Celebrity lack of transparency is fraudulent

[MikeandBobNC]

On April 28, 2021 Celebrity posted the following cruises were cancelled (among others)

 

However, on 5/30/21 when I booked the 3/11 12 night Patagonia & Argentina cruise and 3/23 10 night Argentina, Rio & Sao Paulo cruise there was NO mention of these cruises being cancelled and Celebrity gladly let me pay a deposit knowing they had already cancelled these cruises.  This is fraudulent.

 

We also booked the 4/2 transatlantic from Rio to Lisbon, but it hasn't been cancelled by Celebrity . . .  yet.  There is no way Infinity will be making that transatlantic when Celebrity has cancelled all of the other South America cruises for Infinity in 2022.  Needless to say, I have also cancelled the transatlantic.  

 

This type of corporate behavior gives me serious pause to consider if I want to continue to do business with a company that operates like this.

 

 

 

[Turtles06]

3 hours ago, MikeandBobNC said:

On April 28, 2021 Celebrity posted the following cruises were cancelled (among others)

Where was this posted?  
 

I agree that a cruise line should not allow people to book a cruise that has already been cancelled, just wondering where that info was showing the cruises you had booked had in fact already been cancelled. 

[mom says]

Did you book through a TA, over the phone with Celebrity, or online?

[MikeandBobNC]

6 minutes ago, mom says said:

Did you book through a TA, over the phone with Celebrity, or online?

I booked it and paid the deposit online.

[MikeandBobNC]

14 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Where was this posted?  
 

I agree that a cruise line should not allow people to book a cruise that has already been cancelled, just wondering where that info was showing the cruises you had booked had in fact already been cancelled. 

It's on Celebrity's website under FAQ's.  Here is the link:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/travel-alert/voluntary-suspension-of-cruising

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by MikeandBobNC

[mom says]

Well that confirms my suspicion.  I seriously doubt any fraud was involved. Merely Celebrity's  usual website incompetence. 

[jelayne]

It appears that the cancellations that were just announced were added to the running list of cancellations on the website but the date at the top of the page was not changed from April to July.

[mom says]

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

It appears that the cancellations that were just announced were added to the running list of cancellations on the website but the date at the top of the page was not changed from April to July.

But, but, but - these things always are so much more dramatic if the first thing you think of is big business= it must be fraud. A simple error is so much less, um, likely to grab one's attention.

[Turtles06]

24 minutes ago, jelayne said:

It appears that the cancellations that were just announced were added to the running list of cancellations on the website but the date at the top of the page was not changed from April to July.

That’s the same conclusion I just reached after looking at the list of cancellations to which the OP linked. Celebrity’s less than stellar web site, not corporate fraud.

[hopeless holiday booker]

Thank you for publishing this.  I didn't even know my cruise had been cancelled! I booked after my South American cruise for this year was cancelled!   Will contact celebrity tomorrow.

[Jim_Iain]

I don't know when exactly but I was also on the 4/2 Rio to  Lisbon cruise and received a all from from agent a couple months ago advising me it had been cancelled.    I moved that one to the FLL to Southampton.   I later moved the Rio to Buenos Aires cruise to create a B2B2B after the crossing. 

 

Personally I didn't find Celebrity fraudulent (at least to me) and were very helpful to set up my replacement cruises.

[hopeless holiday booker]

I don't think it fraud.  I really don't think they book you on if it's already cancelled.  It might have happened just after you booked - or maybe I'm naive!

[cruisestitch]

I think there is a big difference between fraud, which must include intent, and sloppy procedures.

 

sadly things are in such disarray that the website doesn’t always get correctly updated and errors are made.  I can’t see calling it fraudulent.

[MikeandBobNC]

13 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I don't know when exactly but I was also on the 4/2 Rio to  Lisbon cruise and received a all from from agent a couple months ago advising me it had been cancelled.    I moved that one to the FLL to Southampton.   I later moved the Rio to Buenos Aires cruise to create a B2B2B after the crossing. 

 

Personally I didn't find Celebrity fraudulent (at least to me) and were very helpful to set up my replacement cruises.

I agree with you Jim, we all know Celebrity's website is and always has been lacking.  What I find interesting about the comments made on this thread - some imply these cancellations were just made (July), but yet you say you were notified months ago as the Celebrity website indicates with the April 28 update.  In looking at it again, I suspect you are correct on the timeline because the Lift & Shift option has to be completed by August 3.  If these were just cancelled this week that is only a week to exercise a L&S option.

 

I will admit fraudulent was probably a poor choice of words, but it is more than frustrating to not have confidence when booking and paying for something online the information is accurate.  

