Inconsistent Celebrity on CDC guidance and bookings..................

[cruise wizard]

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Should we ask about her hair color?

 

This is not a blond story - just the TRUTH. I couldn't believe that the attendant said that.............I guess any excuse was better than the one that I later found out. That same plane had the same A/C problem on the previous flight.

[harkinmr]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

Hope springs eternal.  What they feel they can do safely in July to restart is different from what they hope to be able to do as conditions hopefully will improve. 

Except that "hope" does not provide an exemption to what's in the CSO.  Cruise lines aren't allowed to offer for sale any cruises longer than 7 days.  Other cruise lines removed those from sale, but Celebrity did not.  Not sure how they've been able to get away with it, but it surely is contra to the order.

[Arizona Wildcat]

9 minutes ago, sonnycruises said:

The CDC particularly the director is a bureaucrat of the highest order. They have done nothing since the paradigm shift created by the vaccine.

I think you need to look up the CURRENT director.  Trained at Washington University in St Louis, John's Hopkins and Harvard.  An respected expert in viruses - especially HIV.

 

[harkinmr]

4 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

I think you need to look up the CURRENT director.  Trained at Washington University in St Louis, John's Hopkins and Harvard.  An respected expert in viruses - especially HIV.

 

Oh come now.  She can't possibly be smarter and more well-versed than the armchair infectious disease experts we have here on CC.  😉

[Fouremco]

35 minutes ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

Celebrity nor my TA has informed me that our B2B2B in July and also in August are 'invalid' and that we have to cancel one of them because B2B is not allowed.  I booked these last year prior to the CDC No Sail Order.  Guess they want our final payments before they tell me this is not allowed and I have to cancel one of them 🤬🤬🤬

You could cancel the middle leg, stay at a hotel or resort for a week, and then re-embark for the final leg.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

You could cancel the middle leg, stay at a hotel or resort for a week, and then re-embark for the final leg.

That is our plan...great minds think alike 😄 but it's very frustrating that they already charged our final payment for the 2nd leg yet B2B is not allowed. 

[cruise wizard]

Maybe we should get back on topic...............the inconsistency of Celebrity's policy on bookings. You would think that the same policy of B2B's and cruises over 7 days (until 11/1/21) would be the same across the Royal Caribbean brands. This is very confusing for travel agents and clients.

[AstoriaPreppy]

3 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

How or why are they still selling cruises that are in violation of what they told us???????

If it makes you feel any better, NCL was selling Alaska sailings months after every other line canceled theirs.

I think most lines are processing cancelations on a rolling basis (a month or two at a time), so they aren't inundated with even more frustrated customers simultaneously.

So, there's sailings that legally wouldn't be approved under current regulations, but instead of canceling or removing from inventory, they're just leaving them be. 50k people with canceled cruises are much easier to process and deal with than 500k.

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

That is our plan...great minds think alike 😄 but it's very frustrating that they already charged our final payment for the 2nd leg yet B2B is not allowed. 

There are so many sources of cruising frustration these days. I just hope that by the time of our next booked cruise next March, many of these irritants will have been resolved. I hope that you enjoy all parts of your land and sea vacation!

[wrk2cruise]

So I guess we are doubly inconsistent 9/12 day Equinox B2B in Sept.   I believe they changed all 6/8 day itineraries in June/July to 7 days a few months ago but haven't done anything with August or later.

[cruise wizard]

5 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

If it makes you feel any better, NCL was selling Alaska sailings months after every other line canceled theirs.

I think most lines are processing cancelations on a rolling basis (a month or two at a time), so they aren't inundated with even more frustrated customers simultaneously.

So, there's sailings that legally wouldn't be approved under current regulations, but instead of canceling or removing from inventory, they're just leaving them be. 50k people with canceled cruises are much easier to process and deal with than 500k.

 

It doesn't make me feel any better - the deception makes me sick. Selling cruises that won't or can't sail is a shame - taking deposits is shameful.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

2 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

So I guess we are doubly inconsistent 9/12 day Equinox B2B in Sept.   I believe they changed all 6/8 day itineraries in June/July to 7 days a few months ago but haven't done anything with August or later.

Triply inconsistent when counting the fact they would not take the OP's final payment on the B2B but took mine. 

[sonnycruises]

37 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

I think you need to look up the CURRENT director.  Trained at Washington University in St Louis, John's Hopkins and Harvard.  An respected expert in viruses - especially HIV.

 

Actually I'm looking at the successful cruises that have been sailing for months in Europe and Asia. Academic achievement and job proficiency are mutually exclusive. Eg. droputs Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg....

[KWW88]

42 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

Oh come now.  She can't possibly be smarter and more well-versed than the armchair infectious disease experts we have here on CC.  😉

Yes and who needs Dr Fauci when we have the CC experts.  🥴

[nocl]

4 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

Everything is just so confusing. I hope for some clarity and consistency within the RCCL family.

They want to continue to receive bookings and down payments.  So they continue to list cruises that are unlikely to happen because it is not yet absolutely certain that they will not happen.

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, sonnycruises said:

Actually I'm looking at the successful cruises that have been sailing for months in Europe and Asia. Academic achievement and job proficiency are mutually exclusive. Eg. droputs Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg....

