Has Celebrity changed port info policy/practice?

[deserttraveler]

When I was recently on the Summit (repo San Juan to Bayonne), the port "information" inserts in the daily program had been scaled back to include ONLY shopping information and nothing that would help the non-shopper. Last fall, on the Silhouette in Europe, we received a much more detailed information insert about the ports, including maps of where we docked, information about the history of the port, etc. I was really disappointed in this turn of events. On previous cruises on Infinity and Solstice, we were also given the more detailed port info. Is this part of marketing shore excursions and herding people to the "approved" shopping? Or was this some other issue?

[gold1953]

Just off a B2B ...26 nights with 12 ports and there was both port info and excursion info each day

[cruisestitch]

AFAIK those inserts come not from Celebrity but from the company which sponsors the port/shopping on-board guide -- it is a service which their "recommended" shops pay to be in included in. Local maps and port info was available from Guest Relations and/or the Concierge.

[Redtravel]

Most people plan ahead. Often at the dock, there is info available. In Bermuda, the info center had maps, ferry schedules, and lots of brochures about the attractions. The only thing that the ship's info has of value is the agent's phone #. If you are injured or miss the ship, you would want to call this number.

[Christine Frances]

On the Infinity I noticed that the Port Agent contact info was no longer included on the Port Info guide. When I inquired at Guest Relations they said that practice had stopped (as per Miami) and she gave me the Infinity's (business) card with emergency contact info on it as the replacement. It was handy to slip into my seapass holder.

[deserttraveler]

I appreciate the additional info, especially about the port agent card. I usually arrive at ports with buckets of info that I've already looked up and printed, but occasionally I haven't figured out ahead of time where the ship docks and how to get from there to "town." As a (mostly) DIY visitor to ports, I've appreciated that sometimes there would be a little map that provided the missing link and perhaps even alerted me to something I hadn't found out ahead of time.

[May B]

On one of my recent cruises, our steward wasn't leaving the port info in our cabin in the evening, so I thought Celebrity had stopped doing it.

 

Imagine my amazement when I saw somebody, holding the info. Come to find out it was available near the purser's/shore excursion area (I think this was on the Century, Deck Three? Five? someplace). Anyway, it had been there for every port but neither Mr. B. nor I had realized where to find it!