Stateroom free movies eliminated

[KAE27]

On 9/15/2019 at 8:44 AM, TeeRick said:

On 9/14/2019 at 3:06 PM, Cruzinram said:

Do not expect a reversal of this decision. LLP is head strong, and will suck it up. Stubborn would be a good word.

It is possible to reverse a business decision.  It happens all the time in many businesses.  Celebrity is no different.  Customer feedback is the key.  But your words about LLP implies that you know her personally.  Or are they just out of frustration?

 

Prescient.

[ak1004]

This is good news for people who come to a cruise to spend time in their cabin watching movies. It's not so good news for vast majority of cruisers who couldn't care less about free movies but care about more important things like better food, better entertainment, more activities etc.

[DYKWIA]

12 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

This is good news for people who come to a cruise to spend time in their cabin watching movies. It's not so good news for vast majority of cruisers who couldn't care less about free movies but care about more important things like better food, better entertainment, more activities etc.

 

How exactly will this impact food, entertainment, activities? Where's your evidence that the vast majority of people couldn't care less about free movies in their cabins?

[ak1004]

29 minutes ago, DYKWIA said:

 

How exactly will this impact food, entertainment, activities? Where's your evidence that the vast majority of people couldn't care less about free movies in their cabins?

Free movies are not free to Celebrity. They pay for them. That money comes from somewhere. Which means less money to other departments. Same goes for foot stools and other stateroom features. 

 

We spoke to dozens people on our cruise. None of them cares about free movies, foot stools etc. But most of them mentioned mediocre food, amateur entertainment and declining service. 

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

Free movies are not free to Celebrity. They pay for them. That money comes from somewhere. Which means less money to other departments. Same goes for foot stools and other stateroom features. 

 

We spoke to dozens people on our cruise. None of them cares about free movies, foot stools etc. But most of them mentioned mediocre food, amateur entertainment and declining service. 

 

So your belief was that Celebrity were cutting the movies as they had intent to increase their food budget, enhance their entertainment, and improve service?

 

I don't think you know Celebrity very well.

[chamima]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Free movies are not free to Celebrity. They pay for them. That money comes from somewhere. Which means less money to other departments. Same goes for foot stools and other stateroom features. 

 

We spoke to dozens people on our cruise. None of them cares about free movies, foot stools etc. But most of them mentioned mediocre food, amateur entertainment and declining service. 

 

26 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

So your belief was that Celebrity were cutting the movies as they had intent to increase their food budget, enhance their entertainment, and improve service?

 

I don't think you know Celebrity very well.

 

I think  ak1004 is saying that they will cut even more from the other budgets in order to pay for the movies.

 

I'm not sure specific dollar totals need to be met but you can be sure they will cut whatever they can from wherever they think they can regardless of whether there are movies or not.

 

We usually cruise 6-8 weeks a year and at least 4 of those weeks have been on Celebrity (in Aqua). Based on the cuts we saw last year we have no cruises with them this year and are waiting to hear what people have to say this year to decide for next.  IF we come back (and it's definitely IF) it'll be mostly to be with friends (passengers and some crew) .

I'm not one of the people threatening to leave - I'm just saying what we've already decided to do. I would imagine there are lots of people like us who just quietly vote with their feet.

[ak1004]

48 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

So your belief was that Celebrity were cutting the movies as they had intent to increase their food budget, enhance their entertainment, and improve service?

 

I don't think you know Celebrity very well.

 

No it's my belief that once they cancel the cut on the movies, they will need to cut somewhere else. It's a simple math. All departments get money from the same budget, and it's matter of priorities. If they want to cut the expenses, it has to come from somewhere. My personal priority would be that the cut will come from stateroom amenities like movies and foot stools, and not food or service.

 

In our current cruise on Reflection, we already have seen some things getting worse compared to our previous cruise in June, on the same ship. That's just 3 months. 

[oneputt18]

11 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

On our current cruise on Reflection, we already have seen some things getting worse compared to our previous cruise in June, on the same ship. That's just 3 months. 

 

 

 

Can you give some details?

[ak1004]

3 minutes ago, oneputt18 said:

Can you give some details?

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2694997-reflection-from-amsterdam-to-barcelona-first-impressions/

[DYKWIA]

3 hours ago, ak1004 said:

....

 

We spoke to dozens people on our cruise. None of them cares about free movies, foot stools etc. But most of them mentioned mediocre food, amateur entertainment and declining service. 

 

Are you a journalist or a student doing research speaking to these dozens of people? Was it a representative selection? How do these dozens equate to the thoughts of the "vast majority" you mentioned earlier. 

 

Did you specifically ask these dozens of people for their views on free movies and foot stools - if not, how do you know whether they care about them or not.  

