Cookies now cost $2 plus 20%

[NMTraveller]

 

[HabitualLineStepper]

Are these the types of new ideas that we should be expecting from the new Celebrity leadership?

 

Fresh out of the oven cookies are only available if you want to pay for them? I guess we are relegated to eating stale old cookies if we want them for free?

[sunlover33]

Well that was a short lived trial, crumbs! Any guesses what the next trial will be? 

Edited August 26, 2023 by sunlover33

[Dolebludger]

And the idea of a 20% tip for somebody who merely hands me a cookie?  I get asked for it on land on the payment screen and I refuse. But I guess onboard, you can’t refuse.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, sunlover33 said:

Well that was a short lived trial, crumbs! Any guesses what the next trial will be? 

The people have spoken but I think it was more the bad publicity from cruising media outlets like Cruise Hive. But in reality, probably very few if any were actually buying the cookies and they had a huge waste. When they decide to not go forward with the Vaping in Casinos the official reason was, not the negative emails by CC members, it was not enough people actually vaped in the casino to make the change important enough to overcome the negativity.

[doghog]

7 minutes ago, sunlover33 said:

Well that was a short lived trial, crumbs! Any guesses what the next trial will be? 

Lets see, already tried charging for the mast grill 'burgers, now the cookies, both a bust. Maybe charging for pool side and theater seats. 😂

Edited August 26, 2023 by doghog

[terrydtx]

11 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

And the idea of a 20% tip for somebody who merely hands me a cookie?  I get asked for it on land on the payment screen and I refuse. But I guess onboard, you can’t refuse.

One of our Apex roll call members from Canada recently commented how the payment screen tipping mentality is spreading in Canada. He blamed our US obsession with tipping, and he is not off base with that comment. I filled my car up at my local Shell station and got a bottle of water, the payment screen had a place to add a tip. I asked the cashier guy about that and he said it was new software from their parent company and he can't do anything about it. I left no tip on a $1 bottle of water.  Then I saw a sign on the door how they were hiring cashiers for all shifts with staring pay at $19.50 an hour with a $1000 sign on bonus. It made me wonder where the tips were going?  On a cruise you can't refuse the gratuity unless you do not want the product or service connected to the tip.

Edited August 26, 2023 by terrydtx

[terrydtx]

8 minutes ago, doghog said:

Lets see, already tried charging for the mast grill 'burgers, now the cookies, both a bust. Maybe charging for pool side and theater seats. 😂

I would go for a fee to reserve a pool chair or lounger, that would end the Chair Hoggs or at least limit them.

[LMaxwell]

9 hours ago, OysterD said:

I assume that's because you get the gold medal? Lol

 

The definition of a cutback is something that has been reduced, taken away, eliminated. 

 

On the (ridiculous to even still be discussing this) cookie front, nothing was reduced, taken away or eliminated. 

 

The old product is still available for free, no change there. There is a new product that does have a fee. That is not cutting back. 

 

Well Celebrities "test" went over like a lead balloon and the warming oven and hand crafted cookies have been thrown overboard; so I guess it is a cutback now by your definition. 

 

Still waiting for the REAL price hikes to appear (and they will) 

[LMaxwell]

5 hours ago, D. B. said:

Once again the Cc. “Chicken Little ( the ski is falling)” Crowd overreacted and declared they would cancel all their Celebrity cruises rather than pay for cookies?

Celebrity know no one would cancel a trip over this; that's how they get away with nickel and diming people on items.  They know no $2, $10, $16.95, $50 charge or cutting service in half is really going to make anyone bail on a $5000-50,000 vacation 

[C4HCG]

10 hours ago, Joker54 said:

Just to be clear, you read 8 pages of boring posts????

Yep

 

[awhcruiser]

Much adieu about nothing.  Its over.

[mayleeman]

12 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

Much adieu about nothing.  Its over.

Fun while it lasted...like cookies.

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, LMaxwell said:

Celebrity know no one would cancel a trip over this; that's how they get away with nickel and diming people on items.  They know no $2, $10, $16.95, $50 charge or cutting service in half is really going to make anyone bail on a $5000-50,000 vacation 

It might not make folks cancel, but we will be looking around before booking again with X, where we almost automatically booke whenever we decided to cruise. The vaping experiment,  cookie charges, menu downgrades, buffet cutbacks,  and recent changes to Aqua benefits combined with large pricing increases has given us, and I'm sure many others reason to shop around when that's not previously been the case.  

