Reduced capacity?

[Redtravel]

On Summit.  I am shocked at the crowds.  Reduced capacity?  No way!  Even though there are signs for distancing and capacity, people jam together.  Pool sign capacity 10…counted 25.    Often fully elevators as people push into them.  Reminds me of filling a phone booth as a college prank. Table for 2?  Almost impossible. Unrelated guests sharing.  When I booked I believed the info about safety and Covid protocols. The only place you must wear a mask is in the show lounge or casino.  
All In isn’t.  WiFi basic often doesn’t connect.  Using my elite plus minutes to connect.   Drinks?  Lots of water. Liquor choices….ran out of many.  

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 minute ago, Redtravel said:

On Summit.  I am shocked at the crowds.  Reduced capacity?  No way!  Even though there are signs for distancing and capacity, people jam together.  Pool sign capacity 10…counted 25.    Often fully elevators as people push into them.  Reminds me of filling a phone booth as a college prank. Table for 2?  Almost impossible. Unrelated guests sharing.  When I booked I believed the info about safety and Covid protocols. The only place you must wear a mask is in the show lounge or casino.  
All In isn’t.  WiFi basic often doesn’t connect.  Using my elite plus minutes to connect.   Drinks?  Lots of water. Liquor choices….ran out of many.  

 

Don't you recognize "Modern Luxury"?

[bookitdanno]

Who promised you reduced capacity. Would you like it forever or just until they go out of business. 

[jelayne]

How many passengers are on your sailing?

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 minute ago, bookitdanno said:

Who promised you reduced capacity. Would you like it forever or just until they go out of business. 

 

How about, only on my trips?

[PTC DAWG]

19 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

On Summit.  I am shocked at the crowds.  Reduced capacity?  No way!  Even though there are signs for distancing and capacity, people jam together.  Pool sign capacity 10…counted 25.    Often fully elevators as people push into them.  Reminds me of filling a phone booth as a college prank. Table for 2?  Almost impossible. Unrelated guests sharing.  When I booked I believed the info about safety and Covid protocols. The only place you must wear a mask is in the show lounge or casino.  
All In isn’t.  WiFi basic often doesn’t connect.  Using my elite plus minutes to connect.   Drinks?  Lots of water. Liquor choices….ran out of many.  

The show must go on…

[OysterD]

Personally I'm glad to hear that the ship is crowded and busy! Life must get back to normal and sailing at half capacity or less for too long would ultimately mean none of us will be sailing at all a year from now when the company goes bankrupt!

 

[Mark_K]

27 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

On Summit.  I am shocked at the crowds.  Reduced capacity?  No way!  Even though there are signs for distancing and capacity, people jam together.  Pool sign capacity 10…counted 25.    Often fully elevators as people push into them.  Reminds me of filling a phone booth as a college prank. Table for 2?  Almost impossible. Unrelated guests sharing.  When I booked I believed the info about safety and Covid protocols. The only place you must wear a mask is in the show lounge or casino.  
All In isn’t.  WiFi basic often doesn’t connect.  Using my elite plus minutes to connect.   Drinks?  Lots of water. Liquor choices….ran out of many.  

Official capacity restrictions were lifted some time ago.  The only reason ships were sailing at or around 50% was a lack of passengers willing to sail.  That seems to be easing.

[durberville]

I’m also on this cruise. We are definitely at or very near full capacity. If you sail now expecting social distancing and mask wearing you will be sorely disappointed. Tables for 2 in the MDR have always been 5 inches away from each other. 🤷‍♀️
 

We wear our masks and use the stairs when it makes sense - it is what it is. 
 

They do have staffing issues but I expect this will be resolved as the summer progresses…not so confident about the supply issues.  🤷‍♀️
 

This is our 6th cruise on the Summit. Likely our last. 

[Denny01]

Not sure why as we cruisers are flocking back why anyone is bothered by the ships being close to what the level of passengers has been for decades. Our July Alaska cruise is getting close to 90% SRs not available (not ‘booked’ because not sure how many aren’t available for booking) and that is approaching the ‘norm’ for the very popular Alaska cruises.

 

One of the positives I think of with Celebrity is the common areas are well designed to handle the ‘crowds’. On other major Lines, I find the lounges and venues not to be as well set up and just feel crowded all the time. 

