Japan 2024 canceled…

[anniegb]

13 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I never got a call back when I contacted Celebrity regarding the food changes in January.

 

Also many got a call back from the retention department ...  It is rather obvious the difference between the two.

Although I am not based in North America, I received multiple emails and phone calls from Celebrity after I too contacted them re the dining changes.

 

I was impressed.  The lady was polite, professional and most importantly she appeared to listen. We debated the reasons for the changes and I too received the corporate spin of reducing food waste.  I suggested that was spin to disguise staffing issues.  The merits of tilapia were also discussed.  She admitted she did not care for the fish and would not order it.

 

Annie

Edited April 20, 2023 by anniegb

[NMTraveller]

7 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Although I am not based in North America, I received multiple emails and phone calls from Celebrity after I too contacted them re the dining changes.

 

I was impressed.  The lady was polite, professional and most importantly she appeared to listen. We debated the reasons for the changes and I too received the corporate spin of reducing food waste.  I suggested that was spin to disguise staffing issues.  The merits of tilapia were also discussed.  She admitted she did not care for the fish and would not order it.

 

Annie

Most likely the retention department.  The executives do not have time to debate their cuts to dining with hundred of cruisers calling in.

 

An executive would have asked you how can we make this right and not had the time to debate the merits of tilapia.

Edited April 20, 2023 by NMTraveller

[mahdnc]

4 minutes ago, anniegb said:

The merits of tilapia were also discussed.  She admitted she did not care for the fish and would not order it.

 

Annie

 

I like that.  How many merits did you guys come up with?

[anniegb]

6 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Most likely the retention department.  The executives do not have time to debate their cuts to dining with hundred of cruisers calling in.

 

An executive would have asked you how can we make this right and not had the time to debate the merits of tilapia.

I did not phone them; they phoned me !

 

They asked me to advise them a time slot that suited me.

 

Annie

[sqrl18]

We're booked on Celebrity Millenium for 15SEP Transpacific cruise in Aquaclass.  This was a rollover from the SEP'22 cruise that was cancelled by Celebrity.  I heard from Celebrity this cruise is crazy oversold, but no other information or change options were offered.  I've been trying to make my full payment while still able to get full refund in case I have cancel, but the page has been unavailable for over a week.  Another issue is I booked the incorrect date for my return trip from TYO.  The cruise was rebooked in APR'22 so airspace was not available to book.  I used the app (that Celebrity always pushes you to) and the dates posted (still) are 15-29SEP on the first two pages of the cruise display.  The actual end date is 30SEP.  Called my cruise planner who advised, per the invoice, the cruise dates have always been 15-30SEP.  Issue is I booked my air the day the flight rolled into the system (4ONV22), based on the dates I saw in the app (15-29SEP).  Two seats on JAL in business for an insanely low amount of miles; I was booked got great deals and was happy! Now, I would have to suffer on AA at 450k miles pp.  I sent a screen shot to the rep stating, due to errors in the display, CEL needs to get me home and she said she'd see what she can do - that was three weeks ago.  (I believe the issue is in their code - the pages on the app shown first do not consider the date change from the Int'l Date Line.  Code is reading start date of cruise + cruise length (15SEP+14 days=29SEP when it needs to add a day when travelling westbound of the Dateline which whould show the 30th.  The main code considers this.)  Not my job to verify dates in all different locations to ensure their code is correct!  Anyway, will call to see if I can pay in full and see if any options are provided.  Anyone have suggestions on how to handle?  i agree that Celebrity is acting really wonky with these bookings - not their usual standard at all.

[anniegb]

9 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I like that.  How many merits did you guys come up with?

None ??

 

I live in Scotland and we can be very fussy re food quality as my American friends keep reminding me.

 

In England, they eat fish that we would not buy or even cook.

 

I advised her that I had to research what tilapia was and advised her we would not feed that to our cats - she laughed and revealed she did not care for tilapia. I then asked her why was it on a Celebrity menu??

 

It amuses my international cruising friends that I don't cruise to eat.  I can cook and eat very well in Scotland. 

 

Annie

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

Just now, anniegb said:

None ??

