Celebrity is Listening

[thebutlerdidit]

1 hour ago, Older Sister said:

I cruised on the Equinox last month in a Sunset Sky Suite and NEVER saw or heard from anyone on the Butler “team.”   Our room attendant did a good job of maintaining our room, the same as has been done on other cruises in lower level rooms.  When I booked the cruise, I chose a Retreat level room with expectations or a higher level of service.  Never got it.  I came home and booked a cruise on Regent.  Celebrity has lost my business due to their bait and switch tactics.  

I cruised on the Equinox last week, and I also never saw or heard from a butler. I called the head butler’s extension 3 times because I had requests and the phone was never answered. There was no option to leave a message for the butler team. I finally got through to the head butler’s number to ask if we could get a reservation at Le Petit Chef for either early or late seating, but by that time there were only 2 days left in the cruise. Around 2:30 we called back from a courtesy phone to ask if he had made us a reservation and it was a no. There was no benefit to us from the butler team. None. Gazelle in the retreat lounge ran her azz off trying to juggle requests. 

[librarylady19]

@Spif Barwunkelwell said - we started our cruising journey with Celebrity and have always liked the vibe, food and service. Will stick with them (while also dabbling in other cruise lines definitely) until I personally experience a downturn. On the Apex TA soon so I guess I’ll find out!!
 I do take issue with your characterization of the “ladies” not being professional enough. This was a video for captains club members, not a board or shareholders meeting and I think the tone was fine. They were obviously trying to diffuse some of the criticisms with humor. 

[ISABELLA]

21 minutes ago, thebutlerdidit said:

I cruised on the Equinox last week, and I also never saw or heard from a butler. I called the head butler’s extension 3 times because I had requests and the phone was never answered. There was no option to leave a message for the butler team. I finally got through to the head butler’s number to ask if we could get a reservation at Le Petit Chef for either early or late seating, but by that time there were only 2 days left in the cruise. Around 2:30 we called back from a courtesy phone to ask if he had made us a reservation and it was a no. There was no benefit to us from the butler team. None. Gazelle in the retreat lounge ran her azz off trying to juggle requests. 

Try NCL Haven - our butler was very attentive and concierge desk were always there to make reservations or appointments. I can't say enough how great the service and whole experience was.

[zitsky]

Quoting myself, what else? I guess I’m a sucker because I made final payment on our Aqua Patagonia 2023 cruise a month ago and I haven’t changed our SS cruise in Bali 2025.  Yet.  I really am hopeful that Celebrity will turn the ship around.  

[Cruise till you drop]

6 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

In the meantime, for those harshest of X critics who have cruises planned and hoping for the best, why.

Because the grass is not always greener 

[zitsky]

3 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Because the grass is not always greener 

And there is always hope for improvement.  Who knows?  Maybe the President is serious about fixing their mistakes?

[cgolf1]

4 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Because the grass is not always greener 

 

Nope it isn't. We sailed HAL like 2 months after our Edge cruise. After all the excitement died down from an amazing cruise because of the port intensive itinerary, it dawned on me that while HAL is an option for us in the future, X was the far superior cruise line, even with the cuts. But wow that Canada New England cruise was amazing, and I really liked the design of the Zaandam and the ships we have sailed from that have come from that builder in that time frame.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, cgolf1 said:

 

Nope it isn't. We sailed HAL like 2 months after our Edge cruise. After all the excitement died down from an amazing cruise because of the port intensive itinerary, it dawned on me that while HAL is an option for us in the future, X was the far superior cruise line, even with the cuts. But wow that Canada New England cruise was amazing, and I really liked the design of the Zaandam and the ships we have sailed from that have come from that builder in that time frame.

X was far superior?  Could you say more?  Thanks.

[cgolf1]

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

X was far superior?  Could you say more?  Thanks.

We do sail insides. The onboard entertainment on X is much better. HAL had a dance group multiple nights and one night played part of the BBC Earth show with some live musicians playing along. HAL did have a really funny comic though on our sailing.
 

How HAL handles Gluten Free is way behind X and I ended up just eating at the burger bar most days for lunch, and grabbing mashed potatoes from the buffet, not kidding as I always grab mashed potatoes on X as well for lunch. The difference on X is the have gluten free gravy which is a treat. HAL ran out of gluten free buns in the burger bar with three days to go. They also ran out of amaretto, which in my eyes is inexcusable, as booze doesn’t have a shelf life. my wife wasn’t impressed by the buffet either, and found desserts went quick and weren’t always refreshed. 
 

The way HAL handled the seating in the dining room was chaotic and we never had the same serving team. Being gluten free it is nice to have the same service team every night. We like a quickly paced meal.  
 

overall it just wasn’t as smooth as an X cruise, but we would sail them again for a unique cruise, but if X has a similar cruise we would sail X. 
 

