Is Celebrity going to Eliminate Butlers on Sky and Celebrity Suites?

[shirazcruiser]

How many dedicated butlers do you think there previously was on a S class ship that has 34 SS's?  One time in an aft SS1, I thought our butler told us he serviced all of the aft SS cabins...which there are 20 and seems like a lot of rooms. When this butler hadn't seen us in days, he came to our cabin because he was concerned that something was wrong.  We explained that we just hadn't needed anything.  I was wondering if some butlers were busier with their assigned cabins who requested more while other butlers had less active cabins so they are trying to balance the workload without specifically saying this?

Edited August 3, 2023 by shirazcruiser

[CruisinBanka]

When we sailed B2B on the Edge in a SS my Butler told me he had 16 cabins. Luckily we are low maintenance because we hardly saw him for 2 weeks. 

[mayleeman]

The Celebrity explanation that service will be enhanced by this change simply begs to be compared to the old phrase about someone telling you it is raining on your leg.

[Wookie01]

5 hours ago, VMI72 said:

Yes, Celebrity Suites and the above will continue to have access to a dedicated Butler along with all the Retreat amenities.

This seems to be a really interesting comment.
Does this imply that the next set of changes will be to remove Retreat amenities from Sky Suites?

[hcat]

11 minutes ago, Wookie01 said:

This seems to be a really interesting comment.
Does this imply that the next set of changes will be to remove Retreat amenities from Sky Suites?

There's no room to dump them in BLU

[ncgolferette]

Who is going to get the 1000 post? The race is on.

Edited August 3, 2023 by ncgolferette

[MamaFej]

47 minutes ago, Wookie01 said:

This seems to be a really interesting comment.
Does this imply that the next set of changes will be to remove Retreat amenities from Sky Suites?

I'm interpreting it more as, "Let's head this question off at the pass." Surely they are aware of the speculation, and the complaints about lack of communication. Reassuring folks that this particular  concern isn't founded seems a wise move in my (admitedly speculative) opinion. 

[wrk2cruise]

I believe on M class there were 6 butlers.

[bnurick]

Just booked DCL Concierge Class transatlantic instead of the X option we were going to book. Too many changes and no trust at this point. Unfortunate.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, Wookie01 said:

This seems to be a really interesting comment.
Does this imply that the next set of changes will be to remove Retreat amenities from Sky Suites?

Earlier this week I posted about the conversation my TA had with her Celebrity rep who told her there are more changes planned for the Retreat product by the end of this year. I really believe this new team of pseudo butlers concept is merely a Beta test, and this will eventually go to all suites.

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I believe on M class there were 6 butlers.

That was the number we had on our April/May cruise. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 hours ago, clojacks said:

EVERY SINGLE CRUISE LINE is facing their own financial battles and handling them in some fashion that is going to piss off some subset of passengers.

Except MSC. 

[DaKahuna]

15 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Earlier this week I posted about the conversation my TA had with her Celebrity rep who told her there are more changes planned for the Retreat product by the end of this year. I really believe this new team of pseudo butlers concept is merely a Beta test, and this will eventually go to all suites.

 This speculation, along with the speculation on Sky Suites loosing Retreat and Luminae access, has me really anxious about our cruise next year. 
 

[Octavias]

20 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 This speculation, along with the speculation on Sky Suites loosing Retreat and Luminae access, has me really anxious about our cruise next year. 
 

Me too. 

[wineoclock]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 This speculation, along with the speculation on Sky Suites loosing Retreat and Luminae access, has me really anxious about our cruise next year. 
 

We are booked in a CS next year. I wanted a SS but dh likes the CS. He also likes PS but way out of budget now he’s retired. He’s now swanning around all happy that he insisted on CS (Apex June) as too much uncertainty.
 

However I’m happy with our upcoming Beyond suite guarantee (October) & been assigned a MC suite and £2700 cheaper than the actual MC suite price I’m happy (I think) 😁

[Cap_D]

Re the need for a point of contact, and spreadsheet comment above - good point, and a very valid concern.

 

We found having to repeat requests to more than one person very annoying on our last cruise in a Retreat Celebrity Suite.  Also, didn't enjoy having frequently answer the ringing phone or check voicemail to then have to repeat the request again.  Spent more time on a corded phone then we had in years.  

