Total Nonsense on the Nova - what are they thinking??

[Port Power]

1 hour ago, toad90 said:

Celebrity Ascent guest here - this is what I received today. Curious how much photography and video production will be going on if they're willing to cause delays like this I'd bet there will be more going on... Production crew(s) are probably onboard for other stuff as well. 

 

 

Dear Guest,

We can’t wait to welcome you aboard Celebrity Ascent®! Before we sail away, we have some news to share.

On March 13th we will be taking part in a unique photo opportunity off the coast of St. Thomas. For the first time ever, Royal Caribbean Group’s three newest ships, Celebrity Ascent, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, and Silversea’sSilver Nova, will come together at sea. We will be documenting this historic event.

To facilitate this rare meet up, some of our arrival and departure times have been adjusted, even adding some extra time in San Juan, as shown below.

If you want to be part of this momentous occasion, stop by Café al Bacio for a beverage and a bite, and join us on Wednesday from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM on Deck 15. The sunrise will be breathtaking at the Rooftop Garden where you'll be able to snap some shots of all three marvels at sea.

Here is the updated itinerary for your convenience.

Day	Port of Call	Arrival	Departure
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida		3:30 PM
Mon	At Sea
Tue	San Juan, Puerto Rico	2:30 PM	10:00 PM
Wed	Tortola, British Virgin Islands	10:00 AM	7:00 PM
Thu	Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis	7:00 AM	5:00 PM
Fri	At Sea
Sat	At Sea
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	7:00 AM

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  Thank you for posting the letter.  It confirms that Ascent and Icon passengers are not being inconvenienced, so there won’t be any unhappy passengers on those ships.  Only the Nova’s guests are being forced to rearrange flights, etc, at great inconvenience.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[markham]

What a mess, an own goal if I ever saw one!

 

I hope that Silversea makes a decision to compensate those who are stressed by this onward travel work with a sizable future cruise credit. And that the sum total hits the Marketing Department responsible for their decision involving this “celebration”. 
 

This is a loss-loss as best I can tell at this stage. Entirely avoidable at that.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[les37b]

3 hours ago, markham said:

What a mess, an own goal if I ever saw one!

 

I hope that Silversea makes a decision to compensate those who are stressed by this onward travel work with a sizable future cruise credit. And that the sum total hits the Marketing Department responsible for their decision involving this “celebration”. 
 

This is a loss-loss as best I can tell at this stage. Entirely avoidable at that.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

It’s often referred to as “Doing a Ratner”.

[kirtihk]

On 3/6/2024 at 7:43 AM, Desperate to Sail said:

I'm wondering what happens if the weather is bad on the day of the planned photo shoot?

It's so obvious! - Then disembarkation will take place the next day (or 2) until weather cooperates.

[Mahogany]

22 hours ago, toad90 said:

Celebrity Ascent guest here - this is what I received today. Curious how much photography and video production will be going on if they're willing to cause delays like this I'd bet there will be more going on... Production crew(s) are probably onboard for other stuff as well. 

 

 

Dear Guest,

We can’t wait to welcome you aboard Celebrity Ascent®! Before we sail away, we have some news to share.

On March 13th we will be taking part in a unique photo opportunity off the coast of St. Thomas. For the first time ever, Royal Caribbean Group’s three newest ships, Celebrity Ascent, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, and Silversea’sSilver Nova, will come together at sea. We will be documenting this historic event.

To facilitate this rare meet up, some of our arrival and departure times have been adjusted, even adding some extra time in San Juan, as shown below.

If you want to be part of this momentous occasion, stop by Café al Bacio for a beverage and a bite, and join us on Wednesday from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM on Deck 15. The sunrise will be breathtaking at the Rooftop Garden where you'll be able to snap some shots of all three marvels at sea.

Here is the updated itinerary for your convenience.

Day	Port of Call	Arrival	Departure
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida		3:30 PM
Mon	At Sea
Tue	San Juan, Puerto Rico	2:30 PM	10:00 PM
Wed	Tortola, British Virgin Islands	10:00 AM	7:00 PM
Thu	Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis	7:00 AM	5:00 PM
Fri	At Sea
Sat	At Sea
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	7:00 AM

This is the updated itinerary, but arrival in FLL is still stated as 7:00AM?

[toad90]

21 minutes ago, Mahogany said:

This is the updated itinerary, but arrival in FLL is still stated as 7:00AM?

 

The times that changed are in bold. Arrival in FFL did not change for Ascent. However - worse than itinerary change, now there is a Legionella outbreak? 

 

 

Dear Guest,

Your health and safety are always our top priority, and in an abundance of caution, we are reaching out as the CDC has advised that while they are unsure where exposed, three guests who sailed on Celebrity Ascent were later diagnosed with a respiratory illness known as Legionella. 

