I will try to keep this short. My wife and I booked a cruise with Celebrity which included two days in Los Angeles. <BR>On the third day, the day of the cruise- Oct. 4th- our &quot;printed instructions&quot; from Celebrity's Vacation Documents said to proceed to LAX and go to the baggage pick up area(Delta) where we had arrived and a representative from Celebrity or RCCL would meet us and transfer us to San Diego.<BR>We arrived a half hour before the appointed time and waited but no one showed up. The &quot;printed instructions&quot; then said that if no one shows up go to a back up site in another part of the airport.So we dutifully lugged our baggage to the new pick up site.<BR>Again no representative. Travelers Aid was nearby and helped me phone our travel agent in Florida. The travel agent called Celebrity<BR>and while I waited on the line, Celebrity's cruise office told us to go to American Airlines baggage area within the next half hour and there would a representative to pick us and take us to San Diego. Problem:<BR>there are two AA baggage areas. So my wife and I split up while I ran to the other baggage in another terminal. Again no one showed up. Everyone in the waiting areas,other cruise reps and Travelers Aid said that there was no one from Celebrity or RCCL there all day!<BR>It was now 2:30PM and the ship was leave at <BR>5:00PM. A phone call to Celebrity about the<BR>absence of their reps brought the response,<BR>&quot;take a cab or get shuttle flight to San Diego&quot;-its not our problem-. Of course it was now 3:00 PM and impossible to get the ship by 5:00PM.<BR>We flew back to Florida the next day missing the cruise and some friends we were to meet aboard.I won't describe our anger.<BR>Our travel agent checked out the details carefully finding that indeed no one had ever showed up at LAX to pick us up. It took the agent three weeks just to get a credit for the cruise. They quickly booked us another cruise with the same itinerary but with higher costs.<BR><BR>A complete documented package of the events were sent to Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO of Celebrity. Ten days later a rather callous letter was received denying any responsibility and would not consider and other compensation for the travel agent or us.Mr Fain's letter also contained untrue facts and falsehoods with totally incorrect information. In fact we had considerable out of pocket expenses when we were stranded in Los Angeles.<BR>We are seasoned world travelers and have never been subject to such poor treatment.<BR>I would suggest the readers of this consider, very carefully, the choice of their next cruise line.<BR>Yes, we are going on our substituted cruise, unfortunately with Celebrity( we have no other choice)with the difference in costs <BR>gratuitously being picked up by our travel agency.

Lowell- One important question- If the cruise was leaving out of San Diego, WHY did you fly into LAX?<BR><BR>Also, did you book your own air or use the cruise lines air? That is really the important question--as the cruise lines tend to say &quot;it;s not my problem&quot; if you did your own air....<BR><BR>Sounds like massive mis-communication on both ends including your travel agent.<BR>But count your lucky stars that you DID book thru a TA--Think of the pickle you would be in if you did an online .com agency who was not available to help.<BR><BR>I am truely sorry for your misfortune and have no reasonable way of figuring out what happened.....what are you leaving out? Were there others in LAX that did meet with Celebrity reps, or what?<BR><BR>I ,too, have done numerous world cruises..and also get a little antsy when I do my own air ( since the cruise lines say if you don't use their air and something happens,it's on your nickel)...but I usually have a back-up plan in case no one is there to meet me...ie.say another car service to pick me up and do the drive...<BR><BR>I would highly suggest, in the future,that if you do a pre=cruise pkg, to also do your own transportation to the cruise port---no matter what the cruise line says.....

Yes, Lowell, its a good thing you booked thru a TA instead of a .com otherwise you might have been stranded in LA and had to miss the cruise???

Oh Peter. The spirit of Chrismas is gone? And I was so proud of you.

Yeah Peter, what happened? I too was so proud of you.<BR><BR>Paul

Hi Lowell,<BR><BR>Sorry to hear of your dilemma.<BR><BR>First, I can not understand why, if you purchased the hotel package from Celebrity, the complimentary van or car did not pick you up from the hotel and take you to the airport? It sounds to me like you did book with Celebrity. If you did not purchase through Celebrity why did your instructions tell you to go to LAX and not San Diego?<BR><BR>Still, why would you have a hotel in LA and not in San Diego? It is a heck of a long way from SD to LA. I have no idea why Celebrity would have you fly into LA in the first place.<BR><BR>Second, doesn't the ship leave at 8PM?<BR><BR>Third, doesn't Celebrity have an emergency number in your documents for you to call if you have a travel problem? <BR><BR>Paul

Am I missing something? Why would you fly back to Florida instead of catching up with the cruise in the first port?

I didn't say I was going to take a whole year off - especially when we're talking TA stuff here!!!

I have to agree with Peter. Just how did the TA help?<BR><BR>I booked through a TA (found through the internet)purely because they offered the lowest price, but he has yet been able to answer a single question I've posed. I was especially surprised that he had never even heard of the requirement of a notorized letter for minors traveling with one parent. I asked him if one was necessary as some of the ports are in Mexico, and he didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. I can't believe he is so unaware of such pertinent travel documentation information.

