Is It Possible to Negotiate?

[RollWave]

Have a decision to make in the next week or so about our upcoming Edge sailing (1/23/2022).

This is a Lift & Switch sailing from January 2021. It is a Retreat booking.

 

We are currently waiting on a FCC from the Millenium cruise we cancelled last month (12/2021). Have a feeling it is going to be an ordeal trying to sort it out.

 

We are in our mid-50's fully vaccinated with booster shots about three weeks ago. Also had COVID in July 2020.

 

After reading threads on this forum - particularly the current Equinox sailing - we are not all that thrilled about getting on a ship for a week. 

 

I know Lift & Switch is not a current option, but we would gladly take the FCC credit for the Millenium sailing and a Lift & Switch on the Edge sailing for a January 2023 sailing. 

 

Is it possible to negotiate with Celebrity? Do we just suck it up and go (I know it is a personal decision)?

[cdn_tbird]

1 hour ago, RollWave said:

Have a decision to make in the next week or so about our upcoming Edge sailing (1/23/2022).

This is a Lift & Switch sailing from January 2021. It is a Retreat booking.

 

We are currently waiting on a FCC from the Millenium cruise we cancelled last month (12/2021). Have a feeling it is going to be an ordeal trying to sort it out.

 

We are in our mid-50's fully vaccinated with booster shots about three weeks ago. Also had COVID in July 2020.

 

After reading threads on this forum - particularly the current Equinox sailing - we are not all that thrilled about getting on a ship for a week. 

 

I know Lift & Switch is not a current option, but we would gladly take the FCC credit for the Millenium sailing and a Lift & Switch on the Edge sailing for a January 2023 sailing. 

 

Is it possible to negotiate with Celebrity? Do we just suck it up and go (I know it is a personal decision)?

I'm a firm believer in "it doesn't hurt to ask". Our upcoming Alaska cruise in Aug is a lift & shift from 2021. The day the Canadian gov't announced in early Feb 2021 that they were banning cruise ships from Canadian waters until 2022, I gave my TA a call and ended up on a 3-way call with X. Even though it was still over 6 months out and X had yet to make any decision on whether they would cancel the cruises or not, the agent worked with us and moved it to the exact same itinerary for this year.

 

Worst case scenario as I see it is they won't do a lift & shift but you'll end up with more FCC to apply to your Jan 2023 cruise. Best of luck.

 

[wiredforflight]

I am going to be with 5 others on the same ship/cruise. Right now we are still going but we will make a go/no go call in 15 days. We want to see how Celebrity handles things. But you really have to go with what you are comfortable with.  

 

As for asking, like the other responder said, can't hurt to ask. Worst case you still have the FCC. 

[Lastdance]

Anything is possible, but you need to find the right person to do this.  Call until you get someone who understands and is willing to try and do this for you.  If you have a TA, it is their responsibility.  FCC can take quite a long time.  The only other thing you can do is put a deposit on the cruise you want and wait.  Just do not give up!

Edited January 2, 2022 by Lastdance

[jelayne]

Hundreds, maybe  thousands of us would love to be able to L & S our very near term bookings.  We are a CS on the Reflection in 4 weeks  that was a L & S.  To book the same  for 2023 is almost double what we are paying now, I fully expect the answer to a L & S   request will be ‘No, but you can use your FCC toward that cruise’.

 

[CruiserFromMaine]

I’m having trouble finding this…what are the current rules around lift and shift? I’ve got a cruise booked in February (Feb. 14th) and I’d like to know my options. 

[jelayne]

Lift & Shift ended awhile ago.  It is no longer a option.

[Arizona Wildcat]

9 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I’m having trouble finding this…what are the current rules around lift and shift? I’ve got a cruise booked in February (Feb. 14th) and I’d like to know my options. 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

As others have said it doesn't hurt to ask.  If with a TA start with them as required.   I would then call Celebrity - give it a few days to let holiday backlog sort out - and make my request.  You can also ask nicely that your request be escalated and/or request assistance from the Captain's Club rep.

A last thought, if at first you don't succeed say thank you and call back.  Another rep may will help.

[RollWave]

34 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Hundreds, maybe  thousands of us would love to be able to L & S our very near term bookings.  We are a CS on the Reflection in 4 weeks  that was a L & S.  To book the same  for 2023 is almost double what we are paying now, I fully expect the answer to a L & S   request will be ‘No, but you can use your FCC toward that cruise’.

 

I believe the Celebrity should allow Lift & Shift. There have been many of very loyal customers who immediately booked cruises as soon as Celebrity was back to sailing and came aboard as soon as they could. Perhaps a show of loyalty back would be to allow passengers the ability to truly cruise with confidence - lift and shift, or refund, or FCC - whatever the customer wants). As of right now the cruise for the FCC has to be booked by sometime in April or May and used by the end of 2022 - for our needs that does not work but a sailing in 2023 would work. 

[RollWave]

2 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

As others have said it doesn't hurt to ask.  If with a TA start with them as required.   I would then call Celebrity - give it a few days to let holiday backlog sort out - and make my request.  You can also ask nicely that your request be escalated and/or request assistance from the Captain's Club rep.

A last thought, if at first you don't succeed say thank you and call back.  Another rep may will help.

