Heard back from Mr. Bayley's Office re: Century and Summit Inspections

[Bababooey Land]

It seems like more of a form e-mail with not too much information about why the ships scored so low and what measures are in place to make sure it doesn't happen again. But glad that I heard back from my e-mail and that it seems like they are on top of the situation.

 

Interesting to note, I checked the CDC website and I do not see these scores that she is talking about in her e-mail..unless CDC has not posted them yet. I wonder what ship got 100??

 

This is all the CDC has on Celebrity for 2013.

 

Silhouette 1/16/13 - 99

Summit 1/19/13 - 81

Century 2/8/13 - 78

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. xxxx:

 

Thank you for contacting the Executive Office of Celebrity Cruises. On behalf of Mr. Michael Bayley, I look forward to assisting you with your concerns.

 

We share your disappointment regarding the recent score of the Celebrity Summit and Celebrity Century inspections. I assure you that immediate steps have been taken to correct the deficiencies found onboard last January and February, and, since these inspections, Celebrity Cruises ships have achieved scores of 99, 100, and 99. With this said, we are confident that both the Celebrity Summit and Celebrity Century will receive a high score when the ship is re-inspected, which we expect will take place within the next few weeks.

 

Mr. xxxx, thank you for your continued loyalty with our cruise line and being a valued stockholder. We look forward to welcoming you and your family back onboard Celebrity Cruises in the future.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Tanji Smith

From the Office of Michael Bayley, President & CEO Celebrity Cruises

[DebbieMacG]

I heard that Reflection scored 100 not sure if that's true :rolleyes:

[Gran2five]

We received a telephone call in reply to our email to Mr. Bayley within 48 hours. Tanjey spoke with my husband and essentially provided the same message as your email. She indicated that Mr. Bayley was shocked with the Summit score and the Century results were of course even more shocking.

 

I have read some negative reviews from recent Summit cruisers and we can only hope that all deficiencies will be corrected and that we hear more positive comments in the near future. Summit is an older ship and therefore we don't expect 'new and shiny'. We do ask that it be clean, food be served at proper temperature and there is suffient staff to allow us to enjoy the cruise experience Celebrity has provided in the past.

 

Pat

[Ellen S]

Have sailed on the Summit several times and going back in September for 2 weeks. One of the major complaints is Rust. I do not object to the Rust since it is on the outside and it's an older ship. The staff is wonderful. The last two reviews I read were much more positive. Have a friend going to Bermuda June 2nd and can't wait to see his review afterwards.

[sammiedawg]

We were set to sail on our one and only celebrity cruise in 2004, 48 hours prior to sailing the news broke the century had failed it's inspection. I immediately contacted my travel agent and asked to transfer the booking to another sailing. My ta was on it in a hot minute and was sure the cruise line would accommodate us. After all how can a concerned customer be forced to sail with known sanitation issues. However celebrity cruises played hardball and said we would face 100 per cent loss of payment and no accommodation would be made.

To make a long story short, I could not afford to lose roughly two thousand dollars, we went on the cruise but celebrity lost us forever as customers. Since then I have taken at least fifteen cruises on other lines. I totally boycott celebrity because our concerns were not heard.

I just heard this story on the news and just found this thread.

Maybe I will contact this mr. Bayley person with my story nine years later and seen what he says now.

Who is this man and how do I contact him? Thanks

[sammiedawg]

Just saw he is CEO of the company. What is his email.

At no time did celebrity contact us by phone or email. My travel agent had a follow up meeting With his sales rep to share our experience. Celebrity did not contact us even after this meeting. I feel we got screwed.

[Texed]

We were set to sail on our one and only celebrity cruise in 2004, 48 hours prior to sailing the news broke the century had failed it's inspection. I immediately contacted my travel agent and asked to transfer the booking to another sailing. we went on the cruise but celebrity lost us forever as customers. Thanks

 

A couple of question, if you don't mind.

Being you went on the cruise, do you think it was an inferior cruise?

