I just received a call from our travel agent. she said celebrity made a mistake with the alaska cruise this summer, instead of a round trip from seattle, it sails from vancouvar and ends up in seattle!!! We have already paid for the cruise and the air, which we bought directly from delta. celebrity is offering a bus ride (3 1/2) from seattle and $200 ship credit. Is this sufficient?? Have any of you been thru this? Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Celebrity is revamping a lot of their fleet schedules and not all are showing on the web site.
Mercury is one ship that is changing schedules for 2004 and 2005. It is slowly being posted on Celebrity web site.
Just make sure your flight with the 3 1/2 hour bus ride gets you to the ship.
It is inconvienent with the bus but at least Celeb is providing transportation and $200.00 ship credit.
.
Radiance of the Seas May 2, 2004
Constellation Sept 7, 2004
__________________ Ready to Steer towards another cruise
I think that is a fair compensation for a relatively minor screw up.
If you can't stand the bus ride you can rent a one way rental car for about $70 to $100. Then you can make the trip in about 21/2 hours and no bus to deal with. It would be worth the money to me not to ride the bus. They make the bus unload all baggage at the border and all passengers must go through a customs line and it is a real drag.
I'm on the june 4th sailing. this is the first cruise for the 7 night alaska. i noticed that the week before mercury sails on the 6 day cruise ending in vancouver. it makes me believe that the june 4th cruise will be the only one affected since we will end up in seattle. Is this something they do every year? if so, couldn't they have gotten it right by now?
Cindy,
I'm on that cruise with you. Go over to www.cruisecritic.com and click on Boards and the Celebrity Connections under the Roll Calls. Look for the June 4 Mercury Alaska thread. We've had a lively discussion over this recent development. Most of us are going to Vancouver via Amtrak ($27 each) since we are coming in to Seattle the day before the cruise.
Are you arriving the same day as the cruise? We took the NCL Sky in Sept of 2001 & started in Seattle & ended in Vancouver. After the cruise we took a Super Shuttle from the pier to the airport in Seattle. (I booked our own airfare & it was much cheaper out of Seattle round trip) I didn't think it was a hassle at all...it was right after 9/11 and we had no problem crossing the border..it was a bigger hassle to rent a car..we paid for the bus tickets and it was about $40 each, aprox the same as a one way car rental and we could just relax & watch the view...which is great by the way...we were dropped off right in front of Northwest Airlines..no need to navigate at all..
If your schedule allows the trip by bus..I'd do it... especially with a $200 credit!
We are heading out on the Mercury ourselves, May 5 to Alaska from San Francisco...
I would absolutely throw a fit about this and make Celebrity pay to change your air from Seattle to Vancouver. Celebrity is not some charitable organization that cant afford to pay for their mistakes. I would not accept a 200.00 ship credit for this inconvenience. They not only gave the wrong port information but they didnt even have the Country correct. 3 1/2 hours is a long time to be sitting on a bus. It may be fun and exciting on the way up but think about the end of your cruise. After the hassel of debarkation and customs in Canada you will have to sit on a bus for 3 1/2 hours and then clear customs again in the US.
Re-read the original post. They only have to bus it one way as the cruise ends in Seattle. BTW I think the compensation is fair provided Celebrity will get them to the pier on time.
Cindy,
Enjoy your cruise, and of course the $200 credit- Alaska is a great trip :-)
richard
Well I tend to agree with Mountain Man on this. This was a big mistake. TA said I only have until friday to accept this offer and then it will be off the table. What if i never got the message until next week? Do they think that hundreds of passingers can be lead quietly into the night??? For some reason they thought it would be easier to move all of us unstead of the ship.
I am on the June 4th sailing that now embarks in Vancouver instead of Seattle. The offer I got was $200 shipboard credit and up to $100 per person to change our already purchased airfare. I, too, am flying Delta but to change meant an increase in the fare of $175 per person PLUS $100 change fee per person. I found a one-way flight on Alaska air from Seattle to Vancouver for $98 per person which Celebrity is reimbursing us for. I think Air Canada has them as well.
I passed on the bus ride. After flying all day, 3.5 hours in a bus wasn't appealing.
No sweat, though. Gives us the opportunity to see a bit of Vancouver as well!
Brian,
Are you sure that Celebrity is giving you the $100 per person to cover the air to Vancouver?? My TA said that they would only give that if you showed proof (a copy) that you had to CHANGE your existing airline ticket.
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