Celebrity is turning into a rip off

[Avidcruiser321]

It's an interesting question.  I have good friends that were just there for 2 weeks.  They stayed at a timeshare that is south of Lahaina on the same coast.  They reported that people and businesses really do want the tourists to come back and spend money, but they REALLY hate it when people ask them about the fire.  Apparently everyone has a story, but they are personal and they hate having to talk about it with strangers (tourists).

[Avidcruiser321]

2 hours ago, Liao said:

I'll go out on a limb and say that you will not get a lot of sympathy here.  The fact is, there is nothing to sympathize with, nothing.  You were not wronged in any way shape or form.  P.S. I'm guessing the good folks in Lahaina are happy to rebuild without a lot of us tourists planking about.  

LOL - so what you are saying is I shouldn't go to the Internet looking for sympathetic strangers to help me feel better?  Just kidding.  I get that they technically didn't do anything wrong or evil.  It's just that I paid more than double what you can book same cruise for now.  Would have been nice for them to at least pretend to care!

 

And the main point is that Celebrity really does seem to be going downhill from my past experiences.  This was just icing on the cake.

[prmssk]

4 minutes ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

It's an interesting question.  I have good friends that were just there for 2 weeks.  They stayed at a timeshare that is south of Lahaina on the same coast.  They reported that people and businesses really do want the tourists to come back and spend money, but they REALLY hate it when people ask them about the fire.  Apparently everyone has a story, but they are personal and they hate having to talk about it with strangers (tourists).

I think there is a difference between a community wanting tourists to return and being ready to handle thousands of them all at once just for the day. 

[Avidcruiser321]

2 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Just a warning before you are more frustrated with longstanding policies. That form will do nothing for you. You aren’t before final payment and your booking wasn’t made within the past 48hrs. 

Thank you kind stranger, for saving me time and more frustration!

[Avidcruiser321]

2 minutes ago, prmssk said:

I think there is a difference between a community wanting tourists to return and being ready to handle thousands of them all at once just for the day. 

Yes, that's a fair point.  And to be very clear, this post was not about them removing the Lahaina stop.  We understand and are ok with that. 

[jelayne]

7 minutes ago, prmssk said:

With the way port fees are constantly changing, they don’t always owe you money for a missed port. The amount you commit to at booking is just an estimate of your portion of port fees. So just because the cruise ship doesn’t have to pay Lahaina port fees doesn’t mean the fees haven’t gone up for other ports on your itinerary since your booking.

You make a good point.  We are on the same cruise as the OP.  
We booked the day it was released, since then the fees & taxes have doubled but our fees are locked in at the price when we booked. 

[abbydancer2003]

I'm on this cruise as well, but not in a balcony (mini suite).  For me, if I rebooked today, it would cost several hundred more, and I'd lose tips and a bunch of OBC.  YMMV.

 

I think one time, I got some extra OBC after final, and that was a very specific situation.  We were in a Sky Suite on a South American/Antarctic itinerary, and the prices kept dropping (my guess was airfare had become ridiculous from North America).  The price of a Celebrity Suite went to about 300.00 more than I paid for the Sky.  So I paid 300.00 and moved us.  The next day, it dropped to what we'd paid for the Sky Suite.  I called and they gave us 300.00 refundable OBC.  It was, I believe, because of the timing.  It was also in 2019, so pre-pandemic.  After the pandemic, pricing did become a little more rigid.

 

And in 2022, I was in Maui at the "other side".  We were back on the ship by noon, since there's not much there.  I was looking forward to Maui, but we just rented a car for the first day in Hilo to go see Volcanos National Park since we'll now have time. 

[NMTraveller]

If you have the time,  fly into Maui a week before your cruise ...

Edited March 13 by NMTraveller

[Avidcruiser321]

23 minutes ago, abbydancer2003 said:

I'm on this cruise as well, but not in a balcony (mini suite).  For me, if I rebooked today, it would cost several hundred more, and I'd lose tips and a bunch of OBC.  YMMV.

 

I think one time, I got some extra OBC after final, and that was a very specific situation.  We were in a Sky Suite on a South American/Antarctic itinerary, and the prices kept dropping (my guess was airfare had become ridiculous from North America).  The price of a Celebrity Suite went to about 300.00 more than I paid for the Sky.  So I paid 300.00 and moved us.  The next day, it dropped to what we'd paid for the Sky Suite.  I called and they gave us 300.00 refundable OBC.  It was, I believe, because of the timing.  It was also in 2019, so pre-pandemic.  After the pandemic, pricing did become a little more rigid.

