Vancouver repositioning, and it looks like they just added two days to that.  There has been speculation from others that that four day gap was actually a chartered cruise… But I don’t have any confirmation of that.

[nikel]

4 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

UPDATE**  "Zee" is the rep I was dealing with at Celebrity.. she's now clarified - it's NOT a charter. 

 

The Eclipse is going in for a dry dock prior to the April 10 cruise, and apparently it's going to take longer than expected.  So it will now be an 8 day instead of 10 day cruise, departing Vancouver on April 12 instead of the 10th.  It was just scheduled this afternoon, which is why even their own staff weren't aware of it yet and she had to go digging. It's a relief that the whole thing isn't chartered, but bummed that it's a bit shorter.  She advised that we should get an email in the next couple of days, followed up by a phone call to discuss the options, reduced price reflecting the shortened cruise, etc. 

 

We are on the April 20th cruise.  I just checked the Celebrity website and that one is still on, but the 10th is not.  As far as I know, dry doc for this ship is not supposed to be till November 2020.

It's just over 4 months out...how can they do this at this late date unless there is something wrong with the ship !!  2 dry docks in less that a year, no way.

[brellis]

Also booked on the April 10.  Hopefully another Celebrity website issue???

Either way please post with updates/offers.
What would be acceptable for 2 day delay?

We already have air tix. Does “itenary change” insurance kick in or is that only after departure?

 

[TurboFlex]

We’re on this cruise - back to back with the return to Vancouver. Our travel agent knew nothing about the possible change & got in touch with Celebrity & it was confirmed departure is 2 days later out of Vancouver. Credit will be given for the 2 missing days as well as some OBC - but she couldn’t get full details as the people @ Celebrity didn’t have all the info. As we are driving from Calgary to Vancouver it won’t effect us much for a later departure.  Did Vancouver-Hawaii-Vancouver a year ago on Princess. Good cruise but Celebrity seems to be a notch higher (did Vancouver-Alaska-Vancouver a couple years ago on Celebrity). Ship was originally scheduled for drydocks in April of 2020, but was changed to 2021 & now for some reason it’s back to April 2020.  I assume it’ll be drydocked in Victoria as that pretty close to Vancouver. We haven’t booked any shore or boat activity yet - guess we’ll hang tuft until we find out what’s really going to happen. 
 

Gary & Margot

[abbydancer2003]

7 minutes ago, TurboFlex said:

We’re on this cruise - back to back with the return to Vancouver. Our travel agent knew nothing about the possible change & got in touch with Celebrity & it was confirmed departure is 2 days later out of Vancouver. Credit will be given for the 2 missing days as well as some OBC - but she couldn’t get full details as the people @ Celebrity didn’t have all the info. As we are driving from Calgary to Vancouver it won’t effect us much for a later departure.  Did Vancouver-Hawaii-Vancouver a year ago on Princess. Good cruise but Celebrity seems to be a notch higher (did Vancouver-Alaska-Vancouver a couple years ago on Celebrity). Ship was originally scheduled for drydocks in April of 2020, but was changed to 2021 & now for some reason it’s back to April 2020.  I assume it’ll be drydocked in Victoria as that pretty close to Vancouver. We haven’t booked any shore or boat activity yet - guess we’ll hang tuft until we find out what’s really going to happen. 
 

Gary & Margot

Where did you see that it's back to 2020?  Everything I've seen still says 2021, and if it went back to 2020 that's rather annoying as we had to change our cruise (although, we did get an extra day for the cost of port taxes only).  And on the plus side, I'll be on it with my sister in August 2020.