Cruise cancels cruise tour

[supersusie56]

 

what should I do?  Celebrity over booked our cruise tour  What should I do?  

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by supersusie56
delete

[CruiserBruce]

Tell us more about the "whats and wheres". 

[d9704011]

A little scarce on detail.  Why not book a different one with a competitor?

[supersusie56]

Cruise tour was booked in October 2022 for May 15 sail date.  I researched and created a perfect Alaska trip.  On April 7, I receive a phone call/voice mail that tour was over booked and we had to call for options.  After being transferred to 5 different customer service reps we were told to rebook.  They offered to keep the cruise but not tour.  They offered a June 4 sailing date, but no port side rooms were available.  300.00pp for airline issues, 400 onboard credit, and 50% off cruise credit.  While this sounds great, I would have to reschedule 4 shore excursions, hotel, etc.  My husband and I are in our 60's and planned to go to Alaska only 1 time in our lives.  Yesterday I researched the cruise tours and the June 4 is no longer available.  Before I call today, I need to know what to ask for in relation to the time I have spent and stress this has caused because we have decided to cancel.  Upgrade on future cruise?  Ask for more compensation? I don't mean to come off as a whiner but this has been very upsetting.  We can't schedule later this summer as our daughter is in the middle of cancer treatment and needs us to be around June-September.

[CruiserBruce]

22 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

A little scarce on detail.  Why not book a different one with a competitor?

Agree. I would consider some touring on our own, but as we don't know the details of where and what the tour is about, hard to answer any questions.

[CruiserBruce]

3 minutes ago, supersusie56 said:

Cruise tour was booked in October 2022 for May 15 sail date.  I researched and created a perfect Alaska trip.  On April 7, I receive a phone call/voice mail that tour was over booked and we had to call for options.  After being transferred to 5 different customer service reps we were told to rebook.  They offered to keep the cruise but not tour.  They offered a June 4 sailing date, but no port side rooms were available.  300.00pp for airline issues, 400 onboard credit, and 50% off cruise credit.  While this sounds great, I would have to reschedule 4 shore excursions, hotel, etc.  My husband and I are in our 60's and planned to go to Alaska only 1 time in our lives.  Yesterday I researched the cruise tours and the June 4 is no longer available.  Before I call today, I need to know what to ask for in relation to the time I have spent and stress this has caused because we have decided to cancel.  Upgrade on future cruise?  Ask for more compensation? I don't mean to come off as a whiner but this has been very upsetting.  We can't schedule later this summer as our daughter is in the middle of cancer treatment and needs us to be around June-September.

OK, assuming this is Alaska land tour portion...you can do land tour portion on your own. Build your own custom tour.

 

I wouldn't decline June 4th because of no portside rooms. The side of the ship doesn't matter.

 

IMO, they are offering a fair amount of compensation.

[supersusie56]

Flight was from Indy to Anchorage, May 15-18, tour 4 days, Denali, Alyeska.  To ship on Friday May 19 for cruise.  Stay one night in Vancouver fly home Saturday May 27.  

[supersusie56]

Thanks for the input.  Just needed some opinions.

 

[Essiesmom]

This might not be the fault of Celebrity.  Last year, facilities in Alaska were having trouble recruiting staff for the facilities.  The summer hire college students just weren’t coming.  So the cruise lines had to cancel bookings because the hotels told them they couldn’t handle them.  I think Princess didn’t open one of their lodges.  They might be having the same problem this year.  EM

[cruisequeen4ever]

You should definitely receive some sort of incentive, like a stateroom upgrade on the alternate sailing or OBC or a more expensive cruisetour at your current cost. 

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, supersusie56 said:

 

what should I do?  Celebrity over booked our cruise tour  What should I do?  

 

 

If you want to keep your cruise and do you own land tour Princess offers an easy option. 
 