Did a lot of folks on your cruise get sick? After the cruise, did you think Celebrity should have cancelled the cruise because the ship was not sanitary? Thanks for your time. :)

[sammiedawg]

Texed, our cabin was badly in need of a refurb, stained carpet upholstery and a gross bathroom situation. Food tasted good, service fine, we did not get sick. I don't think many passengers knew about the inspection and as god is my witness we did not share the issue with anyone we met onboard. No need to ruin their trip. But I posted negative comments here once we got home.

I was not bowled over by celebrity but obviously I felt coerced to sail or lose 100 per cent of monies paid. Food and service quality is subjective. An inspection is based on facts.

My best revenge is boycotting with my feet.

I felt our request to transfer the booking was reasonable, it was early December and celebrity And the sister line royal had quite a few ships out of Florida. Early december is a slow travel time. We said we could sail any ship that weekend or the following week. Our travel agent was shocked we were stonewalled, he felt our request was legit. I mostly dealt with the owner or a manager of the agency. The celebrity customer service people I spoke with had no idea what this inspection entailed and told me matters like this are handled by the travel agent.

 

In retrospect I wish I had contacted the CDC but this news broke forty eight hours prior to sailing. I may write to the CDC now. Their inspections focus on health and sanitation, just like the local health department inspects local restaurants. Local health departments can shut down failing establishments. I don't think CDC has that authority but they should know my story.

[Texed]

Thanks for your response. I am sorry about your experience, but you are correct about expressing your views by not sailing on Celebrity, and that is your right. :)

[sammiedawg]

I found the CEO email address and sent a summary of my 2004 concerns with an email titled CDC concerns. So far no response but maybe one of the assistants will forward it up the line. Not holding my breath.

[ghstudio]

what am I missing.....why is anyone discussing something that happened in 2004????

[eadien7]

Hmmm, just saw that Carnival failed an inspection. Wonder if the inspectors are getting strictor for some reason?

[Christine Frances]

We were set to sail on our one and only celebrity cruise in 2004, 48 hours prior to sailing the news broke the century had failed it's inspection. I immediately contacted my travel agent and asked to transfer the booking to another sailing. My ta was on it in a hot minute and was sure the cruise line would accommodate us. After all how can a concerned customer be forced to sail with known sanitation issues. However celebrity cruises played hardball and said we would face 100 per cent loss of payment and no accommodation would be made.

To make a long story short, I could not afford to lose roughly two thousand dollars, we went on the cruise but celebrity lost us forever as customers. Since then I have taken at least fifteen cruises on other lines. I totally boycott celebrity because our concerns were not heard.

I just heard this story on the news and just found this thread.

Maybe I will contact this mr. Bayley person with my story nine years later and seen what he says now.

Who is this man and how do I contact him? Thanks

 

Wow I amazed that you are still sailing with HAL & Princess:confused: Veendam failed Aug/12 and the Golden Princess failed just this Feb! Princess had 6 noro outbreaks in 2012 and X just 2. Did Princess and HAL let everyone cancel their cruises? I think not

[sammiedawg]

There is no need to flame me, I have been respectful. Someone posted they contacted the CEO prior to an upcoming sailing about CDC concerns and got a response. I posted my story on what happened 48 hours prior to sailing in 2004. I am sorry I wasted my time but my issues are legit. I did not ask to cancel my cruise. I asked to have the booking transferred to any ship in good standing with the CDC and the travel agent found open cabins that weekend on several ships. When we were in grand cayman there were several celebrity ships anchored there the same time as us.

[Bababooey Land]

Hmmm, just saw that Carnival failed an inspection. Wonder if the inspectors are getting strictor for some reason?

 

So its interesting that you bring that up. I thought about the same thing but then I didnt see other cruise ships failing lately like Celebrity has in 2013. BUTTTTT...i just ran a couple queries which I think will confirm what we sense.

 

2013 - Jan thru April - 6 ships failed.

2012 - full year - 8 ships failed.

if my math is correct...thats 14 ships in less than 18 months.

 

read below for the best part..and why I think we are correct. Clearly CDC has become stricter...whether its because of the norovirus, or the recent cruise mishaps or for no reason.

 

years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 - so 5 years..in TOTAL. only 10 ships failed in aggregate.

 

so 14 ships past 16 months...5 years prior to that in total, only 10 ships failed.

