Any Updates on the Infinity?

[stickey_mouse]

Question: what did the Infinity's fall itinerary used to look like? I get the impression that some of the Iberian itineraries are new, given the low amount of bookings and the lack of established roll calls in these boards. 

[curmudgeon98]

6 hours ago, stickey_mouse said:

Question: what did the Infinity's fall itinerary used to look like? I get the impression that some of the Iberian itineraries are new, given the low amount of bookings and the lack of established roll calls in these boards. 

Interesting question.  I'm not sure that the itineraries are new in the sense of being added this year, but at the same time I don't remember Celebrity being an option when we did a couple of Iberian cruises 2-3 years ago.  Barcelona has gotten to be a pretty popular port.  You'd probably have to have a brochure from last year to know if these were long scheduled. 

 

    

[jelayne]

5 minutes ago, curmudgeon98 said:

Interesting question.  I'm not sure that the itineraries are new in the sense of being added this year, but at the same time I don't remember Celebrity being an option when we did a couple of Iberian cruises 2-3 years ago.  Barcelona has gotten to be a pretty popular port.  You'd probably have to have a brochure from last year to know if these were long scheduled. 

 

    

The Iberian cruises were announced pre pandemic and the Infinity was to end the Europe season with a TA from Barcelona to FL departing 10/19/21.  We were booked on that  & the 10/9 Lisbon-Barcelona cruise and the TA.  The TA was cancelled months ago and for a period of time there was nothing beyond the 10/9 Lisbon to

Barcelona.  After we cancelled I didn’t pay close attention, but checked recently and saw they added sailings and now the TA is in December to South America. Who knows if any of those will happen.

[elbarney]

11 hours ago, stickey_mouse said:

Question: what did the Infinity's fall itinerary used to look like? I get the impression that some of the Iberian itineraries are new, given the low amount of bookings and the lack of established roll calls in these boards. 

In 2020 I had a similar cruise to this year, BCN-LIS or back.

 

[terrydtx]

14 hours ago, stickey_mouse said:

Question: what did the Infinity's fall itinerary used to look like? I get the impression that some of the Iberian itineraries are new, given the low amount of bookings and the lack of established roll calls in these boards. 

We booked our September 9th Infinity cruise of Spain and Portugal in January 2020 pre pandemic.  Our roll call has been quiet for some time as many who booked early have already canceled.  My TA checked and this cruise is only 50% booked which could change once X goes public that the cruise will sail. Booking air for our cruise has been a bigger problem since AA, Delta and BA have changed our flights 6 times since last fall when we booked the air. Fortunately we booked air through Celebrity and have been able to make easy changes to our flights and air lines.

[Saab4444]

I believe they are all not well booked beacuse they are all far too expensive. Who pays about 200 USD (inside) or about 300 USD (balcony) per person per day for a late October or November Europe cruise on an older ship?  

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

I believe they are all not well booked beacuse they are all far too expensive. Who pays about 200 USD (inside) or about 300 USD (balcony) per person per day for a late October or November Europe cruise on an older ship?  

I am and happy too.

[stickey_mouse]

All sailings cancelled through December 2021. Well, at least I can move on. 

[Stockjock]

55 minutes ago, stickey_mouse said:

All sailings cancelled through December 2021. Well, at least I can move on. 

Looks like their website is still accepting new bookings during this period.

[read2learn]

23 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Looks like their website is still accepting new bookings during this period.

Nothing for Infinity is showing now. I am so dusappointed as I was planning to book a Bar-Lisbon for my sister's bday in Oct. I read that Portugal  was opeining up this week so I was hopeful. ☹️ Back to the drawing board.....

[dabear]

4 minutes ago, read2learn said:

Nothing for Infinity is showing now. I am so dusappointed as I was planning to book a Bar-Lisbon for my sister's bday in Oct. I read that Portugal  was opeining up this week so I was hopeful. ☹️ Back to the drawing board.....