[Ocdublin]

You are absolutely correct!  That’s exactly what I did today!

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

Much adieu about nothing.  Its over.

 

Just like vaping, our complaining right here on CC most likely played a part of them ending it

[horseymike]

5 hours ago, HabitualLineStepper said:

Are these the types of new ideas that we should be expecting from the new Celebrity leadership?

 

Fresh out of the oven cookies are only available if you want to pay for them? I guess we are relegated to eating stale old cookies if we want them for free?

Anyone who wants a warm cookie can just put it under their armpit for a few minutes. 🤣

[NMTraveller]

7 hours ago, sunlover33 said:

Well that was a short lived trial, crumbs! Any guesses what the next trial will be? 

The next trial will be if people will pay $2 + 20% for each toilet flush.  🙂  Kind of reminds me of a certain Carnival ship 🙂 🙂 

 

All of these trials have come from the Department of Stupid Ideas.  The supervisor of this department is overachieving in his role.

Edited August 27, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Cap_D]

What's next?  Speculation only, and none good:  Converting everything at Cafe al Bacio to a fee, and then after the uproar announcing that they will become Starbucks and charging even more.  Pay for good seats in the theaters for certain shows.  Eliminating the Spa Cafe.  Charging for seats in the solarium.  Replacing the gym on Edge class with more suites (like what they did with a lounge on an earlier class of ships) and a small paid lounge for forward views for non-Retreat guests.  Charging for Eden Cafe (the one that is currently included although rarely open).  Fee for Magic Carpet access.  Fee for tenders to port.  Fee for the captain/senior officers/crew performing comedy/trivia/axe throwing (with a recorded intro by Captain Kate and Jason Liberty).   Mast Grill from included to a fee.  Plus more cutbacks.   

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Cap_D

[Baggy178]

13 hours ago, terrydtx said:

One of our Apex roll call members from Canada recently commented how the payment screen tipping mentality is spreading in Canada. He blamed our US obsession with tipping, and he is not off base with that comment. I filled my car up at my local Shell station and got a bottle of water, the payment screen had a place to add a tip. I asked the cashier guy about that and he said it was new software from their parent company and he can't do anything about it. I left no tip on a $1 bottle of water.  Then I saw a sign on the door how they were hiring cashiers for all shifts with staring pay at $19.50 an hour with a $1000 sign on bonus. It made me wonder where the tips were going? On a cruise you can't refuse the gratuity unless you do not want the product or service connected to the tip.

' On a cruise you can't refuse the gratuity unless you do not want the product or service connected to the tip.'

 

But you can refuse to pay the auto-gratuity which in the case of our Silhouette cruise is nearly 30% of our Oct TA price.

 

We shall instead convert our OBC to a gratuity as it's a much more reasonable 18%.

 

[LouChamp]

14 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I would go for a fee to reserve a pool chair or lounger, that would end the Chair Hoggs or at least limit them.

Aloha.  I have been saying this for years. Back in the 1970s, you paid and reserved your chairs. Of course free chairs in some locations could be had but this would generate money and also reduce chair hogs somewhat. Thank you for posting this. Hopefully he gains traction!

[thebutlerdidit]

13 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Still waiting for the REAL price hikes to appear (and they will) 

That’s the thing. I’d much rather they just raise the price of my cruise to whatever it needs to be to avoid seeing upcharges and prices listed on the menu and around the ship. It’s tacky.

[D. B.]

7 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

The next trial will be if people will pay $2 + 20% for each toilet flush.  🙂  Kind of reminds me of a certain Carnival ship 🙂 🙂 

 

All of these trials have come from the Department of Stupid Ideas.  The supervisor of this department is overachieving in his role.

That department anything like Monty Python’s Department of Silly Walks?🤔

[TeeRick]

19 hours ago, D. B. said:

Once again the Cc. “Chicken Little ( the ski is falling)” Crowd overreacted and declared they would cancel all their Celebrity cruises rather than pay for cookies?

Well no need to cancel over cookiegate anymore.  It ended.

 

But I agree there are an awful lot of comments on these boards like:

"that is the last straw!  I plan to not sail Celebrity anymore after my next 5 booked cruises are completed sometime in 2026."  LOL.

[awhcruiser]

Someone please explain to me why a person would pay $1000s for a cruise, yet complain about a $2 cookie?