To those thinking of a Christmas cruise 2014 and beyond

[underthebluemoon]

Excellent analysis on the Posters christmas cruise.

 

Celebrity Cruises is accountable to provide a consistent product offering every time inless they specifically state otherwise or due to unforseen circumstances.. Examing the Celebrity site and brochures it is clear the product delivered on the Christmas cruise is not as advertised and I presume there was no sign off on the situation when booking this cruise.

 

Expecting people to accept less access to basic amenities (due to kids or group bookings for that matter) is not an acceptable strategy.

 

The Poster can do the following:

 

1) Contact the US consumer regulator and make a formal complaint of misleading advertising

 

2) Contact the US health department and make a formal complain of a public health and safety situation

 

3) Contact CNN or other media as previously suggested

 

Contacting Celebrity is a waste of time.

 

The more customers meekly accept products that are not as advertised, the more they will get. This situation is not about the $ it is about receiving the Celebrity experienced as advertised.

 

ABoatNerd

 

I kind of think moving on would be better. Accept that what is in the past is done, and learn from it. Now you know for sure that if you book a cruise during the times when families are most likely to travel, like a Christmas vacation week when every school age kid has off, to expect that there are going to be a boatload of families on board who may indeed ruin your cruise, and run like heck!

 

 

We had an issue with Celebrity charging our credit card twice for our final balance. When I called them to get them to correct it, they then credited the card back twice, and cancelled our cruise. Then they tried to charge us the current rate which was substantially higher than when we had booked it a year prior. :mad: It took me calling (from work) multiple times and spending over three hours, getting shuffled off to many different agents/departments to fully straighten the mess they made out. In the end, when I asked how they were going to compensate me for my anxiety and time, they gave us nothing to make up for their mistake. I wrote a letter and got the same limp response as you. They are 100% money driven.

 

If the OP wants to book another Christmas cruise, maybe look into Disney cruises. They receive outstanding marks for keeping adults who want to stay AWAY from kids on their ships happy, too. They seem to really know what they're doing with customer satisfaction.

Edited January 15, 2014 by underthebluemoon

[anonymousegirl]

OP, so sorry you had such a rough time. It sounds horrible.

 

I did a Reflection Christmas 2012 sailing and it was fine. No unruly kids that I saw and I would remember (being childless by choice).

 

What drove me crazy was traveling to and from the ship. Delayed and canceled flights, long, uncomfortable waits at the airports.

 

Will I sail at Christmas again--probably not, unless we move to Florida and we can drive to the ports.

[Paulras]

I was told by several various X staff members. I believe 700 was accurate as they didn't correct me when I wrote my letter. I assume if it was far less, they would have told me.

 

I thought I heard the number quoted at 595 but it could have been 695. Either way, 600 or 700, it was definitely alot. We were on with you and we avoided the pool. There was just no way to use it because it was like a children's water park. The hottubs were packed with a dozen pre-teens at a time. They were over the posted load limits and I fail to understand how parents could let their children sit in a hot tub for as long as they were. The Solarium was the only place of refuge to have some relaxation. But the drink servers would only show up once an hour, if at all. And it was always crowded with other adults avoiding the pool.

 

The elevators as you said were packed with kids riding up and down at times. Although at least one time it was with members of the kids club. So I think they were being moved in mass at times. One bartender said to us "I work on Celebrity because there's normally only a few kids". She wasn't happy having hundreds.

 

And there were instances of teenagers drinking. One was caught by the martini bar manager and the kid fought back for 15 minutes saying it's Celebrity's fault for selling him a beverage package. But I suspect he was using someone else's card.

 

Fortunately our cabin was out of the way so we didn't have kids running down our hall.

 

Not much Celebrity can do about kids. There's enough problems with adults. The large group from Mexico that was in the casino every night yelling for hours at a time ("OCHO, OCHO, OCHO") was pretty annoying. People at the buffet who fail to understand that tongs need to be used....one guy walked up to the custom pasta station, wanted peppers on his plate, so he grabbed the peppers with his hand instead of asking the pasta maker to give him some. I told him he can't do that. A family of obnoxious Brits I was next to a few times who complained about literally everything if it wasn't perfect and treated the staff like slaves. I also heard that there were several people thrown off the ship due to fighting and even an molestation of a teenage girl. I could go on and on.

