Might be done with Celebrity/ beware the upgrade

[cruiser61262]

In January 2020 I booked a port hole verandah cabin on the Apex for April on 2022.  I booked this because my husband and I did not like the infinite veranda when we sailed the Edge.  I felt that this might be some semblance of a traditional veranda without the expense of a sunset veranda.  About 3 months ago I started having second thoughts about this and called Celebrity to see if there were any Sunset Verandas available for our sailing and the gentleman on the phone said that a block of rooms had been returned by a travel agent and there were some available.  He stated that because they had just been returned he could not give me a cabin number but that they were available.  He stated that it would go in as a "Sunset Veranda Guarantee" until the room was assigned.  I specifically told him that I did not want to switch to a Guarantee because I would lose all my perks.  He stated that I would not lose them because there was a room and it was just how it had to go into the system.  He told me that Celebrity would contact me with the room number.  I agreed to the new price and my port hole veranda reservation was cancelled. Celebrity never contacted me with the cabin number.  I logged into my account the other day to see if the room had been assigned yet.  They gave me an Obstructed View Infinite Verandah room on deck 6!!  I called them and they tried to tell me that there were no longer Sunset Veranda rooms available and this was an Upgrade from the Sunset Veranda.  Do they think I am an idiot?  They gave me a cheaper category.  I asked to speak to a supervisor.  To make a long story short, the Supervisor actually listened to the tape of my phone call and basically stated that what I told her occurred was true but  I should not have gotten off the phone without a cabin number so it was my fault.  She said that the call center person I interacted with would be sent for further training.   She did state that when I upgraded they had changed my cabin to a nonrefundable deposit but they would refund me all my money if I wanted to cancel.  Thanks for nothing Celebrity.  I think I am done with you.  After all the changes to Captain's Club benefits my Elite perks are about as good as the paper they are written on.  I sent an email to Celebrity and am waiting for a reply.  I have until January to get my refund.  Does not look good.... this is not the Fantasy/Celebrity cruise line that use to value loyalty.  Thanks for letting me vent!

[Lady Arwen]

3 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

In January 2020 I booked a port hole verandah cabin on the Apex for April on 2022.  I booked this because my husband and I did not like the infinite veranda when we sailed the Edge.  I felt that this might be some semblance of a traditional veranda without the expense of a sunset veranda.  About 3 months ago I started having second thoughts about this and called Celebrity to see if there were any Sunset Verandas available for our sailing and the gentleman on the phone said that a block of rooms had been returned by a travel agent and there were some available.  He stated that because they had just been returned he could not give me a cabin number but that they were available.  He stated that it would go in as a "Sunset Veranda Guarantee" until the room was assigned.  I specifically told him that I did not want to switch to a Guarantee because I would lose all my perks.  He stated that I would not lose them because there was a room and it was just how it had to go into the system.  He told me that Celebrity would contact me with the room number.  I agreed to the new price and my port hole veranda reservation was cancelled. Celebrity never contacted me with the cabin number.  I logged into my account the other day to see if the room had been assigned yet.  They gave me an Obstructed View Infinite Verandah room on deck 6!!  I called them and they tried to tell me that there were no longer Sunset Veranda rooms available and this was an Upgrade from the Sunset Veranda.  Do they think I am an idiot?  They gave me a cheaper category.  I asked to speak to a supervisor.  To make a long story short, the Supervisor actually listened to the tape of my phone call and basically stated that what I told her occurred was true but  I should not have gotten off the phone without a cabin number so it was my fault.  She said that the call center person I interacted with would be sent for further training.   She did state that when I upgraded they had changed my cabin to a nonrefundable deposit but they would refund me all my money if I wanted to cancel.  Thanks for nothing Celebrity.  I think I am done with you.  After all the changes to Captain's Club benefits my Elite perks are about as good as the paper they are written on.  I sent an email to Celebrity and am waiting for a reply.  I have until January to get my refund.  Does not look good.... this is not the Fantasy/Celebrity cruise line that use to value loyalty.  Thanks for letting me vent!

I completely understand your frustration!  I would be very upset, also.  To be told that you were upgraded from Sunset veranda to an Infinite veranda is just ludicrous.  I would immediately call Captain’s Club and calmly tell them you want to be assigned a Sunset veranda stateroom and you will on hold wait for the cabin number.  Do not go away without assurance that you will be satisfied with their decision.  I wish you good luck and I’m sure others in this group will chime in with advice.

[davekathy]

Bummer. We would never book or agree to a guarantee stateroom.  You rolled the dice and lost (according to you) by accepting the guarantee stateroom assignment. With the new stateroom assignment, did you lose your perks? I never new Celebrity was a fantasy cruise line. 😂 IMO the elite benefits are still good. 

[PTC DAWG]

5 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Bummer. We would never book or agree to a guarantee stateroom.  You rolled the dice and lost (according to you) by accepting the guarantee stateroom assignment. With the new stateroom assignment, did you lose your perks? I never new Celebrity was a fantasy cruise line. 😂 IMO the elite benefits are still good. 

