On Beyond TA……Issues

[canderson]

Worst we've ever had it wasn't on a cruise ship - it was ca. 1982 on the ferry from New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard.  Everyone was below decks and everything was seriously battened down.  No bar service on this trip!  There was a line outside the head, and not everybody waited.  What a miserable trip!

 

[julia]

Enough with the semantics already!!  I "get" that a cruise cannot be "oversold".... my earlier response was to the excuse that this was "out of Celebrity's control".  There are many things that Celebrity CAN control, and capacity is one of them.  Is that the problem here on this TA?  Who knows!? This particular situation seems to have a lot of moving parts.

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, julia said:

Enough with the semantics already!!... There are many things that Celebrity CAN control, and capacity is one of them.

I think you meant occupancy 😂

[julia]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

I think you meant occupancy 😂

Actually, I meant fullnesses.  No, wait, fullability. Um, so yeah....  the ship is over-fullabilty. 😄

[verizon]

10 hours ago, CalTexCruiser said:

So how bad is the ship rocking...can people still walk around the ship?

 

And most importantly, is the casino open?

Ship was rocking bad

i was in 24th last month in CS cabin and now transatlantic crossing in Infinity cabin both sailing you can hear creaking all night long.

I woke up early and found a lady sleeping near Martino Bar sofa . Don’t think she is drank.

Will be on 26th sailing and hope my cabin is OK with no creaking noise.

Last night I started sleeping with my ear plug on.

Edited October 20, 2022 by verizon

[verizon]

46 minutes ago, verizon said:

Ship was rocking bad

i was in 24th last month in CS cabin and now transatlantic crossing in Infinity cabin both sailing you can hear creaking all night long.

I woke up early and found a lady sleeping near Martino Bar sofa . Don’t think she is drunk.

Will be on 26th sailing and hope my cabin is OK with no creaking noise.

Last night I started sleeping with my ear plug on.

 

[Michidoeme]

14 hours ago, julia said:

Rubbish!!  The Beyond has been sailing the Med all summer with few complaints, so therefore, they  had adequate staff/passenger ratios on those itineraries.  Celebrity obviously overbooked this popular TA.... so it IS very much under their control.  I really feel for those who've paid a lot of money for a sub-par experience, and am hoping things improve for them.

When we sailed on Beyond this Spring, capacity was only about 1/3.  And even then staff had issues which we kindly assigned to beginners difficulties 😉.  Heard and read that, although it went up during Summer months, passenger count never reached full capacity.

[Esprit]

9 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I guess you haven't sailed in very rough seas. 

I'd love to be sailing in rough seas again. Not happened since I was a kid. It's what being on a ship is all about (but obviously not constantly!)

[mfs2k]

Have you sailed out of the rough seas yet?

[verizon]

25 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Have you sailed out of the rough seas yet?

 

[upwarduk]

8 hours ago, dlh015 said:

It is easy to picture (for me) what jelayne described about items sliding off the table...

I remember sliding up & down the bed one night on Infinity TA in 2013.

Everything also fell out of the fridge as the door opened. 
The next morning we were not allowed into one area of the MDR, as one of the windows had been blown in.

Edited October 20, 2022 by upwarduk

[verizon]

31 minutes ago, verizon said:

 

Yes it is back to normal 

[lorimay]

19 hours ago, volk904 said:

Sorry to hear about your issues. Both the internet and movie issue might be related to mid Atlantic Sat coverage.  I have been on 3 cruises in the last 12 months and every ship was under staffed especially bartenders. Maybe they lost some staff before the transatlantic and replacement crew won’t arrive until Florida?  
As for your room if this late day is a first maybe your cabin attendant is sick or something?

We were in the previous cruise and are now on the Beyond TA. There were no PPV movies on the previous Rome to Barcelona cruise either. I asked about it when I was in quarantine and told there were 50 movies available. There might be 50 programs available but most are poor documentaries and meditation programs. There are no recent movies at all available on PPV. 

[lorimay]

Just sat at breakfast with a gentleman who told me he and his wife have been on 25 or more cruises and this TA on Beyond has been the worst cruise ever mainly due to service issues. He is in Retreat. The Retreat lounge apparently has been closed for two days because the ceiling collapsed in the rough weather. He told me there have been wait times with beepers for Luminae and that even Retreat passengers have been unable to get reservations in the specialty restaurants. They were told to just show up at 8:30 at Fine Cut and they would get in. He said the food showed up at 10. He waited 45 minutes for a drink at World Class bar. 
 

we have been restricted because of Covid isolation but room service has been crazy long times (2-3 hours). Al Bacio was packed yesterday morning. I tried to order at the counter to stay and was told to sit and wait for table service. It took the one server over 30 minutes to get to me (I had to wave her over) and another 15 to get my tea. 
 

