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Pitiful


r4addz
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When I read the first few posts on this thread last week, based upon the OP’s comments I went and looked at the other two posts on other threads, and my initial reaction was “sometimes things get screwed up” and off I went. Although I am a long time follower (lurker) on cruise critic, I use the boards as a resource board searching for info, consequently I post very infrequently, I drop in once every few weeks and when I was working I would go for months between visits.

 

However, this morning when I was watching the news and drinking my coffee, and not being particularly motivated to do anything, I came back to the boards, and low and behold this thread has exploded….so I read the entire thing.

 

My conclusion is that I believe everything has occurred as the OP has described.

 

I also find the attitude of many of the posts to be a form of electronic bullying– folks, we are no longer in high school, you have nothing to prove. There have been many posts of support, many posts of advice by what I personally think of as the “elder statesmen” of the boards (I know when I come across one of their posts in my research quests, I am going to get some good advice), and the vitriolic rants of a few whoare unfortunately becoming common place on the boards, and IMO add very little if anything to the discussion.

 

As I understand it there were initially three issues, and then 2 more were later disclosed, a total of 5:

 

-mishandled birthday celebration, including no recognitionon actual day, apathy by guest relations staff, cake delivery the following day at dinner, and subsequent delivery of a bottle of champagne by stateroom attendant,

 

-requesting chips off the seapass card in the casino, and the snarky reply by the croupier “Because that is the way it is”.

 

-the special needs request of extension cord for CPAC, and the faulty cord supplied,

 

-room service/housekeeping ignoring the DND sign,

 

-bingo prize.

 

Ok, my thoughts in no particular order. As stated by previous posters a few of these instances are the result of assumptions being made, based on previous experience. As this was the OP’s first -X-cruise, and probably his last based upon his treatment here, that accounts for some of the issues. As far as bingo goes, never played, never will; however, if I was going to pay out a significant sum of money to play a game, I would at least want to know what I was playing for.

 

On the issue of the DND sign, if I was having a mid morning nap, or whatever, and the DND sign was on the door I would expect it to be respected. What is missing is the experience from the housekeeping staff’s side; what were they told to do, get all the room service trays, don’t come back till you have them all….maybe in the past they have respected the DND signs and someone has complained their tray wasn’t picked up, people often leave the DND sign in place and leave the room – maybe all the previous calls to rooms have resulted in empty rooms. I don’t know I wasn’t there.

 

As far as the dealer’s comments on the casino, that could be interpreted as being rude; certainly it was very brusque and straight forward. Experienced cruisers know there is a fee attached to such requests. In this circumstance as the OP used the term croupier, I am assuming (we all know where that can lead) that he was asking at the table rather than at the cashier, I have never charged chips to my card so I don’t know what is involved, at the very least the dealer has to stop the game and fill out “some paperwork” and get a signature, disrupts the game and the flow…maybe it was the 50th request this shift, more likely it was someone whose first language was not English – our DIL is Asian, English is her second language, she often phrases things very bluntly. The answer was correct if rather indelicate.

 

As far as the CPAC fiasco goes, what can I say. I have personally witnessed our stateroom attendant using the extension cord for his vacuum and it had more repair tape on it than the full roll I have in my workshop; is it safe, probably: would I use it probably not. We all “know” you cannot bring on certain items, and power boards with GFCI or breakers are not allowed, yet we all know many people do it each cruise. If my life depended on my CPAC to get me through the night I would be concerned about the power cord I was forced to use being reliable, if I couldn’t use my own. If the OP says it was cobbled together, based upon what I have personally seen, it probably was.

 

Finally the big one. Based upon my PERSONAL experience, my conclusion was the special gift arranged by the TA was the bottle of champagne. Several years ago DW and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a combination land trip and cruise. This was prior to our retirements and prior to beverage packages. On embarkation day, upon returning to our room after sail-away celebrations, we were greeted with a row of wine bottles lining the counter, each was accompanied by a little card with Happy Anniversary or some such comment and the name of the person providing the gift. Several of our family friends and colleagues had gone through the effort of providing us with gifts. My take on the entire process is that the “card” made it to the room but the bottle didn’t… the stateroom attendant rectified the situation the next day when the mistake was discovered.

 

I agree with many comments that the original tone of the thread was negative. I agree that the use of the word “Pitiful” to describe the thread was not the best. Pitiful is a judgemental word, a fact if you will. From my perspective a better word would be “Disappointed”. Disappointed describes the emotion and feeling the OP experienced and more accurately reflects his experience.

 

Is the above accurate, I have no idea, it could be a total work of fiction or pretty close to the truth. Only one person knows and that is the OP. We can all agree that every one of these situations is the exception rather than the rule. For each exception above, I may get 100 replies stating it didn’t happen that way for me; that’s why they are exceptions. This was a holiday cruise, never taken one probably never will based upon comments I have read over the years about the things that can happen on holiday cruises.

All I know is that the OP was disappointed with the cruise. His expectations were not met, and he felt frustrated by the experience.

 

 

People get over it. The OP provided his experience in an effort to assist others. There are bigger problems in the world.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a troll from Celebrity. I am not a troll hired by the OP. Our first cruise on -X- was in 2001 and we have completed 18 enjoyable cruises with -X-. We have experienced a few issues none of which we have declared to be significant and very few of which I can recall. And, because it is important to some people to prove my creds…I am Elite Plus.

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Scubesdad, like you my wife and I are Elite Plus members.

