Cruiser_Steven

4 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I understand your point.  At the same time I can't imagine any business advertising a product like that and then telling you it might not work really well in remote locations.  I think their defense would be that in this day and age where we have had internet for years, people should be knowledgeable about how internet reception works.  Not saying it's the most customer friendly defense, but .....

If I was paying for 30 days Internet and there were transient issues, I’d agree. In this case, they were advertising premium Internet (specifically suggesting suitability for streaming) throughout the 7-day voyage which was unsuitable for its advertised/intended purpose for the entirety of the life of the product. If the product wasn’t what they intended to offer, they would have helped maintain their reputation by communicating their “standard” and that this was a “miss”. Yes, they have “defense” from a legalistic view, but most of us choose the products/services we spend our dollars on based on a company’s reputation.

I think the frustration many of us feel is that we thought we knew Celebrity’s standards and reputation and were willing to pay for the product we expected based upon past experiences and reputation. Obviously, there is a profit motive. Instead of simply offering the same product at a higher price, they’ve moved the bar and now offer an inferior product. If they had maintained the product-level and raised the price, we could make a fair decision if it was worth paying for. If I don’t know their new “standard”, I’m not willing to pay for it at any price.

McDonalds may have a crap product, but they’re wildly successful because everyone knows what to expect no matter where they visit a McDonalds location. Celebrity spent decades building their reputation based upon a consistent service offering that we were willing to pay for repeatedly (this was my 23rd cruise overall [I’m 54 and retiring this year, so most of my cruises are yet to come], 8 of my last 11 were on Celebrity). It was easy choosing Celebrity before because I knew what to expect. My next cruise will most likely NOT be on Celebrity because I believe there are better service offerings at Celebrity’s price level and I really don’t know what their product is anymore.

3 hours ago, MamaFej said:

Even with very few people onboard in September 2021 on both Millennium and Majestic Princess a week or so later, WiFi in Alaska was very iffy. I agree with @phoenix_dream. I don't think it's fair to blame X on this one.  I'm glad to see @Cruiser_Steven acknowledge this. I'm not piling on, I'm just confirming. We've had similar issues that far north in our RV. 

 

Perhaps as the Starlink network expands, this will improve. So far, there just is not enough demand at those lattitudes to provide great connectivity...yet. 

To echo someone else’s comment, a little communication from X would have gone a long way. If services are regularly impacted due to location, let the passengers know that. I’d have been much more understanding if they said, “Hey, this isn’t up to our usual standards, but here’s why it’s out of our control.” They do have multiple ships in Alaska for entire seasons. If location is the issue, it’s not a new surprise to X.

3 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Just want to address one issue you had for others consideration.  It is very common on Alaska cruises to have sporadic internet and perhaps even TV signals.  It's because of the remoteness of the locations.  I think it would be the case regardless of ship and regardless of cruise line.  We've experienced this on every Alaska cruise we have sailed (and we've sailed many, including last year)

 

I'm also curious - I don't recall ever seeing self-service wine in any of my retreat experiences (of which I've had fewer than 10, most in the last couple of years).  Was this common before? I don't think I've sailed in the Retreat on Millennium, but have on Apex, Equinox, and Solstice and maybe others, I don't recall.

Fair point about Internet/tv. This was our first Alaska, so location may be a factor.

We had wine available in the Retreat’s self-service fridge on Millie in Jan ‘22 to Aruba/Bonaire/Curaçao. It was a great way to sample a number of wines without committing to a glass.

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

Some Retreat Lounges would have open bottles of a few wines that you could refill your glass.  Saw this on Edge and Apex but don’t recall seeing the open wine bottles on Beyond.
I haven’t seen self serve wine on any S or M class.  

Yep, Millie had this in Jan ‘22 to the ABCs.

Just disembarked Millennium from the 8/25/23 7-day Southbound Alaska cruise in a Sky Suite. We’ve sailed numerous times with Celebrity and have long loved their product. Here’s the feedback I provided on Celebrity’s Feedback Form (specific minutia as requested by the Retreat Host):

Froilan (Luminae), Jewel (Luminae) & Fernando (Luminae) provided fabulous personalized service and are an asset to Millennium. Overall, the cruise was good, but the experience was noticeably inferior to our past experiences on Millennium, Summit, Reflection, Solstice and Eclipse despite significantly higher prices.

The unannounced removal of butlers from Sky Suites is a strong disincentive to rebook Suite-level cabins and felt misleading as it was unannounced between our time of booking/payment and departure. We are used to daily canapés, non-alcoholic mini-bar service and over-the-top pleasant surprises from our butler. New policy eliminated all of this. Retreat staff admirably tried to compensate for service reduction policies, but corporate policy ultimately rules and we can’t rely on expected service-levels for future cruises.

On an unexpected sunny, warm day in Alaska, we spent 45-60 minutes in the Retreat sundeck jacuzzi which was unstaffed from 5p-6p so drinks were unavailable.

Loss of self-service wine in the Retreat Lounge was noticed as was the unavailability of premium water selections. 

In the past, we regularly ordered & received premium Orange Juice at breakfast in Oceanview Cafe, but it seemed that our Premium OJ orders were filled with the standard unappealing OJ from the self-serve stations.

We missed the blintzes we usually enjoy in Oceanview for breakfast, but didn’t see them at all this trip.

The “premium” wi-fi frequently froze and provided extremely limited bandwidth (suggesting ”premium” is suitable for streaming is beyond laughable as it barely worked at times for basic web browsing). The selection of TV channels has been reduced and those frequently stuttered or had “no-signal”.

Years of Celebrity cruises set our expectations high and we’ve frequently raved about Celebrity being a step above, but we now have to be open to exploring alternative higher-end cruise providers to regain what Celebrity has voluntarily given up. With an expected increase in our travel frequency due to near-term retirement, we’ll miss being able to rely on Celebrity for consistent service and unforgettable experiences.

We hope that Celebrity returns to its prior level and convinces us to try again.