Unacceptable

We were booked on the Celebrity Constellation from Tampa Florida, January 2nd 2023. We go almost daily e mails from celebrity about this & that, to make sure our boarding went smoothly. Our boarding time was scheduled for 11.30am We left our friends home in NPR to make the +/- 50 minute drive to the port, to park at our prepaid parking location. We arrived to pandimonium & after some difficulty (while talking to the parking booking) were able to find the parking garage & proceeded to the 4th floor long term parking area. Through luck we found a spot, unloaded our luggage & because we were leaving via terminal 6, started our fairly long walk, with luggage in tow. The whole area was insane & then we suddenly understood why - NONE of the 3 cruise ships scheduled to sail today were in port - thus explaining the lack of parking spots & the number of people walking aimlessly around the port. We arrived at terminal 6 to be greeted by Tampa Port Authority ladies, dressed in bright turquoise golf shirts. We were told that they were going to take our luggage & we were to be transported to a local shopping mall. ??? OK, so off we go with all our carry on knapsacks, small suitcases to "the mall" we are told upon arrival that we will find a Celebrity rep. in the food court area (far end of the mall). we found the ZOO (affectionally called 'the food court" & decided to proceed outside, beyond the FC where we found several restaurants. We had lunch & a beverage at an Irish pub & after settling our bill proceeded back to the FC. I noticed 1 of the TPA ladies & asked her IF she knew WHERE the CCL rep could be found ?? She said that she too was trying to find 1 !!??? Outside I went & contacted CC, asking what the HECK they were doing dumping 100's POSSIBLY thousands of passengers at a shopping mall, with no way of us knowing what the HECK was going on !!!! After TWO frustrating conversations with Celebrity & being given NO real details as to WHEN we would board, I talked with other passengers & by using a tracking app. we were able to see that all THREE cruise ships were still at sea, but heading towards port. Also learned that there WAS an e mail issued by CCL shortly before/after midnight advising of the delay (had we received !! naturally we would NOT have gone to port, rather staying in the comfort of our friends home !!) collectively we learned that the cruise ships would take about 4 hours to arrive in port & the turn around, to be ready to receive new guests is also approx. 4 hours ... giving us somewhat of a better understanding (WITHOUT ANY INFO FROM CELEBRITY !!) being early afternoon & assuming to board sometime in the evening, we decided to make our way back to the port, to get our car & head back to our friends house. We proceeded back to the store (at the far end of mall - with luggage in tow) that we were dropped at - we found 2 of the TPA ladies sitting in the entrance & asked them when the next bus back to the terminal was. Imagine our surprise when we were told "THERE ARE NONE" !!!???? after a brief discussion we were told that IF we wanted to go back, there was a 'valet' at the opposite end (where we just came from) & they could get us a taxi. We arrived at the valet station to find it closed - because it was a Monday ? because it was a holiday ?? anyway we found a bench, in the now very warm Florida humidity & tried 3 different taxi companies, explaining to them that all i could tell them was that I was outside a Cheese Cake Factory, in a shopping mall & I could see planes landing in the distance. All 3 said that because of short staffing & it being the holiday Monday they were NOT able to help us. We are now exhausted, overheated & TOTALLY FRUSTRATED - now what do we do !!??? Minutes later a gentleman that I had spoken to earlier called & asked if we still needed a ride to the port ? (HECK YES) 5 minutes later we were safely/comfortably in an air conditioned vehicle on our way back to the port. We arrived quickly & now had to deal with the (extremely FULL) parking garage (still full from previous cruise guests) where I did NOT have in/out privileges. After some pleading they agreed to let us leave/return & we proceed North again to NPR. We arrived at our friends just before 4.30pm with still NO word from CCL ... I AGAIN contacted their customer service line & was told by a gentleman that the latest he had was that there would be NO more information until 9.00am the following day - WHAT !!?? OBVIOUSLY you should NOT let a person that does not know his Monday from his Tuesday in charge of reassuring guests of what was happening. It was then I realized that I had NOT booked direct with CLL, rather thru a 3rd party Vacations to Go. I contacted them & within minutes was on a 3 way conversation with CCL & found out that our boarding was to be delayed NINE HOURS, so till 8.30pm. Anticipating further delays we waited awhile longer & arrived at terminal 6 at shortly after 9.00pm to be met by probably MOST of the 2000+ passenger also ALL waiting to board. We SLOWLY moved forward till we were almost at the terminal. There we were separated into THREE lines, divided by fixed railings. Line 1 was full so we were directed to start to fill row 3, my ASSUMPTION being that when we started to fill row 3, that row 1 would start to enter the building through the single pair of doors a few feet ahead of & perpendicular to them. boy was I WRONG !! row 3 filled up & then they started to fill row 2 ???? Then they opened the single pair of doors into the terminal & released all THREE lines at once, so here we are being cattle herded into the building, people with luggage, small children, large groups wanting to stay together - basically (SORRY) A MESS. inside we lined up for CCL check in agents. Some people lined up in ques that they would find out were not even manned, even though they were open ??? We reached our cabin at about 10.20pm to find our luggage, with my suitcase now being a 3 NOT 4 wheeler. We finally sailed at +/- 12.30am & were informed THAT due to the delay we would NOT be arriving in George Town GCI on Jan 4th. That we would actually now NOT arrive until Jan 5th & that we would now loose 1 of our 2 planned/scheduled days in Cartagena & for this we would receive a $75.00 ON BOARD credit. (SO I WILL stop here & ask -so our beverages, gratuity & wi-fi are included, what are you supposed to spend the credit on - oh yes, stuff in the gift shop/stores - items marked up at least 3 - 400% making your $75.00 credit actually costing them maybe $15 - $20.00) I could not really understand WHY the itin. change ? especially when we were only delayed by +/- 9 hours, time that SURELY could be made up by increasing cruising speed. So NO, instead we cruise at 11 - 12 knots, on a ship capable of cruising at up to 24 knots !!?? It was not until we were travelling back from George Town on the tender boat with 1 of the SENIOR (white shirt) staff, we overheard him explaining that the reason the captain chose to delay our arrival was because there were to be SIX other cruise ships in port. So let me get this straight, you didn't know or think about this when you scheduled this sailing (what) some 2 + years ago & you now use it as a delay of convenience. All in all CCL FAILED to provide the necessary support to ALL its guests & took their own well being & financial gain/opportunity in changing our itinerary. We returned home last week from our extended stay in FL & today I embarked on contacting CCL, seeking some sort of REFUND for the PREMIUM BEVERAGE PACKAGE, WI-FI etc that I had paid for & NOT been able to take advantage of - I KNEW the answer before I even called, to spend 1 hour + holding / discussing / explaining ... all falling on WE DON'T CONTROL WEATHER EXCUSE, meanwhile the stress & frustration caused DIRECTLY by YOUR NEGLIGENCE SHOULD make you HELD ACCOUNTABLE, after THREE Celebrity cruises ( 2 in 6 months) We WILL look long & hard at OPTIONS before considering this cruise line or its affiliates

acceptable

we found that Celebrity seems more into stage productions than having great onboard lounge/bar/pub acts (compared to NCL)

no kids

Well appointed but found cabin layout (storage) not as friendly/useful as on Eclyspe