Yes - going to let the holiday backlog sort out then I am going to tackle the Constellation debacle, the FCC from the Millenium cruise and what to do with the Edge sailing. 

[mahdnc]

27 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I’m having trouble finding this…what are the current rules around lift and shift? I’ve got a cruise booked in February (Feb. 14th) and I’d like to know my options. 

 

Lift and Shift is usually available when Celebrity cancels your cruise. It is not currently available if you initiate the cancellation. 

[Ken the cruiser]

If I might note, this massive C19 spike on a few X cruise ships, namely the Equinox and Silhouette, has been during the Holiday season with large family groups sailing together and will probably start to taper off relatively quickly from here on. Plus with all the folks canceling their cruises, your Edge cruise may just be quite relaxing with only around 1000-1200, if that, onboard. Of course, you have to make your own decision, but being the optimist, I say go for it! 😎

 

[RollWave]

7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might note, this massive C19 spike on a few X cruise ships, namely the Equinox and Silhouette, has been during the Holiday season with large family groups sailing together and will probably start to taper off relatively quickly from here on. Plus with all the folks canceling their cruises, your Edge cruise may just be quite relaxing with only around 1000-1200, if that, onboard. Of course, you have to make your own decision, but being the optimist, I say go for it! 😎

 

You make some very good points.

Right now we are going to give it a week and see how things go.

We are healthy and triple vaccinated (meaning vaccinated & boosted).

We had a wonderful trip on Summit a few months ago - low passenger count and in The Retreat. That experience keeps us going and positive (in attitude not Covid).

[PTC DAWG]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might note, this massive C19 spike on a few X cruise ships, namely the Equinox and Silhouette, has been during the Holiday season with large family groups sailing together and will probably start to taper off relatively quickly from here on. Plus with all the folks canceling their cruises, your Edge cruise may just be quite relaxing with only around 1000-1200, if that, onboard. Of course, you have to make your own decision, but being the optimist, I say go for it! 😎

 

That’s the way I would view it myself..

[mahdnc]

On 1/2/2022 at 1:42 PM, CruiserFromMaine said:

I’m having trouble finding this…what are the current rules around lift and shift? I’ve got a cruise booked in February (Feb. 14th) and I’d like to know my options. 

 

I was unable to post this earlier because I was travelling:

 

The last time Celebrity cancelled cruises and offered a Lift and Shift type of option was back in Sep 2021.  Here is a screen shot of the "rules":

 

 

Here is a link to the full text.  Note that the letter was dated Sep 15 2021.  This means that Celebrity gave affected passengers only 1 week to shift their booking which tells me that Celebrity was not interested in having many customers choose that option.  

 

Again, the Lift and Shift type option is only being offered if Celebrity cancels your cruise.  I hope this fully answers your question.

  

Edited January 3, 2022 by mahdnc

[RollWave]

39 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I was unable to post this earlier because I was travelling:

 

The last time Celebrity cancelled cruises and offered a Lift and Shift type of option was back in Sep 2021.  Here is a screen shot of the "rules":

 

 

Here is a link to the full text.  Note that the letter was dated Sep 15 2021.  This means that Celebrity gave affected passengers only 1 week to shift their booking which tells me that Celebrity was not interested in having many customers choose that option.  

 

Again, the Lift and Shift type option is only being offered if Celebrity cancels your cruise.  I hope this fully answers your question.

  

Thank you.

As of today (of course subject to change - lol) I think we are going to let the chips fall where they may. If Celebrity cancels the cruise, we will deal with the decisions that need to be made at that point. We are healthy, fully vaccinated (including booster), do not have any issues with masks (wear one to go into my Florida grocery store), can drive to the port, and do not care one bit if an itinerary changes.

 

We have been looking forward to this Edge sailing for almost two years. Have already done a lift & switch on one sailing, are dealing with a FCC on another, and do not want to have to track or deal with any other travel credits for future travel.

 

We had an absolutely amazing time on Summit back in October. Will hold out hope that the upcoming Edge sailing will have a small passenger list. We have a good 15+ days before any real decisions need to be made.

[cdn_tbird]

Bon Voyage! Enjoy.

[Jim_Iain]

On 1/2/2022 at 8:49 AM, RollWave said:

Have a decision to make in the next week or so about our upcoming Edge sailing (1/23/2022).

This is a Lift & Switch sailing from January 2021. It is a Retreat booking.

 

We are currently waiting on a FCC from the Millenium cruise we cancelled last month (12/2021). Have a feeling it is going to be an ordeal trying to sort it out.

 

We are in our mid-50's fully vaccinated with booster shots about three weeks ago. Also had COVID in July 2020.

 

After reading threads on this forum - particularly the current Equinox sailing - we are not all that thrilled about getting on a ship for a week. 

 

I know Lift & Switch is not a current option, but we would gladly take the FCC credit for the Millenium sailing and a Lift & Switch on the Edge sailing for a January 2023 sailing. 

 

Is it possible to negotiate with Celebrity? Do we just suck it up and go (I know it is a personal decision)?

You can always contact the Resolution Desk and try to negotiate.   The worse they could do is say no.   I have had them be flexible on a problem I had and it was a win - win.