Don't believe the Celebrity shopping info

[DonRobertoSanJuan]

During our Eastern Med cruise we received info sheets for each port we visited. It included Celebrity "approved" shops and restaurants and these places were pushed very hard by the port "director. Well, we went to one of these approved restaurants, Aurora in Sorrento, and had the worst pizza and pasta ever and even worse service!:( How does Celebrity find these places? Do they get paid for pushing them?

[Lsimon]

The stores and restaurants on the cruise provided list of approved or recommended stores get there because they pay advertising fees to the cruise line through an intermediary marketing company that runs the port talks on the ship, prints the shopping guides and has an on-board "shopping consultant".

 

This is pure advertising and has little or nothing to do with the stores service, quality of goods or reputation. There are lots of stores frequently on the recommended list which have terrible reputations and horrible customer service.

 

The problem I have with this is that the program is portrayed as if there was some sort of quality review of these establishments which is very misleading. If the listings were presented as nice advertising and didn't have the implication that these were reviewed according to some standard beyond payment of cash to become recommended or approved then I wouldn't have a problem with the program.

 

In my mind the whole "recommended" and "approved" scheme is nothing but a sham and the cruise lines (Celebrity is not alone here) should be ashamed of themselves for stopping so low to collect these advertising dollars in this way.

[cruisestitch]

Absolutely agree with previous post --- Celebrity doesn't find these places, they find Celebrity. The store and restaurants pay a fee to be included in the list. The "port and shopping guide" is employed by the marketing firm, not by Celebrity.

[cruiserhal]

I totally agree with Lsimon’s comments above. We stopped going to the port talks years ago and now depend on the on-line travel sites for recommendations if we need any.

 

A few cruises ago we encountered a new twist – the Mandatory Port Disembarkation Talk on the first sea day. As you arrived you received a shopping packet for all the ports. When I asked if this had to do with the final disembarkation I was told No, Just for the Ports. Naturally I turned around and left.

 

Anything to make a buck.

[patty1955]

The last time we followed the advice of the "port expert" we ended up at a restaurant in Ensenada that served us iced tea with something that looked like pond scum floating in it.

We never completely trusted the glowing reports about the shops, but assumed that the food recommendations could be trusted due to health concerns. We've never made that mistake again.

[markf]

one of my pet peeves is to tell me there is a mandatory meeting --when in fact it is usally taped for TV--

Yes these stores pay a commission to the cruise lines--and the cruise line can scare you in to reasons that you need to buy there

[ozark74]

If a shop is on the port information sheet we stay away from that shop or restaurant.

[eandj]

If a shop is on the port information sheet we stay away from that shop or restaurant.

 

We don't go that far.

But if we plan on shopping for anything in particular on a trip (rare)or want a particular type of restaurant (again rare) I research with people on tripadvisor's forums. There are always residents and frequent travelers who will give their two cents.

[tocruiseguy]

During our Eastern Med cruise we received info sheets for each port we visited. It included Celebrity "approved" shops and restaurants and these places were pushed very hard by the port "director. Well, we went to one of these approved restaurants, Aurora in Sorrento, and had the worst pizza and pasta ever and even worse service!:( How does Celebrity find these places? Do they get paid for pushing them?

 

Hard to believe Celebrity would have anything to do with this restaurant. We went there in 2009. They actually serve tourists smaller portions than the locals! Service and food was horrid and on top of that it was overpriced. Lesson here is get a list of restaurants pre-cruise by researching on Tripadvisor and stick with them.

[miched]

There have been a few threads on this topic. Thanks to the internet and cruise forums the deceitful practice that the so called port shoppers has been exposed. It has nothing to do with value, quality, or price. It is all about the monetary fee paid.

 

It is a waste of time to attend those seminars that entice attendance by throwing freebies into the crowd or holding raffles for something.

 

Use your time more wisely and enjoy what you paid for, a cruise and not a infomercial.