 

I agree with all you say, personally I no longer do reviews because I would always write what I found warts and all, and that wouldn't go down well with some on these boards.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

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When I read the first few posts on this thread last week, based upon the OP’s comments I went and looked at the other two posts on other threads, and my initial reaction was “sometimes things get screwed up” and off I went. Although I am a long time follower (lurker) on cruise critic, I use the boards as a resource board searching for info, consequently I post very infrequently, I drop in once every few weeks and when I was working I would go for months between visits.

 

 

 

However, this morning when I was watching the news and drinking my coffee, and not being particularly motivated to do anything, I came back to the boards, and low and behold this thread has exploded….so I read the entire thing.

 

 

 

My conclusion is that I believe everything has occurred as the OP has described.

 

 

 

I also find the attitude of many of the posts to be a form of electronic bullying– folks, we are no longer in high school, you have nothing to prove. There have been many posts of support, many posts of advice by what I personally think of as the “elder statesmen” of the boards (I know when I come across one of their posts in my research quests, I am going to get some good advice), and the vitriolic rants of a few whoare unfortunately becoming common place on the boards, and IMO add very little if anything to the discussion.

 

 

 

As I understand it there were initially three issues, and then 2 more were later disclosed, a total of 5:

 

 

 

-mishandled birthday celebration, including no recognitionon actual day, apathy by guest relations staff, cake delivery the following day at dinner, and subsequent delivery of a bottle of champagne by stateroom attendant,

 

 

 

-requesting chips off the seapass card in the casino, and the snarky reply by the croupier “Because that is the way it is”.

 

 

 

-the special needs request of extension cord for CPAC, and the faulty cord supplied,

 

 

 

-room service/housekeeping ignoring the DND sign,

 

 

 

-bingo prize.

 

 

 

Ok, my thoughts in no particular order. As stated by previous posters a few of these instances are the result of assumptions being made, based on previous experience. As this was the OP’s first -X-cruise, and probably his last based upon his treatment here, that accounts for some of the issues. As far as bingo goes, never played, never will; however, if I was going to pay out a significant sum of money to play a game, I would at least want to know what I was playing for.

 

 

 

On the issue of the DND sign, if I was having a mid morning nap, or whatever, and the DND sign was on the door I would expect it to be respected. What is missing is the experience from the housekeeping staff’s side; what were they told to do, get all the room service trays, don’t come back till you have them all….maybe in the past they have respected the DND signs and someone has complained their tray wasn’t picked up, people often leave the DND sign in place and leave the room – maybe all the previous calls to rooms have resulted in empty rooms. I don’t know I wasn’t there.

 

 

 

As far as the dealer’s comments on the casino, that could be interpreted as being rude; certainly it was very brusque and straight forward. Experienced cruisers know there is a fee attached to such requests. In this circumstance as the OP used the term croupier, I am assuming (we all know where that can lead) that he was asking at the table rather than at the cashier, I have never charged chips to my card so I don’t know what is involved, at the very least the dealer has to stop the game and fill out “some paperwork” and get a signature, disrupts the game and the flow…maybe it was the 50th request this shift, more likely it was someone whose first language was not English – our DIL is Asian, English is her second language, she often phrases things very bluntly. The answer was correct if rather indelicate.

 

 

 

As far as the CPAC fiasco goes, what can I say. I have personally witnessed our stateroom attendant using the extension cord for his vacuum and it had more repair tape on it than the full roll I have in my workshop; is it safe, probably: would I use it probably not. We all “know” you cannot bring on certain items, and power boards with GFCI or breakers are not allowed, yet we all know many people do it each cruise. If my life depended on my CPAC to get me through the night I would be concerned about the power cord I was forced to use being reliable, if I couldn’t use my own. If the OP says it was cobbled together, based upon what I have personally seen, it probably was.

 

 

 

Finally the big one. Based upon my PERSONAL experience, my conclusion was the special gift arranged by the TA was the bottle of champagne. Several years ago DW and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a combination land trip and cruise. This was prior to our retirements and prior to beverage packages. On embarkation day, upon returning to our room after sail-away celebrations, we were greeted with a row of wine bottles lining the counter, each was accompanied by a little card with Happy Anniversary or some such comment and the name of the person providing the gift. Several of our family friends and colleagues had gone through the effort of providing us with gifts. My take on the entire process is that the “card” made it to the room but the bottle didn’t… the stateroom attendant rectified the situation the next day when the mistake was discovered.

 

 

 

I agree with many comments that the original tone of the thread was negative. I agree that the use of the word “Pitiful” to describe the thread was not the best. Pitiful is a judgemental word, a fact if you will. From my perspective a better word would be “Disappointed”. Disappointed describes the emotion and feeling the OP experienced and more accurately reflects his experience.

 

 

 

Is the above accurate, I have no idea, it could be a total work of fiction or pretty close to the truth. Only one person knows and that is the OP. We can all agree that every one of these situations is the exception rather than the rule. For each exception above, I may get 100 replies stating it didn’t happen that way for me; that’s why they are exceptions. This was a holiday cruise, never taken one probably never will based upon comments I have read over the years about the things that can happen on holiday cruises.

 

 

 

All I know is that the OP was disappointed with the cruise. His expectations were not met, and he felt frustrated by the experience.

 

 

 

 

 

People get over it. The OP provided his experience in an effort to assist others. There are bigger problems in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a troll from Celebrity. I am not a troll hired by the OP. Our first cruise on -X- was in 2001 and we have completed 18 enjoyable cruises with -X-. We have experienced a few issues none of which we have declared to be significant and very few of which I can recall. And, because it is important to some people to prove my creds…I am Elite Plus.

 

 

 

Very well said!!!

