a350flyer

7 hours ago, billc23 said:

The mattress on the Ascent in my room was very firm. It was a matermoll cashmere mattress. Details below:

 

Can someone post a picture of the mattress label on other ships? Wondering if Celebrity selected a different mattress for Ascent. 
 

I enjoyed the mattress on Solstice and Edge class ships last year. The mattress on Ascent really stood out due to the firmness. 

15 minutes ago, Jcafe said:

We are Elite+ and have been loyal to X.  Due to Covid we have not cruised for the past 4 years; however, we are taking the APEX T/A next month.  We observed on our last cruise 4 years ago the decline in food and the upsell strategy of X. If we experience a further decline after sailing next month, this may be our last cruise, period.  I anticipate the competition are following the same suit.  
The past two years we have flown to Europe (Spain/Portugal) in the winter and stayed at 5* hotels (BonVoy) with full breakfast buffets, eating in local restaurants with ample liquor and paid similar cost to cruising. 
Similar to most Celebrity cruisers, we have been loyal to a fault due to their past quality service, CC benefits and overall customer service.  If we see a noticeable difference, our loyalty will go in another direction.  

Don't expect great authentic food on Apex, especially if you compare it to a five star experience in Spain and Portugal. Celebrity's food caters to an American contemporary palate. The food is not imaginative. Think Americanized and made with cheaper ingredients for mass production. Is it too late to cancel?

50 minutes ago, tfred said:

then whats the point of your survey - a very narrow group of people with an even smaller subset that replies?  You know what the result would be without the poll 

It would have been an assumption to know what people are thinking. We now have data to back up that assumption.

On 10/16/2023 at 5:19 PM, a350flyer said:

How do you feel about changes made under Laura Hodges Bethge's tenure as President of Celebrity Cruises? 

Click link to vote:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PGCVLLR

Reply to the post if you'd like to comment on any changes and/or if you have any desired changes in mind.

 

Post response format:

List any positive changes that Laura made:

1. 
 

List any negative changes that Laura made:

1.

 

List any desired changes you want Laura to consider:

1.

 

Note: I watched the Q&A with Laura. Seems to me that the Q&A was a PR stunt to spin-off why Laura approved changes that were perceived to be cost cutting and/or "cheapening" of the Celebrity brand. Would also like to hear your summary opinion via the poll on how you feel about changes under Laura. If Celebrity is listening, the poll can hopefully summarize customer sentiment. Will post poll results in a week.

1 minute ago, tfred said:

Only shows the CC people on this site.  Not valid for the population including newbs who dont look at CC

Thanks for stating the obvious.

Poll is closed since there's a very clear trend. 

78% of respondents are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the changes made under Laura.

The majority of respondents (42%) are very dissatisfied.

1 minute ago, 1Virgo said:

when Laura said no changes to Aqua, she must have been speaking about since she took over. I posted previously about the changes we have experienced. 

Great video. love the fact checking

Laura probably read the Q&A script PR wrote for her and thought it was genius. Just like how she thought it would be genius to charge for a cookie. Pretty soon Celebrity will charge for luggage, toilet paper, and premium fresh air.

14 minutes ago, sixpackeddie said:

This is a very informative video, that has fact checking. Worth watching.

 

This is spot on! Thanks!
 

Laura, queen of spin, embracer of squeezing every last dollar out of cruisers, redefining bad decisions to sound like a win, forging the legacy of turning celebrity cruises into the d list celebrity cruise.

4 minutes ago, Orator said:

Laura is new and beginning to reverse some changes made by LLP such as retiring Zeniiths to Retreat Lounge and bringing some items to the MDR menu. Too early to ask the question.

I disagree, if changes are being made, then it's not too early to ask the question. 

How do you feel about changes made under Laura Hodges Bethge's tenure as President of Celebrity Cruises? 

Click link to vote:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PGCVLLR

Reply to the post if you'd like to comment on any changes and/or if you have any desired changes in mind.

