No duplicate bridge on celebrity cruises

[triplecbb]

During our last cruise on the Constellation during a transatlantic crossing, the last 8 days at sea, no organized duplicate bridge was available. There were no duplicate boards, no duplicate table cards, and no traveling score sheets available. The only space provided was in the Tuscan Grill on deck 11 and not every sea day and only until 3pm. The only mention of bridge was a small notice on the activity board near guest relations on deck 3. Despite repeated requests, no mention of bridge was included in the list of daily activity in the ship newspaper. We were informed by the cruise director that the corporate policy had been made to eliminate bridge directors, bridge instruction and duplicate play on all Celebrity cruise. In spite of this, 3 bridge directors on board, organized daily duplicate play, creating board envelopes in stead of boards, made up travelling scoresheets, table templates, and scored and posted daily duplicate results. Over 7 people participated in these activities. By the end of the cruise 9 full tables played, with others playing party brige. I would like to petition to reinstate proving a stateroom for qualified bridge directors and all the necessary duplicate equipment on any cruise with more than 2 sea days especially repositioning cruises. Furthermore, I will no longer cruise on Celebrity until such a policy is reinstated. I would like to make this post a sticky and poll respondents.

[JanineM]

With all due respect, I think Celebrity could spend their money on other activities that appeal to more cruisers.

 

When we did our last TA there were MANY people playing mah jong, about 3 dozen people taking water colour painting classes, and about 8 people playing bridge.

 

I know there is a group that really loves bridge, but given their limited budgets for activities and cruise staff, I don't think bridge would be high on the list.

 

(I know the bridge fans will beat me up over this ... )

[cruisestitch]

Not every cruise line is a perfect fit for every cruiser. Celebrity doesn't provide dance hosts, or rock climbing walls, or indoor ice skating, a Catholic priest (other than during Christmas and Lent), daily afternoon formal tea with table service, or lots of other things. There are cruise lines which still have bridge hosts. If that is a priority for you, you'll be happier going to them. Cruising should bring you enjoyment, so I do hope you'll find a line that meets your needs.

[Despegue]

I think that boycotting Celebrity is taking it a Bridge too far...

[need2bespoiled]

I think that boycotting Celebrity is taking it a Bridge too far...

 

Is there a like button for this? :D

[DavidYYC]

Gosh, the things people complain about.....

 

A real first world problem this.

[twosit]

During our last cruise on the Constellation during a transatlantic crossing, the last 8 days at sea, no organized duplicate bridge was available. There were no duplicate boards, no duplicate table cards, and no traveling score sheets available. The only space provided was in the Tuscan Grill on deck 11 and not every sea day and only until 3pm. The only mention of bridge was a small notice on the activity board near guest relations on deck 3. Despite repeated requests, no mention of bridge was included in the list of daily activity in the ship newspaper. We were informed by the cruise director that the corporate policy had been made to eliminate bridge directors, bridge instruction and duplicate play on all Celebrity cruise. In spite of this, 3 bridge directors on board, organized daily duplicate play, creating board envelopes in stead of boards, made up travelling scoresheets, table templates, and scored and posted daily duplicate results. Over 7 people participated in these activities. By the end of the cruise 9 full tables played, with others playing party brige. I would like to petition to reinstate proving a stateroom for qualified bridge directors and all the necessary duplicate equipment on any cruise with more than 2 sea days especially repositioning cruises. Furthermore, I will no longer cruise on Celebrity until such a policy is reinstated. I would like to make this post a sticky and poll respondents.

I missed bridge a lot on our Celebrity transatlantics. Several of my tablemates organized bridge and it was really well attended. A Celebrity staffer found much of the required materials and they were comped several dinners in exchange for their time. I am pretty sure if you read through the Q&A with the new CEO he mentions reinstating the bridge program on repositioning cruises. Unless I am dreaming--I think I mentioned it to a friend of mine who is a qualified instructor. She suggested that Celebrity could get two for one with her and her husband because he teaches computer classes.

I think Celebrity and bridge is a good fit--heck, if it works on RCCL why would it not fit on Celebrity?

[punkinlr]

Tastes and times have changed - some for the better, some maybe not so much - and the folks who sail now are different. Like cruisestitch said - there is still a brand/line for everyone - you just have to find the right match.

 

I'm 57, and I remember when X used to have dance hosts (as recently as a few years ago) and it was lovely. So many single ladies travel these days and it was nice that they would be offered the chance to dance. Most hosts were also very willing to teach impromptu classes! However you can tell that X was changing directions... as they didn't really build decent dance venues on their S class ships - and the dance bands they hire aren't always the best. We now bring our own CDs on board for the DJs to play in their near empty "disco bars".