 

Yes, it can be hard to find a seat inEl Bacio right when you (and so many others) want a seat; yes, we all ‘glare’ at the poor guy who falls asleep in the great seats next to the windows and so on. But I find Celebrity to be not as ‘stuffed’ as many of the other large Lines. 

 

So not sure why anyone who says they’ve cruised Celebrity a lot now has ‘issues’. the ‘issue’ is what is the norm. 

 

Den

[IWillGoAnywhere26]

We had 1800 on the May 23 sailing on the Summit. We knew that capacity had increased so were not surprised. We were disappointed, though, that there are just not enough crew to effectively accommodate the passengers, especially in the MDR. This affected service and quality of the food. The crew was doing the best that they could under the circumstances and their efforts were appreciated. That being said, the quality issues did disappoint us.

[5:00_Somewhere]

We just made final payment for a September cruise on the Summit. We were expecting it to be closer to capacity, and were told by our CVP that it's currently at approximately 80%. We will continue to wear masks in crowded indoor spaces and avoid elevators whenever possible, wearing masks when not. I hope you're able to enjoy your cruise. I expect this to be the NEW new normal. 

[Redtravel]

crew is trying their best . They are very nice. However they are shorthanded.  Bar service is slow and often don't have what you want.  WiFi is slow or non-existent.  Not enough crew to accommodate a full ship. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bnurick]

4 hours ago, Redtravel said:

On Summit.  I am shocked at the crowds.  Reduced capacity?  No way!  Even though there are signs for distancing and capacity, people jam together.  Pool sign capacity 10…counted 25.    Often fully elevators as people push into them.  Reminds me of filling a phone booth as a college prank. Table for 2?  Almost impossible. Unrelated guests sharing.  When I booked I believed the info about safety and Covid protocols. The only place you must wear a mask is in the show lounge or casino.  
All In isn’t.  WiFi basic often doesn’t connect.  Using my elite plus minutes to connect.   Drinks?  Lots of water. Liquor choices….ran out of many.  

 

3 hours ago, durberville said:

I’m also on this cruise. We are definitely at or very near full capacity. If you sail now expecting social distancing and mask wearing you will be sorely disappointed. Tables for 2 in the MDR have always been 5 inches away from each other. 🤷‍♀️
 

We wear our masks and use the stairs when it makes sense - it is what it is. 
 

They do have staffing issues but I expect this will be resolved as the summer progresses…not so confident about the supply issues.  🤷‍♀️
 

This is our 6th cruise on the Summit. Likely our last. 

Thank you both for posting. We are booked for the June 26th Bermuda cruise.  It shows online very sold out.  Did you have a lobster night?  Anything you did enjoy you could pass along?  Thank you.

[galleycook]

6 hours ago, Redtravel said:

On Summit.  I am shocked at the crowds.  Reduced capacity?  No way!  Even though there are signs for distancing and capacity, people jam together.  Pool sign capacity 10…counted 25.    Often fully elevators as people push into them.  Reminds me of filling a phone booth as a college prank. Table for 2?  Almost impossible. Unrelated guests sharing.  When I booked I believed the info about safety and Covid protocols. The only place you must wear a mask is in the show lounge or casino.  
All In isn’t.  WiFi basic often doesn’t connect.  Using my elite plus minutes to connect.   Drinks?  Lots of water. Liquor choices….ran out of many.  

Funny you mention the pools signage and max count. The other day, one side of the pool says 10 max and the other side says 25 max! Which rule are you to follow?

And even though you are required to wear a mask in the casino and theater, I have never seen full compliance. In fact on a couple of occasions in these two venues as many 20-30% without masks.  Unbelievable.

[Lastdance]

1 hour ago, galleycook said:

Funny you mention the pools signage and max count. The other day, one side of the pool says 10 max and the other side says 25 max! Which rule are you to follow?

And even though you are required to wear a mask in the casino and theater, I have never seen full compliance. In fact on a couple of occasions in these two venues as many 20-30% without masks.  Unbelievable.

I guess you have a choice of one side, or the other, but also just to do your own thing.  As far as masks, they must be short of help on the mask patrol...I hated that job in school when it started last year!  There is no sense in having a rule if it is not going to be consistently enforced, as only the "rule followers" will do it and get aggravated because others don't follow the rule...makes me think of the chair hogs, along with the....but i won't go in to that!

