Very Disappointed - Celebrity Galaxy

[FinelyCruising]

To the OP:

 

I think that a good observation was made in the offering platform of ship and amaneties and services on a somewhat older ship...many times they do not age well and sometimes it feels pretty short of a first class environment across the board. We were on Galaxy for a second time a few years ago and were suprised by the differences from our first time on her, and this was after a refurb.

 

Sometimes the ports are part of the issue as you decribed, we have been to Carribean and Mexican ports where the locals become part of the excursion activities and special stops are made to allow the guests an opportunity to experience handmade items or gifts by locals. I too can do without it...sometimes it just starts to rub me the wrong way, you verbalized it here, and that's fine with me.

 

Better days are coming!:)

[Drew B]

I hope you are not correct that Celebrity would just skip much needed maintenance because of problems on their other ships. If true that would show a complete lack of caring as to the passengers enjoyment and I would find it hard to believe that any cruise line would think that way, but I could be wrong. Keeping ships in good shape should be a prime concern for Celebrity and not just something that may be fixed sometime if there is any extra money.

 

 

Businesses in the real world operate within budgets. Celebrity clearly has a budget for upkeep and maintenance. However, when things like repeated pod problems come up, causing the line to lose out on tons of revenue in cancelled cruises as well as in future cruise vouchers, the lost income has to translate into lost expenditure in other areas. Nobody wants them to defer maintenance, but neither would we like them to cut costs in other areas (food, staff, etc.). Nor do we want them to raise prices. It puts them into a very difficult position.

 

Unless you have a plan for how Celebrity can mint some extra money, I'm not sure what X can do to please you and all of their other customers...

[FinelyCruising]

Drew they already cover the anticipated pod issues as a reserve and deferred maintenance. If they don't I can't imagine they are considered a viable business and publicly traded.

 

What they are doing is continuing to defer maintenance and its really bunk since there were years when we cruises that railings were taken care of during the cruise. The painter is already on board, he just needs to do his job. That kind of stuff is not all about waiting for drydock.

 

People are getting too lethargic about addressing maintenance. I see it in my business where people who are there every day don't see dirt, stains on carpet, burnt out light bulbs and so on.... If they do, then they have to do something about it and sometimes people are just to lazy and don't want to. O they are afraid to do thier job, or to ask somone who's job it is to be accountable and actually do what they are supposed to.

[Drew B]

Drew they already cover the anticipated pod issues as a reserve and deferred maintenance. If they don't I can't imagine they are considered a viable business and publicly traded.

 

I don't know how their accounting works so I don't deny that you are correct. I'm simply following the logic in the posts leading to this one.

 

What they are doing is continuing to defer maintenance and its really bunk since there were years when we cruises that railings were taken care of during the cruise. The painter is already on board, he just needs to do his job. That kind of stuff is not all about waiting for drydock.

 

I was responding to PuppetMaster who was responding to this quote from HLN500:

 

Dry dock is long overdue----it's been put off due to pod problems on M ships as well as emergency repairs on other ships. X can't put too many ships out of service in any given period----they need the cash flow.

Due to unexpected repairs the money budgeted for maintenance has forced X not to do a Century like conversion this dry dock but only repair and refurbish the existing configuration.

 

As you can see, he was specifically talking about repairs that require dry dock and that is what I was addressing. I agree that this should have no effect on things like re-varnishing railings. Of course, in my experience, that IS going on now, and people are not slacking off on that sort of maintenance. It was being done on my Mercury sailing and it was being done on my Summit sailing (when I went out on the Promenade deck at night, failed to see the "Wet Paint" sign in the dark, and leaned on the wet railing in my tux... I've got the stains to prove it...).

 

I've never sailed on Galaxy, so I don't know how badly in need of basic, day-to-day maintenance she is. I will say that after reading many reports of how run-down Mercury was, I did not agree at all with that assessment after I saw her for myself...

 

 

[FinelyCruising]

Drew - I was on Mercury in March 2006 and she was in pretty poor shape in many areas and some thought she was in good shape, so I think that the devil is in the details.

