Celebrity at a crossroads

[jonthomas]

To start with..

Food was worse than on 

Celeb in a regular balcony. We no longer sail celebrity because of that.

Very boring lectures.

Wonderful weather and calm sea, but had to fight to get them to open roof over the pool. Otherwise could not be in the mid area of ship, stifling and very hot, horrible entertainment.  No entertainment off the ship  just the in house singers and dancers. Nothing to do all day.

Only one plus..NO kids.

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

X2

 

We're listening.  What was the problem?

[Pickels]

On 3/20/2023 at 11:47 AM, JLS07 said:

I have written and rewritten this post several times.  I know this is likely going to upset some people, and I am sorry for that.

 

Just for some perspective, I am mid to late 40’s, been sailing Celebrity for 12ish years, have a 16- and 10-year-old that have been on every cruise they could have gone on (10 or so for my daughter and 8 for my son).  I have only ever sailed Celebrity (other than one Carnival to Havana).

 

As the title says, I think Celebrity is at a crossroads for which direction they should go.  We have always loved the elegance and higher class on Celebrity, but the last two cruises (both Apex and post covid) have seen a significant decrease across the board.

 

To me, celebrity is currently trying too hard to fit into too many categories, be it the older crowd that doesn’t want kids around (you should see the nasty comments on our spring break cruise’s Facebook page), the family crowd, or the party crowd (never seen as many drunks on all my celebrity trips combined as I have the last two).

 

We have simply encountered a quality of people that we had never seen before on celebrity.  We encountered:  Multiple people passed out on St. Patrick’s Day by the pool (yes passed out - we were watching them start taking shots at breakfast), Eating as much fried this or that as physically possible all while barely able to stand, people who absolutely reeked of cigarettes everywhere, nasty rude people who snapped back at anyone around them (one lady snapped at me when I offer her a seat on a particularly rough sea day).

 

We have two more cruises already booked and paid for over the summer.  I will use those as one more chance to determine if Celebrity is still what we want to continue travel on.  

 

If you have considered moving from Celebrity due to the drop in quality, which lines did you consider as a replacement?

We have sailed Celebrity on our last three cruises; Equinox, Silhouette and this past February on the Reflection. We did not see any of the situations that you referred to. 

[JBare]

15 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Can you explain the reason you needed to call out what people were eating or how much, with the implication that the weight was what was causing them to barely be able to stand?  Are those people not up to the "quality" you expected?  I sincerely hope that was misworded and insulting overweight people was not your intent.

Selective editing a quote is never a good idea if you miss out the line before which said drinking all day starting with shots in the morning, this may have contributed to barely able to stand.

Edited April 26, 2023 by JBare

[JBare]

55 minutes ago, Pickels said:

We have sailed Celebrity on our last three cruises; Equinox, Silhouette and this past February on the Reflection. We did not see any of the situations that you referred to. 

Agreed, our last three cruises were on Beyond, Silhouette and Eclipse and I have never seen the behaviour referred to.

Edited April 26, 2023 by JBare
you'd think i could spell Silhouette by now

[hubofhockey]

On 3/20/2023 at 11:47 AM, JLS07 said:

We have simply encountered a quality of people that we had never seen before on celebrity.  We encountered:  Multiple people passed out on St. Patrick’s Day by the pool (yes passed out - we were watching them start taking shots at breakfast), Eating as much fried this or that as physically possible all while barely able to stand, people who absolutely reeked of cigarettes everywhere, nasty rude people who snapped back at anyone around them (one lady snapped at me when I offer her a seat on a particularly rough sea day).

 

We have two more cruises already booked and paid for over the summer.  I will use those as one more chance to determine if Celebrity is still what we want to continue travel on.  

 

If you have considered moving from Celebrity due to the drop in quality, which lines did you consider as a replacement?

 

Came across this while searching for something else and it made me smile for a couple of reasons.  The first is that it sounds like the last Carnival I cruise I took about 12 years ago.  The second is that some of this stuff is arbitrary and can happen anywhere, especially when large groups book cruises. I think it's another reason we stopped booking all Caribbean cruises and any cruise on a very large ship.  

 

In any case, sometimes I think I have gotten older and that I am the one with shifting tastes and that influences the lines we book as well as itineraries.  We have Celebrity M class ship for Japan and not expecting any of what is mentioned above, but we are now focused more on Azamara and maybe Oceania, especially in light of X's new policy on nonrefundable deposits.  Azamara will return everything (maybe not a processing fee, not sure).  OP here has kids so maybe Azamara and Oceania aren't good options, but maybe concentrate on unique itineraries on M class ships and you won't run into that.

