Not great treatment on Infinity

[chica]

Anyone else feel like this ship is less friendly? We booked our cruise a year in advance and had confirmed early dining. When we headed to the dining room we are told we were now Select which was definitely not what I wanted. I love having wait staff who know our preferences before we sit down and who we get to know. When I questioned this and insisted I had confirmed seating I was ignored. Now we get a call from Excursions telling us that when we booked, when excursions opened a couple of months ago, ours was overbooked. Funny since there were still openings when we got on board. I absolutely refused to change to another less popular tour although they were quite persistent in telling me I was overbooked. I am an Elite member and I feel like I am being messed with... I can’t imagine what they are doing to no status cruisers. We did have a port eliminated and I feel like they are trying to accommodate those who lost their excursions in that port at our expense.

[bEwAbG]

I would make a complaint with Guest Relations and tell them you want your original selections honored. If that doesn't work, ask to speak to the Hotel Director. Do you have the paperwork that shows the dining time and shore excursion purchase with you? That should help. Also, the dining room people should be able to switch you to fixed seating if not for the first night then by the second.

[jelayne]

When booking Dining times are requested but in 18 cruises on X never got a confirmation of my requested dining time in the MDR. If you have a confirmation I would show that to the MaitreD and ask if there is a chance could he move you.

 

Having said that we have dined in Select dining and have not had a problem requesting to be seated in the same servers section each evening. In a few instances we have had a short wait for a table to clear but never more than around 5 minutes.

[bEwAbG]

The last invoice I have directly from Celebrity is a couple of years old but it shows the dining time in the "Guest" section. The invoices from my big box TA also show the dining selection "Open CEL SLCT" in the comments

 

The one from the TA says dining time will not be confirmed until boarding, but it couldn't hurt to show them the original request.

[MJSailors]

Perhaps being Elite is not a good thing. The cruise line may be favoring new customers over steady customers to get new business. The cruise line assumes that with loyalty levels giving perks to past passengers, those customers will stay with the line. Reaching out to first time cruisers may cause those people to return to the cruise line for future cruises.

Something to think about.....

[chica]

Maybe JSailors or perhaps trying to accommodate unhappy groups. I do have written confirmation on the dining time reservation and they actually had already given us the tour tickets. As it happens we ended up forming our own table with similarly treated passengers but the dining room is still making us make a new reservation each day and will not allow specific table requests or wait staff requests. Just rude. And they are flat out lying about the tour being overbooked at the time we booked it. I understand things happen but I don’t understand lying and being rude to a repeat customer.

[chica]

Maybe JSailors or perhaps trying to accommodate unhappy groups. I do have written confirmation on the dining time reservation and they actually had already given us the tour tickets. As it happens we ended up forming our own table with similarly treated passengers but the dining room is still making us make a new reservation each day and will not allow specific table requests or wait staff requests. Just rude. And they are flat out lying about the tour being overbooked at the time we booked it. I understand things happen but I don’t understand lying and being rude to a repeat customer.

[mom says]

Sounds like you're still on board. Why would your elite status have any bearing on either your dining seating or excursion availability? Do you expect favoritism because you are a repeat customer?

 

We prefer select dining, and have always been able to reserve dining times and request the same table. Our servers got to know our preferences very well. By the 3 rd night they were offering our preferred wines without being asked. The only difference is that we aren't restricted to only 2 set dining times. Sometimes, if you roll with the unexpected, you find new things to like.

 

As for your excursion - I think that's just one of the risks you run by sticking with ship excursions. You are hardly the first person to find themselves in that situation. Another reason we do independent sightseeing.

[mandream]

Sounds like you're still on board. Why would your elite status have any bearing on either your dining seating or excursion availability? Do you expect favoritism because you are a repeat customer?

 

One of the stated benefits of being Elite is "Priority wait list in Main Restaurant" - despite the fact that none of us have ever been able to determine what that actually is. This is a case where it potentially should apply, if it even exists!

 

Likewise, a Select (and therefore Elite as well) benefit is Priority status for shore excursion waitlist.

 

Mike

Edited January 23, 2018 by mandream

[Hlitner]

Sounds like you're still on board. Why would your elite status have any bearing on either your dining seating or excursion availability? Do you expect favoritism because you are a repeat customer?

 

We prefer select dining, and have always been able to reserve dining times and request the same table. Our servers got to know our preferences very well. By the 3 rd night they were offering our preferred wines without being asked. The only difference is that we aren't restricted to only 2 set dining times. Sometimes, if you roll with the unexpected, you find new things to like.

