Live from Millie 6/30-7/12- Damage

[bella1979]

I just spoke with another celebrity "customer service" rep and the last report they have is from JULY 6!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable. They still say that all is fixed even when I told them that we heard it from passengers on the ship that it is being dry docked. :eek:

[CLEMM]

If I had stock I would sell it. Not because they hit the rocks, those things happen, but because of all the ill will Celebrity creates with misinformation and disinformation. My deposit is due in August. Hmmmm.

[bella1979]

Have any of the hosts gotten any more updates from Celebrity?

[cars0153]

don'\t believe what is coming out of customer service. I have yet to receive an email back which was over 3 days ago. In addition one of our group called on Friday sating and was told it was fixed!

As you see it is not!

Well finally some GOOD news!!! :)

[bella1979]

Oh, I always email the UK customer service and get a reply within a day. US email cust. service never replies to me.

[Oakman]

I just received an e-mail from Jerry, I'll just cut and paste it:

 

Pam,They have just cancelled the cruise and the ship will go to dry dock forrepairs.The gave us 2 options: the first is to try and get us out of Rome as soonas possible. The second option is to go to Venice by bus or train andtake our original flight. We have chosen to go to Venice. We feel thiswould be the easiest for us even though it requires hours on the bus ortrain. At least we have confirmed seats on Air France and at this busytime of the year getting seats will be very difficult in both cities.Jerry

 

 

Since the great idea of using the other ships in port as a web cam was posted, and the Sea Princess has left port, I went to google earth and am able see the Millie in port....

 

Pam

Pam-

If you e mail Jerry, tell him to try and contact Air One. We just got back from Italy and flew Rome to Venice. 1 hour and quite inexpensive. (and a great airline to boot). This way he will not waste all that time on the train or bus. They fly many times daily Rome-Venice

[Host Walt]

Have any of the hosts gotten any more updates from Celebrity?

 

Frankly we get the best and most timely information from what folks post on these boards. If someone within Cruise Critic gets reliable information directly from Celebrity, it will be posted ASAP.

[jordie]

I agree, I am in utter disbelief that celebrity would let this be possible...my TA called and they swear, its in black and white, that the 12th sailing is on...HOW CAN THAT BE when the present passengers do not have to be off this ship until the 12th?

[bella1979]

Because that black and white is from 2 days ago! I am the type of person that needs to be in control so I am planning out a plan b on eurorail.

[trawleroh]

I will redo my post with the quote for Big Al

[CLEMM]

The reason the info is from the 6th is because that was the last time the stock market was open. The investors page show the last press release from the 6th. Why customer service is not being updated I cannot guess.

[trawleroh]

Hi All, hope current issues get resloved satisfactorily. We have never cruised before and are due to go on a Med cruise on Millenium from Barcelona on 7 October. I have paid a deposit and am due to pay the balance to my TA by the end of July.

 

I am becoming increasingly concerned by what I have read on various forums on the net, Celebrity was recommended as being "a cut above the rest" by my TA (it's a 25th wedding surprise) but I read of reliability problems with the pods, various reports that the ship and its furnishings are getting "tired" along with falling service standards and now this issue of them apparently running the ship onto rocks which thankfully just caused damage to the props and not to the hull. I am beginning to wonder if I have made a big mistake, are Celebrity all they are supposed to be or should I pull the plug and look elsewhere.

 

I hope my concerns don't annoy faithfulls, but given all I have read, I fear they are well founded.

BigAl,

I was on the June 18th voyage. We had no mechanical problems or delays. The food and service were the best my whole family (there were 6 of us ranging in age from 20 to 69) has experienced on a cruise and we have all had many cruises. The entertainment after dinner was a rather large disappointment compared to other cruises. There was a certain amount of tension for the bartenders (several actually talked about it) and I'm not sure exactly why. Our itineray was outstanding but I don't know that I will use Celebrity again (I have never said that about any other cruise line). It wasn't anything overtly negative, it is just a gut feeling we had when we left the ship.

Having said all of this, I must caution you in making a hasty decision, particularly under these circumstances. If you check out the forums for other cruise lines you will find may folks who love a particular company and even a particular ship and on the same forum there will be those that don't like the ship or company. It is just personal preference like everything else.

The people on board the Millennium have had a most unfortunate situation that I can't even begin to understand. The folks scheduled for the 12th are now going through panic attacks.

Did I have a good cruise on the Millennium? Absolutely.

In fairness, the itineray had a lot to do with the success of my trip which makes me that much more sick for the people on board right now who haven't had the opportunity to experince these ports or even the days at sea.

Before you do anything drastic about changing ships or companies for your up coming cruise, just understand that a problem can happen on any of these ships and we all just hope and pray that we have safe and fun cruises. You have time to make a decision for your trip.

 

Unfortunately, the people onboard now and the pax scheduled for the 12th are in serious scramble mode so I will now defer to them to communicate other information that is pressing.

[mahdnc]

Thanks for letting me know that!

 

So no web cams.......

 

Also that is not Millennium that is pictured at Civitavecchia. But she is visible at the port of Venice in Google Earth!