I did a Princess Lodges rail tour that was completely separate from my cruise and loved it. There was no bus travel nor were there lots of organized group excursions or planned meals. We could pick the excursions we wanted at each lodge or book something on our own. To me it was the best of all worlds - hotels, train tickets and transfers arranged, leave luggage outside your door each departure morning and find it in your room at the next destination but spend each day as you wish. To me, traveling every leg by train was way better than doing half by bus on a land tour.
 

https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-rail-tours/learn/

 

I chose this unescorted 6 night tour from Fairbanks to Anchorage and would highly recommend it. 

https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-tours/itinerary-3ts/?from_search_query=dG91clR5cGU9ZXhwbG9yZXImc2VhcmNoT25seT0w#3TS

[bEwAbG]

I'd DIY the land days and take the offer on the original cruise.  Maybe see if they will upgrade the room at no cost.  You might want to price that out before you make a decision one way or the other since it's only a month away.  You could either try to recreate what they were offering or just tweak it to see what you want to see.

 

Also agree that side of ship for room shouldn't matter much.  Was there a reason why you wanted that?  The nature is all around.  Frankly, it tends to blend together after awhile. 

[dcbiker97]

Are there other cruise tours they could put you on? If so, I would do that and request it at no additional cost and also have them cover airline change fees if the tour is longer. 

[jelayne]

6 minutes ago, dcbiker97 said:

Are there other cruise tours they could put you on? If so, I would do that and request it at no additional cost and also have them cover airline change fees if the tour is longer. 

They offered 6/4 sailing, $300 airline, $400 OBC and 50%of cruise credit.  OP wants a port side cabin and none available. 

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, supersusie56 said:

Cruise tour was booked in October 2022 for May 15 sail date.  I researched and created a perfect Alaska trip.  On April 7, I receive a phone call/voice mail that tour was over booked and we had to call for options.  After being transferred to 5 different customer service reps we were told to rebook.  They offered to keep the cruise but not tour.  They offered a June 4 sailing date, but no port side rooms were available.  300.00pp for airline issues, 400 onboard credit, and 50% off cruise credit.  While this sounds great, I would have to reschedule 4 shore excursions, hotel, etc.  My husband and I are in our 60's and planned to go to Alaska only 1 time in our lives.  Yesterday I researched the cruise tours and the June 4 is no longer available.  Before I call today, I need to know what to ask for in relation to the time I have spent and stress this has caused because we have decided to cancel.  Upgrade on future cruise?  Ask for more compensation? I don't mean to come off as a whiner but this has been very upsetting.  We can't schedule later this summer as our daughter is in the middle of cancer treatment and needs us to be around June-September.

 

I am so sorry to read that this happened to you and know how upsetting this must be.  I think the idea of trying to put together a land tour yourself is a good one although it will take some work to get it done.

 

Understandably you have decided to cancel the whole thing including the cruise.  Beyond a cash refund, Celebrity may offer you nothing else other than their apologies if you outright cancel your cruise versus allowing yourself to be accommodated to another sailing.  For that reason, I would be happy if they offered me the same $300pp for airline issues, $400 OBC, and 50% off cruise fare for an Alaskan cruise next year.  If you go this way, you may want to price out a 2024 Alaskan cruise-tour to see how much prices have gone up to determine if this compensation would be good for you.  If the prices have gone up substantially (and you are interested in doing this in 2024), you may ask to have your booking transferred to a 2024 cruise-tour but with the pricing that you have for your 2023 cruise-tour (aka price protection).   If you choose a more popular month in 2024 to do your cruise-tour, realize that the 2024 cruise-tour price may have increased just due to that.  You can still negotiate for the same May 2023 price though.

 

Again, I am sorry for your disappointment.

[dcbiker97]

26 minutes ago, jelayne said:

They offered 6/4 sailing, $300 airline, $400 OBC and 50%of cruise credit.  OP wants a port side cabin and none available. 

Yep I saw that. I guess what I was trying to say that didn't come through was to offer a counter to see if there were any other cruise tours available for the original cruise you booked. Maybe there is a different one with availability that they would switch you to at no cost. And then ask for the airfare airline credit to assist in moving that if the days don't align. 

[abbydancer2003]

For what it's worth.  In 2021, Princess and Holland opened some lodges for land tours.  We did that (cruise tour with just the tour part).  The experience was great, and keeping the cruise, and doing the land tour with Princess lodges might give you a better overall experience.  You may, though, have to do some extra hotel stays, and get yourself to Steward.  There are transfers you can take, and Celebrity might have one from Anchorage.