 

 

.

[navyrotorhead]

During our Eastern Med cruise we received info sheets for each port we visited. It included Celebrity "approved" shops and restaurants and these places were pushed very hard by the port "director. Well, we went to one of these approved restaurants, Aurora in Sorrento, and had the worst pizza and pasta ever and even worse service!:( How does Celebrity find these places? Do they get paid for pushing them?

 

(along with lots of other stuff!) Can be found RIGHT HERE on CC Boards!:)

[jcrandle]

The stores and restaurants on the cruise provided list of approved or recommended stores get there because they pay advertising fees to the cruise line through an intermediary marketing company that runs the port talks on the ship, prints the shopping guides and has an on-board "shopping consultant".

 

This is pure advertising and has little or nothing to do with the stores service, quality of goods or reputation. There are lots of stores frequently on the recommended list which have terrible reputations and horrible customer service.

 

The problem I have with this is that the program is portrayed as if there was some sort of quality review of these establishments which is very misleading. If the listings were presented as nice advertising and didn't have the implication that these were reviewed according to some standard beyond payment of cash to become recommended or approved then I wouldn't have a problem with the program.

 

In my mind the whole "recommended" and "approved" scheme is nothing but a sham and the cruise lines (Celebrity is not alone here) should be ashamed of themselves for stopping so low to collect these advertising dollars in this way.

 

The only quality review that is done is the "quality" of the company's fees paid to the cruise lines.

[Mr. Click]

On our first cruise we went to one of the port talks.....and quickly realized what they were all about. I would much rather have that commission in my own pocket. As others have pointed out, there is a wealth of information on the internet and especially here on cruisecritic. We have found great tours, decent shops and good restaurants thanks to CC. The port shopper is even worse than booking ships tours. Since our first cruise we have found one or two occasions that the ship's tour was worth the extra cost, otherwise we have done our homework and walked off prepared to have fun.

[Denny01]

I totally agree with Lsimon’s comments above. We stopped going to the port talks years ago and now depend on the on-line travel sites for recommendations if we need any.

 

A few cruises ago we encountered a new twist – the Mandatory Port Disembarkation Talk on the first sea day. As you arrived you received a shopping packet for all the ports. When I asked if this had to do with the final disembarkation I was told No, Just for the Ports. Naturally I turned around and left.

 

Anything to make a buck.

 

This was on Celebrity? Never been to or heard of one, but I think if it was done, I wouldnt go and probably just forgot about it.

 

Den

[ClaudiaB]

Those sheets and talks about the "approved" places are very helpful to me --- they tell me where NOT to shop/eat.

[Lastdance]

These are the places NOT to visit! Do your homework ahead of time and make your choices with good common sense. Sorry this happened to you and others too. I agree that Celebrity should not be involved in these types of ventures; however, money makes the cruise ships go round and round.

[cruisestitch]

Yes, I remember the "mandatory" Disembarkation talks. they didn't take attendance but they used to make a big deal about encouraging first time cruisers to attend. but the ones I remember were at the very end of the cruise and weren't tied to any port talk except the one cruise that didn't end with a sea day quite a while ago. I think that the only sea day had one single talk that covered Disembarkation and some port/shopping info combined

[thebutlerdidit]

I've only done one cruise so far (Celebrity Millennium to Alaska) and I was really revved up about the port shopping presentation they had in the theater. I don't know, I thought I might learn something. That sounds naive, doesn't it? Well, needless to say, I left early and was so mad that I had freely given up my time for that experience. My husband was having a blast in a photography class while I was being given the hard sell. I agree with Ozark74 - If someone tries to steer me into Shop A I'll pass it by and perhaps try Shop B. I hold a grudge like that. :mad:

[Hlitner]

