Celebrity Suspensions Extended (Merged Discussions)

[Host Anne]

6 hours ago, mchell810 said:

They conveniently waited until AFTER final payment would have been due for all October cruises before making the announcement. Thus, forcing people to cancel and settle for a FCC, or make the payment and give Celebrity a huge loan. 

 

If they cancelled your cruise, you are NOT cancelling and being forced to settle for an FCC.  Celebrity cancelled you and you can definitely get a full refund.  Ask you travel agent or if you booked directly with Celebrity, call Celebrity (don't know if wait times are still really long).

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

 

If they cancelled your cruise, you are NOT cancelling and being forced to settle for an FCC.  Celebrity cancelled you and you can definitely get a full refund.  Ask you travel agent or if you booked directly with Celebrity, call Celebrity (don't know if wait times are still really long).

I think that you are both on the same page. @mchell810 is saying is that with the delay in announcing cancellations, passengers are forced into the choice of cancelling themselves and settling for FCCs or waiting for Celebrity to cancel, which results in the cruise line holding your funds for sometimes protracted lengths of time before making the refund. The latter constitutes "a huge loan". 

[The_Big_M]

"The health and safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit is our top priority. As we work with the CDC and others toward this shared goal, Royal Caribbean Group will be extending the suspension of sailings to include those departing on or before October 31, 2020, excluding sailings from China and Australia."

 

So apparently the health and safety of their guests, crew and community in China and Australia is not their top priority. Since they cancel cruises elsewhere due to that except in those locations. 

[Germancruiser]

I have two vouchers for FCC, due to two canceled cruises- one Cuanrd on X- I canceled- so there is no chance to get any money bag- fine with me. I do not plan any cruise for 2021- before the restart , whenever that will be.

I know now what crusiing is all about with the Pandemic still around. My short break on board Mein Schiff 2  was wonderful- and I felt very safe sailing with them. I booked, payed all 10 days before the sailing date- and so I will go on.

I hope the keep offering a few 7 nighters all through fall. I would  go again in a heartbeat.

Cruises to and from the US- that outlook is rather dire from todays point of view and considering that all cruise lines canceled all through October - even November.

 

[mchell810]

7 hours ago, kearney said:

I don't think they planned this....

 

5 hours ago, Welland said:

Suspended until October 31 excluding sailings  for China and Australia......from the Celebrity website. 

 

Australia and NZ closed their borders to international travelers and have long indicated that isn't changing in 2020.  Celebrity certainly could have cancelled the Australia and NZ cruises long ago (and should have IMHO).  Even now, they haven't included those cruises on the list of cancellations!

 

Thank you @Fouremco You summarized my point exactly. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by mchell810

[mikejt26]

11 hours ago, mchell810 said:

They conveniently waited until AFTER final payment would have been due for all October cruises before making the announcement. Thus, forcing people to cancel and settle for a FCC, or make the payment and give Celebrity a huge loan. 

Was your cruise early October? 
I booked direct with X for a cruise from 25th October . My final payment was not due until 29th August . 
I received an email from  X  with links to the three options ,FCC,Lift and shift ,full refund.  Clicking the refund link Took me to a page ,entered my details and the refund was confirmed . Advised it would be back in my account in 30- 45 days . 
 

In these times I thought that was okay as long as I get my deposit back ........

[JeanieC,Aston]

Hi

My cruise for 22nd October Is cancelled,,my final payment was due on 27th August.

Took my £300 deposit as FCC.

[mchell810]

11 hours ago, mikejt26 said:

Was your cruise early October? 
I booked direct with X for a cruise from 25th October . My final payment was not due until 29th August . 
I received an email from  X  with links to the three options ,FCC,Lift and shift ,full refund.  Clicking the refund link Took me to a page ,entered my details and the refund was confirmed . Advised it would be back in my account in 30- 45 days . 
 

In these times I thought that was okay as long as I get my deposit back ........

 

My cruise was Oct. 28th.  I booked directly with Celebrity and the final payment date was July 30th. 

