Might be done with Celebrity/ beware the upgrade

[Lady Arwen]

26 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

UPDATE:

 

Spoke to rep from CEO.  Basically admitted that booking agent erred on many levels but since there are no SV cabins available they will refund me my money if I do not want an obstructed view IV cabin on the 6th deck.  I felt like they really just want me to go away and they will get their wish.  30+ years with Celebrity and now it’s time to explore other opportunities….

Best wishes to all who still think this is a quality cruise line….

I sincerely  had high hopes this would be resolved to your satisfaction.  I think Celebrity really dropped the ball on this one.  You did everything you were supposed to do and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.   I do agree that Celebrity customer service is not what it used to be and I’m cautiously optimistic that things will change in the future.  I’m genuinely sorry this happened to you.

[zitsky]

45 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

UPDATE:

 

Spoke to rep from CEO.  Basically admitted that booking agent erred on many levels but since there are no SV cabins available they will refund me my money if I do not want an obstructed view IV cabin on the 6th deck.  I felt like they really just want me to go away and they will get their wish.  30+ years with Celebrity and now it’s time to explore other opportunities….

Best wishes to all who still think this is a quality cruise line….

 

I'm sorry this didn't work out for you.  I'm really surprised that they didn't offer you an upgrade of some kind?  

Edited December 13, 2021 by zitsky

[HMR74]

1 hour ago, cruiser61262 said:

UPDATE:

 

Spoke to rep from CEO.  Basically admitted that booking agent erred on many levels but since there are no SV cabins available they will refund me my money if I do not want an obstructed view IV cabin on the 6th deck.  I felt like they really just want me to go away and they will get their wish.  30+ years with Celebrity and now it’s time to explore other opportunities….

Best wishes to all who still think this is a quality cruise line….

I will restate a prior post, which came off others saying much the same but earlier:

 

Celebrity's front office or staff or agents group are a problem, big problem. Same with systems, however, once you board the ship, all is beautiful. (quirky things do happen on occaison-) .

 

Amazingly, in my post I noted how "X" is making errors in customers favor.  It means their systems and procedures have to improve.

 

 

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, cruiser61262 said:

UPDATE:

 

Spoke to rep from CEO.  Basically admitted that booking agent erred on many levels but since there are no SV cabins available they will refund me my money if I do not want an obstructed view IV cabin on the 6th deck.  I felt like they really just want me to go away and they will get their wish.  30+ years with Celebrity and now it’s time to explore other opportunities….

Best wishes to all who still think this is a quality cruise line….

How disappointing for you.

Did Celebrity at least offer you your original booked cabin at the previous price with the same perks?

 

I was just wondering if you were taking the position that anything less than an SV was not going to be acceptable?  Or Celebrity was just not willing to get you your original booking.  
 

Good lesson for all of us to not ignore what clearly stated on our invoice based on a verbal statement.  I am left wondering if you would have had an acceptable solution if you would have followed up within a month, instead of after a cabin was assigned three months later.

 

Of course this is not an excuse for a Celebrity Rep to give you incorrect information.  My TA has told me that Celebrity has a lot of new customer service people and it is more difficult to deal with them right now.

 

I love Celebrity, but I always consider all my options.  My upcoming cruise next  month is on Oceania. (Celebrity has decided to leave the 14 day January Caribbean cruises market)

 

Best of luck.

Edited December 13, 2021 by jagoffee

[TeaBag]

I am very sorry to hear of this outcome after 30 years of loyalty.  Getting your money back for a fare booked in 2020 would hardly buy you the same category in a cruise today since fares have risen so much.  Wonder why they couldn't have upgraded you to a better cabin?

I hope you find another company who will treat you better.

[jelayne]

46 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

.  Wonder why they couldn't have upgraded you to a better cabin?

 

If I read earlier posts correctly they were in a Port Hole Veranda (low category veranda) which has a balcony  as does the SV.  The OP was assigned to a  Infinite Veranda so no true balcony .  The IV is classified as a higher category than a SV.    So on the E class there aren't a lot of options with balconies.  Offering a upgrade to Concierge or Aqua would still have not resulted in a cabin with a balcony.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

I see your point.   How often does an issue NOT get resolved in the planner, and you have to call in?

The last time we used our CVP to take advantage of her “insider” position was a couple of weeks ago when we booked the cruise we’re on now and got the 2 for 1 CC deal on a sky suite, even though we weren’t qualified to get it (nor did we get the email) as we already had a cruise booked in December. Most of the time, though, we call when we want to refare an exiting booking or have some minor issue that needs to be explained.
 

But, if we have any issue, we just send her an email and/or leave her a message and it usually gets resolved with a response back in a few hours.

[WonderMan3]

6 hours ago, cruiser61262 said:

UPDATE:

 

Spoke to rep from CEO.  Basically admitted that booking agent erred on many levels but since there are no SV cabins available they will refund me my money if I do not want an obstructed view IV cabin on the 6th deck.  I felt like they really just want me to go away and they will get their wish.  30+ years with Celebrity and now it’s time to explore other opportunities….

Best wishes to all who still think this is a quality cruise line….