Edited June 10, 2022 by Lastdance

[Peteymil]

8 hours ago, Redtravel said:

crew is trying their best . They are very nice. However they are shorthanded.  Bar service is slow and often don't have what you want.  WiFi is slow or non-existent.  Not enough crew to accommodate a full ship. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have a problem with the lack of capacity controls but if they are short staffed, which most of them are, it does become a problem. 

[galleycook]

4 hours ago, Lastdance said:

I guess you have a choice of one side, or the other, but also just to do your own thing.  As far as masks, they must be short of help on the mask patrol...I hated that job in school when it started last year!  There is no sense in having a rule if it is not going to be consistently enforced, as only the "rule followers" will do it and get aggravated because others don't follow the rule...makes me think of the chair hogs, along with the....but i won't go in to that!

I went and checked this afternoon, just to see if anything has changed. Now the signs on each side have the same capacity on the outside (away from the pool) but twice the capacity on the pool side.  Now it's 15 and 30 respectively. At least they are consistent at not being consistent. 

 

They may or may not have the staff to enforce the mask policy but it seems like they are just looking the other way regardless. The Cruise Director mentioned mandatory masks at the first theater show. He could have easily mentioned it again but I never heard it in any of the other performances that we attended.  We were advised today masks are required in the terminal, where they were optional at embarkation just over a week ago.  Lets see if this is enforced. 

[rachiem]

17 hours ago, OysterD said:

Personally I'm glad to hear that the ship is crowded and busy! Life must get back to normal and sailing at half capacity or less for too long would ultimately mean none of us will be sailing at all a year from now when the company goes bankrupt!

 

This is fine but if they want to sell at 100% capacity then they need to drop contact tracing and testing! To have to isolate and wait 24-48 hours for a test result is not ideal!

[Cruise a holic]

We were recently on Royal Adventure.  It was so crowded.  Not enough staff to manage the crowds- had to wait over 1/2 hour for an omelette as the ship had one person making omelettes!  We were shocked as to the amount of people sailing.

 

Going on Celebrity Apex in a few months- a suite- hope that area is better.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Since visa processing is still taking 90-120 days for US authorities getting full crew will be difficult.   Processing is getting faster - Sentri/Nexus backlog down to 90 days or so from 6 months - but passengers have come back faster than they can hire crews. 

Also remember having no cabins showing as available means little as TAs have blocks that might not be sold and the cruiselines as not selling many veranda cabins so as to have available for quarantine. 

This is a time to go with the flow and be flexible or stay home.  Travelling today is not for everyone and not just cruising.

[Redtravel]

18 hours ago, bnurick said:

 

Thank you both for posting. We are booked for the June 26th Bermuda cruise.  It shows online very sold out.  Did you have a lobster night?  Anything you did enjoy you could pass along?  Thank you.

Lobster last night was excellent.  Food has been good.  Have used my veranda more on this cruise than ever before.  Enjoy Bermuda. Have been there many times. Was disappointed that our stay was cut by a day.  It was weather.  It did give us an extra day in Charleston which was good.  Sailing has been calm. Loved not cooking. After constantly cooking during the pandemic, not cooking has been the highlight of the cruise. Crew is very nice.obviously they are short handed.  They need enough help to service the ship.  Entertainment is nice.  Especially liked Ocean Beat.  

[Lastdance]

I am very self-dependent on a cruise, as do not need a lot of support even in a suite; however, I know that expectations are high due to Celebrity and her usual standards.  However, it is not just on Celebrity where the crew are trying to do their best, as it is all over nowadays.  I always expect a few more issues than normal going about my daily activities.  After two years with Covid in school and all those issues, I will be content just to make it on my b2b, dodging what I can't see and looking forward to 26 days!  I try to keep my glass half full and not half empty.  Life is way too short not to enjoy, laugh and not sweat the small stuff.  

Edited June 11, 2022 by Lastdance
Just my opinion

[mnocket]

19 hours ago, Lastdance said:

There is no sense in having a rule if it is not going to be consistently enforced, as only the "rule followers" will do it and get aggravated because others don't follow the rule

This applies to so many things - laws included.

[Dolebludger]

I can recall before the pandemic how crowded mass market and premium cruise ship were — even then. So we just quit booking on those ships unless we booked a category like the Retreat Or Yacht Club where the experience was like a lux cruise. Of course we had to reduce our cruising frequency. 
 

Question: Does anybody have info on crew staffing on this cruise? Some say they had a sub-standard cruise and one reason given was crew shortage.