We've moved are 8/20 cancelled cruise to the same 9/29/21 Iberian cruise  that now was cancelled. We may lift and shift to the 10/12/22 cruise provided we get the same package including a refundable deposit. Now we will have to be concerned with covid travel improvement & hope Infinity is refurbished & not sold. 

[stickey_mouse]

12 minutes ago, dabear said:

We've moved are 8/20 cancelled cruise to the same 9/29/21 Iberian cruise  that now was cancelled. We may lift and shift to the 10/12/22 cruise provided we get the same package including a refundable deposit. Now we will have to be concerned with covid travel improvement & hope Infinity is refurbished & not sold. 

 

The best case scenario is that she won't be sold. There is, however, no chance that they will refurbish her anytime soon. 

[curmudgeon98]

8 minutes ago, stickey_mouse said:

 

The best case scenario is that she won't be sold. There is, however, no chance that they will refurbish her anytime soon. 

There are 20 days of spring itinerary on Infinity that I think we'd really enjoy (both for size of the ship and specific ports), but at this point there's no way I'll book until I see that the ship is crewed and sailing again.  It's just a fact of life that this ship is probably the last/least likely to return to X service.  I'm hoping it will, but not putting any money down.  My alternatives are on Azamara or Oceania, though their itineraries don't fit our specific interests as closely.

[Stockjock]

39 minutes ago, curmudgeon98 said:

There are 20 days of spring itinerary on Infinity that I think we'd really enjoy (both for size of the ship and specific ports), but at this point there's no way I'll book until I see that the ship is crewed and sailing again.  It's just a fact of life that this ship is probably the last/least likely to return to X service.  I'm hoping it will, but not putting any money down.  My alternatives are on Azamara or Oceania, though their itineraries don't fit our specific interests as closely.

I had a NYE cruise booked on Infinity.  It was moved to a NYE cruise on Summit.  I was happy to see the change, as Infinity looked pretty tired to me.  Celebrity is a premium cruise line and I don't consider ships that I consider to be tired or run down to fit in with the sort of upscale product that Celebrity intends to offer.

Revolutionizing the ships likely brings them up to standard, but for two ships, this may require an outlay of $100,000,000.00 to $150,000,000.00, or more, and if I was running the show, coming off a very tough pandemic shut down, I wouldn't want to lay out that kind of cash to maintain/improve ships that are 20-22 years old.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Stockjock

[canoncruiser]

RECIEVED THIS MORNING--My Infinity cruise Dec. 1-Lisbon to Rio is cancelled -I have asked my TA to get ALL of my money back. I am so done after two years!😠

[Stockjock]

1 hour ago, canoncruiser said:

RECIEVED THIS MORNING--My Infinity cruise Dec. 1-Lisbon to Rio is cancelled -I have asked my TA to get ALL of my money back. I am so done after two years!😠

Do remember that this ship "may" be transferred to Pullmantur.  We don't know for sure, but it's distinctly possible.  So certainly, if that is going to occur, it's a good thing they're cancelling now.

To contrast, MSC cancelled one of my cruises Nov. 8, 2020 with no notification whatsoever, and conflicting information when I called them (it's sailing, it's not sailing, it's cancelled, reservations will be shifted to another ship, etc).  I just cancelled the booking yesterday, and they still weren't sure what was going on (2 different answers from 2 different agents).

So at least they let you know definitively in a reasonably timely manner.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Stockjock

[Cat4158]

Our Sept 29th 2021 cruise is cancelled but similar cruises for 2022 on Infinity are available for ‘lift and shift’. Now deciding whether to go for this or just give us and get the deposit back. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Cat4158

[NoWhiners]

Hmm, all this discussion has me concerned about our Antarctica cruise next February. This cruise has been cancelled (from 2021), rescheduled from Silhouette to Infinity in 2022, and now all this talk of Infinity not sailing in the fall. I am already worried that SA may still not be allowing Americans in by February '22. If there are any additional changes to this sailing, I think we will cancel and give up on Antarctica <sigh>.

