Cruise Amenity Cutbacks: Where Do You Draw The Line?

[shipgeeks]

10 hours ago, vtcruising said:

Only can have 20 responses so ran out of choices for number 1. There is for number two - "I don't care if any..".

Number 3 probably should have had a "none" - in the initial comments I said I would forget some things so comment below, if that happens. Thanks for commenting!  🙂

 

Thank you for responding.  The poll will not let me submit unless I answer in all three categories, so, for what it's worth, I will say that few or none of the amenities mentioned are even of interest to us.  For example, we never use room service, and never wish to. The furniture in any cabin has always been more than adequate.  And so on.

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, Lady Chew said:

Right now there are very similar threads on the Holland America and Royal Caribbean threads, although this one has by far the most well-thought out & comprehensive poll.  

 

We cruise in balconies, an occasional suite, on Celebrity, Royal & HAL.  One cruise on Oceania, we did not really like the ship, and there were way too many of the "let me tell you how important/rich/wonderful I am" types on board.  So, no more Oceania for us, unless the perfect itinerary at the perfect price comes along at the perfect time.  We are not interested in any of the luxury lines at this time.

 

We pick our cruises based on a combination of price & itinerary.  We find Celebrity & HAL to be roughly interchangeable, with Royal a notch below.  None of the individual items on this poll would be enough to make us change lines, especially since we think they're pretty much the same anyway.  If enough of them ever occurred that they impacted our enjoyment of cruising, that's when we'd have to look at Viking or Oceania again.

You bring up a good point. I keep thinking about losing amenities that might cause us to look at other lines, but after hearing about your Oceania experience, I think that X is a good fit for us in terms of the other guests onboard, which is really worth more to us than the amenities at this point.  🙂

Edited September 28, 2019 by vtcruising

[vtcruising]

11 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Thank you for responding.  The poll will not let me submit unless I answer in all three categories, so, for what it's worth, I will say that few or none of the amenities mentioned are even of interest to us.  For example, we never use room service, and never wish to. The furniture in any cabin has always been more than adequate.  And so on.

Okay, that makes sense. I didn't realize that it couldn't be submitted without answering all three. Thanks for letting me know.  I will know better next time. 🙂

[billslowsky]

2 hours ago, vtcruising said:

Okay, that makes sense. I didn't realize that it couldn't be submitted without answering all three. Thanks for letting me know.  I will know better next time. 🙂

And the result will be that you'll only hear from people that these matter to and not measure the number who really don't think it's a big deal, overstating the impact of any changes.

[vtcruising]

Thanks for your feedback. I'll keep my day job. 😉

 

 

[cinlo]

I agree with previously posted thoughts on recent improvements on Celebrity.  However, we started cruising in 2008.....only early and late seating times.  I kind of miss that you had one waiter that knew what drink you wanted,  tablemates for the entire week that you might become good friends with......and even the silly Baked Alaska last evening dessert.., with the parade of waitstaff and swirling of our napkins overhead.    I miss fancy brunches with carved ice statues.  I miss the midnight dessert buffet.

Our last cruise on Azamara actually DID have the brunch, the desert buffet, and also White Night with a fantastic dinner served outside, with captain and staff manning the bbq.......whole fresh fish sourced locally.....all inclusive drinks.....smaller ships so you would actually recognize people as you saw them later in the cruise.....

 

Azamara is a bit more expensive so not our first choice.  We are looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Edge in November.

Edited September 29, 2019 by cinlo

[hulamoon]

23 hours ago, TommyD3 said:

Don't really care about the balcony furniture but am upset at the deletion of ANY coffee table on Millennium and Summit concierge cabins.Had to bring the balcony table in. Again the tiny coffee / storage table in concierge cabins on Edge was a joke !!!

The main issue is that they keep deleting items and adding extra costs. Now they will charge gratuities on the "free" beverage packages!

I thought this was debunked. Did I miss news about the beverage package?

[vtcruising]

7 hours ago, hulamoon said:

I thought this was debunked. Did I miss news about the beverage package?

