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

[Caper94]

7 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

We have a 14 day August TA on Summit.  It obviously cannot happen.  Celebrity said it was still on because Halifax was in Nova Scotia - not Canada.

Looking for clarity and good info?  The cruise industry is making decisions on the fly.  Often totally nonsense and contradictory.

Hi Nova Scotia is a Province in Canada 🇨🇦 

[sonnycruises]

😂

Edited April 12, 2021 by sonnycruises
Wrong thread.

[KWW88]

16 minutes ago, Caper94 said:

Hi Nova Scotia is a Province in Canada 🇨🇦 

It used to be, but Celebrity moved it to Australia

Edited April 12, 2021 by KWW88

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

On 4/11/2021 at 11:15 AM, cruise wizard said:

We were having our TA to make our final payment on our Edge sailing of 7/10, which was the second half of our booked B2B with the 7/3 cruise. He was told that Celebrity was cancelling the 7/10 in that it violated the CDC guidelines that prohibits B2B's and cruises longer than 7 days. "X" said because it was their fault that we would get our deposit back. OK - nice that they didn't catch that and let us or our TA know sooner.

 

I thought that I would look to do a side-to-side - so I looked at what was available out of Fort Lauderdale - nothing worked. I am thinking that our 7/3 won't sail so I looked at something for September and I found a nice Edge on 9/18 - stay a day in FLL and then go on Equinox on 9/26............perfect!!!! Well - here is the inconsistency...............the Equinox is a 12 night cruise. Celebrity is still offering 9 & 11 night cruises on the Equinox starting on 8/15 through 10/8 - way before the 11/1 deadline. How or why are they still selling cruises that are in violation of what they told us???????

FWIW - I contacted my TA regarding this and she was told by Celebrity the only back to back bans they currently have is for the Millenium sailings from St. Maarten.  So...once again...inconsistency.

[lyndarra]

20 hours ago, KWW88 said:

It used to be, but Celebrity moved it to Australia

Nah. It was Austria.

[Bruin Steve]

I am getting the feeling that many customers are getting the answer "no back-to-backs" while others are being booked in back-to-backs.  If that may be the case, my advice would be to call at least a couple of times until someone gives you the answer you want.  This is not the first issue in the history of cruising where different reps give different responses.

 

I am guessing the official word they have been given is to not book back-to-backs...

HOWEVER, everyone, including Celebrity, has to realize that things are constantly changing.  More and more people are getting vaccinated.  "Numbers" go both up and down...but, eventually, will come down.  Guidelines from the CDC, Rules and regulations and travel bans imposed by various countries WILL change.  Even when they give dates, those dates are always subject to change

 

Especially if your cruise is still some months off, by the time it happens, that back-to-back ban--if it really exists--may be lifted.  So, I am guessing that, at some point, a lot of people are going to be ticked off...because Celebrity wouldn't let them book that back-to-back when they wanted, but a month or two later, they might be openly marketing back-to-backs.

 

If I had two cruises and was denied a back-to-back...and ended up taking a refund on one...and booking airfare and other arrangements around the other, I would probably be STEAMING mad at the point where they changed the rule...OTOH, what is Celebrity to do?  Sort of a Catch-22 if they are advised not to allow back to backs and did it anyway, then had to cancel people last minute--after they made all the associated plans...but, if they say no and later change, customers will be mad...They are in a bad spot--no way to win this one.

 

For cruise customers--Keep your options as open as possible...Make all reservations, including airfare, REFUNDABLE...Be prepared for changes.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Bruin Steve

[Host Jazzbeau]

I agree that flexibility is key at this point.  After all, if you are only able to book a B2B after calling several times – don't you think there's a good chance that either a supervisor or the computer will cancel your booking?

[Ken the cruiser]

On 4/11/2021 at 2:05 PM, 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 🤬🤬🤬

I believe you have something there. We also have a B2B2B booked on the Edge on 7/17, 7/24 and 7/31. When we heard B2Bs may not happen a few weeks ago, based on X's current no B2B policy with all of their new non US sailings, we developed a Plan B which in theory will still allow us 21 days of cruising IF the Equinox is also cleared to sail.

 

Basically, we booked the 8/8 Equinox 7 day cruise and will cancel the 7/24 Edge cruise, if deemed necessary because no B2Bs when FP is due. This way we go on the first Edge cruise, drive home and then back to Ft Lauderdale to get on the 7/31 Edge cruise. Then we spend 8/7 in a hotel and board the Equinox on 8/8. 

 

Hey, like everyone else we just want to go on a cruise and 7 days just isn't going to cut it for us.

 

BTW thanks @cruise wizardfor starting this thread which unfortunately is confirming what we were thinking was going to happen.

