terrydtx

Is that a tender run by the port or a tender from the ship crewed by Celebrity?

As someone who books Sky Suites and since we are losing our personal butlers to be replaced by a team, I will be saving on the extra tips I normally pay for them, so I can now afford the new 20%. I see no way to tip a team of 8 to 10 pseudo butlers.

Only if you want to book a place on one for the first 3 hours. LOL

I got my Kool-Aid call on Sunday after my scathing email on Saturday.

From my conversation with X corporate and others who posted here, they do not intend to make any public formal announcements.

It was mostly more of Celebrity Kool-Aid you know what orifice that eventually departs the body from. I do not drink Kool-Aid either.

Same here our 4 Sky Suite cruises post Covid, we had butlers that stocked our fridge with whatever we asked for, that included beer, premium bottled water, vitamin flavored water and lots of red and white wine. We were never charged for any and while this is not a posted suite amenity a good butler makes it happen; this I am sure will go away with the new teams.

NCL also owns Oceania.

We do not smoke and we do not spend any time in the Casino, but I also sent an email to Celebrity over my displeasure with the vaping test on the 2 ships. My fear is if they go forward, will it stop with the casino, or will other area of the ship be affected like the balconies.

Our 2025 Oceania Marina cruise of South America for 18 days cost $200pp less than the similar itinerary Sky Suite Equinox cruise for 14 days, for us that was a no-brainer.

We had already made the decision to quit booking Celebrity after our 2 Australian cruises in January in SS. The current outrageous Sky Suite pricing has made real premium cruise lines like Oceania and Viking Ocean much more competitive, add in the change in Butler service and that makes them even closer. Our 2 January Edge cruises in Australia in a SS now cost $4000pp more than we booked back in early 2022. I would not have paid the $4000 more when I could have booked a Viking Ocean cruise for the same amount or less.

The problem I see, Celebrity will make having a team of 8 butlers sound so good for Sky Suites, those who do not know better in higher suites will say, wait a minute I want 8 butlers too. As others have said if it is such a great idea and improvement why hasn't it been made for all suites?

Well said we book Sky Suites, not because they are entry level, but they provide all we need in the size of the cabin and the added amenities are what we like at our stage in life and travel. We never feel elitist for doing this and never flout our being in the Retreat while onboard to other non-suite passengers. We were at one time those non suite passengers and I never once resented anyone who booked a suite. I always said good for them they worked hard and can afford a little nicer level of service and vacationing. My wife and I worked hard all my life and now that we are retired I say good for us, we worked hard and deserve the nicer cruise and vacation. We also now only fly in Business class or Premium Economy for the same reasons, never flew anything but coach before we retired.

My wife just prebooked a spa service for our upcoming Apex cruise and a 20% gratuity was added to her booking. She will not be leaving any addition tip at the time of service.

Or they could have your team direct you to the Retreat Lounge to pick and choose your PM appetizers and then take them back to your cabin, with a drink of course. This will free up the butlers for many other less important tasks.

Your meds might need adjusting. . . . . . .just joking. LOL

Those prepaid grats do not include the SR bookings or non suite room service charge.

Those were all changes that did not require mass redistribution of personnel and layoffs and were much easier to back pedal on, this change will be much harder if not impossible, if they decide they made a huge mistake.

The sad thing is anyone booking a Sky Suite today who doesn't follow any social media sites has no idea what they are not going to get when they booked. They will get the same BS email you got and board to find the email and Koo-AID was all a lie.

More of Celebrity's being consistent about being inconsistent.

Interesting, I just went into my Celebrity app to book a SR on our September Apex Cruise and it now shows a 20% tip will be added to the reservation, when did that increase from 18%? Another policy change with no announcement?

I have been cruising with Celebrity since 2018 and I do not recall any back pedaling either.

If I remember right the bill presented had the 18% tip added.

I think you get a bill at Raw or Sushi on 5 as it is ala Carte. We have never made a reservation there either, always have just walked in.

Even if you book a SR onboard your account is immediately charged the cover charge plus the 18% gratuity. Not sure what happens if you walk in for a meal in a SR without a reservation.