 

Celebrity is still excluding Australian cruises; I have no clue why, but I am done worrying about it.  I'll wait for the FCC and if I never use it I will get over it.  It's a loss, but not a painful one.  I simply don't like the tack-ticks Celebrity is employing.  I understand the slow roll out of cancellations so that they are more manageable, but not when it's designed to hurt customers.  Others may disagree, but this is how I see it.

 

 

[D C]

3 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

My cruise for 22nd October Is cancelled,,my final payment was due on 27th August.

Took my £300 deposit as FCC.

 

Can that be applied to an already-booked future cruise?  

[mikkelhansen]

This is weird. I found this 1-page flyer on Celebrity's TA-oriented website. There was no further description, and the title for the flyer simply reads: "SHORT CARIBBEAN ITINERARIES AVAILABLE".

Should that be interpreted as these being the only Caribbean cruises planned to be sailing for the upcoming Winter season, specifically January and Febraury? If so, things will definitely get messy at Celebrity, when this is officially announced. And why would they choose Infinity, which is currently in the Mediterranean - why not Equinox, which is already in the Caribbean?

This flyer confuses me more than it clears up for me.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/CEL_Quick_Caribbean_Escape_5Nights_Flyer.pdf

Edited August 6, 2020 by mikkelhansen

[jelayne]

56 minutes ago, mikkelhansen said:

This is weird. I found this 1-page flyer on Celebrity's TA-oriented website. There was no further description, and the title for the flyer simply reads: "SHORT CARIBBEAN ITINERARIES AVAILABLE".

Should that be interpreted as these being the only Caribbean cruises planned to be sailing for the upcoming Winter season, specifically January and Febraury? If so, things will definitely get messy at Celebrity, when this is officially announced. And why would they choose Infinity, which is currently in the Mediterranean - why not Equinox, which is already in the Caribbean?

This flyer confuses me more than it clears up for me.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/CEL_Quick_Caribbean_Escape_5Nights_Flyer.pdf

 

Looks like just a marketing flyer.  Most of these cruises have been available for some time.  The February 27 is a recent addition, due to a charter moving to 2022,  The thing I find interesting that most of these sailing are on the Infinity and yesterday they cancelled the November westbound TA for the Infinity.  

[mikkelhansen]

3 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The thing I find interesting that most of these sailing are on the Infinity and yesterday they cancelled the November westbound TA for the Infinity.  

Exactly my point - why not do some marketing on a ship "guaranteed" to physically be able to sail the Caribbean from January, for example Equinox?

On the positive side, this flyer could indicate that at least some of the repositioning cruises will take place, either instead of other November/December sailings or simply without passengers onboard around the originally scheduled dates.

We're waiting anxiously for news about Apex' destiny for the upcoming season - we are supposed to sail on her in April 2021, and still have a hope it will happen. But things change, if not weekly then at least monthly currently. And not for the better...

[Algebralovr]

6 minutes ago, jelayne said:

 

Looks like just a marketing flyer.  Most of these cruises have been available for some time.  The February 27 is a recent addition, due to a charter moving to 2022,  The thing I find interesting that most of these sailing are on the Infinity and yesterday they cancelled the November westbound TA for the Infinity.  

My guess is that Infinity is hanging out and waiting because she will be used to bring crew back.  If the crew is picked up by Infinity, then they save a pile of cash on airfare, plus they have a guaranteed quarantine.  

[jelayne]

That could be or they could just leave the Apex, Connie & Infinity in place until the spring season next year.  
 

it has been reported on other threads that during a panel discussion yesterday a Celebrity representative stated that they do not plan to send any ships to Asia in 2021.  .  They cancelled the September Eclipse and Millennium TPS and this the Asia sailings for Oct were cancelled this week. 
 So if they don’t send those  ships to Asia they could move from the west coast to cover some of the winter booking on the Infinity, Connie & Aprx. 