 

[Lastdance]

6 hours ago, supersusie56 said:

Cruise tour was booked in October 2022 for May 15 sail date.  I researched and created a perfect Alaska trip.  On April 7, I receive a phone call/voice mail that tour was over booked and we had to call for options.  After being transferred to 5 different customer service reps we were told to rebook.  They offered to keep the cruise but not tour.  They offered a June 4 sailing date, but no port side rooms were available.  300.00pp for airline issues, 400 onboard credit, and 50% off cruise credit.  While this sounds great, I would have to reschedule 4 shore excursions, hotel, etc.  My husband and I are in our 60's and planned to go to Alaska only 1 time in our lives.  Yesterday I researched the cruise tours and the June 4 is no longer available.  Before I call today, I need to know what to ask for in relation to the time I have spent and stress this has caused because we have decided to cancel.  Upgrade on future cruise?  Ask for more compensation? I don't mean to come off as a whiner but this has been very upsetting.  We can't schedule later this summer as our daughter is in the middle of cancer treatment and needs us to be around June-September.

It sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now, so booking for next year may be a more positive idea with compensation, especially since what has happened, leaving you with changing so many plans.  What is your gut telling you to do?  So sorry to hear about your daughter, as I know that is very stressful by itself!

Edited April 10, 2023 by Lastdance

[Cinder22]

2 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

This might not be the fault of Celebrity.  Last year, facilities in Alaska were having trouble recruiting staff for the facilities.  The summer hire college students just weren’t coming.  So the cruise lines had to cancel bookings because the hotels told them they couldn’t handle them.  I think Princess didn’t open one of their lodges.  They might be having the same problem this year.  EM

This is more than likely the case. I live near Fairbanks and there is a shortage of workers everywhere. They are offering pay starting at $15-$17/hr at most places with medical and extras. Some offer a sign on bonus of $4k-5k. There's no shortage of people, so I'm not sure what the root of the issue is except perhaps that those that don't have jobs don't want to or don't need to work.

[phoenix_dream]

Sorry for your stress.  We used a local Alaska travel agent who put together a nice tour for us.  Cost us a lot fewer $$ as well.  Perhaps that is an option?  We were able to use buses and the Alaska railroad, and had a nice tour of Denali.  Or perhaps you can rent a car and do your own thing?  it is the US after all, so you are familiar with the rules of the road, same side of the road driving, etc..  

[Northern Aurora]

We are on a Celebrity ship send were off for most of the day so am late responding.

 

Just a few random thoughts.  
 

First, Alaska is experiencing a severe labor shortage.  The hospitality sector is particularly hard hit due to continuing issues with J1 Visas.  In 2022 Princess closed not one but two of their lodges (Cooper Landing and Copper River) due to inability to staff them.

 

Despite the fact that we live in Alaska we do Alaska itineraries periodically.  We have been on both sides of the ship.  We even did a B2B in the same stateroom.  The side of the ship does not matter.  In much of the Inside Passage there will be land on both sides.

 

Our OP had scheduled a very minimal land tour.  Due to the land slide issues at the Pretty Rocks area on the only road access into Denali National Park, in this Alaskan’s opinion, I would just skip Denali for now.  Consider concentrating on the Kenai Peninsula perhaps using Seward as your base of operations.

[adolfo2]

On 4/10/2023 at 7:12 AM, supersusie56 said:

 

what should I do?  Celebrity over booked our cruise tour  What should I do?  

 

 

It's very RARE when at least one of your excursions isn't canceled! Deal with it!

We had five booked on our last cruise... one was xcld a week before we sailed and the other upon embarkation via a letter in our stateroom.

[Mark_K]

28 minutes ago, adolfo2 said:

It's very RARE when at least one of your excursions isn't canceled! Deal with it!

We had five booked on our last cruise... one was xcld a week before we sailed and the other upon embarkation via a letter in our stateroom.

This isn’t just an excursion, it’s the land portion of an Alaskan Cruisetour.  It’s more like canceling the first three days of your cruise.

[supersusie56]

Many thanks for all of the suggestions, tips, etc.  We were able to book another cruise tour for September 5, same ship, same itinerary except for one less day.  The representative was knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions.  We will have to reschedule all of the activities but this will not be a problem.  We are so happy with this positive outcome!!!

 

THANKS TO EVERYONE who replied.  The information was very helpful.

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by supersusie56

[mahdnc]

This is gratifying to read.  I am glad that it worked out to your satisfaction.  I hope you enjoy your trip.