Celebrity Experience - Unempathetic Corporate Office

I am sharing this experience to inform potential Celebrity cruisers - if you have a major problem on the ship, do not think the shoreside (corporate office) cares! I took it as far as both the CEO and President's Office.

We sailed on the Celebrity Millennium (Alaskan Northbound) on May 27, 2016. I was so excited about the cruise because I was able to finally convince my DH to go. He prefers warm-weather places and thinks Alaska is below 50 degrees 365 days a year. :)

I sent a detailed email to Celebrity president's office with of issues from this cruise. I received a call from someone in that department (not sure I am allowed to post names here) - not an ounce of empathy. There was no accountability or responsibility accepted by Celebrity. For some reason, Celebrity believes that because I did get a cabin on the ship, regardless if the cabin did not have a properly functioning door 6 out of 7 cruise days, that it is the same as a cabin with a properly functioning door, so therefore I am not entitled any portion of the fare back. More details below.

All I know is that the conversation with the person this morning has turned me off of Celebrity. My first time on Celebrity and last. So maybe that is why they do not care. We have 2 more bookings with RCCL to finish up and then will go back to Princess, which we left because we thought RCCL ever since our DD was born.

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Here are a few of the issues:

Minor Issues:

1. Apparently on Celebrity, status does not mean anything. This was our 1st Celebrity cruise. But because of the relationship between RCCL and Celebrity, we were given Elite status on Celebrity. But Elite status is the same as no status. We had no priority boarding, which is a really nice benefit.

Moderate Issues:

1. It is obvious Guest Services and Captains Club staff can treat passengers as such because they know corporate would not care. That was very apparent in my conversation with the Celebrity representative who made zero apology. I provided very specific examples of "training opportunities", but those fell on deaf ears.

Captain Club staff arguing with me for about 5 min. I asked for the paper that showed where the activities were for Elite members. Rather than just providing me a copy, the person and I spent 5 min bantering:

CC staff: I gave you a copy of it already.

me: No you didn't.

CC staff: Yes I am sure I did. I always give that to passengers when they first come up to the table.

me: I still don't have the paperwork. Can I get another one?

cc staff: well what happened to the one I gave you?

me: I didn't get one.

...on and on and on. This should have been a 5 second conversation with her giving me another copy.

2. Celebrity needs to be very explicit with the passengers that the spa is a separate entity, and the cruise line cannot help with any issues. I had always assumed (and you know what happens when one assumes) the cruise line will assist when an issue arise.

3. For the major issue I had on the ship, NOT one officer at Guest Services or Engineering apologized or reached out to me while onboard.

Major Issue:

I thought only I saw it as such until I spoke with fellow passengers. Everyone of them said it was ridiculous what I had to deal with.

I became an unwilling participant in the blame/finger-pointin game between maintenance and guest services.

I had a cabin where the door would not open whenever I put the key card in. For the first 3 days of the cruise, I made many many trips to Guest Services to get new keys - all times of the day. None of them worked. Imagine how many times one goes in and out of your cabin - that is how many times I had to visit Guest Services to get a new card. Even one occurrence resulted in multiple trips for a key card because the new card (just given to me) did not work. There were times I was fortunate to find a cabin steward to let me in, eliminating a trek to Guest Services.

Day 4: Maintenance replaced the key card reader. Everything was functioning as expected until Day 6.

Day 6: Key card reader failure. Up to this point, I have been very patience, respectful and nice to all staff. But when the reader failed, I ended up just crying. I have been pushed to my breaking point.

It was discovered on Day 6 that I have a bad door mechanism. So maintenance spent a few hours replacing the entire door mechanism.

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To add insult to injury, the person from the executive office who called me:

1. Offered reimbursement of $67 - the balance on my onboard account. No consideration that I had to spend part of my onboard credits for something I did not want, but did because of the ship.

