How could Celebrity Improve?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I echo the comments about regional food choices in the MDR.

 

Perhaps a good compromise between what Celebrity customers want, and the efficiency of menus and supplies, would be to offer a "dish of the evening"? This would allow them to keep the system they already have, but still offer a little variety of regionally themed food.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Stateroom_Sailor

[terrigonz]

Celebrity needs to improve the "night life" on the ships, meaning Theme Partys ex; White Night, Pub Crawl, have a late night Comedian. Bringing back a dance club. I know RCC has it why not Celebrity?

[Lois R]

Celebrity needs to improve the "night life" on the ships, meaning Theme Partys ex; White Night, Pub Crawl, have a late night Comedian. Bringing back a dance club. I know RCC has it why not Celebrity?

 

Celebrity does have a late night comedian...the show is called "Sin City"

and it has been going on for almost all of this year:D...saw the show on

Sihlouette back in April and LOVED IT.

[Orator]

I too would like to see some dinners that reflect the talents of the Chefs and specialties of the region; however there are some obstacles.

First: All menues must be approved by the home office. All items are tested in Miami prior to introduction on the ship. This is an important for quality control and I doubt if Celebrity would agree to change their practice.

Second, A key to keeping prices low is to buy everything in bulk. I once discussed this with former head of Culinary Services JVS. He told me that a major consideration in developing new menus is to make sure that product is available wherever Celebrity cruises and they can take advantage of bulk buying..

Third, The Executive Chefs,as one put it, are more like bus drivers than creative Chefs. Their job is to see that meals are prepared and served on time and that they meet the standards required by the main office. I've had several Chefs ask me if I wanted a special item.In some cases they did deliver. In other cases they missed by a mile.

The "cooks"are not trained prior to joining Celebrity. They are trained while on the ship. They learn how to do one or two things well. Ask them to do something a little different and they might be lost. Just ask for a simple cucumber salad and see what you get.

[sandyss]

Lots of excellent suggestions here.

 

We too love Celebrity and feel that we get good value for our money. There are two areas where we would love to see improvement, though.

 

Additional servers are needed in the MDR. Dinners now take around 2 hours or more because fewer servers are serving more tables. We enjoy leisurely dinners, but on our last few cruises, our 6:00pm dining time often extended to close to 8:30pm because of the slow service. The poor servers had to rush to prepare the tables for the late diners after we had finished our late arriving desserts.

 

Softer music that doesn't interfere with conversations would be greatly appreciated by us. The volume seems to have been increased in recent years. More classical music would also be very nice.

[shoreham01]

I agree with everything that has already been said, but I do have an idea for Celebrity.

 

Why not give school children the opportunity to build a new web site for you as a project. They would no doubt do a better job than the professionals you employ.

[MicCanberra]

I agree with everything that has already been said, but I do have an idea for Celebrity.

 

Why not give school children the opportunity to build a new web site for you as a project. They would no doubt do a better job than the professionals you employ.

yes, I agree. The website needs a whole new fresh perspective that will work efficiently.:D

[Ron_L]

You nebedto asks your question in a slightly different way: How can Celebrity improve without negatively affected their bottom line?" Yheir profit margins are lower than the competition and that has been a concern.

1. Develop an efficient, user friendly web site.

2. To prove training of Representatives

3. Make a decision on the Loyalty program.

 

Good point. My wife has been trying to look at excursions on the Celebrity web site for our upcoming cruise had hasn't been able to with the recent web site issues. So, we booked a couple of private tours. We may have anyway, but not even being able to see what Celebrity had to offer cost them money.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I agree with everything that has already been said, but I do have an idea for Celebrity.

 

Why not give school children the opportunity to build a new web site for you as a project. They would no doubt do a better job than the professionals you employ.

 

Ha, that's too funny!

[Waihekean]

I'm also one that thinks Celebrity has most things right and is good value for the money.

 

Just a few small pointers:

 

To allow getting the freshley squeezed o.j. with your capuccino at breakfast when on a beverage packet. As opposed to picking up your o.j. at the buffet bar, then get out of sight and sit at a table then get a waiter to pick op the coffee at same bar.

 

Love the welcoming in port days with the cool towel and drink, but why only a sip of drink:confused:. Why not a 1/2 or even better a 2/3 of a cup?

 

Actually missed having an entertainment team on board (like Princess) and such team interacting with the pax. Also missed the dance parties.

But loved be able to do Zumba though.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I agree with everything that has already been said, but I do have an idea for Celebrity.

 

Why not give school children the opportunity to build a new web site for you as a project. They would no doubt do a better job than the professionals you employ.

 

Best idea I've heard all day!

 

Also agree with the other sentiments expressed.

[MicCanberra]

I'm also one that thinks Celebrity has most things right and is good value for the money.

 

Just a few small pointers:

 

To allow getting the freshley squeezed o.j. with your capuccino at breakfast when on a beverage packet. As opposed to picking up your o.j. at the buffet bar, then get out of sight and sit at a table then get a waiter to pick op the coffee at same bar.

