Do you still have a copy of the mail you sent in your outbox ? They have given you the opportunity to cancel your holiday at no extra cost, but as you say this doesn't help you with the flights you have booked seperately.

They are advertising something which is incorrect - I am not sure how you would stand with this legally. I think it might be worth you speaking to Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor, to see what advice she can offer. Her telephone number is 01922 621114

Kath HT Admin

I have the copy the email I sent and to both Celebrity customer services and kosher requests and her are copies of responses

first one is-

Kosher@rccl.com
Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
To:
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 12:08:55 -0500

Good Day,

We have received your request for kosher meals and will forward your
information to the ship.

Once on board please meet with the Maitre 'D to review the menus and
address any additional questions you may have.

The kosher meals available on board are prepared by Weberman
Traditional
Foods and are similar to those found on airlines. They are glatt kosher
meals and are O K certified.

Breakfast consists of what is customarily found on our menus (cereals,
yogurt, untoasted bagels, untoasted English muffins, whole fruit, etc.)
Kosher smoked salmon is also available, though it is not handled under
kosher supervision. Frozen kosher breakfast items are not available and
no
special arrangements will be made.

These kosher meals are available in the main dining room for lunch and
dinner only.

We do prepare hand-torn salads and a daily fish special that is
double-wrapped and cooked in aluminum foil. These items are served on
paper
plates with disposable cutlery. These a la carte items are prepared in
our
galley and are not prepared under kosher supervision.

Kosher meals are not available in the Windjammer Cafe nor are they
available through room service.

Guests are reminded that they are not allowed to bring on their own
kosher
meals as the ship will not receive, store or heat these meals. Any such
items brought on board will be discarded immediately.

In response to:

Delete Reply Forward

second one is-

Dec 2006 12:16:31 -0500
From: custserv.uk@rccl.com Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
Subject: RE: Kosher Meals
To:

Thank you for contacting us. This is an automated confirmation that your email has been received. Our representatives will reply to your inquiry in the order in which it was received. Please reply only if you need to provide additional information related to your original email. Follow-up emails regarding the status of your query may further delay your response.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to service your request.

[THREAD ID: 1-349H46]

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: 12/5/2006 12:02:06 PM
To: custserv.uk@rccl.com
Subject: Kosher Meals

FROM
MR AND MRS xxxxx
MANCHESTER UK

BOOKING REF xxxxxxxx

We booked a a 10 night Carribean Cruise (29th December from Tampa on the Zenith). before I confirmed the booking with my travel agent I checked your website to ensure that we could get Kosher Meals and I have copied the following from your website FAQ's (TODAY 5th December 2006)

Are kosher meals available?
Subject: Food and Beverage
Kosher meals can be provided on all vessels when requested in advance. Requests must be submitted in writing to our Special Services Department no later than:

* 21 days prior to sailing for Caribbean
* 30 days prior for Alaska
* 40 days for Hawaii, Europe and South America.

Guests should confirm arrangements with the Restaurant Manager on the day of embarkation.

Note: Kosher meals are pre-packaged.

Special Services Department
Fax: 1-800-882-8292

I double checked with my agent before paying for the trip and he assured me that he had requested Kosher Meals. I needed to ask about something and spoke to 'natasha' in your special services department who informed me that there is a 40 day notification period to request Kosher Meals and therfore they would not be able to provide me with kosher food.

I was very upset and pointed out that it clearly states on your website 21days prior to sailing.

I have been told that this is an error and there is nothing that they can do other than cancel my booking. If I were to cancel then I would lose my flights which were paid for seperately and probably would not be able to find another cruise around this time.

This cruise is for our 34th wedding anniversary and I am very dissapointed that it has allready been spoiled. We will have to eat vegetarian for the duration of the trip as we only eat Kosher meat. I feel that you should provide what you state on your website this is very misleading. At the least perhaps some kosher meals could be obtained.

