leyland1989

Thanks for everyone's input. 

Since each class has its own restaurant, and it appears to be a big selling point for their "premium" cabins. We are unsure if they are flexible about it. 

We certainly don't want to "inconvenient" other passengers onboard by taking away the space allocated to the others. 

The Britannia restaurant is indeed an impressive place, and I think it's part of the QM2 experience to dine there. 

It's our first time doing a crossing, (first time with Cunard too)

Hopefully it's not a stupid question. 

Celebrity allows suite guests to dine in the MDR as opening seating, not sure if Cunard does the same? 

Not that we want to "downgrade" our experience but we would like to experience different venue onboard, and perhaps have a lunch/breakfast at the Britannia restaurant. 

22 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

That IS horrible.  We were in a SS on the Edge about 5-6weeks ago and while showing some age, we happily had none of these issues.  I read somewhere that the Edge is due for dry dock later this month...anyone know if that's true? Regardless, there is no way that X shouldn't compensate you somehow.

They are going into dry dock for about 2 weeks right after our sailing. 

FCC is worthless to us given we do not intend to ever sail with CC again until they "Do Better" and right their course. 

We will vote with our wallet, and we are fortunate enough to have the means to go elsewhere. 

If the cruise is not enjoyable for us, doesn't matter if it cost $10,000 or free, I'd rather do something else we enjoy. 

I cannot stress enough that I do not blame our stateroom attendant for not doing their job properly. Everyone onboard is overworked, and did their personal best to take care of every passengers. There are some top-down leadership issues rather than individual negligent. Yes, there are stain on the coffee table, he could have reported it and higher up decided to leave it as is. He could reported about the drain, but he is not the one taking a bath in the bathtub, he wouldn't have known about the water is draining slowly if he's only rinsing it after cleaning, shouldn't it be part of the maintenance checklist during routine inspection? I doubt the stateroom attendant have the time to inspect every drain if they have to turn around an unrealistic amount of rooms in an unrealistic timeline. 

If there are more than one thing wrong about the ship, it is an indication of deeper leadership or management issues. 

I couldn't care less about the "minor inconvenience" but the overall direction the company is heading and their decreasing value proposition are the factors driving us away.     

Stain on the ceiling, toilet seat, coffee table, broken drawers, the drain after I have cleared out 2/3 of and the loose bracket. 

11 hours ago, jelayne said:

The cabins are not fully ready to be occupied until after 1-1:30. You can drop off carry ons and put stuff in the safe, but earlier but should leave until it is announced that tge cabins are ready.  The items you found missing ( glassware, tote bag, card holder, etc are generally the last things they bring in.  If you occupied your cabin early the attendant may have waited until later to deliver the items.

 

Your description of the drain is disgusting, I would not have touched and would have reported it to tge canine attendant of housekeeping supervisor.  
 

Hope you find the remainder of the cruise a better experience.

it's 15:00 in the afternoon and after the "preparing room" sign has been taken off. 

I'm still missing the laundry bag from the room, although I have received the voucher of my pre-paid laundry service.

We have brought it to the attention of our stateroom attendant. Most of the issues are resolved promptly. Like I said, I am not trying to blame it on any individual staff, if that many things going wrong in so many different area, it is a leadership problem rather than negligent of individuals. 

As for why I didn't ask housekeeping or maintenance to fix my drain... Imagine being naked in ankle deep water, tired after 5 days of non-stop travelling, at 11:00pm at night. 

The last thing I wanted is to have an army of housekeeper, maintenance and managers showing up in my room inspecting the drain. A hanger is a much quicker solution. 

2 hours ago, emmas gran said:

As I'm doing 40 nights in a SS would love to know your room number after the cruise please

I'm sure our room has the best drainage in the shower on the entire ship 😉  

Just now, Covepointcruiser said:

Wow, it sounds like you mini suite has had some hard usage.   It’s amazing how the cabins are abused and misused.   The coffee table needs to be refinished and how do you use the toilet with half of the seat missing??   You even cleaned out the shower drain and I can’t imagine doing that.