2. Told me that Guest Services credited back over $500 to my onboard account. I had to do the persons work and explain:

a. Bar credit was due to an error. We were charged for a drink even though we had the drink package!

b. Internet credit. There was a mix up in our status. When I checked in online, the system correctly reflected our Elite status. But when we checked in at the terminal, we were given Select status. The internet credit was for the free internet minutes for Elite members.

c. Specialty dining credits. Guest services insisted over and over for me to go to the Specialty Dining because I was crying and maintenance needed the room to fix the door!

3. The only apology given during the phone call, which was made later in the call instead of right at the start, was a generic scripted apology!

It actually sounds like they did apologize repeatedly but not in the time and manner you dictate. Your request for money seems unreasonable to me. I would politely tell you sorry that you feel that way and hope you'd go elsewhere.

Did you receive the Elite Coupons and the letter telling you about the time and places of Elite Events? If not, did you speak to the Captain's Club Host or Hostess?

I have had flooded floors from a pipe break in the shower and never asked for "compensation" of any type. On the last day of the cruise I was given a future cruise voucher. They said that they were sorry for the problem. I've had key card problems on several cruises, some were caused by me when I demagnetized the card. I wouldn't ever think of asking for compensation. Celebrity has always treated me as a valued customer and sorry that you didn't feel the same.

I believe that you should return to Princess and enjoy their service.

I am so sorry that you had to experience ALL of this on your cruise. How frustrating to spend the entire cruise dealing with issues that were not your fault. I remember when we had an issue with Celebrity not wanting us to get our OBC from our TA, even though I had all the paperwork. It was finally added several days later because they had to wait for Miami to give the okay, but this was nothing compared to what you had to go through. In addition, I have been overcharged for purchases I did not make, but those were finally credited back to my account. I only hope that you had a few good cruise experiences, and that somehow you can put this entire mess behind you and go forward. If you haven't experienced issues on Princess, I would certainly return and not look back except on this as a learning experience.

Sad to read of such an unenjoyable vacation.

Our first Princess cruise was in 1992. We sailed the Ruby in 2012 and there was a marked difference. I see you have not sailed with them in 8 years, during which they were bought by another Co.

I would stay with RCCL where you are more comfortable.

We were on the Millennium 5 weeks later also going Northbound. Our AC failed twice and it was fixed very quickly twice. The second time with lots of apologies and explanations about what they were doing and what was wrong and a follow up to make sure it was working later. While I was not happy it broke twice I cannot complain about Celebrity's response. We are only Select but we were greeted, welcomed and invited to a number of Select events. In this world stuff does happen and we need to deal with it. I guess we have been lucky in our dealings with Celebrity. We have also sailed on Royal a number of times, the last being on the Allure three years ago. That was a nightmare for us and we have not been back on Royal since so yes, stuff does happen.

Did you receive the Elite Coupons and the letter telling you about the time and places of Elite Events? If not, did you speak to the Captain's Club Host or Hostess?

 

I have had flooded floors from a pipe break in the shower and never asked for "compensation" of any type. On the last day of the cruise I was given a future cruise voucher. They said that they were sorry for the problem. I've had key card problems on several cruises, some were caused by me when I demagnetized the card. I wouldn't ever think of asking for compensation. Celebrity has always treated me as a valued customer and sorry that you didn't feel the same.

I believe that you should return to Princess and enjoy their service.

Yes I did speak with the Captains Club Host and it was the dialog I put in there.

OK when I say compensation - a future cruise voucher would be exactly it! I would have been 100% ok with that.

Yes I will return to Princess - never had a single issue when I sailed with them. Like I said, we switched to Royal because of our young daughter.

It actually sounds like they did apologize repeatedly but not in the time and manner you dictate. Your request for money seems unreasonable to me. I would politely tell you sorry that you feel that way and hope you'd go elsewhere.

Thanks and I hope you will never have to deal with that on any of your cruises!

A customer should never be stuck in the middle of a blame game. They should have fixed the door from the get go.

We were on the Millennium 5 weeks later also going Northbound. Our AC failed twice and it was fixed very quickly twice. The second time with lots of apologies and explanations about what they were doing and what was wrong and a follow up to make sure it was working later. While I was not happy it broke twice I cannot complain about Celebrity's response. We are only Select but we were greeted, welcomed and invited to a number of Select events. In this world stuff does happen and we need to deal with it. I guess we have been lucky in our dealings with Celebrity. We have also sailed on Royal a number of times, the last being on the Allure three years ago. That was a nightmare for us and we have not been back on Royal since so yes, stuff does happen.