 

All in all, we still had a fantastic time. Not everything will be perfect. Even booked next Christmas on Equinox. This time it's over both Christmas and NYE and much more expensive, so I'm hoping this will cut down on the number of kids at least a little.

[Pilot70D]

How to people actually find out how many children are on board?

Is it an educated guess or do the people at Guest Relations give out the information on request?

I'm just being curious.

 

Two years ago we were on the Connie on the cruise just before the Christmas cruise. We were in the Ocean Liners restaurant and asked the Maître D just out of curiosity because we had seen so few kids on this particular cruise. He told us that they had just over 50 kids aboard but for the Christmas cruise there were over 700 kids booked.

 

We just finished doing the New Year's cruise aboard the Eclipse. There were kids aboard and they were very well behaved. At no time did we ever see a kid in the solarium nor did we encounter a lot of the misbehaving kids mentioned by other posters. Probably there are many fewer kids on a New Year's cruise and we probably got lucky in that we never saw any unruly kids during the entire voyage. The only incident we saw was caused by poor judgement on the part of the parents. The parents brought a toddler to Murano's and the kid became cranky. To their credit one of the parents took the kid out of the restaurant.

 

This year we are booked on the combined Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Eclipse. We are keeping our fingers crossed about the kids and their behavior.

 

Everyone out there stay warm and have a great week.

:):):)

[20pluscruises]

OP, so sorry you had such a rough time. It sounds horrible.

 

I did a Reflection Christmas 2012 sailing and it was fine. No unruly kids that I saw and I would remember (being childless by choice).

 

What drove me crazy was traveling to and from the ship. Delayed and canceled flights, long, uncomfortable waits at the airports.

 

Will I sail at Christmas again--probably not, unless we move to Florida and we can drive to the ports.

 

I did read the 2012 Christmas cruises were fine...I believe even the poster stated she had a great 2012 Christmas cruise...which is why we booked it for 2013.

 

Everyone should be thanking her for the warning. Equinox wasn;t the only ship that was a nightmare.

 

I was also told by the Celebrity team that they would rather hear the complaints, try to fix them, than loose a customer.

Edited January 15, 2014 by 20pluscruises

[lawblond7]

We were on the Silhouette for the Christmas Cruise. Note I have 3 boys twins 16 (they will be 17 in March) and my oldest will be 21 in April and my stepdaughter who is 27 was also with us and my mother who is 74 and Myself and Roger (50,51). We also did the Constellation in July - Scandinavia and Russia (minus the step daughter) so we have a comparison.

 

First this summer there were a fair number of kids but the majority were teens. I believe I saw maybe 5 small children.

 

Christmas we knew there would be a lot more kids but not sure how many. We usually do early dining but went with the 8:30 dining to try to avoid the younger kids - yes I like kids - but as a mom - having older kids that I do not need to watch 24/7 or change diapers, etc. I like to relax a bit when on vacation.

 

YES there were a lot of kids on the ship but in reality with the exception of a few incidents did not really notice them or have them interfere with our vacation. Note I did not sit at the pool just walked by so was not bothered by kids in the pool and did not notice diapers in the pool.

 

At dinner our waiter did note that the 6pm dining time was nuts with ALOT of kids running around and it was like an obstacle course. As I was not there I can only take his word for it. At our seating we had a table with two younger children maybe 8 & 10 who were perfectly behaved. They were so well behaved that I actually mentioned something to the parents at the end of the week because I know personally that is how I expect my kids to act now and act then and when they were younger liked hearing things like that. However, two tables on the other side was a different story. I think they had 4 tables as they were 42 people. They had several children under the age of 10 and they were running around and almost knocking down waiters, servers, etc. but what bothered me was that the parents were indifferent and did not seem to care or notice (ignore?) and continued to eat and drink like nothing was going on. This is did not find acceptable and no I do not blame Celebrity but rather the parents who were indifferent and found it appropriate to allow their children to run around the dining room like they owned it.