 

Tell that to the scientists who actually developed the vaccines. We wouldn't even be having this conversation without their contribution. But, nice try.

 

[Covepointcruiser]

Anyone trying to book a B2B this year should expect to be disappointed.   Everything is in flux and you will just be frustrated.   Book the cruise you would rather take and know it will not be the experience you had in the past.

[KWW88]

5 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Anyone trying to book a B2B this year should expect to be disappointed.   Everything is in flux and you will just be frustrated.   Book the cruise you would rather take and know it will not be the experience you had in the past.

I'm not cruising this year but if I were, I'd pick a cruise that ends in a city/country I would like to spend some time in as a land vacation.  Then I would jump on the next ship that pulls into port, if it had an itinerary that I liked.

[grandgeezer]

2 hours ago, sonnycruises said:

Actually I'm looking at the successful cruises that have been sailing for months in Europe and Asia. Academic achievement and job proficiency are mutually exclusive. Eg. droputs Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg....

The cruise lines wouldn’t last six months operating under the restrictions they are operating under now. The successful cruises operating now, are almost useless, when compared to the real world. The ones on Millennium would be closer to reality and give them something to work with.

[sanger727]

How can they still be selling a cruise in violation of what they are telling? The same way they spent the last year selling cruises that they couldn’t sail. As in last March/April, they don’t know what the situation will be a few months from now. Will July cruises sail? They don’t know. Will September cruises sail? They don’t know. Will a 11 day cruise sail before November? They don’t know. I wouldn’t at all interpret a sailing being available for booking as an indication that celebrity thinks the cruise would sail. 

[nocl]

4 hours ago, sonnycruises said:

Actually I'm looking at the successful cruises that have been sailing for months in Europe and Asia. Academic achievement and job proficiency are mutually exclusive. Eg. droputs Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg....

Lets see most of the 100,000 passengers that Richard Fain like to point out that have sailed have been on Royal ships in Singapore.  A country that has extremely few Covid cases.  The cruises have been short cruises to nowhere.  The rest have been on TUI cruises in Germany.  Also short cruises to nowhere.

 

The most successful line has been MSC that atleast has done cruises going to different ports.  Though I believe that they and Costa are not cruising at the moment due to the number of cases in Italy.

[srcur]

The B2B cancellations are damn annoying and are nothing to do with the CDC. They are purely RCCL policy.
 

I got a call last week from Celebrity saying that they were cancelling one of my B2B legs on the upcoming June Millenium sailings out of St. Maarten. What jurisdiction does the CDC have over St Maarten?

 

To make it even more annoying:

1) They are not offering any compensation other then a straight refund. If I wanted to cancel a fully paid cruise at 63 days out they would charge me 50% of the cruise fare so why no compensation?

2) Prices have gone up considerably since I booked and so even if we chose to rebook the second leg two weeks later it would cost considerably more.

3) They are blaming the CDC!

 

I understand that it may be in their best interests and MIGHT reduce the likelihood of having a case of COVID19 onboard which could damage the brand and the restart of cruising at a critical time but it also says little for their confidence in their own cruise bubble.

 

We are also booked with Crystal in July out of the Bahamas. No restrictions with B2Bs with them. In fact I was told that many of their guests on my sailings are booked for months in end.

 

Come on Celebrity, get your protocols set and be straight and upfront with the reasons, publishing them for all guests to be aware of before they book new sailings. Also properly compensate those that are impacted by these B2B cancellations.

 

Steve

[jelayne]

5 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

It doesn't make me feel any better - the deception makes me sick. Selling cruises that won't or can't sail is a shame - taking deposits is shameful.

It would be great if all the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed and the crystal ball was working so everyone ( cruise lines, ports, CDC , TAs  passengers) knew what things would be like in a month,  2 months or 6 months, but that’s not our world now.  The Covid cases drop and then surge,  cities, states countries open only to 

shut down, new variants emerge nothing is static.

We have cruises booked on X and other lines that couldn’t possibly sail today, some probably won’t sail but others probably will.  If I felt that  by selling these cruises or not cancelling them because they probably won’t be able to sail was deceptive or made me sick I would cancel the bookings and get my refunds.

No one if forcing people to make final payment or keep booking they don’t think will be sailing.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

6 hours ago, sonnycruises said:

Actually I'm looking at the successful cruises that have been sailing for months in Europe and Asia. Academic achievement and job proficiency are mutually exclusive. Eg. droputs Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg....

A truly silly comparison.  Are you suggesting the scientists at the CDC that has developed an mRNA cure for the Spanish Flu and were about to finish a cure for the Zika virus could have done their work without academic training?  That same team provided an antibody for coronavirus to the World in about 70 days.  Without their work the vaccine would likely still be under development.

PS - that same group will have the info needed for a booster later this year for variants.

I do like your idea and have decided to open do heart surgery to replace aortic valves.  PM me if interested. 

[cruiserchuck]

6 hours ago, sonnycruises said:

Actually I'm looking at the successful cruises that have been sailing for months in Europe and Asia. Academic achievement and job proficiency are mutually exclusive. Eg. droputs Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg....

 

If Bill Gates is so smart, home come a bunch of dumb people figured out he was placing microchips in COVID vaccines?