Is it reasonable to have to vacate cabins at 7am on disembarkation?

[anniegb]

Good thing the deposits are refundable. [emoji6]

 

 

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Not for everyone.

 

Annie

[cachouonacruise]

Having read that for some ships/cruise the 7 AM check-out was requested, while it was not on others. Taking into account, that a 7 AM check-out is requiring guests to get up during hours, normally devoted to "sleeping", thus cancelling a lot of the potential benefits, of the last night at sea and the interest of guests on this issue; I am surprised and a bit disappointed that a Celebrity Representative did not yet comment to clarify rumours versus facts, and to explain corporate philosophy motivating the decision. It would make a world of difference, being able to make sense on this unusual policy.

 

 

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[AnOnymously]

Having read that for some ships/cruise the 7 AM check-out was requested, while it was not on others. Taking into account, that a 7 AM check-out is requiring guests to get up during hours, normally devoted to "sleeping", thus cancelling a lot of the potential benefits, of the last night at sea and the interest of guests on this issue; I am surprised and a bit disappointed that a Celebrity Representative did not yet comment to clarify rumours versus facts, and to explain corporate philosophy motivating the decision. It would make a world of difference, being able to make sense on this unusual policy.

 

 

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They know how unpopular this is, they have no solution to it, and they would get hammered if they appeared on here about it.

 

Would you make a statement or just keep your head down, hope it would go away and hope that people would forget the problems and book another Celebrity cruise. Not for me.

[cachouonacruise]

They know how unpopular this is, they have no solution to it, and they would get hammered if they appeared on here about it.

 

Would you make a statement or just keep your head down, hope it would go away and hope that people would forget the problems and book another Celebrity cruise. Not for me.

 

 

 

Sometimes, rumours and process of intent can do more harm then verified facts. Already some guests have mentioned having cancelled cruises.... I don't believe it is in Celebrity's best interest on the long run to let the ... emotion fill the void. As you said: " Not for me"

 

 

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[Pushka]

But it isn't just a rumour. The 7am boot out has been reported in TR's from recent cruisers.

[cachouonacruise]

But it isn't just a rumour. The 7am boot out has been reported in TR's from recent cruisers.

 

 

I know. What is still unclear, to my knowledge, is if the 7 AM applies across the fleet, all cruises or only to specific itineraries. Also unclear, is whether or not, it is only a request for collaboration (nice to do) or a must absolutely be done or else, fees apply. The reasons behind this policy change are also unclear. Hotels, resorts, other cruise lines etc do better than that. So why does Celebrity require their "valued guests" to check-out that early. Reasons heard so far are suppositions and process of intentions only. This is what I called rumours. This is also what I would like to understand better, a few months prior to depart on my first Celebrity cruise. Thank you for your interest in my post.

 

 

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[lvz2cruz]

I just compared the HAL loyalty benefits to Celebrity's. No comparison. When you finally reach their 5-star tier (500 days sailing), you get:

 

50% discount on a 100-minute Internet package (one time only per cruise)

Mariner Welcome Reception

A complimentary photo of the ship

Mariner Embarkation Lunch

Mariner Champagne Brunch

Two complimentary dinners in the Pinnacle Grill (free surcharge only)

Complimentary Culinary Arts Center cooking class (1 per cruise)

Complimentary laundry and pressing services*

Priority disembarkation*

Priority tender*

Priority check-in*

A 50% discount on specialty restaurant surcharges and on specialty coffees in all dining venues*, wine packages*, beverages in the Explorations Café* and all mini-bar purchases*

A complimentary wine tasting session

A special collectible gift presented to you on board

A 15% discount on select Holland America Line logo clothing sold in onboard shops (may exclude already discounted merchandise)

A 15% discount on merchandise from shophollandamerica.com

Discounts on select spa treatments from the Greenhouse Spa & Salon

Complimentary day pass to the Greenhouse Spa & Salon Thermal Suite (1 per cruise)* Not available on ms Prinsendam, guest will receive additional Pinnacle Dinner