 

 

[MMMCruiser]

11 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Try NCL Haven - our butler was very attentive and concierge desk were always there to make reservations or appointments. I can't say enough how great the service and whole experience was.

 I feel like X did a bait and switch with me.  I was comparing an Apex cruise with a Prima cruise and decided the Retreat would be enough for us (the Haven sounded better) but now they took away the butler service we paid for.  I'm really annoyed and wish I'd booked with NCL instead.  If this doesn't get fixed I won't book with X again.  They should provide the amenities that were listed when I booked.  

[wineoclock]

We sail Friday on Beyond in a Magic Carpet Suite. We have been in an SS, PH CS and Aqua before. I’ll be comparing the service we get. If it’s more similar to the Aqua, then I’ll be making it known on my return by filling in the survey and emailing head office. But I still intend to have a great cruise! 

[zitsky]

10 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

We do sail insides. The onboard entertainment on X is much better. HAL had a dance group multiple nights and one night played part of the BBC Earth show with some live musicians playing along. HAL did have a really funny comic though on our sailing.
 

How HAL handles Gluten Free is way behind X and I ended up just eating at the burger bar most days for lunch, and grabbing mashed potatoes from the buffet, not kidding as I always grab mashed potatoes on X as well for lunch. The difference on X is the have gluten free gravy which is a treat. HAL ran out of gluten free buns in the burger bar with three days to go. They also ran out of amaretto, which in my eyes is inexcusable, as booze doesn’t have a shelf life. my wife wasn’t impressed by the buffet either, and found desserts went quick and weren’t always refreshed. 
 

The way HAL handled the seating in the dining room was chaotic and we never had the same serving team. Being gluten free it is nice to have the same service team every night. We like a quickly paced meal.  
 

overall it just wasn’t as smooth as an X cruise, but we would sail them again for a unique cruise, but if X has a similar cruise we would sail X. 
 

 

 

So what’s your opinion of the cafeteria mashed potatoes in the MDR on X?  Do they still taste good?

[DaKahuna]

6 hours ago, wineoclock said:

We sail Friday on Beyond in a Magic Carpet Suite. We have been in an SS, PH CS and Aqua before. I’ll be comparing the service we get. If it’s more similar to the Aqua, then I’ll be making it known on my return by filling in the survey and emailing head office. But I still intend to have a great cruise! 

 

I look forward to reading your review of your Magic Carpet Suite cruise.

 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

10 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

 I feel like X did a bait and switch with me.  I was comparing an Apex cruise with a Prima cruise and decided the Retreat would be enough for us (the Haven sounded better) but now they took away the butler service we paid for.  I'm really annoyed and wish I'd booked with NCL instead.  If this doesn't get fixed I won't book with X again.  They should provide the amenities that were listed when I booked.  

NCL did similar on the Joy that is well documented on NCL board. We had booked a suite not haven and butler was listed as part of the amenity. We were due to sail July 2022. Somewhere around nov/dec 2021 the butler and other amenities were removed. I emailed multiple times with no satisfaction. no onboard credit. one poster had that experience and was able to get an obc. we were not happy and thought about cancelling. eventually we upgraded on our own to haven so we could get the butler. 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

NCL did similar on the Joy that is well documented on NCL board. We had booked a suite not haven and butler was listed as part of the amenity. We were due to sail July 2022. Somewhere around nov/dec 2021 the butler and other amenities were removed. I emailed multiple times with no satisfaction. no onboard credit. one poster had that experience and was able to get an obc. we were not happy and thought about cancelling. eventually we upgraded on our own to haven so we could get the butler. 

This is a jerk move but has anyone in a Celebrity Sky Suite thought about just calling the head butler for everything?  Each and every time, until they get the point?  If you paid for a benefit, you should get it.

 

What is the head butler called these days?

Edited October 18, 2023 by zitsky

[ISABELLA]

12 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

 I feel like X did a bait and switch with me.  I was comparing an Apex cruise with a Prima cruise and decided the Retreat would be enough for us (the Haven sounded better) but now they took away the butler service we paid for.  I'm really annoyed and wish I'd booked with NCL instead.  If this doesn't get fixed I won't book with X again.  They should provide the amenities that were listed when I booked.  

Trully, we didn't use our butler as much as some people do, but a few things we wanted, it was provided every day without reminder. We also liked to have Nespresso machine in our suite. 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

This is a jerk move but has anyone in a Celebrity Sky Suite thought about just calling the head butler for everything?  Each and every time, until they get the point?  If you paid for a benefit, you should get it.

 

What is the head butler called these days?

 

Unfortunately, you paid for the cruise contract which allows them to drop benefits or even ports

[trout62]

12 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Unfortunately, you paid for the cruise contract which allows them to drop benefits or even ports

You can shear a sheep many times but you can skin him only once.

The butler thing feels more like the latter.

 

Trout

Edited October 18, 2023 by trout62

[zitsky]

11 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Unfortunately, you paid for the cruise contract which allows them to drop benefits or even ports

I totally forgot the clause in the cruise contract that says you must disrobe when going through the metal detector.  Well it’s in the contract, right?

