new to Celebrity, reserving shore ex questions

[susiesan]

Since 2 of the ports I am scheduled for on Millennium cruise Nov. 29 are restricted to "bubble" tours, Antigua and St. Kitts, I want to reserve something to do now in case everything sells out since over 2000 people are being forced to tour with Celebrity. Usually about half of people on cruises go ashore on their own, including me.  I haven't taken a ship excursion in over 30 years and I am not familiar with how Celebrity runs their bookings.

 

I have $250 OBC credit coming to me but it doesn't show yet on my reservation. If I pay for the shore ex now with a credit card and then cancel later, do I get a refund?

If I want to use OBC for excursions do I have to wait to book when on the ship and take a chance everything is sold out?

[mahdnc]

11 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Since 2 of the ports I am scheduled for on Millennium cruise Nov. 29 are restricted to "bubble" tours, Antigua and St. Kitts, I want to reserve something to do now in case everything sells out since over 2000 people are being forced to tour with Celebrity. Usually about half of people on cruises go ashore on their own, including me.  I haven't taken a ship excursion in over 30 years and I am not familiar with how Celebrity runs their bookings.

 

I have $250 OBC credit coming to me but it doesn't show yet on my reservation. If I pay for the shore ex now with a credit card and then cancel later, do I get a refund?

If I want to use OBC for excursions do I have to wait to book when on the ship and take a chance everything is sold out?

 

As long as you cancel before the deadline (48 hrs prior to the excursion) you get your money back.  Here is the fine print that you will see on the Terms and Conditions when you purchase an excursion on line:

 

 

If the OBC is coming from Celebrity (and not from your travel agent), then the OBC should show up on your on line cruise planner and can be used to pay for the shore excursion.  If you don't see the OBC in your account, contact your TA or Celebrity.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by mahdnc

[jelayne]

If the OBC is coming from your TA then it will not be available until you are on the ship.

[susiesan]

18 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

As long as you cancel before the deadline (48 hrs prior to the excursion) you get your money back.  Here is the fine print that you will see on the Terms and Conditions when you purchase an excursion on line:

 

 

If the OBC is coming from Celebrity (and not from your travel agent), then the OBC should show up on your on line cruise planner and can be used to pay for the shore excursion.  If you don't see the OBC in your account, contact your TA or Celebrity.

 

My online booking looks nothing like yours. I am also not able to complete the guest registration online. I need to add my mailing address and update the phone number.

[susiesan]

18 hours ago, jelayne said:

If the OBC is coming from your TA then it will not be available until you are on the ship.

So if I prepay for excursions with a credit card can I change the payment form over to OBC once onboard? What is the deadline to do this? Since I have the AI deal the only thing I would be using the $250 OBC for is shore ex.

[DCPIV]

2 minutes ago, susiesan said:

So if I prepay for excursions with a credit card can I change the payment form over to OBC once onboard? What is the deadline to do this? Since I have the AI deal the only thing I would be using the $250 OBC for is shore ex.

 

I believe the cancel deadline is 24 hours once on board, but I'd take care of it as soon as I got on board (or just after lunch).

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, susiesan said:

So if I prepay for excursions with a credit card can I change the payment form over to OBC once onboard? What is the deadline to do this? Since I have the AI deal the only thing I would be using the $250 OBC for is shore ex.

Unless things have changed, you may need to cancel on board and then rebook. If the excursions are full and have a waiting list, you might find yourself out of luck, so ask how full they are before cancelling.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Celebrity ships are not sailing at full occupancy this year so it is very unlikely there will be 2000 guests on your cruise.  Some reports of Summit say the guest count is in the 300-400 range.  Even Edge is in the 800 range.  A quick look at the available staterooms for your cruise shows a lot of unbooked rooms. I suggest you call Celebrity about updating the information in your account.

[MarkWiltonM]

I'm curious: Where can I find current information on which islands allow cruisers to explore on their own and which require bubble tours? I am on Equinox departing Fort Lauderdale on November 19 going to the ABC islands and, theoretically, Grand Cayman (which is not allowing cruise passengers at all).

[Turtles06]

7 minutes ago, MarkWiltonM said:

I'm curious: Where can I find current information on which islands allow cruisers to explore on their own and which require bubble tours? I am on Equinox departing Fort Lauderdale on November 19 going to the ABC islands and, theoretically, Grand Cayman (which is not allowing cruise passengers at all).