 

 

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The OP received a cord for his CPAP. He's complaining about its condition, though it apparently worked just fine. But, they have quite a few on the ship. I'm sure they repair them all the time. I'm sure they would have been happy to get another one or two if the setup wasn't to the OP's liking. Having his own power strip in the room would not have changed the location of the existing plugs.

 

People are reacting to the tone of the writing, and the fact that the supposed severity of each issue comes across as an extreme overreaction or a nitpick. An example is this to-do about the cord provided (as if they would knowingly give out something that would cause a fire) and the foot stamping over having his prohibited item taken away despite having access to the same list of prohibited items the rest of the passengers did.

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When I read the first few posts on this thread last week, based upon the OP’s comments I went and looked at the other two posts on other threads, and my initial reaction was “sometimes things get screwed up” and off I went. Although I am a long time follower (lurker) on cruise critic, I use the boards as a resource board searching for info, consequently I post very infrequently, I drop in once every few weeks and when I was working I would go for months between visits.

 

However, this morning when I was watching the news and drinking my coffee, and not being particularly motivated to do anything, I came back to the boards, and low and behold this thread has exploded….so I read the entire thing.

 

My conclusion is that I believe everything has occurred as the OP has described.

 

I also find the attitude of many of the posts to be a form of electronic bullying– folks, we are no longer in high school, you have nothing to prove. There have been many posts of support, many posts of advice by what I personally think of as the “elder statesmen” of the boards (I know when I come across one of their posts in my research quests, I am going to get some good advice), and the vitriolic rants of a few whoare unfortunately becoming common place on the boards, and IMO add very little if anything to the discussion.

 

As I understand it there were initially three issues, and then 2 more were later disclosed, a total of 5:

 

-mishandled birthday celebration, including no recognitionon actual day, apathy by guest relations staff, cake delivery the following day at dinner, and subsequent delivery of a bottle of champagne by stateroom attendant,

 

-requesting chips off the seapass card in the casino, and the snarky reply by the croupier “Because that is the way it is”.

 

-the special needs request of extension cord for CPAC, and the faulty cord supplied,

 

-room service/housekeeping ignoring the DND sign,

 

-bingo prize.

 

Ok, my thoughts in no particular order. As stated by previous posters a few of these instances are the result of assumptions being made, based on previous experience. As this was the OP’s first -X-cruise, and probably his last based upon his treatment here, that accounts for some of the issues. As far as bingo goes, never played, never will; however, if I was going to pay out a significant sum of money to play a game, I would at least want to know what I was playing for.

 

On the issue of the DND sign, if I was having a mid morning nap, or whatever, and the DND sign was on the door I would expect it to be respected. What is missing is the experience from the housekeeping staff’s side; what were they told to do, get all the room service trays, don’t come back till you have them all….maybe in the past they have respected the DND signs and someone has complained their tray wasn’t picked up, people often leave the DND sign in place and leave the room – maybe all the previous calls to rooms have resulted in empty rooms. I don’t know I wasn’t there.

 

As far as the dealer’s comments on the casino, that could be interpreted as being rude; certainly it was very brusque and straight forward. Experienced cruisers know there is a fee attached to such requests. In this circumstance as the OP used the term croupier, I am assuming (we all know where that can lead) that he was asking at the table rather than at the cashier, I have never charged chips to my card so I don’t know what is involved, at the very least the dealer has to stop the game and fill out “some paperwork” and get a signature, disrupts the game and the flow…maybe it was the 50th request this shift, more likely it was someone whose first language was not English – our DIL is Asian, English is her second language, she often phrases things very bluntly. The answer was correct if rather indelicate.

 

As far as the CPAC fiasco goes, what can I say. I have personally witnessed our stateroom attendant using the extension cord for his vacuum and it had more repair tape on it than the full roll I have in my workshop; is it safe, probably: would I use it probably not. We all “know” you cannot bring on certain items, and power boards with GFCI or breakers are not allowed, yet we all know many people do it each cruise. If my life depended on my CPAC to get me through the night I would be concerned about the power cord I was forced to use being reliable, if I couldn’t use my own. If the OP says it was cobbled together, based upon what I have personally seen, it probably was.

 

Finally the big one. Based upon my PERSONAL experience, my conclusion was the special gift arranged by the TA was the bottle of champagne. Several years ago DW and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a combination land trip and cruise. This was prior to our retirements and prior to beverage packages. On embarkation day, upon returning to our room after sail-away celebrations, we were greeted with a row of wine bottles lining the counter, each was accompanied by a little card with Happy Anniversary or some such comment and the name of the person providing the gift. Several of our family friends and colleagues had gone through the effort of providing us with gifts. My take on the entire process is that the “card” made it to the room but the bottle didn’t… the stateroom attendant rectified the situation the next day when the mistake was discovered.

 

I agree with many comments that the original tone of the thread was negative. I agree that the use of the word “Pitiful” to describe the thread was not the best. Pitiful is a judgemental word, a fact if you will. From my perspective a better word would be “Disappointed”. Disappointed describes the emotion and feeling the OP experienced and more accurately reflects his experience.

 

Is the above accurate, I have no idea, it could be a total work of fiction or pretty close to the truth. Only one person knows and that is the OP. We can all agree that every one of these situations is the exception rather than the rule. For each exception above, I may get 100 replies stating it didn’t happen that way for me; that’s why they are exceptions. This was a holiday cruise, never taken one probably never will based upon comments I have read over the years about the things that can happen on holiday cruises.

All I know is that the OP was disappointed with the cruise. His expectations were not met, and he felt frustrated by the experience.