 

I am not being critical of cruisers for not seeing what is actually there, nor am I suggesting that those who do see what is missing are critical.

 

I am holding the line employees accountable for turning their heads when they should not be, ever, and I suspect that they are to a large degree....

[Drew B]

Well, if lack of maintenance is based on low standards and laziness, that IS unacceptable. That's a very different argument from the financial one made earlier.

[FinelyCruising]

There can be multiple issues and I think one can play off of another and become an excuse and a justification for languishing and being an acceptable reason.

 

We can reason that the worker guy is making less money so why should anyone from HQ lean on him so hard...he's already stuck here on this ship for 6 months and his family is barely making ends meet, and now we are making less too and so we can't give him the over-tip he might be accostomed to, or the exchange rate makes it more expensive for him to even call home.

 

And it becomes all about the poor workers and you can almost predict that everyone forgets they have a certain job to do, which no one is making sure is top-shelf, and many are not doing it well. Pointing out the shortfall is like being mean.

 

The whole dilemma ends up making for an inconsistent cruise environment...there was no excuse in reecent years and it did come up, now it has been allowed for so long how do you go back and fix it?

 

Should it be OK that some guy says I am a new guy who wants the job so hire me, and then because the line is afraid he might bolt if they manage him, they then don't expect too much out of fear???

 

This mind game stuff really happens.....

[FinelyCruising]

Drew...Hi again...Galaxy when we sailed her in February of some year I have to look up she was beautiful.

 

So was Enchantment when we sailed our first RCCL ship even with a pool tile missing when we were bumped from Infinty to Hawai, and that was an older ship at that pointi....

 

and Jewel which was a brand new ship, well. It was pretty brand new....

 

Our first cruise on X was Meridian, an older ship by all means, but never shopworn or lacking in any way.....

[Drew B]

Ah, but I'll bet that on each of those cruises, somebody complained about the state of the ship that you found perfectly acceptable.

[FinelyCruising]

Ah, but I'll bet that on each of those cruises, somebody complained about the state of the ship that you found perfectly acceptable.

 

It's quite possible there were some who did, but I was on the boards all that time and the tones of the cruisers were quite different as were the ambiance of each of all of the ships and the lines.

 

They all were tie and jacket, certainly no hats, and deficiences in appearance and service were an absolute exception not the norm. Service and ship conditon regardless of age was a priority and the standard was noticably quite high.

 

Its changed a good bit to an unfavorable tone....

[Mparis184]

One of our best cruises was last year on the Galaxy in the Med. Yes, the ship was a little tired looking but the staff, food, itinerary and wonderful CC people that we met on this cruise all were great.

 

I hope she gets a new look soon. We are big Celebrity fans and it is too bad people sailing on Celebrity for the first time experienced a tired looking Galaxy. Please cruise Celebrity again- it's a wonderful cruise line.

Marion

[Lois R]

I've posted my comments re the Galaxy TA on other Threads but even though Galaxy has it's negatives the crew and staff are among the best in the fleet.

The retractable roof WAS working and retracted several times.

Unlike last year the T pools were working.

Vibration problems are inherent in this class ships as well as anchor noise.

Stratosphere Lounge windows---many have already been replaced and the balance due to be done in dry dock.

The thermo controls were designed to be replaced every so often: they have not replaced them since the ship was placed in service and the scheduled dry dock will be the first time its done. (deck 12 port side had NO water for 4 days.)

Dry dock is long overdue----it's been put off due to pod problems on M ships as well as emergency repairs on other ships. X can't put too many ships out of service in any given period----they need the cash flow.

Due to unexpected repairs the money budgeted for maintenance has forced X not to do a Century like conversion this dry dock but only repair and refurbish the existing configuration.

Alot of the above info I received from the CD who was very friendly and open to questions.

As noted on these boards, fleet wide the food is not up to X's prior standereds.....Galaxy is no exception.

 

Hi Barbara and Larry~no water for 4 days?:eek: :( I will be on Galaxy

in March...cabin 1242....lets hope the water is back up and running

by then.