Post response format:

List any positive changes that Laura made:

1. 
 

List any negative changes that Laura made:

1.

List any desired changes you want Laura to consider:

1.

Note: I watched the Q&A with Laura. Seems to me that the Q&A was a PR stunt to spin-off why Laura approved changes that were perceived to be cost cutting and/or "cheapening" of the Celebrity brand. Would also like to hear your summary opinion via the poll on how you feel about changes under Laura. If Celebrity is listening, the poll can hopefully summarize customer sentiment. Will post poll results in a week.

What's your preferred Perfect Day location if  Celebrity had a private destination?

With multiple Perfect Day locations being planned (Asia/Lelepa) what type of amenities and activities would you like to see offered to Celebrity guests at a private destination?

If Perfect Day were to be in Alaska, then would you envision something like Icy Straight Point or a wilderness retreat?

Can the bed on Edge Class Sky Suites be apart? Or is it only available as king size?

On 7/13/2022 at 12:33 PM, keesar said:

On Solstice, there was a seafood evening in the Oceanview.  Fresh seafood was delivered while in Juneau and the choices  on the grill were Pacific Cod, salmon, and halibut.  King crab was also available.  

Did you have to pay for the king crab?

13 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

Here are the rules for Portugal 

basically just need to be vaccinate 

 

 

https://www.visitportugal.com/en/content/covid-19-measures-implemented-portugal

 

 

No, a negative test result is required on arrival for those who don’t have an eu vaccine certificate. https://pt.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

Anyone on this cruise?  Anyone visited Spain, Portugal, or France since 2020 with Celebrity?  Are guests required to show proof of covid vaccination at each port?

Shore excursions are sold out for Bordeaux (La Rochelle).  Only three non custom options were available. Wondering if additional excursions will be offered. 

France
Does Celebrity facilitate obtaining a French health pass for US travelers?  Why is there no info on Celebrity’s website?  Without the pass, US travelers can’t visit attractions or restaurants.  Currently, the health pass is only available at a French pharmacy even if a traveler is vaccinated.
https://fr.usembassy.gov/how-to-get-a-french-health-pass/

Portugal

US travelers are required to provide a negative covid test upon entry along with vaccination substantiation.  Will testing be available on the ship since ports may be visited 72 hours after embarkation?

The only time I have been contacted was when I placed a hold on a cabin. The next day I would get an email followed by a phone call. I have not received a call or email after just doing a search or price checking with a mock booking.

 

Personally, I would prefer not to have things like senior, military, resident auto-populated as they often are priced without perks and I prefer to see the price with perks. We don’t attend the the CC cocktail hour or the Elite breakfast so for us the beverage package is a must and it is less costly when it is built into the fare as a perk vs booking without perks and purchasing the beverage package.

Thanks, Jelayne! When I do a mock res while signed into the celebrity website I’ll get one or two emails and sometimes a call. Usually get an email from the same celebrity res agent.

I only like the onboard credit/gratuities perk that comes with a res made on a ship since I don’t drink. Usually try to book only “exciting deals” fares since it’s unconstructed and have consistently been the cheapest throughout the entire availability period even when considering perks.

Does anyone else wish your captains club number, state of residency, senior, military, and/or law enforcement info would auto populate while browsing for cruise deals? This of course would happen after signing into your celebrity website account.

My captains club number and state of residency would auto populate with the prior web design. I wish the website would do the same now. It made it so convenient to search for cruise deals.

I guess having to memorize my captains club number isn’t a bad thing, but I’d prefer to browse without thinking so much.

Oh, does anyone else get irritated after Celebrity auto emails you or have a rep contact you after you price a cruise, but not complete a reservation? To me, it feels like a merchant in China chasing me down in an alley and screaming, “Why you no like buy now?? Best deal I give you now, ok, ok?!” Certainly this does not appear to be consistent with Celebrity’s branding aspirations. What do you think?

And if you’re wondering, I ’m a very good haggler in China, especially when I can remember what years of Chinese language school taught me.