 

 

People get over it. The OP provided his experience in an effort to assist others. There are bigger problems in the world.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a troll from Celebrity. I am not a troll hired by the OP. Our first cruise on -X- was in 2001 and we have completed 18 enjoyable cruises with -X-. We have experienced a few issues none of which we have declared to be significant and very few of which I can recall. And, because it is important to some people to prove my creds…I am Elite Plus.

Very well said.Can't we just get along?Can't we have more civilized people on Celebrity Cruise ship?

Thanks for the post.The best written so far.

From my previous post,I thought all the good cruisers jump ship.Now it make me want cruise more till I reach Zenith.

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When I read the first few posts on this thread last week, based upon the OP’s comments I went and looked at the other two posts on other threads, and my initial reaction was “sometimes things get screwed up” and off I went. Although I am a long time follower (lurker) on cruise critic, I use the boards as a resource board searching for info, consequently I post very infrequently, I drop in once every few weeks and when I was working I would go for months between visits.

 

 

 

However, this morning when I was watching the news and drinking my coffee, and not being particularly motivated to do anything, I came back to the boards, and low and behold this thread has exploded….so I read the entire thing.

 

 

 

My conclusion is that I believe everything has occurred as the OP has described.

 

 

 

I also find the attitude of many of the posts to be a form of electronic bullying– folks, we are no longer in high school, you have nothing to prove. There have been many posts of support, many posts of advice by what I personally think of as the “elder statesmen” of the boards (I know when I come across one of their posts in my research quests, I am going to get some good advice), and the vitriolic rants of a few whoare unfortunately becoming common place on the boards, and IMO add very little if anything to the discussion.

 

 

 

As I understand it there were initially three issues, and then 2 more were later disclosed, a total of 5:

 

 

 

-mishandled birthday celebration, including no recognitionon actual day, apathy by guest relations staff, cake delivery the following day at dinner, and subsequent delivery of a bottle of champagne by stateroom attendant,

 

 

 

-requesting chips off the seapass card in the casino, and the snarky reply by the croupier “Because that is the way it is”.

 

 

 

-the special needs request of extension cord for CPAC, and the faulty cord supplied,

 

 

 

-room service/housekeeping ignoring the DND sign,

 

 

 

-bingo prize.

 

 

 

Ok, my thoughts in no particular order. As stated by previous posters a few of these instances are the result of assumptions being made, based on previous experience. As this was the OP’s first -X-cruise, and probably his last based upon his treatment here, that accounts for some of the issues. As far as bingo goes, never played, never will; however, if I was going to pay out a significant sum of money to play a game, I would at least want to know what I was playing for.

 

 

 

On the issue of the DND sign, if I was having a mid morning nap, or whatever, and the DND sign was on the door I would expect it to be respected. What is missing is the experience from the housekeeping staff’s side; what were they told to do, get all the room service trays, don’t come back till you have them all….maybe in the past they have respected the DND signs and someone has complained their tray wasn’t picked up, people often leave the DND sign in place and leave the room – maybe all the previous calls to rooms have resulted in empty rooms. I don’t know I wasn’t there.

 

 

 

As far as the dealer’s comments on the casino, that could be interpreted as being rude; certainly it was very brusque and straight forward. Experienced cruisers know there is a fee attached to such requests. In this circumstance as the OP used the term croupier, I am assuming (we all know where that can lead) that he was asking at the table rather than at the cashier, I have never charged chips to my card so I don’t know what is involved, at the very least the dealer has to stop the game and fill out “some paperwork” and get a signature, disrupts the game and the flow…maybe it was the 50th request this shift, more likely it was someone whose first language was not English – our DIL is Asian, English is her second language, she often phrases things very bluntly. The answer was correct if rather indelicate.

 

 

 

As far as the CPAC fiasco goes, what can I say. I have personally witnessed our stateroom attendant using the extension cord for his vacuum and it had more repair tape on it than the full roll I have in my workshop; is it safe, probably: would I use it probably not. We all “know” you cannot bring on certain items, and power boards with GFCI or breakers are not allowed, yet we all know many people do it each cruise. If my life depended on my CPAC to get me through the night I would be concerned about the power cord I was forced to use being reliable, if I couldn’t use my own. If the OP says it was cobbled together, based upon what I have personally seen, it probably was.

 

 

 

Finally the big one. Based upon my PERSONAL experience, my conclusion was the special gift arranged by the TA was the bottle of champagne. Several years ago DW and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a combination land trip and cruise. This was prior to our retirements and prior to beverage packages. On embarkation day, upon returning to our room after sail-away celebrations, we were greeted with a row of wine bottles lining the counter, each was accompanied by a little card with Happy Anniversary or some such comment and the name of the person providing the gift. Several of our family friends and colleagues had gone through the effort of providing us with gifts. My take on the entire process is that the “card” made it to the room but the bottle didn’t… the stateroom attendant rectified the situation the next day when the mistake was discovered.

 

 

 

I agree with many comments that the original tone of the thread was negative. I agree that the use of the word “Pitiful” to describe the thread was not the best. Pitiful is a judgemental word, a fact if you will. From my perspective a better word would be “Disappointed”. Disappointed describes the emotion and feeling the OP experienced and more accurately reflects his experience.

 

 

 

Is the above accurate, I have no idea, it could be a total work of fiction or pretty close to the truth. Only one person knows and that is the OP. We can all agree that every one of these situations is the exception rather than the rule. For each exception above, I may get 100 replies stating it didn’t happen that way for me; that’s why they are exceptions. This was a holiday cruise, never taken one probably never will based upon comments I have read over the years about the things that can happen on holiday cruises.

 

 

 

All I know is that the OP was disappointed with the cruise. His expectations were not met, and he felt frustrated by the experience.