I agree that stuff happens. I have been on many sailings and things I say are minor happened to me as well, and I dealt with it. But I cannot and refuse to not put "not having access to my cabin" as stuff happens.

Again, I hope you will never have to deal with not having access to your cabin whenever you want. It's not fun having to make the many many trips to Guest Services for majority of ones trip and missing out on the Alaskan scenery.

This is about customer service lacking in today's world.

Hint: Never use the term "compensation" when discussing a problem either on the ship or talking to Corporate. The use of the term takes the conversation to a different level. I've had problems, some major on cruises. Take enough cruises and you'll encounter problems. My reply when asked what I want is always: " Whatever you think is fair". Only once was nothing done (that was from Corporate). I have usually received more than I would have asked. In one case some new pants were accidentally placed in the wash rather than dry cleaning as indicated. Corporate sent a very nice check to cover the cost of replacement. I didn't ask for specific "compensation" just for them to do what they thought was fair.

Sad to read of such an unenjoyable vacation.

 

Our first Princess cruise was in 1992. We sailed the Ruby in 2012 and there was a marked difference. I see you have not sailed with them in 8 years, during which they were bought by another Co.

I would stay with RCCL where you are more comfortable.

I see your signature showed you sailed 7 cruise lines. Any suggestions?

Hint: Never use the term "compensation" when discussing a problem either on the ship or talking to Corporate. The use of the term takes the conversation to a different level. I've had problems, some major on cruises. Take enough cruises and you'll encounter problems. My reply when asked what I want is always: " Whatever you think is fair". Only once was nothing done (that was from Corporate). I have usually received more than I would have asked. In one case some new pants were accidentally placed in the wash rather than dry cleaning as indicated. Corporate sent a very nice check to cover the cost of replacement. I didn't ask for specific "compensation" just for them to do what they thought was fair.

Great suggestion. Thank you! That's what I get for English being my 2nd language. :-) Given that I ask for that, I guess I got what I deserve. Just disappointed there was zero effort to see "what is fair".

Lesson learned.

I see your signature showed you sailed 7 cruise lines. Any suggestions?

Admiral - sold to RCCL to get CoCo Cay and shut down

Princess, Cunard, NCL, HAL, and RCCL - Diamond, and Celebrity - Elite

Our last Princess in 2012 was not bad, just something was 'off' the Crown Grill food & service was meh. Now the Balcony dining was one of the most fantastic experiences we have ever had on a cruise.

The others, ( Cunard, NCL, HAL ) it has been over 15 years since we sailed any of them, and after careful reading have no desire at the present to try them again.

You have more time on Royal than we do.

IMHO, which wont get you anything different than from Corporate Celebrity :D

I would say to try one of the 5 Celebrity S-Class ships. I know not even in the same breath :eek: Our last 3 have been S-class and we are booked for the 3rd time on the Equinox for another 10 day in Nov 2017.

EW

We have 4 diff set of friends that have tried MSC, 50/50 maybe it will get better as they get more time in the US market full time.

Note to Original Poster:

I'm not in the least surprised that you didn't receive an empathetic ear from Celebrity. With the exception of the door, your complaints are silly. Celebrity's website is not the best but it does make it clear what "Elite" status means and that the shops and spa are third party vendors. It also sounds as though you seem to find fault with many things. If a single conversation with customer service doesn't yield a response, then as for a supervisor. However, don't expect the cruise line to redefine "elite" because you find it insufficient.

As for the keycard reader, one complaint should be sufficient. You could always have called and asked to speak with the engineering supervisor yourself or demanded same from customer service. Onboard customer service is highly restricted in the limits of what they can offer as an accommodation. I suspect that the one real compliant you had (the door) was lost in the sauce of your email.