What did those passengers do for showers and such?

 

Glad your service was still great:)

[mecb50]

We are sailing next January (I believe in Nonna and Papa's cabin). This will be after dry dock. When I first heard about drydock I was extremly disappointed to learn that they were taking away the T pool. I had heard how the T pool was so much better than on the M class I was so looking forward to this. Upon reading about the dry dock here. Is it true that they are leaving the T pool as is.:) I sure hope so. I would rather have the T pool than an extra restarant that I have to pay for. We have reserved this cruise since early 2007 so it is going to be wonderful.

 

As for the noise. We were in an Aft cabin on the Horizon an there was definately vibrations coming into port. We were never in our cabin leaving port , so I so know about then. We liked the noise since we knew we were "someplace new" and would jump out of bed to look. I wouldn't want much noise in the dining room however, so I am a bit worried about that.

 

Just someone in the know , tell me about the T pool after drydock. Thanks, Mary

[Cracker Ken]

Most likely, the noise and vibration potential was the same when the ship was new, as it is now, and will be after the next dry dock. As you know, this is a big ship, with a big engine and big props, in a great big sea. Vibration and noise can happen. The noise can be better or worse relative to sea conditions and ship speed. For silence, midships cabins are best, or go up to high cabins aft. Low cabins aft can be noisy, and that's just life at sea. For instance, I sailed on Carnival Glory in Dec. I was the 2nd deck from the bottom, starboard, 1 cabin from the rear. Some nights it was very noisy with considerable vibration, others it was just fine and even relatively quiet. When the seas were a little rough an the ship was trying to make time, it was annoying. At times with smooth seas, especially if the ship was moving slower, it was nice.

 

Ken

[Mparis184]

I have found that Celebrity ships do vibrate more than most. I never book an aft cabin on Celebrity for that reason. Dinner in Celebrity dining rooms is a real rock and roll show with lots of vibration.

 

It's still my favorite cruise line so I ignore it all and don't complain!

 

Marion

[fireman999]

My wife and I have taken 15 previous cruises with different cruise lines and without doubt the best one was on board the Constellation for a cruise of the Baltics - our worst cruise was on board the Galaxy for the Ancient Empires Cruise from which we have just returned - here is why:

 

1. The noise and vibration problems in the aft staterooms on Deck 4 were unbearable - if anyone doesn't believe me I will make available a recording and they can hear for themselves.

 

2. The state of the stair nosings in the Celebrity Theatre are very dangerous - my wife tripped on them and so did another gentleman. If this was in a building in the UK the owner would face legal action by the enforcing authorities.

 

3. On excursion days when a large number of people are late back they close the Main Restaurant and everyone has to use the Oasis Cafe -the main problem is that if you can't use the outside decks, which is unlikely in the Med in December in the evening, everyone is confined to this area. If you believe the facts and figures that they publish they state that there is accomodation for 600 persons in the Oasis Cafe plus 188 in the Oasis Pool area - if you count the seats you will find that there are c 400 seats in the Cafe and c 104 in the Oasis Pool Area - it doesn't really matter which figure that you believe because when in excess of 1,500 people go on excursions and they all come back hungry around the same time - you find yourself wandering around with a tray of food that is rapidly going cold trying to find tables and chairs which are not available.

 

4. On the excursion to Egypt a considerable amount of time was wasted by the guide selling gold items, tee shirts, books and a visit to what was described as a Government approved Gold and Papyrus Centre. On our coach the guide passed around a catalogue and showed us samples which had to be pre ordered on the coach for pick up later. When we arrived and found the articles nothing like the samples we declined to buy them as did other people. The guide was quite annoyed by this and sent the manager on to the coach to try and change our minds on the basis that it had cost him money to make the items - not very professional.

 

5. Other problems that we noted were electrical cable with a taped joint, cables across passageways without warning signs, obstructed exit routes and corridors, loss of hot water, inaudible phone messages, incorrect disembarkation instructions, smells from leaking services in corridor and very poor customer relations.