Some times the dice don’t go your way…still I would call back…sounds like some error on both sides. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by PTC DAWG

[CharlieCharlieCharlie]

Wow, that’s horrible!  Sorry this has happened to you. 
And of course a person would trust that what they were told on the phone is what would happen. 
Best wishes for a successful

cabin assignment. We will all go forward with a little more info, thank you for sharing your experiences. 
As minute as the elite and elite plus benefits have become, they do help a little if you’re not in a suite. 

[cruiser61262]

No, I did not lose my perks because as the call center guy stated, "this is not really a 'Sunset guarantee ' state room because there was a cabin available he just could not give me the number because the return of the staterooms had just occurred and he could not give me a cabin number at that time.  At no time was I under the impression that I was "rolling the dice" because I would not have paid more money for a crappier category.  The supervisor agreed with me that I was led into believing what I did and she would not have stated that there would be "further training"

[Lady Arwen]

Captains Club customer service number 1-844-418-6824.  Please call them.  You are a past guest and entitled to speak with the regarding your issue.  Good luck.

[davekathy]

11 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

No, I did not lose my perks because as the call center guy stated, "this is not really a 'Sunset guarantee ' state room because there was a cabin available he just could not give me the number because the return of the staterooms had just occurred and he could not give me a cabin number at that time.  At no time was I under the impression that I was "rolling the dice" because I would not have paid more money for a crappier category.  The supervisor agreed with me that I was led into believing what I did and she would not have stated that there would be "further training"

It is a bummer. Rollin' the dice as you agreed to a guaranteed stateroom assignment. Call the Captains Club (1-800-760-0654) and advise them on what happened. IMO, talking with the CC desk is a lot better than celebrityengaementcenter@celebrity.com. That's like calling Celebrity and getting their call center. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by davekathy

[sanger727]

Have they given you the option to return to your old room category at the old price? If they are now out of the sunset verandah cabins that sounds like the next fairest solution. You paid extra based on a call agents mistake, they should be willing to reset and go back to your old booking.

[cruiser61262]

Thank you, but they basically told me that my only recourse was to accept the assigned room or cancel.  That was when we asked to speak to a supervisor 

[davekathy]

12 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Some times the dice don’t go your way…still I would call back…sounds like some error on both sides. 

Without a doubt, I would call the Captains Club desk. 

[cruiser61262]

1 minute ago, sanger727 said:

Have they given you the option to return to your old room category at the old price? If they are now out of the sunset verandah cabins that sounds like the next fairest solution. You paid extra based on a call agents mistake, they should be willing to reset and go back to your old booking.

There  are none of those available.  

[jelayne]

You didn't say which Apex sailing you are on but the 4/2 sailing currently has 2 SV's available.

None of the other April sailings have any SV cabins showing as available.  They do however have some porthole verandas.  Maybe you can move back to your original category at the price you originally booked and not pay more for the IV you don't want.

[sasset]

I made our first booking since October 2019 this last October on line. I've had occasion to call Celebrity several times about the reservation. Not one time did I get anybody that knew anything, or had to put me on hold to check with someone, or ended up screwing up my reservation necessitating another call. Calling Captain's Club hasn't helped as it puts you into the reservation queue. Fortunately when I placed a courtesy hold, I got a call from a 'real' planner in Florida as a follow up and now I've got her her direct line. I know that getting back in gear after Covid has had people working from home and I understand that, but it seems Celebrity has hired a bunch of people who have received little, or no, training.

Vent complete.

[cruiser61262]

I agree with you all, but the Captains Club are who I started with.  They stated that there was nothing they could do to help us.  They have nothing to do with cabin assignments and they connected us to the supervisor who was very nice by the way.  I am very cynical at this point.  I booked at a very good rate and upgraded when prices were still pretty good.  The rate I paid is what a 6th floor obstructed view room is presently going for.  They obviously want us to go away and that is why they keep telling us that we can cancel if we aren’t happy.  It is just not the way I expected to be treated after sailing with them for 30 years starting with the Amerikanis.  Just wanted to warn people not to make the same mistake I did.  I have always teased my sister about her liking Carnival.  I’ll tell you…. She gets treated a lot better than I have

[wrk2cruise]

Might try CelebrityOneTouch@celebrity.com and calmly lay out what happened and what you have done currently to resolve and suggest what could be done to satisfy you.   In the past this has been monitored by a high level customer service team who seems to be empowered to help.

 

I understand that you were misled but your reservation being changed to a sunset GTY was an issue.   Many people had the same sort of issue when taking a FV GTY on the M class ships and being "upgraded" to Concierge Class and being very disappointed.

 

At a minimum they should offer to move you to an unobstructed cabin as the SV category doesn't have any obstructed cabins that I know of.