[RedIguana]

12 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

We do sail insides. The onboard entertainment on X is much better. HAL had a dance group multiple nights and one night played part of the BBC Earth show with some live musicians playing along. HAL did have a really funny comic though on our sailing.
 

How HAL handles Gluten Free is way behind X and I ended up just eating at the burger bar most days for lunch, and grabbing mashed potatoes from the buffet, not kidding as I always grab mashed potatoes on X as well for lunch. The difference on X is the have gluten free gravy which is a treat. HAL ran out of gluten free buns in the burger bar with three days to go. They also ran out of amaretto, which in my eyes is inexcusable, as booze doesn’t have a shelf life. my wife wasn’t impressed by the buffet either, and found desserts went quick and weren’t always refreshed. 
 

The way HAL handled the seating in the dining room was chaotic and we never had the same serving team. Being gluten free it is nice to have the same service team every night. We like a quickly paced meal.  
 

overall it just wasn’t as smooth as an X cruise, but we would sail them again for a unique cruise, but if X has a similar cruise we would sail X. 

          The Zaandam is one of the two oldest and smallest ships that HAL has. At 60,000 tons and only 1400 passengers, there is no way the entertainment is going to compare to even the M-class ships at 2100 passengers and 90,000 tons. If you are looking for HAL's "best" as far as entertainment is concerned, try the Pinnacle class ships, which at 100,000 tons and 2650 passengers are more in line with celebrity's offerings. HAL has placed quite a bit of emphasis on live music with this class of ship. 

            I was on the Rotterdam in March of 2022 and Infinity Sept of 2022, both in steerage class as far as food venues, so MDR it was. I would give the quality edge to HAL, especially for beef and fish, but both were satisfactory We had "anytime-select-MTD" on both lines, and had no issues with having the same dining team each night on either ship. 

            Although I have no food allergies or issues, one of the few ways to diminish my cruising experience is poor dining experiences (I too, tried carnival once).  I can sympathize with your poor food experience on HAL and wish you better experiences on all your future cruises.

            I have another short Celebrity cruise on the Equinox with the family later this year, hopefully the dining experience is at least as good as my last celebrity cruise.

[hcat]

I get the bait and switch anger.....but big time suite amenities and butlers are relatively recent additions to cruising.

 

Folks used to be happy with shuffleboard and a midnight buffet!

Times have certainly changed!

[cgolf1]

59 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

          The Zaandam is one of the two oldest and smallest ships that HAL has. At 60,000 tons and only 1400 passengers, there is no way the entertainment is going to compare to even the M-class ships at 2100 passengers and 90,000 tons. If you are looking for HAL's "best" as far as entertainment is concerned, try the Pinnacle class ships, which at 100,000 tons and 2650 passengers are more in line with celebrity's offerings. HAL has placed quite a bit of emphasis on live music with this class of ship. 

            I was on the Rotterdam in March of 2022 and Infinity Sept of 2022, both in steerage class as far as food venues, so MDR it was. I would give the quality edge to HAL, especially for beef and fish, but both were satisfactory We had "anytime-select-MTD" on both lines, and had no issues with having the same dining team each night on either ship. 

            Although I have no food allergies or issues, one of the few ways to diminish my cruising experience is poor dining experiences (I too, tried carnival once).  I can sympathize with your poor food experience on HAL and wish you better experiences on all your future cruises.

            I have another short Celebrity cruise on the Equinox with the family later this year, hopefully the dining experience is at least as good as my last celebrity cruise.

 

We might try a larger HAL ship in the future, but our traveling companions on that cruise who sailed HAL before the Zaandam had better entertainment in the past on that ship. Honestly we love that size of ship, knowing there are some trade offs of course. We really enjoyed the Connie last year as well.

[cgolf1]

4 hours ago, zitsky said:

So what’s your opinion of the cafeteria mashed potatoes in the MDR on X?  Do they still taste good?

 

They didn't have them in the MDR last February, but the buffet ones were good. Veggies and potatoes are plate fillers to me so I don't get excited either way. Mashed would be better than a bunch of beets that taste like dirt to me;)

[zitsky]

50 minutes ago, hcat said:

I get the bait and switch anger.....but big time suite amenities and butlers are relatively recent additions to cruising.

 

Folks used to be happy with shuffleboard and a midnight buffet!

Times have certainly changed!

Back in the good old days did you pay extra for shuffleboard then find out it was removed?  I certainly pay more for a Sky Suite than I do for my Aqua cabins.

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Trully, we didn't use our butler as much as some people do, but a few things we wanted, it was provided every day without reminder. We also liked to have Nespresso machine in our suite. 

 

 

Are you saying it was not there?  We've always had it and have never used it because we've always been able to get a kettle to make hot water for tea and my Japanese instant coffee.