There is discussion that there may be an additional charge added if you select the beverage package as a perk for bookings starting early Oct. It may just be a particular promo? Will find out soon.

 

 

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, cruisesport said:

 

Most recent promo is Kids sail free, so much for Celebrity being  more adult style cruising.

Not really a recent promo.  It has been a subject of discussion here for many months.

[bikerunner]

Most of the amenities I know I wouldn’t miss.  I been going on cruises since 2002  To be honest I didn’t even know there were free movies on the ships thought you always had to pay for them until it was taken away for a few days.  I don’t watch tv so it was never important to me.  It’s an interesting poll overall.  I’m happy with how celebrity is been on them around a dozen 10-13 day cruises with them and really never disappointed. My big sticking points always will be cleanliness of rooms, never an issue and food, also never an issue on finding things I like.   Everyone has there own things that are important to them and it’s good to see them expressed overall.  There are nowadays plenty of lines out there, a bit of over saturation I think, and choices for many.  I do plan on trying Oceania and probably a few others.  I did msc and hated it.  Service was horrible along with cleanliness I thought.  Celebrity just seems to fit at this point still for me.   

[Ma Bell]

Personally I wouldn't post a poll like this. No need to give them any more ideas about cuts.

[boscobeans]

 I enjoy seeing the results of polls on the CC board.

 

Naysayers insist that the number of those polled along with the respondent's cruise experience and other factors reduce their validity and usefulness and therefore are ignored by the cruise lines when they make their decisions..

 

My question is to the cruise lines themselves:  

 

ARE YOU REALLY INTERESTED IN THE OPINIONS OF YOUR PASSENGERS ??

 

Going back to when it would be almost impossible to take a cruise without having an EMAIL account, the data bases of cruise lines have millions of these electronic addresses.  They have addresses of almost ALL of their past cruisers for many years and addresses as well of people who may be interested in cruising. 

 

If management was really interested in their passengers and in improving their product,  ( WOULD LIKE TO STRESS ' IF') the best way would be to see what their clientele likes and dislikes are through well thought out, in depth surveys that would reach those millions of past and prospective clients.  Results of such a massive survey could be analyzed in minutes and might be helpful in steering a better course for the future than a group of corporate board members.

 

By in depth I would hope these surveys would not be like the "ONLY A 10 IS ACCEPTABLE" format of those now in use, which serve no other purpose than to intimidate the crew. 

 

Knowing that surveys can also be slanted to yield a desired response, extreme care must be taken in designing a totally unbiased poll that would go out to millions of email addresses.

 

Maybe if corporate decisions makers used what is at the fingertips of their IT departments they could avoid expensive errors, increase client satisfaction and improve all aspects of the Industry for the cruise lines as well as their clients.

[Oceangoer2]

13 hours ago, vtcruising said:

Thanks for your feedback. I'll keep my day job. 😉

 

 

I'm sure I'm not alone in extending a BIG thank you for putting together such a comprehensive poll....covers most of what is considered important to a majority of X cruisers and I'm grateful you took it on.  It's a small slice of X cruisers on this board, but most polls are telling no matter how limited the response.  My ONLY comment that I consider seriously is the lack of foot-stools and a larger balcony table.  I see some don't agree, but it adds to our cruise comfort;  why would they take away a popular facet to cruising.  Logic says the replacement would not be taken well by their clientele (for the most part...IMHO).  The technical improvements are to be expected in these high tech times,  keeping the line competitive with others which, of course, adds to our cost to sail.  These visible lower cost changes (I know...when spread over many pax they add up) which detract from our sailing experience should be avoided when the higher cost for our cruise is very evident.

Edited September 29, 2019 by oceangoer2

[vtcruising]

3 hours ago, boscobeans said:

 I enjoy seeing the results of polls on the CC board.

 

Naysayers insist that the number of those polled along with the respondent's cruise experience and other factors reduce their validity and usefulness and therefore are ignored by the cruise lines when they make their decisions..

