Booking Celebrity Shore Excursions Online

[SWLinPHX]

Here is an e-mail I wrote to Celebrity about a problem I had with booking shore excursions online. Did any of you encounter this problem???

 

Hello...

 

I am cruising the E. Mediterranean Venice to Barcelona on a group cruise Aug. 27. Yesterday I went to book my shore excursions in advance on your web site, and my cabin mate did so on Saturday, the day before. I must say the way the site is set up is extremely misleading and confusing, and caused a mess with bookings & cancellations for us.

 

First off, when I went to choose my excursions (the exact same three as my cabin mate Paul for $124 each, using separate credit cards) I saw our current total as $124, assuming he booked his three and mine were now pending. When I went to choose the ones I wanted to book, a window came up with a checkbox next to each of our names under the column "Assign?". Since I am paying for mine only and he already paid, I unchecked his and checked mine. Apparently, once I had chosen mine and paid/checked out, I got an e-mail confirming that I had indeed booked my three plus one for him too, paying $156. What's more, apparently by my unchecking Paul for the excursions I was booking, it automatically (and with no confirmation or notification) reversed his previously-paid transactions and refunded his card. I did not find all this out until later of course. I called Celebrity but had to wait until today as the group/shore excursion dept. was closed on Sundays. Upon calling this morning, I found out the current status of Paul being unregistered for two of his three and all mine being booked. Also, when I had gone back to correct my overcharge, I unchecked the excursion for which I was mistakenly charged twice, which then apparently canceled my booking for that one all together! I don't have his credit card to correct his and he is in Canada away on a meeting so will have to e-mail him when he surprisingly sees he has been "canceled" for some reason.

 

What's more, one of the agents on the phone told me I had to click VIEW MY CART on the web site, but there is none for Celebrity. One of the listings in the left column says VIEW MY EXCURSIONS, but that too is misleading, for that is the same thing it said when you first sign in before registering for any at all, in order to check available excursions for my particular sailing, not the ones I had already registered and paid for. Had is said "check cart", as it says on RCCL's website, that would've been much more clear.

 

Also, no e-mail is sent when a reservation is canceled and the e-mail that is sent does not notate which credit card was charged for what excursions. At this point it is hard to tell who got refunded what and who is paying for what.

 

I am assuming I have now paid for my three only and that Paul must re-register for two of his three. The main problem (aside from the "shopping cart" notation) is that upon registering with payment the word "ASSIGN?" (with the question mark) would seem to ask which do you wish to assign and pay for now, just as all online stores work. Knowing he had already paid and that I did not want to include his excursions when paying for mine, I unchecked his of course and checked mine. Even if this was a mistake, at no time did it warn or ask if I wanted to cancel him or to initiate a refund on a previous purchase by someone else, nor did it subsequently confirm that he had been canceled or refunded at that time, or even by e-mail. Merely selecting or unselecting a checkbox should never automatically and so easily cause a reversal or refund of a previously completed transaction, especially without further warning or indication!

 

I hope this can be resolved and you can alert your website designers of this problem so it can be changed and others can be spared this problem and confusion in the future. Thank you...

[BCHappyGal]

Thank you for the tip.

 

I assume from your experience that if 2 people are cruiseing together and want a shore excursion they had better book it together and work out the payment between themselves.

 

Doesn't sound very "first class"

[SWLinPHX]

Thank you for the tip.

 

I assume from your experience that if 2 people are cruiseing together and want a shore excursion they had better book it together and work out the payment between themselves.

 

Doesn't sound very "first class"

 

Exactly... Either that or when you book be sure not too touch any checkboxes whatsoever because your billing will change automatically without notice. Simply be sure to check the ones you want that are not checked, then know that when you go to pay, you will only be charged the ones you just checked, not those that were already checked. Apparently Celebrity assumes that everyone in a cabin always books at once and on one card only.

[ladysail2]

That's too bad you had that problem, PSMuffin, I am booked and travelling on Celebrity and when I went to book my shore excursions, had no trouble. I agree that it was a little confusing, but I didn't unclick any boxes. My cabin mate had already booked hers so I left her column alone.

 

Hopefully someone reading this will learn from our mistakes and trepidition. I didn't notice any double billing on my cc.

 

Good luck on future bookings and enjoy your cruise. Sounds like a good one.

[Ships R Great]

Call Celeb and ask to be transfered to Excursions Dept. Explain to them that you need to see if you are booked and/or doublebooked. They can pop right into the computer to tell you. And they are very nice about it.