 

The one other incident was outside of our room. The first evening there were a couple of young kids running up and down the hallway back and forth but very loudly that it was bothering me - I was not feeling well. I very nicely said something to the parents who apologized profusely - seemed sincere and I will say we never heard or saw them running up and down the hallways the rest of the trip.

 

As for things for my boys to do - I barely saw my twins (except for excursions and dinner) as they were constantly doing things. The had the new xbox 1 in the X lounge (teen club) and there were a lot of kids their ages and we met a lot of them from the US and outside and all the teens we met were all so nice, pleasant and respectful as were the parents we met.

 

We did eat at the Lawn Club twice with the kids and they had a great time. My twins loved it and were in love with the warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream. After the 2nd time we started talking to the specialty restaurant manager as he was there both times we were he was talking to the twins and saying how well behaved they were and they mentioned how much they love the desert. So he pointed to the 4 top table behind us and told the boys anytime they wanted to come have a warm chocolate cookie with ice cream and that table was empty they could come sit down (no adult needed) and they would give them one. The next 2 nights along with a few friends they went and did this and no problems.

 

I know they made an effort to have more activities for the kids. They had an American Idol show that the boys loved and one of the singers (there were 2) David Hernandez spent a lot of his private time in the teen lounge singing karaoke with the teens and talking to them. He even posted a picture on his instagram account with a large group of the teens (my boys included) stating this is what I love about my job. On Christmas they had santa giving gifts to the kids (we did not go - we ALL - kids included) were asleep at the time of his arrival.

 

Even with 2 sea days at the start of the cruise and at the end we were never bothered by all the kids - maybe we did activities that they could not or would not do - such as hanging in the martini bar at night:D. No young kids in bingo or the spa :eek:

 

We had such a great time we booked the Silhouette for New Years 2014 :D of course with 8:30 dining.

 

Sharon

[20pluscruises]

Curious...do the third and fourth cabin members pay gratuities? ...even if they are with a specilal / 3rd and 4th guest free?

[lawblond7]

Curious...do the third and fourth cabin members pay gratuities? ...even if they are with a special / 3rd and 4th guest free?

 

Yes we paid Gratuities for the 3rd and 4th person. In our case at they were all over 11 they were not free but $300/person - we booked end of October after final payment. So we paid full daily gratuities.

 

Sharon

[lawblond7]

I also have to say I never saw ANY kids in the casino and we never had a problem with kids in the elevators, etc. As I said maybe it was happening on the Silhouette and I did not see it - but as a parent of 3 boys - who all 3 are chronically ill - I tend to often notice too much

 

Sharon

[Lastdance]

All of these comments have, at the very least, made me appreciate not sailing during the holidays or a cruise less than 10 days. What really scares me is the Baltic/Russia cruise that I have scheduled in June, 2014. I certainly hope that none of these incidents above happen over and over again. My DH and I sail Celebrity because of the low "kid factor." Spending a vacation with disruptive and obnoxious kids and their parents is not a vacation. I realize the Celebrity is geared toward their bottom line, but it sounds like they missed the boat on some of the things that happen on this particular cruise mentioned, and hopefully, a representative will read this information.

Great Takeaways:

Stay away from Christmas cruises, and stick to the real meaning of Christmas!

Be careful with cruises under 7 days; only take those that are longer.

Try to cruise during off season when kids are in school

Realize that some parents lack parenting skills, and they take their children on a cruise, so they don't have to put up with them.

Not all kids are this way, and it is a shame that the good kids get lumped into this bunch.

Celebrity is in business to make money!

Even the best planning doesn't guarantee success!:eek:

 

Thanks to all of you for your comments; great information!

Edited January 16, 2014 by Lastdance

[lawblond7]

All of these comments have, at the very least, made me appreciate not sailing during the holidays or a cruise less than 10 days. What really scares me is the Baltic/Russia cruise that I have scheduled in June, 2014. I certainly hope that none of these incidents above happen over and over again.[/color]

 

We did the Baltics/Russia last July - leaving July 7th - there were VERY few kids under the teen years on the cruise. I think I could count as I said above on my 2 hands the number of kids under 10. My boys were 16, 16 & 20. There was a good number of teens but generally all well behaved.