A special recognition lapel pin

A complimentary one-year subscription to Travel + Leisure or Food & Wine magazine (one per household)

A free subscription to the print or digital** version of Mariner® magazine

An annual cruise planner

Advance notice of new itineraries**

Special offers on select sailings

Complimentary cruise fare on 3rd/4th guest in your stateroom on select sailings

 

Heck, Elite benefits are better than that overall, much less Elite Plus and Zenith. I'd only be at their 3-star tier, meaning almost zilch. Maybe I should be looking at Celebrity's cost-cutting measures from the perspective of how much value my Elite Plus benefits are worth to me. I genuinely appreciate 240 internet minutes (my first experience with faster speed last week was a nice surprise), laundry, a scoop of gelato, and Cafe al Bacio (really make good use of that perk). The happy hour, not so much -- last week it seemed to me that too many people were frantically trying to drink as much as they possibly could, barely able to form their words in some cases; there was only one bartender; and the house scotch wasn't worth drinking, even if free. I'll just stick to the martini or ensemble bars and pay my way.

 

So, that said, from a benefits standpoint, having to leave the cabin at 07:00 maybe isn't such a bad deal. I guess X has to pay for the ever-growing army of Elites and above somehow.

 

You're right, HAL's loyalty program does not come close to X's. We really want to love X because of the benefits we get there, but the experience just doesn't compare to HAL so we forego the gelato and internet and in return get fantastic service and food.

As a stockholder of both, we have always received the OBC for owning 100 shares of HAL. Usually denied on X because of sales. So there is $100-250 OBC to get internet, drinks, etc.

[boscobeans]

They know how unpopular this is, they have no solution to it, and they would get hammered if they appeared on here about it.

 

Would you make a statement or just keep your head down, hope it would go away and hope that people would forget the problems and book another Celebrity cruise. Not for me.

 

It is a rare event to see anyone in the upper echelons of the corporate world sit down to a meal of crow.

 

What they expect those below them to relish would never be included on their menu.

 

bosco

[The_Big_M]

I'm thinking that the same people who complain about being out by 7 are the same people who demand to be in their rooms as early as possible.

 

Nope. I've been known to get on a cruise at 5 p.m. Earlier is nice, but it's no big deal.

 

OTOH, 7 a.m departure is way too early.

[The_Big_M]

I don't know about that but I do suspect that either way they'll be folks who won't like one possible remedy: I can imagine the next step being vacate by 9am or 10am, the ship clear of debarking passengers by 11am, embarkation begins at 3pm.

 

How about back the way it was?

 

It's worked on Celebrity for decades, as it continues to on other lines. Why need to change what works?

[bUU]

Probably because the owners insist on more profit.

Edited January 17, 2017 by bUU

[Germancruiser]

In the Golden Days of Oceanliners they had a turnaround day before they left again for Europa- or visa verse! What they would have thought about leaving their cabin at 7 am. LOL!

[Orator]

In my view the letter to leave the cabin by 7:00AM is a mistake. As others have observed it creates a dangerous situation with overcrowding of elevators, passageways and meeting points. It fails to consider breakfast times. It creates ill will. However, with all the comments that have been made I still see no one report that they were ever pressured by an officer to leave their cabin or have been removed from their cabin. As I've said before: I simply told my cabin attendant that I would leave after 8:00 AM and he said that would not be a problem. I actually vacated my cabin at 8:30 AM and observed others leaving at the same time. Unless and until someone reports that they were not permitted to remain in their cabin beyond 7:00 AM I will continue to view this as a non problem. Just leave when you are ready. Of course you should be reasonable as to time.

Later this week I start a B2B. I usually don't vacate my cabin until I can move into my new cabin. I plan to follow this procedure and don't anticipate any problem.

[onespots]

I really do not understand what is the " BIG Deal" is with vacating your cabin at 7:00am. You signed up the cruise & fully understand your contractile arrangements. If this is difficult for you, then by all means find another cruise ship line that fits your needs. We will continue to support Celebrity & their policies. We are very happy with all the cruises & have enjoyed all of them on Celebrity & do not find this an inconvenience. We are so happy to just be on vacation & a cruise enhances our experiences. I find it interesting that so many people are unhappy about this change.

