An Interview with Celebrity Cruises CEO in Forbes

Ma Bell, you described it nicely. The age most people start cruising, and certainly start cruising on more upscale lines, is more likely to be middle age than 25-40. As you stated, the younger people are more involved in their careers and starting their families. Many cannot afford cruising yet (or may take their young families on RCI or Carnival) and the young, wealthier ones without children really aren't interested in the cruise experience. I started cruising (save for one disastrous honeymoon experience) when I was 41. At first it was one cruise a year. Then as my job experience expanded I could afford maybe two cruises now and then. Now that I am retired I have 7 cruises booked in the next 9 months! (all with Celebrity, so far at least). People like me are the bread and butter of Celebrity.

All the lines are making money in this economy but what happens when the economy turns south? Who will have the disposable income to spend on cruises? Me for one, and probably a lot of us baby boomers. No house or car payments or any other kinds of payments. No employment to worry about. Income from pensions, social security, and IRAs, with very little of it affected if the economy goes in the toilet for awhile, and you know it will. Just the people you are chasing away. If things get so bad it affects me, they will be a lot more to worry about than cruising. There are plenty of places to spend my money, companies that value my backing no matter the state of economy. Keep doing what you're doing worry about now, not down the road.

The interview all a bunch of baloney and just talking points that is no where near the reality of the product they currently deliver. Celebrity used To focus on food and service. With their constant cutbacks the dining quality is near zero. The service is also no where near what it used to be.

We have down 25 cruises with Celebrity and would love to do 25 more with them but they will have to make a lot of changes to get us back.

We just finished another Viking cruise. Viking delivered an over the top experience with the food and service that was in one word incrediable.

Commercially they'd be better off recruiting first timers rather than loyal cruisers. How many times have you read "We don't need the beverage package because we get out free booze as part of the loyalty program". Or "our free minutes are enough for us".

 

They don't care about 'loyal' customers, only filling the ship. New cruisers are more likely to spend more as they're yet to learn all of the money saving tips etc.

Like you, we are elite and dislike the inflated prices that include promos we don't want.

However, I understand why any cruise line will need to recruit new cruisers. We had never cruised until I retired 8 years ago. We lived overseas and had traveled a lot, just never cruised. Our first cruise was with NCL because my Daughter had done them and she arranged a kind of family cruise. We enjoyed the NCL cruise, but later started with Celebrity, strictly based on the itinerary. After our first X cruise 7 years ago, we now favor X, but still cruise NCL or Royal C when we look at prices, itinerary, etc.

I am amazed at the number of you loyal cruisers who haven’t walk away. The recent ridiculous price hikes made us open our eyes and are very pleased with results. Two land based holidays and a MSC cruise booked for next year, if these are as good as their reviews it’s Celebrity loss...........wakey, wakey everyone. :cool:

I am sure that many people are taking looks at alternatives. We have for sure and have acted on doing more land based trips, which for us has been a great opportunity to see places within the US we would not have.

My favorite so far, was going to Yellowstone. I want to go back there or something similar like go in winter and ski and then snowmobile in Yellowstone being the geysers and buffalo in winter.

Going skiing this coming Feb in CO vs cruise.

Having said the above, I love cruising and hope to cruise many more times when the pricing and our schedule and itinerary line up. :)

Been feeling this way since she took over. They have priced us almost out of cruising with no improvements. AND we have sailed Celebrity since 1992. Nothing there much for loyal customers. Yes, love some Elite Plus benefits but will NEVER reach Zenith. That's the sad part. Oh well. We are trying Edge in January.

If you think the price is high then why are you booking the new ship Edge?

The concierge cabin that you pay on Edge is equivalent to the older ship Sky suite cabin.

I don't get it.:confused:

For someone who has been in the cruising business for as many years as she has it's amazing that she still doesn't understand the difference between a cruise and a land vacation. The survival of cruising depends on older loyal cruisers who have the time and money to cruise frequently. It's always been true and probably always will be. The older loyal cruisers are usually the ones who introduce the cruising experience to their younger family members and friends. If they don't take care of them they are losing their best advertising.

 

 

 

They need a lot of new cruisers to expand but they need to understand that these people will be getting older too and will really become more valuable to them if they can make them loyal cruisers.

 

 

 

I may be wrong but it seems to me that very young adults are not really attracted to cruising for a variety of reasons. They are busy establishing careers and starting families. They are also part of a generation that rarely even looks up from their devices to see what's going on in the real world. Their attention span is short and they are a generation who are used to instant gratification.

 

 

 

The cruising experience is not like just being in a hotel where people are coming and going every day and it's a fairly anonymous experience. When you go on a cruise you are spending an extended period with others in a closed environment. One of the real delights of cruising is the ability to find like minded individuals to enjoy time with. Many people develop life long friendships with others they have met through cruising. Those of us who have been cruising for many years really appreciate that this is the thing about cruising that you don't find in other vacations. In general, as people mature a little more they are more inclined to enjoy a cruise vacation, and focusing on the middle aged cruiser is probably going to be a lot more productive.

 

 

 

It seems to me that there is a lot of confusion as to what Celebrity wants to be and where they are going. In order to have brand loyalty they really need to decide what the focus is. This interview makes it very obvious they the CEO has no idea what that is. The perfect example to me was going to the "Le Petite Chef" dining experience in June. It was a nice evening with good food and a cute presentation and something that people may enjoy once or twice but it certainly isn't something that is going to keep people coming back for more.

 

 

 

It's necessary to find a balanced approach between innovation and long term satisfaction.

 

 

 

I've been a loyal Celebrity cruiser for a long time so I hope they can figure it out.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Been cruising since the days of the Starward, Sunward, Skyward, etc.

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Booked 2019 and 2020 back to back cruises while on board the Eclipse last March ... We typically see price drops that we can take advantage of before final payment is due, however these cruises have only go up ...25-35% absurd! If we didn't have the guaranteed prices from booking on board, we would not entertain paying the price they are asking now for these cruises.

I read the article and left scratching my head wondering what the heck was she talking about!

We haven't cruises as much as many of you have, but we do remember when Celebrity offered a lot more than what they give today. I am waiting to see if the "revolution" that will take more space for suite passengers will appeal to us. We have no issue with those in suites getting better perks, but we do take exception that some things are at the expense of the remaining passengers. Case in point is the dining room ..taking space for a suites only dining room has created a very cramped dining room for the rest of us ... which prompts us to buy the meal packages and dine in the alternative restaurants .. so Celebrity wins with us spending money we wouldn't have considered several years ago when the dining room experiences were excellent.

If this CEO thinks the changes they are implementing support the higher prices that seem to climb weekly, they will find that we will seek other alternatives for our vacations. The Edge looks impressive, but again, to get the full experience you have to shell out additional money for dining etc. Being retired, living in the north east, we migrate south every winter and always include cruises along with land based resorts ...but we are fast approaching only booking land alternatives. We have been seriously looking at Viking Ocean and Europe river cruises. Their prices are higher, but they provide a lot more that what we currently receive from Celebrity.