Celebrity obligation re disembarkation time/date?

[Paulaa]

If a ship is delayed into port at the end of a cruise, does Celebrity have any obligation to compensate passengers for missed onward flights?

[tbelian]

If you booked celebrity air, they will be responsible for getting you on another flight.

[usha]

If a ship is delayed into port at the end of a cruise, does Celebrity have any obligation to compensate passengers for missed onward flights?

In a word: No.

[Paulaa]

Many thanks!

[RLM77]

If you have made your own travel arrangements then Celebrity has no obligation to do anything. However, when our return to LA was delayed due to rough weather, the cruise line did offer free phone calls to all pax who made independent arrangements. That allowed us to call TA's and/or airlines to understand our options (as it turned out we were able to make our originally scheduled flight).

 

If you press a bit, X will also contact their main office and prepare a letter stating that the ship's return was delayed. They don't like to do this because for some reason shipboard personnel are not allowed to write/issue such a letter; it has to go through the main office. But they will do it if you are persistent. This will help you file your claim should you miss your flight and if you have also purchased travel insurance (from a vendor other than Celebrity).

 

Finally, as a previous poster already said, if you purchased your air travel through Celebrity then they will reschedule your flight for you at no additional cost. I don't know whether or not they would have also paid for a hotel in the event that there were no available flights until the next day.

 

Hope that helps.

[Paulaa]

Thank you Marlee & Rich,

 

How long were you delayed reaching port on the occasion you mention?

[RLM77]

How long were you delayed reaching port on the occasion you mention?

 

Summit was scheduled to arrive at San Pedro at 7AM and we arrived at 9:30AM due to a strong headwinds.

 

Our flight was out of LAX at 12:30PM. We took advantage of the 'walk off' option at disembarkation. Grabbed a taxi, let the cabby know about the tight timing and we made it with time to spare. Granted, I hope we are never driven quite that fast ever again! :eek:

[dbh62ark]

If a ship is delayed into port at the end of a cruise, does Celebrity have any obligation to compensate passengers for missed onward flights?

Paulaa, as others have stated, I don't think the cruise line has an obligation, but I know of many situations in which other cruise lines have covered expenses for passengers, especially in situations where the cruise line was at fault in the delay. So I don't know about your particular situation and have seen many examples where Celebrity has NOT done the right thing, but hopefully you will receive some resolution through insurance or Celebrity.

 

Donna

[Paulaa]

Thanks for all your responses.

 

Marlee & Rich - that must have been a hair-raising drive!

 

We're considering a cruise that is due to dock in San Diego at 7.00 am. For our homeward journey we would like to get an international flight that departs LAX around 9.00 pm. that evening. Hopefully it would work out okay, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever experienced a really severe delay in reaching a disembarkation port. Once I've booked the flight it might be difficult to change it if there is a protracted delay getting into port. It's a little worrying hearing about frequent engineering problems, and envisioning being stranded in the middle of the Pacific when we have a plane to catch.

[Char]

We're considering a cruise that is due to dock in San Diego at 7.00 am. For our homeward journey we would like to get an international flight that departs LAX around 9.00 pm. that evening. Hopefully it would work out okay, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever experienced a really severe delay in reaching a disembarkation port. Once I've booked the flight it might be difficult to change it if there is a protracted delay getting into port. It's a little worrying hearing about frequent engineering problems, and envisioning being stranded in the middle of the Pacific when we have a plane to catch.

It is highly unlikely that a ship would be delayed 14 hours. Not impossible, but the odds are VERY slim!

We had a delay into San Diego last year when there was a medical emergency that caused us to change course to meet the helicopter that was coming out for a critically ill passenger. We were late docking and missed our flight, which was at about 2PM, as did a large number of folks on that trip. Celebrity reimbursed us for our hotel and for our flight change fees. If I had kept the receipts we would also have been reinbursed for our meals.

We had booked our own flights--not through Celebrity. Those who had booked through Celebrity had their hotel and flight arrangements made by the Celebrity personnel on board the Infinity.

All we did was send the receipts to Celebrity and within a couple of weeks we recieved our check.

[Petert]

Hi Paulaa,

 

On some 35 cruises with RCI (Celebrity and Royal Caribbean) we have only had delayed debarkations twice. Once in Miami heavy winds required the use of tug boats to dock the many cruise ships arriving that day. We were delayed about three hours, and RCI had a large crew of ticketing agents on the curb at the airport rebooking passengers on later flights as needed.

