Might be done with Celebrity/ beware the upgrade

[DrKoob]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:48 AM, 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 could not agree more. Celebrity has been our cruise line of choice since 2004 but we are doing one more just to burn some FCC and that's it (except for Flora). As you said, our Elite Plus perks are pretty much worthless. Their new caste system that favors anyone in a suite over everyone else is nuts. We are off to Viking Ocean. You pay a little more (about the same for a verandah as for a suite on X) and you get a whole lot more. And it's what they don't have that we love the most. They don't have kids, casinos, art auctions, smoking and a lot more. Plus they include beer and wine at lunch and dinner and a free shore excursion in every port. 

And totally agree with you about the Infinite Verandahs. They should just call it what it is: an outside cabin with a window that opens...and when it does you don't always get to control it and you can't enjoy a balcony while someone else in the cabin wants to sit in air conditioned comfort. 

So sad.

[PTC DAWG]

1 minute ago, DrKoob said:

I could not agree more. Celebrity has been our cruise line of choice since 2004 but we are doing one more just to burn some FCC and that's it (except for Flora). As you said, our Elite Plus perks are pretty much worthless. Their new caste system that favors anyone in a suite over everyone else is nuts. We are off to Viking Ocean. You pay a little more (about the same for a verandah as for a suite on X) and you get a whole lot more. And it's what they don't have that we love the most. They don't have kids, casinos, art auctions, smoking and a lot more. Plus they include beer and wine at lunch and dinner and a free shore excursion in every port. 

And totally agree with you about the Infinite Verandahs. They should just call it what it is: an outside cabin with a window that opens...and when it does you don't always get to control it and you can't enjoy a balcony while someone else in the cabin wants to sit in air conditioned comfort. 

So sad.

Sounds nice and all, and boring…enjoy…

[DrKoob]

On 12/8/2021 at 12:00 PM, davekathy said:

IMO the elite benefits are still good. 

Tell me what is still good about them? No more Elite happy hour because everyone gets free drinks. No more 270 minutes of complimentary WiFi per person because everyone gets free WiFi. No more first on/first off/priority tendering because everyone in suites is ahead of you. So what do you get...two bags of free laundry?

[DrKoob]

16 hours ago, LGW59 said:

OP messed up, moral of the story stay on line, have them send email confirmation, review while on the call.  Got a record of it.

Actually the real moral of this story is...use a travel agent. Then they could deal with this. Mine would have known to stick with it until they got what they came for. 

[Lady Arwen]

9 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

I could not agree more. Celebrity has been our cruise line of choice since 2004 but we are doing one more just to burn some FCC and that's it (except for Flora). As you said, our Elite Plus perks are pretty much worthless. Their new caste system that favors anyone in a suite over everyone else is nuts. We are off to Viking Ocean. You pay a little more (about the same for a verandah as for a suite on X) and you get a whole lot more. And it's what they don't have that we love the most. They don't have kids, casinos, art auctions, smoking and a lot more. Plus they include beer and wine at lunch and dinner and a free shore excursion in every port. 

And totally agree with you about the Infinite Verandahs. They should just call it what it is: an outside cabin with a window that opens...and when it does you don't always get to control it and you can't enjoy a balcony while someone else in the cabin wants to sit in air conditioned comfort. 

So sad.

 Viking sounds fabulous and far from boring!  I know a lot of people who just love the experience on Viking and would never go back to Celebrity or any of the other mainstream cruiselines.  Yes, IV are not balconies.  Epic fail.

That being said, I do like the Celebrity product in general.  S class ships are wonderful.  Their website and their telephone agents are far from perfect, which does put people off from booking.  We’re giving it another shot on Apex and see how it goes.

[cruiser61262]

27 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

 Viking sounds fabulous and far from boring!  I know a lot of people who just love the experience on Viking and would never go back to Celebrity or any of the other mainstream cruiselines.  Yes, IV are not balconies.  Epic fail.

That being said, I do like the Celebrity product in general.  S class ships are wonderful.  
 

Love me some S -class ships and M- class ships.   Who wouldn’t love a little Horizon or Century about now.  Not to mention my heart still belongs to the old Amerikanis that I had my honeymoon on 😊.  Just don’t care for the IV’s and never will…. The rest of the Edge class ship is great.

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by cruiser61262
​ Love me some S -class ships and M- class ships. Who wouldn’t love a little Horizon or Century about now. Not to mention my heart still belongs to the old Amerikanis that I had my honeymoon on 😊. Just don’t care for the IV’s and never will…. The rest

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

I was going to argue with @WonderMan and others that Infinite Veranda was in fact an upgrade but I went to look an I was wrong.  Categories are listed from lowest bottom right to highest on upper left in these displays.   That said the next category up from SV would be Concierge Class which I believe are all Infinite Veranda style staterooms (without balcony) although I would hope none would be obstructed.

 

For those saying the OP should be upgrade to a suite, well that's just not going to happen.

