PHOENIX (AZFamily) —Wendy Barbon and her husband Mark had a 12-night ‘Best of Japan’ Celebrity cruise planned for March 2026, booked in December 2023.
“When I turned 50 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and it was a dark time, so I said to myself ‘when I turn 60, not if I turn, when I turn 60 I’m going to celebrate big,’” Barbon said.
The couple paid in full and booked thousands of dollars worth of excursions. They received a call from the cruise line recently informing them their booking had been cancelled.
“They said to us, ‘Hello. We’re sorry to inform you your booking has been cancelled,” Barbon said. “Of course I was shocked and I said ‘Why? Why?’ And they said ‘inventory issues,’” Barbon said.
Overbooking on popular routes
Michelle Couch-Friedman, founder of Consumer Rescue, said cruise cancellations don’t happen often but are becoming more common on popular itineraries.
“It doesn’t happen that often. It really doesn’t. It’s a rare occurrence,” Couch-Friedman said. “It is happening more often that they are overselling those particular itineraries. What they do first is they try to get people to voluntarily change their cruise.”
The Japan cruise route is popular, especially during cherry blossom season. When voluntary changes don’t work, passengers get bumped.
“Most passengers that are kicked off of their cruise for overbooking, they have one thing in common and that is that they usually have purchased a guaranteed category,” Couch-Friedman said. “You’re guaranteed a cabin in that class that you’ve chosen but you don’t have a cabin number and that’s a little cheaper.”
Wendy and Mark said they had a specific cabin assignment.
“Remember we used to look at pictures in the brochure of just that specific cabin?” Barbon said.
What passengers can expect
A Celebrity spokesperson said the company wouldn’t provide a statement or answer On Your Side’s questions about the situation.
“You’re definitely going to get a refund and in almost all cases that I have reviewed, the cruise line also provides a future cruise credit equal to the same cruise that you are being removed from,” Couch-Friedman said.
Wendy and Mark are receiving a refund for the cruise, excursions and flights, plus a future cruise credit. The compensation doesn’t replace their planned celebration.
“How do you compensate somebody’s dream? How do you compensate somebody for waiting literally for 10 years for this one special moment? You can’t compensate for that and I didn’t even want their compensation. I just wanted this trip,” Barbon said.
Couch-Friedman said passengers who get bumped are in a good position to negotiate, but should do research, make reasonable requests and maintain a positive attitude.
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