 

 

 

 

 

People get over it. The OP provided his experience in an effort to assist others. There are bigger problems in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a troll from Celebrity. I am not a troll hired by the OP. Our first cruise on -X- was in 2001 and we have completed 18 enjoyable cruises with -X-. We have experienced a few issues none of which we have declared to be significant and very few of which I can recall. And, because it is important to some people to prove my creds…I am Elite Plus.

 

 

 

Well written and I agree with your analysis and conclusion.

 

 

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When I read the first few posts on this thread last week, based upon the OP’s comments I went and looked at the other two posts on other threads, and my initial reaction was “sometimes things get screwed up” and off I went. Although I am a long time follower (lurker) on cruise critic, I use the boards as a resource board searching for info, consequently I post very infrequently, I drop in once every few weeks and when I was working I would go for months between visits.

 

However, this morning when I was watching the news and drinking my coffee, and not being particularly motivated to do anything, I came back to the boards, and low and behold this thread has exploded….so I read the entire thing.

 

My conclusion is that I believe everything has occurred as the OP has described.

 

I also find the attitude of many of the posts to be a form of electronic bullying– folks, we are no longer in high school, you have nothing to prove. There have been many posts of support, many posts of advice by what I personally think of as the “elder statesmen” of the boards (I know when I come across one of their posts in my research quests, I am going to get some good advice), and the vitriolic rants of a few whoare unfortunately becoming common place on the boards, and IMO add very little if anything to the discussion.

 

As I understand it there were initially three issues, and then 2 more were later disclosed, a total of 5:

 

-mishandled birthday celebration, including no recognitionon actual day, apathy by guest relations staff, cake delivery the following day at dinner, and subsequent delivery of a bottle of champagne by stateroom attendant,

 

-requesting chips off the seapass card in the casino, and the snarky reply by the croupier “Because that is the way it is”.

 

-the special needs request of extension cord for CPAC, and the faulty cord supplied,

 

-room service/housekeeping ignoring the DND sign,

 

-bingo prize.

 

Ok, my thoughts in no particular order. As stated by previous posters a few of these instances are the result of assumptions being made, based on previous experience. As this was the OP’s first -X-cruise, and probably his last based upon his treatment here, that accounts for some of the issues. As far as bingo goes, never played, never will; however, if I was going to pay out a significant sum of money to play a game, I would at least want to know what I was playing for.

 

On the issue of the DND sign, if I was having a mid morning nap, or whatever, and the DND sign was on the door I would expect it to be respected. What is missing is the experience from the housekeeping staff’s side; what were they told to do, get all the room service trays, don’t come back till you have them all….maybe in the past they have respected the DND signs and someone has complained their tray wasn’t picked up, people often leave the DND sign in place and leave the room – maybe all the previous calls to rooms have resulted in empty rooms. I don’t know I wasn’t there.

 

As far as the dealer’s comments on the casino, that could be interpreted as being rude; certainly it was very brusque and straight forward. Experienced cruisers know there is a fee attached to such requests. In this circumstance as the OP used the term croupier, I am assuming (we all know where that can lead) that he was asking at the table rather than at the cashier, I have never charged chips to my card so I don’t know what is involved, at the very least the dealer has to stop the game and fill out “some paperwork” and get a signature, disrupts the game and the flow…maybe it was the 50th request this shift, more likely it was someone whose first language was not English – our DIL is Asian, English is her second language, she often phrases things very bluntly. The answer was correct if rather indelicate.

 

As far as the CPAC fiasco goes, what can I say. I have personally witnessed our stateroom attendant using the extension cord for his vacuum and it had more repair tape on it than the full roll I have in my workshop; is it safe, probably: would I use it probably not. We all “know” you cannot bring on certain items, and power boards with GFCI or breakers are not allowed, yet we all know many people do it each cruise. If my life depended on my CPAC to get me through the night I would be concerned about the power cord I was forced to use being reliable, if I couldn’t use my own. If the OP says it was cobbled together, based upon what I have personally seen, it probably was.

 

Finally the big one. Based upon my PERSONAL experience, my conclusion was the special gift arranged by the TA was the bottle of champagne. Several years ago DW and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a combination land trip and cruise. This was prior to our retirements and prior to beverage packages. On embarkation day, upon returning to our room after sail-away celebrations, we were greeted with a row of wine bottles lining the counter, each was accompanied by a little card with Happy Anniversary or some such comment and the name of the person providing the gift. Several of our family friends and colleagues had gone through the effort of providing us with gifts. My take on the entire process is that the “card” made it to the room but the bottle didn’t… the stateroom attendant rectified the situation the next day when the mistake was discovered.

 

I agree with many comments that the original tone of the thread was negative. I agree that the use of the word “Pitiful” to describe the thread was not the best. Pitiful is a judgemental word, a fact if you will. From my perspective a better word would be “Disappointed”. Disappointed describes the emotion and feeling the OP experienced and more accurately reflects his experience.

 

Is the above accurate, I have no idea, it could be a total work of fiction or pretty close to the truth. Only one person knows and that is the OP. We can all agree that every one of these situations is the exception rather than the rule. For each exception above, I may get 100 replies stating it didn’t happen that way for me; that’s why they are exceptions. This was a holiday cruise, never taken one probably never will based upon comments I have read over the years about the things that can happen on holiday cruises.

All I know is that the OP was disappointed with the cruise. His expectations were not met, and he felt frustrated by the experience.