 

Happy Travels, John

[amias]

Our contractile arrangements made NO mention when we booked - or indeed up until we received our disembarkation information - that the time to leave the cabin was at 7am on the morning of departure. This came as a complete and unpleasant surprise.

[DYKWIA]

In my view the letter to leave the cabin by 7:00AM is a mistake. As others have observed it creates a dangerous situation with overcrowding of elevators, passageways and meeting points. It fails to consider breakfast times. It creates ill will. However, with all the comments that have been made I still see no one report that they were ever pressured by an officer to leave their cabin or have been removed from their cabin. As I've said before: I simply told my cabin attendant that I would leave after 8:00 AM and he said that would not be a problem. I actually vacated my cabin at 8:30 AM and observed others leaving at the same time. Unless and until someone reports that they were not permitted to remain in their cabin beyond 7:00 AM I will continue to view this as a non problem. Just leave when you are ready. Of course you should be reasonable as to time.

Later this week I start a B2B. I usually don't vacate my cabin until I can move into my new cabin. I plan to follow this procedure and don't anticipate any problem.

 

I agree, but As evidenced on many other threads on Cruise Critic there are a number of regular posters who like to insist that everyone should follow all the rules and that rule breaking is not allowed. See - dress code, getting a second drink on a drinks package, sun loungers, kids in the solarium etc etc. It would be hypocritical for those rule enforcers then to pick and choose the rules that don't apply to them.

Edited January 17, 2017 by DYKWIA

[Pushka]

I really do not understand what is the " BIG Deal" is with vacating your cabin at 7:00am. You signed up the cruise & fully understand your contractile arrangements. If this is difficult for you, then by all means find another cruise ship line that fits your needs. We will continue to support Celebrity & their policies. We are very happy with all the cruises & have enjoyed all of them on Celebrity & do not find this an inconvenience. We are so happy to just be on vacation & a cruise enhances our experiences. I find it interesting that so many people are unhappy about this change.

 

 

 

Happy Travels, John

 

 

You find it interesting that people are unhappy that a service has been downgraded? Celebrity must love customers like you who take whatever it decides to do.

[DYKWIA]

I really do not understand what is the " BIG Deal" is with vacating your cabin at 7:00am. You signed up the cruise & fully understand your contractile arrangements. If this is difficult for you, then by all means find another cruise ship line that fits your needs. We will continue to support Celebrity & their policies. We are very happy with all the cruises & have enjoyed all of them on Celebrity & do not find this an inconvenience. We are so happy to just be on vacation & a cruise enhances our experiences. I find it interesting that so many people are unhappy about this change.

 

Happy Travels, John

 

At what time wouldn't you be happy to be booted out of your cabin, 5 am?Would you feel the same on a land based vacation, where 11am-noon tends to be the norm.

 

I suppose the "big deal" is that this is a change that has been done completely in order to benefit Celebrity and it's shareholders to the detriment of many (obviously not all) of its paying guests.

[DYKWIA]

I'm thinking that the same people who complain about being out by 7 are the same people who demand to be in their rooms as early as possible.

 

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Then, in some cases you are thinking wrong. We have sailed from Southampton in the past and have no desire to race aboard to find ourselves staring out at the rain, the local ikea, scrap yards and oil refinery, while hauling luggage around. We are also those same people you see boarding the aircraft when everyone else has boarded.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Would you feel the same on a land based vacation, where 11am-noon tends to be the norm.

 

Several things to consider in that comparison -

 

1. Most hotels/resorts check in time is between 2-3:30pm

 

2. Most hotels/resorts are are not turning over EVERY SINGLE ROOM on one specific date. I have experience check-in delays up to 5-6pm when a higher percentage of rooms vs normal have to be turned over on a single date.

