Celebrity removes loungers from balcony?

[mickeysgal]

On 6/2/2024 at 2:35 PM, cbfb said:

We were on Beyond in January and were given a firm no,  so again, it’s inconsistent. 

What kind of cabin were you in? Was it a cabin where it normally would have had a lounger?

 

 

[mickeysgal]

20 hours ago, NanaPam00 said:

This was our balcony on Ascent last week.

This is exactly what I’m expecting for our Oct Beyond cruise in a Magic Carpet end suite. I’m going to be so annoyed if those loungers aren’t there. I’m planing on spending a large part of our ABC cruise on it. 

[cbfb]

3 minutes ago, mickeysgal said:

What kind of cabin were you in? Was it a cabin where it normally would have had a lounger?

 

 

It was a Sunset Veranda which has always had at least one. The balcony is huge. We were told no due to safety reasons. 

[ggo85]

X should explain what they mean by “safety” I. The context of loungers.  Something that apparently affects only X and not any other line. The fact they won’t tell anyone speaks volumes.  

[mickeysgal]

23 minutes ago, cbfb said:

It was a Sunset Veranda which has always had at least one. The balcony is huge. We were told no due to safety reasons. 

I am so very annoyed at this. 
 

We just booked our first suite at a hefty price specifically for the large balcony and these loungers. And now this. 

[cbfb]

23 minutes ago, mickeysgal said:

I am so very annoyed at this. 
 

We just booked our first suite at a hefty price specifically for the large balcony and these loungers. And now this. 

I don’t blame you at all. That’s how I felt too. We love having the loungers on the balcony so we don’t stress about getting them by the pool, etc. and we love hanging on our balcony. It just seems ridiculous! 

[Oville]

1 hour ago, cbfb said:

It was a Sunset Veranda which has always had at least one. The balcony is huge. We were told no due to safety reasons. 

Are you sure these were always entitled to a lounger or did it just happen over time?

[cbfb]

Just now, Oville said:

Are you sure these were always entitled to a lounger or did it just happen over time?

I believe on E class they weee there from the beginning. 

[Oville]

1 hour ago, cbfb said:

It was a Sunset Veranda which has always had at least one. The balcony is huge. We were told no due to safety reasons. 

I’m not sure this is true.  When edge first came out the S1 corner aft cabins didn’t have one.

[phoenix_dream]

When/if you are writing to management to complain about this, could you PLEASE also mention foot stools.  Same ridiculous excuse.  And when you couple that with the incredibly uncomfortable chairs they have put on their balconies it really ruins what used to be one of our favorite parts of cruising.  Thank you

[Oville]

1 minute ago, cbfb said:

I believe on E class they weee there from the beginning. 

I sailed 4 times on Edge in S cabins early on, No lounger.

[cbfb]

5 minutes ago, Oville said:

I sailed 4 times on Edge in S cabins early on, No lounger.

Ok 

[Oville]

[rmalbers]

I haven't been thru the whole thread but it amazing to me that, at least from what I've seen, no one has been able to find out what the 'safety' reason is.  Someone onboard now has to ask the captain or head of hospitality.  We need to know!   

[REEtired]

3 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

When/if you are writing to management to complain about this, could you PLEASE also mention foot stools.  Same ridiculous excuse.  And when you couple that with the incredibly uncomfortable chairs they have put on their balconies it really ruins what used to be one of our favorite parts of cruising.  Thank you

I just did and absolutely mentioned the foot stools. We’re booked on Eclipse next month and will be truly disappointed if we have the doll house chairs. 🪑 

[lovedecruise]

3 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

When/if you are writing to management to complain about this, could you PLEASE also mention foot stools.  Same ridiculous excuse.  And when you couple that with the incredibly uncomfortable chairs they have put on their balconies it really ruins what used to be one of our favorite parts of cruising.  Thank you

We wrote to the Executive office and had a call back the next day. Again, safety issues were cited as the reason with no further explanation. I then asked could she tell the powers that be, that if loungers are removed, could we have more comfortable seating. Even the reclining chairs and footstools we had on the Solstice Aqua balcony would be better than those horrible upright chairs they offer now. 

[Oville]

40 minutes ago, lovedecruise said:

We wrote to the Executive office and had a call back the next day. Again, safety issues were cited as the reason with no further explanation. I then asked could she tell the powers that be, that if loungers are removed, could we have more comfortable seating. Even the reclining chairs and footstools we had on the Solstice Aqua balcony would be better than those horrible upright chairs they offer now. 

I think everyone is getting bad answers on the E-Class ships.  There were never loungers on E- Class or above nor anything other than a chair or a table.  Staff wanted to make us happy but it was never meant on E-Class.

[Oville]

18 hours ago, Oville said:

I think everyone is getting bad answers on the E-Class ships.  There were never loungers on E- Class or above nor anything other than a chair or a table.  Staff wanted to make us happy but it was never meant on E-Class.