 

Our second delayed debarkation was returning to Los Angeles from Mexico our cruise ship lost a generator in Acupulco, and the Captain estimated (worst case) a delay in arrival of about five hours. For the following two days telephone and email access was free to permit passengers to make necessary flight changes and family notifications. Those that required flight changes were assisted in making those changes, and RCI reimbursed those pax that had to pay additional fees. They were able to dock the ship only two hours late, and everyone seemed to be very happy with the concern RCI had for the inconvenience.

 

I would say that your chance of being significantly delayed is slim, and that RCI will provide any assistance you may need if you are in fact delayed beyond your flight window.

 

petert

[ocngypz]

I was delayed by 7 hours getting into port because of fog (Tampa).

 

Celebrity was of no help in reaccommodating passengers with air. Luckily I was on a back to back. As a matter of fact, when we finally disembarked, they kept the same system in place.... which had the people who had already missed their flights getting off first, when folks with late afternoon flights who could have made those flights, missed them because they had to wait.

 

It was NOT a good day. Embarkation finally started around 430pm and there were understandably very angry passengers.

 

The Carnival Sensation was delayed as well and they were very helpful in reaccommodating passengers.

 

Out of 172 sailings, I've only had to arrival delays. The sailing above and a transatlantic on Princess which was late arriving because of weather.. and further delayed by another 2 hours when passengers would not report to Customs. Lucky for me despite the 6 hours arrival delay, I wasn't worried about my flight because I was just changing terminals in Port Everglades to sail on the Mercury the same day.

[iamtrustworthy]

Paulaa, as others have stated, I don't think the cruise line has an obligation, but I know of many situations in which other cruise lines have covered expenses for passengers, especially in situations where the cruise line was at fault in the delay. So I don't know about your particular situation and have seen many examples where Celebrity has NOT done the right thing, but hopefully you will receive some resolution through insurance or Celebrity.

 

Donna

 

Donna,

 

Travel insurance package plans include Travel Delay. It doesn't matter if the delay is at the beginning or end of the trip.

 

Travel Delay provides benefits to help you defray the cost of additional accommodations and traveling expenses that you might incur if your trip is delayed for a covered reason.

[teedee]

We were 2 days late returning to Fort Lauderdale a couple of years ago due to Hurricane Jeanne. Celebrity was WONDERFUL about getting people's flights re-booked, even for those of us that didn't take Celebrity's air. They were even helping people that couldn't get flights out the Monday we got back into Fort Lauderdale get hotel reservations.

 

Terri

[dbh62ark]

Donna,

 

Travel insurance package plans include Travel Delay. It doesn't matter if the delay is at the beginning or end of the trip.

 

Travel Delay provides benefits to help you defray the cost of additional accommodations and traveling expenses that you might incur if your trip is delayed for a covered reason.

I think you may have misunderstood my message. My point was that she might be able to make a claim IF she has insurance. I understand all about travel delay insurance and have had to use our travel insurance coverage for delays.

 

Donna

 

P.S. What's up with the boards today????? The site is malfunctioning again . . . .

[iamtrustworthy]

I think you may have misunderstood my message. My point was that she might be able to make a claim IF she has insurance. I understand all about travel delay insurance and have had to use our travel insurance coverage for delays.

 

Donna

 

Hi Donna,

 

Sorry about my misunderstanding. I appreciate you clarifying for me what you meant. I didn't mean to imply you didn't know about travel delay insurance.

[Rev22:17]

Paulaa,

 

We're considering a cruise that is due to dock in San Diego at 7.00 am. For our homeward journey we would like to get an international flight that departs LAX around 9.00 pm. that evening. Hopefully it would work out okay, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever experienced a really severe delay in reaching a disembarkation port. Once I've booked the flight it might be difficult to change it if there is a protracted delay getting into port. It's a little worrying hearing about frequent engineering problems, and envisioning being stranded in the middle of the Pacific when we have a plane to catch.

 

A flight departing at 9:00 PM should be fine.

 

The deck officers on cruise ships do whatever they can, short of endangering the ship, to get into the scheduled turnaround ports on time because they know that late disembarcation causes problems for many passengers. If they anticpate a slow passage due to bad weather or abnormal currents, they will leave the previous port early or even skip the previous port of call. Obviously, there are situations where they simply can't get into port -- a hurricane hitting the port city on turnaround day, for example -- but those situations are extremely rare and would also disrupt the airlines' flight schedules. With a 9:00 PM departure, you have plenty of cushion for all of the likely disruptions.

 

Norm.