Edited August 4, 2023 by Cap_D

[chrisn-au]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Earlier this week I posted about the conversation my TA had with her Celebrity rep who told her there are more changes planned for the Retreat product by the end of this year. I really believe this new team of pseudo butlers concept is merely a Beta test, and this will eventually go to all suites.

I have put on my flame retardant clothing - we have sailed in a SS once on the Beyond and have one planned on the Apex in September from Athens. I absolutely concur the communication on this has been atrocious - I guess it leaked , and am frustrated on kind of  loosing a "paid" for perk, however on my first cruise I was left with what does the Butler do question and kept  feeling there must be a more cost effective way to deliver the same services. Perhaps X have gone down the same thought path. For me it would be suicide for Celebrity to significantly cut suite services (even for us lowly SS guests)  so I assume this is a tuning thing - time alone will tell, the great thing is we don't have to spend our money with a particular company. 

[Mark_T]

1 hour ago, chrisn-au said:

- time alone will tell, the great thing is we don't have to spend our money with

Unless of course like many people you are already past final payment and have already spent the money only to have the product switched out from under you…

 

This is the unacceptable part of all of these changes, way too many service reductions being imposed on paying guests who didn’t choose to sail with the product they are now left with…

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

17 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

I do not completely agree.  We had a Genie on RCL and it was no different than when I had a Royal Suite on Celebrity.  I was contacted multiple times in advance - all requests were done when we arrived in our cabin.  Our butler was just as available as the Genie on RCL. We actually had a same leak problem in our cabin and our Butler made sure it was taken care of correctly and even gave us vouchers which we didn't even ask for. To be honest the Genie on RCL was a little too intrusive, she would show up at every dinner location we were at to check on us.

 

It may be that I am viewing the experience and differences through a coloured lens. I am usually the planner for my family but unexpectedly was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. I was between surgery and radiotherapy when we sailed, so having a Genie that made thing happen and to 'take over organising duties' was a blessing. I had no guilt asking for things to be done, which I may not have expected a butler to do especially as our Genie was only looking after 2 cabins. The being escorted to everything and popping in to check, could seem overkill, but you do pay for it. 

[Sigyn]

19 hours ago, shirazcruiser said:

I just received a call from a Celebrity Executive Representative in response to my email regarding this topic and my B2B Sept/Oct sailings. She advised that "there has always been a butler team in the background" and that they are bringing the team forward mid-Aug with SS's sailings at full capacity. Also, that they "supposedly" have received positive feedback with the upcoming change 😂. We'll see and hoping for the best!

I can't imagine they've had a single call with positive feedback. That's marketing BS at its best - and I should know. I'm a marketing executive. lol. 

Here's what we know. There is a butler team replacing individual butlers. Yet they are laying off butlers, so there will be fewer of them. Therefore, service will be negatively impacted. You can't do the same with less. 

[Sigyn]

17 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

If they had any sort of competent IT department they could update the app so we could send a request to a central contact and then they could just arrange from there.  I honestly prefer to do things over text.  

Don't even get my husband started on the IT incompetence. He's an IT project manager, former programmer, and on our cruise last month we ran into all sort of glitches with info not in the system or not having been transferred over to our account, etc., due to a crappy IT department. He explained this, and the fix, to the concierge and she just smiled. But didn't seem to care. 

[Sigyn]

18 hours ago, terrydtx said:

By the end of the year, I will bet money that this team concept will be across all suites.  It is being beta tested with us 'Lowly" Sky Suites.

I prefer the term "steerage" 
 

18 hours ago, zitsky said:

This is a real disservice to the “upper” suites as they will be stuck with one butler and won’t have that efficient experience that the rest of us have.  😂

They're gonna be SO jealous! 

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, Sigyn said:

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by terrydtx

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, Sigyn said:

18 hours ago, zitsky said:

This is a real disservice to the “upper” suites as they will be stuck with one butler and won’t have that efficient experience that the rest of us have.  😂

They're gonna be SO jealous! 

And then so upset when this Beta test goes to all suites.

[cruisinsusin]

13 hours ago, Wookie01 said:

This seems to be a really interesting comment.
Does this imply that the next set of changes will be to remove Retreat amenities from Sky Suites?

I specifically asked that question in my email to the executive office and was assured that the amenities that come with booking the Sky Suites would remain unchanged.