Why do we continue to blame the cruise lines like Celebrity?

[TeeRick]

Why are a few here still pointing fingers at the cruise lines?  Celebrity? Princess?  Disney?  Not going to sail on them again because of how they are "poorly" handling this unprecedented situation? Not going to earn back your business? Are you blaming local restaurants for closing or going take out only?  Or your dental office for cancelling all non emergency procedures?  Or your grocery stores for empty shelves?  Or your teachers for no school? Or your state liquor stores that just all closed (yes they did in PA)? When everything re-opens eventually I will be happy to use them again and welcome back the normalcy whatever that might be.  Same with cruising.  I hope I have an opportunity to cruise again.  It will be interesting to see which cruise lines financially survive.  And which people survive the financial market meltdown to be able to afford cruise vacations.  As opposed to just paying the rent or mortgage.  Or buying groceries or making car payments or tuition payments.  And I hope my favorite cruise line (Celebrity) survives.  I do not blame them for any of this and I really do feel that they have acted responsibly.  The world changed rapidly.  Everybody and everything got caught up quickly with no time to plan everything perfectly.  Including me.

[lola2013]

Well said.  I have three cruises booked...fortunately, outside of the timeframe of the cancellations (at least I hope we are up and running by September).  I feel bad for people who have had trips cancelled and wait for refunds and/or FCC; but know that the cruiselines are doing everything they can and as quickly as they can to accommodate everyone.  

Here's hoping this becomes a very bad memory...very quickly!

[chemmo]

Agree...once Celebrity is cruising again and we are free to safely travel we will be on board!

 

[Eglesbrech]

I agree with the above sentiments to an extent, the situation is no ones “fault” and I sincerely hope that all the cruise lines I enjoy travelling with come out safely at the other end of this.
 

That said I have had to cancel a cruise or two in the past which was not my “fault” and due to unprecedented or unavoidable circumstances in my life and the cruise lines stick absolutely rigidly to their written terms and conditions, regardless of the reason for cancellation. It seems some lines are not playing by the same rules when they are the ones doing the cancelling.

 

I don’t as yet know how Celebrity will deal with the circumstances as yet so the above is not a comment on them.

[sheffield]

Iola2013 I think this will remain more than a bad memory. I think it will be life changing for many people particularly those who have had to deal personally with it. 
I think the blame for the situation lies equally between the cruisers who thought it was fake news or that they needed a vacation and they were going, and the cruise companies who didn’t stop sailing soon enough.
Regarding Celebrity, I cannot get over the fact that they disregarded the fact that there had been people on board the Summit who later tested positive for Covid19 and they did nothing about it. The port that allowed them to dock should also take some blame for this. 
It is a dreadful situation and we should all be doing our part to help it not hinder it. 

[jelayne]

TeeRick, well said!  We agree wholeheartedly. We are impacted by the cancellations 

and are looking forward to being back on our favorite cruise line.

[Quo Vadis?]

The problem from my perspective is the lack of clarity in Celebrity's explanations.

We just disembarked from Silhouette March 15th.

There have been two confirmed cases in Ontario Canada of an infected passenger on Summit and Silhouette in previous sailings. Celebrity has yet to inform us that we may have been put at risk.  We were notified by our provincial health agency that we may have been in contact with crew members or other passengers on our sailing.  Not a peep from Celebrity.

Since we were on a B2B2B sailing it would have been impossible for us to get a doctor's note on our well being since we were on the very ship that could have impacted our health.. do we get off the ship fly home get an appointment with a doctor on a Sunday to get a note and fly back prior to sailing on the same day.....

Oh, here is a future cruise credit for your cancelled cruises that you can't use because you are both over 70 and don't qualify for the exclusions..

The guys getting the big bucks in Miami must have been reading the same news that we were and did nothing to anticipate the crises..

Do I blame Celebrity for holding on to our money since they changed the rules about sailing ever again.. YES I do!!

[Fouremco]

One of the fundamentals of successful crisis management is the absolute need for clear, concise and timely communications. This is where Celebrity gets an absolute failing grade, as mass confusion has reigned from the outset. When booked passengers find out through social media that their cruise has been cancelled and never receive an official notification, or when a group of cruises is announced as cancelled one day but uncancelled a day or two later, there is bound to be criticism. And it's well deserved.

 

Celebrity has not managed this crisis well, in large part I would suggest because there was never any thought given to what would happen should there ever be a pandemic. In this lack of planning, though, Celebrity is certainly not unique, and the same criticism can be levied against most governments globally.