 

6. The noise/vibration and tripping hazards were notified to Daniel Stacy the Hotel Director and apart from a letter stating that he would pass it to the appropriate department, nothing happened. On our return we emailed and wrote to the President of Celebrity Cruises but to date have not received a reply.

 

Clearly the Celebrity promises don’t live up to what we expected, which is a pity because on our first cruise with Celebrity they certainly did.

So, what's gone wrong? I think that one of the ship's officers summed it up very well when he was addressing someone else's complaints, he stated "we are trying to provide a five star service with a three star ship" and personally we couldn't agree more

 

 

:mad:

 

I thought that as it has now been over a month since I raised my initial complaint and a number of questions have been raised I would update the situation:

 

1. No reply to emails or letters sent to Celebrity Cruises both in the UK and USA - I have also sent them copies of a CD that have recordings of the noise that we had to endure during the cruise.

 

2. To reply to some of the questions that have been raised:

 

The excursions were arranged by Celebrity and also had representives

from the ship on them.

 

I am a qualified noise assessor so I do understand the problem with

noise pollution.

 

3. I have copied the correspondence to the Travel Agent that I used but

have not received a reply from them.

 

I now appear to have experienced both the best and worst of Celebrity - perhaps, if I had experienced the worst first, the best would have been a nice surprise but as I have experienced these the other way around I am very disappointed. The other side of the coin is that perhaps I would not have used Celebrity again.

How a company deals with complaints is a very important part of the experience and not even receiving an acknowledgement after a month is, I feel, totally unacceptable. Sometimes, how the complaint is handled can make the difference between keeping that customer and losing him forever. The problem with losing the customer is that they can do a lot of reputational damage to the company's image and this can result in loss of trade that the company can never estimate. I do know that after our first cruise with Celebrity six of our friends bookled cruises on the Constellation and were also happy - what will I be telling them now?

 

Anyone that has read any of my previous posts will realise that I do not just accept this type of treatment lying down - I will issue a summons against both Celebrity and the TA and let the courts decide who is in the right. It is sad to have to take this action but sometimes this is the only way to get at the truth - on a previous cruise where the itinerary was changed before we sailed I requested a later cruise or a refund, both the cruise line and TA did not bother to reply so I was forced to go to law. What came out in Court was very interesting because the cruise line had issued a letter prior to the cruise authorising the TA to make a refund - unfortunately the TA did not bother to make this information available to me so I took a cruise which was different to that which I had previously booked. When the truth came out in court the judgement was in my favour and the TA had to meet all the costs. However, the cruise line realising how badly I had been treated, made a very generous gesture to me which I will be accepting later this year.

I will keep you updated on how things progress.

[richsea]

You're going to .............. never mind:confused:

[oceanspirit1]

We did not encounter the problems some passengers wrote about and we were on the Galaxy for the ancient empires part of the cruise. We did, however, have a stained bathroom sink replaced in our cabin. I enjoyed the pianist and the two lectors. What we did not like were the fogged windows in the top bar. Michael's club, at least, did not use recorded backround music as we have witnessed on other Celebrity ships making it impossible to have a conversation.

 

There was a stain on the coverlet on the bed, but we did not mention it to the stewards and it was replaced after a few days. The cleanliness of the bathroom did not meet my standards. Other than that we had a wonderful cruise.

 

We are elite members with 28 cruises with Celebrity and find the Constellation to be perfect. We also enjoyed the Horizon and the Zenith. Service has always been terrific as has been the food in the dining room, with one exception - prime rib which was tough - this cruise. We are planning another cruise with Celebrity in about six months - one bad cruise will not deter us.

 

Angela

[Sea Island Lady]

We have friends that will be on the Galaxy sailing of the Roman Empire next June. If the ship goes into dry dock in April, where is the list of improvements to be made? I'd like to tell my friends, but don't want to get their hopes up with the wrong information. ;)

[Mparis184]

I'm sure that the Galaxy will come out of drydock and be as elegant as the rest of the fleet. I seemed to overlook all the stains and frayed carpeting, our cruise was just wonderful. If you look for things wrong with the ship you can find them on any cruise. Celebrity food and sevice was just wonderful. I couldn't complain a bit. Celebrity is still my favorite cruise line and I will look forward to sailing on the Galaxy again after she comes out of drydock. We don't have another cruise planned except for Oceania transatlantic in March out of Rio.