I had one complaint on a recent cruise, and the corporate office (office of the CEO) was very accommodating with a significant credit toward a future cruise. However, my compliant was succinctly stated and limited to the actual problem....not policies and training opportunities...

I had a personal item damaged on board Millennium by a leaking tap. I mentioned the issue to our butler only in passing and ten minutes later he was knocking on the door with a form for me to complete.

I did this, handed it to him and two days later the cost of the item was showing as a refund on our shipboard account. So they can act.

I would be very annoyed if I couldn't get into my cabin when I wanted to. So I do feel your pain.

Admiral - sold to RCCL to get CoCo Cay and shut down

 

Princess, Cunard, NCL, HAL, and RCCL - Diamond, and Celebrity - Elite

 

Our last Princess in 2012 was not bad, just something was 'off' the Crown Grill food & service was meh. Now the Balcony dining was one of the most fantastic experiences we have ever had on a cruise.

 

The others, ( Cunard, NCL, HAL ) it has been over 15 years since we sailed any of them, and after careful reading have no desire at the present to try them again.

 

You have more time on Royal than we do.

IMHO, which wont get you anything different than from Corporate Celebrity :D

I would say to try one of the 5 Celebrity S-Class ships. I know not even in the same breath :eek: Our last 3 have been S-class and we are booked for the 3rd time on the Equinox for another 10 day in Nov 2017.

EW

 

We have 4 diff set of friends that have tried MSC, 50/50 maybe it will get better as they get more time in the US market full time.

Thanks for the reminder about my signature. I went and deleted them.

I learn now from Orator I should not have used "compensation". I was hoping for some kind of credit for a future cruise just so I can have a comparison of more than 1 Celebrity sailing.

Carnival and NCL are not ones I'd consider.

I remember my sailings with Princess as being really nice all around, but that was a while ago. So with the buyout as you mentioned, I need to seriously think about it.

We like to cruise because we use it as a "floating taxi" for scuba diving. Maybe time to go back to the old fashion way of traveling....hotels and cars. :-)

Thanks for you response.

Note to Original Poster:

 

I'm not in the least surprised that you didn't receive an empathetic ear from Celebrity. With the exception of the door, your complaints are silly. Celebrity's website is not the best but it does make it clear what "Elite" status means and that the shops and spa are third party vendors. It also sounds as though you seem to find fault with many things. If a single conversation with customer service doesn't yield a response, then as for a supervisor. However, don't expect the cruise line to redefine "elite" because you find it insufficient.

 

As for the keycard reader, one complaint should be sufficient. You could always have called and asked to speak with the engineering supervisor yourself or demanded same from customer service. Onboard customer service is highly restricted in the limits of what they can offer as an accommodation. I suspect that the one real compliant you had (the door) was lost in the sauce of your email.

 

I had one complaint on a recent cruise, and the corporate office (office of the CEO) was very accommodating with a significant credit toward a future cruise. However, my compliant was succinctly stated and limited to the actual problem....not policies and training opportunities...

OK point taken & lesson learned: I should've only my door issue in my email. That makes sense what you say about it being lost in the email. I get it now.

I did ask for the Guest Services manager but did not get that. It was very difficult to figure out who was responsible because Guest Services and Engineering were pointing fingers at each other. I guess in trying to be patient and nice, it is my fault.

Not having access to my cabin at anytime over majority of my cruise is not acceptable! Period. I have a young child with me so we are constantly in and out of our cabins.

As for the Elite thing - my first time on Celebrity so yeah I was hoping to get more help from the Captains Club. I know exactly what benefits come with it so please do not patronize. My question while onboard are where are the Elite only activities.

I had a personal item damaged on board Millennium by a leaking tap. I mentioned the issue to our butler only in passing and ten minutes later he was knocking on the door with a form for me to complete.

 

I did this, handed it to him and two days later the cost of the item was showing as a refund on our shipboard account. So they can act.

 

I would be very annoyed if I couldn't get into my cabin when I wanted to. So I do feel your pain.

Thanks. If my door issue was taken care of in the first day or so of the cruise i would not have an issue. This went on until the day before the cruise ended.