 

Celebrity's "Healthy at Sea" pages of its web site, which are good to monitor now since you have an upcoming cruise, and things are changing frequently.  Right now, it says this for Caribbean shorex:

 

Southern Caribbean
On your own tours are permitted in St. Croix, St. Maarten*, St. Thomas, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Tortola, BVI and St. Lucia. While in Aruba, the use of masks is required while indoors, except for while eating and drinking.

Eastern Caribbean
On your own tours are permitted in St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. Maarten*. Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in Nassau and Tortola.

*The St. Maarten government requires all unvaccinated guests age 10 and older, be tested 2 days prior to disembarking and visiting St. Maarten. Test will be provided onboard.

The local health authorities in St. Thomas and St. Croix have recommended that all guests, including fully vaccinated persons, wear a face mask while ashore and particularly while indoors.

Western Caribbean
On your own tours are permitted in Roatan, Cozumel and Costa Maya. Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in Nassau.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Unless things have changed, you may need to cancel on board and then rebook. If the excursions are full and have a waiting list, you might find yourself out of luck, so ask how full they are before cancelling.

 

I would think that the shore excursion desk would be able to make the form of payment changes manually without losing the reservation.  Your experience/information is different?

[booklady26]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

My online booking looks nothing like yours. I am also not able to complete the guest registration online. I need to add my mailing address and update the phone number.

Online check-in now opens 45 days before the sail date. If you download the X app on your phone, it will tell you the date that it opens for your cruise.

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

My online booking looks nothing like yours. I am also not able to complete the guest registration online. I need to add my mailing address and update the phone number.

 

There are two different web page formats for your Cruise Planner.  The screenshot in my post shows the older format which Celebrity is in the process of upgrading.  Both formats should show any OBC that you are getting from Celebrity.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I would think that the shore excursion desk would be able to make the form of payment changes manually without losing the reservation.  Your experience/information is different?

We had that experience once on the Eclipse a few years ago. We were told by the young lady at the excursion desk that she couldn't generate a refund to my credit card without an off-setting cancellation, and once the cancellation was made, those next on the standby list would be bumped up. Rather than lose our spot, we just left it on my credit card.

 

I've no idea whether this was a fleet-wide policy, an individual ship policy, or just an inexperienced employee who didn't know how to go about it but was too embarrassed to say so. And whichever was the case back then, I've no idea what the policy is now. That's why I gave @susiesan a heads up and suggested that she verify before cancelling.

 

If you or others have more recent experience and the method of payment can be changed with no impact on the booking, by all means speak up.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by Fouremco

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

We had that experience once on the Eclipse a few years ago. We were told by the young lady at the excursion desk that she couldn't generate a refund to my credit card without an off-setting cancellation, and once the cancellation was made, those next on the standby list would be bumped up. Rather than lose our spot, we just left it on my credit card.

 

I've no idea whether this was a fleet-wide policy, an individual ship policy, or just an inexperienced employee who didn't know how to go about it but was too embarrassed to say so. And whichever was the case back then, I've no idea what the policy is now. That's why I gave @susiesan a heads up and suggested that she verify before cancelling.

 

If you or others have more recent experience and the method of payment can be changed with no impact on the booking, by all means speak up.

 

 

 

No, I don't have any experience with that.

[LeeW]

8 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I would think that the shore excursion desk would be able to make the form of payment changes manually without losing the reservation.  Your experience/information is different?

If you cancel onboard (usually allowed 48 hours before excursion), the amount you paid will be refunded as more OBC.  Won't go back to the credit card.

[Turtles06]

10 minutes ago, LeeW said:

If you cancel onboard (usually allowed 48 hours before excursion), the amount you paid will be refunded as more OBC.  Won't go back to the credit card.

But as refundable OBC, yes?  I don’t believe you can lose the money. 

[Guppy99]

On 9/29/2021 at 4:09 PM, susiesan said:

Since 2 of the ports I am scheduled for on Millennium cruise Nov. 29 are restricted to "bubble" tours, Antigua and St. Kitts, I want to reserve something to do now in case everything sells out since over 2000 people are being forced to tour with Celebrity. Usually about half of people on cruises go ashore on their own, including me.  I haven't taken a ship excursion in over 30 years and I am not familiar with how Celebrity runs their bookings.

 

I have $250 OBC credit coming to me but it doesn't show yet on my reservation. If I pay for the shore ex now with a credit card and then cancel later, do I get a refund?

If I want to use OBC for excursions do I have to wait to book when on the ship and take a chance everything is sold out?

No one is being "forced "to tour with Celebrity. If you don't like the choices, stay on the ship. You can cancel up until 24 - 48 hours before the excursion. It will be refunded same as you paid for it. If you fail to do and do not cancel timely, you forfeit the money/credit.