Catching up with the ship

My husband, Lynn, and I were to join my parents in Philadelphia where all four of us would continue on to England and begin our anticipated 2-week Baltic cruise aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Constellation, June 2-16, 2007. (For the cruise, two of us paid a total of $8,768, which included airfare and $518 for trip insurance.)

However, my husband and I were off to a bad start, stuck on the runway at the Pittsburgh airport for three hours because of bad weather. The pilot announced he was returning to the gate, where all international travelers’ luggage would be offloaded. Dumped from the plane at 9:30 p.m. that night, we collected our luggage and were told to come back in the morning to rebook.

By the time we got home, it was almost 11. Obviously, we had missed the Dover embarkation; we would have to meet the ship three days from then in Oslo, Norway, the next port of call.

Early the following morning we phoned Celebrity Cruises about our situation. Since our air travel arrangements had been booked through the cruise line, I foolishly believed they would remedy the situation. No such luck! Celebrity insisted it was now the airline’s responsibility and we had to get US Airways to issue us new tickets to Oslo.

Back at the airport, we serendipitously found ourselves in the capable hands of William, a US Air ticket agent who, with unbelievable patience, spent almost two hours rebooking us. The problem was our original reservation authorized only two legs of flight (Pittsburgh-Philly and Philly-London) and now we required three. Worse, since it was a weekend, the Celebrity group travel agency was closed.

But William persevered, stating, “I will not give up!” Eventually, he got us booked through Philadelphia to Frankfurt, Germany, and finally via Lufthansa to Oslo. (Best of all, the Lufthansa tickets were business class.)

We called Celebrity and notified them of our new schedule, urging them to inform my parents, who were already on the ship and undoubtedly frantic with worry. (My folks never carry a cell phone and there was no way of contacting them.)

Approaching Norway by plane was really delightful, with an overview of the islands and fjords. Unfortunately, the Celebrity agent who was supposed to meet our flight was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, an attendant at the airport visitor center located him by cell phone.

It was almost an hour before the agent, Bjorn, appeared. He denied any prior notification of our arrival and spent an additional 20 minutes searching for the lost luggage of another cruise passenger before we were on our way.

Oslo is quite a distance from its airport and Bjorn was most loquacious. We would be staying at the Grand Hotel, close to the harbor, while waiting for the ship to arrive. It was expensive, but not to worry; the cruise line “pays for the room,” he said. Furthermore, someone would pick us up in the morning and make sure we got on the ship before anyone else disembarked. He even gave us dinner suggestions.

Arriving at the hotel, Bjorn held a long conversation in Norwegian with the desk clerk and then handed us our room key with a flourish. As he left, we tipped him generously for all his help. The hotel was lovely and our room graciously appointed. We took long-overdue showers and headed off to see the sights.

Even though it was early evening, the northern latitude provided plenty of sunlight. Oslo extends along a beautiful harbor lined with marinas and restaurants. Following Bjorn’s advice, we located the Lofoten Fiskerestaurant. There weren't many patrons, and after seeing the menu prices we knew why.

The service was impeccable and our fish delicious, but, despite splitting a salad and dessert and having only one glass of wine, the bill (including tip) was almost $150.

On the morning of June 4, in the hotel lobby we encountered another couple also awaiting transportation to the ship. They, too, had missed their air connections.

Arriving at the dock, a behemoth of a ship loomed above us. Finally, our cruise on the Constellation could begin. But wait. A chain-link fence prevented any access. Without the “ship identity card” issued to each passenger back in Dover, the port security guards would not let us on board.

I saw Bjorn through the fence, but he made no effort to remedy the situation. By now a third couple had joined us and everyone was getting upset. Finally, I informed the security guard that if someone from the ship didn’t let us on within 10 minutes, there was going to be a big riot on the dock. She murmured into her walkie-talkie and the ship’s front-desk manager miraculously appeared to escort everyone on board.

He was checking us all in when Bjorn arrived to insist that the two couples who stayed at the Grand Hotel needed to pay for their rooms. This was the last straw! The poor desk manager on board got quite an earful about Celebrity’s shabby treatment. However, he quickly rose to the occasion, escorted Bjorn out of the area and assured us no payment was necessary.

We dropped off our bags in the room and rushed off to locate my parents. They were having breakfast and were delighted to see us. We exchanged horror stories.

My elderly father, forced by our absence to negotiate the London airport without assistance, had fallen down 10 escalator steps and emerged covered with blood. He was still terribly bruised. Once they were on the ship, the concierge repeatedly attempted to locate us, with no success. It was almost 36 hours after they had left Philadelphia before Celebrity notified the ship of our whereabouts.

In Celebrity’s defense, they were not responsible for the bad weather that made us miss the ship, and, once we were on board, the staff bent over backward to make sure the remainder of our cruise was memorable. We were even given an unsolicited $500 onboard credit for our inconvenience.

However, as our air travel arrangements had been purchased through Celebrity, they could have been more proactive in rebooking us. Also, procedures should be in place to more efficiently and promptly handle passengers who have missed the ship’s departure.

Since we had purchased trip insurance through Celebrity, upon returning home we filed a claim for the two days of our cruise that we missed. We were told we needed to furnish a statement from the airline confirming the bad weather (flight delays caused by mechanical or crew problems would render us ineligible for any compensation). Fortunately, our claim was then handled promptly, and they ultimately reimbursed us $1,000 for missing the two days.

CAROL PROBST

Bethel Park, PA

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Celebrity Cruises (1050 Caribbean Way, Miami, FL 33132) but received no reply.