[hajekfam]

I just spoke with another celebrity "customer service" rep and the last report they have is from JULY 6!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable. They still say that all is fixed even when I told them that we heard it from passengers on the ship that it is being dry docked. :eek:

Wen we had the problems on our 2005 transatlantic, customer service was one of the last to know. It was reported on these boards first by a stockholder who got the full scoop from investor relations. Our biggest complaint to the headquarters rep that they sent to Barcelona and on our cruise, was that customer relations should not come up with second guesses - it would be better to tell us that a decision is not reached yet and give us a time frame of when to expect that decision. After all, we are adults and a truthful answer is better than old news or guesses.

 

Unfortunately, I think that the powers that make these decisions are too busy working out the details to think about passing down the info to customer service and captains club reps. They should have a plan in effect that would relay info down to the people who answer the phones.

[cars0153]

Who is Jerry if you don't mind me asking? His he on the ship?

I just received an e-mail from Jerry, I'll just cut and paste it:

 

Pam,They have just cancelled the cruise and the ship will go to dry dock forrepairs.The gave us 2 options: the first is to try and get us out of Rome as soonas possible. The second option is to go to Venice by bus or train andtake our original flight. We have chosen to go to Venice. We feel thiswould be the easiest for us even though it requires hours on the bus ortrain. At least we have confirmed seats on Air France and at this busytime of the year getting seats will be very difficult in both cities.Jerry

 

 

Since the great idea of using the other ships in port as a web cam was posted, and the Sea Princess has left port, I went to google earth and am able see the Millie in port....

 

Pam

[Lois R]

mahdnc, can you post the link? Trying to use google earth.....thanks.

"she is visible at the port of Venice"

[spider33]

:mad: Well I cannot take the conflicting information anymore. I made another call to Miami and was just informed that it has been confirmed that the Millenium is going into Dry Dock - except the Dry Docks are located in Germany and Finland not Venice. They will have updated information about the July 12th cruise by 10:00 Eastern Time tomorrow by most likely is cancelled - That's just flipping great - sure gives people time to make alternate arrangements.:mad:

[Host Anne]

Sorry gang,Walt's right. We don't have any access to information. I'm sure as Cruise Critic recieves information from Celebrity, they will post it. We're keeping our eyes open for it.

 

Just a thought, if the ship is going into dry dock, I'm not sure how the passengers can stay on board until the 11th or 12th. Maybe in a hurry to post something didn't get typed correctly?

[flagger]

I suggest you call the following every two hours

 

The listed spokesman on the RCLinvestor press release site.

 

Until you can get an answer about your 12 July cruise. As he is the listed spokesman for Celebrity Cruises, might as well go to the horse's mouth.

 

Celebrity EXCELS at Customer No-Service.

[melissa@cruisecritic]

We've just posted our news update on this situation: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2111

 

A dry dock is a possibility, but Celebrity has yet not many any changes regarding the July 12 cruise. We'll continue to post information as soon as we receive it so check back often.

[gracecarmo]

We had a similar situation while crising several years ago on a Princess ship. She hit the corner of the peir while going out of Barcelona and damaged the propeller. The ship limped along at half speed. We did make 2 ports, but then the ship had to go into dry dock. We sailed to Trieste (very near Venice) where we were then bussed to Venice.

We were put up in beautiful hotels, all meals, excursions, entertainment, was provided. A team of people from Princess were flown in ahead of time to help out. It was really a great ending to an interupted cruise. We spent 4 days in Venice.

 

Now...the following cruise pax also had 4 days in Venice, pre cruise. All paid of course by the cruise line. Then the ship was fixed and ready to sail, with only a few ports missing. And, I understand that they were also compensated in some way.

 

We got our money back, plus 50% off a future cruise. So, it was a free cruise, plus a nice bonus.

 

However, it does not compensate for a long awaided honeymoon, anniversary, or other celebration for the pax on the Millenium.

 

I am just stating what happened, and how the cruise line handled the incoming cruise pax after the canceled cruise. (somehow, the cruise line we were on got 500 hotel rooms in Venice...a miracle IMO).

[Lois R]

:mad: Well I cannot take the conflicting information anymore. I made another call to Miami and was just informed that it has been confirmed that the Millenium is going into Dry Dock - except the Dry Docks are located in Germany and Finland not Venice. They will have updated information about the July 12th cruise by 10:00 Eastern Time tomorrow by most likely is cancelled - That's just flipping great - sure gives people time to make alternate arrangements.:mad:

 

Spider, Melissa just posted a new udpate on her reply.

 

I think maybe whoever you spoke didn't know the answer so

that is just the answer they gave you:(

[HISTORY]

I feel sick! I can't believe this is happening. I am so upset I can't even find the customer service #!!!!

[mahdnc]

mahdnc, can you post the link? Trying to use google earth.....thanks.

"she is visible at the port of Venice"

 

Hello, Lois.

 

I assume you have Google Earth (if not, then download it from earth.google.com).

 

In the search box which is in the upper left hand corner of the Google Earth screen, copy and paste these coordinates and then hit enter:

 

45.435797N 12.310650E

 

These coordinates will put the viewing crosshairs directly over Millennium right at the dock in Venice.........

 

David

[HISTORY]

Ed from customer service said the JUly 12th cruise is officially cancelled with a full refund and a full paid future cruise. I'm so upset