[Love2cruise77]

Sorry this happened to you.  In their eyes, the infinite verandas are higher categories, so they viewed it as an upgrade, even though you did not want the infinite verandas to begin with.

 

The least they could do is to put everything back the way it was.  Not sure if you can ask them to transfer you to the "Resolutions" department.

[cruiser61262]

42 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Might try CelebrityOneTouch@celebrity.com and calmly lay out what happened and what you have done currently to resolve and suggest what could be done to satisfy you.   In the past this has been monitored by a high level customer service team who seems to be empowered to help.

 

I understand that you were misled but your reservation being changed to a sunset GTY was an issue.   Many people had the same sort of issue when taking a FV GTY on the M class ships and being "upgraded" to Concierge Class and being very disappointed.

 

At a minimum they should offer to move you to an unobstructed cabin as the SV category doesn't have any obstructed cabins that I know of.

Thank you , I reached out to Celebrityonetouch@celebrity.com

[wrk2cruise]

Please come back and let us know how you make out or email me at wrk2cruise at gmail dot com

[zitsky]

I'm sorry this happened to you.  The lesson seems to be, get everything documented.

 

I just booked a cruise.  I went back and forth with my TA because I wanted everything documented which is what I got.

[LGW59]

5 hours ago, cruiser61262 said:

In January 2020 I booked a port hole verandah cabin on the Apex for April on 2022.  I booked this because my husband and I did not like the infinite veranda when we sailed the Edge.  I felt that this might be some semblance of a traditional veranda without the expense of a sunset veranda.  About 3 months ago I started having second thoughts about this and called Celebrity to see if there were any Sunset Verandas available for our sailing and the gentleman on the phone said that a block of rooms had been returned by a travel agent and there were some available.  He stated that because they had just been returned he could not give me a cabin number but that they were available.  He stated that it would go in as a "Sunset Veranda Guarantee" until the room was assigned.  I specifically told him that I did not want to switch to a Guarantee because I would lose all my perks.  He stated that I would not lose them because there was a room and it was just how it had to go into the system.  He told me that Celebrity would contact me with the room number.  I agreed to the new price and my port hole veranda reservation was cancelled. Celebrity never contacted me with the cabin number.  I logged into my account the other day to see if the room had been assigned yet.  They gave me an Obstructed View Infinite Verandah room on deck 6!!  I called them and they tried to tell me that there were no longer Sunset Veranda rooms available and this was an Upgrade from the Sunset Veranda.  Do they think I am an idiot?  They gave me a cheaper category.  I asked to speak to a supervisor.  To make a long story short, the Supervisor actually listened to the tape of my phone call and basically stated that what I told her occurred was true but  I should not have gotten off the phone without a cabin number so it was my fault.  She said that the call center person I interacted with would be sent for further training.   She did state that when I upgraded they had changed my cabin to a nonrefundable deposit but they would refund me all my money if I wanted to cancel.  Thanks for nothing Celebrity.  I think I am done with you.  After all the changes to Captain's Club benefits my Elite perks are about as good as the paper they are written on.  I sent an email to Celebrity and am waiting for a reply.  I have until January to get my refund.  Does not look good.... this is not the Fantasy/Celebrity cruise line that use to value loyalty.  Thanks for letting me vent!

Sounds to me a mixed bag on both sides.

[WonderMan3]

5 hours ago, davekathy said:

It is a bummer. Rollin' the dice as you agreed to a guaranteed stateroom assignment. Call the Captains Club (1-800-760-0654) and advise them on what happened. IMO, talking with the CC desk is a lot better than celebrityengaementcenter@celebrity.com. That's like calling Celebrity and getting their call center. 

 

They were "rolling the dice" as far as not knowing what specific cabin they would wind up in but (unless I am misunderstanding the OP) when the guarantee cleared they were assigned a lower category than Sunset Veranda which would violate Celebrity's own guarantee policy. That's the problem. 

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

They were "rolling the dice" as far as not knowing what specific cabin they would wind up in but (unless I am misunderstanding the OP) when the guarantee cleared they were assigned a lower category than Sunset Veranda which would violate Celebrity's own guarantee policy. That's the problem. 

If one decides on “rolling the dice” then one needs to accept the roll as it falls, way to many blaming and whining when it does not fall exactly into place, according to the dice roller.

[zitsky]

9 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

If one decides on “rolling the dice” then one needs to accept the roll as it falls, way to many blaming and whining when it does not fall exactly into place, according to the dice roller.

 

I was considering a change to a cruise schedule, leaving from Barcelona instead of Lisbon.  But at the time all that was offered were guarantee cabins, at least in aqua, so I didn't do it.

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

 

I was considering a change to a cruise schedule, leaving from Barcelona instead of Lisbon.  But at the time all that was offered were guarantee cabins, at least in aqua, so I didn't do it.

So you decided not to roll the dice, good on you then.  Enjoy the cruise