I await your response
xxxxxx

If it was me Shosh, as long as you are willing to eat vegetarian and fish meals prepared under non-kosher supervision, then that is probably the tastier option anyway than living off re-heated airline style meals for the duration of your cruise. One re-heated foil tray meal on a flight I can stomach, a week or more of nothing else and no freshly prepared food on a cruise I certainly couldn't. I realise that it does all depend on how frum you are and how strict you are about keeping kashrut and everybody is different but I'd prefer to go without meat than eat re-heated rubber. And whilst it's not great eating off paper plates with disposable cutlery it does suggest that they do take the matter seriously.

Regardless of what's on their website, the issue might be with how much notice their supplier needs and which port of call they can re-stock at - I'm assuming that the food is frozen as they are described as pre-prepared and would need careful handing in transit to the ship. In the circumstances, have you checked with your insurer as to whether they would regard this as a good enough reason for cancelling the holiday in which case you could claim for the cost of the flights from them.

SM

I suspect that by cancelling and being given a full refund of the cruise element by RCI you could then take RCI to the small claims court for recovery of costs relating to flights.

But the chances of you winning and then being able to recover any money from RCI is slim to zero in my opinion mainly because they are an American company and unlikely to even respond to a small claims court (County Court) action lodged in this country.

It stinks and my sympathies are with you 100%. You checked the web site and complied with their conditions. In my opinion they are clearly in breach of contract.

I'm sailing with Celebrity (part of Royal Caribbean International) on the Constellation on Jan 29th but have no dietary requirements.

I do hope, in spite of this, that you both enjoy your 34th wedding anniversary. Congratulations on that.

Mike

thanks for all your replies.

I have not received an answer from RCCL yet however in the event of them not being able to fulfil my request I thought perhaps I should at least get an upgrade to compensate. Cancelling my holiday is not an option unless they are willing to offer me another similar cruise with flights included at a later date ofcourse and with kosher meals. I expect that this is not an option though. I will await their response.

Shosh

Thinking a little more about this issue, it's pretty unacceptable when you consider what's needed to be undertaken by RCCL (or any cruise operator).

I've been on several cruises out of Miami and I suspect Tampa is little different in this respect. The majority of produce to be consumed during the voyage is loaded at the home port. Fresh products are loaded at each port of call but in my experience very little.

This is one of the major complaints of cruise activity especially in the Caribbean. Islands rarely get to reap any economic benefit from provisioning these 3000+ passenger capacity liners.

So, assuming Kosher food is loaded at the outset in Tampa and further assuming that there are likely to be many passengers requiring Kosher food (apologies if I get the terms wrong, I'm not Jewish) surely it should be a simple case of increasing their order with their suppliers for two additional passengers. I cannot believe the orders already raised for this cruise departing in late December have been delivered to an RCCL warehouse yet.

A little flexibility here would solve all the issues.

Write to Adam Goldstein at:
Royal Caribbean International
1050 Caribbean Way
Miami, FL 33132-2096
He's the President.

If you get no joy contact:

American Jewish Press Association "¢ PO Box 19121 Washington, D.C. 20036
info@ajpa.org

OR check this web site in the US and if you feel inclined, leave a post on that site.
http://www.danielpipes.org/comments

The Jewish community in the US is strong and supportive. RCCL would not welcome adverse reaction from a large community of likely customers and certainly potential customers.

Explain this option to RCCL first, see if they are inclined to move what is a very small molehill in truth.

Hi,

I've now had a chance to look at the website and admit that it is confusing but in the FAQ section here

( link edited to shorten it
Fiona ht mod)
it does say that for departures from mainland US ports they need 40 days notice in writing for any request for kosher meals. Looks as if one part of the website has been updated but not the other.

Also, you might want to check out the certification of the meals on offer anyway. The cruise line say that their ready prepared kosher meals are provide by Weberman's Traditional Foods which appear to be a Miami based company and their website says that all their foods are OK certified

http://www.webermanstraditionalfoods.com/WSWrapper.jsp?mypage=Kashrus.htm

but the OK website itself does not list Weberman's as being certified by them

http://www.okkosher.com/kfgCompanies.asp?ir=&l=W

and on another site it says that they are no certified by Star-K either. If this is important to you, you might want to check this out in more detail because it does raise questions about just how kosher the promised kosher meals are anyway even if provided.

