Celebrity Eclipse Sky Lounge closed during 12 day cruise

[cruisestitch]

They will be gone by  Nivember and you won’t have to put up with th

Edited September 6 by cruisestitch

[Carol28]

This happened to us this year on the Explorer of the Seas.  PW took over the dance venue where the rock band should have played.  Instead, the band was in the corridor where the stores are. No dance area.  Ruined our cruise, for sure.

[Cruiscs]

3 minutes ago, Carol28 said:

This happened to us this year on the Explorer of the Seas.  PW took over the dance venue where the rock band should have played.  Instead, the band was in the corridor where the stores are. No dance area.  Ruined our cruise, for sure.

Did it ruin the whole cruise?

[Carol28]

Just now, Cruiscs said:

Did it ruin the whole cruise?

There were other factors.  No separate dining room for suites ( but we knew this before boarding.) Caribbean islands were not interesting.   Truthfully, dancing at night is one of our favorite things to do and with no dancing on a 9 night cruise, we were unhappy.  We've cruised 47 times so far and this is our least favorite cruise. We've one more RCCL cruise later this year on the Oasis, then we switch to our favorite Celebrity and are trying the Princess Sun at the end of next year.  But, I just read several of these posts and I can see that PW takes over venues on many lines.

I was wondering why someone said it won't last much longer.  Is PW going our of business?

[zitsky]

12 minutes ago, Cruiscs said:

Did it ruin the whole cruise?

”We never said in the contract that we would NOT reserve a venue for private use by one group for the entire cruise.  Quit complaining,”

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

They will be gone by  Nivember and you won’t have to put up with th

 

12 minutes ago, Carol28 said:

I was wondering why someone said it won't last much longer.  Is PW going our of business?

What I think @cruisestitch meant is that on their particular ship, they won't be taking over the Sky Lounge for VIP auctions after their 5-cruise allocation.  It certainly doesn't mean (I don't think) that Park West is going belly up.  They may try this again on different ships at different times in the future - unless the backlash is so harsh that the top brass at X and/or RCI decide their money is no longer good.

[MamaFej]

50 minutes ago, Carol28 said:

There were other factors.  No separate dining room for suites ( but we knew this before boarding.) Caribbean islands were not interesting.   Truthfully, dancing at night is one of our favorite things to do and with no dancing on a 9 night cruise, we were unhappy.  We've cruised 47 times so far and this is our least favorite cruise. We've one more RCCL cruise later this year on the Oasis, then we switch to our favorite Celebrity and are trying the Princess Sun at the end of next year.  But, I just read several of these posts and I can see that PW takes over venues on many lines.

I was wondering why someone said it won't last much longer.  Is PW going our of business?

A bit off topic: I believe the Sun Princess has the 360 dining experience. We did it on the Discovery the night of the total solar eclipse. It was fantastic. If you're interested in doing it, you may need to book well in advance. 

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. 

[Oville]

Are non Elite and above people allowed in the Sky Lounge when the Elite cocktail party is held?

[Travel-and-See]

3 hours ago, markeb said:

I'll argue this is annoying people more because it's Park West. Specifically.

No, it's because it's the majority of the cruise. I've seen the SkyLounge closed for private events before, but not for the majority of the cruise. That's 2 very different things. If this was an exclusive Park West reception for one night of the cruise, it would be business as usual. 

[doghog]

5 minutes ago, Oville said:

Are non Elite and above people allowed in the Sky Lounge when the Elite cocktail party is held?

You mean non-Elite and above. No. Signage at the entrance for that time frame indicating a reserved event. As it should be. 

Edited September 6 by doghog

[Travel-and-See]

1 minute ago, doghog said:

No. Signage at the entrance for that time frame indicating a reserved event. As it should be. 

I'm not actually sure if it was elite or just captains club but once I arrived at the Sky Lounge, entered, saw the sign and started to turn away and the host encouraged me to come back and join them.  It was some sort of reception with the officers.  I am Captains Club, but they never asked if I was.  So it's not always 100% exclusive. 

[zitsky]

3 minutes ago, doghog said:

You mean non-Elite and above. No. Signage at the entrance for that time frame indicating a reserved event. As it should be. 

“As it should be?”  It should be reserved or there should be a sign?

[doghog]

Just now, Travel-and-See said:

I'm not actually sure if it was elite or just captains club but once I arrived at the Sky Lounge, entered, saw the sign and started to turn away and the host encouraged me to come back and join them.  It was some sort of reception with the officers.  I am Captains Club, but they never asked if I was.  So it's not always 100% exclusive. 