 

I live in Scotland and we can be very fussy re food quality as my American friends keep reminding me.

 

In England, they eat fish that we would not buy or even cook.

 

I advised her that I had to research what tilapia was and advised her we would not feed that to our cats - she laughed and revealed she did not care for tilapia. I then asked her why was it on a Celebrity menu??

 

It amuses my international cruising friends that I don't cruise to eat.  I can cook and eat very well in Scotland. 

 

Annie

 

 

 

 

 

lol.  Ok, so you guys actually debated the demerits of tilapia.  On another topic, it sounds like you need to have us over to your house for dinner.  I am available next week.

[clojacks]

19 minutes ago, sqrl18 said:

We're booked on Celebrity Millenium for 15SEP Transpacific cruise in Aquaclass.  This was a rollover from the SEP'22 cruise that was cancelled by Celebrity.  I heard from Celebrity this cruise is crazy oversold, but no other information or change options were offered.  I've been trying to make my full payment while still able to get full refund in case I have cancel, but the page has been unavailable for over a week.  Another issue is I booked the incorrect date for my return trip from TYO.  The cruise was rebooked in APR'22 so airspace was not available to book.  I used the app (that Celebrity always pushes you to) and the dates posted (still) are 15-29SEP on the first two pages of the cruise display.  The actual end date is 30SEP.  Called my cruise planner who advised, per the invoice, the cruise dates have always been 15-30SEP.  Issue is I booked my air the day the flight rolled into the system (4ONV22), based on the dates I saw in the app (15-29SEP).  Two seats on JAL in business for an insanely low amount of miles; I was booked got great deals and was happy! Now, I would have to suffer on AA at 450k miles pp.  I sent a screen shot to the rep stating, due to errors in the display, CEL needs to get me home and she said she'd see what she can do - that was three weeks ago.  (I believe the issue is in their code - the pages on the app shown first do not consider the date change from the Int'l Date Line.  Code is reading start date of cruise + cruise length (15SEP+14 days=29SEP when it needs to add a day when travelling westbound of the Dateline which whould show the 30th.  The main code considers this.)  Not my job to verify dates in all different locations to ensure their code is correct!  Anyway, will call to see if I can pay in full and see if any options are provided.  Anyone have suggestions on how to handle?  i agree that Celebrity is acting really wonky with these bookings - not their usual standard at all.

I’m curious why you feel the urge to pay in full? Are you close to your final payment date? I have a real problem believing cruiselines can manage my money better than I can. 1 of the main reasons I have yet to cruise with Viking is because I refuse to give them my money over a year in advance.

[anniegb]

28 minutes ago, sqrl18 said:

We're booked on Celebrity Millenium for 15SEP Transpacific cruise in Aquaclass.  This was a rollover from the SEP'22 cruise that was cancelled by Celebrity.  I heard from Celebrity this cruise is crazy oversold, but no other information or change options were offered.  I've been trying to make my full payment while still able to get full refund in case I have cancel, but the page has been unavailable for over a week.  Another issue is I booked the incorrect date for my return trip from TYO.  The cruise was rebooked in APR'22 so airspace was not available to book.  I used the app (that Celebrity always pushes you to) and the dates posted (still) are 15-29SEP on the first two pages of the cruise display.  The actual end date is 30SEP.  Called my cruise planner who advised, per the invoice, the cruise dates have always been 15-30SEP.  Issue is I booked my air the day the flight rolled into the system (4ONV22), based on the dates I saw in the app (15-29SEP).  Two seats on JAL in business for an insanely low amount of miles; I was booked got great deals and was happy! Now, I would have to suffer on AA at 450k miles pp.  I sent a screen shot to the rep stating, due to errors in the display, CEL needs to get me home and she said she'd see what she can do - that was three weeks ago.  (I believe the issue is in their code - the pages on the app shown first do not consider the date change from the Int'l Date Line.  Code is reading start date of cruise + cruise length (15SEP+14 days=29SEP when it needs to add a day when travelling westbound of the Dateline which whould show the 30th.  The main code considers this.)  Not my job to verify dates in all different locations to ensure their code is correct!  Anyway, will call to see if I can pay in full and see if any options are provided.  Anyone have suggestions on how to handle?  i agree that Celebrity is acting really wonky with these bookings - not their usual standard at all.