 

 

People get over it. The OP provided his experience in an effort to assist others. There are bigger problems in the world.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a troll from Celebrity. I am not a troll hired by the OP. Our first cruise on -X- was in 2001 and we have completed 18 enjoyable cruises with -X-. We have experienced a few issues none of which we have declared to be significant and very few of which I can recall. And, because it is important to some people to prove my creds…I am Elite Plus.

Finally a voice of reason.

 

Please consider posting more often.[emoji14]

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I actually said I went back to sleep after the in room breakfast and was awakened by the phone call, but that wouldn't look as good in your attempts to denigrate me would it so why let the facts get in the way of a good attack?

 

 

 

I understand it is what you did, but the majority of passengers do not go back to sleep after having breakfast. They are ready to start their day, either in port or with some other activity if it is a sea day. Celebrity typically calls to make sure you are up and someone is there prior to delivering breakfast, and in my experience usually call a little later to make sure everything was ok, and you enjoyed your breakfast. Every cruise line is different but this is how Celebrity operates.

 

 

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I understand it is what you did, but the majority of passengers do not go back to sleep after having breakfast.

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Speak for yourself. People do that for two reasons:

 

1. ;p no more to be said.

 

2. If you are like me, I get up, forget why I got up in the first place so go back to bed.:(

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Speak for yourself. People do that for two reasons:

 

 

 

1. ;p no more to be said.

 

 

 

2. If you are like me, I get up, forget why I got up in the first place so go back to bed.:(

 

 

 

Too funny.

 

I did think I would get at least one response regarding going back to sleep after breakfast. I was trying to think like Celebrity who often calls some time after delivering breakfast to make sure it was to the passengers satisfaction, and either way, on a port day expects most passengers are up and getting off of the ship.

 

 

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Ok so an excellent summary so let me add to it.

 

When I read the first few posts on this thread last week, based upon the OP’s comments I went and looked at the other two posts on other threads, and my initial reaction was “sometimes things get screwed up” and off I went. Although I am a long time follower (lurker) on cruise critic, I use the boards as a resource board searching for info, consequently I post very infrequently, I drop in once every few weeks and when I was working I would go for months between visits.

 

However, this morning when I was watching the news and drinking my coffee, and not being particularly motivated to do anything, I came back to the boards, and low and behold this thread has exploded….so I read the entire thing.

 

My conclusion is that I believe everything has occurred as the OP has described.

 

I also find the attitude of many of the posts to be a form of electronic bullying– folks, we are no longer in high school, you have nothing to prove. There have been many posts of support, many posts of advice by what I personally think of as the “elder statesmen” of the boards (I know when I come across one of their posts in my research quests, I am going to get some good advice), and the vitriolic rants of a few whoare unfortunately becoming common place on the boards, and IMO add very little if anything to the discussion.

 

As I understand it there were initially three issues, and then 2 more were later disclosed, a total of 5:

 

-mishandled birthday celebration, including no recognitionon actual day, apathy by guest relations staff, cake delivery the following day at dinner, and subsequent delivery of a bottle of champagne by stateroom attendant,

 

-requesting chips off the seapass card in the casino, and the snarky reply by the croupier “Because that is the way it is”.

 

-the special needs request of extension cord for CPAC, and the faulty cord supplied,

 

-room service/housekeeping ignoring the DND sign,

 

-bingo prize.

 

Ok, my thoughts in no particular order. As stated by previous posters a few of these instances are the result of assumptions being made, based on previous experience. As this was the OP’s first -X-cr!uise, and probably his last based upon his treatment here, that accounts for some of the issues. As far as bingo goes, never played, never will; however, if I was going to pay out a significant sum of money to play a game, I would at least want to know what I was playing for.

 

They couldn;t tell you what you were playing for as you were going in, in fact one time we went, they couldn't even tell the winner of the first game what they had won till the end of the second game

 

On the issue of the DND sign, if I was having a mid morning nap, or whatever, and the DND sign was on the door I would expect it to be respected. What is missing is the experience from the housekeeping staff’s side; what were they told to do, get all the room service trays, don’t come back till you have them all….maybe in the past they have respected the DND signs and someone has complained their tray wasn’t picked up, people often leave the DND sign in place and leave the room – maybe all the previous calls to rooms have resulted in empty rooms. I don’t know I wasn’t there.
Sorry but as far as I am concerned a DND means precisely that, Do Not Disturb. If I had said no (tongue in cheek moment follows) would they have raided the room to liberate the hostage plates? :-)

 

As far as the dealer’s comments on the casino, that could be interpreted as being rude; certainly it was very brusque and straight forward. Experienced cruisers know there is a fee attached to such requests. In this circumstance as the OP used the term croupier, I am assuming (we all know where that can lead) that he was asking at the table rather than at the cashier, I have never charged chips to my card so I don’t know what is involved, at the very least the dealer has to stop the game and fill out “some paperwork” and get a signature, disrupts the game and the flow…maybe it was the 50th request this shift, more likely it was someone whose first language was not English – our DIL is Asian, English is her second language, she often phrases things very bluntly. The answer was correct if rather indelicate.
The way it works, is when you request chips at the table, the pit boss comes over and deals with it whilst the game goes on, however when the incident happened there was no one playing, we were the only punters there and the lady's english was excellent. I have not complained about the surcharge, I just forgot it would be applied and queried it,. I didn't deserve the attitude.

