Celebrity Deception?

[bphman]

We loved Blu and booked AQ because of that. We were in a suite and availed ourselves of the ability to dine in Blu. We had each breakfast and only one dinner at the request of the Maitre d' with whom we had sailed before. It gave us a small ship experience on a larger one. On some ships, a guarantee doesn't matter. On others it can be Russian Roulette. In other words, do your homework.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I have been back several weeks and have not seen a comment card. I receive mail from Celebrity almost every day about promotions, etc. but no card. I always check junk mail as well. And no, I wasn't told about this new way to receive a comment card.

 

I should have also mentioned that I spoke to customer service before I booked and inquired about the differences in the 2 classes of AQ cabins. I was told that the only difference was that the cabins on deck 11 were BRAND new and added to the ship when solsticized and that deck 9 would look IDENTICAl but were older cabins.

 

I understand that rooms can look different in photos but after looking at the pictures online, there was a certain assumption that I had when booking. The rooms on deck 9 don't remotely resemble the rooms on deck 11.

 

I just think that Celebrity should put the correct photo with the different categories. All of the other photos of the different cabins are correct.

 

The AQ rooms on deck 9 of the Infinity look exactly the same as the AQ rooms on deck 11. Your confusion is caused by having viewed a photograph of an AQ room on an S class ship. Infinity is an M class ship. The cabins are completely different on those two different classes.

 

I do agree that it is misleading to post a picture of an S class cabin on an M class ship brochure or website.

 

[mum and son]

I can absolutely understand why you were disappointed. In this day and age, there is no excuse for the information/photos on a company's official website to be inaccurate. It's such an easy thing to update and manage. I can understand that you can't put everything in a printed brochure, but it's easy on the web. It certainly should not be the responsibility of the consumer to be savvy enough to scour the internet, and sites like this, to get more accurate information - especially when the cruise line is saying "this is a photo of your cabin". Most people don't even know sites like this exist and they trust the information provided by the cruise line... and they should be able to !!

 

I see a distinct difference between the two photos you posted, not only with furnishing and finishes, but also with the positioning of everything. The site should show an A1 and an A2, and then you can make an informed decision. Then of course you can decide whether to pick either category or a guarantee, but at least you have all of the information.

 

For Celebrity it is very simple to put a different picture up for the A2, so why not do it? How many newbie cruises book based on those images and are then disappointed, never to return to Celebrity again?

[need2bespoiled]

On M-Class there is also the difference that the CC and AQ Cabins are bigger than the standard Veranda you said you would have booked, so you got:

 

A bigger cabin

Extra Shower jets

Dining in Blu

Free Water

and Persian Garden (even though you didn't use it) for your splurge,

 

Among some other smaller ammenities like different bath products, fruit, flower(s) (I know, sometimes it i small and only 1), etc.

 

I guess it all depends on how much more you paid and how badly you thought you were deceived.

 

If the agent you spoke to, looked at the deck 9 pictures, he/she would be absolutely right to say the deck 11 cabins look exactly like those, as they do.

 

Unfortunatley, the deck 11 pictures are S-Class :(

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Cindy]

In over 40+ cruises on many different lines I have never had a room that didn't look like what I was expecting it to look like. I have always found the pictures to be fairly precise. Oh well...

 

The majority of my most recent cruises have been on RCI...in many cases the cabins look nothing like the website pictures! I agree with all who have said the web pictures need to be accurate for the different classes of ships. Why should the consumer have to scour the Internet for information?

[alcpa1]

I hate to beat a dead horse but if you were on the May 12th sailing we were your next door neighbors!!!!!!

We have sailed on the Infinity in a deck 11 Aqua class cabin too and can tell you that the cabin layouts are identical to the deck 9 Aqua class cabins.

We have been on all 4 of the Millie class ships and enjoyed the Concierge class cabins as well, prior to the Aqua conversion. With the exception of a couple of CC cabins on deck 6 they are all the same size as the Aqua class cabins.

