terrydtx

Here is the first CC report from someone on a cruise with the butler changes.

Congratulations on being the first to post back on CC about the changes in Butler services. I knew the unofficial having a butler stocking the mini fridge with beer and wine would be lost in Sky Suites. So the SS "Team" of Butlers is just 2 and they are in Michaels club what a joke.

Lately the early booking bonus has exceeded the 90 days depending on booking levels. You can do a mock booking and when you get to the point of choosing the HIA option you should see the bonus if still available. Here is a screen shot from our August 2024 Volendam cruise and it still has the Early Booking Bonus available more than 6 months after releasing the cruise, we booked in February.

Yes they have some SA cruises over 30 days long with segments you can join for shorter cruises too.

We booked our 2024 Volendam cruise with the early booking promo and got $100pp OBC.

Celebrity this week also canceled the whole 2024-25 South America season sailings on the Equinox so that she can be redeployed to Florida for more boring and tired Caribbean sailings. We almost booked one of those cruises, but their crazy high pricing for a Sky Suite sent us to Oceania for an 18-night cruise that cost less than the 14-night Equinox cruise with similar itinerary.

We almost booked on the Equinox in February 2025, fortunately we got a fantastic deal for 18 nights on the Oceania Marina at less cost than the 14-night Equinox cruise. The cruising gods were watching out for us. Check out Oceania for your 2024-25 South America cruise replacement.

Yes some of the lower rated butlers are being let go for their low ratings the better ones are being reassigned to the Celebrity Suites and up as dedicated butlers. But, I would take the information I have received firsthand from Celebrity over what a butler tells you. And for the last time Celebrity Suites are not affected or included in this new team of butler/retreat hosts for ONLY Sky Suites.

Again misinformation not true. going to a team of Butlers confirmed multiple times by Celebrity. Only effects Sky Suites not Celebrity Suites too.

The issue with the changes has nothing to do with whether or not you use your butler, but that Celebrity is making a change to an amenity that was advertised when we booked and now it may not be what we booked.

While Celebrity Casinos are smoke free, they are currently doing a test of allowing Vaping on two ships casinos (Equinox and Summit) to determine if they will go fleetwide with this. The testing ends on August 19th. There has been a very long CC discussion about this with a lot of opposition by CC members.

Eden still shows as available on our B2B Edge cruises in January. I wonder if Eden is closed on you cruise for some kind on maintenance or a private group using it every night?

Maybe you are confusing the picture of you hanging up at your Post Office?😎

I agree, this would create more dissatisfaction and comments than the Butler fiasco. We should be hearing from CC on cruises that are departing tomorrow about the butlers change. The other outcome would be the Retreat and Michaels Lounges would become ghost towns.

The change is effective on all cruises departing Aug 15th or later, that is tomorrow.

Same on my App for our Apex cruise next month, just says suites.

Still Michaels Club on non-revolutionized S and M class ships.

I have asked if this person would share with a screenshot, I will let you know if she does.

my post was from 2019 and a lot has changed in 4 years.

Here is another wrinkle in the butler, no butler debate. A person in our Roll Call, on the social media site we can't mention, posted that she won a move up bid from Aqua to a Sky Suite and in her communication on the move up bid was told she would not have the team of Butlers or personal concierges as a perk. The communication mentioned only passengers who originally booked sky suites will have the team of butlers. No confirmation if this is the case, only posting what she posted. She is not happy as having a butler was one of the primary reasons she made the bid.

I will not be surprised if we see more changes by the time we take our two Edge cruises in January in the Retreat.

Jim, in the email communications I received from Celebrity Executive offices they are referring the new change to as the "Retreat Butler Team." It is very confusing as to whether they are Butlers or in reality, glorified room service attendants. The email I received last month from one of our previous butlers that we have stayed in contact with explained that the new teams on his ship were from a pool of the newest hired butlers with the least experience. The more experienced butlers like him, were retained for the higher suites.

Got news for you, Celebrity still refers to the change as a team of "Butlers" in all communications to many like me. This has been stated multiple times on many social media sites. The term Butler is still being used by Celebrity even if in a team.

I suffered through this "lean method" with our previous financial planning company went from one dedicated person handling our account to a "Team". They used almost the same language as Celebrity about how a team would better take care of our accounts and how it would be an approvement. After a couple of months of zero service and returned phone calls, I jumped ship to my current company.

We have only sailed in Celebrity Retreat Suites since 2019, 5 cruises, and the product kept us from looking at other more premium and luxury lines. We have our September Apex and January Edge B2B cruises booked in Sky Suites, and unless some things change drastically, they will be our last. When prices are equal or less for premium and luxury lines why should we continue to sail in a lesser line? I will not sail in a non Suite on Celebrity when I can get a better deal on other mainstream cruise lines.