In response to this, before your sailing, we immediately implemented heightened sanitation protocols and followed all CDC remediation guidance, as precautionary measures.

At this time, we are only contacting you for awareness. 

It’s important to know that Legionella is not contagious from person to person. It is contracted by inhaling water droplets from a source containing the bacteria, which can be found throughout the world in any environment containing water – ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams, as well as municipal water systems, fountains, and whirlpools. Most healthy people exposed to Legionella do not get sick. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, fever, muscle aches and headaches. If you experience these symptoms before, during or after your sailing please reach out to your preferred medical professional or our medical team onboard. 

Both Celebrity Cruises and the CDC work hard to protect the health of guests and crew. If you have questions about Legionella, contact your local or state health department or CDC at 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) or visit cdc.gov/legionella. For questions about this situation or other questions related to travel on the Celebrity Ascent, please contact Celebrity Cruises at (888) 727-4907.

We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.

Sincerely, 

Celebrity Cruises

[caviargal]

FYI, we still have been given no information on whether we can stay in our suites for the additional 4 hours or whether they expect all 700+ of us to wait in public areas.

They are providing zero assistance to anyone who did not book door to door, nor will they commit to a time we will be off the ship.  We need to arrange a driver now,  but not possible to do without a time.

I was told this morning they have no answers but "hope to in a few days".

It is a real shame as the ship is lovely and the service and food have been good.

Forbes continues to report on it and this article is spot on!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2024/03/08/how-royal-caribbean-silversea-can-recover-from-photoshoot-debacle/?sh=cda609a4a465&fbclid=IwAR2ZwmVT_mLN2e_19WuaBOhjTf-F4Xjp6qtClWgKY0FkPA1QTR9A0iSXqno

Edited March 8 by caviargal

[JSR]

Forbes is spot on! RCCL should listen to this article. It is so well put. It is what has been said onboard for days. 
 

Silversea is going to have to step up if they don’t want to lose customers. 
 

 

 

[GMoney]

On 3/7/2024 at 4:05 PM, Port Power said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  Thank you for posting the letter.  It confirms that Ascent and Icon passengers are not being inconvenienced, so there won’t be any unhappy passengers on those ships.  Only the Nova’s guests are being forced to rearrange flights, etc, at great inconvenience.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Not quite. I'm on the impacted Ascent sailing and am definitely inconvenienced having to reschedule my $1500+ shore excursion in Tortola. It's nowhere near comparable to what the SS guests are dealing with, but it still disrupts plans that were made a long time ago at some cost. I'm not the only one in this position. 

[toad90]

3 minutes ago, GMoney said:

Not quite. I'm on the impacted Ascent sailing and am definitely inconvenienced having to reschedule my $1500+ shore excursion in Tortola. It's nowhere near comparable to what the SS guests are dealing with, but it still disrupts plans that were made a long time ago at some cost. I'm not the only one in this position. 

Was it booked through Celebrity? My understanding is they are just changing the time. Granted that may mean more people in a group or other negatives. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I agree that this whole thing is a terrible face-plant by Silversea.  The only thing that saves them is that customers are equally unhappy on their competition cruise lines.  But more and more people are realizing that you don't have to cruise to see the world – luxury small-group land tour offers arrive in my inbox every day, and my next three trips are either all land tour or cruise plus land tour.  As the latest Forbes article noted, Silversea's customers have options.

[GMoney]

1 minute ago, toad90 said:

Was it booked through Celebrity? My understanding is they are just changing the time. Granted that may mean more people in a group or other negatives. 

No

[Mahogany]

3 hours ago, toad90 said:

 

The times that changed are in bold. Arrival in FFL did not change for Ascent. However - worse than itinerary change, now there is a Legionella outbreak? 

 

 

Dear Guest,

Your health and safety are always our top priority, and in an abundance of caution, we are reaching out as the CDC has advised that while they are unsure where exposed, three guests who sailed on Celebrity Ascent were later diagnosed with a respiratory illness known as Legionella. 

In response to this, before your sailing, we immediately implemented heightened sanitation protocols and followed all CDC remediation guidance, as precautionary measures.

At this time, we are only contacting you for awareness. 

It’s important to know that Legionella is not contagious from person to person. It is contracted by inhaling water droplets from a source containing the bacteria, which can be found throughout the world in any environment containing water – ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams, as well as municipal water systems, fountains, and whirlpools. Most healthy people exposed to Legionella do not get sick. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, fever, muscle aches and headaches. If you experience these symptoms before, during or after your sailing please reach out to your preferred medical professional or our medical team onboard. 

Both Celebrity Cruises and the CDC work hard to protect the health of guests and crew. If you have questions about Legionella, contact your local or state health department or CDC at 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) or visit cdc.gov/legionella. For questions about this situation or other questions related to travel on the Celebrity Ascent, please contact Celebrity Cruises at (888) 727-4907.