The decks which hold the Aqua cabins do not appear to have been impacted by this 'oversell'.

I cannot see the benefit of paying the cruise final balance early.

The airline ticket issue is down to you - JMO. You,not the cruiseline, purchased the ticket?? Caveat Emptor.

 

Annie

[sqrl18]

Not a fan of paying before I have to either, just wondering if that would better protect me from being cancelled.  Regarding the air ticket, I can understand the comment, but the issue arose from the cruise line providing bad information about the cruise on the app.  If my theory is right, this was poor QA by the cruiseline.  The app is to provide convenience to the customer; I pull up my cruise and see the dates on my upcoming trips and should be good to go.  That's the reason this is on them - like when an airline posts a fare in error and they have to honor it even it was a mistake.  If the space was available and only a few miles more it wouldn't be an issue.  We save our miles and book early to secure the best deals to travel with. The tickets are now 450k miles per person from 60k miles due to this error.  See why I'm cranky?

[rosy6621]

We are booked on the 12th October Round Japan cruise for our honeymoon and have been reading the uncertainties around Celebrity cancelling their Asian cruises since last year. After all the uncertainty we decided we didn't want to risk our honeymoon and opted for a land holiday instead but if Celebrity had asked us to cancel we would have happily done so, especially if that meant someone else could go in our place. I don't understand why they haven't reached out and done this as an option in the first place rather than seemingly cancel random cabins? We only paid a £300 deposit so worst case scenario for us is we lose this, but I'm waiting to see if we receive a cancellation email anyway. We booked a sunset veranda back in Feb 2022 directly on their website. 

This is our first experience with Celebrity and I'd be very reluctant to book with them again based on this!

[cruisestitch]

53 minutes ago, sqrl18 said:

We're booked on Celebrity Millenium for 15SEP Transpacific cruise in Aquaclass.  This was a rollover from the SEP'22 cruise that was cancelled by Celebrity.  I heard from Celebrity this cruise is crazy oversold, but no other information or change options were offered.  I've been trying to make my full payment while still able to get full refund in case I have cancel, but the page has been unavailable for over a week.  Another issue is I booked the incorrect date for my return trip from TYO.  The cruise was rebooked in APR'22 so airspace was not available to book.  I used the app (that Celebrity always pushes you to) and the dates posted (still) are 15-29SEP on the first two pages of the cruise display.  The actual end date is 30SEP.  Called my cruise planner who advised, per the invoice, the cruise dates have always been 15-30SEP.  Issue is I booked my air the day the flight rolled into the system (4ONV22), based on the dates I saw in the app (15-29SEP).  Two seats on JAL in business for an insanely low amount of miles; I was booked got great deals and was happy! Now, I would have to suffer on AA at 450k miles pp.  I sent a screen shot to the rep stating, due to errors in the display, CEL needs to get me home and she said she'd see what she can do - that was three weeks ago.  (I believe the issue is in their code - the pages on the app shown first do not consider the date change from the Int'l Date Line.  Code is reading start date of cruise + cruise length (15SEP+14 days=29SEP when it needs to add a day when travelling westbound of the Dateline which whould show the 30th.  The main code considers this.)  Not my job to verify dates in all different locations to ensure their code is correct!  Anyway, will call to see if I can pay in full and see if any options are provided.  Anyone have suggestions on how to handle?  i agree that Celebrity is acting really wonky with these bookings - not their usual standard at all.

Unfortunate that you have run into what I have said all along, the app is incomplete,unreliable and inaccurate.  
 

Having a screenshot should help.

 

It’s all well and good to say that you should consult the booking rather than the app.  How is the customer to know which one is the correct one?

