A Pound a Day

First a little simple math for cabin stewards.  Based on the very useful guide @the penguins posted, the average daily gratuity for a cabin steward (housekeeping) is $5.40.  Assuming double occupancy and a steward covering 16 cabins (I've read on CC that it may be more), a typical cabin steward would earn US $172.80/day, or $5,184 per month plus room (albeit often shared and cramped) and board.   Not a king's ransom by any means, but I speculate (without knowing for sure) that is much more than they would earn working in a Nike factory back home. 

I do not begrudge them one penny as they work long hard hours 7 days a week for that money. They are away from their families for many months at a time and rarely get a day off.  

We have always given additional amounts to a variety of on-board people above the auto-gratuities (or more than the recommended amounts back in the old cash in envelopes days).  We have done it in large part because we can afford it and we appreciate how hard they work to make our cruise enjoyable, but almost never because they have done something "exceptional".   

Like some of the people commenting on this thread, we have never really understood some of the "exceptional" staff comments on CC, often followed by some weird explanation like "they always smiled and said good morning when we passed them in the hall."  I am impressed (but not surprised) by some of the examples in this thread of what truly is exceptional service, well beyond what would be considered part of their job.  I say "not surprised" because our experience, with only a few rare exceptions, has been that the majority of the on-board staff do an excellent job of delivering an outstanding vacation.  And some of them do seem to have freakishly good memories.

If only Celebrity hired and trained as well for people in head office...

APAD

1 hour ago, Tom and Ingrid said:

Yep - we had Captain Matt - who is Greek 😄 - for our July 28-Aug 4th Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Silhouette.  I think we were his first sailing for this brief "contract" (one month, I think) as he had finished his stint on the Edge and was asked to take this short gig before having a break and, according to his plans, returning to the Edge again.  

He was, like most of the X captains we have had, seemingly pretty engaging and entertaining. On the bridge? No idea. In public, a good representative.

Thanks for the update.  

We've sailed a few times with Captain Matt and agree that he is funny and interesting.  Did a great job getting us safely through the Suez canal at a time of high tension in the area.  In fact, he had his wife and toddler on board for that cruise and when asked about whether the situation at the time posed any danger, he responded "do you think I would bring my wife and child on board if I thought there was anything to worry about?"  Great response!

I see Captain Costas Nestoroudis is back on Edge.  IIRC, he was the Captain when Edge launched in 2018.  

He handed off to Captain Kate for a while before she moved to Beyond.

Then on the Suez Canal cruise last year he handed the reins to Captain Matt in Athens.  I thought Captain Costas said he was retiring but my memory is certainly not good enough to state that with any conviction.  Captain Matt was captain of Edge throughout the Australia/NZ season and for the sailing back to Vancouver for the Alaska season (which included the infamous pass-by of the Kauai shore).  

Now it seems Captain Costas is back on Edge, and Captain Matt has returned to Silhouette.  

37 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Silhouette has Captain Matt from Greece currently—August 2024

Was he "redeployed" after the incident off Kauai?

11 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

Matt, he is Greek🇬🇷

Pretty sure Captain Matt took over the helm on Edge last November (we were on that sailing).  

Unless there is more than one Greek Captain Matt with Celebrity?

17 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Jim,

 

 I think this has changed to now it's a percentages of the cruise cost.  We paid a deposit of $2434.00 on our April Solstice booking while onboard the Millennium in May. 

 

John

 

Agreed.  Onboard Edge last November, we booked Magic Carpet Sky Suite on B2B Apex for this October and were charged a 10% deposit for each of the 2 cruises.

APAD

After wading through 6 pages of this thread, I have come to the conclusion that the ONLY responses that would have been satisfactory (and not an "insult") are:

We are immediately reducing all fares by 30% and including gratuities in fares again.

I will personally call every captain to ensure that loungers are returned to verandahs.

I am immediately going to have all of the Edge Class ships remodelled so that "real" balconies are added and Infinite Verandahs will be abolished from all ships.

Ultra-premium beverages will be immediately added to every beverage package and whatever wine any passenger requests will be delivered to every ship, by helicopter if necessary, so that no one ever has to suffer the indignity of not being able to get the wine they feel they deserve.

We will redeploy ships to every single port that passengers request, and itineraries will be adjusted to be as long as each passenger would like.

Wine list in Luminae will encompass 1,000 - 1,200 different choices and all will be available by the glass and included in the premium package.  

We will immediately cut cruise fares for solo cruisers to be 50% of the cost of dual cruisers in a cabin.  Our lost revenue should not be an impediment to solo cruisers getting a "fair" price.

Coco Cay will be dropped from all itineraries.  Anyone wanting to go there should book on RCL and we apologize for ever thinking that Celebrity passengers might like another alternative on certain sailings.

Lastly, we will enforce our rules to your complete satisfaction.  Please immediately let us know if anyone is holding a chair that you want for longer than 15 minutes, or heaven forbid, shows up at a dining establishment not dressed the way YOU think they should be.  Those people will immediately be thrown off the ship (additional entertainment for our aft facing cabins), and if they somehow manage to get back to shore, never be allowed to book with Celebrity again.

I apologize if my earlier responses in any way offended anyone.  My sole purpose as President of Celebrity is to make people on Cruise Critic happy (but we will NEVER EVER ask for a positive rating on any kind of survey).   