You do leave a few items out of your letter, but I must believe that you purchased your air with Celebrity. If you did and you spent two nights in LA, then you also took what is called a deviation. This means instead of having them fly you to San Diago you had them fly you to LA. The problem is that once you deviate your air you LOOSE your transfers. This is a policy with Celebrity and royal Caribbean that is not very much known.<BR><BR>Even though you read in the ticket pak that transfers were included, they were not.<BR><BR>The other possibilty is that you did your air separate from Celebrity and you thought that you TA took care of getting your transfers, seems he did not.<BR><BR>I do not know if this is correct or not, just guessing from what info you have given.

Had it not been for the TA I'm sure the cruise line would have said &quot;tough luck&quot;. People like Peter are so naive. No, I'm not an agent but have learned the hard way. My spouse and I travel approx 45 days per year on business and pleasure and our agent had pulled a rabbit out of a hat more than once to get us to our destination.

Peter hates Paul.Very simple.No naivete involved.Clear.

oh

Dear Nina,<BR><BR>The reason you did not receive any info from your &quot;travel agent&quot; or did not answer your questions is that you did not deal with a &quot;real&quot; travel agent. Most internet companies are in business to sell in volume and are paying wages for res. agents to sell. They know beans about travel. <BR><BR>It is going to get worse now that the new security measures are in place where all immigration documents must be in the hands of the cruise lines 30 days before sailing. All personal info will now go to the INS. No one will board a ship without pertinent personal information. <BR><BR>Paul

Paul<BR>I guess I am reading Nina's post differently than you.She says she found the TA &quot;through the internet&quot;.I take that to mean she found a real TA as a result of a referral from maybe a cruise line .You know,put your zip code in and they'll list several TravelAgencies you can go into and buy their cruise.Anyway,my question to Nina is you say you went in to the TA ONLY because of the cost of the cruise.Meaning you didnt need any thing else.No information, no questions, etc etc.But you come back and wrap him on the knuckles because he didnt know squat about what you needed concerning your daughter.Why did you ask him about the notarized letter when you already said you only went to him becuz of the price?I read these posts from travellers who ONLY book thru the internet and yet as it turns out they maybe should have been booking thru a real TA in the first place.

Paul--<BR><BR>Your post:<BR><BR>&quot;It is going to get worse now that the new security measures are in place where all immigration documents must be in the hands of the cruise lines 30 days before sailing. All personal info will now go to the INS.&quot;<BR><BR>is not consistant with the info I have received from HAL. HAL told me [regarding a 1/18/03 cruise] the forms are to be handed in on embarcation and not before.<BR><BR>They have my data from previous sailings in their computers. Is that why they are saying they do not need additional data?<BR><BR>Please clarify.

I am sure there are 'good' travel agents as well as 'bad' like with every occupation. I get tired of the Peters and Ninas putting them all down. Mine's a gem and nothing they can say will change my mind. Too bad they can only find negative things to say. Must be unhappy people.

Hi Lew,<BR><BR>I am sure your travel agent sent you the faxed immigration forms. For January sailings the forms can be carried-on. The cruise-lines are playing catch-up with the new INS policy.<BR><BR>You bring up a good point that past passengers may be exempt from the new security measures since they are already known persons.<BR><BR>This is all new to me too.<BR><BR>Paul

Many of you do not understand the situation. We purchased a package from an established local travel agency, one of the My Travel, group and they handled everything.<BR>The package was a two day preboarding two day visit to Los Angeles and a pick up<BR> at LAX to take us to San Diego.<BR><BR>The clear and unmistakeable written instructions from Celebrity were followed carefully. The Cruise company did not show up at any place they told us to be.<BR><BR>We are not &quot;snobs&quot; and understand the vageries of travel but having been to Africa, Australia, Europe etc, we are prepared for problems and handle them well. But this was a Celebrity goof. And they won't acknowledge it.<BR>Caveat Emptor,I guess, these days.<BR>Our TA is taking this lousy situation to a higher level and I will report when anything occurs.<BR>Thank you all for your input and comments.

This situation does not seem to be an isolated case.
I just returned from a cruise to Bermuda on the Horizon in May 2003. We met a VERY angry couple on the ship that also had been stranded by Celebrity Cruise Line at the airport. They arrived at 10:30 am at LaGuardia. They had paid Celebrity $60 for transfers to the ship, and had a receipt and confirmation. No one was there to meet them at baggage claim (where they had been instructed to be). During numerous calls (every half hour) to the cruise line they were told that someone was on the way. At 3 pm -- many hours later --they were told by the cruise line they had better get a cab to the ship since it was due to sail at 4. They did make the ship before it sailed, but barely.
They were telling everyone they met exactly what had happened, very bad publicity for Celebrity. It sounds as if Celebrity needs to work on their transfer program.