 

As an additional note, since our 3 Edge cruises have NRDs, our X PVP told us not to make the final payment when each one is due. Reason being we're only going to get FCCs anyway, regardless of whether the cruises go or are eventually canceled. He said if he hears the cruises will actually go, he'll let us know and we can make the final payment then. Not sure we could do this if we booked through a TA.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Miaminice]

On 4/12/2021 at 2:44 AM, nocl said:

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.

 

Nope, the number Fain keeps mentioning - even before Singapore - are indeed the TUI Cruises sailings... or at least the majority of them (around 75,000).
And they are neither short nor cruises to nowhere! The 3/4 night cruises to nowhere were the sailings they started with in summer 2020. After a few weeks - in August/September 2020 - they switched to Greece, Canary Islands etc. - up to 14 days with stops and excursions. MSC started much later... So your info is more than just outdated.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Miaminice

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

11 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As an additional note, since our 3 Edge cruises have NRDs, our X PVP told us not to make the final payment when each one is due. Reason being we're only going to get FCCs anyway, regardless of whether the cruises go or are eventually canceled. He said if he hears the cruises will actually go, he'll let us know and we can make the final payment then. Not sure we could do this if we booked through a TA.

I thought if final payment is not made, the cruise booking gets cancelled and the deposit is forfeited.  How is your booking staying active past final payment date? Is your X PVP extending your final payment due date?

[cruise wizard]

11 minutes ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

I thought if final payment is not made, the cruise booking gets cancelled and the deposit is forfeited.  How is your booking staying active past final payment date? Is your X PVP extending your final payment due date?

 

Good question!!! I was hoping that Royal and "X" would move back the final payment date to 45 days prior to the cruise. Seems fair to me.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

1 minute ago, cruise wizard said:

 

Good question!!! I was hoping that Royal and "X" would move back the final payment date to 45 days prior to the cruise. Seems fair to me.

Our final payment dates are 90 days for X PVP and 104 days for our TA.  45 days would work great since most, if not all, suspensions/cancellations have been less than 90 days prior to sailing. May cruises were cancelled on 3/9 and June cruises were cancelled on 4/8.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

I thought if final payment is not made, the cruise booking gets cancelled and the deposit is forfeited.  How is your booking staying active past final payment date? Is your X PVP extending your final payment due date?

 

1 hour ago, cruise wizard said:

 

Good question!!! I was hoping that Royal and "X" would move back the final payment date to 45 days prior to the cruise. Seems fair to me.

 

It has to do with the following Cruise With Confidence NRD stipulation. But, he also said once CWC is no longer in effect and we're all cruising again, the original policy goes back into effect.

 

• Nonrefundable Deposit Bookings: If canceled outside of penalty, the full deposit amount will be returned (without penalty) in the form of an FCC. If canceled within any phase of penalty, the cruise fare including full deposit (without penalty) will be issued as an FCC.

[HskrCrsr]

10 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

 

It has to do with the following Cruise With Confidence NRD stipulation. But, he also said once CWC is no longer in effect and we're all cruising again, the original policy goes back into effect.

 

• Nonrefundable Deposit Bookings: If canceled outside of penalty, the full deposit amount will be returned (without penalty) in the form of an FCC. If canceled within any phase of penalty, the cruise fare including full deposit (without penalty) will be issued as an FCC.

 

Interesting. I do find this statement on the CWC page:

Do standard Final Payment timelines still apply?

Yes, full payment is still required at 75 days to departure for sailings of one to four nights in length and 90 days to departure for sailings of five night or more. For guests residing in the UK and Ireland, full payment is required at 57 days prior to departure.

I may be missing something, of course.

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

2 minutes ago, HskrCrsr said:

 

Interesting. I do find this statement on the CWC page:

Do standard Final Payment timelines still apply?

Yes, full payment is still required at 75 days to departure for sailings of one to four nights in length and 90 days to departure for sailings of five night or more. For guests residing in the UK and Ireland, full payment is required at 57 days prior to departure.

I may be missing something, of course.

I must be missing something too because the final payments on cruises I booked with NRD and under the CWC policy still required 90 days prior.

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, LuvCruzn4Evr said:

I must be missing something too because the final payments on cruises I booked with NRD and under the CWC policy still required 90 days prior.

 

10 minutes ago, HskrCrsr said:

 

Interesting. I do find this statement on the CWC page:

Do standard Final Payment timelines still apply?

Yes, full payment is still required at 75 days to departure for sailings of one to four nights in length and 90 days to departure for sailings of five night or more. For guests residing in the UK and Ireland, full payment is required at 57 days prior to departure.

I may be missing something, of course.

 

From what I'm reading, 90 days is still applicable as long as the cruise is 5 or more days and you're not residing in the UK or Ireland.

[sonnycruises]

On 4/11/2021 at 4:33 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

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. 

Nothing is 100%.

[ScubesDad]

On 4/11/2021 at 8:44 PM, nocl said:

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. 

Very poor example.  the ships sailing out of Singapore are for Singapore residents only solely because they have a very low infection rate. If you are not a resident of Singapore you cannot enter Singapore.