SMa

Hi all

I have received a response from Kosher@rccl as follows:

To: xxxxxxxx
CC: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Special__needs@rccl.com
Subject: Re: Fwd: Kosher Meals
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 13:55:52 -0500

Good day, Jxxxxxxxxxx
I am responding to you directly since the previous email you received is for Royal Caribbean Ships only. Unfortunately I do not handle Celebrity.

I will forward your information over to Celebrity so that they can further assist you.

Please let them know if you have any questions you can either email them at Special_ needs@rccl.com or fax your request to them at 305 539 6666

Best Regards

xxxxxxxxx
Special Dietary Coordinator
Royal Caribbean International

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables they probably get jet- lagged like we do.
xxxxxxxxxxx

So now I presume I should wait for special needs to respond but I may just email them if I do not hear by tomorrow. As regards the Kosher Certification, I made enquiries and Webermans do have OK Certification so that is ok and I have emailed them to check that they are suppliers to Celebrity. will keep you posted

Shosh

**Edit to remove personal names**

Shosh, if names are anything to go by, Adam Goldstein may well have a personal interest in Kosher food supply for his passengers/clients.

All the very best of luck and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you both.

To Sma, regarding your link to celebrity cruise faqs, I got to my link through the uk site which had a link to the usa site where I got my info this is the link
click here.
after this I clicked on foods and thats where I got my original info from which apparently has not been updated but i checked it out and presumed it to be correct. They should change it asap if it is out of date

shosh

Well

my husband said we ought to sort this out one way or another so I have emailed the president of rccl to get some results (letters take too long and then they will have no time to look into my request. By the way some of the links on Celebrity are under maintenance but I can still get to the one I found my information on through the UK site and then clicking How to Book which takes me to USA site.

cheers shosh

Let us know the outcome Shosh - as Alsacienne suggested his name might lend weight in several ways

this evening I telephoned rccl special needs in US as I had no response from my emails. I spoke to a very nice young lady who found my booking and explained the procedure for orderig Kosher meals. Apparantly they place a full order including lunches and evening meals and a variety of choices. not sure if they actually contact customer to discuss options. Anyway she advised me that there was not enough time to do this, however she assured me that there would be some kosher entrees (main meals I presume) onboard so we would have a meat choice for dinner. I beleived her but silly me forgot to get her name. I did ask her to email me and she said it would take about 10 days to respond!!! I do feel reassured a little and am not going to fight with them as this will only spoil the time I have looking forward to my holiday. Still I may get a reply from Mr Goldstein you never know.

I do however have another slight problem which I am hoping someone can help me with. After joining Celebrity Connections I noticed that they had my husbands first name spelt wrong. It is ***e and they it was spelt ***a. Furthermore when I spoke to Customer Services in US and they found my booking my husbands name was wrongly spelt as above. so now I need to contact my agent (Instant Cruises) and ask them to amend all the paperwork. I did spell the names out to him.

I am wondering if there is going to be a problem I know spelling of names is important. Celebrity in US have amended their records but obviously all my other bookings (flightts, hotel and tickets will have his name wrong. I made this booking on 5th December so have not received any paperwork yet.

DO YOU THINK THE AGENT WILL TRY TO CHARGE ME FOR AMENDING THE NAME???

please advise shosh

*Admin edit - most of name removed to protect members identity on the net -Glynis*

There is every chance they will charge you. Unfortunately, the onus is usually put on the customer to check the spellings on invoices. Names should match your pasport. (Christian name and surname)

However, given the mix up that has happened with your booking of kosher meals - if they try to charge you, ask them to consider changing it as a gesture of goodwill.

Worth a try.

Kath HT Admin

Hi everyone, I received the following email from rccl re Kosher Meals:

As per the conversation that we had on Dec. 7, 2006 at 6:18 pm, in refs to the Kosher Meals. Please verify if the Kosher Entrees available onboard would be ok, if not please let us know in order to provide you with a Kosher Meal Form.

Please Respond as soon as possible.

If there is any questions in regards to this matter, please let me know.