Good luck with the rest of the cruise.

Just the rubber pad under the lid, still usable. 

The shower door bracket is also a little loose, it can swing open easily both way (and it is only meant to be open inward). 

It's only the first day, let's see if there are more issues in the coming days... 

The room has definitely been abused over the years. 

We have been on Celebrity Summit before in Aqua class back in November 2022, had a good experience, wanted to try the "new" ship so we booked a Mediterranean cruise on the Edge. 

The ship is about 5 years old, which should still be considered new. The general condition of the ship and the room is acceptable but can clearly show some wear over the years. 

The coffee table in our room is stained with various marks (and we were told that it has been cleaned and the stain wouldn't come off), the toilet seat have some yellow stain from the rubber pad of the lid and one side of it is missing. 

The shower door bracket is also a little loose, it can swing open easily both way (and it is only meant to be open inward).

The drawers are pretty rough and 2 of them don't open or close smoothly, the railing of the second drawer had fallen off and will rub against the bottom drawer when you close it. 

The retreat lounge chairs and couch are in rather poor shape and dirty.  

When our stateroom were prepared, some glassware and most amenities were missing, e.g. card holders, toed bag, slippers, binoculars, etc are all missing. Also, the "deep sleep sign" is also missing from the door.

We were told that they ran out of slippers and they "needed to be flown in from Miami..." but we got some non-branded ones shortly after from our retreat host. 
No big deals.  All the other missing items mysteriously shown up after turn down service (except for the binoculars (not that we are going to use it), and the do not disturb sign), we even got a plant on our coffee table somehow.  

Now here comes the actual problems... As we were taking a shower, we notice the water barely drain from the bathtub. Upon further inspection, it's almost entirely clogged. I ended up pulling out probably 5 years worth of hair and dead skin out of that drain...  
Also, the toilet stopped working in the middle of the night, not sure if the vacuum pump was offline for a moment, but it worked again about 15 mins later. 

Hopefully the upcoming drydock after our trip will address some of these issues.

I am not complaining or blaming the crew and I can clearly tell they are overworked, but there are so many details like this devaluing the experience... along with all the cutback and price increase, We probably won't be back again. 

On 8/27/2023 at 8:45 AM, terrydtx said:

The cruising industry has been for years following the airline models for providing less for more.

Off topics but this is a common misconception. 
Commercial Jets are MUCH more luxurious than 50 years ago and better than ever. 
I will take commercial flight today over "The Golden age of air traveling" any time. 

A round-trip transatlantic ticket in the 1960 cost about $600, about $5000-6000 today adjusted to inflation, onboard the Boeing 707 with seat comparable to today's Premium Economy. 

For the same price, you can easily get a business class (or even first class) seat with lie-flat bed, in flight entertainment.  

People are comparing apples to orange when talking about how poorly treated passengers are these days when airfare was 1/10 of what it used to be. A bulk bed in the steerage 50 years ago would cost more than an economy class ticket today, I would still take the economy class seat. 

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

And oddly enough, CLIA data shows the number of Gen X and younger cruisers use a travel agent significantly more than their elders. They have some work to do to adequately service that sector. 

 

 

Travel Advisors as in an actual person? or does self-service OTA (online travel agents) also consider "travel advisors"? I booked through OTA a few times but I will never use a travel agent if I don't have to. 

As a late millennial, I would try to avoid "the middlemen" as much as possible. I consider myself well-travelled and tech savvy enough to do my own researches and evaluate my all my options, then booking everything I need myself. I absolutely HATE working with travel agents or any agents through the phone. I consider them obstacle when I need to book something through another human being. 

 
I haven't booked a single flight not directly with an airlines for at least 10+ years (expect one time I was booking a private jet that I need to go through an agent/broker), dealing with a travel agent is a huge pain in the arse compare to dealing directly with the airline on scene, especially during last minute cancellation/delay/rebooking. The online self-service tools these days can do most if not more and better than most travel agents can do.  