 

enuf said.

 

Bababooey.

[fishin' musician]

So its interesting that you bring that up. I thought about the same thing but then I didnt see other cruise ships failing lately like Celebrity has in 2013. BUTTTTT...i just ran a couple queries which I think will confirm what we sense.

 

2013 - Jan thru April - 6 ships failed.

2012 - full year - 8 ships failed.

if my math is correct...thats 14 ships in less than 18 months.

 

read below for the best part..and why I think we are correct. Clearly CDC has become stricter...whether its because of the norovirus, or the recent cruise mishaps or for no reason.

 

years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 - so 5 years..in TOTAL. only 10 ships failed in aggregate.

 

so 14 ships past 16 months...5 years prior to that in total, only 10 ships failed.

 

enuf said.

 

Bababooey.

 

Of the 14, how many are mainstream cruiselines?

[Keith1010]

Sorry to hear about those low scores.

 

Keith

[Bababooey Land]

Of the 14' date=' how many are mainstream cruiselines?[/quote']

 

well..here we are:

 

Celebrity Infinity Celebrity Cruises 12/3/2008 85

Monarch Of The Seas Royal Caribbean International 11/18/2011 85

Queen Mary 2 Cunard Line 6/10/2011 84

 

those are from 2007-'11

 

2012-present

 

Carnival Fascination Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. 2/21/2013 84

Celebrity Century Celebrity Cruises 2/8/2013 78

Celebrity Summit Celebrity Cruises 1/19/2013 81

Golden Princess Princess Cruises 2/7/2013 81

Seadream II Sea Dream Yacht Club 1/20/2013 84 (do we count them?)

Veendam Holland America Line 8/19/2012 77

 

so 3 total in the 5 years prior vs 5 or 6 in the past 16 months.

[HopefulCruiser123]

Sorry to hear about those low scores.

 

Keith

 

We hear on these boards over and over and over, that cruiselines are cutting back on service and quality to improve the bottom dollar, and though we all find plenty to love about cruising, this still tends to be a growing consensus. Maybe these stricter inspections are just another manifestation of many of the concerns we read about here.

[sammiedawg]

One last post. We are all consumers and feel we should support tough inspections and each other rather then shoot the messenger.

[miXterOB]

Based on the numbers there has obviously been changes in both the inspections and the ships sanitation levels...all the failing ships are older and I suspect...crews which have gotten way too comfortable in slacking off and that starts with the managers. The most concerning one was the sick employees working in the food prep areas. That's a management issue if they are allowed or ordered to work while sick.

 

I suspect all the noro outbreaks getting the volumes of press over the last couple years caused the USPHS to adjust the inspections and likely hire some new inspectors. Many years ago when I was working in DC running food services in a number of the Federal buildings, we were inspected by the local public health department plus the USPHS separately. The USPHS had one guy who I swear was the clone of the main character on Monk...he was OCD like nobody I saw in the 25+ years I was in the business. While he caused us all great distress it became totally comical to watch him do what he did.

I've digressed...sorry

[Lady Slipper]

One last post. We are all consumers and feel we should support tough inspections and each other rather then shoot the messenger.

 

I agree and feel if you have been turned off by any company and you find the opportunity to voice your concerns to someone at the top, I can only say ...this gives the company a chance to win back a customer. How is that a negative thing?

[cruiseclues]

Seems like the low scores might be a good thing...that is if the inspections are getting stricter...we can keep our eye out for improvements in the scores. :)

[Jade13]

what am I missing.....why is anyone discussing something that happened in 2004????

 

That is what I was wondering. HALs ms Veendam failed an inspection last year too. The only reason someone would be here and writing the CEO of Celebrity 9 years later is that they are interested in cruising on Celebrity again.

 

When Veendam failed HAL made drastic changes and some of the staff are gone for good, and others were moved and they did well on their next inspection.

[celebrityprincess]

Interesting to note, I checked the CDC website and I do not see these scores that she is talking about in her e-mail..unless CDC has not posted them yet. I wonder what ship got 100??

 

I was on the April 6 sailing of the Eclipse. The CDC was on board doing an inspection and the Eclipse got a 100.