The cruise industry has gone through some incredibly difficult times through the COVID shutdown and then reduced passenger sailings.  And coming out of the pandemic, inflation has dealt a severe challenge as costs are increasing while revenues for cruises already booked have remained fixed.  Cruise lines have had to take on massive amounts of debt simply to stay afloat (pun intended) and expecting everything to go back to "the way they were" in 2019 and before is either naive, or disingenuous.

For seniors like us, on a fixed income, the increasing prices and cuts to inclusions are disappointing.   However, they are a necessity for survival for the cruise industry.  Having been a "loyal customer" for many years does not give us some sort of "right" to inexpensive cruises with all the perks of the past.  It simply means that we were able to enjoy many (hopefully) happy experiences at a price that was offered in a competitive marketplace at the time.  And now that marketplace has changed.

I am NOT a Celebrity apologist.  In fact, after only sailing with Celebrity since 2003 we are seriously considering booking other cruise lines going forward as we are not enamoured with many of the changes Celebrity has made in recent years.  We have had many many excellent experiences on Celebrity ships but they owe us nothing, and we owe them nothing in return.   Every day in the marketplace, different lines offer different experiences at prevailing market rates, and we can decide to book them, or not.  Complaining that "things aren't like they used to be" is only a recipe for dissatisfaction and will not change the way things are.

Happy cruising,

APAD 

3 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We all miss the old days when they sushi in the OVC.

Loved the Sushi and a cocktail (or two) in the OVC before dinner!!

That was on Summit for us back in the 2000 - 2006 time frame.

Not based on having actually done this (not sure if it even can be done), but I would speculate that if you could wind back to the Cruise Critic boards before COVID, say mid-2019, they would be filled with threads about how cruising just isn't the same and citing some real, or perceived degradation in value (food quality, more crowded ships, increasing prices, reductions in some service, removal of loungers 😉).

Since then, we have had a pandemic which changed the world as we knew it.  Somehow, all of the major cruise lines managed to survive (Crystal, although beloved, was not a major line), by taking on debt, issuing equity, or both.  Coming out of COVID, demand for travel has exploded, inflation has increased far beyond what we have experienced for many years and the cruise lines have to deal with those increased costs on cruises where the revenue was locked-in up to 2 years prior.  Replacing high quality staff has become a global challenge, not just for the cruise industry but for many many others as well.

Personally, I think the cruise lines are collectively doing a fine job under the circumstances.  Are prices higher when I look to book a cruise.  Absolutely.  Has there been some decrease in service and food quality?  Yes, but it is still generally very high.  Do I still get as much OBC when I book?  Nope, but that is just a (necessary) price increase.  More OBC requires higher cruise fares.  It's as simple as that.

The biggest mistake I think Celebrity is making is the nickel/dime stuff.  Increasing already high margin prices for "grocery store wines" so that they exceed the Premium drink package limit detracts enormously from the onboard experience and is why we, like several others on these boards, are looking to other "real" premium lines.  Paying $X for a so-called "premium experience" in the Retreat and then being given slips to sign for $1 or $2 plus gratuity for a glass of wine that retails for $15 or less per bottle is glaringly "non-premium."  

As others have already noted, our fallible memories often perceive things were much better in "the good old days", but for us, cruising still represents a good value vacation.  It just may not be with Celebrity, which is a shame because it is mostly because of what is really a minor (but more major to us and some others) irritant.   

One last point.  I do get it that this is Cruise "Critic."  People are certainly entitled to post their opinions, reviews, etc. and I am not criticizing that.    I just think that if you had the same poll 5 years ago, or 5 years from now, the overall response would be roughly the same, that the "value" is no longer what it used to be "back then".

APAD 

18 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Groups and discounted groups are possible on every itinerary at some point in the game. Finding an agency that has open space may be the challenge if you’re booking later. 

Are group bookings/rates typically available on Retreat Sky Suites?

14 minutes ago, Tudy said:

Here is what it says on the website under Zenith Benefits. Looks like another case where Celebrity has not updated its FAQs. Are we surprised?

Hopefully you are correct.  Hard to imagine the crack Celebrity IT team making an error though...

9 minutes ago, Tudy said:

Looks like this is another FAQ that has not been updated since they began allowing Zenith back in the Retreat.

 

Hopefully you are correct.  Hard to imagine the crack Celebrity IT team making an error though...

16 minutes ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Zenith members still have access to the suite lounge if their status was achieved with captains club points. Status match Zenith members (pinnacle) are allowed access on a space available basis.

According to the FAQ regarding The Retreat in general, one of the questions is:

Can Captain's Club Zenith members enjoy access to The Retreat Lounge?

and the response is:

No, Zenith Member Access to the Retreat Lounge has been removed (unless Zenith member is also a suite guest).

Just one more Loyalty "enhancement" brought to you by the fine folks at Celebrity!!!

23 minutes ago, Mark_K said:

I think it’s only referring to people who are Zenith by way of status match.

According to the FAQ regarding The Retreat in general, one of the questions is:

Can Captain's Club Zenith members enjoy access to The Retreat Lounge?

and the response is:

No, Zenith Member Access to the Retreat Lounge has been removed (unless Zenith member is also a suite guest).

Just one more Loyalty "enhancement" brought to you by the fine folks at Celebrity!!!