I book 99% of my hotel rooms directly unless the saving is significantly outvalue my loyalty perks (only valid when booking direct) or I get a credit card rebate which my Amex offers me every now and then, e.g. spend $800 get $150 credit, etc. 

Here come the cruise industry. 
While booking flights or hotels directly, very rarely a travel agent could provide me a better price these days. Hotels, occasionally but I lose out on all loyalty perks, e.g. free breakfast, lounge access, room upgrades, etc. When it comes to flights, never a good idea to not book directly. 

For some reasons, the cruise industry still strongly relies on third party travel agents as their main sales channel. Even adding them as the middlemen (taking a cut of the profit), many travel agents can still offer me a better price and overall values than booking directly with the cruise line. I suppose it's mainly due to the demographic and historical reasons. For example, I booked my Caribbean Cruise on the Summit last November, booking through an Online travel agent (Air Canada Vacation), I managed to save over $600 on the room + some extra OBC on top of the Aeroplan point I would not be able to earn if booked directly. 

Same goes to my upcoming cruise on the Edge, booking directly was $8876.00, booking through Air Canada Vacation was $8466.90 for the exact same room and perks. 

Not to mention the 25.4k Aeroplan miles, depending on valuation, worth about $350-$500 

While I am deeply disappointed about all the cutbacks Celebrity has done lately, and I am unlikely to return for the same reasons. Shifting away from relying on third party agents is a welcoming change for me if they can offer competitive pricing and value (expect that's not actually the case). 

 

7 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Marine Gas Oil is more familiarly known within the US and Canada as #2 diesel, or home heating oil.  The gas turbines were originally installed to provide "green" operation in Alaska, but they soon found out that operating a 20Mw gas turbine at the 8-9Mw hotel load was cost prohibitive, so the diesel generators were installed for in port operation.  The gas turbines will still provide hotel power when at sea.  

 

At today's bunker prices, IFO380 (the high sulfur fuel ships can use with scrubbers), costs $550/metric ton, low sulfur (VLSFO) bunker oil that can be used without a scrubber costs $640/metric ton, and MGO (Marine Gas Oil) goes for $950/metric ton.  Note also that MGO has a lower "energy content" (how much energy a ton of fuel will produce) than bunker fuel, so that raises the cost even more, as you need to burn more tons of fuel to get the same energy output.

 

The gas turbine engines were never a good idea, except as used on the Cunard Queen Mary, where they are only put on when the ship needs full speed, or the turbine can run at full power.  The US Navy makes extensive use of them, and they work for the Navy for a couple of reasons, one, the power plant is smaller than a diesel or steam plant, and two,  the Navy does not need to show a profit every quarter, so fuel costs are not really important.

 

As for pollution, a lot of what people see as a "brown haze" is actually the result of efficient combustion, and you only see that haze in certain lighting and/or cloud backdrop settings.  It is almost always there, regardless of the fuel used.

Gas turbines were not optimal for cruise ship operation. I wouldn't say they are terrible for all marine applications.

The packaging, power output/volume is superior to traditional marine engines. They are still being used on newly built high speed ferries or military ships. M-Class would not be able to retrofitted with traditional powerplants simply because no diesel engines would fit while providing sufficient power in the same space. 

There were popular at the time due to relatively lower fuel prices, novelty and perceived lower maintenance cycle/cost (Gas turbines have much fewer moving parts but require much higher precisions while diesel engine have many more moving parts with higher tolerance, turns out maintaining a jet engine cost more.) 

The M-Class use Marine Gas Oils due to its choice of having gas turbine powerplant. (+ 2 diesel auxiliary generators for hotel power) 

It's notable cleaner and almost no visible exhaust while underway. However, the pair of gas turbines (fun fact, they are derived from the CF-6 Turbofan you'd find on a 747 or 767) have very high fuel consumption, even at idle. Marine Gas Oils is more refined than bunker fuel which cost significantly more also. Therefore all cruise ships built after the early 00s, including the S class and e class have all gone back to using traditional engines and bunker fuel. 

Just vote with your wallet. 

The price will go down if nobody is paying them.