 

Sharon

[cruiserjt]

I can't help but want to apologize for booking the Christmas / New Years Cruise on the Eclipse in 2014. We are a family of 4 with 11 year old twin daughters. I am sorry that we want to have a family vacation that is peaceful and fun with our daughters. We want to generate new family traditions that involve travel and family time. Our daughters are not perfect but have learned to respect others and are growing into polite and kind young women. I respect those of you who choose not to cruise over the Holidays because of children - but remember it is these young people who remind us of the magic of Christmas.

We choose the Holidays because of our schedules and the hopes that we will meet other families with common interests as we have. My DH and I are older parents and honestly enjoy the feel of what Celebrity will offer.

 

Many months until out sailing - I hope everyone finds the cruise vacation that they wish for!!!

[20pluscruises]

I can't help but want to apologize for booking the Christmas / New Years Cruise on the Eclipse in 2014. We are a family of 4 with 11 year old twin daughters. I am sorry that we want to have a family vacation that is peaceful and fun with our daughters. We want to generate new family traditions that involve travel and family time. Our daughters are not perfect but have learned to respect others and are growing into polite and kind young women. I respect those of you who choose not to cruise over the Holidays because of children - but remember it is these young people who remind us of the magic of Christmas.

We choose the Holidays because of our schedules and the hopes that we will meet other families with common interests as we have. My DH and I are older parents and honestly enjoy the feel of what Celebrity will offer.

 

Many months until out sailing - I hope everyone finds the cruise vacation that they wish for!!!

 

I wouldn't worry...there will be plenty of children and families on your Christmas cruise. Have a great time!

[hvbaskey]

We were on the Celebrity Century - December 2013 Holiday Cruise. We were told less than 200 kids, but there were plenty of rowdy teenagers!

 

The younger kids were jumping around from whirlpool to whirlpool (kids to Adults) with no parental supervision (as indicated there should have been on the rules board).

 

The teenagers engaged in rough horseplay at the main pool, driving all the Adults out. I know the parents (or at least one set of parents were around), as when FINALLY Security came along and kicked the kids out of the pool, a mother took a photo of the rowdy rats!

 

The ban from the pool didn't last long and the teenagers were back at it - THROWING each other into the pool and again the Adults had to leave as the pool was small and it was becoming dangerous. One leaped off the "bridge" between the pools, another group of kids grabbed a lounger with another kid on it and went to throw it into the pool, before someone stopped them. All the while, Security and Pool Butlers looking down at their feet (as if to not try and see them) as they passed by the pool.

 

FINALLY! someone was either (a) sick or (b) got injured and began bleeding into the pool and the pool was CLOSED with net pulled over and drained later that night to clean. So much for using the Pool!

 

I have booked another Holiday Cruise as I believe I am fairly tolerant person, but what annoyed me the most were the parents who didn't blink an eye during the rough horseplay from THEIR children and the obvious discomfort to others (Adults leaving pool - ALL of them). My parents would have sent me to the moon for that type of behaviour!!!!

Edited January 16, 2014 by hvbaskey

[chamima]

We were on the Celebrity Century - December 2013 Holiday Cruise. We were told less than 200 kids, but there were plenty of rowdy teenagers!

 

The younger kids were jumping around from whirlpool to whirlpool (kids to Adults) with no parental supervision (as indicated there should have been on the rules board).

 

The teenagers engaged in rough horseplay at the main pool, driving all the Adults out. I know the parents (or at least one set of parents were around), as when FINALLY Security came along and kicked the kids out of the pool, a mother took a photo of the rowdy rats!

 

The ban from the pool didn't last long and the teenagers were back at it - THROWING each other into the pool and again the Adults had to leave as the pool was small and it was becoming dangerous. One leaped off the "bridge" between the pools, another group of kids grabbed a lounger with another kid on it and went to throw it into the pool, before someone stopped them. All the while, Security and Pool Butlers looking down at their feet (as if to not try and see them) as they passed by the pool.

 

FINALLY! someone was either (a) sick or (b) got injured and began bleeding into the pool and the pool was CLOSED with net pulled over and drained later that night to clean. So much for using the Pool!

 

I have booked another Holiday Cruise as I believe I am fairly tolerant person, but what annoyed me the most were the parents who didn't blink an eye during the rough horseplay from THEIR children and the obvious discomfort to others (Adults leaving pool - ALL of them). My parents would have sent me to the moon for that type of behaviour!!!!

