Moby Jones

OK then we've had lengthy discussions with two ships officers onboard Beyond today concerning the creaking and banging noises. The bottom line is they are well aware of the issues and have shoreside engineering teams onboard working on the problem. Ideally the teams need four to five hours in the room to tighten screws and lubricate bolts! One officer stated that their new E class ships are bit fragile when sailing at sea or in choppy waters and that "these French built ships are not as sturdy as the German built S class fleet. Anyone familiar with French and German built automobiles will understand completely!!!!

It definitely is. We are travelling with friends on deck 11 sky suites which are affected. Outside our room the walks around the elevators are very badly affected. Our Retreat host has advised that it only happens when the ship is moving through choppy seas. Basically it’s a design fault with this class of ship…..

Currently aboard Beyond. I've seen a few posts on social media about creaking, banging and popping noises aboard the latest two E class XL ships Beyond and Ascent. We didn't hear anything over the first two nights, but last night we experienced a lot of creaking in our Sky Suite at the rear of deck 11. The creaking is from all around the verandah door and window area. We also had popping and banging noises from the walls. This morning we've noticed a lot of creaking all around the ship. From deck 4 to 16, bow to stern. The seas today are a little rougher and this really does seem to make a difference. Interestingly we've not had anything like this aboard cruises on Apex.....

We're currently onboard Beyond with friends. A sailing we booked almost two years ago. And that's the question we have been discussing. My only conclusion is that their marketing team is aiming the Celebrity product at newer cruises who don't really understand the difference between cruise line categories. Celebrity looks upscale when compared to resort style lines like Carnival and NCL. It even looks upscale against the mainstream premium lines peers such as Cunard, Virgin and Princess. But these newbies probably haven't yet figured out how it can look very poor value compared to lux lines. And that said, newbies tend to be younger. And I'm not sure how appealing Silversea, Crystal and Regent to name but three are to young thirty somethings.... But going back to Celebrity, even the current incentives to book onboard are really pointless. So we'll be booking on of the 6^ lux lines too. At a great price comparatively speaking and more importantly, with a great itinerary.

Indeed. This appears to be Laura’s vision for an upscale, “game changing”, luxury cruise experience. The bottles of fizz left in the Sky Suites. No expense spared eh? 😂 Come on Laura, if you or your team are reading this thread, you can do better.

This is how I read things too. It reads like marketing PR to me. All a little bit disingenuous too.

It’s in the first post. Third paragraph from the bottom.

So like a few others on here I emailed the executive's office to provide some feedback on recent changes made by Celebrity cruise line. I received a fairly generic response from a person in that office stating they would like to call me. I provided my phone number but heard absolutely nothing back. I strongly suspect this was because I'm based in the UK. I've previously been given the impression that passengers based outside the US are treated as second class citizens when contacting head office. However I'm now in Florida and so called the number provided. Disappointingly the individual did not understand the point I was making until I explained, slowly... They obviously hadn't read or understood my email and my comments about changes to the premium beverage package. Unsurprisingly I got a fairly standard apologise, sympathise and then state they will feed back to leadership response. In short they claim they understand that many passengers are unhappy with recent changes. They state that all feedback will be fed back to the leadership team and state that they have historically reversed changes when they have received enough pushback from unhappy passengers. With that in mind, if you are unhappy with changes to beverage packages etc feel free to email executiveoffice@celebrity.com and express your thoughts and frustrations etc. It was clear to me that they have no real intention of making changes. Unless of course they receive a lot more pushback. I guess time will tell. I'm an RCL shareholder and have listened to many webcasts, so I'm well aware that they are deliberately pushing cutbacks and price increases as part of their 'Ttifecta' plan which you can all read about online. So with that in mind I really wouldn't expect any changes. Other than us booking alternative cruise lines. 🙂

That would be the English language you refer to. 😜

The Macallan M decanters are bought as collectibles and traded on the secondary market. Here in the UK we have a large number of specialist secondary market auction sites selling rare and collectible bottles. It's common here for specialist retailers to buy bottles from these auction sites and offer them at ridiculously high prices such as the place you mention. The thing to bear in mind here is that practically no one drinks them. The true value of the liquid inside the bottles bears no relation what so ever to the cost. You are paying for the name and the glass bottle in the case of the higher end offerings whisky hoping they will become more collectible in the future. Prices for the core range expressions are a lot more realistic than the collectible examples pictured. 🙂

Celebrity has great wines at sea. This is true. They're just not in the beverage packages and you have to buy by the bottle with a massive mark up.....

