Dolebludger

It I difficult to consider the OP’s question without knowing the per diem rate on the booked SS. The SS is not totally without value, even though it isn’t the lux experience it once was. But at current prices that I see it I isn’t worth it.

Yes, from reading this thread, it seems that Regent has to coordinate with the port to get the wheelchair all the way, so giving notice of this need is needed. Good to know. I don’t need a wheelchair at this time, but our next Regent cruise is four months away. At my age, one never knows.

That being the case, Regent needs to step up on this issue.

On the subject of passenger to crew ratio, I did some math on the subject. The Edge has one crew per about 2.3 passengers. The Regent Splendor has one crew member per about 1.3 passengers. These figures assume 100% occupancy. That is, of course, if the cruise lines are staffed to the published level. My recent experience with Regent tells me that they are fully staffed. I purposely looked for signs of under staffing and found none. But these ratios alone tell me that, at published levels, the Edge (for example) is staffed closer to RCI than to Regent, Silversea, and the like.

Have never been on the Splendor, and am not specifically aware of specialty restaurants in it. Have a cruise on it in March and understand I need to select them next month (December). What are their names, what do they offer, and are any “must go” or “don’t go?

Of course, I was referring to the prices of SS suites in the Retreat vs comparable suites on Regent and Silversea, none of which included air or land accommodations. I looked at comparable itineraries and duration. Pre-pandemic, my comparisons of this type showed the Retreat to be the best bargain over those lines. And we found the Retreat experience to be equal to them. Now the price for a SS, on this basis, is usually higher than those lines. And according to consistent reports here, service and inclusions in the Retreat lag behind those lines. My only point is that the Retreat (even for a SS) is not competitive. And I feel that is a shame

I have never seen a Silversea or Regent cruise close to $300,000 — unless it is a “world cruise” of over 100 days in the absolute top level suite of a few thousand square feet in size. Now, in the real world, we recently booked a 7 night Regent cruise in a 400 sq.ft. suite (SS size) for less than a comparable cruise in a SS, all included (shore excursions, mini fridge, tips, etc.). The room steward has only a few suites, and provides the same service as the SS butler did. Room service is fast and efficient. Restaurant and lounge service is prompt. Couldn’t find a line or a crowd if we looked for one. No sign of post-pandemic staff shortage. $1,000 room credit. Real balcony. If it was boring, I’d like to be bored that way for life!

It is possible that many, who have had good experience with the Suites in the Retreat in the past, just don’t know about the changes. People get “in a rut” about continuing with a line they have liked, and assume no things negative will change about it. Problem is cruise services, inclusions, and rules do change, rarely for the better. Sometimes it takes a cruise experience to learn that things are wrong.When guests get a taste of the new Retreat situation. They mostly will not return, then Retreat bookings will decline, then Celebrity will make changes. But some of us aren’t in a rut. I liked the Retreat when service was comparable with Regent for a lower fare..now the service isn’t at that level and the fare isn’t lower. So back to Regent I go.

Just from the posts by those who have taken recent Celebrity cruises, it is apparent that the “butler team” concept is not producing the level of service as before, with assigned butlers. As it has been presented, the room stewards are staffed at a level allowing them to be only room cleaners. In the past, the assigned butler took care of everything else. The “team” is apparently not sufficiently staffed to take up the slack. So much of the “luxury experience” is gone. Now, we have been on cruises with no butler on other lines. But the stewards had fewer rooms and were assigned with the other duties that the Celebrity butlers used to have. They did well, so no problem. Now, it seems that there is a “service gap” between what the stewards and the “team” are able to do. Resulting in a less-than-lux experience, at a lux price.

Thanks, Cap_D. I reviewed some of those posts, and am not encouraged by what I read. Back as recent as 2019, the Retreat Lounge (then Michaels) was a nice relaxed lounge. We could always find seating, and ordering and delivery of drinks were quick. It was a credible alternative to lounges on smaller lux ships, as was the entire Retreat experience, but at a lower fare. Now, i don’t think so.

Even before the reported shortage of servers on Celebrity, we preferred the Retreat Lounge (then known as Michaels), because we found the other bars and lounges crowded, with what we considered slow service. The Retreat Lounge was uncrowded and relaxed with good service. And that’s what we wanted. But that was then, and I worry that there may now be crowding and service problems there also. Does anybody have current experience?

Actually, from other posts here, it seem that the major service reduction (and fare increases) have been in SS and CS Retreat categories. They are now priced above cruises on Seaborne, Silversea, and Regent — all without the service and inclusions. Although we have cruised in RS before (in 2019) we really can’t afford that at current prices. But we have cruised there, and in CS a year before that. We had full butler service, and included use of the mini fridge. Our butler took care of anything we wanted, and contact was easy. And fares were then well below that for those “lux lines”. But now, the Retreat fares are much above those “lux lines”. We’ve been on one of those recently, and found no evidence of staff shortages. None at all. Some of us need convincing that we can book X in a SS or a CS at a lower cost than a “lux line” and still have the same service and inclusions we had before the pandemic. Not seeing it now.

The Mariner was the third Regent ship on which we cruised in about 2003 (then it was Radisson). We cruised her again in 2015. Like all ships, she gets a bit worn and tired right before a dry dock, and shines afterwards. However, some things don’t change. While we really like the Mariner, there are a few problems that are permanent. For one thing, we find the suites from category H up through concierge to be a bit small for our liking (these are all the same size, about 300 sq. ft. Including the balcony, which makes interior space around 250 sq. ft.). Some of these suites have a bathtub/shower combination, wherein headroom is in short supply. Also, the tub bottom is about 8” above the bathroom floor, making entry and exit difficult (and for some of us, dangerous). Many of these suites have been converted to shower stall only. But the bathrooms are too small to have a tub also, so there is none. We won’t book in a suite with that tub/shower combination, but that is no solution for guests who want a bathtub too. Other than these issues, the Mariner is a great ship on which to cruise.

