Celebrity Canceled Our 2021 Cruise Without Notice

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, Gracie115 said:

How crazy!!  I've never heard of a 31 day hold...may have to ask the CVP we work with about that next time we decide to hold something!! 

 

The hold actually expired on 8/31/2020 which I believe is the way they implemented booking a new cruise without a deposit while you waited for your FCC to be issued for a suspended cruise.

 

I put a cruise on hold on 8/31 and the hold was good for a week without dealing with anyone in person.  Back when the hold was only 24hrs I would routinely get it extended by a few days to work out details with my TA.

[bigbenboys]

12 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Mmmhh, the OP never mentioned the actual category of stateroom- - just suite.

What‘s the downgrade? S1 to S2 (oh horror 🤣)? 
Did the OP originally pay for it or was it a free one category upgrade anyway?

One category only goes to Aqua class. 

[Baron Barracuda]

Given X admitted mistake was theirs, any chance of negotiating to have that $1k OBC classified as refundable.  At least then if not used it gets credited back to your cc at end of sailing.

[Miaminice]

1 hour ago, bigbenboys said:

One category only goes to Aqua class. 

Only since recently!

If booked a while ago, it went to suites as well.

We have three cruises booked where we received it for S1 (paying for S2).

Edited September 4, 2020 by Miaminice

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, Miaminice said:

We have three cruises booked where we received it for S1 (paying for S2).

 

You have been very lucky.  It's never been in the policy.  I did get it one time when offered by a Captains Club rep.  I just kept my mouth shut.  Even C1 is not a category upgrade from C2.

[JL87]

Same thing happened to me. I had a 6/20 cruise to Alaska that I cancelled before Celebrity did through my TA. We then transferred the deposit over to a 1/21 cruise. I was told this was perfectly fine though I wasn't 100% sure so I kept track of the reservation myself. I normally check my cruise cost on a fairly regular basis doing a mock booking, particularly when new promotions appear. First time I checked our assigned cabins were available for booking. I contacted our TA and everything was made right and the cabins were once again assigned to us. Checked again in a month or so and our cabins were again available for booking. I contacted our TA and he wasn't sure what happened. He said he figured out the problem and had the cabins reassigned to us. Three cabins for a family trip. No problem since then. I'm not sure what the problem was but he fixed it. Now, I'm looking into transferring the deposits as FCC to another cruise booked in 2022. I seriously doubt we'll be going on this cruise in 1/21.  

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Only since recently!

If booked a while ago, it went to suites as well.

We have three cruises booked where we received it for S1 (paying for S2).

 I wish I had your luck.  We booked our first Suite 6 years ago and have never gotten a one category upgrade, even tried searching the X site hoping to find the 1 category upgrade applied to suites- no luck.

 

The OP said they booked a suite with all 4 Perks and Unlimited specialty dining.  That indicates they had a RS or higher, clearly not 1 Category upgrade eligible 😂 

[Miaminice]

28 minutes ago, jelayne said:

 

The OP said they booked a suite with all 4 Perks and Unlimited specialty dining.  That indicates they had a RS or higher, clearly not 1 Category upgrade eligible 😂 

Sorry! to disagree! All our three (upgraded)  S1 bookings include all perks. 

 
These are our 6th bookings in suites (usually do AQ) and there was never even a discussion about the one category upgrade. So I never even wondered if suites were included or not. 
 

BTW: even on a cruise you are also on (Eclipse Asia)

Edited September 4, 2020 by Miaminice

[cruisestitch]

For future reference

 

Because this gets asked so often I've compiled a list of things to spend OBC on. The only thing I know of now that you CAN'T buy with OBC is a deposit on a Future Cruise. Otherwise, here you go:

 

 

Acupuncture

Airport transfers

Alcove Rental (some ships)

Apple products etc. and Ilounge classes

Art Auctions

Babysitting

Barber Shop services (Edge only)

Beverages -- Alcoholic, carbonated soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas, bottled water

Bingo

Bottles of wine

Casino

Chef’s Table

Duty free liquor and cigarettes

Extra cost entrees and other items in Main Dining Room and specialty restaurants

Extend Your Stay program

Fitness classes

Flowers

Gelato

Gift shop souvenirs, purses, cosmetics, clothing, jewelry, etc.

