What changes would you suggest?

[Keys Kathy]

39 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

You are going to show me the unit I want to see or I will find someone that will.  I go online and look at all available properties and decide which one I want to see.  Your numbers on the travel agent commission don't make sense.  TAs routinely offer 8 to 10 percent kickbacks and they still make money.  Some TAs may keep the entire amount.  Celebrity needs to keep that money in order to survive.  If necessary Celebrity can offer more targeted incentives where require to fill the ship.

We have what we call the condo crawl. People don't know what complex will suite them. We show on unit in several complexes. If they then want to see more, I will accomodate them. 

 

As I said, you cut commission, you loose your TA's. The more an agency books, the better commissions they get. Commission is an incentive to book the line. 

 

You would think they would at least fix the travel agent back end to save them time and save the Company money since the phone agents wouldn't have to spend so much time with them. 

[kirtihk]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:10 AM, kathynorth said:

That would discourage people from bringing wine onboard. Celebrity saves money by weaving alcohol costs into the price of an AI cruise. When people bring wine onboard they don’t consume the Celebrity wine because they are drinking their own wine, hence Celebrity saves.

Seriously? 1 bottle is enough for entire cruise for real drinkers?  More like 15 bottles for 7-day cruise.

[kirtihk]

On 1/17/2023 at 9:44 AM, Keys Kathy said:

As a Realtor, I work on commission. If there are two similar units and one is at 3% and the other at 2.5%, which one do you think I am going to show? This is the reason the new "Ideal Agent" philosophy is not working. Agents won't show the cut rate commission. 

 

If they were to cut commission, they would be cutting off their nose to spite their face. Agents would look to the higher commission lines and sell those instead. Yes, over 50% iof their bookings come from TA's.

 

When it comes to TA commission, keep in mind commission is not paid on the first $400 of the fare, nor on taxes etc. Under normal circumstances, that is at least $800 less than the actual fare. The $3500 fare will pay approx $400 in commission, and with any commission agreement, part goes to the agency and part to the actual TA. So say they get 75%. $300. (which is high) pays for their time searching, answering questions, using their knowledge and sitting on hold. They are not getting rich and the customer is getting service.

For my agent this ("sitting on hold") is by far the biggest obstacle: he spends 8-10 hours just that every single working day (he works 9 am to around 1-2 am next day).  It's really crazy!  And it's getting worse and worse by month for most cruise lines calls.

Edited January 18, 2023 by kirtihk

[TMLAalum]

On 1/17/2023 at 8:32 AM, Keys Kathy said:

The problem is, the system forces you to call in. 

 

If you want to know if you share holder credit has been applied, you HAVE to call in. 

 

 

 

Emailed shareholder claim a week ago and nada! What # to call?

In addition to your extensive list of requests requiring a call to Celebrity, the one category Captain's Club cabin upgrade should be available within the online booking process!

[Salt Lifer]

On 1/15/2023 at 3:27 PM, miched said:

Eliminate the production shows and replace with guest entertainers

 

 

 

THIS!  One of the best cruises I have taken had a week of nothing but guest entertainers because the production performers all caught Covid and were out of commission.  To me, the shows were so much better and varied than the big production shows.

 

 

[Keys Kathy]

45 minutes ago, TMLAalum said:

 

Emailed shareholder claim a week ago and nada! What # to call?

In addition to your extensive list of requests requiring a call to Celebrity, the one category Captain's Club cabin upgrade should be available within the online booking process!

Wait until about 3 weeks before your cruise and call the main number. Make sure they know what you are talking about, you may have to upgrade to a supervisor.

[kathynorth]

2 hours ago, kirtihk said:

Seriously? 1 bottle is enough for entire cruise for real drinkers?  More like 15 bottles for 7-day cruise.

I think you misunderstood the post, also the prior post that you might want to read to understand the context. 

[Moochi]

On 1/15/2023 at 12:14 PM, kathynorth said:

I think you are correct about Celebrity wanting first hand opinions from new cruisers. I think they believe they already collect sufficient input from onboard cruisers through the post cruise survey and other onboard data systems. Last week I sent an email to express my dissatisfaction with all these cuts and received a call the next day. That representive said they are collecting passenger emailed comments for review at a higher level. When I mentioned the poor quality of steak on my recent cruise she asked if I sent it back to the kitchen. She said they keep a record of anything sent back and this data is sent to a central office for review. She said the comment cards that you find in your room or can pick up from guest services are also recorded and submitted for quality control review. I’m not sure if this is accurate or if I was being appeased, but next time I get a thin chewy steak I’ll be sure to send it back.