 

As far as the CPAC fiasco goes, what can I say. I have personally witnessed our stateroom attendant using the extension cord for his vacuum and it had more repair tape on it than the full roll I have in my workshop; is it safe, probably: would I use it probably not. We all “know” you cannot bring on certain items, and power boards with GFCI or breakers are not allowed, yet we all know many people do it each cruise. If my life depended on my CPAC to get me through the night I would be concerned about the power cord I was forced to use being reliable, if I couldn’t use my own. If the OP says it was cobbled together, based upon what I have personally seen, it probably was.
I had expected to have an issue with the powerboard but took it in case it was the only alternative because if it couldn't be resolved, the only other option would be to disembark. It would not have been an such an issue if instead of just saying "you need to see guest relations" they would have said you can get an approved powerboard from GR if you really need it. As regards the extension lead, there are 2 issues here. 1 the emphasis is on safety yet there does not appear to be any testing/QC in place. 2 the incompatibility between the extension leads they issue and the powerboards, one being US format and the other Euro. You would think that after all the cruising they have done, they would have already addressed this issue!

 

Finally the big one. Based upon my PERSONAL experience, my conclusion was the special gift arranged by the TA was the bottle of champagne. Several years ago DW and I celebrated a milestone anniversary with a combination land trip and cruise. This was prior to our retirements and prior to beverage packages. On embarkation day, upon returning to our room after sail-away celebrations, we were greeted with a row of wine bottles lining the counter, each was accompanied by a little card with Happy Anniversary or some such comment and the name of the person providing the gift. Several of our family friends and colleagues had gone through the effort of providing us with gifts. My take on the entire process is that the “card” made it to the room but the bottle didn’t… the stateroom attendant rectified the situation the next day when the mistake was discovered.
Again this would have been less of an issue if it had been handled differently, If they had apologised and said we have no record of a request, we will look into it, and get back to you but would you like to organise something for tomorrow, I would probably been suitably mollified. However the "speak to your Travel Agent response didn't do anything to help the situation.

 

I agree with many comments that the original tone of the thread was negative. I agree that the use of the word “Pitiful” to describe the thread was not the best. Pitiful is a judgemental word, a fact if you will. From my perspective a better word would be “Disappointed”. Disappointed describes the emotion and feeling the OP experienced and more accurately reflects his experience.
Sorry but with everything that happened and the way it was handled by people who do this everyday, I felt the title justified.

 

Is the above accurate, I have no idea, it could be a total work of fiction or pretty close to the truth. Only one person knows and that is the OP. We can all agree that every one of these situations is the exception rather than the rule. For each exception above, I may get 100 replies stating it didn’t happen that way for me; that’s why they are exceptions. This was a holiday cruise, never taken one probably never will based upon comments I have read over the years about the things that can happen on holiday cruises.
It is to the best of my recollection accurate, I have no way of proving most of it, I do have a video of the loose strain relief on the lead though but I have no way to post it!
All I know is that the OP was disappointed with the cruise. His expectations were not met, and he felt frustrated by the experience.

 

 

People get over it. The OP provided his experience in an effort to assist others. There are bigger problems in the world.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a troll from Celebrity. I am not a troll hired by the OP. Our first cruise on -X- was in 2001 and we have completed 18 enjoyable cruises with -X-. We have experienced a few issues none of which we have declared to be significant and very few of which I can recall. And, because it is important to some people to prove my creds…I am Elite Plus.

 

Most of this thread consists of people trying to knock me down for speaking out. It has even been suggested that even though I declined compensation and got it anyway (only to decline it again), I should have just accepted it (at least I had the decency to cancell it so someone else would have the opportunity instead of just not turning up). You can bet though that if I had said I took it, they would say I had just done it to get freebies.

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I understand it is what you did, but the majority of passengers do not go back to sleep after having breakfast. They are ready to start their day, either in port or with some other activity if it is a sea day. Celebrity typically calls to make sure you are up and someone is there prior to delivering breakfast, and in my experience usually call a little later to make sure everything was ok, and you enjoyed your breakfast. Every cruise line is different but this is how Celebrity operates.

 

 

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Nothing that you described happened, the breakfast arrived early and I had to jump out of bed and answer the door in a robe I threw on and the only phone call was the one already discussed.

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Too funny.

 

I did think I would get at least one response regarding going back to sleep after breakfast. I was trying to think like Celebrity who often calls some time after delivering breakfast to make sure it was to the passengers satisfaction, and either way, on a port day expects most passengers are up and getting off of the ship.

 

 

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Sorry but I often sleep in on port days as I prefer to miss the rush and I consider the luxury of sleeping in to be part of my holiday as I often have to start very early to travel long distances that we have in Western Australia. I often am expected to be on site by 09:00 when the customer is a 5 hour drive away then drive home after a pretty full day.

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Sorry but I often sleep in on port days as I prefer to miss the rush and I consider the luxury of sleeping in to be part of my holiday as I often have to start very early to travel long distances that we have in Western Australia. I often am expected to be on site by 09:00 when the customer is a 5 hour drive away then drive home after a pretty full day.

Can you please supply us with a list of compalints from the 5 hour drive. Thread keeps me from going back to bed.

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I've been on many, many cruises and quite honesty, none have been "perfect". Most have been pretty darn good, but not perfect. Unlike the ads that picture an idealistic cruise experience in really you are dealing with people. Some are very experienced, some are not. Mistakes can and do happen. All I can expect is that the problem be remedied once I call it to the attention of the proper person. Mistakes were made in the OP's case and attempts to "make it right" were made. They did offer a dinner at a specialty restaurant and the cabin attendant provided Sparkling Wine, even though there is no evidence that he was entitled to it. That he refused the free dinner is evidence that he wasn't complaining to get compensation, but believed that he had serious complaints. From my experience on many lines I view his complaints as typical for those who are less experienced cruisers. As an old song says: "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative...."

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Ok so an excellent summary so let me add to it.

