xmarksx

Ms. Waldo, Terry, Duct and JP, thank you! Certainly helpful to have the perspective.

I will use Duct's suggestion and post a couple of the more serious want-to-do excursions this week.

Thanks again.

I wish they had some type of pricing guide listed so that I could gage what my budget for excursions when the do become available. Not going to book anything fancy for our Med trip this August but we will be interested in the biking/kayaking types. I have only sailed Celebrity and wonder how they compare in price. Fully recognize that prices will vary significantly for the type of excursion but just curious.

Any opinions or thoughts?

But as long as the lemmings keep blindly following, it's only go to keep going down hill.

Just making sure you count yourself as one of those visually impaired lemmings, right? You cruised Silhouette this summer and prior to that cruise you posted critical commentary about Celebrity.

I do enjoy reading your posts especially the ones where you say that you are not going away. Don't understand why you say that, no one has ever asked you to do so.

Does Celebrity have own tenders in Cayman Islands

I could have sworn we tendered using the ship tenders for our Silhouette cruise in 2015 but found this picture on CC:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/celebrity-reflection-621/member-4/44665/

Can anyone remember or able to check current silversea "excursion" prices for at transfer from the Port to the Airport?

 

I know the taxi prices, but just wanting to know the price through Silversea.

 

Ta Muchly

We used RomeCabs for several transfers this summer and they did a great job. Not sure how they compare to the cruse line or taxi pricing. I found them on the Rome forum and had very positive reviews.

Thank you xmarksx! Wanted you to know how small a world we live in too as I grew up about 100 miles SE of Bloomington, IL.

Small world indeed. I would gladly trade for your Colorado weather right about now. Typical grey, cold and windy - central Illinois.

Actually yes, I can think of an instance off the top of my head. Shortly after the M clas ships were launched, Celebrity tried to make the indoor solarium an extra charge area of the ship. The uproar here & irate calls ended that ill advised idea in short order.

 

Celebrity also used to have a rep here who would try to help with individual problems, but they left the company & were replaced by a robot who just cuts & pastes blurbs from their website; really useless.

 

This thread only serves to tell them that there are those who disagree with the notion that they are losing their way, which only encourages them to keep on keeping on.

I sincerely yield (seriously) to the man from NY and concede that. I do appreciate your posts and think we can both agree that some of the posted "noise" diminishes more sincere concerns. I think the current posts about luggage valet are a good example of a legitimate beef.

Creamer vs. cream, nah.

Hi MD! We are on the same cruise and I can attest to the quality of Terry's information, we really enjoyed the information he posted prior to our Mediterranean cruise this summer.

We spent two days in Athens during our cruise and were so impressed that we built in two days post cruise for this year. We have two daughters and found lots of great items for them, including inexpensive sandals. I am sure your daughter will enjoy it. We did one of the hop-on hop-off two day bus passes and it was really cost effective transportation.

Spinnaker2 - I was seriously considering booking the JW using points for a day pre-cruise but decided against the island location because we have never been to Venice. Now you have me rethinking that decision, we instead booked the Marriot (Autograph) Boscolo Venezia. Any opinion?

Bye then.

Ha! There is a current US slang phrase that can also be employed; Bye Felecia.

Someone earlier commented that they were hopeful Celebrity might view these complaints and it would somehow impact them. Have you ever seen a X response to one of these strings? Can you point to any time this tactic has actually worked?

Thank you, really enjoying this thread! Cannot wait for our sailing in August.

What were those links? I clicked all of them and nothing came up.

Lois, they were links from their posts going back to 2004 that complained about Celebrity then. I cut them from a post I did a few days ago and they must have not carried forward when I pasted. They complain, haven't sailed Celebrity since 2015 and swore off sailing. Take a look at their statistics, almost all negative going back 13 years. Primary is the horrible tragedy of Celebrity switching from cream to creamer.

Here is a link to my post:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51814226#post51814226

There are quite a few folks who complain that I do respect, they have recently sailed Celebrity and have valid criticisms (Hank is one). May not agree with all of the critiques but I do respect the opinion.

Interesting feedback from our poster on the E currently.

 

Reductions in food and service right on target for the revised Celebrity vision of "a bit better than RCL".

 

Celebrity's deliberate decision to move from its historical position as the previous sole occupant of the premium level of the mass market cruise lines can be clearly seen since about 2012.

 

Celebrity is not "losing its way" - Celebrity has chosen to change and chosen to provide a lesser product offering than in the past. That does not mean it is a bad product, just different from its glorious past. I believe Celebrity wishes to keep up to the changes in the broader society (casual dress, alcohol, glitz) to ensure they keep their many ships filled. This is the same pressing business objective of most cruise lines appealing to this same market segment.

 

Past and current patrons do have choice regarding the selection of a cruise vacation.

 

Avoiding exclusive patronage of a service provider is a wise choice in today's business world.

 

Further, consumers have choice to avoid cruising all together and engage in resort, river cruises and land based travel options.

 

For many previous Celebrity cc posters - they have moved on to other lines. Others stay.

 

Vote with your $

 

ABoatNerd

And the cacophony of the regular complainers has finally hit its target.

I happened to notice that some who have posted negative comments also have pending Celebrity cruises. Do you think the negative commentary will somehow change RCI/Celebrity? Just seems a bit ironic.

Yep, I am a Celebrity cheerleader. That being said, I have a cruise booked on Silversea this summer. Why? I am not married to Celebrity and I found a better deal. Kind of eliminates the negative energy for me.