[anniegb]

14 minutes ago, sqrl18 said:

Not a fan of paying before I have to either, just wondering if that would better protect me from being cancelled.  Regarding the air ticket, I can understand the comment, but the issue arose from the cruise line providing bad information about the cruise on the app.  If my theory is right, this was poor QA by the cruiseline.  The app is to provide convenience to the customer; I pull up my cruise and see the dates on my upcoming trips and should be good to go.  That's the reason this is on them - like when an airline posts a fare in error and they have to honor it even it was a mistake.  If the space was available and only a few miles more it wouldn't be an issue.  We save our miles and book early to secure the best deals to travel with. The tickets are now 450k miles per person from 60k miles due to this error.  See why I'm cranky?

Different rules depending upon which side of the Atlantic??

 

Not all airline error fares are honoured in Europe.  

 

I do understand the crankiness though but I suspect Celebtity may not be helpful.

 

Good luck

 

Annie

[micruiser2002]

29 minutes ago, rosy6621 said:

We are booked on the 12th October Round Japan cruise for our honeymoon and have been reading the uncertainties around Celebrity cancelling their Asian cruises since last year. After all the uncertainty we decided we didn't want to risk our honeymoon and opted for a land holiday instead but if Celebrity had asked us to cancel we would have happily done so, especially if that meant someone else could go in our place. I don't understand why they haven't reached out and done this as an option in the first place rather than seemingly cancel random cabins? We only paid a £300 deposit so worst case scenario for us is we lose this, but I'm waiting to see if we receive a cancellation email anyway. We booked a sunset veranda back in Feb 2022 directly on their website. 

This is our first experience with Celebrity and I'd be very reluctant to book with them again based on this!

I have said the same thing, in their email they said the exhausted all options yet they didn't first ask for volunteers.  Have you tried contacting them and seeing if they would allow you to cancel and get a refund based on the cruise being oversold?

[sqrl18]

I guess all aspects of the industry have to deal with where to put the equipment for the best results, the impacts of downsizing ships have not only to them but also to the passengers, and having to be more flexible then perhaps they'd want.  But they need to step up their game in how they handle it.  CEL is getting trashed due to poor issue management.  At this point, regardless of my ticket, I want them to respect my time.  Per the letter someone pasted on page 2 of this chain, (yet another) lift and shift to the same cruise doesn't cut it.  Neither does a simple refund.  This may be the second time I have be flexible to accomodate their changes.  They should at least offer a more global choice of cruises to lift and shift to.  If I move to next year, I loose an additional 2 days on the voyage (2022 cruise was 15 days, '23 is 14 and '24 offerings are only 12).  Fails on a number of levels here...

[stormy_weatherman]

My September 30th was cancelled. It was a Lift & Shift from my March 2023 cancelled Solstice cruise. Had not paid in full but had paid more than the deposit. 
 

https://youtu.be/paZiIaezsn4

[anniegb]

2 minutes ago, stormy_weatherman said:

My September 30th was cancelled. It was a Lift & Shift from my March 2023 cancelled Solstice cruise. Had not paid in full but had paid more than the deposit. 
 

https://youtu.be/paZiIaezsn4

Sorry to hear that.  Which deck??

[stormy_weatherman]

Just now, anniegb said:

Sorry to hear that.  Which deck??

 
I had a “deluxe verandah” on deck 9. 

[anniegb]

6 minutes ago, stormy_weatherman said:

 
I had a “deluxe verandah” on deck 9. 

Thanks.

 

Well that has broken the pattern.  Someone had reported that it was primarily decks 2 and 3 that were impacted along with some verandah cabins on deck 6.

[Tarwood3]

21 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Thanks.

 

Well that has broken the pattern.  Someone had reported that it was primarily decks 2 and 3 that were impacted along with some verandah cabins on deck 6.

Ive also heard deck 7s….it seems to be all over the place.  

[anniegb]

3 minutes ago, Tarwood3 said:

Ive also heard deck 7s….it seems to be all over the place.  

Another theory bites the dust!

 

 

[maryann2]

25 minutes ago, Tarwood3 said:

Ive also heard deck 7s….it seems to be all over the place.  

 

20 minutes ago, anniegb said:

Another theory bites the dust!

 

 

Not necessarily.

Some people have been upgraded from lower categories. Some cancelled.

[Judy Arthur]

Isn’t all this guess work fun??    If only Celebrity took full responsibility for their screw-up and handled it openly and professionally, with generous compensation to those affected to retain loyal customers.   Is that too much to ask??