I don't know how you missed the internet survey. Notice was in the daily constantly and if you were at the meet and mingle Rich, the CD, made a point of encouraging us to fill it out. Ours showed up the morning of disembarkation. I do wish there was a longer window to complete it because we stayed in Europe beyond the seven days and could not complete it.

We've seen plenty of brochures from 6 different cruise lines and I guess I see things differently. I don't expect the cabin to be exactly as described. The same goes for any brochure or grocery ad. The fruit just never looks as good or the roast as plump and juicy.

I'm sorry you were disappointed but I don't feel you were deceived.

[TeaBag]

I'm with gkm. Those white sofas are not comfortable at all, however, they make a great place to leave all your junk when you get back to the cabin tired after a day on tour!:D

[ginak1112]

I hate to beat a dead horse but if you were on the May 12th sailing we were your next door neighbors!!!!!!

We have sailed on the Infinity in a deck 11 Aqua class cabin too and can tell you that the cabin layouts are identical to the deck 9 Aqua class cabins.

We have been on all 4 of the Millie class ships and enjoyed the Concierge class cabins as well, prior to the Aqua conversion. With the exception of a couple of CC cabins on deck 6 they are all the same size as the Aqua class cabins.

I don't know how you missed the internet survey. Notice was in the daily constantly and if you were at the meet and mingle Rich, the CD, made a point of encouraging us to fill it out. Ours showed up the morning of disembarkation. I do wish there was a longer window to complete it because we stayed in Europe beyond the seven days and could not complete it.

We've seen plenty of brochures from 6 different cruise lines and I guess I see things differently. I don't expect the cabin to be exactly as described. The same goes for any brochure or grocery ad. The fruit just never looks as good or the roast as plump and juicy.

I'm sorry you were disappointed but I don't feel you were deceived.

 

Did you enjoy the cruise and itinerary? We had a great time! So if you are saying that deck 11 is the same, then Celebrity is portraying both categories incorrectly by advertising the AQ cabins with the Solstice class pictures. Once again I will use an analogy of purchasing a car. You choose and buy a Mercedes 500 but a Mercedes 300 is delivered to you. Yes , it's lovely but it's not what you thought you were getting.

 

I like Celebrity and I'm sure I will cruise with them again. I'm a Marketing major and things like this really bother me! We were excited to be staying in what we thought was one of the slick, modern , newly designed AQ rooms that we had seen the photos of for quite a while. I don't care about the sofa that many point out as being hard. We use it for storage most of the time anyway. It's the principle of the matter.

 

We didn't go to the mix and mingle and I never noticed anything about the survey.

 

These are my final thoughts and I thank my fellow CC members for this spirited conversation. Happy cruising to all!!

Edited June 8, 2014 by ginak1112

[deise17311]

Did you enjoy the cruise and itinerary? We had a great time! So if you are saying that deck 11 is the same, then Celebrity is portraying both categories incorrectly by advertising the AQ cabins with the Solstice class pictures. Once again I will use an analogy of purchasing a car. You choose and buy a Mercedes 500 but a Mercedes 300 is delivered to you. Yes , it's lovely but it's not what you thought you were getting.

 

I like Celebrity and I'm sure I will cruise with them again. I'm a Marketing major and things like this really bother me! We were excited to be staying in what we thought was one of the slick, modern , newly designed AQ rooms that we had seen the photos of for quite a while. I don't care about the sofa that many point out as being hard. We use it for storage most of the time anyway. It's the principle of the matter.

 

We didn't go to the mix and mingle and I never noticed anything about the survey.

 

These are my final thoughts and I thank my fellow CC members for this spirited conversation. Happy cruising to all!!

 

It's all personal opinion though...I do not like the white couch or S-class set up so for me, I would have bought a Mercedes 300 and had a 500 delivered when I walked in the M-class style room!! I like the old style cruise rooms!