Summit Charter

[gotcha3]

Seems that the Summit has been chartered for the 13 Feb 2021 cruise. LGBT cruise company is taking over the whole ship. Second time we've been bumped from Summit. Anyone know what the latest offer for a NONVOLUNTARY bump is? Thanks, g3

[davekathy]

4 minutes ago, gotcha3 said:

Seems that the Summit has been chartered for the 13 Feb 2021 cruise. LGBT cruise company is taking over the whole ship. Second time we've been bumped from Summit. Anyone know what the latest offer for a NONVOLUNTARY bump is? Thanks, g3

Once Celebrity confirms the cruise is charted you will receive an Email from Celebrity detailing what options you have and any compensation for being thrown overboard. We received a letter from Celebrity on our upcoming Summit cruise a year out.

[gotcha3]

When were you bumped?

[davekathy]

4 minutes ago, gotcha3 said:

When were you bumped?

We booked a B2B on the Summit for 21 March 2020 and 28 March 2020. The 21 March cruise got charted. So we kept the 28 March 2020 cruise and change to 4 April 2020 to make our B2B cruise. Same two different itineraries and same stateroom. Plus got an additional $200.00 OBC for the bump. 

Edited January 24, 2020 by davekathy

[Cruise a holic]

We were bumped also twice on the summit in August once, and the Edge last March, we  got minor compensation.  Celebrity said if we can go the week before or after, they would hold the rate-  wasn't possible as we couldn't move our vacation due to my husbands job schedule.  Since we book over one year in advance, the rate we paid to change dates was significantly more.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Cruise a holic

[kag19]

We are on this same cruise and heard about the change as well.  Nothing official yet from Celebrity though.  Really bummed as we were looking forward to this cruise.  The itinerary isn't the same for any other week that month so we will have to see what Celebrity says.  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Ooh. Very glad I decided about a month ago to jump ship to Disney for that week. Not only am I not having to figure something out now which likely would have been to Disney, I got on the Magic a few days before they announced Marvel Day at Sea for that week, which caused the prices to bump up if not already booked. 

[wwcruisers]

Hmm...that's interesting. A couple of years ago, Summit was the ship du jour, when it came to charters. Then, it seemed that most of the charters (well, the music charters, anyway) switched over to Infinity. In fact, the four jazz cruise charters for '21 are on infinity. Now, it looks like they're chartering-out Summit that year, too. 🤔

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, wwcruisers said:

Hmm...that's interesting. A couple of years ago, Summit was the ship du jour, when it came to charters. Then, it seemed that most of the charters (well, the music charters, anyway) switched over to Infinity. In fact, the four jazz cruise charters for '21 are on infinity. Now, it looks like they're chartering-out Summit that year, too. 🤔

 

They switched to Infinity for 2019 because the Summit was being revolutionized. This LGBTQ cruise charter is a company called Vacaya which has nothing to do with the music cruises run by Entertainment Cruise Productions.

[gotcha3]

4 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Ooh. Very glad I decided about a month ago to jump ship to Disney for that week. Not only am I not having to figure something out now which likely would have been to Disney, I got on the Magic a few days before they announced Marvel Day at Sea for that week, which caused the prices to bump up if not already booked. 

Ooh, double good for you!

[Want2Cruise 701]

We've been bumped 3x on the Summit.  I think our OBC ranged from $100-200 plus price protection in the same category to one of their offered choice alternatives.  We never went with one of the alternatives and just took the OBC to another sailing of our choice.  Good luck.  If they don't notify you soon, call Celebrity.

 

 

[wwcruisers]

2 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

They switched to Infinity for 2019 because the Summit was being revolutionized. This LGBTQ cruise charter is a company called Vacaya which has nothing to do with the music cruises run by Entertainment Cruise Productions.

 

I get it that these are totally different charter organizations. I just found it interesting that, up 'til now anyway, X has primarily made only one M-Class ship at a time available for complete charters. I can tell you that the jazz cruiser charter organization that you mentioned particularly likes the M-class ships, due to their many and varied performance spaces.

[kag19]

How long does it typically take Celebrity to notify their passengers when a ship has been chartered?  I found out about this one on CC about two weeks ago but still no communication from Celebrity.

[davekathy]

10 minutes ago, kag19 said:

How long does it typically take Celebrity to notify their passengers when a ship has been chartered?  I found out about this one on CC about two weeks ago but still no communication from Celebrity.

We were notified a year out. 

[jelayne]

13 minutes ago, kag19 said:

How long does it typically take Celebrity to notify their passengers when a ship has been chartered?  I found out about this one on CC about two weeks ago but still no communication from Celebrity.

If you are booked with a TA then the TA is notified by Celebrity and the TA is responsible to contact you and explain your options.

[kag19]

20 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If you are booked with a TA then the TA is notified by Celebrity and the TA is responsible to contact you and explain your options.