 

I've generally supported Celebrity over the past few weeks in recognition of the fact that they have been faced with unprecedented problems. That's not to say that I haven't been critical on certain issues, but I'm certainly not about to run and take my business elsewhere. Nevertheless, I can certainly understand why some people would choose to do so.

  

[Georgia_Peaches]

I think it's human nature to seek blame.  In my experience, crisis will bring out the best and the worst in people.  All of the cruise lines are in a scramble for survival at this point and I'm sure that we could collectively identify something that each one of them could have done better during this crisis.  I agree with @Argo. that Celebrity has a responsibility to reach out to people but maybe there is a hang up in the legal department, maybe they have to get approval for any and all communications and perhaps the hold up is not with Celebrity at all.  Could be the parent company.  The thing is, they are never allowed to get on an online platform and plead their side of the story.  They have to take the criticism without ever being afforded the opportunity to explain.  Nobody likes what is happening...nobody.  When we get back to normal, and we will, I will cruise again and if Celebrity is operational, I will cruise with them.  

[JuliaMS]

When my cruise is canceled hours before sailing and I read about it on this forum 5 hours before they contact me or its on their web site that is Celebrity's fault and was avoidable. Celebrity had my day of travel contact info. Yet the first notice I got was an e-mail at 9:30 PM the night before boarding. Most people don't read e-mail while traveling and most people are not even on these message boards. We called and were told they didn't know what would happen and we should go to the port in the morning and someone would be there to help us. Then an hour later we got an e-mail not to go to the port.

We finally got a call that our flight by Celebrity would be rescheduled but no reschedule until later that night. We were eventually put on a flight that was much cheaper than what we originally paid, in 4 middle seats in different parts of the plane, and had to pay for upgrades to sit together. Not equivalent to what we had purchased. 2 of the 4 cabins in our group only got the e-mail. No text or call. 

***** happens. What matters is how you handle it. Cruisers already at destinations boarding the next day were not handled well. I was on the Navigator cruise that was delayed and canceled due to the Houston oil spill. We were very happy with the notifications we received for that cruise (boarding delayed until 1am). When I started reading about the cancellations here we kept telling our friends "Don't worry, they will take care of us". As hours passed and no official word or anything on their web site they just got madder and madder.

[grandgeezer]

I don't blame the situation on the cruise lines but I certainly do on how they are handling it. The poor communication and the lack of being able to make a decision on cancelling the cruise, or not, until the last second put to much angst, extra cost,  and pressure on it's paying customers. They know a lot of people, who fly to the port a day or two early, a heads up would have made a difference.

[Fouremco]

25 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

The thing is, they are never allowed to get on an online platform and plead their side of the story.  They have to take the criticism without ever being afforded the opportunity to explain. 

Is that true? IIRC, Celebrity used to come on this board and provide information/answers, but that practice seems to have stopped. Are you saying that Cruise Critic no longer allows them to?

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

Is that true? IIRC, Celebrity used to come on this board and provide information/answers, but that practice seems to have stopped. Are you saying that Cruise Critic no longer allows them to?

Oh no, sorry.  Didn't mean to be misleading.  I have no knowledge of what is allowed as it relates to CC.  I agree, I have seen on occasion, someone from a cruise line chime in on a board but it's NEVER, in my experience, been to give their side of the story.  There are just too many legalities involved.  A Q&A is one thing, but to get on line and share rationale or even decision making processes, would never be allowed by their corporate executives.  Every written or oral statement given would be subject to a law suit.  So they don't comment...even though I bet some would love to do so.

[LMaxwell]

3 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Why are a few here still pointing fingers at the cruise lines?  Celebrity? Princess?  Disney?  Not going to sail on them again because of how they are "poorly" handling this unprecedented situation? Not going to earn back your business? Are you blaming local restaurants for closing or going take out only?  Or your dental office for cancelling all non emergency procedures?  Or your grocery stores for empty shelves?  Or your teachers for no school? Or your state liquor stores that just all closed (yes they did in PA)? When everything re-opens eventually I will be happy to use them again and welcome back the normalcy whatever that might be.  Same with cruising.  I hope I have an opportunity to cruise again.  It will be interesting to see which cruise lines financially survive.  And which people survive the financial market meltdown to be able to afford cruise vacations.  As opposed to just paying the rent or mortgage.  Or buying groceries or making car payments or tuition payments.  And I hope my favorite cruise line (Celebrity) survives.  I do not blame them for any of this and I really do feel that they have acted responsibly.  The world changed rapidly.  Everybody and everything got caught up quickly with no time to plan everything perfectly.  Including me.

