We board the Apex on Aug. 21 for our 25th anniversary. Not looking forward to this transition starting on our cruise. Of course, we will deal with it and still have a great trip. This is our first Celebrity cruise and we were really looking forward to trying out Celebrity now that we are empty nesters. Thought it might be our new cruise line. However, we most likely won’t book Celebrity again since they removed a key amenity waaaaay after final payment. And with no intention of notifying us of it either.
Of course, I am sad so many crew members are losing their jobs. Plus, I fear the remaining crew are going to be under attack when people find out they no longer have access to a personal butler. It isn’t the crew’s fault, but they will get the blame and anger. Yikes! I’m not looking forward to the tension on this cruise. Plus the disorganization as crew figure out a new system and new roles.
On the cruise, we will figure out how to tip (if we do) the team butlers (if there actually are any). We have tipped our butlers on NCL, and I admit I don’t want to tip a team of them. The extra gratuity was to thank them for personalized service. However, I don’t want to not tip them since this situation isn’t their fault. Sigh. . . We will just see how it goes. I am concerned that the retreat team butlers are less experienced. Tipping would motivate them to continue to improve, however, if they don’t receive extra tips, then I am worried that service from the team will decline instead of improve.
For anyone still reading, I apologize for such a long post! Guess I needed to vent!