If it was between the hours of 5:PM to 7:PM then it was the CC HH which is only for Elite and above. The CC welcome aboard event is open to all CC members which is held before 5:PM. 

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

“As it should be?”  It should be reserved or there should be a sign?

As I said, there is a sign at the entrance to the SL saying reserved for... 

[Travel-and-See]

2 minutes ago, doghog said:

If it was between the hours of 5:PM to 7:PM then it was the CC HH which is only for Elite and above. The CC welcome aboard event is open to all CC members which is held before 5:PM. 

I have no idea what time it was. They did a little presentation for some guy who's been on the most Celebrity cruises on that sailing.  I was over in the corner looking for whales haha. 

[Oville]

1 minute ago, doghog said:

As I said, there is a sign at the entrance to the SL saying reserved for... 

So it’s closed for 2+ hours each evening to those who haven’t reached Elite?

[doghog]

8 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

I have no idea what time it was. They did a little presentation for some guy who's been on the most Celebrity cruises on that sailing.  I was over in the corner looking for whales haha. 

Now that's funny. Could have been the welcome aboard event for all CC members or the senior officers party (for Elite and above) which are not at the same time as the CC HH. Times and day are specific to that cruise. 

Edited September 6 by doghog

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, Oville said:

So it’s closed for 2+ hours each evening to those who haven’t reached Elite?

Yes. 5 to 7:PM. FYI, the CC HH is no longer held every evening (never was on the first evening) in the SL. Now it's 2 or 3 nights depending on the length of the cruise. Night's very depending on the cruise. 

[Travel-and-See]

2 minutes ago, doghog said:

Now that's funny. Could have been the welcome aboard event for all CC members or the senior officers party which are not at the same time as the CC HH. Times and day are specific to that cruise. 

I don't think it was the Welcome Aboard cause I'm pretty certain it wasn't the first day. And yes... there were officers there. 

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

I don't think it was the Welcome Aboard cause I'm pretty certain it wasn't the first day. And yes... there were officers there. 

The welcome aboard event and senior officers party isn't on the first day. Times and day are ship specific. Officers, CC host, CD, are at both of those events. Typical not at the CC HH. But on occasion we have seen senior staff roaming at the CC HH. 

Edited September 6 by doghog

[markeb]

45 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

No, it's because it's the majority of the cruise. I've seen the SkyLounge closed for private events before, but not for the majority of the cruise. That's 2 very different things. If this was an exclusive Park West reception for one night of the cruise, it would be business as usual. 

 

I'm not going to re-read all 20 pages, but a large number of the posts in this thread deal directly with Park West. The thread would have died out if not for the Park West tie-in. Yes, it would still be annoying for the people actually on the cruise(s) (about 2-3 of the posters on this thread I believe), but it wouldn't have spun up the Cruise Critic universe like this. 

 

I agree with Host Anne way back early in the thread that these things should be disclosed. And as pointed out there's nothing unique about Celebrity and these Park West VIP cruises. Or various other groups that routinely take over large venues for much of a cruise. This group event is hitting a space that's unusually popular on this cruise, is taking multiple days, and is a company largely despised on this board. Hence 20 pages of comments. If it were the Wounded Warrior Project, or TAP, or various other causes, it would be pages of I really wish we could use the Sky Lounge, but it's for a good cause...

[Travel-and-See]

9 minutes ago, markeb said:

If it were the Wounded Warrior Project, or TAP, or various other causes, it would be pages of I really wish we could use the Sky Lounge, but it's for a good cause...

Those would also be clients renting the space - basically Celebrity double-selling the space. 

 

In the end, I'm guessing enough people will complain that Celebrity will make a decision to not close the Sky Lounge Venue for more than a certain amount of time per cruise. It should have been obvious to them in the first place.. but such is life. 

[RichYak]

8 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

In the end, I'm guessing enough people will complain that Celebrity will make a decision to not close the Sky Lounge Venue for more than a certain amount of time per cruise. It should have been obvious to them in the first place.. but such is life. 

I'm guessing that, despite the complaints, Celebrity will continue this behavior as long as it remains profitable.

[wrk2cruise]

8 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I'm guessing that, despite the complaints, Celebrity will continue this behavior as long as it remains profitable.

 

Yes as I said before this is nothing new.  We were on a B2B in 2022 and the second sailing had the Sky Lounge closed for PW private invite every day.  I do think that was only for one sailing though.  And it was when LPP was running the show so it's nothing new.

[Cruiscs]

Is the sky lounge popular on warm weather cruises during the day? Could never Imaging sitting there instead of outdoors at the sunset bar or by the pool.