 

Love the welcoming in port days with the cool towel and drink, but why only a sip of drink:confused:. Why not a 1/2 or even better a 2/3 of a cup?

 

Actually missed having an entertainment team on board (like Princess) and such team interacting with the pax. Also missed the dance parties.

But loved be able to do Zumba though.

They had several dance parties (with the entertainers mixing) on our last two Solstice cruises in September and October. They were on late though, around 10pm.

[dkjretired]

Since the lead time is probably about five years or so, I would suggest they start looking at building some new vessels. Just reminds me of the thread starter a couple of weeks ago where the woman called Equinox an older ship. What will people say in five years without new ships.

Edited November 12, 2013 by dkjretired

[Orator]

Since the lead time is probably about five years or so, I would suggest they start looking at building some new vessels.

 

Would completely agree. New ships become old ships very quickly.

[sawyer_boy]

I think they need to remake Murano. I laughed when the maître'd tried to tell me that it would compete against any Michelin Star restaurant on land. We have dined at numerous three star and one star Michelin Restaurants and Murano is nowhere near that level. We dine there each cruise and each time we leave disappointed.

 

They need to revamp the interior, menu and launch a new " high end" restaurant.

[MicCanberra]

Would completely agree. New ships become old ships very quickly.

That is the problem with time, the good news is that we are all getting older and as such cannot remember as much or see all of the details that make the ship feel older.:rolleyes:

[Tiggertastic]

I would like to see them take a leaf out of the books of some other cruise lines and bring on board a broadway show / las vegas headliner show - there are only so many nights I can sit at the martini bar

 

I would also like to see them bring on board a reggae / carribbean band over the summer

 

I'd like them to put some entertainment on in the evening at the sunset bar - it is a wonderful location and on an evening very quiet

 

but don't touch the lawn

[islandchick]

Get rid of the lawn!

[MicCanberra]

Get rid of the lawn!

Noooo, but do have more functions on the lawn, perhaps a MUTS type setup on the lawn as well.:D

[Orator]

Noooo, but do have more functions on the lawn, perhaps a MUTS type setup on the lawn as well.:D

 

See what people on Princess board say about MUTS. I like it in the evening, but not during the day.

[MicCanberra]

See what people on Princess board say about MUTS. I like it in the evening, but not during the day.

That was my thoughts, a 9.30 pm movie sitting on the lawn. Would really only work on the warmer cruises.:D

[Orator]

One improvement that wouldn't cost a cent would be to remove the "consistent inconsistency".

Every ship on every cruise should enforce company policy in the same way. This would clear up much of the confusion we find on this board. If a policy can not, or will not be enforced it should be changed or eliminated. Don't care what they do so long as they are consistent.

[celebritydave]

There will always be differences between ships on food and service, however the one thing l feel that should be changed across the board is the laziness in menu planning.

I am tired of having the same menu on every ship I take through Celebrity. They should and easily could have some items added based on itinerary for both MDR and specialty. It would be easy to do and would make a huge difference for people who frequently cruise, not to mention that it is fun to have new regional cuisines to try.

 

This is one thing that I would lke to see changed. The MDR menu is good, but it would be nice to see at least one choice that was different depending on where you are

[celebritydave]

Get rid of the lawn!

 

Noo!!!!!!!!! The lawn is one of the things that separates the S class ships from all the others. It's nice to see the green grass and play bocci ball or croquet or have a picnic.

[happycat Bainbridge Is]

First let me say overall I really enjoy the Celebrity experience.

 

I was surprised to find the exact -- exact -- same show productions that we had seen two-three years before. I was hoping that something new would be cycled in by that point, since there are so many loyal repeat customers.

 

I would LOVE if they had an evening movies under the stars.

 

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people like me who would book a spa treatment if I didn't know I was going to get a big up-sell push to buy expensive products -- which would stress me out all over again after getting relaxed.

 

Menu changes always mean some hit or misses, re/training issues, reworking of adequate supplies to meet demand etc., and on a cruise ship, you can't just run out and get more. They have a legitimate need to use proven suppliers, and to control costs and waste. And they are serving people with a huge range of preferences .... but even rolling out an occasional chef's special would be a welcome change. I mix it up myself by sometimes making a meal of different appetizers if none of the mains tickle my fancy. With food costs going up, I think they do a very good job of keeping food quality up. If people want to pay more to get something more, they offer up-pay options.

 

I agree the website is outdated and frustrating.

 

I also dislike that "policies" seem to be subject to interpretation and re-interpretation in advertising materials, by TAs, and even by staff on board. Your TA says that if you have the basic beverage package, you can just pay the difference between what the package covers and the price if you want something more expensive/top shelf. Others report that this is not so, or it is, depending on the ship and/or bartender and/or sailing date.

 

And even when polices are clear, staff are reluctant to enforce them, which makes it kind of pointless to have them in the first place and frustrating when there is no compliance.

 

HCBI

Edited November 13, 2013 by happycat Bainbridge Is