 

Managing by the numbers; zero leadership.  This is a website for people interested in cruising to discuss all aspects.  Including calling out lack of leadership. For the money we spend and safety we entrust to these companies it is good to have a balanced view of what their corporate execs really place priority on. 

[Quo Vadis?]

5 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Managing by the numbers; zero leadership.  This is a website for people interested in cruising to discuss all aspects.  Including calling out lack of leadership. For the money we spend and safety we entrust to these companies it is good to have a balanced view of what their corporate execs really place priority on. 

We had to come to cruise critic to find out there was a tragic event apology from Celebrity about a death on Silhouette last week.. Not a mention from management on board about the police investigating the incident on board.

[Fouremco]

22 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Oh no, sorry.  Didn't mean to be misleading.  I have no knowledge of what is allowed as it relates to CC.  I agree, I have seen on occasion, someone from a cruise line chime in on a board but it's NEVER, in my experience, been to give their side of the story.  There are just too many legalities involved.  A Q&A is one thing, but to get on line and share rationale or even decision making processes, would never be allowed by their corporate executives.  Every written or oral statement given would be subject to a law suit.  So they don't comment...even though I bet some would love to do so.

 I see your point. Nevertheless, when you consider that this board is a major source of information about Celebrity for thousands of its most loyal customers, in this day and age I would have thought that Celebrity would have taken full advantage of this audience as an opportunity to reach out. I'm not suggesting that random employees get on the board and wing it, but that someone from their communications branch be appointed to provide approved text.

 

Oh well, communications isn't one of their strong points, even at the best of times, so I guess I'm not really surprised.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Fouremco

[PTC DAWG]

This thread proves you can’t please everyone, period.

 

I was to be sailing March 29...it was not to be. Took the refund, will sail again ASAP..have The Equinox booked this September...I hope my Wife and I are on board..

Edited March 17, 2020 by PTC DAWG

[hvbaskey]

1 hour ago, Argo. said:

The problem from my perspective is the lack of clarity in Celebrity's explanations.

We just disembarked from Silhouette March 15th.

There have been two confirmed cases in Ontario Canada of an infected passenger on Summit and Silhouette in previous sailings. Celebrity has yet to inform us that we may have been put at risk.  We were notified by our provincial health agency that we may have been in contact with crew members or other passengers on our sailing.  Not a peep from Celebrity.

 

I have preached to others how much I LOVE Celebrity - for the past 7 years, in fact.  Not sailing any other line, not even ships within the RCL group fleet.

 

But THIS?  during a global pandemic crisis that is escalating every hour / every day?

 

When all of this is over, I will look at how each individual cruise line responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic.   Some have risen above the others.  Some have not.

Edited March 17, 2020 by hvbaskey

[dkjretired]

31 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

 I see your point. Nevertheless, when you consider that this board is a major source of information about Celebrity for thousands of its most loyal customers, in this day and age I would have thought that Celebrity would have taken full advantage of this audience as an opportunity to reach out. I'm not suggesting that random employees get on the board and wing it, but that someone from their communications branch be appointed to provide approved text.

 

Oh well, communications isn't one of their strong points, even at the best of times, so I guess I'm not really surprised.

 

That was done, especially  about two years ago, there was an excellent person who came on board and actually answered questions but it stopped after a few months and they went back to canned answers.   

Edited March 17, 2020 by dkjretired

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, JuliaMS said:

When my cruise is canceled hours before sailing and I read about it on this forum 5 hours before they contact me or its on their web site that is Celebrity's fault and was avoidable. Celebrity had my day of travel contact info. Yet the first notice I got was an e-mail at 9:30 PM the night before boarding. Most people don't read e-mail while traveling and most people are not even on these message boards. We called and were told they didn't know what would happen and we should go to the port in the morning and someone would be there to help us. Then an hour later we got an e-mail not to go to the port.

We finally got a call that our flight by Celebrity would be rescheduled but no reschedule until later that night. We were eventually put on a flight that was much cheaper than what we originally paid, in 4 middle seats in different parts of the plane, and had to pay for upgrades to sit together. Not equivalent to what we had purchased. 2 of the 4 cabins in our group only got the e-mail. No text or call. 