 

As far as bridge goes - if X would have the cards/ tallies/ etc even available with sign up sheets in a card room - that would satisfy most players. I know that sometimes it's difficult to find a entire deck of 52!

[Tutuma]

I too am disappointed that there will be no duplicate bridge on our upcoming Australia/New Zealand back to back cruise - with 19 sea days! This will be the very first time after numerous cruises that there will be no duplicate bridge. I was fully aware of this when we booked and it is definitely not a deal breaker...but this a real negative in what I expect will be a spectacular cruise.

 

When Mr Baley solicited emails I wrote to him about this specific subject. He assured me he would be looking into this and reevaluating. So I am eagerly waiting action on Mr. Bayley's promise and expect when we depart January 28, we will not only have a bridge director but all the bridge equipment necessary to make sea days really fun.

 

Mr. Bayley, are you listening?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On the Equniox TA , in sky meeting they had bridge everyday

Not sure if anyone was there

[SusieV]

Celebrity never really made it worthwhile, IMO. The directors still had to pay a discounted rate and frankly it wasn't much cheaper than getting a good deal on your own, and that way we don't have to give up our sea days when we cruise.

[Can'tstopcruising]

Actually, it was the duplicate bridge that got us hooked on cruising Celebrity in the first place. We did a 14 day Panama Canal cruise with a wonderful bridge instructor/director. Lessons in the am and a game in the pm on seadays. My DH hadn't played bridge in a few years and that got him back to the game.

 

We sailed to Hawaii one year and did a TA another year, both with many seadays.

 

For me it is a dealbreaker. We wouldn't sail on a cruise with many consecutive seadays without bridge.

 

By the way, there was always a large group that was interested.

[WhansaMi]

I too am disappointed that there will be no duplicate bridge on our upcoming Australia/New Zealand back to back cruise - with 19 sea days! This will be the very first time after numerous cruises that there will be no duplicate bridge. I was fully aware of this when we booked and it is definitely not a deal breaker...but this a real negative in what I expect will be a spectacular cruise.

 

When Mr Baley solicited emails I wrote to him about this specific subject. He assured me he would be looking into this and reevaluating. So I am eagerly waiting action on Mr. Bayley's promise and expect when we depart January 28, we will not only have a bridge director but all the bridge equipment necessary to make sea days really fun.

 

Mr. Bayley, are you listening?

 

Not meaning to be at all snarky or disrespectful, but maybe he reevaluated, and the answer is "no".

 

Perhaps it would be more likely to be worthwhile for the cruiseline to create a more non-specific structured activity of "card and board games", where people could meet and choose their game? Also, on HAL, they have a bulletin board where people could match interests. I know that a fairly substantial MahJong group started from that. Perhaps that is an option?

[ToBe]

Actually' date=' it was the duplicate bridge that got us hooked on cruising Celebrity in the first place. We did a 14 day Panama Canal cruise with a wonderful bridge instructor/director. Lessons in the am and a game in the pm on seadays. My DH hadn't played bridge in a few years and that got him back to the game.

 

We sailed to Hawaii one year and did a TA another year, both with many seadays.

 

For me it is a dealbreaker. We wouldn't sail on a cruise with many consecutive seadays without bridge.

 

By the way, there was always a large group that was interested.[/quote']

This is actually why I started playing duplicate. We had a great program on our Hawaii cruise and then had more duplicate on a Panama Canal cruise. I now play daily and thank Celebrity for starting the activity. I also had a great time playing duplicate on the Diamond Princess. They used their select dining rooms for bridge and another one for Mah Jong. The rooms were available from 9-4 daily with a bridge instructor. The bar staff came in and they had cold water and cookies available. They had lots of happy cruisers.

[smtcan]

I know that for avid bridge players, the game can be an important part of their activities, but on any cruise these people are in a minority. I agree that Celebrity should provide space for them to meet and make sure information about the meeting place and time is readily available, but I think that that is where the responsibility ends. Many cruisers would like to pursue their particular interest on board and it would be impossible to provide for every one.

Sheila

[Can'tstopcruising]

I know that for avid bridge players, the game can be an important part of their activities, but on any cruise these people are in a minority. I agree that Celebrity should provide space for them to meet and make sure information about the meeting place and time is readily available, but I think that that is where the responsibility ends. Many cruisers would like to pursue their particular interest on board and it would be impossible to provide for every one.

Sheila

 

You can say that for many activities. Arts & crafts for example. A person is hired to teach and space is provided, just like for bridge. A bridge director is necessary for duplicate.

 

Some people mentioned mah jong which I know is now very popular, but I don't think any of the husbands play mah jong.