Indeed. Now they treat them like cash cows. I’m very tempted to post their CEO one nickel and one dime to help her with their bottom line…

At least Carnival are honest about the product they sell. It’s a cheap no frills budget experience. I’d compare it to a Ford car. Celebrity these days massively over sell their experience. I see their marketing for their new ship Xcel is marketed as “game changing”. For gods sake it’s just another E class ship. What is game changing about it? incidentally the only fight I’ve ever witnessed aboard a cruise ship was in the Retreat sun deck area aboard Apex…..

Are you referring to Carnival vs Celebrity? Or Regent vs Celebrity 2024?

I doubt there's much theft aboard the cruise ships. But most theft is opportunistic, so leaving anything of value in a public idea isn't a particularly good idea IMHO.

| There are other cruise lines that are "better" than Celebrity IMHO and cheaper too, depending on what class of cabin you book. Those who travel in Sky Suites should be able to find comparable cruises at lower pricing on the small ship luxury lines quite easily.

It won't happen. The RCL group have three distinct brands in Royal Caribbean, Celebrity X and Silversea. Where would the logic be in building mega ships for Celebrity when RCL are class leaders in that arena? Personally I think the new E class ships are big enough as they are. I also think it could be 5 to 10 years before we see a new ship class released by Celebrity anyway. Hopefully without the infinite verandah too.......

It always struck me as an advert for Diageo brands more than anything.

Achieving Zenith status requires 3,000 Captains Club points. Not 3,000 posts on a Cruise Critic thread. 😉 🙂

Which is why discussing the limitations of a cruise is completely relevant to the discussion.

Quite possibly. We've always taken cruise and land vacations, sometimes combining the two. We've also been fortunate enough to stay in some hotels which put the accommodations and restaurants into perspective aboard Celebrity. And for much cheaper rates too. But you're right, cruising does come with a lot of limitations when it comes to travel. Fri4ends want us to join them on a cruise to Japan, a country I want to visit. But with no overnights there I don't think I'd end up up felling like I've really visited the place with just day time stops lasting a few hours.

The problem with Celebrity is that the last two presidents are ex RCL execs. They have a completely different vision for the line than the original Chandris outfit. Lutof-Perlo might have done a good job promoting females within the industry but her interpretation of 'modern luxury' left a lot to be desired. Particularly to those who can remember what Celebrity was like once upon a time when there was no nickel and diming etc. Their focus now is profitability and not customer experience. It would be naive to expect anything changing in the future. Still, it's not all bad. There are many cruise lines for us all to choose from.

You will get all kinds of different answers on here to your question. In reality your specific question will depend on the specific waiter you ask, what mood they are in at the time and which direction the wind is blowing.... My advice is to tell them exactly what you want and see what they say. In general they will do their best to accommodate you. Don't be afraid to speak to the maitre d'. And remember, you can still always dine in the MDR if you wish.

I've just emailed their executive office to explain my displeasure and given a detailed explanation as to why I'm unhappy. I'd recommend that everyone who is unhappy with recent changes do the same so they understand exactly what their customers think of recent changes. We normally sail in Sky Suites as I was more or less happy with their pricing. But in recent times you can sail in equivalent suites onboard the likes of Azamara, Oceania, Seabourn, Crystal and in some instances Regent for a per person per night price in the same ball park. And these lines don't try and desperately gouge every single cent they can out of you. So I've also told them they're free to cancel my E+ Captains Club account as I won't be needing it again. Not that they will care at all though. 🙂 It's a really cheap, tacky and desperate approach in my opinion. Not at all representative of the 'premium' image they try and advertise.

Found it. Admin, please delete this thread.