 

Bon Voyage,

 

Marion

[Cracker Ken]

I was on Century when it did the transatlantic heading for dry-dock. Many of the worn conditions mentioned here were present on Century at that time. Food and service were great. No problems really, but it was quite evident that it was time for work. Nothing that ruined my day though. Ships cannot stay new for ever. I've heard about those fogged up windows in the forward observation lounge for a while now. Maybe they will finally get fixed. I've heard they have upgraded the mattresses, and that's great. I have reservations on Galaxy coming up in a few months. My personal opinin, is that X allows their ships to run down too much between dry docks, but at least they keep the service and food quality up.

 

Ken

[Jade13]

 

Anyone that has read any of my previous posts will realise that I do not just accept this type of treatment lying down - I will issue a summons against both Celebrity and the TA and let the courts decide who is in the right. It is sad to have to take this action but sometimes this is the only way to get at the truth - on a previous cruise where the itinerary was changed before we sailed I requested a later cruise or a refund, both the cruise line and TA did not bother to reply so I was forced to go to law. What came out in Court was very interesting because the cruise line had issued a letter prior to the cruise authorising the TA to make a refund - unfortunately the TA did not bother to make this information available to me so I took a cruise which was different to that which I had previously booked. When the truth came out in court the judgement was in my favour and the TA had to meet all the costs. However, the cruise line realising how badly I had been treated, made a very generous gesture to me which I will be accepting later this year.

I will keep you updated on how things progress.

 

What exactly are you asking for in court? How did you get a refund on a cruise that you took, just because the itinerary was changed? What was the change?

[Canuker]

You're lucky.

 

We were keel-hauled twice a day and made to drink seawater until our guts exploded and made to dive into the pool without water in it, from the ship's funnel.

And if you weren't at you table at 6:30 you missed the bowl of

Cambell's soup, the first item on the menu of international cuisine.

 

And you tell the young people of that today.... and they won't believe you.

[fireman999]

What exactly are you asking for in court? How did you get a refund on a cruise that you took, just because the itinerary was changed? What was the change?

 

The itinerary that I booked was changed shortly after booking - I only found out in Court that the TA was knowingly advertising a cruise that had already been changed by the Cruise Company - whilst the change may not have been important to some people we had arranged to see some friends in one of the ports that was changed. I would have been happy to go on a later cruise that included the port that I wanted to visit but the TA and Cruise Company would not respond to me even thought I sent emails, recorded delivery letter and faxes.

In respect of my cruise on the Galaxy I will be going to Court to let the Court decide if what Celebrity promised me was delivered and I will be doing this by presenting the audio recordings and photographs that I took.

If you look at the literature they claim "One of three Century class of ships, Galaxy offers everything you need to ensure a comfortable, memorable cruise experience." I don't believe that not being able to sleep at night because of noise and vibration equates to being comfortable - I did complain but they decided not to investigate it or move us to another cabin - they obviously know which cabins are noisey and I believe they have an obligation to inform passengers about this problem prior to the cruise. We obviously know that there is going to be some noise as we have now done 15 cruises but never experienced anything like this before.

 

If you look at the safety aspects - damaged stair nosings, obstructed escape routes, poor electrical safety and terrrible smells - I also don't believe that this equates to being comfortable. The only thing that was true about the Celebrity statement was that "it was a memorable cruise experience" - it was certainly that but for the wrong reasons. And lets not forget that my wife is still suffering considerable pain in her knee from the fall - it's still possible for Celebrity to prevent Court action but if they don't communicate with me they will certainly have to defend their actions in Court.

[Susan-M]

....they obviously know which cabins are noisey and I believe they have an obligation to inform passengers about this problem prior to the cruise.

 

Just curious...did you book a guarantee or a specific cabin?