Booking whilst on board….
I had a very interesting conversation with a very good previous passenger of mine the other day. They have cruised with Celebritymany, many times and have always been very happy with Celebrity’s high standards and service, however on a recent cruise to Alaska aboard the Century she started talking to one of their Sales Managers about booking another two future cruises for 2013 and 2014. The information the Sales Manager gave my passenger at the time was very misleading; the Sales Manager had been advising my passenger the US rules of booking and NOT the UKrules of booking.
Confused???
YES there are different terms and conditions with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean for bookings with US passengers and for UK passengers.
Unfortunately after she had arrived back to the UK due to unforeseen circumstances she had to change the first cruise dates and this is where the trouble began…
1. The sales manager had advised her that she could change the dates of her cruise or the ship or the destination (once only) as long as it was before the balance due date at no extra cost.
INCORRECT – there is a charge of £75.00 per person (although we did eventually manage to get this waivered by Celebrity).
2. She was also advised that she could cancel the cruise before the balance due date and get her deposit back.
INCORRECT – there is a charge and she would have lost her deposit.
3. She was advised that the deposit was $100 dollars per person.
INCORRECT – the deposit is £150 per person.
4. She was advised that if she did change her cruise any offers applicable to the existing booking would be transferred to her new booking.
INCORRECT – the £200 per person UKBL launch offer was not transferable as the offer finished at the end of August (again something else that she wasn’t told) and this offer was a selling point for her to book this particular cruise.
As you can see from the information above my passenger was given false information and totally misled. She would not have booked these cruises if she had been made fully aware of all the facts and I very much doubt if she will book another cruise on board the ship. My passenger has always rated Celebrity extremely highly and recommended them to her friends and family but this has somewhat soured their experience all because of incorrect information given to them. If she had been told the right information at the beginning this could have all been avoided.
A bit of advice for any of you wishing to book on-board – please always make sure the Sales Managers are fully aware that you are from the UK.
Have you experienced this happening to you?
About Me
My name is Michelle Fennelly and I have over 28 years of experience in the travel industry and cruising is my passion. I have worked for Cruise.co.uk for the last 6yrs which I absolutely love, before then I have worked for Air200 – Airtours / MyTravel – Tomas Cook. I…
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