Sounds like a severe staff shortage to me. That is clear. What isn’t clear is the reason for the shortage. Is it because of a management mandate, or because of a general labor shortage? And it seemed to have occurred at the same time as a large Retreat fare increase. Accommodations below Retreat level may be competitively priced, but the price of the Retreat is well above its competition — while service and overall quality is well below that of the competition. This is the kind of thing that the free market system usually fixes for us — eventually.

I think tikigal’s post above is spot on. Vacation/resort areas on land in the USA have staffing shortages as well as on X. I know. I live in one. But I will also say that we took an Alaska cruise in Regent last June and did not experience any sign of staff shortage onboard. But the land provided hotel and transfers were to be avoided, as was the air. There is a definite shortage of staffing in the hospitality/transportation industry world wide. So unless your can drive to and from your cruise, be prepared to have poor service along the way, even if not onboard.

Oh, I’m sure (I hope) that all on this board are aware that any service cuts will not impact all booking levels the same. For example, if cuts are causing poor service in bars in the main ship, this will not impact those in the Retreat much as they drink mostly in the Retreat Lounge. Room service problems in the main ship won’t impact those in RS and above, because the butler takes care of that. When we cruised in CS and RS right before the shut down (and before the recent cuts), we actually did little in the main ship. Those were very good cruises. The only reasons we don’t book those accommodations again is due to huge fare increases, and the lack of butler and included mini fridge in CS.

Suites of the level of IS and EV still have dedicated butler service, unless I am misinformed. And they also have included use of the mini fridge, included specialty restaurants, and some other perks. These things would make it difficult for me to say service was lacking. I suspect that matters are different outside of the higher level suites in the Retreat. On our last two Celebrity cruises (pre-pandemic) we were in CS and RS . Even then, I could detect that service in the Retreat was far better than outside the Retreat.

The above series of posts is evidence of understaffing. If a bar or restaurant facility is below capacity, short staffing can still result in good service. It is when the facility is totally full that short staffing will result in poor service. Places in the mountain tourist town where we live are short staffed due to a labor shortage. They have found a way to handle the problem, somewhat. They require visitors to be seated by staff. They won’t seat you, even if there are vacant tables, if staff is insufficient to serve those tables. This probably wouldn’t work on a cruise ship.

Sure, if someone is satisfied with the current service level (at the current price) then there is no problem for that person. But clearly this is a problem for many. If 80% of crew returned post pandemic, there could still be a 20% shortage which would result in noticeable decreases in service. Now, I have been told that ship crews are not direct employees of the line. Instead, the line contracts with an international staffing agency for the crew. True or not? IDK. But it would be interesting to know if there is a staffing shortage involved here. There certainly is on land in the US hospitality industries. We live in Colorado where the mountain towns exist from the hospitality industry. Restaurants and hotels are grossly understaffed, in spite of ordering jobs at $20/hour+. I just wonder if cruise ships are having the same problem, or if management is trying to squeeze out the last nickel.

There used to be a web site that reported crew/passenger ratios for all ships, but I’ve lost track of it. I would like to find it again. The idea is the closer to one crew member to one passenger, the better the service. This ratio is not a perfect indicator of service, as the crew number includes non-service crew. But we have found that the closer this ratio is to “1 to 1”, the better the service. For example, Silversea has a crew/passenger ratio of 1/1.25, meaning there i one crew member for 1.25 passengers. That is a ratio that indicates luxury service. In contrast, last I saw, NCL had a ratio of 1/2.7. In cruising these lines, the difference was very noticeable. This thread would be helped by having this ratio for Celebrity ships before and after the pandemic. Then, we wonder if crew shortages on some ships is the result of management decisions or the result of a shortage of available labor for these jobs. If the former, management deserves the “black eye” it is getting. If the latter, management may only be trying to get along with reduced availability of staff. I’m curious which is which.

In our younger lives, we cruised RC. Then there were no room service fees. No limits on what we could carry on. And there was the ability to buy a bottle of spirits onboard for use in the room at a cost less than on land. We tipped for room service, but there was no mandatory fee. We had envelopes to tip our waiter and room steward, which we did. Then, after 9/11, everything changed. Passengers couldn’t carry on anything, and spirits bought onboard became only for post-cruise consumption. Some booked passengers were caught by surprise with the restrictive rules, and they were not happy! After that, we never cruised RC again, and probably never will. It seems to me that Celebrity is trending toward RC’s marketing plan. I don’t like paying for everything separately at sea, as there is no competition as there is in land tourist towns and cities. Instead, it is the perfect monopoly.

It looks like Celebrity is “taking a dive to the bottom” to become a mass market line.

what are you supposed to do with the pencil and pad?

No sir, as I understand and have experienced, the mini fridge was available for use by all Celebrity suite guests (included) in the past. Now, from info here, it is not in SS and unclear in CS and RS. And, if one knows the “large ship experience” and likes it, one might not like the smaller lux ship experience. But I believe I described the small lux ship experience accurately above. We like it, but not all will, I am sure. Even for us, their are some ships that we believe (without cruising on one) are too small for us. An example would be Sea Dream. Yet some really like that line. My basic point, however, is that Celebrity has raised its suite fares dramatically while, at the same time, cutting services and inclusions so as not to be competitive for some of us.

Yes, I understand. There is a shortage of hotels and services in Barbados, but not a total absence. My point was the ability to get hotel and transfers in Barbados is limited — whether booked by Regent or by the guest. That’s why — until this matter is rectified — we are avoiding embarking or disembarking there.