 

People query why my wife would want to go on a cruise and watch a movie late in the evening before going to bed, but she's not the one spending her vacation wandering the ship interviewing dozens of people

[ak1004]

6 minutes ago, DYKWIA said:

 

Are you a journalist or a student doing research speaking to these dozens of people? Was it a representative selection? How do these dozens equate to the thoughts of the "vast majority" you mentioned earlier. 

 

Did you specifically ask these dozens of people for their views on free movies and foot stools - if not, how do you know whether they care about them or not.  

 

People query why my wife would want to go on a cruise and watch a movie late in the evening before going to bed, but she's not the one spending her vacation wandering the ship interviewing dozens of people

 

We are travelling with three couples. We met lots of people in the buffet, excursions etc. And discussed different aspects of the cruise experience including free movies. 

 

I have no idea if those people are representative selection.

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, chamima said:

 

I'm not sure specific dollar totals need to be met but you can be sure they will cut whatever they can from wherever they think they can regardless of whether there are movies or not.

 

 

I think you're actually agreeing with me...

 

And not as ak1004 says, that other areas are only affected if movies are not cut...

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

No it's my belief that once they cancel the cut on the movies, they will need to cut somewhere else. It's a simple math. All departments get money from the same budget, and it's matter of priorities.

 

Erm, actually they typically have their own budgets and cost centres. e.g Casino operations has its own budget and just because dining has made some savings doesn't mean that casino is let off the hook. Each division is accountable for their own finances.

 

So, no, I don't believe another division will be affected by the loss of increased revenue in this area.

 

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

In our current cruise on Reflection, we already have seen some things getting worse compared to our previous cruise in June, on the same ship. That's just 3 months. 

 

Yes, that's my point. Things get worse regardless. Not because all hopes rest on movies... That's because it's an overall drive to increase profits _across the board._ Not that they're trying to deliver the best service possible but just are lacking a small set of funds to do so...

[ak1004]

10 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Erm, actually they typically have their own budgets and cost centres. e.g Casino operations has its own budget and just because dining has made some savings doesn't mean that casino is let off the hook. Each division is accountable for their own finances.

 

So, no, I don't believe another division will be affected by the loss of increased revenue in this area.

 

 

Yes, that's my point. Things get worse regardless. Not because all hopes rest on movies... That's because it's an overall drive to increase profits _across the board._ Not that they're trying to deliver the best service possible but just are lacking a small set of funds to do so...

 

It is still one total budget, and they still need to prioritize.

[Nymich]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

No it's my belief that once they cancel the cut on the movies, they will need to cut somewhere else. It's a simple math. All departments get money from the same budget, and it's matter of priorities. If they want to cut the expenses, it has to come from somewhere. My personal priority would be that the cut will come from stateroom amenities like movies and foot stools, and not food or service.

 

In our current cruise on Reflection, we already have seen some things getting worse compared to our previous cruise in June, on the same ship. That's just 3 months. 

With your negative attitude it sounds like you having a great cruise and you are a joy for your family

and others to be around.  Think decaf man enjoy your cruise.  There wouldn't be 18 pages if this wasn't

important to many people.  It just isn't important to YOU so enjoy your cruise.

[rimmit]

6 hours ago, ak1004 said:

This is good news for people who come to a cruise to spend time in their cabin watching movies. It's not so good news for vast majority of cruisers who couldn't care less about free movies but care about more important things like better food, better entertainment, more activities etc.

 

 

Clearly the vast majority of cruisers cared more about the movies than they cared about the better food, better entertainment and activities for them to reverse the decision.  Maybe you should mobilize a boycott for those.   

 

The key to reversing any change is it has to be a tangible change.  Something that is easy to quantify for Celebrity to reverse.  Saying entertainment is becoming subpar is not good enough.  Hence why you rate indivise entertainers so they know what you like and what you don’t.  Either way,  if the vast majority felt entertainment and food was decreasing in quality enough they would start booking away from X. X clearly felt that the small cut of movies was not worth the headache of complaints.  It just hasn’t hit that point yet with something subjective like entertainment and food.  It may some day, but everyone has a different line in the sand regarding those issues.

 

Either way,  if you care enough,  you should mobilize the troops like everyone mobilized for the movies.  Complaining on here gets nothing accomplished.  Start writing letters.  Post on social media.  But do something.

[ak1004]

1 minute ago, Nymich said:

With your negative attitude it sounds like you having a great cruise and you are a joy for your family

and others to be around.  Think decaf man enjoy your cruise.  There wouldn't be 18 pages if this wasn't

important to many people.  It just isn't important to YOU so enjoy your cruise.

 

I have a negative attitude because I disagree with your opinion?

 

Cruise critic represents very small part of total number of cruisers. Definitely not representative.