 

"My parents would have sent me to the moon for that type of behaviour!!!!"

And therefore, because you knew that, you wouldn't have behaved that way.

[turning46]

I think I will try to avoid the most common times, but I would like to take my 12 and 14 year old on cruise later this year or next year. I think I am a very intolerant parent - when I catch my children being typically self-centered and bothering others with their behavior, I immediately call them out and make them stop and apologize to the offended person. I would NOT allow them to, say, push their friends into the pool or rough-house.

 

However, at their ages, I would not be chaperoning them at all times. This is where I would WANT and EXPECT the pool attendants or other staff to step in. Teenagers and pre-teens are, by nature, rather self-centered and they get so caught up in having fun/impressing their peers that they are really not aware that their behavior is bothersome. As a parent, it's my job to civilize them and make them aware of their duties toward others.

 

But when I am not there, I expect the other "authority figures" to step in. I am disturbed to read that this is not the case.

[beachchairs2]

Excellent analysis on the Posters christmas cruise.

 

Celebrity Cruises is accountable to provide a consistent product offering every time inless they specifically state otherwise or due to unforseen circumstances.. Examing the Celebrity site and brochures it is clear the product delivered on the Christmas cruise is not as advertised and I presume there was no sign off on the situation when booking this cruise.

 

Expecting people to accept less access to basic amenities (due to kids or group bookings for that matter) is not an acceptable strategy.

 

The Poster can do the following:

 

1) Contact the US consumer regulator and make a formal complaint of misleading advertising

 

2) Contact the US health department and make a formal complain of a public health and safety situation

 

3) Contact CNN or other media as previously suggested

 

Contacting Celebrity is a waste of time.

 

The more customers meekly accept products that are not as advertised, the more they will get. This situation is not about the $ it is about receiving the Celebrity experienced as advertised.

 

ABoatNerd

 

there is nothing for me to add...this is excellent....there is much wisdom here......

[lawblond7]

Excellent analysis on the Posters christmas cruise.

 

Celebrity Cruises is accountable to provide a consistent product offering every time inless they specifically state otherwise or due to unforseen circumstances.. Examing the Celebrity site and brochures it is clear the product delivered on the Christmas cruise is not as advertised and I presume there was no sign off on the situation when booking this cruise.

 

Expecting people to accept less access to basic amenities (due to kids or group bookings for that matter) is not an acceptable strategy.

 

The Poster can do the following:

 

1) Contact the US consumer regulator and make a formal complaint of misleading advertising

 

2) Contact the US health department and make a formal complain of a public health and safety situation

 

3) Contact CNN or other media as previously suggested

 

Contacting Celebrity is a waste of time.

 

The more customers meekly accept products that are not as advertised, the more they will get. This situation is not about the $ it is about receiving the Celebrity experienced as advertised.

 

ABoatNerd

 

Good luck with that - No false advertising - they do not advertise and a childless cruise. How is it misleading. It is clear during Christmas and spring break their will be more children and the summers. Usually will not have ALOT of young cruise on cruises over 7 days, especially at the holidays but this year coming (2014) and last (2013) because they way the holidays fell most kids were out of school for 2 weeks straight - enough time to do a 10-12 day cruise. What is false advertising. They have kids clubs and activities and offer baby sitting services and bring in entertainment to cater to more kids. While they do not offer all the bells and whistles of RCI they have enough to keep kids occupied and they made a bid deal about having the new xbox 1 on board for the Christmas and New Years cruise. Of course they will have kids. Legally their is NOTHING misleading in their advertising.

 

As for kids in diapers in the pool this is a no no and should not have happened. As I said I did not see this on the Silhouette but then again I did not spend much time at the pool. But that is unsanitary and Celebrity should be doing something about that.

 

As for CNN or new station - yup can see this headline -- Christmas cruise has LOTS of kids on it - some get a bit too rowdy. Again not news.

 

I believe kids under 12 are not allowed to walk around the ship alone.

 

Sharon

[tonyrocks922]

Just found this thread. Fiance and I are booked on the 12/22 Equinox 11 day for our honeymoon and this thread just made me throw up in my mouth.

