Seriously now-how many of you are REALLY looking at other cruise lines because of the CEO's changes going on?

[cruisegirlppp]

We have been sailing with Celebrity since the the mid 90's so we have seen many changes throughout the years but none have been as jarring as this current crop of cuts with price increases. I really think they have targeted a different demographic.

We have one more cruise booked with Celebrity for Scandinavia next year,  but in the meantime we are trying Viking and may cancel the Celebrity one.

[AlaskaNewbie68]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:22 PM, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

We went on our first Celebrity cruise last year after many with Royal. We have the Ascent booked for next year, and we are very much looking forward to it. We'll reevaluate after that cruise, but for now, I still view Celebrity as offering the experience we are looking for: more refined than Royal, better food drinks, and service (and based on the food reviews over on the RCI forum, that is still the case), and still at a good price point. For a 2025 cruise, we're actually seeing prices similar to or less than Royal from our TA. 

 

With that said, I am increasingly interested in Princess. It seems they've maintained a good level of service and food. They're adding some extra charges for some things, but if you go with one of their packages, most of it is included.

 

I'll be in the market for a milestone celebration cruise come 2026. I'll probably go with Celebrity or Princess based on itinerary. Not ready to make the leap to the luxury lines. 

Agreed. We've only done one Celebrity (in May) and really loved it overall. Was it perfect? No, but nothing is. We were just cancelled by Virgin for our 25th Anniv. trip so we quickly went over to the Celebrity site and found a trip on Apex the same week with an itinerary that made us happy. 

[Cruise till you drop]

9 minutes ago, AlaskaNewbie68 said:

Agreed. We've only done one Celebrity (in May) and really loved it overall. Was it perfect? No, but nothing is. We were just cancelled by Virgin for our 25th Anniv. trip so we quickly went over to the Celebrity site and found a trip on Apex the same week with an itinerary that made us happy. 

Just curious on the Virgin cancellation

 

Care to share more details ?

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

I certainly have, for Oceania, Viking, MSC. There are some similar issues. Long time Oceania cruisers don’t like “Simply More”, change in cancellation/refund policy, seemingly frequent port cancellations. MSC folks don’t like that prices seem to be creeping up. 
 

But, in my review, there is nothing compared to the volume, speed and scope of Celebrity’s changes. And frankly, none of them seem to be affecting already booked customers. The butler change, with its accompanying lack of any communication, affects folks who booked over a year ago, including me. 
 

Yah, I’ve looked, and I’m trying a different cruise line.

 

mac_tlc

Since we have a booked cruise with Oceania, I have also been monitoring the O boards. First impression after introducing myself was how many people there are ex Celebrity customers, I got comments like "What took you so long to jump ship"   

 

The biggest issue on O seems to be over the newly introduced Simply More program. under the O'Life program which we booked originally with our 2025 cruise you had a choice of one of several amenities that included the House Beverage package, OBC or Shore excursion credit.  We originally chose the Bev package which was for beer and wine with lunch and dinner.  The new SM now includes the bev package, free Wi-Fi and a shore excursion credit depending on cruise length for ALL bookings. I can see why O has changed this, to be more in line with their main competitor Viking Ocean. The people unhappy with the SM are like people on Celebrity with AI, they do not drink enough for a bev package and they do not use the ships excursions so no excursion credit is needed. We changed our 2025 booking to SM and for the same price as we booked with the Bev package we got an additional $1000 in shore excursion credit which was a huge win for us and was the equivalent of a $1000 price drop. Under SM there is no option to book a bare bones cruise like before so yes some of their customers are not happy. Again O is trying to be in line with Viking which has a beer and wine with meals, free Wi-Fi and free shore excursions included in all of their pricing with no bare bones options.

 

The change in Oceania's cancelation policy is you lose a portion of your deposit if you cancel from 6 months out to 3 months out. If you cancel more than 6 months out you get a full refund of the deposit. This is still better than Celebrity policy with NRD.

Edited September 8, 2023 by terrydtx

[AlaskaNewbie68]

32 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Just curious on the Virgin cancellation

 

Care to share more details ?

Sure. Here is an article about the mess over there. Virgin Cancellations  Apparently their new ship is indefinitely delayed and they, for some reason, cancelled those of us on an already existing ship, and put the passengers on the not-yet--ready ship on our ship. Not a good first impression. 

[Cruise till you drop]

5 minutes ago, AlaskaNewbie68 said:

Sure. Here is an article about the mess over there. Virgin Cancellations  Apparently their new ship is indefinitely delayed and they, for some reason, cancelled those of us on an already existing ship, and put the passengers on the not-yet--ready ship on our ship. Not a good first impression. 