 

And in 2022, I was in Maui at the "other side".  We were back on the ship by noon, since there's not much there.  I was looking forward to Maui, but we just rented a car for the first day in Hilo to go see Volcanos National Park since we'll now have time. 

Good info!  Thanks for replying.  This certainly explains why they would not consider an upgrade.

[Jim_Iain]

Understand your frustration but even as a Double Zenith (over 6,000) points the same happened to me on my Edge Singapore to Sydney... .except my CS at $25,000 dropped to $15,000.

There are always opportunities.   Check out the prices of higher classifications and see if you can find a deal, as they are also discounted.    I was able to upgrade to a RS  for only an additional $350.   I did loose $800 OBC from booking on board but to me it was worth it. 

[stevenr597]

I have found that if you book while currently on a cruise, you get a pretty good deal with a lot of credit for the upcoming cruise. 

Otherwise it is more a matter of luck.  We usually are fairly selective in the type of room we book, Aqua Class on Celebrity and Reserve Class Mini-Suite on Princess, and quite often these rooms go fast, and we often see little in the way of sales.  

In respect to changing or missing ports, on Carnaval several years ago we missed most ports because of Hurricanes.  The missed Disney’s Private Island because of thunderstorms, and and recently on Trans-Atlantic we arrived at the Azores 10:00 PM instead of 8:00 AM because of weather. 

Missing ports is something that is never liked but will happen.

In the end my wife and I joke that a rainy day at sea is better than a sunny day at work. 

[NMTraveller]

I had my moveup offer accepted on my last cruise.  Perhaps try an upgrade.  Maybe you can get a better room.

Edited March 13 by NMTraveller

[hcat]

3 hours ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

LOL - so what you are saying is I shouldn't go to the Internet looking for sympathetic strangers to help me feel better?  Just kidding.  I get that they technically didn't do anything wrong or evil.  It's just that I paid more than double what you can book same cruise for now.  Would have been nice for them to at least pretend to care!

 

And the main point is that Celebrity really does seem to be going downhill from my past experiences.  This was just icing on the cake.

O P

what has been your experience with other cruise lines on this type of issue?   ( I don't see many prior posts by you  here on CC...)

[happy cruzer]

Did you purchase airfare?  Did the price on that change?  Sometimes if the airfare has gone way up in price and cruise price drops, your bottom line is about the same which may take some of the sting out.

 

Have a great cruise!

[BP99]

2 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

Did you purchase airfare?  Did the price on that change?  Sometimes if the airfare has gone way up in price and cruise price drops, your bottom line is about the same which may take some of the sting out.

 

Have a great cruise!

Hi,

Totally agree. Last minute cruise rates are usually GREAT (except for cabin selection) BUT last

minute airfare is usually terrible. Especially if you live in Canada (like us).

Last minute cruise booking works well if you live near the cruise port.

[Miaminice]

10 hours ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

My story - we booked the Solstice over a year ago to go from Hawaii to Vancouver on April 25.  Paid a princely sum for a nice balcony cabin and was satisfied at the time

 

Apparently you did not think that Celebrity are a rip off when you booked for the original price.

I understand your frustration - but that´s just what it is, YOUR frustration!

Like many other you would not complain or offer to pay the difference if the prices went up.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. Get over it and enjoy your cruise. Best you can do.

 

[hcat]

8 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

I'm on this cruise as well, but not in a balcony (mini suite).  For me, if I rebooked today, it would cost several hundred more, and I'd lose tips and a bunch of OBC.  YMMV.

 

I think one time, I got some extra OBC after final, and that was a very specific situation.  We were in a Sky Suite on a South American/Antarctic itinerary, and the prices kept dropping (my guess was airfare had become ridiculous from North America).  The price of a Celebrity Suite went to about 300.00 more than I paid for the Sky.  So I paid 300.00 and moved us.  The next day, it dropped to what we'd paid for the Sky Suite.  I called and they gave us 300.00 refundable OBC.  It was, I believe, because of the timing.  It was also in 2019, so pre-pandemic.  After the pandemic, pricing did become a little more rigid.