 

 

 

You were going to argue with me after I already posted that I did the same thing as you and looked at a couple Apex sailings and verified that Sunset Veranda was classified higher than IV. Okay… 🙄🙄

[Lady Arwen]

18 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

 

Our first Celebrity cruise  was Horizon, then Zenith then Meridian and on and on.  So many memories of Celebrity ships over 30 years.  I do really like Celebrity, but they really to pull up their socks in a few areas to keep us loyal.

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, WonderMan3 said:

You were going to argue with me after I already posted that I did the same thing as you and looked at a couple Apex sailings and verified that Sunset Veranda was classified higher than IV. Okay… 🙄🙄

To be honest, I think the majority of us Celebrity cruisers were well aware of this but just let it slide.  Of course you were right and I appreciate you stepping in to correct it.

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

You need sensitivity training...

This from the person who repeatedly told the OP “you rolled the dice”.  Not one kind word from you.  And yet, you post this.  Isn’t that rich.
 

[wrk2cruise]

10 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

You were going to argue with me after I already posted that I did the same thing as you and looked at a couple Apex sailings and verified that Sunset Veranda was classified higher than IV. Okay… 🙄🙄

 

I thought you were using price as the judge.  That's not always the case, sometimes higher categories are lower price.  For example it's not uncommon for AQ cabins to be less than CC.

 

Did the OP post the actual category they were assigned or just that it was an Infinite Veranda type cabin.   I'd be really surprised if the actual assignment was a downgrade according to their sub category rankings.

 

I'm very familiar with people on M class booking FV GTY then being upset that they get upgraded to C3 cabin.  That's a "valid" upgrade from a category perspective but not from the actual stateroom.

 

This discussion is all very interesting but not much use to the OP as they took my suggestion to contact CelebrityOneTouch who has already reached out to the OP to seek a resolution.

Edited December 9, 2021 by wrk2cruise

[jelayne]

It is possible that the supervisor who said that the IV was a upgrade was referencing the  IV compared to the Port Hole veranda which was the cabin the OP  was in until trying to upgrade. 

[Dancing Shoes]

Have some compassion people.  The OP believed the representative.  I don't see any dice rolling.  They have the transcript and Celebrity let the customer down.

[LGW59]

3 hours ago, DrKoob said:

I could not agree more. Celebrity has been our cruise line of choice since 2004 but we are doing one more just to burn some FCC and that's it (except for Flora). As you said, our Elite Plus perks are pretty much worthless. Their new caste system that favors anyone in a suite over everyone else is nuts. We are off to Viking Ocean. You pay a little more (about the same for a verandah as for a suite on X) and you get a whole lot more. And it's what they don't have that we love the most. They don't have kids, casinos, art auctions, smoking and a lot more. Plus they include beer and wine at lunch and dinner and a free shore excursion in every port. 

And totally agree with you about the Infinite Verandahs. They should just call it what it is: an outside cabin with a window that opens...and when it does you don't always get to control it and you can't enjoy a balcony while someone else in the cabin wants to sit in air conditioned comfort. 

So sad.

So retreat causes a caste system, how does your elite plus not do the same.  Note I do not believe that either does that, just interesting that find a way to differentiate if they are not getting it.  Love retreat system and only way I’ll go now.

[Covepointcruiser]

IV cabin is definitely a upgrade over a port hole cabin.   Didn’t even know they still had them on the “E” class.   The cabin has more square footage than the OPs original cabin.    Even in the new actual balcony cabins, if you leave the door to the verandah open, the air conditioning or heat will switch off.    One of the changes to make ships more environmentally friendly.

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Tell me what is still good about them? No more Elite happy hour because everyone gets free drinks. No more 270 minutes of complimentary WiFi per person because everyone gets free WiFi. No more first on/first off/priority tendering because everyone in suites is ahead of you. So what do you get...two bags of free laundry?

Only if your booking is with the AI. But why would I need to tell a TA that. 😂  Speaking only for myself, even with AI there a few perks/benefits that are still good. 

[chucknmarilyn]

3 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

You were going to argue with me after I already posted that I did the same thing as you and looked at a couple Apex sailings and verified that Sunset Veranda was classified higher than IV. Okay… 🙄🙄

This is why it's confusing. When cabins are classified and ranked for upgrade purposes it isn't the same as ranking by offered prices. Often a "higher" category may be less expensive than a "lower" one. Sunset verandahs are a prime example. The ranking they use is the same as agents have when looking at categories in Cruising Power. On there you have the Porthole View then Sunset and then Infinite Veranda. (Going up) Bases on availability, I've seen regular Oceanview rooms be more than balconies.

 

[zitsky]

2 hours ago, Dancing Shoes said:

Have some compassion people.  The OP believed the representative.  I don't see any dice rolling.  They have the transcript and Celebrity let the customer down.

 

So they had the transcript which should help them.  Aren't there other ways to confirm a booking?

[LGW59]

4 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

This from the person who repeatedly told the OP “you rolled the dice”.  Not one kind word from you.  And yet, you post this.  Isn’t that rich.
 