Wow and I agree that’s not a good move by Virgin

[TeeRick]

On 9/6/2023 at 8:09 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Totally get that yet it is pretty significant that the previous CEO and president leaves and the CEO title is eliminated

I have to disagree.  There is only one CEO and that is of the RCG, Jason Liberty.  The rest of them are Presidents of their cruise lines.  Michael Bayley holds a title of President and CEO of RCCL but the CEO part is pretty meaningless in the corporate structure.  What is most meaningful is that LH Bethge is a career operations person at RCCL chosen to run Celebrity as President.  An Operations executive will carry out the orders from the top (RCG) and that is exactly what we are seeing.  

[terrydtx]

23 minutes ago, AlaskaNewbie68 said:

Sure. Here is an article about the mess over there. Virgin Cancellations  Apparently their new ship is indefinitely delayed and they, for some reason, cancelled those of us on an already existing ship, and put the passengers on the not-yet--ready ship on our ship. Not a good first impression. 

So instead of just canceling the maiden voyage and other bookings on the new ship, which would have made sense, they cancel cruises on the existing ships?  Something sounds a little fishy here.  My first thought is financial issues a possibility?  

[mac_tlc]

48 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

 

 

The change in Oceania's cancelation policy is you lose a portion of your deposit if you cancel from 6 months out to 3 months out. If you cancel more than 6 months out you get a full refund of the deposit. This is still better than Celebrity policy with NRD.

I believe that is the old policy. Bookings made as of 9/1/23 are subject to the new policy. I “borrowed” this table from a post on the O board:

 

USD & CAD
DEPOSIT & PAYMENT PROGRAM
NEWBOOKINGS –SEPTEMBER 1, 2023
Final Payment Due 150 Days prior to Voyage
For all cruises (all lengths) excluding Around the World Cruises
CANCELLATION PENALTIES
PH and below                                      OS, VS, OC
181+              $150pp Admin Fee    $150pp Admin Fee
180 -151        $500pp                       Admin Fee 10% of fare
150-121         25% Cruise Fare       25% of fare
120-91           50% Cruise Fare        50% of fare
90-61             75% Cruise Fare        75% of fare
60-0               100% Cruise Fare      100% oof fare

 

 

Basically, as soon as you make the deposit, $150 of it is non refundable. 
 

For our Vista cruise, the deposit is $500pp. 
 

mac_tlc

[AlaskaNewbie68]

7 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

So instead of just canceling the maiden voyage and other bookings on the new ship, which would have made sense, they cancel cruises on the existing ships?  Something sounds a little fishy here.  My first thought is financial issues a possibility?  

That's my understanding...have to assume people were paying a higher rate than we were? I don't get it, but I bet they will lose customers over it. They lost us. They offered OBC for us to rebook, but there are no cruises similar to our itinerary during the timeframe we need and there is no way I'm letting Virgin hold on to my money for a year. 

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

I believe that is the old policy. Bookings made as of 9/1/23 are subject to the new policy. I “borrowed” this table from a post on the O board:

 

USD & CAD
DEPOSIT & PAYMENT PROGRAM
NEWBOOKINGS –SEPTEMBER 1, 2023
Final Payment Due 150 Days prior to Voyage
For all cruises (all lengths) excluding Around the World Cruises
CANCELLATION PENALTIES
PH and below                                      OS, VS, OC
181+              $150pp Admin Fee    $150pp Admin Fee
180 -151        $500pp                       Admin Fee 10% of fare
150-121         25% Cruise Fare       25% of fare
120-91           50% Cruise Fare        50% of fare
90-61             75% Cruise Fare        75% of fare
60-0               100% Cruise Fare      100% oof fare

 

 

Basically, as soon as you make the deposit, $150 of it is non refundable. 
 

For our Vista cruise, the deposit is $500pp. 
 

mac_tlc

I stand corrected but that is still a better policy than Celebrity's NRD.  Before Celebrity's NRD change, you would only lose $100pp if canceled before FP.

[Gracie115]

23 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I stand corrected but that is still a better policy than Celebrity's NRD.  Before Celebrity's NRD change, you would only lose $100pp if canceled before FP.

 

The new NRD policy and the absolutely ridiculous increase in price for a refundable deposit is just another reason we are walking away.

 

Saw an itinerary of the Adriatic coast on Connie that we would have loved to do next year as it's a bucket list item and one we had to cancel because of Covid but the cost increased $3000 with a refundable deposit and a non refundable is $1300+ .... not willing to lose that kind of money.   Life happens and sometimes plans have to be changed.  Just another way X has alienated us.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Gracie115

[MustBCruzn]

11 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

The new NRD policy and the absolutely ridiculous increase in price for a refundable deposit is just another reason we are walking away.

 

Saw an itinerary of the Adriatic coast on Connie that we would have loved to do next year as it's a bucket list item and one we had to cancel because of Covid but the cost increased $3000 with a refundable deposit and a non refundable is $1300+ .... not willing to lose that kind of money.   Life happens and sometimes plans have to be changed.  Just another way X has alienated us.