[ak1004]

7 minutes ago, rimmit said:

 

 

Clearly the vast majority of cruisers cared more about the movies than they cared about the better food, better entertainment and activities for them to reverse the decision.  Maybe you should mobilize a boycott for those.   

 

The key to reversing any change is it has to be a tangible change.  Something that is easy to quantify for Celebrity to reverse.  Saying entertainment is becoming subpar is not good enough.  Hence why you rate indivise entertainers so they know what you like and what you don’t.  Either way,  if the vast majority felt entertainment and food was decreasing in quality enough they would start booking away from X. X clearly felt that the small cut of movies was not worth the headache of complaints.  It just hasn’t hit that point yet with something subjective like entertainment and food.  It may some day, but everyone has a different line in the sand regarding those issues.

 

Either way,  if you care enough,  you should mobilize the troops like everyone mobilized for the movies.  Complaining on here gets nothing accomplished.  Start writing letters.  Post on social media.  But do something.

 

Reversing the removal of movies was an easy decision and probably not too expensive. Obviously investing in things like better food ingredients is much more costly and not worth the investment.

 

The simple truth is that as long as the ships sail full, they couldn't care less, no matter how much you or me mobilize. At this point we have three cruises booked for 2020 and 2021, none of them on Celebrity. Celebrity reached a point where increasing prices and decreasing quality make the price difference between Celebrity and Oceania so small and the quality gap so big that it makes no sense for us to book Celebrity.

 

 

[Fouremco]

28 minutes ago, Nymich said:

With your negative attitude it sounds like you having a great cruise and you are a joy for your family

and others to be around.  Think decaf man enjoy your cruise.  There wouldn't be 18 pages if this wasn't

important to many people.  It just isn't important to YOU so enjoy your cruise.

There's no need for a personal attack simply because @ak1004 expresses an opinion with which you disagree. 

[Nymich]

22 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

 

 

Cruise critic represents very small part of total number of cruisers. Definitely not representative.

This "small number" of cruisers were the first ones to report it, escalate it and create the change.

 

In fact if you or your family or friends even turn on a free movie during your cruise you can thank this thread and the people who wrote and called X to create the change. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Nymich

[ak1004]

17 minutes ago, Nymich said:

This "small number" of cruisers were the first ones to report it, escalate it and create the change.

 

In fact if you or your family or friends even turn on a free movie during your cruise you can thank this thread and the people who wrote and called X to create the change. 

 

You seriously believe they reversed the decision because of this thread? I can guarantee this is not the case.

 

And no, none of us touches the TV during a cruise. Not for free movie or any channel. 

[DYKWIA]

3 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

You seriously believe they reversed the decision because of this thread? I can guarantee this is not the case.

 

And no, none of us touches the TV during a cruise. Not for free movie or any channel. 

 

Perhaps you can explain how you are in a position to guarantee this one way or another?  

 

I think there's some merit to the argument that this thread and the ensuing social media and direct approaches to Celebrity some of which were initiated by the publicity given to this matter on CC) had some effect. I'd put more weight on that than the the sweeping statements on what the majority of passengers think and want based on your self-selecting survey of a few passengers by you and your companions.

[Nymich]

10 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

You seriously believe they reversed the decision because of this thread? I can guarantee this is not the case.

 

yes.  Find one printed source that reported this before September 8.  Not only that we escalated it and organized.  This one actually did start on CC.  Reported here first and started here and then it spread.

Perhaps you should read the whole thread.

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Nymich

[Luvcrusn]

A year or two ago X tried charging extra for hamburgers on the top deck and fancying them up. There was a significant amount of customer feed back and the decision was reversed. The Luggage Valet program was also terminated and then reinstated after customer feed back.  While I admit that I've not read every one of the 400+ posts on this thread, I've skimmed it periodically. I'm not an LLP fan (quite the opposite) but occasionally (not often) she listens. Here was a case that the apparent revenue savings of charging for in-room movies was outweighed by negative customer feedback. Now if they would only listen to customers about the lack of footstools and comfortable verandah furniture that would be nice....but that's a whole other thread.

[rimmit]

55 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Cruise critic represents very small part of total number of cruisers. Definitely not representative.

 

I agree 100 percent.  Cruise critic is a much smaller portion of the majority than the whole, much in the same way the House of Representatives and Senate are representative are much smaller than the majority of cruisers.  While the House and Senate are elected to represent instead of CC which is much more arbitrary,  the cruise lines clearly monitor CC for the heartbeat and overall public sentiment. As evidenced by LLP doing a “town hall” on the CC forums.  CC tends to represent the “old regime” and the veteran cruisers along with the cruisers that fill half the ship on a weekly basis that cruise as a lifestyle so it’s not something to be ignored.