CELEBRITY CAPTAINS CLUB WEBINARS, DO THEY WORK FOR YOU?

[Spif Barwunkel]

 

Okay, I know not to expect the late Anthony Bourdain, Samantha Brown or Rick Steves, but someone and something close to a reasonable facsimile would be nice. The Captains Club Webinars do nothing to invigorate or titillate me to return to a place I have already been, or to visit a destination for the first time. It can be quite a tedious 30 minutes sitting through a heavily accented commentary and a not-so spectacular slide show. The commentary and photos within the posts on these forums – in some cases – are so much more interesting and well done.

 

Considering the spectacular productions introducing Celebrity’s new ships - in all their splendor - I would like to think that the X effort could be more appealing and professional when highlighting its ports-of-call.

 

In keeping with the strict Celebrity tradition of rating our experiences, on a scale of 1 to10, I would rate the webinar experience a 4. Perhaps that is due in part to my shortcomings. Whatever the case, the Webinars do not work for me and the extra Captains Club points are not incentive enough to watch.  

 

[wrk2cruise]

Wow a 4 when 10 is the only acceptable score.   I guess these people will all get fired or demoted.

[Franken]

Press play, walk away

[Luvcrusn]

3 minutes ago, Franken said:

Press play, walk away

Exactly! We press play, put on mute if we're not interested and rack up the points!

[WestLakeGirl]

Amateurish is an adjective that comes to mind.

[Spif Barwunkel]

9 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Exactly! We press play, put on mute if we're not interested and rack up the points!

This response, along with post #3, are certainly not in keeping with Celebrity's Webinar intent. However, this response is definitely what I expected. Personally, the points are not going to get me to my next tier any sooner and the thirty minutes of wasted computer time is pointless. I get it, if it's put out there to be taken advantage of, do it. Noone will be any the wiser and we will have taken advantage of the system.  

[Vagabond Knight]

Based on the title, I thought this thread would be about technical difficulties with the webinars. My first suggestion was going to be, "Try a different browser."  😁

I watched the one on Turkey simply to get the points, since Turkey was never on my bucket list, and if there had been no incentive to watch it I probably wouldn't have.  But...  I agree that presentation wasn't the best, between the heavily accented and rather monotone presentation (though if you had me presenting in a language that wasn't my first language, I wouldn't be any better) and the lackluster intro and slides.  However, the content did intrigue me  and got me thinking about travel to a country I'd never considered previously. The food pics (half of why we cruise, right?)  😉 looked pretty intriguing, and I never realized all the fascinating tie-ins with Christian history there.  Although Celebrity can definitely step up their game with the quality of the presentation, they're smart to offer these with an incentive and possibly get us thinking about new adventures that weren't previously on our radar.

[HskrCrsr]

I would give the webinars a 7. Sure, the production values are not great but they give me enough information to decide if I want to learn more. On the other hand, the Celebrity Beyond video they played at the start of the webinar had high production value but did nothing to make me want to step foot on that ship. I will admit that the Spain webinar in particular did not increase my desire to go to Spain, but I will say that the Turkey video actually did make me want to go to Istanbul.

 

Since the timing of these webinars (3:00PM Pacific Time) happens during my work day, I typically find something I can work on while the video plays. I do not just start the webinar and walk away.

 

Given my lack of proficiency in pretty much every language, I cannot fault people from other countries not speaking English with perfect clarity. I appreciate that they try. I have sat through many webinars with English-speaking colleagues that do far worse.

 

I look forward to the next webinars. The PUPs are a nice benefit and might make the difference between watching or not, depending on the topic. Celebrity's website has a ton of good information on the various destinations but I rarely seek this out unless I am already curious about a location. The webinars might just spark my interest enough to check out this information. 

[keesar]

I was surprised that some elements in the presentation were not edited.  There was certainly enough time to do so. I expect better quality from a corporation.  

 

Let's face it.  These  'webinars' are ads for Celebrity.  

[upwarduk]

33 minutes ago, keesar said:

Let's face it.  These  'webinars' are ads for Celebrity.  

But, a poor ‘ad ‘in my opinion, especially the Spain one.
The presenter had a most unfortunate hmmmmm, while she was thinking.😱

[DCPIV]

I don't get wound up about accents. I live in Houston. I've worked for and alongside international corporations. I grew up in Southeast Texas. Dealing with accents (including my own) has been a way of life since the day I was born. 

 

I've enjoyed some of the webinars, and I agree the the one on Turkey was interesting (we've been and would like to return some day). Up through the Turkey webinar, I'd probably give the effort and experience a solid 7.

