Having a stressful time…any suggestions welcome!

[Mollypuss]

I’ve been a member here for 21 years but am not very active on the boards anymore. I’m so frustrated and hoping to find some suggestions. We are loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers but booked the Edge for 03/2020 and Infinity Mediterranean for 06/2020. Obviously those were cancelled because of Covid so we are giving it another shot on the Apex, 3/19 sailing. It will be my husband and I in one cabin and our daughter and 2 of her friends in a cabin next door. The girls are all high school seniors. 
 

From the first phone call to book cabins to the last phone call on Monday, I’ve spent 16 hours and 7 minutes talking to Celebrity and/or flights by Celebrity. I booked in September and we were only able to get ocean view cabins because of having minors in another cabin. All verandas were not available with 2 next to each other per cruise line policy. We always get a balcony….so ok, we said no big deal…let’s go and enjoy anyway. Booked flights thru cruise because airfare was super expensive and we were flying in the day of embarkation because girls have school Friday. Then our flights were changed twice and had us landing at 1:30 (including connection) for a 3pm all aboard. Not comfortable with that and after hours on the phone we decided to pay more and fly in the night before arriving at 12:30am and us spending $600 for 2 hotel rooms. Received an email last week showing our return flight being changed just for my husband and myself and the girls are still on the original flight. What?? I called again and the blame game started…it is Deltas fault…Delta says it’s Celebrity’s fault. Now both flights are sold out except first class and we’re not flying home from Ft Lauderdale with 2 girls that are not ours and we are responsible for them. The last agent I spoke with was submitting an airline change routing us thru Chicago where I really don’t want to go with potential for winter weather. I’ve heard nothing. I suggested they book us first class seats because WE did not change our flight and they wouldn’t do it. The agents I’ve talked with have had:

1. Neighbors street racing so loudly I could not hear her (she said that’s what was happening)

2. A baby crying in the background for over an hour

3. Dogs barking the entire call

4. Hung up on twice

I am frustrated because Celebrity is a superior cruise line. I expected better customer service…or at least standard! I’m questioning whether this was the right move trying out Celebrity. Our daughter is older so we’d like to get away from the family oriented cruises and move to more relaxed and nicer. How do I get the flight issue resolved and I’m assuming our cabins will be changed since we currently have them in the quarantine area? Is there a customer service supervisor that I can speak with? Thanks for your help!

[mnocket]

I'm really sorry for your experience.  Customer "Service" has been going downhill pretty much everywhere for years.  I hope someone here can give you a magic contact that can address your issues.  Me?  I'd have opened a bottle of wine already - It's 5 O'clock somewhere🙂

 

ps  It does raise the question as to whether the hassle is worth trying to travel these days.

Edited February 19, 2022 by mnocket

[wrk2cruise]

I would say that if your booked with 2 reservations that are linked with minor children in adjoining cabin due to their booking rules, they should not be separating the minors on flights.  If you exhaust the normal escalation process then the last resort would be to email CelebrityOneTouch@celebrity.com with an concise description of the problem, what you have done to date to try to resolve, and a realistic description of what you feel they could do to make it right.  There is an executive customer service group that reviews these emails.   It can take a few days to get a response.

[Mollypuss]

I would have tried the drinking approach but I’m training to compete in Strongman Nationals and Worlds. Part of my training discipline is no alcohol….I’m allowing it just for the week of sailing! But I like the way you think.

[Lastdance]

That is so frustrating to hear, but I concur with the downhill slide of customer service all over the place.  I hope you have time to receive a response from someone who can actually help your situation.  Ask for a number of someone from corporate.  I have one of those and have used it.  Good luck and I hope you get an answer that actually works for all of you.  

[Mollypuss]

11 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I would say that if your booked with 2 reservations that are linked with minor children in adjoining cabin due to their booking rules, they should not be separating the minors on flights.  If you exhaust the normal escalation process then the last resort would be to email CelebrityOneTouch@celebrity.com with an concise description of the problem, what you have done to date to try to resolve, and a realistic description of what you feel they could do to make it right.  There is an executive customer service group that reviews these emails.   It can take a few days to get a response.

Thank you so much. This is what I’m looking for. I can get past most of it but I’m not willing to fly without my traveling party…..3 high school girls!

[5waldos]

Just as a (too late) suggestion- we always book one adult and teen(s) in each cabin. That way you can get what you want and once onboard nobody cares. Switch around the keys and you are good to go. 