 

This was us exactly! The Adriatic has been on our list for quite a while now, and we just couldn't logically book X with those conditions. We found a wonderful Adriatic itinerary on HAL with a refundable deposit, the All Included package (including gratuities), and a beautiful aft suite--and quite a bit less than X is priced. We booked it. 

[Gracie115]

3 minutes ago, MustBCruzn said:

 

This was us exactly! The Adriatic has been on our list for quite a while now, and we just couldn't logically book X with those conditions. We found a wonderful Adriatic itinerary on HAL with a refundable deposit, the All Included package (including gratuities), and a beautiful aft suite--and quite a bit less than X is priced. We booked it. 

What ship on HAL if you don't mind me asking?

[MustBCruzn]

2 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

What ship on HAL if you don't mind me asking?

It's on the Oosterdam, roundtrip from Athens. 

[Gracie115]

1 minute ago, MustBCruzn said:

It's on the Oosterdam, roundtrip from Athens. 

Thanks!

[Jeremiah1212]

On 9/7/2023 at 6:15 AM, Cruise till you drop said:

I think I’m now understanding where we’re going off the rails.  I think most that say lines like Azaramara are the same including price are ones that are booking the more expensive accommodations.  If you’re getting equal value on all these premium lines, the power be with you.
 

I’m speaking for the poor shlubs that book regular balconies and IV’s.  I did a Azamara Onward mock booking on a similar itinerary we booked on Celebrity and it came out to almost double on what we paid on Celebrity.

 

For the class we book, there is no way lines like Azamara are the same as Celebrity

 

It's been a habit around here for as long as I can remember to price compare different lines in an effort to prove a point while omitting important info like cruises booked far in advance, forgetting to mention you are quoting a per person price, comparing cabin type that are in no way similar, comparing random off season itineraries, etc. Or "I'm not giving corporations interest free loans" then claim you are moving to lines that charge 20-25% deposits. 

 

Now I'll step aside while 5 people tell me their Seabourn cruise is cheaper than an inside on Celebirty 🤣

[Mark_T]

20 hours ago, terrydtx said:

When Celebrity canceled the 2025 Equinox South America cruises, they did us a favor as we gave Oceania a real look and found a much better deal for an 18 night cruise. Now we get 100% of our Celebrity deposit back.

This is almost the only reason we have not already cancelled our 2025 Japan cruise with Celebrity.

 

With their recent track-record on mismanagement of the Japan inventory there is a good chance they will save us the minimal loss of our deposit...

 

Compared to current prices we got a great deal on that cruise, but it will be in a Concierge level cabin and the terrible MDR menu changes are sucking the joy out our anticipation for this one, especially as it is on an M class ship with limited alternative dining...

[kirtihk]

11 hours ago, zip01002 said:

The change to drop the gratuities from the "All Included" rate makes no sense...

Where is the gratuities not shown anymore?  I still see them today in the "All Include" rate on the Celebrity web site:

 

Get our most popular amenities—drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips—prepackaged when you add All Included.

[Cruise Junky]

45 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Where is the gratuities not shown anymore?  I still see them today in the "All Include" rate on the Celebrity web site:

 

Get our most popular amenities—drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips—prepackaged when you add All Included.

It happens next month. 

[terrydtx]

49 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Where is the gratuities not shown anymore?  I still see them today in the "All Include" rate on the Celebrity web site:

 

Get our most popular amenities—drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips—prepackaged when you add All Included.

Starts on all cruises BOOKED after Oct 4th, 2023. Cruises booked before Oct. 4 still have AI with tips.

[Whinenowine]

15 hours ago, Joker54 said:

X is making business decisions that it feels is better for the business.

 

We make our holiday spend plans on our interests. If X’s product doesn’t fit our interests we will look elsewhere.

 

Everyone should choose those things that make them happy.  

Yes, this is exactly right:  to each their own.  X is doing what it thinks it needs to to do (whether we all agree or disagree with that strategy), and we're all doing the same.  Where those two views intersect we'll book with X, otherwise we'll book elsewhere.  

 

[kirtihk]

9 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

It happens next month. 

Do you know whether it will affect currently booked itinerary?  We've booked (a few months ago) a March 3, 2025 Millenium cruise in Aqua category.

[kirtihk]

7 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Starts on all cruises BOOKED after Oct 4th, 2023. Cruises booked before Oct. 4 still have AI with tips.

So, will it be only drinks and Wi-Fi or something else replacing tips?

[Cruise Junky]

18 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Do you know whether it will affect currently booked itinerary?  We've booked (a few months ago) a March 3, 2025 Millenium cruise in Aqua category.

You should be fine as long as you don’t make any changes.