May I ask which email you sent to? I emailed about 3 weeks ago about my negative experience in Tuscan Grille, and didn’t get any response. 

[kathynorth]

10 minutes ago, Moochi said:

May I ask which email you sent to? I emailed about 3 weeks ago about my negative experience in Tuscan Grille, and didn’t get any response. 

I emailed to this address and included my cell #. 
 

lLutoff-Perlo@celebritycruises.com

 

[Moochi]

No one talks about the terrible bath products? I’m fine with the bigger re-fillable bottles to reduce waste, but can CC please select a brand that is at least drug store quality? And use a pump that dispenses more than 1ml at a time for hair and body products? I will be happy with the most basic brands like Pantene that cost $6 for a big pump bottle. 

[markeb]

This has been a fun thread to vent on, but has anyone actually looked at RCG's financials? They're a public corporation; their SEC filings are available.

 

RCG as a whole (Celebrity isn't separated) made about 2/3 of it's revenue from ticket sales in the first 9 months of 2022. 1/3 came from onboard activities (probably includes specialty restaurants, etc.). Their biggest operating expense is "Other Operating Expenses" which are pretty much all fixed costs. After that, their biggest operating expense is payroll (onboard cruise personnel), which for all intents and purposes is a fixed expense in the short to mid term, followed by commissions, transportation, and other, which does vary with the number of customers and is "the costs directly associated with passenger ticket revenues", including travel agent commissions, air expenses, and variable port costs (per head costs as described), and credit card fees.

 

Then you have fuel, which is pretty much a fixed cost (it doesn't really vary with the number of passengers) and food, which should vary with the headcount. There's an onboard and other expense, but that's pretty much a cost of goods sold.

 

Going on the basic principle that fixed expenses are actually fixed, you're left with commissions, transportation, and other, which is essentially the cost of doing business, and food as variable cruise operation expenses. Depreciation, interest, and corporate overhead pull them into the loss column; none of those are impacted by suggestions in this thread.

 

So, really, with most expenses being essentially fixed, you cut food costs and raise onboard revenue. Maybe cuts in other little things would add up (cheaper toiletries?), but they're pretty much budget dust. And food is only about 7% of revenue. The good news is it looks like they're making up their variable expenses with revenue, which means they're losing less money by staying in business than by shutting down!

 

Oh, BTW, their 2022 financials, dismal as they are, are better than 2021...

[BridgeMates]

7 hours ago, kathynorth said:

I emailed to this address and included my cell #. 
 

lLutoff-Perlo@celebritycruises.com

 

I got a call from the head office within just a few hours of my email expressing my concerns re our upcoming cruise.  Did not include my phone number or any other identification, so they obviously cared enough to find it and call me.  However, all they're doing right now is making note of our complaints, so who knows what will fall out in the weeks to come.  We have a couple of new cruisers going with us in April and of course they're quite excited about it.  I just hope they aren't underwhelmed with the food choices that I've been hearing about.  We have some great restaurants here in the Dallas area and although we wouldn't expect the MDR to match them, we've been pretty pleased over the years.  When we moved over to Celebrity about 16 cruises ago, we "strayed" only once on Princess last year and were very disappointed with the food and service in the DR; however, the ship itself was lovely.  With the new planned changes in quality of the food, they will be very similar except their prices are better! 

Happy cruising!  🍷

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

8 hours ago, kathynorth said:

I emailed to this address and included my cell #. 
 

lLutoff-Perlo@celebritycruises.com

 

 

And just to clarify, the first letter in the email is L - not a capital I.

[TMLAalum]

Here is a suggestion: No more Blue Chip offers!

From various posts it seems even non-gamblers are receiving emails about free cruises on Celebrity.

I never opened the one I had in my inbox last year, thinking it was a likely scam and there've been no others since. Recent posts indicate Celebrity is still comping cruises while their food options are declining.

[kathynorth]

3 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

And just to clarify, the first letter in the email is L - not a capital I.

 

Yes, thanks for the clarification. I had copied and pasted from a different post and it worked. Maybe this should be LLutoff-Perlo@celebritycruises.com