Gratuities, and extra gratuities

Guests dining with you in Luminae (applies to Suite Passengers only)

Guest entertainers' CD's and DVD's

Hair and nail salon

Hollywood hot glass experiences (some ships)

Internet

Laundry/pressing/drycleaning

Luggage Valet

Martini Flights

Medical Center purchases (but not treatments)

Mini bar

Portrait photo sessions

Pay-per-view movies

Persian Gardens passes

Personal Training Sessions

Photos & cameras

Room service up charge items, and late night delivery fee

Shore Excursions

Shuttle to town (some ports)

Spa -- massages and treatments

Specialty restaurants

Teeth Whitening

Telephone calls using ship's system

Transfer to another passenger's account

Voyage in Review DVD

Wine and liquor tastings

Zumba

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, Miaminice said:

Sorry! to disagree! All our three (upgraded)  S1 bookings include all perks. 

 
These are our 6th bookings in suites (usually do AQ) and there was never even a discussion about the one category upgrade. So I never even wondered if suites were included or not. 
 

BTW: even on a cruise you are also on (Eclipse Asia)

Not sure what your disagreeing with. My point was the OP Said they booked a higher end suite, had the 4 perks which is the norm these days AND unlimited specialty dining.   Unlimited Speciality dining is a amenity of Royal Suites and above, 
 

BTW: I realize we are on the same sailing, if it happens we will see you in Luminae  😊 

[ggo85]

OP back. To answer questions, we have status in Captain’s Club. We booked a RS, as we always do. Celebrity admitted fault.  None of the foregoing seemed to make a difference.  There was a distinct lack of empathy or interest in thinking creatively to make things better, which is especially disappointing in the current environment. 
 

Yes, an RS might open up in the future but we don’t want to wait and worry for months and lose out on other options.  We book early for a reason. 
 

So you know how this story ends . . . We talked to the travel agent today and are moving to Silversea.  Similar itinerary.  Will cost us more but worth a try.  I realize it’s still an RCCL line - maybe a better experience than X, maybe not. Time will tell. 
 

My sincere best wishes to all who continue to sail X - and here’s hoping we’re all back at sea very soon!
 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by ggo85

[phoenix_dream]

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Sorry! to disagree! All our three (upgraded)  S1 bookings include all perks. 

 
These are our 6th bookings in suites (usually do AQ) and there was never even a discussion about the one category upgrade. So I never even wondered if suites were included or not. 
 

BTW: even on a cruise you are also on (Eclipse Asia)

The unlimited specialty dining never comes with Sky Suites (unless by chance you have a TA that threw that in, but I don't know of any who do that).  As to the other four perks, yes, in most cases they do come with all suites.

[hcat]

I think OP  did the right thing to get a refund and go elsewhere.

 

X goofed on its end  but you should have followed your res or  sent it to a TA.  Perhaos TA might have bargained better.

 

(We check our ressies every week...easy now, we only have 2)  Too late now to fix it  

 

X  could care less about giving you a lift and shift experience to a future cruise..same ship, perks and price ..Not happening..so walk away is the right move. 

 

Enjoy Silversea..much classier!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by hcat

[HS2BS]

This is a situation that if booked thru your travel agent instead of directly with Celebrity might never have happened. Lesson learned - always use an agent!
We have had five different Celebrity cruises cancelled this year, and only on one did we take the 125%. Travel agent was able to use the untire amount toward an existing booking by just using the old booking number(no waiting for the fcc). 

 

Hal

[Miaminice]

6 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

The unlimited specialty dining never comes with Sky Suites

@jelayne

Correct! I overread the unlimited specialty dining part - my bad. I was focused on the perks which all came with Sky Suites as well.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Miaminice

[GlobalMethod]

On 9/3/2020 at 11:11 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

There is going to be so much demand for cruises when they start sailing and so much FCC available, it would be difficult to get the suite or cabin we prefer if we waited until the funding was available.