They were understaffed on the previous cruise also and the ship was only 2/3 full. We sat one night in Cyprus with dirty dishes in front of us for more than 15 minutes. It was like that in all the restaurants. 
 

It’s  a shame - it’s a fabulous ship. So we’ll designed. More like a resort than a traditional cruise ship. But it doesn’t matter what the reason is - Celebrity should have planned for this and been more prepared. This is just bad management. 

[adolfo2]

15 hours ago, mfs2k said:

 

A cruise ship can't be overbooked. 

Being "technically" overbooked for the amount of crew onboard is what we're all talking about!

Not about having "Extra" passengers sleeping in the halls like a Hospital ER on a Saturday Night.

[mfs2k]

1 minute ago, adolfo2 said:

Not about having "Extra" passengers sleeping in the halls like a Hospital ER on a Saturday Night.

This is an irresponsible post. 

[adolfo2]

12 hours ago, Sascol said:

Simple math.  Overbooked = more passengers than the staff can handle.  Not enough staff? Stop booking when you realize this is going to be a problem. You know the staff you will have available many months before the cruise starts so at that time, stop booking once you realize the numbers create an issue.  

Agree w/you & It's "All about the MONEY" 😉

Yes, I understand they lost heaps of $ during COVID, but it's no excuse to try & balance the books now on our backs.

Overpromising & under delivering is not a sound business model! 

[cruisefam38]

we once went beyond on a ship

we traveled at an impressive clip

until we encountered rough seas

we pitched and rolled by degrees

then I clung to my bed by death grip

 

------------

To all the passengers onboard:

may the seas become smoother and calmer

and the cross-Atlantic trip more enjoyable.

with martinis.

 

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I remember sliding up & down the bed one night on Infinity TA in 2013.

Everything also fell out of the fridge as the door opened. 
The next morning we were not allowed into one area of the MDR, as one of the windows had been blown in.

Oh I remember this well. 40 ft seas all night long. Broken windows and doors on deck 4. Furniture in lounges toppled over. Stock in shops all over floors!!!

[Arizona Wildcat]

12 hours ago, julia said:

Enough with the semantics already!!  I "get" that a cruise cannot be "oversold".... my earlier response was to the excuse that this was "out of Celebrity's control".  There are many things that Celebrity CAN control, and capacity is one of them.  Is that the problem here on this TA?  Who knows!? This particular situation seems to have a lot of moving parts.

Great discussion on semantics.  Loved it.

 

As for balancing the number of passengers with crew. . . Cunard recently did exactly that.  They cancelled reservations of passengers shortly before their cruise.  Lots of camcellations.  Some were told their trip was cancelled at the pier.

The result was very angry customers.  Lawsuits and a bit of chaos.

A cruiseline can certainly close the cruise to New bookings, but cancelling existing bookings was awful.

No idea how cruiselines can accurately staff as visas seem to come thru very slowly then for no reason several hundred are approved in one day.  

Just think how confusing the covid rules were to passengers.  Cruiselines have that plus crazy visa rules.

[Tony UK]

This is just my opinion based on personal experience. Transatlantics used to be great, same food same service, same entertainment. Lots of days at sea to take advantage of everything the ship had to offer. We loved it!

We have done a couple of Transatlantics on Edge class and a couple of Mediterranean cruises all in the retreat, and the difference was chalk and cheese! Dont get me wrong we did enjoy both, however the Mediterranean cruises were like we used to experience Celebrity, whereas the transatlantics seemed to be working on a lower budget. It felt like a lower standard was acceptable as we were on a value cruise! 

We love being at sea so still enjoy that part of the experience ! If we do another our expectations will be lowered!

[jelayne]

4 hours ago, lorimay said:

Just sat at breakfast with a gentleman who told me he and his wife have been on 25 or more cruises and this TA on Beyond has been the worst cruise ever mainly due to service issues. He is in Retreat. The Retreat lounge apparently has been closed for two days because the ceiling collapsed in the rough weather. He told me there have been wait times with beepers for Luminae and that even Retreat passengers have been unable to get reservations in the specialty restaurants. They were told to just show up at 8:30 at Fine Cut and they would get in. He said the food showed up at 10. He waited 45 minutes for a drink at World Class bar. 
 

we have been restricted because of Covid isolation but room service has been crazy long times (2-3 hours). Al Bacio was packed yesterday morning. I tried to order at the counter to stay and was told to sit and wait for table service. It took the one server over 30 minutes to get to me (I had to wave her over) and another 15 to get my tea. 
 