 

It's not like we hate being around kids, but frankly we do HATE being around unruly, unsupervised kids.

 

Is this likely to be a big problem again this year? I was thinking that even though it was over the holidays, the line, itinerary, price, and length, would dissuade people bringing children on this cruise.

 

Someone mentioned there may have been more kids than usual in 2013 because of a "kids cruise free" promotion. Was that not repeated this year?

[kelmac]

Just found this thread. Fiance and I are booked on the 12/22 Equinox 11 day for our honeymoon and this thread just made me throw up in my mouth.

 

It's not like we hate being around kids, but frankly we do HATE being around unruly, unsupervised kids.

 

Is this likely to be a big problem again this year? I was thinking that even though it was over the holidays, the line, itinerary, price, and length, would dissuade people bringing children on this cruise.

 

Someone mentioned there may have been more kids than usual in 2013 because of a "kids cruise free" promotion. Was that not repeated this year?

 

My wife and I cruise during Xmas/New Years (for the past 12 years) and have the Eclipse booked for this year. We have never experienced a problem with children out of control on any of these cruises. There was an over-crowding of young children one year on HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam, but much of that problem was the lack of adult supervision on the part of the cruise line. In addition, it was a 7 day cruise, and we know better but took a risk.

 

If you are worried, just make sure you book a cruise longer than 10 days, as the 7 day cruises attract many more families. By the way, we have no children, but prefer the younger crowds during the holidays. If you take a long, off season cruise, the average age could push 70. That crowd can be much worse than having a few kids around.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[drinkspackageexpert]

I am deeply sad for all that have had a bad experience with children. I wish you could all be on my cruise with me and my children. ..then you could see responsible well behaved children and a responsible parent. I do hope you are not judging like children by your experience because that would truly be a shame.

[BayAreaBC]

Cruising over major holidays always have more child passengers on EVERY cruiseline.

 

Next time plan better.

[Jane2357]

My 1 and ONLY experience cruising a holiday was on Solstice over New Years her first year. I will NEVER AS IN EVER CRUISE OVER A HOLIDAY AGAIN! The ship sailed from Ft Lauderdale and was full of little kids, tweens and teens. Rude rude rude and if you tried to nicely say anything all of a sudden they couldn't speak english. :cool: Their huge groups would lay across the chairs in the buffet with wet bating suits, the parents would try to reserve entire rows in the theater, shove you out of the way in lines - and then have 10 people cut. Madness on the elevators and screaming on the balconies. I had to have a family removed from the solarium when they decided that their young children should be allowed in. At that point it was the ONLY place to escape the madness and I had had enough. That was the cruise that ruined it for me with children. I now book when I think the likelihood of children is low - and I don't care how well behaved, cute or experienced traveler you think your children are - I'll be the one avoiding you. :D

[drinkspackageexpert]

Not all children behave badly. .....I demand good public behaviour. Always have and always will. I do not like reading when people say they will avoid all children because you do not believe they can't behave. Yes of course you have your own experience to go by, but when I say my children are well behaved, it is not my opinion it is fact due to how I raised them. Please try to avoid judging all children. Mine will not be running anywhere or screaming or shoving and will.in fact be supervised at all times....by me. There is no need for disruptive public behaviour by anyone. Which is why it is important mine behave where ever we go. I know unruly children can be oh so annoying but please trust not all children behave that way. Mine already know...no running or shouting, no WHIRLPOOL AT ALL, no unsupervised anything. And those rules will be repeated daily while on board. It is so sad when people dislike children to such a degree.....I like to go away every now and then and would prefer less children so plan accordingly. On this occasion I am taking my children and it is during a UK holiday. Hope my children get a better reaction. Enjoy your future cruises

[drinkspackageexpert]

I just want to add this: I do not expect people to like my children. All I ask is you do not judge them based on how other people allow their children to behave. Judge them from what you see directly. And if you see my children misbehave, tell me

Believe you me they would never get a chance to repeat it!!! I love my children but respect that other people would really rather not have them thrown in their face....so I keep them in check. That is my job. But they will enjoy their first cruise on The Eclipse....next one will most likely be with RC