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6 hours ago, carolina_yankee said:

Nov 12 Apex will be my first ocean cruise since the pandemic and we have a couple more booked on different lines in the coming months. Looking at the boards for the various lines, everybody is getting complaints about downgrades of service, etc. Every cruise line was 5 Star before pandemic and now all are failing if you read the posters!

 

My only reference is Disney. I will be quite annoyed if it’s hard to get a beverage (never was on Disney), but I have to think it’s in Celebrity’s interest to help the guest get rid of their money. Not everyone is AI, so unless the drink servers are somehow only gong to the “by the glass” people I’m chalking it up to training and staffing post-pandemic more than cost-cutting.

 

I’m very prepared to have a “less” experience than before because I’m having a “less” experience in nearly every entertainment / service-industry area of my life. I will not be happy if that continues, though, and becomes a sign of cost-cutting.

 

Disney went that route. That’s why we’re cruising everybody else and having wonderful non-parks vacations. I’m quite happy to reward those who show they value the customer and ignore those who clearly could care less.

Most of the people that complain just do it to complain.  95% of it is bs.  Just enjoy your cruise.  

25 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

Well, isn't taking a cruise laziness? You should buy your own boat, get provisions, figure out a course, and navigate to the islands yourself. 

Yea to a certain extent, but I’m not going to complain about having to actually fetch a drink.  Heaven forbid I actually have to get off my ass and move.  Lol

On 9/25/2022 at 4:03 PM, wineoclock said:

I don’t think so.
 

Years ago I was on an escalator & a young child asked her mum why people were on escalator rather than the stairs like they were. The mum said because we were lazy. Mainly people who were elderly & me, with my walking stick.

 

My point is you never know why people can’t do something & shouldn’t judge. 

 

Also I’ve paid for a product or service I expect their side of the bargain to be fulfilled. I won’t mind once or twice but regularly then I’ll be looking elsewhere.

 

I consider Celebrity to be like a 5* hotel. I don’t expect to queue for service in 5* hotels. Maybe I’m wrong & its 4* in which case they need to lower their prices. I’d not be surprised to queue for a drink in a 4* hotel. 

Yet here you are judging my comment. So you’re contradicting yourself. Everybody has their own opinions, and opinions run rampant on this website. I’m not saying that anybody’s wrong or right, but in my experience, I see a lot of people complain, and the complaints are just based out of pure laziness.

7 hours ago, wineoclock said:

I don’t think so.
 

Years ago I was on an escalator & a young child asked her mum why people were on escalator rather than the stairs like they were. The mum said because we were lazy. Mainly people who were elderly & me, with my walking stick.

 

My point is you never know why people can’t do something & shouldn’t judge. 

 

Also I’ve paid for a product or service I expect their side of the bargain to be fulfilled. I won’t mind once or twice but regularly then I’ll be looking elsewhere.

 

I consider Celebrity to be like a 5* hotel. I don’t expect to queue for service in 5* hotels. Maybe I’m wrong & its 4* in which case they need to lower their prices. I’d not be surprised to queue for a drink in a 4* hotel. 

Gonna have to disagree.  Yes, there is wait staff. But there does exist the possibility that maybe they are all busy at that moment? So haven forbid you might actually have to get up and get a drink yourself? It happens. And to me, if people complain(about just everything on here), that’s laziness.  If it’s not this, it’s people complaining about following rules, to just about everything else.  You’re on a cruise, not a private yacht. I have been on 10 cruises in my lifetime.  The thing that really makes me wonder is how people like to throw the statement “I’m elite status”, like it’s their right to be snobby(a lot of them are), and that they should be given priority treatment over everyone else.  I’ve seen it happen multiple times on Celebrity. Don’t do that crap in front of me.  I will call you out as a Karen.  

4 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

She was saying since you're so positive, you're not "common folk" 🤦‍♂️

Whatever.  It’s amusing to me to see all the people complain about having to go get a drink. It’s called laziness. 

11 hours ago, SusieAV8R said:

As positive you are, you are not "a common folk".  🙂

Yes. I am

On 9/23/2022 at 2:36 PM, CNSfromHI said:

We just returned from the same cruise and never had any trouble finding someone to serve us. In the Oceanview, too, we were usually asked shortly after sitting down at a table if we wanted something from the bar.

 

cjr

People just like to complain on here. Nobody is ever satisfied, and there is always at least one reason that somebody needs to complain. I have been on several celebrity cruises over the years, and I’ve never had that one complaint. And I am a common folk, and do not stay in the suites, and did not delete or whatever it is everybody likes to call it and brag about.  People, stop, complaining and enjoy yourselves.

On 9/17/2022 at 8:39 PM, ISABELLA said:

We are booked on Xmas / New Year cruise for 11 days and we're planning to have 2-3 dinners at Murano, but when I tried to reserve them, found out - nothing was available, not even listed under "manage my reservation". What might be the reason? Any thoughts?

Maybe it’s full?

8 minutes ago, prothed said:

First time on Celebrity (after 30+ cruises with other lines) and we have just returned from a 9-night France/Spain cruise.

We wanted to try Celebrity after friends telling us of their high standards of service, but...

I've never been on any other ship where getting a drink involved vainly looking for a waiter and eventually queueing at the bar to get served!

On the first evening we thought that there may have been issues if a lot of new crew members were on board, but this lasted throughout the cruise.