 

As for your excursion - I think that's just one of the risks you run by sticking with ship excursions. You are hardly the first person to find themselves in that situation. Another reason we do independent sightseeing.

 

Repeat customers get lots of perks (on nearly all cruise lines) including priority for certain things such as embarkation, disembarkation, excursions, dining, etc. It is the norm in cruising, hotels and even with airlines and casinos.

 

As to your comment about excursions, we totally agree and avoid all cruise line excursions unless it is the only reasonable option. This means we probably average 1 excursion for every 70-100 ports :). I could think of many good reasons why we prefer to "do our own thing" but that is another topic :).

 

Hank

[anniegb]

Repeat customers get lots of perks (on nearly all cruise lines) including priority for certain things such as embarkation, disembarkation, excursions, dining, etc. It is the norm in cruising, hotels and even with airlines and casinos.

 

As to your comment about excursions, we totally agree and avoid all cruise line excursions unless it is the only reasonable option. This means we probably average 1 excursion for every 70-100 ports :). I could think of many good reasons why we prefer to "do our own thing" but that is another topic :).

 

Hank

 

Sounds like there could be a couple of large groups on board??

 

Annie

[mom says]

One of the stated benefits of being Elite is "Priority wait list in Main Restaurant" - despite the fact that none of us have ever been able to determine what that actually is. This is a case where it potentially should apply, if it even exists!

 

Likewise, a Select (and therefore Elite as well) benefit is Priority status for shore excursion waitlist.

 

Mike

Yes, of course; priority for a wait list. But neither of the issues The OP mentioned are regarding a waitlist, therefore my question,

[MyDogRudy]

I was on Infinity over the summer and found all their staff to be top notch. We booked our Alaskan cruise 15 months in advance and at that time could still only get the select dining, not early or late seating, but that was fine with us due to the later port days we had (if we pick a time, we prefer early dining). We are not elite as it was only our second Celebrity cruise and for the 10 others we traveled with it was their first Celebrity cruise. We did have Concierge rooms, so had the welcome lunch the first day and loved our waiter and sommelier so much that we had on a couple of occasions reserved tables with our favorite waiter if we knew what time we wanted to eat the day prior or by lunchtime. We had no issues getting a reservation (might have been a little later than requested, but we could request a specific waiter).

 

I can't speak on the excursion issue because, like others, I book excursions independently if possible. I did book the long ship tour and one excursion in Juneau through the ship and there was some kind of error made in the billing,(I think it was being billed for both of us in the room when I was the only one who attended the tour), but one call to guest relations and they fixed it by the next day.

 

Sorry you are having or had such a rough time on Infinity. So far it has been our best experience with staff on a cruise ship yet and all our previous experiences were pretty good if not great prior.

[astrocat]

We just got off Infinity - cruise prior to OP? My only experience would be to speak to an extremely friendly ship. Booked two through shore excursions— that’s a record for us. Both very good. Enjoy the Antarctic!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kjwinston2019]

We found all the staff was super....Loved them all.

 

[kjwinston2019]

[princeton12321]

I mean I hate to state the obvious but there’s nothing Elite about Elite in any of the large cruise lines anymore. The loyalty programs are so overextended because everyone is Elite- it’s the same with the airlines. That’s why the cruise lines have created the pseudo class systems like suites and in celebrity’s case aqua and concierge. It’s not about loyalty anymore, it’s about how much you spend. A first time cruiser on celebrity in a suite is going to have a much easier time getting anything they want than someone in a standard balcony who’s been onboard a hundred times.

[BEAV]

I mean I hate to state the obvious but there’s nothing Elite about Elite in any of the large cruise lines anymore. The loyalty programs are so overextended because everyone is Elite- it’s the same with the airlines. That’s why the cruise lines have created the pseudo class systems like suites and in celebrity’s case aqua and concierge. It’s not about loyalty anymore, it’s about how much you spend. A first time cruiser on celebrity in a suite is going to have a much easier time getting anything they want than someone in a standard balcony who’s been onboard a hundred times.

 

I totally agree. The promises of "priority this" and "priority that" are all marketing ploys IMO. We...still...like the Celebrity product, as evidenced by our Elite+ status, but at the end of the day you get what you pay for whether a first-timer or repeat cruiser many times over.

[SargassoPirate]

For She Who Must be Obeyed and me, cruising has become just about par with air travel - it's transportation. We are D+ with RCL and Elite with Princess and don't really obsess about what we "deserve" when we step onboard. The perks are nice, but we travel in a low-key manner and don't cruise for the perks but rather for the adventure of traveling to ports we may not otherwise visit.