When we sailed the Reflection, one of the outdoor pools was significantly warmer then the other outdoor pool. Would not say it was heated but definitely warmer. Most people gravitated to this pool. Indoor pool was not heated but since it was indoors it was warm enough to enjoy.

Did you mean whirlpools? There is only one outdoor pool on Reflection and the solarium pool.

With a few exceptions, the analysis of many posters confirms the downward trend in the product offering and services on Celebrity in the past years.

 

Companies who engineer product reduction hope that their current customers have considerable tolerance for reduced value for money and keep on booking, purchasing.

 

My cruise agent in Toronto confirms many of their former patrons of Celebrity are now booked on Oceania - reason - product reduction on Celebrity. Further, it is that these former customers, as well as myself, Do Not Trust Celebrity to provide a consistently excellent product.

 

Each consumer has to decide how much bull from a cruise line, restaurant etc they will put up with before they stop their patronage.

 

Our household stopped patronage of Celebrity last year when the breakfast room tray had a disgusting edible oil coffee creamer in stead of real cream. It can be the small things that end a long term (+ 20 year) relationship.

 

ABoatNerd

It doesn't appear that you have many good experiences, at all. How sad.

Hope 2017 is better.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50113600#post50113600

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51263942#post51263942

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=46281900#post46281900

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=27073042#post27073042

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=16264430#post16264430

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=1683897#post1683897

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=1681797#post1681797

Just wanted to relay my experience with Silversea Air, thus far very pleased.

As previously mentioned we have an August cruise planned from Venice and it ends in Athens. We decided to upgrade to business class and I researched viable options with a variety of carriers prior.

When the booking window opened I had our TA explain that we wanted to spend two nights in the connecting country (London or Germany - British Air or Lufthansa respectively) prior to traveling to Venice for an overnight before the cruise. For the return flight we wanted to spend two nights in Athens prior to flying home.

SS Air returned by saying that Lufthansa would cost us an additional $500 p/p in addition to the deviation fee but British Air would only incur the normal $100 deviation. I am assuming this is due to the agreement they have with British Air and we were more than happy to choose the free open-jaw flight through London. Furthermore we were able to choose our seats through British Air no problem.

Not sure they will allow this for flights other than business class but this has been our experience.

Cubswin,

As you are checking Southwest from Midway also see if Indy has anything comparable (if it is in your driving range) along with Milwaukee. You might also check West Palm Beach instead of Fort Lauderdale but you have to get lucky with the time/prices when running the comparison. We are in central Illinois so I feel your pain.

Respectfully, you are definitely due for a change to another cruise line.

 

Try to enjoy your cruise.

Thank you, Rich! I too have noticed a unique pattern.

I booked through Choice Air for our August trip to Rome using my American Airlines card and received the free bag, group one boarding but not the x2 miles.

Just off the Reflection and they were mostly empty the whole week ! I also believe you could spend your dollar on something better !

To the casual observer it will appear they are empty but if you check most warm climate sailings (especially in the winter) sea days will be booked solid months prior to the cruise. People who rent them, like me, come and go throughout the day. Some rent them for an entire week and may skip a day but it's still occupied regardless.

As for money being spent elsewhere, it's kind of like booking a cruise. I have family members who feel it is a waste of money. Regardless, I am not sure that speaks to the question presented about current experience with them.

Freddy, unlike others I find a great deal of value in renting an Alcove. You can find current pricing for your sailing by checking under the dining option, think specialty restaurant reservations. As others have said, most times they are $150 for sea days and $99 for port. I am going to bet that your January sailing will already be booked full for sea days as they are very popular. Again seating is for four but our teen daughters spent the majority of their time in front of the Alcove on a towel in the sun so you could have six with four inside comfortably.

Sigh, just realized that this is a resurrected thread.

We stayed in 1214 this January and the washing equipment does not obstruct your view. Very good location and we really enjoyed it. While our sailing was pretty smooth, motion in the cabin was really not a problem. Views are fantastic and if you are sailing during the warmer months the larger balcony is really nice to lay out for sun (yes, you have a couple of decks above you that can look down on it). Noise from above was never a problem.

One additional advantage is that there is an outer door which opens to a foyer with only your suite and a next door cabin having access. The steward service cart was always parked in the foyer and I assume the foyer designed for people who book both cabins. The advantage is that you never hear doors slamming.

Thanks! I was able to reserve one over the phone for the first sea day!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Kteacher, I think you will really enjoy them. Like Cruise a holic, I am a huge fan of Alcoves and have rented them several times. Really no different than renting a cabana and either you find value or you don't.

I would focus my attention on the critiques coming from those who have sailed Celebrity recently and actually have viewed them.

 

Wow this was the low point of the cruise for us, but I don't blame Celebrity too much for this. This is a TSA and port of Miami issue. They were at least an hour behind schedule in clearing passenger off the ship. It was sheer uncontrolled chaos in the terminal. The terminal is poorly designed and the flow is terrible. Also TSA was clearly undermanned. Fortunately we had a later flight and global entry (GOES) so it didn't impact us much at all.

 

Miami has a lot of work to do though. NOTE that there was a GOES line. It's not marked and there are no GOES machines but there is a global entry line. Just ask!

 

 

Tom

We noticed the same thing with GOES in August, complete lack of signage and several of the machines were not working. Lots of grumpy people because of it.