 

My question is to the cruise lines themselves:  

 

ARE YOU REALLY INTERESTED IN THE OPINIONS OF YOUR PASSENGERS ??

 

Going back to when it would be almost impossible to take a cruise without having an EMAIL account, the data bases of cruise lines have millions of these electronic addresses.  They have addresses of almost ALL of their past cruisers for many years and addresses as well of people who may be interested in cruising. 

 

If management was really interested in their passengers and in improving their product,  ( WOULD LIKE TO STRESS ' IF') the best way would be to see what their clientele likes and dislikes are through well thought out, in depth surveys that would reach those millions of past and prospective clients.  Results of such a massive survey could be analyzed in minutes and might be helpful in steering a better course for the future than a group of corporate board members.

 

By in depth I would hope these surveys would not be like the "ONLY A 10 IS ACCEPTABLE" format of those now in use, which serve no other purpose than to intimidate the crew. 

 

Knowing that surveys can also be slanted to yield a desired response, extreme care must be taken in designing a totally unbiased poll that would go out to millions of email addresses.

 

Maybe if corporate decisions makers used what is at the fingertips of their IT departments they could avoid expensive errors, increase client satisfaction and improve all aspects of the Industry for the cruise lines as well as their clients.

Excellent post! I absolutely agree with sending out a a comprehensive survey. Out of frustration with some issues, I called LLP's office and very diplomatically suggested a past cruiser focus group (and volunteered my services, of course 🙂). They said they would pass on the suggestion to whatever group is in charge of that sort of thing, but I don't have much hope. I'm sure they get lots of feedback from experienced passengers onboard and maybe they do already have guest focus groups - having been a part of other focus groups, I have seen them be amazingly effective. A well done survey would also give them a lot of valuable information.

[vtcruising]

3 hours ago, oceangoer2 said:

I'm sure I'm not alone in extending a BIG thank you for putting together such a comprehensive poll....covers most of what is considered important to a majority of X cruisers and I'm grateful you took it on.  It's a small slice of X cruisers on this board, but most polls are telling no matter how limited the response.  My ONLY comment that I consider seriously is the lack of foot-stools and a larger balcony table.  I see some don't agree, but it adds to our cruise comfort;  why would they take away a popular facet to cruising.  Logic says the replacement would not be taken well by their clientele (for the most part...IMHO).  The technical improvements are to be expected in these high tech times,  keeping the line competitive with others which, of course, adds to our cost to sail.  These visible lower cost changes (I know...when spread over many pax they add up) which detract from our sailing experience should be avoided when the higher cost for our cruise is very evident.

I agree that you can always learn something from these polls and comments - I love it when others do them - it generates some interesting answers and stimulates conversation, even if not scientific.

 

I agree about the furniture issue - I think it's one of those decisions where they will continue to be inundated with complaints and the pendulum may swing back to footstools and larger tables to shut us up. 😉

[cruisingxpert]

21 hours ago, vtcruising said:

You bring up a good point. I keep thinking about losing amenities that might cause us to look at other lines, but after hearing about your Oceania experience, I think that X is a good fit for us in terms of the other guests onboard, which is really worth more to us than the amenities at this point.  🙂

Everyone's experience is different and I really enjoyed my Edge cruise in March.  My line of choice is Oceania and in 15 cruises I have hardly ever run into the "let me tell you how important I am types"  In fact, in 30 years of cruising, I have made more friends on Oceania cruises than any other line.

I was in a Sky Suite on the Edge and the perks were wonderful but I did feel bad that the almost the whole front of the ship was closed off to the rest of the cruisers.

On Oceania, no matter what cabin category you are in, when you walk out to the rest of ship, no one knows what category you are in and no part of the ship is off limits to the rest of the cruisers except a small  Concierge and Executive Lounge.

Try it- you might like it

One caveat.  If you like the drink package, Celebrity blows O out of the water on wine by the glass choices but you can bring all the wine you want on board. $25 charge if you take it to a restaurant.