We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.

Sincerely, 

Celebrity Cruises

Sorry, I now realize that was the Ascent itinerary.

[toad90]

Just now, GMoney said:

No

 

Dang, that's rough. I hope they reimburse or you're able to change the time with the company. I will say if you call customer support you might be pleasantly surprised with an onboard credit of some kind. 🤫

[Host Jazzbeau]

Here a new article on SeaTrade Cruise News about how NCL handled a problem in Mauritius (that wasn't even their fault):

David Herrera on what really happened in Mauritius and why he's so optimistic about NCL

 

A few quotes from the article:

"We went above and beyond because that's the right thing to do."

"Our customers have to come first."

"We wanted to make sure we got it right."

[and details in the article show this isn't just hot air]

 

NCL is not a luxury line.  Silversea should be treating its passengers even better – especially because they did cause this problem.

[MJfromCA]

We are sailing on Silversea for the first time this summer, but I'm not sure I would risk booking with them again after this.

Edited March 9 by MJfromCA

[les37b]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

But more and more people are realizing that you don't have to cruise to see the world

Nail on head. My next 2 trips I’m looking at might not have free laundry, but with the money saved it will not be a deal breaker!

 

I still find it astonishing the notion guests on board should be happy and now knowing that’s not the case, instead of holding their hands up and apologise and admit they’ve made a huge misjudgement, it seems the only utterance allegedly is “I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”

 

 

.

Edited March 9 by les37b

[maty8]

Who will eventually cover the costs? Unfortunately we passengers as Silversea cruise cost will increase more than ever! 

[FlyerTalker]

5 hours ago, les37b said:

Nail on head. My next 2 trips I’m looking at might not have free laundry, but with the money saved it will not be a deal breaker!

 

I confess....I have never understood the overwhelming appeal of "free laundry".  And how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to achieve this "perk".

 

Just my two kopeks.

 

 

[DavyWavey70]

53 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

I confess....I have never understood the overwhelming appeal of "free laundry".  And how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to achieve this "perk".

 

Just my two kopeks.

 

 

a nice perk and I enjoyed it when I was VIP’d on the Muse once but paying £40 something for 2 bags recently of wash and press on Celebrity really didn’t cause me any anxiety. 

[Silver Spectre]

It would seem there is still a deafening silence from senior management at SS. All this does is mirrors the appalling handling of the early Spirit GV ending. It looks like a pattern is appearing.

[turtlemichael]

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

I confess....I have never understood the overwhelming appeal of "free laundry".  And how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to achieve this "perk".

 

Just my two kopeks.

 

 

I've never understood the appeal of paying heaps to sleep in a smaller cabin so I guess we are all different.

Edited March 9 by turtlemichael

[goofysmom99]

I've cruised Celebrity for many years and for the past twelve months or so, every after-cruise survey has included something to the effect:  "Which of these cruise lines are part of the Royal Caribbean Group?"  Same question on the after-cruise survey I completed just a few minutes ago.  Ditto on a couple of Celebrity marketing surveys, too.  Evidently not enough people know SS is part of the Royal Caribbean Group.  I was disappointed but unsurprised to read that SS is doing the 3-ship photo op with such insensitivity to the disruption it causes their customers.  My take is that RCG (Jason Liberty = bean-counter central) is calling ALL the shots for all three lines.  I doubt it's coincidental that Celebrity no longer has a CEO, but a President.  Celebrity has made equally bone-headed management moves since early 2023.  That was why I decided to widen my horizons to SS (and RSSC & Oceania).  Since it looks like RCG wants to Royalize all three of their lines, maybe SS won't be a good fit for me, but I'm going to give it two tries. 

[turtlemichael]

8 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

It would seem there is still a deafening silence from senior management at SS. All this does is mirrors the appalling handling of the early Spirit GV ending. It looks like a pattern is appearing.

I'm appalled at the lack of consideration for the paying customer inherent in this decision. As you say, it's not a first. But is Silversea alone in this or are similar things happening on other luxury cruise lines? Reading this forum it looks like it is far from uncommon. Personally, it's time for us to move to vacations over which we have greater control.

[tgh]

There is a steadily reducing cohort of long term SilverSea supplicants and the company is clearly positioning the product to meet the needs of a younger , less selective and much more numerous demographic.
The numerous new folks tend to have no idea about the history of SS service and flock to social media sites where they can  publicly reinforce their cruising choices perhaps as a means of self aggrandisement.
The old Silversea is dead and buried. Vale  

We should, perhaps,  make our cruising choices understanding this reality.
We have one more cruise booked on  Nova to tidy up some credits and then  I expect it will be adieu SS, leaving with no regrets and a lot of wonderful memories.