[stickey_mouse]

8 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

Hmm, all this discussion has me concerned about our Antarctica cruise next February. This cruise has been cancelled (from 2021), rescheduled from Silhouette to Infinity in 2022, and now all this talk of Infinity not sailing in the fall. I am already worried that SA may still not be allowing Americans in by February '22. If there are any additional changes to this sailing, I think we will cancel and give up on Antarctica <sigh>.

 

I wouldn't panic just yet. That's a long ways away, and I'd have to think that Antarctica is a big money maker itinerary for them. I'm not entirely convinced that Infinity is going anywhere. She just can't get staffed in time for the fall itineraries this year. 

[NoWhiners]

Yes, I agree it's a long way away but  this cruise has been snakebit! Keeping my fingers crossed but there are lots of issues, not least of which is covid in SA. Not quite panicking but prepared for disappointment 🙂

[terrydtx]

We got the email this morning and our September 9th cruise was canceled for the 3rd time since we booked in 2019. We just booked the Equinox for Aug 27th 10 day cruise from FLL to the ABC Islands. The FCC 125% credit let us upgrade to Celebrity Aft fscing Suite on the 12th deck for the same as our Aft facing Aqua Class cabin on the Infinity. Not where we wanted to cruise this year but happy to be going somewhere. 

[firstimer2009]

I was looking at the Infinity sailing Sept 2022 from Rome to Barcelona which is currently bookable.  So this could be just a bait and switch?   Our airline tickets, which we are purchasing ourselves, would have to bought this October.   Is it possible another ship could take this route or is it who the heck knows?  I guess it's who the heck knows.

[gone2c]

On 6/22/2021 at 8:27 PM, NoWhiners said:

Hmm, all this discussion has me concerned about our Antarctica cruise next February. This cruise has been cancelled (from 2021), rescheduled from Silhouette to Infinity in 2022, and now all this talk of Infinity not sailing in the fall. I am already worried that SA may still not be allowing Americans in by February '22. If there are any additional changes to this sailing, I think we will cancel and give up on Antarctica <sigh>.

Talk about a nail in the coffin.  The Falkland Islands have announced effective 10/1/2021 all ships carry over 530 passengers will not be allowed to dock.  No ending date announced.  If you check Celebrity's web site, they have taken this port off the itinerary.  It now has three straight sea days to Antarctica.  Do I cancel now or wait to see what happens.  Air and cruise have been paid in full.  This is my third try for this cruise.  Decisions, decisions.   

[stickey_mouse]

17 hours ago, firstimer2009 said:

I was looking at the Infinity sailing Sept 2022 from Rome to Barcelona which is currently bookable.  So this could be just a bait and switch?   Our airline tickets, which we are purchasing ourselves, would have to bought this October.   Is it possible another ship could take this route or is it who the heck knows?  I guess it's who the heck knows.

 

Not a bait and switch. I would proceed accordingly. I think odds are more likely than not the Infinity will remain with Celebrity, and your sailing will proceed as planned. Why do you have to book flights so early? 

[NoWhiners]

6 hours ago, gone2c said:

Talk about a nail in the coffin.  The Falkland Islands have announced effective 10/1/2021 all ships carry over 530 passengers will not be allowed to dock.  No ending date announced.  If you check Celebrity's web site, they have taken this port off the itinerary.  It now has three straight sea days to Antarctica.  Do I cancel now or wait to see what happens.  Air and cruise have been paid in full.  This is my third try for this cruise.  Decisions, decisions.   

 

Yeah, I saw that. I guess that means they can't tender either (or maybe this port is not suitable for tendering??). I am starting to feel like we just aren't destined to see Antarctica, even as a drive by. Might just cancel and wait a few years and hope for the best.