[Brad1185]

Looking to the front of any of their ships I don't see where their could be a duplicate bridge. There is usually the gym and lounges above the bridge and staterooms below. Why are you asking? For safety reasons? You would hope one bridge could handle any emergency. A duplicate one could be handy, but with only so much room on a ship to ask Celebrity to build two bridges on a ship is unreasonable, costly and will never happen.

[voyager70]

I seriously thought this thread was a joke when I read the title. Unbelievable.

[Algebralovr]

Sorry, but I don't see it as a priority. Bridge was my Grandmother's game, and she enjoyed it until her death. In fact I remember commenting to her when she moved into an assisted living facility that she needed to look for bridge players there, since she had been complaining about having trouble finding them in recent months (after two from her group became ill). Neither Mom (her daughter), me or my own daughter have ever bothered to learn to play.

 

That said, I do believe they need to provide a nice area for quiet games with a bulletin board for sign-ups, new sets of cards and board games on a regular basis, etc.

 

I'd personally much rather play Munchkin, Carcasonne, Settlers of Catan, Killer Bunnies, or even just a basic like Life or Monopoly. I plan to bring my own of a couple of these and hope DH and I can find someone to join us to play.

[greeneg]

How 'bout a poll option that says either "Don't Care", or, "Indifferent"?

[ToBe]

I know that for avid bridge players, the game can be an important part of their activities, but on any cruise these people are in a minority. I agree that Celebrity should provide space for them to meet and make sure information about the meeting place and time is readily available, but I think that that is where the responsibility ends. Many cruisers would like to pursue their particular interest on board and it would be impossible to provide for every one.

Sheila

I guess it depends on a number of people who play bridge. There were 9-16 tables (36-64 people) of duplicate bridge, 8 tables of party bridge (32 people), 14 mah jong games going on twice a day on the Diamond Princess sea days. Trivia games usually pulled @ 50 people. I don't know how many people played bingo on a daily basis. I know that only accounts for @ 200+ people which is less than 10% of the ship's population. Recently on the Silhouette there were art & craft projects which only accepted 20 people for each paid project. I wonder if bridge was a money maker we would have bridge. It is a constant on Crystal, Princess, and Cunard. Celebrity used to have a duplicate teacher etc if there were more than 6 sea days. They actually have a bridge cruise this year. Usually bridge cruises are on Crystal and HAL.

[Duanerice1]

Don't take this the wrong way because I really don't care, if someone wants to play bridge, go for it.

 

What I don't understand is this is something you can easily do at home and probably do every day. Why would you want to or need to on a cruise? We use a cruise to get away from our daily activities. We do stuff that we can't do at home. Of course I only go once a year and for 7 nights so maybe that is the difference.

 

Just curious. As I said, you want to play bridge, shoot baskets or sing on a cruise, more power to you it is your cruise!

Duane

[helen haywood]

I was on the Equinox TA and Bridge (not duplicate) was mentioned in the Dailies and the large meeting room across from the Sky Lounge was reserved for it. The room was always full. On other Celebrity sailings there has been a sign up sheet in the Card Room and we never had any trouble finding a game. We bring our own cards but you can get decks from Guest Relations. One does not need a score sheet for party bridge; any piece of paper will work.

[OCruisers]

Love to play bridge ... but, have absolutely no desire to play Duplicate on a cruise ship.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[liztish2]

During our last cruise on the Constellation during a transatlantic crossing, the last 8 days at sea, no organized duplicate bridge was available. There were no duplicate boards, no duplicate table cards, and no traveling score sheets available. The only space provided was in the Tuscan Grill on deck 11 and not every sea day and only until 3pm. The only mention of bridge was a small notice on the activity board near guest relations on deck 3. Despite repeated requests, no mention of bridge was included in the list of daily activity in the ship newspaper. We were informed by the cruise director that the corporate policy had been made to eliminate bridge directors, bridge instruction and duplicate play on all Celebrity cruise. In spite of this, 3 bridge directors on board, organized daily duplicate play, creating board envelopes in stead of boards, made up travelling scoresheets, table templates, and scored and posted daily duplicate results. Over 7 people participated in these activities. By the end of the cruise 9 full tables played, with others playing party brige. I would like to petition to reinstate proving a stateroom for qualified bridge directors and all the necessary duplicate equipment on any cruise with more than 2 sea days especially repositioning cruises. Furthermore, I will no longer cruise on Celebrity until such a policy is reinstated. I would like to make this post a sticky and poll respondents.

I too was disapointed not having an organized duplicate bridge game to attend. I can not understand why Celebrity did not have a Bridge director for this transatlantic cruise?