***** happens. What matters is how you handle it. Cruisers already at destinations boarding the next day were not handled well. I was on the Navigator cruise that was delayed and canceled due to the Houston oil spill. We were very happy with the notifications we received for that cruise (boarding delayed until 1am). When I started reading about the cancellations here we kept telling our friends "Don't worry, they will take care of us". As hours passed and no official word or anything on their web site they just got madder and madder.

 

 

The Press release was out by Royal Caribbean  at 3:00P.M cancelling all US cruises. Under the conditions that day I would have been checking my email every five minutes.   I'm sorry you missed your cruise but at some point reality has to come into the picture.   Sorry you were put in less than advantageous seat on a flight but you were not the only one in that position.   

[WonderMan3]

The cruise lines did not create this virus obviously. What people are criticizing is how they are responding to the situation. Things like...

 

1. Cruise lines being slow to implement stricter screening procedures like thermal scans once the Diamond Princess debacle occurred.

 

2. Cruise lines not shifting to virus protocols like they do for noro (no self-serve in buffet, no S&P shakers or menus, etc.) once it was known how this can transmit when people are asymptomatic.

 

3. Some cruise lines not allowing full refunds when THEY change the rules and restrict certain categories of people in reaction to the virus.

 

4. Cruise lines continuing sailings as normal and not doing any investigating for people with cold symptoms or even informing pax on board when positive corona cases emerged from prior sailings where the same crew and some B2B passengers were on board.

 

5. Cruise lines continuing to sail after government officials around the world were encouraging people to stay off cruise ships and after some ports were closing to cruise ships.

 

6. Cruise lines choosing to send out ships that would sail for a week or so, the same day that suspension of cruising orders came out.

 

7. Cruise lines choosing to bypass requests from disembarking port (San Juan) to allow temperature screenings of all passengers via the National Guard and instead sail to Florida to disembark where apparently they have more power and sway to avoid health reviews like that.

 

I'm sure there's more but that's off the top of my head...

Edited March 17, 2020 by WonderMan3

[ECCruise]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Oh no, sorry.  Didn't mean to be misleading.  I have no knowledge of what is allowed as it relates to CC.  I agree, I have seen on occasion, someone from a cruise line chime in on a board but it's NEVER, in my experience, been to give their side of the story.  There are just too many legalities involved.  A Q&A is one thing, but to get on line and share rationale or even decision making processes, would never be allowed by their corporate executives.  Every written or oral statement given would be subject to a law suit.  So they don't comment...even though I bet some would love to do so.

Except that the Azamara Social Media contact, Bonnie MacLaird, is on these boards frequently, with lots of interaction with pax.  The Celebrity contact that once was on here was nothing but a shill for =X= marketing.

[Quo Vadis?]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

 So they don't comment...even though I bet some would love to do so.

I wish to thank the state officials in Georgia for posting the threat on overhead signs as we drove through your state on Sunday.  There were references to seniors being at risk as well the risks of travel.  In Florida there seemed to be more cars going in than out.. not a clue about the dangers at this time.  Only in Georgia, not in Florida nor Tennessee, nor Ohio nor Michigan did there seem to be any concern.  As we crossed the border in Canada we were asked to isolate ourselves as a result of being on our cruise.

[sydbarrett]

Not blaming them for anything other than their lack of communication and outright withholding of information (confirmed COVID on the ship I was supposed to sail on the very next sailing and Celebrity outright denying it after it had been published by the Canadian government). Now they want to withhold my money because I cancelled a few hours before they decided to. I was at the port! They could be a little more reasonable and flexible at this time. I stuck by them until I was genuniely afraid of being trapped outside of my country or not being able to get a commercial flight. It does put a bad taste in your mouth when other cruise lines are being more forgiving.

[JuliaMS]

17 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

 

The Press release was out by Royal Caribbean  at 3:00P.M cancelling all US cruises. Under the conditions that day I would have been checking my email every five minutes.   I'm sorry you missed your cruise but at some point reality has to come into the picture.   Sorry you were put in less than advantageous seat on a flight but you were not the only one in that position.   

Well then they should have put it on their web site and e-maild people sailing the next day, texted the day of travel numbers they have. They chose not to until 9:30 PM. Also since the press release said "All US sailings" we were left trying to figure out that maybe we had not heard anything because they were not considering the Puerto Rico sailing a US sailing, otherwise why wouldn't they contact us in some way.

And they should reimburse me the ticket difference and cover the cost of my seat fee to sit together - the seats together were available, they just chose to save money and not seat us together.

Edited March 17, 2020 by JuliaMS