Confirmed, pillow chocolates 1st & last night only unless requested, AQ amenities by request & no more canapés,

[Luvcrusn]

48 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

What is a kettle bell?

[Peteymil]

2 hours ago, baggal said:

I guess I'm one of the few people here on cruise critic who are just happy to be able to cruise a few times a year, with or without pillow chocolates.  

I understand what you are saying, however I think the point is that people feel they are not getting what they paid for, even if it's a very small thing.  Where does Celebrity draw the line? No more free cookies and nighttime chocolates morphs into lounge chairs on the pool decks must be rented or seats in the theater must be reserved and paid for--who knows what will be next.

[Mark_K]

2 hours ago, zitsky said:

In other news, cars will now be sold without tires.  Unless you pay extra.

Reminds me of the 1956 Ford by dad bought, a heater was optional equipment.

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, manmachine said:

And don’t forget you are one of the people that may allow Celebrity to continue to erode their brand experience since you are allowing your own standards to be lowered.

I can't say my standards relate to having chocolates on my pillow, but complaining about not having certainly would lower them.

[RainbowRichard]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

They removed the CEO title for incoming Presidents of both Celebrity and Silversea. That wasn't an oversight. Jason Liberty (former CFO now CEO) has more control over all the brands now as there are no competing CEO roles. If Michael Bayley steps down, I would put money on the new RCI head being President minus CEO as well. My take is Laura's position was awarded after her success with Coco Cay and the RCI and the Royal Amplified program. Lisa is now "chair of external affairs" for RGC. I would translate that as they gave her $300k to do some light legacy consulting work and she hasn't been to an office or answered an email since May. 

Ah that explains a lot - the CEO used to be the CFO? I have worked for a number of companies that got totally ruined when the CFO got promoted to CEO….

[Tony UK]

3 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

I cast my favours widely as you can tell from my signature. 2025 was due to be predominantly X but I am now wondering what will be left of what I thought I was going to get.

 

I think what this needs is some big American TA, or whatever you call them, to pick up the 'phone to Freedom and say something along the lines of 'we can no longer recommend X to our clients because of the diminishing standards, blah, blah etc, etc'. Perhaps then he will get the message as the complaints here will be water off a duck's back.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

The You tube bloggers are already onto cookiegate! Its making Celebrity brand a joke. The drip drip of changes is damaging the company's reputation day by day.

[Baron Barracuda]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

They removed the CEO title for incoming Presidents of both Celebrity and Silversea. That wasn't an oversight. Jason Liberty (former CFO now CEO) has more control over all the brands now as there are no competing CEO roles. If Michael Bayley steps down, I would put money on the new RCI head being President minus CEO as well. My take is Laura's position was awarded after her success with Coco Cay and the RCI and the Royal Amplified program. Lisa is now "chair of external affairs" for RGC. I would translate that as they gave her $300k to do some light legacy consulting work and she hasn't been to an office or answered an email since May. 

Don't read too much into divisional job titles.  Many companies have division presidents or CEO's who ultimately report to parent company superiors with lesser sounding titles.   Laura and Michael are simply line of business managers.  They enjoy some level of decision making authority but are not on the board.  Ultimately Jason Liberty calls the shots.

[Luvcrusn]

Disney is currently dealing with a drop in revenue due to aggressive pricing and dealing with the repercussions. I suspect that until the cruise lines see a similar revenue drop these negative changes will continue. As I said previously cost increases are something that we've unfortunately been accustomed to in all walks of life and are widely, albeit grudgingly accepted. However, when those increases are accompanied by a reduction in quality and quantity of the product, customers often do not accept them. This is a unique kind of retail experience since the product provider, by contract wording, is free to change the product offered after the purchase has been made. 

[Kelownadon]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

What would be something you’d miss if X took it away?  French onion soup?  Steaks? Etc

My included daily morning Caramel Macchiato from Cafe Al Bacio with the Classic Beverage package. 

[C 2 C]

2 hours ago, C4HCG said:

Some posters here are only happy when they have something to complain about however trivial it seems to others 

You can't talk about the weather all the time.  There is nothing one can do if mother nature has her own way. Are you suggesting we should start posting about all the improvements introduced on board? .. .. Just listen to the silence.

[Luvcrusn]

5 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

You can't talk about the weather all the time.  There is nothing one can do if mother nature has her own way. Are you suggesting we should start posting about all the improvements introduced on board? .. .. Just listen to the silence.

[C4HCG]

8 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

You can't talk about the weather all the time.  There is nothing one can do if mother nature has her own way. Are you suggesting we should start posting about all the improvements introduced on board? .. .. Just listen to the silence.

😂 how is the weather where you are? I think one thread about a change such as the butler one is enough, not 10 or more with people making their own point multiple times. Silence is better. Weather here rainy, thanks for asking.

[publicpersona]

3 hours ago, baggal said:

I guess I'm one of the few people here on cruise critic who are just happy to be able to cruise a few times a year, with or without pillow chocolates.  

 

Sounds like you'd be better off on a container ship. MSC has those.