[NMTraveller]

I don't know what to say here.  The Celebrity muff ups seem to get worse every month.  I hope that they fix things by my next cruise...

[PTC DAWG]

On 4/25/2023 at 10:54 PM, jonthomas said:

 

Wonderful weather and calm sea, but had to fight to get them to open roof over the pool. Otherwise could not be in the mid area of ship, stifling and very hot, horrible entertainment.  No entertainment off the ship  just the in house singers and dancers. Nothing to do all day.

Only one plus..NO kids.

Which Celebrity ships have pools with roofs that open?  I now see you were speaking of Viking ships…..

Edited May 1, 2023 by PTC DAWG

[AF-1]

I sailed Celebrity for the first time in March.  Was on same cruise as OP on Apex.  I enjoyed the ship and the entertainment.  I have skin cancer so don't hang out by pool.  I believe the ship was either full or almost full capacity and it was spring break with lots of kids.  I would talk to the teenagers in the buffet and they were very nice and cordial.  Never saw anyone mis-behaving.  I have another Celebrity Cruise booked on Summit for Jan 24;  then it's back to Princess.  Cheers

[jonthomas]

That's not our experience with kids on board. It was a nightmare, got compensation towards a future cruise. Will never sail celeb again. It has nothing to offer us, giving up the elite plus status. Which is worthless. You get all of that included on O.

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

That's not our experience with kids on board. It was a nightmare, got compensation towards a future cruise. Will never sail celeb again. It has nothing to offer us, giving up the elite plus status. Which is worthless. You get all of that included on O.

 

I'll be honest, I'm a little confused.  You have sailed Celebrity enough to gain E+ status and after one cruise that happened to be during a Spring Break or other holiday with a lot of kids and now you are done with them.  You obviously know the Celebrity demographic and it's not a lot of kids on most sailings.  There are certainly plenty of things that have changed on Celebrity that would make you want to try other cruise lines but I'm not sure it's fair to blame it on a lot of kids.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

There is almost 10 kids on the Reflection TA 😱

I am never cruising Celebrity again

🤣

[jonthomas]

Oh there are many reasons why we won't sail Celeb and I have listed them too often...just read previous posts...

[Ipeeinthepools]

2 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Oh there are many reasons why we won't sail Celeb and I have listed them too often...just read previous posts...

 

Ok, sounds good.  Bye.  Sorry we'll never meet.

[phoenix_dream]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:13 AM, JBare said:

Selective editing a quote is never a good idea if you miss out the line before which said drinking all day starting with shots in the morning, this may have contributed to barely able to stand.

I think these words alone make the intent of the insult pretty clear:

 

Eating as much fried this or that as physically possible all while barely able to stand,

[shipshape sam]

I am not sure Celebrity wants kids.  I would not like to be a kid sailing on Celebrity.  Royal Caribbean is a kids cruise line compared to Celebrity.

 

I think Celebrity wants cruisers who have disposable income via their focus on the retreat area and suites.   Then you have BLU via Aqua Class.  Not a kid friendly category IMHO.

 

They also have a strong desire for lots of additional add ons to sell us.  My last experience, for example, is with the AI and drinks in particular where I thought "quit running out of stuff!"  We signed up and they run out of or don't even have many good beer choices and wines we are drinking after 2-3 days being out of stock, etc.

 

They still want older cruisers as they can fill in and help to keep ships full or close to full.  

 

We are taking our daughter and family with granddaughter on cruise next year and Celebrity never was in consideration.  Try and sell Eden to a kid!

[JBare]

On 3/20/2023 at 3:47 PM, JLS07 said:

Multiple people passed out on St. Patrick’s Day by the pool (yes passed out - we were watching them start taking shots at breakfast), Eating as much fried this or that as physically possible all while barely able to stand.

 

17 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I think these words alone make the intent of the insult pretty clear:

 

Eating as much fried this or that as physically possible all while barely able to stand,

 

Well lets agree to disagree, I think more of the OP's quote tells a different story.

[phoenix_dream]

16 hours ago, shipshape sam said:

I am not sure Celebrity wants kids.  I would not like to be a kid sailing on Celebrity.  Royal Caribbean is a kids cruise line compared to Celebrity.