I have responded very politely thanking them and stating that if we have a choice of course we would prefer to see the Kosher Meal form.

(thought they needed 45 days notice??) either way we will have some kosher meals.

With reference to the name amendment, the agent said he could not alter the airline tickets because they had allready been printed however he has informed celebrity and the airline so I hope that will be ok. I asked him to put everything in writing. there was no charge. will keep you posted
shosh

I have had no further correspondence from celebrity or rccl however I am confident that they will be providing us with some kosher meals and I will take their e-mail with me.

I have had some stress over my holiday booking, mostly because I booked it quickly and although I thought I asked all the right questions I am not so sure now. I booked it through Instant Cruise Holidays, part of the Co-op, they are ABTA bonded. I booked it through a homeworker who was very helpfull at the time. At first we were flying from London but then he called me back to say he could fly us from manchester (my home town). great I thought and agreed. We did go through the timings briefly and I am certain he said we would arrive in Tampa 19:30 local time. We would be booked into the Holiday Inn Busch Gardens Tampa for one night.

As I have not got my tickets yet I decided to check out the hotel and book my seats on the flights. i rang American Airlines and went through the flight timings and what a shock. We fly to Chicago at 10:30 and arrive at 1pm. We then have a 6 and half hour wait until our connection to Tampa arriving in Tamap at 23:05 local time. that is a 17 and half hours travel time. I then checked out the hotel on the internet and it seemed to have very bad reviews one even said DO NOT STAY HERE. It is approx 17 miles from the airport and about a 30 to 40 dollar cab ride.

I rang the agent and asked him if he knew about the timings and he said that was the best he could do. I accepted that as we had booked late but still he did not specify this when we booked. i told him about the hotel reviews, infact it is no longer the holiday inn but now the Clarion which he did not know. he said that no other customer had complained, and it was only an 8 dollar ride to the hotel ( a customer had informed him that very day). I asked him if he could find us a better hotel nearer the Port and Airport (after a long flight we just want to get to our hotel asap). he did ring me back 24 hours later and did not have any better suggestions. I have therefore booked into another hotel (which I can cancel without charge if need be). this one is near the airport and has a freeshuttle.
Perhaps I am just a worrier. Anyway the point I am making is whatever the deal MAKE SURE YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GETTING BEFORE MAKING PAYMENT!!! Shosh

Shosh,

my wife and I booked to sail with the Constellation (Celebrity line) out of Fort Lauderdale, departing 29 Jan 2007. Like you, I was concerned about flight connections and chased the two potential agents vying for our booking to get the best times. I believe we achieved that and fly Man-Newark (New York) then on to Fort Lauderdale. We arrive at the hotel about 5ish (teatime).

Also, the hotel suggested by the agent with whom we finally booked received poor reviews, so I found an alternate, asked for the agent to cancel the former and book the latter and was accepting of the additional cost over and above the initial hotel. I've also clarified that all transfers are included where needed - the hotel offers free shuttle to/from airport/seaport/hotel.

Busch Gardens IS some distance from the Tampa seaport. I'd be VERY surprised at an $8 fare. Get that in writing from the agent you booked with.

Just a bit of info re RCI/Celebrity. They operate a wine and soda package. You can purchase upon arrival at the ship (not before) these packages and, for example, have 5 or 10 bottles of wine throughout your cruise. There are differing levels/values. Register for the Crown and Anchor club - you get some minor rewards at the start, these grow into upgrades etc when you've cruised with the company a few times.

PM me if you have any other specific questions and I'll try to help as best as possible.

Bon Voyage.
Mike

thanks Mike for info

We have to stick with flights and just hope the weather stays snow free in Chicago. We will make the mst of our wait and have a look round shops and a bite to eat.

With regards to the hotel, I did give the agent the name of the one I wanted but he said he COULD NOT FIND IT!!!. (He probably could not make any money on the booking) So I booked into Hilton Westshore Tampa independently. Got a resonable deal (AAA) and dont mind paying for peace of mind.

I will be very careful next time I book another holiday. Shosh

Hi Shosh

I only found your thread today, how did your trip go?