 

3. Most hotels/resorts do not have 1000+ rooms and also have luggage storage for guests who arrive early and wish to stow bags until their rooms are ready.

 

4. At most hotels/resorts many guests will leave the property and go elsewhere to sightsee, shop, eat, etc and then come back later in the day/evening.

 

5. As hotels/resorts don't leave port at a specified time like a ship does the guest arrival stream is not as compressed, therefore rooms can be doled out as ready based on guest arrivals. Many guests will not arrive until well after housekeeping staff have finished their duties for the day.

 

 

IMHO - passenger behaviour is partly to blame. So many people rush to the terminal at 10am (or thereabouts) trying to be "first" to board. Once onboard many of those people try and "sneak" to their cabins before they are officially ready. As it is there has been pressure from guests to occupy rooms earlier and earlier. I can remember well when rooms were not ready on most ships until 2pm or later now it's routinely in the 1230-1pm range. I'm not defending the 7am policy by any means, but at the same time we have to realize that if we want early cabin access there has to be a trade off somewhere else. Staff can simply only move so fast, and now that there are fewer staff to attend to the turnover it exacerbates the issue.

Edited January 17, 2017 by AtlantaCruiser72

[4cats4me]

It doesn't sound like the 7 am departure thing will stick, based in all the negative feedback, and it's only been what, a month since its incipience? It sounds hectic when you mix in the early walkoff crowd.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

I really do not understand what is the " BIG Deal" is with vacating your cabin at 7:00am. You signed up the cruise & fully understand your contractile arrangements. If this is difficult for you, then by all means find another cruise ship line that fits your needs. We will continue to support Celebrity & their policies. We are very happy with all the cruises & have enjoyed all of them on Celebrity & do not find this an inconvenience. We are so happy to just be on vacation & a cruise enhances our experiences. I find it interesting that so many people are unhappy about this change.

 

Happy Travels, John

 

While we share some of your feelings about Celebrity, we really are puzzled by your post. If Celebrity told you that you must vacate your cabin by 2AM...would you still be supportive? Of if Celebrity told you that you must pay a $50 admission fee to see the production shows...would you still be happy?

 

The problem is that for some of us who have cruised for a long time (we started cruising in the mid 70s), we have seen an awful lot of changes...many that are not for the good. Cruise lines, including Celebrity, continue to raise prices and cut-back on services/amenities...and calculate that there are enough "sheep" who will continue to blindly follow them no matter what they do. It is said that a flock of sheep will walk over the edge of a cliff...if their leader heads in that direction. Personally, if I have a 1 pm flight after a Celebrity cruise, being forced to vacate our cabin by 7 is not our favorite way to start the day. And it is entirely unnecessary and only happening because of the arrogance of X management who depend on the "sheep" to simply go along with the fearless leader (Lisa).

 

One could probably argue that if you book a cruise for X number of days, and cannot board until noon on the first day...you should be allowed to stay aboard until 11:59 on the last day. We do understand that this is not practical from a logistical standpoint. But kicking folks out of their cabins at 7am...which can be up to 2 hours before they are even allowed off the ship.....is nutz!

 

Hank

Edited January 17, 2017 by Hlitner

[4cats4me]

It doesn't sound like the 7 am departure thing will stick, based in all the negative feedback, and it's only been what, a month since its incipience? It sounds hectic when you mix in the early walkoff crowd.

 

 

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Meant inception, not incipience

 

 

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[Pushka]

What pressure is there to get into cabins earlier? Everyone knows it's 1pm onwards and I've not seen one post that wants it earlier. It's a red herring. And I bet we won't be getting in earlier than 1pm with this new policy anyway so it's a complete furphy.

[lisalovlee33]

interesting post. In all our cruises, we never actually vacated the room at the time they wanted except for a few when we had an early flight home. They don't bother you. We usually leave an hour later. Once someone comes knocking when we overstayed for nearly 1.5 hours, but it was no big deal. They really can't kick you out. It's just a recommendation. You can choose to ignore it if you wish! :D

Edited January 17, 2017 by lisalovlee33