[C 2 C]

5 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

😂 how is the weather where you are? I think one thread about a change such as the butler one is enough, not 10 or more with people making their own point multiple times. Silence is better. Weather here rainy, thanks for asking.

For the first time in 70 years living here we had 4 tornado warnings last night.  Exciting?  No change can be painful and memorable.

[C4HCG]

6 minutes ago, publicpersona said:

 

Sounds like you'd be better off on a container ship. MSC has those.

Because they don’t need pillow chocolates to enjoy a cruise 😂😂😂 wow.

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

What would be something you’d miss if X took it away?  French onion soup?  Steaks? Etc

 

Celebrity might as well re-instate the $35 ($25?) fee for joining the Captains Club...

[publicpersona]

19 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Because they don’t need pillow chocolates to enjoy a cruise 😂😂😂 wow.

 

Neither the post I quoted nor my comment said anything about pillow chocolates.

 

I was commenting that if all one required to have a great cruise is to literally be on a ship at sea, a container ship would suffice.

 

I've enjoyed almost all of my 70+ cruises not just for being on a ship at sea, but because we were constantly having our expectations exceeded with how well we were being treated. I'm on Equinox next week and plan to have another great cruise. But given that Equinox is being used to test things that will piss customers off ($2 for a cookie?), I'm mindful that we could be disappointed.

[manmachine]

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

What would be something you’d miss if X took it away?  French onion soup?  Steaks? Etc

Don’t complain, Nuts.  

 

Just bring your own steaks and ask them to grill them for you.  Frozen ahead of time and they can help keep that bag of Hershey’s kisses cool so they don’t melt.
 

And for your ‘must-have’ soup, simply grill some onions ahead of time— get ‘em nice and carmelized, and put them in a plastic baggie for travel and to bring on-board.  When you are ready, grab a stale end of bread and a bowl of hot water from the buffet, plus some slices of cheese.  If you can’t find Gruyère, I am sure Swiss-style will work.  Add a beef bouillon cube to the hot water and then your onions.  Stir, then add your bread heel to soak it all up.  Cover with cheese which should melt just fine if the water is still hot.

 

Easy peasy.  Why the fuss?

 

😎🤔😝

Edited August 25, 2023 by manmachine

[manmachine]

30 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Because they don’t need pillow chocolates to enjoy a cruise 😂😂😂 wow.

And you don’t need very high service standards to make comments on Cruise Critic, apparently.

[mnocket]

The moment I read the title of this thread I knew what would follow was some people complaining about death by a thousand cuts and other people saying it's a single slice, no big deal.  I wasn't disappointed. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Don't read too much into divisional job titles.  Many companies have division presidents or CEO's who ultimately report to parent company superiors with lesser sounding titles.   Laura and Michael are simply line of business managers.  They enjoy some level of decision making authority but are not on the board.  Ultimately Jason Liberty calls the shots.

X got rid of both its current CEO LLP and the CEO title.  Otherwise I completely agree with you

[NutsAboutGolf]

28 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Celebrity might as well re-instate the $35 ($25?) fee for joining the Captains Club...

How wrong you are.  It would be $35/$25 PLUS a 20% gratuity 🙃

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 minutes ago, mnocket said:

The moment I read the title of this thread I knew what would follow was some people complaining about death by a thousand cuts and other people saying it's a single slice, no big deal.  I wasn't disappointed. 

We are reliably predictable

[mnocket]

4 hours ago, zitsky said:

In other news, cars will now be sold without tires.  Unless you pay extra.

You joke, but it's actually not entirely far-fetched.  Sure years ago many manufacturers stopped providing full-size spare tires unless you paid extra, but recently they've embraced the notion of subscriptions. How would you feel about paying $5 each month for the ability to lock and unlock your car from a distance through an app? What about a $25-per-month charge for advanced cruise control or $10 to access heated seats? In some BMWs, you can pay to unlock automatic high-beam headlights, which dim for oncoming traffic.  Many of these features, like the ability to remote start your car from the key fob are built into the car and cost the manufacturer nothing to activate.  I'm afraid younger Comsumers are being conditioned to accept this kind of al a carte pricing as normal - we old-timers call it nickel and diming.  It seems the cruise lines are jumping on the bandwagon; except they are taking it a step further and also eliminating things that used to be standard in order to save money. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

32 minutes ago, manmachine said:

Don’t complain, Nuts.  

 

Just bring your own steaks and ask them to grill them for you.  Frozen ahead of time and they can help keep that bag of Hershey’s kisses cool so they don’t melt.
 

And for your ‘must-have’ soup, simply grill some onions ahead of time— get ‘em nice and carmelized, and put them in a plastic baggie for travel and to bring on-board.  When you are ready, grab a stale end of bread and a bowl of hot water from the buffet, plus some slices of cheese.  If you can’t find Gruyère, I am sure Swiss-style will work.  Add a beef bouillon cube to the hot water and then your onions.  Stir, then add your bread heel to soak it all up.  Cover with cheese which should melt just fine if the water is still hot.

 

Easy peasy.  Why the fuss?

 

😎🤔😝

 

With the direction cutbacks are going, if you want to eat on a cruise ship you're going to need to bring along one of these...