Pre cruise hotel and transfer

[corpfinman]

Just back from 2 weeks B2B on Constellation. Great cruise ...BUT

 

Celebrity pre cruise package at San Juan. Hotel fine, but on check in no letter or other info re timings for next am pickup.

 

Phoned local agent (as advised in Celebrity docs.) but at 9.30 am on a Saturday no reply. Hung around with 30 other people and eventually had to go on coach at 1pm and leave all our bags outside hotel as truck to collect them did not arrive.

 

Checked in and patiently waited for bags to be delivered. Cruised a lot so know this takes time. At 6pm no bags and front desk coud not say if they had even been collected. At our insistence they rang the hotel. Eventually received bags after much unnecessary aggravation and chasing at 9.30 and 10 pm.

 

Asked front desk to formally e-mail Miami HO with complaint. No response - why am I not surprised.

 

Why do they not realise that one incident can affect future cruise choices if not handled well. Problems arise - it's how they are handled that differentiates the true sevice companies.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

This is why I will never book a hotel or a transfer with X or any other line. I remember my last experience in FLL. I had a party of 5 people checking out of the Marriott and we walked out the front door and looked at more than 120 people waiting in line for a bus/s. Our cab cost less than the transfers. These poor pax waited another 2 hours for the bus/s to take them to the ship. The sad part was the look on their faces as we stepped into the van.

[ocngypz]

I remember one stay at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan which I had booked myself.

 

The morning of embarkation there was literally a wall of suitecases stretching the length of the sidewalk from one end to the other.. several feel deep and several feet high. Suitcases were going to all different ships and were not in any particular order.

 

Passsengers were milling about wondering when the buses would arrive.

 

Me, I rolled my cases out beyond the mess, hailed a cab and was at the pier at 1030AM.. while the others were left to the mess.. and the bus.

 

I was at another precruise hotel in FLL, which, of course, I had booked direct.

Princess pax were standing around grumbling the transfer bus had not yet arrived. Me... again.. I wheeled my cases out to the curb, ordered a cab.. and picked up two disgruntled cruise passengers to share the cab ride.

[poetic license]

I book all my own hotel and transfer arrangements myself, too, Ocngypz and CGTNORMANDIE. But there are a LOT of folks out there who don't feel confident enough to do so, and the relative security of knowing it is being done for them is what some passengers want AND need.

 

Of course, Celebrity isn't going to tell anyone that arranging pre and post cruise hotels and transportation is a breeze, and that you will likely save time, money, and aggravation doing it that way ... they offer it to make money. What is implied in that service is that it is easier for you and makes you feel safer having a larger corporation behind your hotel reservation and transportation to and from the ship. It isn't expressed, but it sure is implied.

 

I think once someone has taken a few cruises, they do start to make their own arrangements because they become comfortable enough to do so. But there are an enormous amount of cruisers out there who don't cruise often or whose cruise is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and those are the target market for cruiselines offering pre and post cruise packages.

 

The original poster should tell their travel agent about the fiasco, and ask their travel agent to write a letter to Celebrity. They have the most clout, since they can either enourage or discourage hundreds of clients to take advantage of cruiselines packages, or help them book a la carte hotel and transportation. If an agent hears bad things, they don't want to risk THEIR repuation by booking questionable arrangements. THEY realize that a single incident can color future business, and are the best ones to convey that to the cruiseline as well. JMHO.

 

Cheers~

Nicki

[gracecarmo]

I usually do all air, hotel, and the transfers independent of the cruise line and be in control, however, I have booked the whole package with X this time. (hope I don't regret it!)

This is for a Transatlantic from Dover to the US in Sept on the Connie. I know how expensive the transfers can get in the UK, having been there this past Oct. on the QM2, and they were also quite a hasssle, at least for us with luggage.

I know the hotel is probably twice what we would pay, but this time, the convenience of a pick-up at the airport to hotel, then from hotel in London to Dover, and back in the US the transfer to the airport from the ship may be a wash. All included in the package. And, the one way airfare is quite reasonable.

This time, I want X to do it all!

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI NICKI!!!

 

Do you really think Celebrity would do something if a letter were written concerning the above??? LOL!!!

 

Just read the last 4 years of the X thread and you will see that X just "stamps them and ramps them" to the pier. You are right about the newbies relying on X to provide hotels and transfers...but...isn't the purpose of Cruise Critics to provide information from old salts like Gypsz and myself that would give the newbies the confidence to try a different approach??? That is why we are here.

 

ALL THE BEST NICKI,

 

ROSS

[corpfinman]

Thanks for the above comments. I agree independence is best as a rule.

 

I have made independent hotel and tramsfers in the past.

 

On this occasion I used the X package as it is extremely costly to get flights from London to San Juan as there are no direct flights. I could not better the X package.

 

Guess I paid in other ways in the end.

[TNTKP]

Have had both good and bad experiences on other cruise lines in regards to cruise hotels and transfers.

Usually do the flights with air deviation through the cruise lines-for open jaw air fares, this has worked out much less expensive.

Last fall, took a cruise on the new Costa Magica, (lapse of judgement). did the pre-cruise hotel, (shabby and dingy), but the pick up at the airport to the hotel was wonderful, van with no other pax-prompt and courteous driver. The ride to the cruise ship the next day was OK. The transfer in Fort Lauderdale was a disaster-waited on the bus for 2 hours for others on the agents manifest to arrive. Finally explained that some on the bus may miss their flight, and we were off to the airport. Would have gladly paid for a taxi if we knew then what we know now.

Am currently planning a TA in December on the Galaxy, have booked cruise air with deviation, but hotel choices, as usual, don't rate well on tripadvisor or venere. Better rated/better located hotels and private tranportation still totals much less than the cruise lines options.

Good luck,

Tim