 

I think Celebrity wants cruisers who have disposable income via their focus on the retreat area and suites.   Then you have BLU via Aqua Class.  Not a kid friendly category IMHO.

 

They also have a strong desire for lots of additional add ons to sell us.  My last experience, for example, is with the AI and drinks in particular where I thought "quit running out of stuff!"  We signed up and they run out of or don't even have many good beer choices and wines we are drinking after 2-3 days being out of stock, etc.

 

They still want older cruisers as they can fill in and help to keep ships full or close to full.  

 

We are taking our daughter and family with granddaughter on cruise next year and Celebrity never was in consideration.  Try and sell Eden to a kid!

When's the last time you sailed?  For awhile after restart they had supply issues, but in our cruises within the past year (and there were many) that has never been an issue.  Granted, I think their selections, for example of premium package red wine, are very limited but we haven't had any supply issues in over a year.

 

I do think kids would prefer Royal over Celebrity hands down.  They see the commercials on tv all the time and they board Celebrity and wonder where the water slides and rock climbing walls are.  That said, they do have great kids programs and kids still can have a good time.  They are definitely marketing towards the 30-40ish year olds with money to spend and often those folks want to travel as a family.  So like it or not, they have to provide a decent experience for kids to make that happen.  I've seen a lot of kids on my recent cruises (meaning a lot compared to the Celebrity of old).  I think more and more families are cruising these days and they need to accommodate that. 

 

And I actually disagree that they want older cruisers.  I am one of those and I don't feel wanted at all.  Why?  The marketing is all geared towards younger people.  The new ships are designed for younger people.  The benefits of highest level Captains Club are deteriorating.  The prices are exorbitant now which drastically impacts those of us who want to cruise multiple times a year.  I am a very loyal Celebrity cruiser and will continue to sail when I can afford it as I love the onboard experience.  But, for example, this year I am cruising 8 times as I have done the last few years.  Next year I have 2 cruises booked because prices are so high.  

[jonthomas]

Try Oceania. After 50 cruises with C and their class system, gave it all up. Love O, no kids, great food, wish we had done it sooner, great loyalty program, the best of all lines.

[Ipeeinthepools]

3 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Try Oceania. After 50 cruises with C and their class system, gave it all up. Love O, no kids, great food, wish we had done it sooner, great loyalty program, the best of all lines.

 

I'm sure Oceania is a great cruise line but I'm not sure it's a fair comparison, at least for the non-suite balcony cabins.  A 12-night cruise in February on Oceania is $10,600 for a low-level balcony cabin including drinks and economy airfare.  A 12-night on the Rotterdam in February is $6900 with the Have-It-All package. So if you say that the shore-excursion credit, Free wifi and the specialty dining are about the same value as economy air fare, you are left with a difference of $3700 or more than 50% more expensive.  There may be a lot of things I don't like about the new Celebrity but I probably won't pay 50% more to be on Oceania.

[jonthomas]

We could no longer dine in the mdr on celeb or the buffet.To get better food you have to book suites. Suites on celeb are more than a regular balcony on O.

And you are still with kids, a class system etc.

Love O, great food, no kids, you are served in the buffet, no one touches the serving utensils  except gloved staff, classy, amazing lectures and activities and wonderfully friendly people.

[jonthomas]

Bottom line, try a different line, then your comparisons will have merit.

[redjetz]

20 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

We could no longer dine in the mdr on celeb or the buffet.To get better food you have to book suites. Suites on celeb are more than a regular balcony on O.

And you are still with kids, a class system etc.

Love O, great food, no kids, you are served in the buffet, no one touches the serving utensils  except gloved staff, classy, amazing lectures and activities and wonderfully friendly people.

You clearly have made your choice - we like O as well, when the budget allows - so why do you spend so much time here? I am not being snarky, I really don’t understand why you are here posting.

[mahdnc]

47 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I'm sure Oceania is a great cruise line but I'm not sure it's a fair comparison, at least for the non-suite balcony cabins.  A 12-night cruise in February on Oceania is $10,600 for a low-level balcony cabin including drinks and economy airfare.  A 12-night on the Rotterdam in February is $6900 with the Have-It-All package. So if you say that the shore-excursion credit, Free wifi and the specialty dining are about the same value as economy air fare, you are left with a difference of $3700 or more than 50% more expensive.  There may be a lot of things I don't like about the new Celebrity but I probably won't pay 50% more to be on Oceania.

 

Maybe their pools are really great.

[jonthomas]

Because there are those that ask me to respond, just as you did now.