What Happened to Equinox 12/4/09 Sailing??

[NorCalCruiseGuy]

Our friends are booked on the Dec. 4 2009 Caribbean sailing on the Equinox. We are interested in joining them, and just searched the Celebrity webiste. This cruise is no longer listed on the cruise calendar, or through doing a search. Our frieds have not received notice of any changes or cancellations.

Does anyone know what happened to this sailing??

[hajekfam]

There are several reasons why a sailing is gone from the website.

The sailing may be sold out.

The sailing may have been pulled for inventory (to verify the cabins sold, cabins on hold from TA's, and actual cabins available).

The sailing might be undergoing a price change.

The sailing may be undergoing an itinerary change.

The sailing may be chartered or in the process of being chartered.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We're on this sailing also and I noticed at the end of last week that it was not showing on their web site. After checking again today I called X and was assured that it is still open for booking and the itenary has not changed. The agent I talked to suggested anyone interested in booking just call X

1 800 556-8209.

 

Mary Lou

[Host Anne]

Folks ~ I'd keep an eye on it. When Celebrity chartered the March 8, 2008 Solstice cruise, Celebrity told us until the bitter end that the cruise wasn't chartered, even though it was....we all knew about it here long before anyone at Celebrity would admit it. I'd watch closely. It could be nothing, but then again, you never know.

[hajekfam]

I do have to agree with Ann - keep on top of it and keep checking. And most of all, what you hear from Celebrity may not be factual. We have been booked for a cruise that was pulled not just once but twice and both times we were told different reasons for the pull which were inaccurate. The first time, it turned out that they changed the date for the cruise as they were putting the ship in drydock and we were given the opportunity to transfer to the new date (it was a transatlantic so they bumped those that were booked on the Caribbean cruise that was originally scheduled for the new transatlantic dates.) It was over a year out, so there was no compensation for either cruise. The second time for that same cruise, they pulled it a couple of weeks before the actual cruise because they had to change the drydock arrangements due to rioting and fires in Marsille so the drydock would take two days longer and they had to redo the itinerary again to shorten the transatlantic cruise by two days. Different people on the roll call got different answers from Celebrity on why the cruise no longer showed on their website - none of which were the real reasons.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Folks ~ I'd keep an eye on it. When Celebrity chartered the March 8, 2008 Solstice cruise, Celebrity told us until the bitter end that the cruise wasn't chartered, even though it was....we all knew about it here long before anyone at Celebrity would admit it. I'd watch closely. It could be nothing, but then again, you never know.

 

Anne,

Other than checking X's web site, what else do you recommend doing to see if it is chartered?

 

Mary Lou

[Host Anne]

Chez ~ I did a quick search on line and couldn't find any charter for the Dec. 4, 2009 sailing. However, that doesn't mean much. I'd keep calling Celebrity, my travel agent and checking in here on Cruise Critic and see if the Dec. 4 sailing "re-surfaces." It certainly will show back up if everything is moving ahead as normal. I can't believe the sailing would be sold out at this point...unless it was chartered and I can't find anything right now that leads me to think it has been. Just keep watching and asking.

[FunCruiser56]

I will be so very disapointed if this cruise gets chartered! We booked a while back getting a great cabin and price.

We did find it odd though that it was hard to even find this cruise on any 'online cruise websites' the agency we usually use still does not show it, but it does show the one on the 14 of Dec.

I will be watching this very close to see what happens.

 

added- I checked 5 different online cruise sites and 4 are selling this cruise and one is not, did not check Celeb's site.

 

Bev

[The Hotel Guy]

I just spoke with Celebrity Groups Department and Daniel stated that there is nothing showing as a problem with the sailing date. There is no Charter showing. The sailing is a yellow meaning that some classes of cabins are close to selling out. I heard nothing in Daniel's voice that would make me suspicious of his answer.

 

Another website that can only be used by TA's shows the sailing open and able to book cabins, so my guess is there is an internal problem with this week and they should have the problem taken care of soon.

 

I will continue to call each week if there continues to be a problem.

 

Jerry and Patty ;)

[Smoke Fan]

I called Celebrity yesterday and cabins are still available. I asked the CSR why this sailing wasn't showing up online and she wasn't aware of it and it seemed that she couldn't care less. We're very interested in booking this sailing, but I usually book from the website. I'll give it another day and see what happens.

Patty

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We booked directly with X and check their site weekly to see if the price has changed since we have gotten price reductions on several cruises. When I didn't see the sailing on their site last week I checked some online sites, some had it listed and some didn't. I called X and they said the sailing was still open for booking and it was just a glitch. I emailed them yesterday but no reply yet.

Mary Lou

[hajekfam]

I just spoke with Celebrity Groups Department and Daniel stated that there is nothing showing as a problem with the sailing date. There is no Charter showing. The sailing is a yellow meaning that some classes of cabins are close to selling out. I heard nothing in Daniel's voice that would make me suspicious of his answer.

 

Another website that can only be used by TA's shows the sailing open and able to book cabins, so my guess is there is an internal problem with this week and they should have the problem taken care of soon.

 

I will continue to call each week if there continues to be a problem.

 

Jerry and Patty ;)

 

We booked directly with X and check their site weekly to see if the price has changed since we have gotten price reductions on several cruises. When I didn't see the sailing on their site last week I checked some online sites, some had it listed and some didn't. I called X and they said the sailing was still open for booking and it was just a glitch. I emailed them yesterday but no reply yet.

Mary Lou

We have been told that it was glitch from one of Celeb's agents when one of our transatlantics went missing from Celebs website. We were also told that the cruise was a near sell out over a year in advance (very rare for a standard transatlantic) by another agent just a couple of hours later when we called again. A day later, we were also told by a third agent that it was pulled for inventory. And those on our roll call were all told different things when they called in the same time period. It became a quite a topic of conversation on our roll call to hear what the latest story was. The same thing happened when our cruise went missing again just 2-3 weeks prior to sailing. It seems that Celeb agents are the last to know what is going on with a cruise that goes missing from the website. Their voice won't tell you anything because they believe what they are telling you is the real reason because of a prior experience.

On that transatlantic fiasco, Celebrity had an agent on the sailing to help smooth things over. We met with the agent and voiced our opinion that it would be better for Celebrity to tell their agents that they should just admit that they don't know what the problem is, but they should have an answer within X number of days. After all we are adults and know things go wrong, but when agents tell passengers what they think is happening and it turns out to be something different, then their passengers feel Celebrity lied to them and a lot of ill will is created.

It looks like Celebrity still hasn't learned.

I hope everything goes well for your cruise and it is just an internal problem.

[Smoke Fan]

For those still interested - December 4 sailing is back on Celebrity's website. Just made our reservation - :D

Patty