[boscobeans]

1 hour ago, vtcruising said:

 I'm sure they get lots of feedback from experienced passengers onboard and maybe they do already have guest focus groups - having been a part of other focus groups, I have seen them be amazingly effective. A well done survey would also give them a lot of valuable information.

 

Back when LLP was at Royal and the idea of Dynamic Dining caused two of their ships, the Quantum and the Anthem, to be designed like none in the past, I don't think much research took place outside the board room. 

 

The idea was supposed to have been well researched, although to the best of my knowledge not one member of CC or anyone they knew was ever asked about it.  We booked when the idea was first announced and the future cruise representative on our X cruise was totally misinformed. We cancelled our 14 day cruise when we heard the four restaurants did have different menus but that they never changed during the cruise??   The enormous number of negative posts dealing with the Quantum gave us some worries. Then the need to make reservations for each night in the restaurants and other headaches, we said NO.Not into Asian food as a steady diet or what seemed like Pub snack food in the Icon or dining in the Formal every night Grande we cancelled.  I think that if a large scale poll had been done with the facts of the actual DD system were explained the two ships would have been designed and built more like those before them.

 

Does anyone know where the initial Serpent, Forbidden Fruit, Garden of Eden Biblical referenced ad campaign came from?

How was it researched if at all?????  Did any members of a focus group ask for a cruise that is Chillful, Playful and Sinful?

Did any poll or focus group delve into if passengers would prefer ships with almost NO traditional verandas and hundreds of rooms with opening windows in their place?

 

 

[kathynorth]

6 hours ago, boscobeans said:

 I enjoy seeing the results of polls on the CC board.

 

Naysayers insist that the number of those polled along with the respondent's cruise experience and other factors reduce their validity and usefulness and therefore are ignored by the cruise lines when they make their decisions..

 

My question is to the cruise lines themselves:  

 

ARE YOU REALLY INTERESTED IN THE OPINIONS OF YOUR PASSENGERS ??

 

Going back to when it would be almost impossible to take a cruise without having an EMAIL account, the data bases of cruise lines have millions of these electronic addresses.  They have addresses of almost ALL of their past cruisers for many years and addresses as well of people who may be interested in cruising. 

 

If management was really interested in their passengers and in improving their product,  ( WOULD LIKE TO STRESS ' IF') the best way would be to see what their clientele likes and dislikes are through well thought out, in depth surveys that would reach those millions of past and prospective clients.  Results of such a massive survey could be analyzed in minutes and might be helpful in steering a better course for the future than a group of corporate board members.

 

By in depth I would hope these surveys would not be like the "ONLY A 10 IS ACCEPTABLE" format of those now in use, which serve no other purpose than to intimidate the crew. 

 

Knowing that surveys can also be slanted to yield a desired response, extreme care must be taken in designing a totally unbiased poll that would go out to millions of email addresses.

 

Maybe if corporate decisions makers used what is at the fingertips of their IT departments they could avoid expensive errors, increase client satisfaction and improve all aspects of the Industry for the cruise lines as well as their clients.

 

Good suggestion! The after cruise surveys are not accurate  because everyone knows that the results are closely tied to on ship staff incentives, thus the culture of 10.

[Ma Bell]

I agree that asking what is important to people and having focus groups of experienced cruisers is a good thing,  I just don't think it's a great idea to ask about cutting things that are already provided. Seems a bit counter-productive to me.

[NMTraveller]

These for me are not make or break.  The quality of the shore excursions are my number one priority and secondly the quality/performance of the staff.

 

I also prefer well trained photographers on board.  Some lines have it.  Others don't.

 

We had the best photographer experience on Princess.  The photographers really worked with you to get the best picture and culled the onces that weren't.

 

On Celebrity Edge I am still waiting for my download link after contacting Photo Services.

Edited September 29, 2019 by NMTraveller

[calicakes]

You forgot to add " Crappy saltines with the cheese plates"  as an option in #2.  Seriously though, who eats saltine crackers with cheese?  If we were in the room during afternoon canape service, I would keep the deep sleep magnet on the door.  The cheese plate was not enjoyable. 