[hcat]

20 hours ago, Host Anne said:

 

If they cancelled your cruise, you are NOT cancelling and being forced to settle for an FCC.  Celebrity cancelled you and you can definitely get a full refund.  Ask you travel agent or if you booked directly with Celebrity, call Celebrity (don't know if wait times are still really long).

 

True, you do get a full refund, (eventually), if Celebrity cancels, but it takes  quite awhile.   The refund  is sometimes in the wrong amount, sent to the wrong person in a cabin &  comes in inexplicable amounts  that the reps can't  themselves figure out sometimes,( see refund tracker merged thread)

 

 

Folks making final payment ( no real choice other than a FCC) are effectively floating Celebrity a large loan in the amount of  the  fully paid cruise. 

 

We were booked on one of the first cancelled cruises on Summit. We were nervous and worn down waiting for answers.  Felt we had little choice so we cancelled under the first Cancellation program, We did  a percentage of our money back eventually,  plus a very large FCC we may not ever be able to use. Kind of felt maneuvered,...wiser now!

[mikkelhansen]

DISCLAIMER: NOTHING HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED BY CELEBRITY/RC GROUP YET! All November/December 2020 sailings are still bookable on celebrity.com and with TAs, and most sailings have vacant staterooms in all categories.

 

HOWEVER; I don't hope the new base price promotion starting today (free Classic Beverage Package) is a "premature indicator" of anything, although I fear it may be:

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Special_Offers/CEL_Book_Now_Bonus_Ends_Sept15.pdf

Eligible for sailings departing: January 1, 2021 – May 4, 2022.

The "Dream Big" sale which ended yesterday was for sailings departing November 2, 2020 - May 4, 2022, so the new promotion has a different sailings interval.

 

The last extension of suspended sailing was announced on August 3, which was the first working day of August. So any further extension (for example, as I suspect, for the rest of 2020) could be announced later today or within the next few days. I would expect any announcement to be during the first three days of any week, not on Fridays, leading up to a weekend.

I suppose it would make sense to make a "clean cut" and cancel the rest of 2020, like some other cruise lines have already done.

[gerelmx]

And the L&S program is extended?
And can cruises to Europe in 2021 be moved to 2022?

[jelayne]

6 hours ago, mikkelhansen said:

DISCLAIMER: NOTHING HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED BY CELEBRITY/RC GROUP YET! All November/December 2020 sailings are still bookable on celebrity.com and with TAs, and most sailings have vacant staterooms in all categories.

 

HOWEVER; I don't hope the new base price promotion starting today (free Classic Beverage Package) is a "premature indicator" of anything, although I fear it may be:

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Special_Offers/CEL_Book_Now_Bonus_Ends_Sept15.pdf

Eligible for sailings departing: January 1, 2021 – May 4, 2022.

The "Dream Big" sale which ended yesterday was for sailings departing November 2, 2020 - May 4, 2022, so the new promotion has a different sailings interval.

 

The last extension of suspended sailing was announced on August 3, which was the first working day of August. So any further extension (for example, as I suspect, for the rest of 2020) could be announced later today or within the next few days. I would expect any announcement to be during the first three days of any week, not on Fridays, leading up to a weekend.

I suppose it would make sense to make a "clean cut" and cancel the rest of 2020, like some other cruise lines have already done.

In the past few months announcements in the US have been on Tuesday, June 2  Thursday June 11, Wednesday August 5, and Wednesday August 26.  So no real pattern.  

[mikkelhansen]

51 minutes ago, jelayne said:

In the past few months announcements in the US have been on Tuesday, June 2  Thursday June 11, Wednesday August 5, and Wednesday August 26.  So no real pattern.  

I believe the "big" suspension announcements (full month/months) have generally been in the start of the months. IIRC, the August 26 was "just" a few AUS sailings, and the June 11 was -- Denmark/Baltic cruises, I think?

Edited September 2, 2020 by mikkelhansen

[C-Dragons]

16 hours ago, jelayne said:

In the past few months announcements in the US have been on Tuesday, June 2  Thursday June 11, Wednesday August 5, and Wednesday August 26.  So no real pattern.  

Agreed.