[neverlaysup]

5 hours ago, raananh said:

I agree with you. But cruise lines are not "American companies". Most of their customers are not even Americans.

Whatever caused an "oversold" situation, be it a booking system issue (unlikely), cancellation of another cruise and shifting the customers to this cruise, greed (let's sell the same cabin for more money), etc, should have serious consequences for cruise lines, by law.

Already this costs Celebrity $450 per person, $500 per person for flights, many customers who chose to cancel and get a 100% refund (loss of sales), customers who will not book again with Celebrity, agents busy dealing with this instead of selling more cruises, etc.

My strong impression is that this whole fiasco is due to bad management, lack of planning and bad decision making. Even without this incident, I think the cruise industry made a lot of management mistakes that annoyed customers and hurt sales.

I own stocks in RCL.

We need something (regulations) that will force cruise lines to save themselves and be better managed. I doubt that will happen. I think the trend is worse and worse management + worse service for the cruisers.

 

Celebrity Cruises may flag their vessels in Malta or Ecuador but they are a US based company. For starters, this oversell situation on X and RCL (Wonder of the Seas) is the first time I have ever seen this situation on a cruise line. The reasons the airlines have been mandated to pay certain amounts is because they overbook as a standard practice and the government has realized that passengers need to be appropriately compensated for a situation that was 100% in control of the airline.

 

Perhaps, the cruise industry needs to be held to the same standard, especially if operating out of a US port. It is unreasonable to expect a person to purchase travel insurance to protect them against the cruise line. Insurance is a protection of the person against illness and injury. As such, any cruise line that forcibly boots a passenger due to an oversell should be on the hook for at a minimum, all non-refundable expenses incurred....full airfare reimbursement (does not matter if you purchased super saver economy or first class), hotels......etc! For airline passengers, they get up to $1550 for over a two hour delay for bumps and essentially fly for free, so perhaps the cruise line should be comping you a similar cruise of your choice. It seems like a fair ask for the level of inconvenience they have caused. 

[neverlaysup]

3 hours ago, sqrl18 said:

We're booked on Celebrity Millenium for 15SEP Transpacific cruise in Aquaclass.  This was a rollover from the SEP'22 cruise that was cancelled by Celebrity.  I heard from Celebrity this cruise is crazy oversold, but no other information or change options were offered.  I've been trying to make my full payment while still able to get full refund in case I have cancel, but the page has been unavailable for over a week.  Another issue is I booked the incorrect date for my return trip from TYO.  The cruise was rebooked in APR'22 so airspace was not available to book.  I used the app (that Celebrity always pushes you to) and the dates posted (still) are 15-29SEP on the first two pages of the cruise display.  The actual end date is 30SEP.  Called my cruise planner who advised, per the invoice, the cruise dates have always been 15-30SEP.  Issue is I booked my air the day the flight rolled into the system (4ONV22), based on the dates I saw in the app (15-29SEP).  Two seats on JAL in business for an insanely low amount of miles; I was booked got great deals and was happy! Now, I would have to suffer on AA at 450k miles pp.  I sent a screen shot to the rep stating, due to errors in the display, CEL needs to get me home and she said she'd see what she can do - that was three weeks ago.  (I believe the issue is in their code - the pages on the app shown first do not consider the date change from the Int'l Date Line.  Code is reading start date of cruise + cruise length (15SEP+14 days=29SEP when it needs to add a day when travelling westbound of the Dateline which whould show the 30th.  The main code considers this.)  Not my job to verify dates in all different locations to ensure their code is correct!  Anyway, will call to see if I can pay in full and see if any options are provided.  Anyone have suggestions on how to handle?  i agree that Celebrity is acting really wonky with these bookings - not their usual standard at all.

It appears that most of the oversell is in the Veranda category due to there being 400 less on the Millennium. As for the airfare portion of your issue, that sucks but I am looking at the app right now and it says Sep 15- Sep 30. Perhaps this is an update and I never saw anything different. If you have AMEX points, look at Singapore Airlines, we booked late (two weeks ago) but it only cost us 120K miles each for business class.