 

And in 2022, I was in Maui at the "other side".  We were back on the ship by noon, since there's not much there.  I was looking forward to Maui, but we just rented a car for the first day in Hilo to go see Volcanos National Park since we'll now have time. 

Hilo was one of our ports.. and going to VNP was one of the best parts of our trip!   It was anazing!

 

What we recall of Lahaina was some very old stores, and a  dirty public  bathroom in a sketchy  small park area .l.We took a nice whale watching excursion.  Did not see any whales and not much else.  Sadly, we heard that the wooden boat burned some time  later..way before the recent fires.

 

cruising can be an adventure..no guarantees!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

8 hours ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

LOL - so what you are saying is I shouldn't go to the Internet looking for sympathetic strangers to help me feel better?  Just kidding.  I get that they technically didn't do anything wrong or evil.  It's just that I paid more than double what you can book same cruise for now.  Would have been nice for them to at least pretend to care!

You mean it just like seeing  a clearance sale on a pair of shoes you bought a couple of months ago 🤣

 

[hcat]

7 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You mean it just like seeing  a clearance sale on a pair of shoes you bought a couple of months ago 🤣

 

and have worn many times!

[Tenderpaw]

I understand the frustration but in 50 cruises I don't think I've ever gotten money back after final payment, but we have been able to move up to a better cabin before.  But we haven't tried that since covid either.

 

Regarding Lahaina, I've never heard of not getting the port fees back on a port cancellation. Even if the fees changed (went down), you'd still get something back.  Maybe they had already credited them prior to final payment?

[cw2go]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Hilo was one of our ports.. and going to VNP was one of the best parts of our trip!   It was anazing!

 

What we recall of Lahaina was some very old stores, and a  dirty public  bathroom in a sketchy  small park area .l.We took a nice whale watching excursion.  Did not see any whales and not much else.  Sadly, we heard that the wooden boat burned some time  later..way before the recent fires.

 

cruising can be an adventure..no guarantees!

 

We've never sailed Hawaii, only visited with land trips. Although we've enjoyed Maui, I agree Lahaina was just okay, I loved Kauai and Hubby loved Big Island, enough to return several times. We witnessed this explosion while have lunch in VNP. The left is our pic, taken with an iPhone from over a mile away. The earth literally shook. Very COOL experience and nothing that anyone could ever plan for.  

 

So all that being said my best input for the OP is that any vacation wether be by land or sea will have many plusses & minuses, lots of variables at play. When it comes to price drops after final payment, you just need to let that go. Motto: You win some ~ You lose some, in the end it all comes out in the wash. IMO Celebrity still offers a great product, when looking at other comparable lines, they exceed in service, dining and overall ship design.

 

Cruising has changed, the traveler has changed and life as we know it has changed. 

 

Enjoy Hawaii, 

Patty 

[zitsky]

10 hours ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

Yes, that's a fair point.  And to be very clear, this post was not about them removing the Lahaina stop.  We understand and are ok with that. 

 

"WORSE cruise now as they took Lahaina off the itinerary."

 

I'm glad you clarified that point because I was wondering what the quote above meant.  Many of us have dealt with price changes and deleted ports.  I have.  Nobody likes it.  You have probably noticed that cruise lines aren't the only company that raises and lowers prices.

[CruseKrazy]

I understand the OPs angst about pricing.  It used to pay to wait until July 4 or Black Friday to book with Celebrity.  Last July 4 we got an excellent price and substantial OBC on the cruise preceeding the one the OP is venting about. By Black Friday OBCs were no longer being offered and the price had gone up.  RCCL share prices have recovered nicely in accordance with the increased pricing trend.  

[zitsky]

Are there cruise lines that sell the same cruise at the same price without it going up or down?

[ArgoNereus]

15 hours ago, Avidcruiser321 said:

And the guy then rubs salt in the wound by saying "we see you booked over a year ago, if you had booked more recently then maybe we could have done something"!  Really???  it should be the other way around.

 

You must always remember that the "early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."  Unless you really have to get a specific cabin waiting pays dividends.

 

We cruised for ten weeks on Constellation recently and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  There were some cutbacks from our previous experiences but irritants were minor.

We booked another ten weeks for next winter at prices that were quite affordable (i.e. not in a suite)

Edited March 13 by ArgoNereus