 

We booked with a TA.  The TA so far has had no communication from Celebrity about our options.  Just wondering about how long it usually takes Celebrity to contact guests in this sort of situation.

[davekathy]

29 minutes ago, kag19 said:

 

We booked with a TA.  The TA so far has had no communication from Celebrity about our options.  Just wondering about how long it usually takes Celebrity to contact guests in this sort of situation.

We were also booked with a TA and received our your thrown overboard Email with alternative itineraries and compensation OBC directly from Celebrity before our TA set us the Email notification. Give Celebrity or your TA another month. 

[kag19]

7 minutes ago, davekathy said:

We were also booked with a TA and received our your thrown overboard Email with alternative itineraries and compensation OBC directly from Celebrity before our TA set us the Email notification. Give Celebrity or your TA another month. 

 

Thanks!

[Cruisegoer]

On 1/24/2020 at 5:54 PM, wwcruisers said:

 

I get it that these are totally different charter organizations. I just found it interesting that, up 'til now anyway, X has primarily made only one M-Class ship at a time available for complete charters. I can tell you that the jazz cruiser charter organization that you mentioned particularly likes the M-class ships, due to their many and varied performance spaces.

I think it's the itinerary and price point that makes this the only eligible ship for Charters.

 

[davekathy]

16 minutes ago, kag19 said:

 

Thanks!

BTW we've been thrown overboard twice on the Summit and the notification process I posted previously happened exactly both times. 

[Cruise Raider]

3 hours ago, kag19 said:

How long does it typically take Celebrity to notify their passengers when a ship has been chartered?  I found out about this one on CC about two weeks ago but still no communication from Celebrity.

 

As others have noted, it is usually announced to booked passengers anywhere from 9-12 months ahead of time.  However, I think from the time they start looking into chartering a ship until the time the booked passengers are notified, it is about 2, maybe even 3 months....at least that was what we experienced.  It takes them that long to get all the contracts signed.  They don't want to spook any booked passengers off until they have a sure thing.  

You first see the cruise disappear from their website while, on other TA sites, it may show up, but it will display 'sold out'.  It's happened to me three times with Celebrity and once with NCL.  BTW, Celebrity was much more generous with their compensation, should you decide to stick it out with them.  I am applying my perks from an October reservation that was chartered sailing to a cruise for next Sept.  I got a guarantee on my perks and taxes, etc., plus some additional OBC.  If they charter that sailing as well (I do seem to know how to pick them), I wonder what they will do then ... just offer me even more to move it elsewhere?)  I must mention that every time I took them up on one of these offers, I ended up absolutely loving the replacement cruise that I chose.    

[FlorenceItaly]

I am waiting to be notified our 5 day Infinity March 22-27, 2021 has been chartered.  It has been off the website for many months now.

[kag19]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

As others have noted, it is usually announced to booked passengers anywhere from 9-12 months ahead of time.  However, I think from the time they start looking into chartering a ship until the time the booked passengers are notified, it is about 2, maybe even 3 months....at least that was what we experienced.  It takes them that long to get all the contracts signed.  They don't want to spook any booked passengers off until they have a sure thing.  

You first see the cruise disappear from their website while, on other TA sites, it may show up, but it will display 'sold out'.  It's happened to me three times with Celebrity and once with NCL.  BTW, Celebrity was much more generous with their compensation, should you decide to stick it out with them.  I am applying my perks from an October reservation that was chartered sailing to a cruise for next Sept.  I got a guarantee on my perks and taxes, etc., plus some additional OBC.  If they charter that sailing as well (I do seem to know how to pick them), I wonder what they will do then ... just offer me even more to move it elsewhere?)  I must mention that every time I took them up on one of these offers, I ended up absolutely loving the replacement cruise that I chose.    

Thank you for the excellent information! It just disappeared from their website a couple weeks ago so I guess we still have some time. I hope it is sooner rather than later as as have a group going and finding alternative dates will be easier the further out it is. We have already talked about some dates that may work so hopefully it won’t be an issue. Thanks again!

[Cruise Raider]

18 minutes ago, kag19 said:

Thank you for the excellent information! It just disappeared from their website a couple weeks ago so I guess we still have some time. I hope it is sooner rather than later as as have a group going and finding alternative dates will be easier the further out it is. We have already talked about some dates that may work so hopefully it won’t be an issue. Thanks again!

 

My advice is when you see your sailing go underground, so to speak, book an alternative with a refundable deposit now.  That way, you have enough cabins that you want for the group.  Sounds like you've kind of already discussed it ...and yes, hopefully, they won't leave you hanging on for too much longer.  

[happy cruzer]

Looks like Apex Feb 27 has been chartered.  Never had this happen before.  Is there compensation for this to get your to rebook with Celebrity?  Will they refund a deposit that was "nonrefundable"?

 

Thanks.