To be fair, the situation usually improved by late evening - maybe wait staff were moved to the bars/lounges after the restaurants closed.

The cruise overall was fine (the theatre shows were excellent, boarding was very fast, MDR food was pretty bland) but I wonder if anyone could comment as to whether this 'get your own drinks' routine was normal for Celebrity.

Completely disagree with your opinions on the food and bar drinks 

Y’all are just kind of funny arguing about bigger, breakfast menus and if it’s worth it. Sorry, it seems like there are better things to argue about but enjoy!

23 hours ago, drakes2 said:

Can't say I've ever had a bad experience on celebrity if there's an issue guest relations has quickly rectified it. 

I meant

bad service and rude staff on MSC

6 hours ago, the penguins said:

Is that a change? It was promoted as on your first cruise only as a "tempter'. We still haven't taken the plunge but some of MSC's Africa cruises look tempting.

MSC is nowhere near as good a Celebrity.  Nice ships.  Horrible service.  Rude staff

4 hours ago, Harrisonkid said:

Does anyone have a work around on the Waiting on Hold game that they play now ?

Yes. Book through a ta.  

No

12 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Most reports are that self serve has for the most part returned.

On 9/1/2022 at 10:16 AM, peanut head said:

Does Celebrity allow medical cannabis to be brought on board if you have a current medical cannabis card?

Don’t bring it. If your caught, let’s just say you will not be happy. 

2 hours ago, Tealing said:

We booked our flights with FBC,  Toronto to Fort Lauderdale, direct both ways by Air Canada. Out leg was changed from 8:30 am to 6:30 am., not too much of an issue as we are spending two days in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise. However, the return flight was changed accordingly from 12:30 pm to 11:15 am which is now out with the parameters of Air Canada’s wiggle room for cruise passengers.

Our return flight was changed to 12:39 pm with a 45 minute layover in Chicago which I am not very comfortable with. I asked FBC to try and change it back to our original flight but one week later still waiting for reply from Air Canada.

If we booked direct with Air Canada it would never have been an issue. Normally we book direct but FBC had a better price. Lesson learned.

We just booked direct w the airline as we are going to be in FLL two days before the cruise. Both flights direct from DFW. 

4 hours ago, yvrbos said:

So Delta just rescheduled me to a flight that has me arriving in at 2pm. Much too close for my comfort. I used Flights by Celebrity for my air and I am past final payment. My TA called and then said they could book me into the day before but it would take a week to get it approved. Does this sound reasonable? Or should I call again. I don’t leave until Nov 12th. Has anyone rescheduled their flights after final payment?

 

Thanks for your answers

Depending on where the cruise is going out of, good rule of thumb is to get there at least a day early. 

1 hour ago, _Rick_ said:

The more you can do to minimize your exposure of your travel plans to Celebrity's inept and inflexible 'customer service', the better.

Nothing like trashing a good cruise line.  FYI, book through a travel agent, and you will never have to call customer service 

I’m finding it quite humorous that people still complain about the “inconvenience “ of having to do a test which takes like 15 minutes.  And btw, vaccinated people are NOT spreading it nearly as much as unvaccinated.   

7 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Hoping we don't get the virus, but if we can isolate in our own cabin it will be doable.  Moving won't be.

If you happen to get it onboard, moving won’t be your decision.  

5 hours ago, 39august said:

Unsupervised self test! What the heck is the point of that? Oh well, whatever floats their boat, so to speak. So hoping the b2b testing goes away. Out first  b2b in Sept/Oct. is 10 night, followed by 9.  Do any of the Caribbean islands still require a pre-board test?

That means they are trusting you to be honest.  

15 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Just out of curiosity, how many of us will self pre-test anyway now the pre-cruise testing is apparently not required for most cruisese? I know the covid tests aren't absolute; either for a negative or positive. But they were better than nothing....at least that's my logic. Seems like a smart thing to do in at least my case, because I don't want to be away from home when I'm sick. I'm an old man, and if possible I'd test for a cold, a toothache or any one of the multitude of annoyances or sicknesses I get from time to time. My wife says I am a PITA when I'm ill, but that's besides the point. Some of us might have different reasons to do or not do a self-test; they might test with the idea of lessening the chance of  spreading it to others.

 

I know others feel differently, so that's why I ask. Everyone has their own opinion on the value of doing a self test.  I won't bad mouth your choice if you don't bad mouth mine; I'm just curious!😎 And I do agree that the pre-cruise testing was a royal PITA to get scheduled, especially if you were not around home with that "two day prior to sailing" deadline. I know the tests aren't absolute; either for a negative or positive. But they are better than nothing....at least that's my logic.😉

 

 Doug

It is still required on celebrity for cruises in the Caribbean over 6 Days. 

58 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

LOL.  I asked three questions.  Are you saying the answer to all three is “Yes”?  I’d think your answer probably meant “Yes”, “No” and “Don’t know.”

Yes 

9 hours ago, helen haywood said:

So, to recap, cruises out of Florida of longer than six nights, still need to test up to three days before?  No more recent changes than the August 8th one?  I read some mention of a meeting today…might there be a new protocol announced?

Yes. 

1 hour ago, D C said:

Which, unfortunately, is not a new update. 😞

 

Thankfully I have a few months for them to get their house in order. 

It is.  I just clicked on their website.  I refreshed it a few times.