They were understaffed on the previous cruise also and the ship was only 2/3 full. We sat one night in Cyprus with dirty dishes in front of us for more than 15 minutes. It was like that in all the restaurants. 
 

It’s  a shame - it’s a fabulous ship. So we’ll designed. More like a resort than a traditional cruise ship. But it doesn’t matter what the reason is - Celebrity should have planned for this and been more prepared. This is just bad management. 

I’m glad you are over quarantine and able to be out and about.

 

I don’t doubt what you say is what you were told but I am also on the  sailing and would like to clear up some erroneous information.  We have been in the Retreat Lounge every day 2-3 different times a day. It has Not been closed at all during this cruise.    In fact we are in the Lounge as I write this.
 

 I just paused answering and went up to the Retreat Sun Deck and walked both floors and there is no sign of damage anywhere.  As you know, all outside deck areas were closed when the storm hit, so the Sun Deck was closed just as the Roof Top area, pool are, etc.  If there was any damage it certainly wasn’t the collapsing of the roof. If that had been the case it would damaged the areas below  and if a wind break was damaged it was repaired this morning. The Retreat Sun Deck is just as beautiful today as it was on boarding day.

We had a wait for dinner on the first night, none more than 5 minutes since then.  If some are experiencing long waits it may be worth considering charging the time they arrive by 15 minutes.  
 

Specialty restaurants were heavily booked before boarding and since they are short crew they aren’t booking all tables. It would be poor management to do so.   They are booking to the staff they have available.  We have done 2 specialty both we excellent both food and service. 

 

[PTC DAWG]

35 minutes ago, jelayne said:

I’m glad you are over quarantine and able to be out and about.

 

I don’t doubt what you say is what you were told but I am also on the  sailing and would like to clear up some erroneous information.  We have been in the Retreat Lounge every day 2-3 different times a day. It has Not been closed at all during this cruise.    In fact we are in the Lounge as I write this.
 

 I just paused answering and went up to the Retreat Sun Deck and walked both floors and there is no sign of damage anywhere.  As you know, all outside deck areas were closed when the storm hit, so the Sun Deck was closed just as the Roof Top area, pool are, etc.  If there was any damage it certainly wasn’t the collapsing of the roof. If that had been the case it would damaged the areas below  and if a wind break was damaged it was repaired this morning. The Retreat Sun Deck is just as beautiful today as it was on boarding day.

We had a wait for dinner on the first night, none more than 5 minutes since then.  If some are experiencing long waits it may be worth considering charging the time they arrive by 15 minutes.  
 

Specialty restaurants were heavily booked before boarding and since they are short crew they aren’t booking all tables. It would be poor management to do so.   They are booking to the staff they have available.  We have done 2 specialty both we excellent both food and service. 

 

Sounds good. I wish y’all smooth sailing from here on out. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Truly sad to have such awful weather.  Just received an email from a crew member we met years ago.  He said he was seasick and vomiting.  Lots of others nearby sick as well.  That certainly adversely effects service.

Best wishes to all on board that weather and service improves 

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

I’m glad you are over quarantine and able to be out and about.

 

I don’t doubt what you say is what you were told but I am also on the  sailing and would like to clear up some erroneous information.  We have been in the Retreat Lounge every day 2-3 different times a day. It has Not been closed at all during this cruise.    In fact we are in the Lounge as I write this.
 

 I just paused answering and went up to the Retreat Sun Deck and walked both floors and there is no sign of damage anywhere.  As you know, all outside deck areas were closed when the storm hit, so the Sun Deck was closed just as the Roof Top area, pool are, etc.  If there was any damage it certainly wasn’t the collapsing of the roof. If that had been the case it would damaged the areas below  and if a wind break was damaged it was repaired this morning. The Retreat Sun Deck is just as beautiful today as it was on boarding day.

We had a wait for dinner on the first night, none more than 5 minutes since then.  If some are experiencing long waits it may be worth considering charging the time they arrive by 15 minutes.  
 

Specialty restaurants were heavily booked before boarding and since they are short crew they aren’t booking all tables. It would be poor management to do so.   They are booking to the staff they have available.  We have done 2 specialty both we excellent both food and service. 

 

Thank you for your contributions. What I don't understand then is why all this embellishment to the negative?