 

As far as the flights- can you see better flights online if you were to book them yourself?  One possible solution might be to simply cancel the flights on Celebrity and book your own. They may try to fight this but with all the problems you are having it seems like they should be willing to cancel them for you. 

 

And as far as the impossible connections- personally I would have said something then and there and gotten off line and tried another agent. I have spoken with about 5 different agents in the past week and other than them being too quiet (I insist that they talk louder) have had no such problems. 

 

 

[NCHPcruiser]

I’m on this sailing as well.  Good luck getting everything sorted out as soon as possible.  The lead up time to a cruise should be about excitement, not frustration!  

[Bruin Steve]

wrk2cruise beat me here and told you what I would have told you.  It's exactly what I've done on a couple of air rescheduling issues lately...and they've come through for me both times.

 

The problem with the Celebrity Air/RCCL Air2Sea thing right now is really with the airlines.  Thanks to the pandemic, the airlines are currently constantly canceling and rescheduling flights...and their computers don't move you around while looking at individual situations...they are moving thousands of bookings at once...and it can get a little screwy...which you have just found out.

 

As to getting to the cruise on time, you didn't say where you live and where you are cruising from, but my standard rule is to ALWAYS fly in the day before--at the least.  Too many things can go wrong with same-day flights--flight delays, missed connections, lost luggage, etc.

 

As for the OV cabins, on Celebrity ships, they are really not that bad...just use the public decks as your balcony...OTOH, what I would do is to keep checking the availability...people cancel bookings all the time for a variety of reasons --especially now with the pandemic...You may still be able to move.  As to the adjacent cabin thing, I don't know if the rules have changed, but back when our daughters were teens, they let us book ourselves a balcony and put the kids in an inside directly across the hall.  Perhaps that situation exists--I would at least talk to Celebrity--the folks you talk to through CelebrityOneTouch--and ask if they'd do that for you.

 

Good luck...

[Cruise Raider]

Oh my goodness … we went through a very similar situation with flights by Celebrity and in 2017.  The cruise was awesome but we were flying across country and with a group of 4 and on United, not Delta.  Everything worked out and we got the great pricing but I think it took me 7 Saturdays trying to get us all back on the same flight that we purchased.  They only changed my flight and even though we all paid for first class. They put me and me alone on a completely different flight than my friends and DH and not even in first class.  Ugh!  I finally got it fixed through United even though it was hard to get someone to talk to me from the airline at the time as I booked it via the Celebrity website.  
I had booked everything through the directly through cruiseline and this is where a good TA or personal cruise planner (not sure if celebrity has those) comes in very handy.  I recently had gotten very good pricing on flights for an upcoming cruise when they changed my flights to where they no longer met the cruiseline’s timeline for flights.  They ended up canceling my flights but my TA fought to get the original pricing and other acceptable flights assigned.  
I sure hope this gets resolved for you without any more frustration or costs.  
 

[happy cruzer]

?? Are we being trolled??

 

Just FYI we I have called it has been normal communication no strange background sounds.  Excellent service provided.  How can it be so different??

 

Hopefully it will all work out.

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Mollypuss said:

Thank you so much. This is what I’m looking for. I can get past most of it but I’m not willing to fly without my traveling party…..3 high school girls!

My daughter started flying alone from San Diego to Boston when she was 15, she lived in SD with me but spent holidays and summers on east coast with her mom.  They board them early and watch them closely, my daughter loved the independent feeling of it. I could get a pass to accompany her to the gate until she boarded and her mom could do the same on landing.  This was all in the last 10 years. 

[Mollypuss]

39 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

?? Are we being trolled??

 

Just FYI we I have called it has been normal communication no strange background sounds.  Excellent service provided.  How can it be so different??

 

Hopefully it will all work out.

I assure you I’m not trolling. I actually recorded part of a conversation because I was shocked that a baby was crying for that amount of time. Two people said they work from home and are in Monterey, Mexico, hard to keep quality control with that situation. Keep in mind that I’ve called quite a bit as well. 

[Mollypuss]

20 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

My daughter started flying alone from San Diego to Boston when she was 15, she lived in SD with me but spent holidays and summers on east coast with her mom.  They board them early and watch them closely, my daughter loved the independent feeling of it. I could get a pass to accompany her to the gate until she boarded and her mom could do the same on landing.  This was all in the last 10 years. 

I understand these aren’t small children. But that’s not the point either. I booked and paid for flights together. They didn’t cancel the original flight because the girls are still on it. Our reservations are linked. This shouldn’t have happened and it’s their responsibility to correct it. I wouldn’t be so worried but two of the passengers are 17 and not my kids. There’s an obligation for me to be responsible for them. 