[hcat]

Only focus groups we were aware of was on a Summit cruise a long time ago.  The Cap Club hostess and hotel dir staff sucked up to all Royal Diamond crossovers and  virtually ignored X Elite guests.  The Diamonds were invited to many extra events...lunches, parties, sailaway,  and a focus group about their X experience vs Royal C.

 

Take away at the time was that they had the Elites locked up and were courting  new customers away from Royal C.... At this point it's all blended anyhow!

 

All X has to do is read Cruise Critic and soc media to find out gen likes and dislikes.  Post cruise survey is now a sham.....and held against staff if they do not get a 10 .

 

 

 

[shipshape sam]

On 9/27/2019 at 4:55 PM, vtcruising said:

Celebrity isn't alone in the cruise world in making adjustments to their product (cutbacks and added complimentary amenities), hoping to balance the bottom line with customer satisfaction. People on this board often have strong feelings about cutbacks (or omissions on new builds or refurbished ships) and Celebrity sometimes responds positively to feedback by bringing back or changing the item, such as with the pillow chocolates, free movies and coffee tables in Edge Sky Suites (also a report by someone here that they were told that X was ordering footstools and that they would be in place in 2 months - unsure which ships, which cabins, etc. - will need to see if this becomes a reality).

 

When there is a discussion on Cruise Critic about items being discontinued or when omitted on a new build or refurbished ship, there is often a huge outcry from people against the cutback, with reactions ranging from "I'll miss it, but can do without it" to "I won't be sailing on Celebrity again."  There also seems to be a group of people who push back, asking why this is even issue for people and that they don't use that amenity anyway so it won't affect their cruises. Since I have seen some people support their posts with statements such as "most people agree" or  "I've talked to many people onboard and they all agree with me,"  it seemed that a poll was in order to see just what people missed that was changed or omitted, what they value the most with current amenities (and where they draw the line) and what they would like most to see added.

 

You can check off as many as you wish for the first question and only one for the last two questions. Screen names will be public.

 

Sorry if I omitted your favorites (I'm sure I missed some) - please comment in a post.

It is interesting to me how many of the 'complimentary amenities' are not valued.  I could care less about most of them. One I really enjoy is the twice daily room service.

 

I would LOVE to see an expanded menu of items that I could choose from and have  a custom experience. 

[vtcruising]

56 minutes ago, shipshape sam said:

It is interesting to me how many of the 'complimentary amenities' are not valued.  I could care less about most of them. One I really enjoy is the twice daily room service.

 

I would LOVE to see an expanded menu of items that I could choose from and have  a custom experience. 

I would not be happy if they did away with the twice daily cabin service - it is something that I value. I don't highly value many of the items, but when put together as a whole, it feels like a more luxury experience (canapes+umbrella+binocs+bathrobe+room service +free movies, etc.). A custom menu of amenities is an interesting idea.

[Doubt It]

Thanks to the OP for this thread.

 

I would say the cruise lines have little interest in what customers say - We are in the era of management knows everything and management is increasingly isolated in their executive suite. The recent LLP Q&A was laughable, but she had to be seen from time to time to assure us she is still alive.

 

Take the current Oceania thread topic of the customer service survey. New approach. Apparently you have to do the survey on your 2nd last day of the cruise, not at the end - And - it has to be done on the on board computers - of which there are only 3 on the small R ships. Humm. I support the notion of having the survey sent directly to corporate (avoids on ship management manipulation) but using on board computers (which takes up your purchased time). Maybe some day it could be done on peoples devices directly, but I do not use my device while on a cruise.......... My impression this is a token activity by Oceania because they really do not care about customer feedback - because well they have the best food at sea, right>?

 

I find that cruise lines are non responsive to customers versus land based hotels for example. I have always a much better response to issues from a hotel versus the mostly arrogant and non responsive guest relations people on many cruise lines.

 

I have no issue with changes to cruising but I will choose to cruise or not based on those changes.