 

 

 

They couldn;t tell you what you were playing for as you were going in, in fact one time we went, they couldn't even tell the winner of the first game what they had won till the end of the second game

 

Sorry but as far as I am concerned a DND means precisely that, Do Not Disturb. If I had said no (tongue in cheek moment follows) would they have raided the room to liberate the hostage plates? :-)

 

The way it works, is when you request chips at the table, the pit boss comes over and deals with it whilst the game goes on, however when the incident happened there was no one playing, we were the only punters there and the lady's english was excellent. I have not complained about the surcharge, I just forgot it would be applied and queried it,. I didn't deserve the attitude.

 

I had expected to have an issue with the powerboard but took it in case it was the only alternative because if it couldn't be resolved, the only other option would be to disembark. It would not have been an such an issue if instead of just saying "you need to see guest relations" they would have said you can get an approved powerboard from GR if you really need it. As regards the extension lead, there are 2 issues here. 1 the emphasis is on safety yet there does not appear to be any testing/QC in place. 2 the incompatibility between the extension leads they issue and the powerboards, one being US format and the other Euro. You would think that after all the cruising they have done, they would have already addressed this issue!

 

Again this would have been less of an issue if it had been handled differently, If they had apologised and said we have no record of a request, we will look into it, and get back to you but would you like to organise something for tomorrow, I would probably been suitably mollified. However the "speak to your Travel Agent response didn't do anything to help the situation.

 

Sorry but with everything that happened and the way it was handled by people who do this everyday, I felt the title justified.

 

It is to the best of my recollection accurate, I have no way of proving most of it, I do have a video of the loose strain relief on the lead though but I have no way to post it!

 

 

Most of this thread consists of people trying to knock me down for speaking out. It has even been suggested that even though I declined compensation and got it anyway (only to decline it again), I should have just accepted it (at least I had the decency to cancell it so someone else would have the opportunity instead of just not turning up). You can bet though that if I had said I took it, they would say I had just done it to get freebies.

 

Wow!!

 

The word “curmudgeon” comes to mind.

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http://travelskills.com/2015/09/17/what-do-not-disturb-really-means-at-hotels/

 

"What we’ll do at my hotel is that if a*staff member encounters a room they need to enter that has a DND sign on it, the staff will ask the front desk to call the room to ask if it’s okay to knock and/or enter.* This happens very often with room service.*"

 

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Ok so an excellent summary so let me add to it.

 

 

 

They couldn;t tell you what you were playing for as you were going in, in fact one time we went, they couldn't even tell the winner of the first game what they had won till the end of the second game

 

Sorry but as far as I am concerned a DND means precisely that, Do Not Disturb. If I had said no (tongue in cheek moment follows) would they have raided the room to liberate the hostage plates? :-)

 

The way it works, is when you request chips at the table, the pit boss comes over and deals with it whilst the game goes on, however when the incident happened there was no one playing, we were the only punters there and the lady's english was excellent. I have not complained about the surcharge, I just forgot it would be applied and queried it,. I didn't deserve the attitude.

 

I had expected to have an issue with the powerboard but took it in case it was the only alternative because if it couldn't be resolved, the only other option would be to disembark. It would not have been an such an issue if instead of just saying "you need to see guest relations" they would have said you can get an approved powerboard from GR if you really need it. As regards the extension lead, there are 2 issues here. 1 the emphasis is on safety yet there does not appear to be any testing/QC in place. 2 the incompatibility between the extension leads they issue and the powerboards, one being US format and the other Euro. You would think that after all the cruising they have done, they would have already addressed this issue!

 

Again this would have been less of an issue if it had been handled differently, If they had apologised and said we have no record of a request, we will look into it, and get back to you but would you like to organise something for tomorrow, I would probably been suitably mollified. However the "speak to your Travel Agent response didn't do anything to help the situation.

 

Sorry but with everything that happened and the way it was handled by people who do this everyday, I felt the title justified.

 

It is to the best of my recollection accurate, I have no way of proving most of it, I do have a video of the loose strain relief on the lead though but I have no way to post it!

 

 

Most of this thread consists of people trying to knock me down for speaking out. It has even been suggested that even though I declined compensation and got it anyway (only to decline it again), I should have just accepted it (at least I had the decency to cancell it so someone else would have the opportunity instead of just not turning up). You can bet though that if I had said I took it, they would say I had just done it to get freebies.

 

Best thread ever.

 

Then again, I lurk around here for the same reason I go to WalMart once a month: Life Choice Affirmation Therapy.

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Nothing that you described happened, the breakfast arrived early and I had to jump out of bed and answer the door in a robe I threw on and the only phone call was the one already discussed.

Please, don’t be a drama queen! You said breakfast arrived 15 minutes early; oh, the horror of it! You had to jump out of bed and throw a robe on. How did you ever survive the rest of the day!

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Please, don’t be a drama queen! You said breakfast arrived 15 minutes early; oh, the horror of it! You had to jump out of bed and throw a robe on. How did you ever survive the rest of the day!

 

 

This whole thread is drama. 🙄🙄🙄🙄

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Wow!!

 

The word “curmudgeon” comes to mind.

 

Then you either do not know the meaning of the word or you must be referring to those people who don't like me relating my experiences. I have expressed no anger over what happened rather disappointment at Celebrity's inability to get things right, hence the title of this thread.

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Please, don’t be a drama queen! You said breakfast arrived 15 minutes early; oh, the horror of it! You had to jump out of bed and throw a robe on. How did you ever survive the rest of the day!

 

You paint a picture of the whole event, leaving details out or quoting sections out of context changes the way things read but don't let me stop you.

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