That’s too bad. It used to be that cruise lines would bend over backwards to resolve service issues for longtime cruisers but those days appear to be in the past. Hopefully much happier sailing awaits you on whatever new cruise line you choose to travel with.

[Ipeeinthepools]

Just now, WonderMan3 said:

That’s too bad. It used to be that cruise lines would bend over backwards to resolve service issues for longtime cruisers but those days appear to be in the past. Hopefully much happier sailing awaits you on whatever new cruise line you choose to travel with.

 

I'm not sure that there was much Celebrity could other than upgrade them to a suite and I guess I'm not sure that was warranted.  Too large of a price difference.  The fact is they wanted a conventional balcony and there just aren't many on the E-class ships.

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I'm not sure that there was much Celebrity could other than upgrade them to a suite and I guess I'm not sure that was warranted.  Too large of a price difference.  The fact is they wanted a conventional balcony and there just aren't many on the E-class ships.

They could’ve put them on a waitlist for the SV at least in case there was a cancellation. But maybe that was offered and OP could not wait that long as they wanted to get alternative plans underway?

[Ipeeinthepools]

6 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

They could’ve put them on a waitlist for the SV at least in case there was a cancellation. But maybe that was offered and OP could not wait that long as they wanted to get alternative plans underway?

Maybe, I'm not sure that I would have accepted that as an option

Edited December 13, 2021 by Ipeeinthepools

[TeaBag]

I was actually thinking a suite.  A happy customer is a customer who returns.

[Pizzasteve]

Sorry to hear the outcome.  Did you share that this situation was a thread on Cruise Critic in the interview with the assistant?  Definitely impacts my perceiption of their line a bit, and we really enjoyed our Alaska cruise this year (first on X in like 20 years).

[Covepointcruiser]

If someone is unhappy with Celebrity try another cruise line.   It may just be me but I think the OP was treated fairly even if they didn’t get a SV.

[zitsky]

8 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

If someone is unhappy with Celebrity try another cruise line.   It may just be me but I think the OP was treated fairly even if they didn’t get a SV.

 

I really thought X would do an upgrade, but not to a suite.

[Ipeeinthepools]

29 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

I really thought X would do an upgrade, but not to a suite.

 

They probably would have done an upgrade on any other ship, but the OP wanted a conventional balcony.  The E-class doesn't have any options.

[Ipeeinthepools]

41 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

If someone is unhappy with Celebrity try another cruise line.   It may just be me but I think the OP was treated fairly even if they didn’t get a SV.

Really???  Celebrity admitted to errors but really did not have any options on this cruise.

[sasset]

10 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

They probably would have done an upgrade on any other ship, but the OP wanted a conventional balcony.  The E-class doesn't have any options.

We've never been on Edge or Apex. Are the only 'conventional' balconies on suites?

[Ipeeinthepools]

30 minutes ago, sasset said:

We've never been on Edge or Apex. Are the only 'conventional' balconies on suites?

 

There are a few port hole balconies, the SV balconies which were what they OP booked and suites.  The rest are the infinite veranda balconies.  The IV balconies are not true balconies but closer to an ocean view room with a window that opens.

[chucknmarilyn]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 

I really thought X would do an upgrade, but not to a suite.

I don't think he was open to accepting anything but a suite or Sunset Veranda and there are no SVs at this time.

[jelayne]

33 minutes ago, sasset said:

We've never been on Edge or Apex. Are the only 'conventional' balconies on suites?

Suites and SVs.  A “cove” type balcony is what the OP had before they changed to a SV guarantee.  What  they were assigned was a Infinite Veranda, which is a higher category than a SV.

[Ipeeinthepools]

5 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Suites and SVs.  A “cove” type balcony is what the OP had before they changed to a SV guarantee.  What  they were assigned was a Infinite Veranda, which is a higher category than a SV.

 

That's only because there were no other choices.

[cdn_tbird]

46 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Really???  Celebrity admitted to errors but really did not have any options on this cruise.

I sympathize with the OP, but what was X supposed to do? The OP had already stated they didn't want an IV, so I doubt they would have been happy regardless of which class of IV they were given. Getting bumped up to an S3 was a extreme longshot at best and more probably a non-starter from X's perspective. Which leaves them getting an SV, all of which were booked. So which of the current SV bookings should have been bumped to make the OP happy? Can you imagine the blowback if X actually did agree to bump someone else? I know what my first question would be if it was me. The only option at this point was the OP getting their money back, which is what X agreed to. While this might not be a perfect solution for everyone, all things considered it's probably the safest one.

[helen haywood]

On 12/12/2021 at 1:20 PM, neverlaysup said:

I once emailed the CEO due to an issue my wife and her mother were having on a cruise. By calling the normal channels, no good response. After I sent the email to the executive office, the captain and hotel director personally found my wife (4 hours later) on the ship and apologized for the issue. Somebody reads those emails and will the cruise line will act with swiftness when necessary.

Was this the issue where your wife’s flat iron or similar had been confiscated wrongly?

[neverlaysup]

13 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Was this the issue where your wife’s flat iron or similar had been confiscated wrongly?

Yes