Ywhy did you not get priority boarding?

The behavior as described is by any measure inexcusable. I don't know who was in that position for that cruise, but they simply didn't do their job in a professional way. The coupons and information sheet are given to the Cabin Attendant to place on the bed. The CC Host cannot assume that they were actually received by the passenger. Now I can understand why a Host/Hostess would deny "extra" coupons, it is total nonsense to deny a extra (or initial) sheet that simply gives times and places.

Ywhy did you not get priority boarding?

My first time on Celebrity using status earned as a RCCL passenger. So I do not know why I did not get priority boarding.

When we entered the waiting area, they separated those with balcony rooms from everyone else. I asked the person directing us to the area to wait is there priority boarding for Elite status. He said he didn't know what Elite status was and asked us to sit down, which we did. Passengers with balcony rooms were boarded first.

Like I said, first time on Celebrity so I was trying to understand if there is priority boarding. But people are reading it as a petty complaint. :-)

The behavior as described is by any measure inexcusable. I don't know who was in that position for that cruise, but they simply didn't do their job in a professional way. The coupons and information sheet are given to the Cabin Attendant to place on the bed. The CC Host cannot assume that they were actually received by the passenger. Now I can understand why a Host/Hostess would deny "extra" coupons, it is total nonsense to deny a extra (or initial) sheet that simply gives times and places.

I am not sure how it happened. When I checked in online, my account showed Elite status. When I checked it at the terminal, it showed Select status. Our cabin steward left the coupons & activity sheet, but they were for Select. I wanted to know what and where the Elite activities are.

My point of adding this in my complaint was for "coaching" opportunity. But as FishLover made a very good point, by doing so my MAIN complaint was lost in the message.

Customer service is a dying thing in today's world. When I submit coaching opportunity there are people who see it as a complaint rather than feedback.

Personally, if I did something wrong, I would like someone to let me know.

If you thought you were Elite and you boarded and you were only Select, that's the first thing I would have addressed with the Captain's Club Host or Guest Relations. That's why you didn't get Elite coupons.

Priority boarding is so overrated. Unless you arrive at peak times, check in goes very swiftly.

If you thought you were Elite and you boarded and you were only Select, that's the first thing I would have addressed with the Captain's Club Host or Guest Relations. That's why you didn't get Elite coupons.

 

Priority boarding is so overrated. Unless you arrive at peak times, check in goes very swiftly.

I actually enjoy priority boarding - nice way to start a trip. It was not swift for us in May.

I didn't want to write every detail in my OP. I did address this when the Captain's Club desk opened, which was after the ship sailed. The person swapped our cards for Elite ones. I was busy with my cabin door access that I did not immediately realize the coupon & activity sheet left in my room were for Select. It was a couple days into the cruise when I stopped at the Captain Club desk to ask for the Elite activities sheet that I got into a 5 min discussion with the Captain Club desk person. It should have been a 5 second conversation.

It's a minor thing but I gave that feedback to Celebrity. But from what I read, some take it as complaining rather than feedback.

To the OP, here are my thoughts.

The Elite Status problems seem to be a result of your status showing up as Select when your reservation was booked. I'm not sure if you booked the cruise yourself or used a TA but it would have been good to confirm at the time of booking (and on the X website) that your Elite status showed up. Some of the things you say you did not get (Priority Boarding, List of Elite Activities, Elite Internet, etc) would have been automatic if your status has properly shown up as Elite. Should you decide to cruise Celebrity again, be sure your Elite Status shows up on your profile.

The door issue, while regretable seems like just one of those things. You had a problem, they fixed it. It broke again, they fixed it. So many things can cause your door key to stop working (iPads, magnetic field, etc) that on a 7 day cruise we normally find our keys stop working at least once. For them to automatically assume it was a more serious issue was understandable but agree that it was a pain to you.

Ultimately the decision to cruise Celebrity is your choice. When I receive what I believe to be poor service I take my business where I believe it belongs. That said I'm not sure the issues you mention would prevent me from cruising Celebrity unless the other aspects (food, ship, service) were also below what you get on other cruiselines.