This is an old topic on CC (if you search you will find many similar discussions in the past). So here is the bottom line. Approved shops are simply "approved" because they are willing to pay a fee to the cruise line and/or franchiser who handles the shopping lectures (on most lines these folks do not even work for the cruise lines). The Recommended stores may or may not be a good place to shop. That being said, in most cases you are usually going to get better deals by simply shopping on the internet. There is a huge shopping industry that has grown-up around the cruise industry. Stores like Diamonds International, Emeralds International, etc...exist primarily to feed the eager (and often very naive) shoppers on cruise ships. Try finding one of these stores in places not routinely visited by cruise ships :). The business relationships are almost incestuous. Most cruise lines now use private companies to handle their shopping lectures (and even port lectures on some lines) and these companies make their profit by selling their services to merchants in cruise ports. Everybody profits from the arrangment except for cruise passengers who often find themselves paying to much or getting items of inferior quality. Let the buyer beware! By the way, if you are buying jewelry in the Caribbean you might want to only consider stores that have branches operating in the US (good if you need to return something or get service). One such jewelry store is H. Stern and there might be a few others (we have never found one).

 

Hank

[pkw]

The stores and restaurants on the cruise provided list of approved or recommended stores get there because they pay advertising fees to the cruise line through an intermediary marketing company that runs the port talks on the ship, prints the shopping guides and has an on-board "shopping consultant".

 

This is pure advertising and has little or nothing to do with the stores service, quality of goods or reputation. There are lots of stores frequently on the recommended list which have terrible reputations and horrible customer service.

 

The problem I have with this is that the program is portrayed as if there was some sort of quality review of these establishments which is very misleading. If the listings were presented as nice advertising and didn't have the implication that these were reviewed according to some standard beyond payment of cash to become recommended or approved then I wouldn't have a problem with the program.

 

In my mind the whole "recommended" and "approved" scheme is nothing but a sham and the cruise lines (Celebrity is not alone here) should be ashamed of themselves for stopping so low to collect these advertising dollars in this way.

 

 

Thanks very much for letting us know this - we have never come across it with other cruise lines so would not have expected it to be advertising - I just love CC for this type of information.

[EithneMay]

one of my pet peeves is to tell me there is a mandatory meeting --when in fact it is usally taped for TV--

Yes these stores pay a commission to the cruise lines--and the cruise line can scare you in to reasons that you need to buy there

 

The only thing mandatory on the ship is the muster drill!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iancal]

You will most certainly find this on Princess, HAL, and Carnival as well as on Celebrity. Cannot remember what NCL does but my guess is they do the same.

 

It is one reason why we seldom bother with the port talks. It is usually nothing but a shill for those stores that pay a fee or a percentage of sales back to the cruise lines.

[eetonaee]

On our recent Equinox cruise we were told that there would be an authentic 'Mediterrranean bazaar" where we could purchase items from Greece and Turkey that would be brought on the ship that day for sale after we left port.

 

The number of items were limited but two caught my eye as I had purchased them in the market in Kusadisi. Bookmarks that were 3 for one Euro in Turkey (about 45 cents each) were sold on board for $1.99 USD each.

 

I bought quite a few fabric item holders in different sizes for cell phones, eye glasses, change, etc. They all had Turkish designs and were inexpensive gifts at 1 Euro each for people I work with.

 

I'm glad I bought them on shore because the ship had identical ones on sale from $4 to $8 USD depending on size.

[cruiserhal]

This was on Celebrity? Never been to or heard of one, but I think if it was done, I wouldnt go and probably just forgot about it.

 

Den

 

No, not X - it was Royal Caribbean. A ship which shall remain nameless since it is the only one I swore on the comment card I would never travel on again.

[Tucker in Texas]

If I do happen to buy something in one of their "recommended" stores, I take great pride when they ask me what ship I am on telling them I'm visiting a local family so the ship line does not get a commission off of it not that it would be very much.

 

Ever notice a ship employee (or not) will be lurking around a high end shop? That's to make sure if the shop makes a sale, they get their cut.

 

Tucker in Texas