Oops, should have said Sky Suites on E Class.

[IggleDoer]

Are there loungers in the pool areas?   If they haven’t been removed there too, then it isn’t a safety issue.

[new2cruise]

I emailed the Executive Office on May 19th.  They got back to me today with this response:

 

Thank you for contacting the Executive Office of Celebrity Cruises. I am glad to have this opportunity to follow up with you.

We have removed footstools and lounge chairs from all balconies due to growing safety concerns. We want to acknowledge your email and have recorded your feedback. There are no scheduled changes to the policy, and no exceptions are being made.
Again, thank you for reaching out to us. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Smith
Celebrity Cruises
Executive Office
Phone Number (US & International): 305-614-1343

 

So then I asked what specifically was the safety concern.  They got back to me within an hour with this:

Thank you for contacting the Executive Office of Celebrity Cruises. I am glad to have this opportunity to follow up with you.

There have been enough incidents onboard to justify these updated safety protocols. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose any additional details regarding the matter.

Again, thank you for reaching out to us.
 

[odysee]

On 6/4/2024 at 10:39 PM, cbfb said:

I believe on E class they weee there from the beginning. 

Don’t think so.  When we were on 2nd ever Beyond cruise (just after maiden voyage), no loungers on SV.  However we got one immediately after asking our cabin attendant.

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, new2cruise said:

There have been enough incidents onboard to justify these updated safety protocols. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose any additional details regarding the matter.

Again, thank you for reaching out to us.
 

That last part has “pending legal activity” written all over it.

mac_tlc

[bruzin_for_a_cruizin]

13 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

That last part has “pending legal activity” written all over it.

mac_tlc

This is why we can't have nice things.

People suck.

[cbfb]

1 hour ago, new2cruise said:

I emailed the Executive Office on May 19th.  They got back to me today with this response:

 

Thank you for contacting the Executive Office of Celebrity Cruises. I am glad to have this opportunity to follow up with you.

We have removed footstools and lounge chairs from all balconies due to growing safety concerns. We want to acknowledge your email and have recorded your feedback. There are no scheduled changes to the policy, and no exceptions are being made.
Again, thank you for reaching out to us. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Smith
Celebrity Cruises
Executive Office
Phone Number (US & International): 305-614-1343

 

So then I asked what specifically was the safety concern.  They got back to me within an hour with this:

Thank you for contacting the Executive Office of Celebrity Cruises. I am glad to have this opportunity to follow up with you.

There have been enough incidents onboard to justify these updated safety protocols. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose any additional details regarding the matter.

Again, thank you for reaching out to us.
 

Not buying this BS! 

[voyager1964]

On 6/4/2024 at 3:34 PM, ggo85 said:

X should explain what they mean by “safety” I. The context of loungers.  Something that apparently affects only X and not any other line. The fact they won’t tell anyone speaks volumes.  

I have a working hypothesis that seems to explain many facts and observations reported in this thread. Let's see:

1) About 12 years ago, there was a similar problem, reported not only on Celebrity's but also on RCCL's and Princess's boards (https://www.foxboroughma.gov/cms/DocContainerLinks.aspx?key=15207780-15207864-15413013-390604-15416693-1)

2) At that time, there was an official explanation that was transparent - the problem was the fire hazard presented by the highly-flammable material of the lounger cover.

3) Thereafter, other cruise lines have installed fire sprinklers on their balconies (see, e.g., #8 here for Princess: https://www.princess.com/en-us/why-princess/top-ten-faq)

Celebrity, apparently, has NOT. At least I have not seen such sprinklers an Celebrity's balconies.

4) Insurance companies are proactive nowadays, e.g., they are using satellite imagery to check whether you have a tree that can fall on your home and correspondingly demand you to either cut the tree or cancel your policy. Thus, it is plausible that Celebrity's insurer has recognized the fire hazard and demanded Celebrity to address it.

5) By (almost) publicly claiming that all the loungers are being removed from the balconies, Celebrity is addressing the insurer's concern. Understandably, Celebrity is interested to conceal the actual reason behind that from the public.

6) On the pool, there are fire sprinklers available. On Celebrity's balconies, to the best of my knowledge, there are none. You can say that Celebrity prohibits smoking on the balconies, so there is no fire hazard. But this is not true. Smoking is allowed, e.g., in the Sunset bar area on E-ships. A cigarette butt, accidentally thrown away could easily land on an aft balcony downstairs, and we will have the Star Princess fire repeated. 

7) So what can we actually expect and/or do? I believe that the ship crew realize that the likelihood of a balcony fire, especially on the side balconies (=Magic Carpet) is negligibly small, so they are happy to quietly provide you the loungers thus avoiding a big fuss. In 1-2 months, Celebrity would report to the insurer that their demand were fulfilled and after another several months the loungers would quietly return back. Or maybe not.