Well I had a few kind words in several posts, you selected one, that’s ok, I still say was a roll of the dice.  You mentioned to have “compassion “ 🧐 to have pity or concerns for the suffering and misfortunes of others.  Sure absolutely can see how this applies to the thousands of dollars one pays for cruise.  LOL

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Well I had a few kind words in several posts, you selected one, that’s ok, I still say was a roll of the dice.  You mentioned to have “compassion “ 🧐 to have pity or concerns for the suffering and misfortunes of others.  Sure absolutely can see how this applies to the thousands of dollars one pays for cruise.  LOL

 

I have compassion if someone books a cruise and Celebrity does something to cheat them out of it.  Was that the case here?

[cruiser61262]

Ok people…. To answer some questions.   Yes I have all of my booking documents from the very beginning not that I have any idea why that is relevant.  It is really quite simple:  I was told that there was a sunset veranda available and that it would be given to me after the rooms were processed after being returned by a travel agent.   Celebrity did not follow through.  They dropped the ball not me.

1.) Yes the IV is I higher category then the one  I originally booked,  but even if I did unknowingly book a “Sunset Veranda Guarantee”  an obstructed view IV is in no way an upgrade from an SV and I will be willing to die on that hill.

2.) If I did unknowingly book a “SV guarantee”,  why were my all inclusive perks not taken away  when they are not included in that category.

3.) the supervisor stated that she was able to go back and listen to the original conversation and stated that the agent would be sent for retraining.  To me that is an admission that I was wronged by an untrained agent.

4 .). I sent an email to the CEO and I received a response from her office in less than 24 hours.  I have a meeting with her representative scheduled next week to talk about what occurred.  If Celebrity feels that I have no legitimate complaint why wouldn’t they just ignore my email?

I really appreciate the support that most of you have given me, but some people on this thread should really take a look in the mirror and try to figure out why they are such miserable people

[zitsky]

2 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

Ok people…. To answer some questions.   Yes I have all of my booking documents from the very beginning not that I have any idea why that is relevant.  It is really quite simple:  I was told that there was a sunset veranda available and that it would be given to me after the rooms were processed after being returned by a travel agent.   Celebrity did not follow through.  They dropped the ball not me.

1.) Yes the IV is I higher category then the one  I originally booked,  but even if I did unknowingly book a “Sunset Veranda Guarantee”  an obstructed view IV is in no way an upgrade from an SV and I will be willing to die on that hill.

2.) If I did unknowingly book a “SV guarantee”,  why were my all inclusive perks not taken away  when they are not included in that category.

3.) the supervisor stated that she was able to go back and listen to the original conversation and stated that the agent would be sent for retraining.  To me that is an admission that I was wronged by an untrained agent.

4 .). I sent an email to the CEO and I received a response from her office in less than 24 hours.  I have a meeting with her representative scheduled next week to talk about what occurred.  If Celebrity feels that I have no legitimate complaint why wouldn’t they just ignore my email?

I really appreciate the support that most of you have given me, but some people on this thread should really take a look in the mirror and try to figure out why they are such miserable people

 

I'm not sure what it means by miserable people.

 

I don't see why this whole situation can't be resolved by getting a copy of a booking confirmation???

[mahdnc]

9 minutes ago, cruiser61262 said:

Ok people…. To answer some questions.   Yes I have all of my booking documents from the very beginning not that I have any idea why that is relevant.  It is really quite simple:  I was told that there was a sunset veranda available and that it would be given to me after the rooms were processed after being returned by a travel agent.   Celebrity did not follow through.  They dropped the ball not me.

1.) Yes the IV is I higher category then the one  I originally booked,  but even if I did unknowingly book a “Sunset Veranda Guarantee”  an obstructed view IV is in no way an upgrade from an SV and I will be willing to die on that hill.

2.) If I did unknowingly book a “SV guarantee”,  why were my all inclusive perks not taken away  when they are not included in that category.

3.) the supervisor stated that she was able to go back and listen to the original conversation and stated that the agent would be sent for retraining.  To me that is an admission that I was wronged by an untrained agent.

4 .). I sent an email to the CEO and I received a response from her office in less than 24 hours.  I have a meeting with her representative scheduled next week to talk about what occurred.  If Celebrity feels that I have no legitimate complaint why wouldn’t they just ignore my email?

I really appreciate the support that most of you have given me, but some people on this thread should really take a look in the mirror and try to figure out why they are such miserable people

Good luck with next week's meeting.  I hope it works out favorably for you.

[cruiser61262]

4 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

I'm not sure what it means by miserable people.

 

I don't see why this whole situation can't be resolved by getting a copy of a booking confirmation???

I have a copy of the booking confirmation… it states “SV guarantee “….. I was told that that would be what it said because the rooms needed to be processed before they gave me a cabin number.

I was also told that I would get a new document as soon as my room was assigned which I never received until I called and questioned the room assignment.  
I really did not care which SV room I was getting and life went on so I did not obsess over the fact  I hadn’t heard anything from Celebrity.

Edited December 10, 2021 by cruiser61262

[zitsky]

Just now, cruiser61262 said:

I have a copy of the booking confirmation… it states “SV guarantee “….. I was told that that would be what it said because the rooms needed to be processed before they gave me a cabin number.

 

Ok, that's great!  That should be a big help.   Good luck with your meeting!