 

Lesson learned by me in these COVID times - I will be checking the cancellation list before I pay a deposit.

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, MikeandBobNC said:

In looking at it again, I suspect you are correct on the timeline because the Lift & Shift option has to be completed by August 3.  If these were just cancelled this week that is only a week to exercise a L&S option.

 

They are only giving 1 week for the people who had cruises yesterday to re-accommodate to a cruise next year +/- 4 weeks at the same pro-rated price (it's technically not L&S).  They have been shortening this time frame on each cancellation.  You have to act quickly or this option disappears.

[mayleeman]

1 hour ago, MikeandBobNC said:

....fraudulent was probably a poor choice of words...

Pretty begrudging not-quite-retraction, eh?

 

If Celebrity commits more frauds like this, requiring numerous hours of staff time to correct it (and angering customers who might never come back), they need some intensive seminars in committing corporate fraud. Usually, fraud helps a company make money, not waste it.

[sanger727]

Fraud or not; it is unacceptable to permit someone to book a cruise that had already been cancelled. Whether it's an IT issue or a customer service issue or just a plain lack of communication - it needs to be fixed. You can't take someone's money for a service that you already know you can't provide. 

Edited July 28, 2021 by sanger727

[MikeandBobNC]

8 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

Fraud or not; it is unacceptable to permit someone to book a cruise that had already been cancelled. Whether it's an IT issue or a customer service issue or just a plain lack of communication - it needs to be fixed. You can't take someone's money for a service that you already know you can't provide. 

Thanks sanger727 - you said it MUCH better than I did.  Obviously my initial frustration influenced my original post.

[Turtles06]

10 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

Fraud or not; it is unacceptable to permit someone to book a cruise that had already been cancelled. Whether it's an IT issue or a customer service issue or just a plain lack of communication - it needs to be fixed. You can't take someone's money for a service that you already know you can't provide. 

But that’s not what happened here. The OP booked their cruises two months ago. The cruises were not cancelled until the other day. 
 

 

[poffles]

11 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

But that’s not what happened here. The OP booked their cruises two months ago. The cruises were not cancelled until the other day. 
 

 

 

What Turtles06 said ... seems the only thing that needs fixing is the date posted.  Or perhaps they need to distinguish that initial posting date with subsequent update dates (hope that makes sense).

[hairymcclary]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

They are only giving 1 week for the people who had cruises yesterday to re-accommodate to a cruise next year +/- 4 weeks at the same pro-rated price (it's technically not L&S).  They have been shortening this time frame on each cancellation.  You have to act quickly or this option disappears.

In addition to the short time, on trying to rebook our cancelled cruise, the re-accommodate at the same price option is only available for cruises leaving before September 2022. Therefore trying to move our April 2022 cancelled cruise to April 2023 couldnt be done. Our TA instead got us a refund and we've rebooked via a brand new booking

[kearney]

This doesn't help OP, but I am old school... I like to talk to real people... so I use the website to figure out what cruise, cabin and pricing and then call and repeat the process with a live human. I just can't get over my hesitancy to book a cruise online... I do other shopping on line...but I just can't do it with cruising.

[CruiseOrRust]

The Infinity SA cruise cancellation notices were only emailed (and posted on the website) yesterday.  We were booked on the Jan 3 '22 Patagonia cruise and I have followed these cruises closely since we booked it months ago.

Upon receipt of the email yesterday I immediately called Celebrity and lifted/shifted to Jan 2 '23 Patagonia cruise.  They honored my lower fare for the '22 cruise booking (same stateroom category) and prorated us for one day ('23 cruise is 12 days, '22 was 13).  They also shifted our $200 onboard credit.  I had a new (and correct) invoice in about an hour.

This was the third time we have lifted & shifted this cruise.  It was, however, painless and I appreciate Celebrity's caution in cancelling our cruise long before final payment was due.

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

But that’s not what happened here. The OP booked their cruises two months ago. The cruises were not cancelled until the other day. 
 

 

 

Well, per post 11, he was notified of the 4/2 cancellation a couple months ago. So I don't think that this is necessarily true that they were not cancelled until the other day.... Especially since the cancellation announcement is dated in April, and there are past cancellation announcements with old dates. So I don't think there's any reason to believe that these cruises were not announced cancelled in April. 

[Turtles06]

17 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

So I don't think there's any reason to believe that these cruises were not announced cancelled in April. 

The OP’s March 2022 cruises were cancelled the other day, not this past April.  Take a look at comment number 23 above by @CruiseOrRust for further confirmation. Unfortunately, the OP has been confused by the fact that Celebrity is updating its full list of cancelled cruises on its website but has neglected to update the posting date at the top of its web page.