What to do about final payment - due November 21 for 9 night Feb 19 cruise?

[mouseRD]

My understanding when cruises resume they all have to be 7 days or under initially.  We haven't had any notice of our 9 night cruise being cancelled so what is going on since when I looked up this cruise, it is still for sale as booked, a 9 night cruise!  We had been thinking it would be cancelled.  So now the decision about whether to cancel, make final payment (knowing that the cruise will likely not be what we are paying for), or take FCC when we already have cruise booked for 2022 (pre-Covid) so don't know now far out they will let us use it.  Also, prices seem to be way up from when we booked our cruise in Feb 2020 for Feb 2021.

[Fouremco]

Celebrity is in the habit of holding off on cancellations until after final payment, leaving customers like you with some tough decisions to make. Not a good way to treat people!

 

Have you considered the option of doing an L&S to 2022 and cancelling your other 2022 cruise? There are lots of factors to consider, but it does provide another possible avenue.

[lhsail]

My question would be what is your tolerance for the cruise line being in control?  We already have considerable $$ and OBC invested in Princess from a cancelled 60 day trip earlier this year.  Hoping to use that for the Med in September 2021, if not the Panama Canal in January 2022   I just did a L&S on a March 2021 Equinox cruise.  I'm not convinced it's going to be a "go", at least not as planned and checking the March 2022 prices felt the L&S was a no brainer.  We have several cruises booked for 2021 knowing full well that some of them probably won't sail.  About to add to that the Equinox on 8/15. But I will cancel before final payment if we're not comfortable the cruise will happen. 

[ScubesDad]

I won't recommend what you should do; however I will tell you what we recently did.

We had a 12 night round trip out of Fort Lauderdale (Mardi Gras) booked for February.  We were already quite sure we were not going to be sailing; however, we were waiting to see how things transpired.  Last week we did cancel, actually just moved the reservation to Oct 2021 out of Venice. The reasons we decided to do this: 1) we do not think any ships will be sailing in February given the recently released CDC guidelines, and if so it will be for something significantly less than 12 nights 2) the fiasco of the recent cruise out of Barbados which was indicative that more work needs to be done and certainly in a more restrictive framework 3) the restrictions , currently not specified yet, will probably be more than we will be willing to accept - because it would make the cruise less enjoyable, 4) we were not willing to accept the increase risk of paying the full balance and then trying to get a full refund, or being compelled to accept a FCC that may or may not be usable in the future.  Essentially we decided that the short term risk was greater than we were prepared to accept.

 

[middlehaitch]

Scubesdad, are you booked on the Oct 4 out of Venice, Constellation?

We are booked on the prior cruise ☺️.

You never know if the cruises sail we may get a chance to meet you both in Venice 🥂.

 

Sorry for going off topic, I got excited.

Cheers, h

[goldsmip115]

It is absolutely appalling that Celebrity has put you and so many of us in this horrible position.  It preys upon our hope for a cruise vs our need for straightforward and honest communication from loyal customers.  All of this is kicked to the curb with a kick in the ass to make our final payment to give them cash flow and put us at the mercy of FCC’S which may or may not be used based upon their parameters or hoping for the ephemeral refund.  I get that this industry is in a horrible state of flux.  That does not negate the obligation to do the right thing by their loyal customers.  I simply DOES NOT!

[HS2BS]

We are in the same boat, so to speak, booking for the Reflection 1/25/21 & 2/5/21 are completely paid for. L&s only goes to the Constellation in 22 when the EQUINOX has a12 day on 1/30/21 and a 9 day following that.

Unless you want another or have the need for more fcc’s,STOP AND THINK, WHY WOULD YOU GIVE CELEBRITY ANY MORE MONEY?.

Both our cruises were booked with only deposit monies(Celebrity even had to return part of our deposit as fcc was more then outstanding balance) and the rest with fccs that we received from the four cruises cancelled by Celebrity. Are you in that situation?

Everyone is aware that the cdc says no cruise over seven days, and almost all other cruise lines have let their loyal customers know what is happening - communications really matters.

 

Hal

[Cruise a holic]

Cancel, agree, that why give Celebrity any more money now.  Things could happen in a year or more making it either difficult or impossible for you to sail.  

 

Pay more when we can safely sail again.

[bluwes]

15 hours ago, ScubesDad said:

I won't recommend what you should do; however I will tell you what we recently did.

We had a 12 night round trip out of Fort Lauderdale (Mardi Gras) booked for February.  We were already quite sure we were not going to be sailing; however, we were waiting to see how things transpired.  Last week we did cancel, actually just moved the reservation to Oct 2021 out of Venice. The reasons we decided to do this: 1) we do not think any ships will be sailing in February given the recently released CDC guidelines, and if so it will be for something significantly less than 12 nights 2) the fiasco of the recent cruise out of Barbados which was indicative that more work needs to be done and certainly in a more restrictive framework 3) the restrictions , currently not specified yet, will probably be more than we will be willing to accept - because it would make the cruise less enjoyable, 4) we were not willing to accept the increase risk of paying the full balance and then trying to get a full refund, or being compelled to accept a FCC that may or may not be usable in the future.  Essentially we decided that the short term risk was greater than we were prepared to accept.

 

We are still booked on that sailing. However having just cancelled our separately booked BA flights from the UK to Miami, it’s only a matter of time before we cancel the cruise, especially now Mardi Gras is not going ahead.

We have FFC for our Reflection  ABC’s sailing from last Easter. We also lifted and shifted our August Fjords sailing to next summer. 
Was  looking to February/ March 2022 on The Edge that had our missed ABC’s intinerary, just as they go an cancel that. Don’t think we’re destined to ever get there !!

[ScubesDad]

12 hours ago, middlehaitch said:

Scubesdad, are you booked on the Oct 4 out of Venice, Constellation?

We are booked on the prior cruise ☺️.

You never know if the cruises sail we may get a chance to meet you both in Venice 🥂.

 

Sorry for going off topic, I got excited.

Cheers, h

Yes we are.  However, at the pricepoint for the cruise (S2) unless the price comes down it probably won't happen.  We can do a land trip for about 20 days without compromising on the quality of the experience.  we have travelled in Italy and their train system is very good.  time will tell.

Yes it would be fantastic to meet up.

 

Cheers, C

[ChucktownSteve]

Isn't Celebrity doing the cancelled cruises at prevailing rates?  I would consider doing a lift and shift asap before it expires the end of the month, if possible, assuming you still want to sail.  We were after final payment for our Jan 2021 so we're supposedly price protected for the new February 2022 but the cruise is paid in full for over a year from now.  Good thing we did the L&S because the current price is more than double what we booked it for five months ago. I wouldn't do it at prevailing rates

 

So do you want to tie your money up and sail or get your money refunded?  You're the only one who can answer that question.  But I wouldn't wait for them to cancel your cruise before you decide