It's very likely that my upcoming cruise will be my last with celebrity. Capitalism has priced me out, I guess it sucks to be poor. 

Speaking of tables at MDR. 

They can also try to Ryanair approach, you can profit from manufacturing problems for people to solve by paying a fee. 

Introducing Randomized seating! A revolutionary system that allows you to mingle with fellow cruisers and make new friends. However, if you prefer to dine at the same table with the person sharing your cabin, for a small fee of $19.99* a night, you can choose your favourite seats in the Main Dining Room and sit beside your cabinmate.  

*From $19.99/night per person, premium locations and seat with extra cushions subject to a higher surcharge 

I wonder how many cookies they had managed to sell. 

Just now, TeeRick said:

Now that is something I might pay for!

Write this down, Laura

Preferred seatings reservation in the buffet. 

17 hours ago, hcat said:

How will the existing size buffet area  fit all those who choose NOT  to pay extra for dining.?

 

What if cruisers already booked with  a real dining room included in their fare? 

 

 How about just call it an overnight  ferry boat with  take out coffee shop.? ..cookies extra

I hope you enjoy queuing 🙂 ? 

If they want to race to the bottom, 

It could be a new revenue stream to have paid reservations in the buffet and skip the line! 

Cunard also pioneered the idea of turning the underutilized sections of the buffet into specialty restaurants at night with a cover charge.

Wait until they turn the buffet into a cafeteria with a cashier at the end of the food stations ! 

They seafloor is the limit here. Maybe I should stop giving them ideas. 

1 hour ago, giraffeman said:

I have a friend at RC, (and they own X),  and he told me the word around the office is they are looking at eliminating the main dining room on the newer ships and replace it with  more "specialty restaurants", as they see more people trending to them currently.  So the free food will be the buffet and if you want something better you will have to pay the up charge.   I guess they are trying to cut costs and if they make the MDR less appealing we all will be glad to pay more for better food at a specialty restaurant.

I'm sure all the major cruise lines will follow the trend once one starts. Just as they all did when they  got rid of the midnight buffet many years back

It won't surprise me if the "MDR"s on E-class ship will become surcharge specialty restaurant at some point. 

Maybe it was one of the reasons why they gone away with the idea of having one large MDR. 

I wonder if anyone would actually pay $2 for the cookie. 

Some data points;  All prices in CAD pp 
 

Ship: Edge

Cruise length:  7 nights

Sail date:  7 Oct 23

Captain’s Club Tier:  Classic

Booked through Celebrity Direct or via TA: Direct

Current Cabin: Sky Suite Guaranteed  

Bid? Yes

If Yes- Bidding Details: 

Cabin Category: Edge Villa $1520 pp 

Notification Date: Pending

Accepted/Rejected: Pending

General comments:

I know it is known knowledge, Edge Villa is significantly cheaper than Celebrity Suite and Royal Suite despite its higher retail price. Edge Villa was selling for over $10k pp while Celebrity Suite was about $5-6k 

Here is the bid price range:

Iconic Suite: $6,770 - $ 33,855 

Penthouse Suite: $2,450 - $11,850

Edge Villa: $895 - $4,400 

Royal Suite: $2,370 - $ 11,850 

Celebrity Suite: $1,355 - $6,770

AquaClass® Sky Suite : $205 - $1,625

Sunset Sky Suite: $340 - $2,170

Consider it appears to be a near full sailing, it's unlikely that my bid will be accepted. 

As young DINK couples who have recently started cruising, please just keep things the way they are... 
If we want booze/party cruises (which we despise), we would go cruise on carnival or RCI. We choose Celebrity because we would rather tolerate old folks who want us off their boat than seeing kids running around and screaming. 

Please Celebrity, stop trying to be something you're not. The harder you try to appeal my generation/market, the harder it will backfire. 

The cost saving outweigh any PR gains 🙂 
Do you really think ANY Cruise line cared about the environment?   
It's all about money behind every decision. 

I did not make any chances online to make it worse. 

Gave them a call today, fixed it right-away. 

Seemingly something felt through the crack when the last agent was trying to fix another issues I had.