[kearney]

59 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

?? Are we being trolled??

 

Just FYI we I have called it has been normal communication no strange background sounds.  Excellent service provided.  How can it be so different??

 

Hopefully it will all work out.

I think a lot if not most customer service people have been working remotely..which would explain noises and delays. I had a question which required a supervisor and after waiting for the agent to hear back from her supervisor... I told her that if the price was X to just send me the invoice once she heard back and if it was higher..then to call me. It worked out and kept us both from waiting.

[vickykay]

Ask to speak to a supervisor.  A,so, we were on the 1/29 sailing on the Apex.  Loved the ship.  I would t worry about an ocean view cabin as the infinity balcony actually freely like that.  Not a real balcony, which one would want for a Caribbean cruise.   More like a big window that opens.  We loved the four different dining rooms.  The shows were terrific.  Enjoy!

[Covepointcruiser]

Do all of you have the same confirmation number with the airline?    If you don’t, then that is the problem.   I can’t imagine airlines boarding 17 year old “children” early unless there is another issue you haven’t mentioned.   Just flew “first class”on American back from Miami.   If you can get a refund for your tickets.   A wider seat and a cold turkey sandwich is not a first class experience.   We did get to check two bags, but you also get that on Southwest for significantly less money.   

[dkjretired]

Customer service across the country has been at the level since Covid, can’t get workers, etc, stores closed etc. I would not expect that it would be any different at other cruise lines.

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

?? Are we being trolled??

 

Just FYI we I have called it has been normal communication no strange background sounds.  Excellent service provided.  How can it be so different??

 

Hopefully it will all work out.

 

That's what I was thinking. I've been on several Celebrity cruises post-restart, all with flights booked through Celebrity Air. Unfortunate, due to flight cancelations/changes, which I can't blame Celebrity for, I have had to call Celebrity Air many times in the past 8 months. While I have had some long wait times, I have never had issues with weird sounds in the backgrounds on any of my calls. All of the reps I have spoken to have been professional and helpful and even though some things are obviously out of their control, I have always been satisfied with their responses.

[5waldos]

I have had background sounds that are obviously not office sounds frequently over the past two years. On Celebrity and On many other businesses. As noted, many companies are doing it remotely. Usually not bothersome. But I would also not hesitate to hang up if it was too distracting. 

[Guppy99]

5 hours ago, Mollypuss said:

Thank you so much. This is what I’m looking for. I can get past most of it but I’m not willing to fly without my traveling party…..3 high school girls!

How much trouble can three teenagers get into when they are on the same flight as you? It's not as though they will be running up and down the aisle. At worst, they will strike up a conversation with some unsavory person, and you'll be in control as soon as you land.  I'd be more concerned about them on the ship than on the plane.

[JamieLogical]

25 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

How much trouble can three teenagers get into when they are on the same flight as you? It's not as though they will be running up and down the aisle. At worst, they will strike up a conversation with some unsavory person, and you'll be in control as soon as you land.  I'd be more concerned about them on the ship than on the plane.

 

Yeah, I flew by myself when I was like 12....

[BazingAu]

@Mollypusscan you switch you with your daughter on the cruise reservation? Then you can book 2 balconies as each room will technically have an adult. Then you can get extra keys made and go switch up the rooms however you want it.

[markeb]

8 hours ago, Mollypuss said:

Received an email last week showing our return flight being changed just for my husband and myself and the girls are still on the original flight. What??

 

I'm interpreting this as the airlines and or Celebrity Air splitting the reservations so they were no long on the same flight. Which I don't understand for a moment and can completely understand the OPs frustration. I'm having a little bit of trouble following where they are now, but that part seems clear. 

[Gist Ducky]

Sorry to hear about the Celebrity Air problems. There are pros and cons to booking with CA vs. directly with the airline. One of the major benefits is that Celebrity Air is generally cheaper. Also, you can cancel up to final payment.  A major con is that air routing is often changed a lot before your actual trip. The reason for this (I found out from a Delta representative) is that cruise lines typically hold off paying the airline itself until the 11th hour. Even after you have paid your final cruise payment (including airfare), the airline itself has likely not yet been paid. Since the airline is holding “an unpaid reservation,” they feel at liberty to move it around to their benefit until it’s paid. I have learned, over the years, to do most bookings directly with the airline, even if it costs more.