 

This last one, though, was not good. It felt very thrown together and did not impress me positively at all. Granted, we listened to it more than we watched it (had it going on my phone while we were getting ready for a date night), but the whole thing smacked of a half-hearted preparation and effort all around. I'm not inclined to give it even that 4. Had the points not been offered, I'd call it a total waste of everyone's time, including those who produced the thing.

 

It's not hard to put a bit of polish on these things, and you'd think they'd want to for a marketing effort. I watched another webinar the next day regarding a real estate venture. Those guys were not on-screen personalities by any definition or stretch of imagination, but the presentation was far more engaging and polished. I was more interested in the deal after I watched it than before. That's marketing. 

 

The Spain webinar actually lowered my opinion of Celebrity. That's a marketing failure by any measure. 

 

That said, I hope they do get their act together with the webinars. I like the idea of it. They just need to execute. 

[39august]

Ok. So how do I sign up for a webinar, please? I thought I had signed for the next one, but have seen nothing sent to me. Isn't it later this month? I just wanted to watch for the points.

Edited March 12, 2022 by 39august

[Fouremco]

There are so many excellent travel guides on Youtube that make Celebrity's webinars laughable. Were it not for the points, I would never bother watching. As it is, they come on at the same time as the evening news, and I'll only unmute the webinar if something attracts my attention or if the news goes to a commercial. I did watch the short sangria mixing video, but it really didn't add anything to the recipe that was included with the original invitation. 

[cruisestitch]

I just watched a video made by an eighth grader — he prepared it for a school project. It was more professional and polished than what Celebrity put out. I suggested that he make one about visiting Spain and send it to Celebrity for comparison.  Maybe that will shame them into improvement.  Or maybe they could just hire him.

[Luvcrusn]

X is offering points in return for various activities, quizzes, social media posts and webinars. None of them require me to spend money, but they give a small incentive. If I want the offered incentive, I will answer quiz questions, post on social media or watch a webinar. If I don't, I won't. I really don't care if the presenter of a webinar has an accent of not. If their accent is too difficult for me to decipher, I'll hit mute or not watch at all. I look at it as X's loss, since their advertisement will fall flat and not result in their desired result...a booking by me. Either way, I get points and haven't expended any money. At our current Captains Club level and current age, I know DH and I will never achieve Zenith, but again, no money out of pocket, so no loss for me. 

[drakes2]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

The presenter had a most unfortunate hmmmmm, while she was thinking.😱

That was driving me crazy and glad it was only 40 minutes in length.

[keesar]

8 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

That was driving me crazy and glad it was only 40 minutes in length.

 

Quiz:  How many times did the presenter say she was born in Barcelona?  

[cruisestitch]

I was told there would be no Math.

[Arizona Wildcat]

I enjoyed the webinar on Turkey as we had not visited all the places shown.  Spain was interesting for the food part, but the cities was not as interesting. 

It certainly is an ad for Celebrity and would have thought after doing several they would be more professional. 

Again the readers here are a more informed group than the average cruiser and certainly more critical when looking at things.

And yes, since I am a couple points from Elite plus looking forward to that second bag of laundry.  Lol 

[drakes2]

1 minute ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

And yes, since I am a couple points from Elite plus looking forward to that second bag of laundry.  Lol 

Still have a way to go for Elite + status.  Yes 2nd bag of laundry will come in handy.  

[cdn_tbird]

Can't speak to other webinars but the Turkey & Spain webinars weren't infomercials for X but for the tour operators that X deals with in those countries and the presenters with the exception of the two hosts from X were from those companies.

 

I find it amusing how many people are quick to trash the presenter's ability to deliver a presentation in English which is obviously not their native language. I'd love to see how well any of you would do in that scenario. 

[upwarduk]

1 hour ago, cdn_tbird said:

I'd love to see how well any of you would do in that scenario. 

I would  attempt it if I wasn’t competent.😱

[Ipeeinthepools]

The Webinars are great.  I wish they would do one every week.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

4 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I would  attempt it if I wasn’t competent.😱

 

There is a BIG difference between being competent and speaking like you never lived there. I'd rather hear the ums and pauses than have them sound robotic because they're reading off a teleprompter.

[NCTribeFan]

Actually, the first one I watched, about Alaska, is exactly why I'm booked for my first sailing to Alaska this summer.  But I'm going on HAL because I got "free" casino offers. 😁

 

But it was X's seminar that made me realize that I really should, after 40+ cruises, see Alaska.

 

The Spain seminar wasn't of much interest to me as I've been.  I enjoyed the one on Turkey as I'll be in Ephesus this fall after several prior attempts.

 

I tend to not bother to read threads where someone SHOUTS at me to get my attention.  I find that more annoying that listening to someone speak with an accent.  But I just knew this would be some complaint about the quality or content of the presentation and I wanted to weigh in.