We took cash on our cancelled cruises as the basic cruising experience seems to have become unstable in many ways.

 

As you indicate, this is basically a supply and demand issue, particularly as cruising starts to resume. The cruise lines are purposely reducing supply to firm up pricing per cabin with cabin numbers reduced along with on board population.

 

I believe we will probably wait until the 2nd quarter 0f 2021 to seriously consider cruising again, as much as we miss the experiences. Some stability and consistency must be demonstrated by the industry in their policies and procedures.

Edited September 5, 2020 by GlobalMethod
typo

[mayleeman]

OP says they forgot to transfer the booking to a TA after it was made. I do think that X should be willing to put them into a comparable suite, but it does show how closer attention by a customer can help correct mistakes. I wonder if this was caught sooner if a RS would have been available and offered.

Edited September 5, 2020 by mayleeman

[The_Big_M]

On 9/5/2020 at 1:22 AM, phoenix_dream said:

Considering these are people who are booking the highest level suites, I disagree.  Celebrity is all about the suites these days, and especially suites at that level.  If it were a different class of cabin, I would agree with you.  In this instance, not.  I think they in fact would go out of their way to make them happy because of the type of customers they are regardless of who was at fault.

 

I think your expectations of Celebrity are too high. Even in a suite, they're not going to offer you freebies like this if you've made a mistake.

[Blackduck59]

Well call me cynical, interesting wording on the OP. "We book the higher suite class" implies that they are frequent suite guests, but not necessarily. They talk about a cabin class but not what cabin class they booked. To me dismissing $1,000.00 in on board credit is arrogant to say the least. Even with "all the perks" from being in a suite (perhaps for the first time) I could find a way to use that on board credit, especially if the excursions may be limited to Celebrity organized tours.

[Bo1953]

On 9/3/2020 at 4:55 PM, julia said:

$1000 OBC is NOT generous when there is NOTHING to spend it on! Shops, casino? No.  Excursions? Maybe. Everything else was already covered.

I find this situation appalling, and it's yet another example of Celebrity's lack of resolution. OP needs to cancel and walk away.  For good.

Actually, the OP would not have been in this situation, possibly, had they transferred the reservation upon making it.

 

It is quite possible that X would have contacted their TA, at least, if no payment of any sort was received.

 

While X shares some of the blame, IMO, not all of it...

 

bon voyage

[George C]

I like to gamble and 1000 once will give you 1100 in casino chips . I normally use my obc for chips, 

[julia]

3 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

 

 

While X shares some of the blame, IMO, not all of it...

 

bon voyage

Bo:

Yes, there is blame all around, but only X can make it right.  I understand they can't magically produce a penthouse or royal suite, but they needed to take extremely good care of a valued passenger.  They didn't, IMHO, and they lost the sale (sail, get it?, haha!).  Sigh.

[Bo1953]

7 hours ago, julia said:

Bo:

Yes, there is blame all around, but only X can make it right.  I understand they can't magically produce a penthouse or royal suite, but they needed to take extremely good care of a valued passenger.  They didn't, IMHO, and they lost the sale (sail, get it?, haha!).  Sigh.

j - thank you and I can agree with you to a great extent, yet when any of us decide that we want to be our own TA, then it is up to us to constantly and consistently monitor our reservations and 'be completely sure' that we understand the policies in place earlier rather than later in the process.

 

As the OP posted they forgot to transfer the reservation to their TA timely, so the oneness falls on the OP to be on top of things until transferred appropriately, which was too late based on the info they provided.

 

Then the TA would have been in the hot seat over this.

 

Be that as it may, this does not mean that the TA would not have missed it either, but could have been mitigated sooner, possibly?

 

Is it possible that the OP did receive an email and just did not see it? I will side with the OP on this one, as often there has been posts here about X's computer system(s) and related IT issues.

 

bon voyage