Celebrity Changes - January Silhouette Cruise to March Infinity Cruise

[sunset sails]

First let me say that we are not complainers. We consider any day on a cruise to be a great day! We have sailed on several lines and most recently have been loyal to Celebrity as we considered it to be a step above the others in food and service. We sailed on the Silhouette in January with 3 other couples and we all had a fabulous time. Everything was up to Celebrity standards. We just returned from a Panama Canal cruise on the Infinity and unfortunately we saw some definite changes from prior cruises. At first we thought that maybe the difference was that we were sailing on a smaller ship - we had always been on a Solstice class ship in the past. However, I compared notes with a friend who was sailing on the Silhouette at the same time we were on the Infinity and she confirmed the same changes we saw so it appears that these changes are company wide. Here are a few examples:

 

The number of Someliers seems to have been severely cut. In the Select dining area, there were 3 for the entire area. They were doing their best but had too many tables to provide good service.

 

Bar service had been noticeably cut. There were seldom any bar servers on the upper deck of the pool. During our cocktail time prior to dinner, there were very few servers in the bars, and we tried them all. We were fine with getting our own drinks, but clearly the service in this area has been cut. If this is due to the free drink package, then we will happily pay for our drinks.

 

No Lobster Tail in the MDR - Rather than a lobster tail with butter as we have had offered on previous cruises, there was a seafood medley offered with a rock lobster. This is more in line with what is served on other cruise lines.

 

Live music had been severely cut. During cocktail time we could only find it from 7:45 - 8:45. In the past, it seemed that there was live music that could be heard throughout the atrium area every night.

 

No Brunch Buffet

 

No Parade of Chefs

 

Our stateroom service was wonderful although there was no ice service. We could have asked for it but the stateroom attendants seemed very busy.

 

Will we sail with Celebrity again? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, we are booked on B2B cruises in January, 2015 which we booked while on our January trip. In the future however, unless we see the little touches that we have grown to expect on Celebrity, we will choose our cruises based on itinerary and price rather than loyalty to Celebrity because in our opinion it is on par with other lines now.

[Germancruiser]

Thank you for takeing the time to let us know of your experiences. I am so glad to hear that there no LOUD MUSIC all over the place! As for the other points- I hope they do improve at your next X- cruise. I care neither for wine nor for lobster so I look foreward to a nice calm cruise in a weeks time! Again thanks!

Michael

[cruisingsince94]

I am sorry for the drop-off in service but it appears it may be the start of a trend. We had an excellent cruise on Celebrity just last month and we will also continue to sail on her. We were told at that time cuts in service beyond what has already taken place was about to begin. You can expect a drop in the quality and frequency of entertainment as well as activities. Many ships were cutting the activities staff down to the bare minimum. The reason according to them is that the attendance for events like trivia were minimal so why have it? It doesn't make them any money. I expect an increase in bingo offerings and casino events which of course is a moneymaker for them.

Have you tried to call Celebrity for anything recently? I used to be able to call them or Royal Caribbean at any time during business hours and speak to someone within a couple of minutes at most. Recently, those calls began to take 10 minutes or longer on hold. We love to cruise and will continue in the near future but we fully expect to see quality and service to drop even more.

Edited April 23, 2014 by cruisingsince94

[Redtravel]

That would be great. Wait times are very long....a lot longer than 10 minutes. And, often the person that you speak to is unable to help you.

[Cruise a holic]

First let me say that we are not complainers. We consider any day on a cruise to be a great day! We have sailed on several lines and most recently have been loyal to Celebrity as we considered it to be a step above the others in food and service. We sailed on the Silhouette in January with 3 other couples and we all had a fabulous time. Everything was up to Celebrity standards. We just returned from a Panama Canal cruise on the Infinity and unfortunately we saw some definite changes from prior cruises. At first we thought that maybe the difference was that we were sailing on a smaller ship - we had always been on a Solstice class ship in the past. However, I compared notes with a friend who was sailing on the Silhouette at the same time we were on the Infinity and she confirmed the same changes we saw so it appears that these changes are company wide. Here are a few examples:

 

The number of Someliers seems to have been severely cut. In the Select dining area, there were 3 for the entire area. They were doing their best but had too many tables to provide good service.

 

Bar service had been noticeably cut. There were seldom any bar servers on the upper deck of the pool. During our cocktail time prior to dinner, there were very few servers in the bars, and we tried them all. We were fine with getting our own drinks, but clearly the service in this area has been cut. If this is due to the free drink package, then we will happily pay for our drinks.

 

No Lobster Tail in the MDR - Rather than a lobster tail with butter as we have had offered on previous cruises, there was a seafood medley offered with a rock lobster. This is more in line with what is served on other cruise lines.

 

Live music had been severely cut. During cocktail time we could only find it from 7:45 - 8:45. In the past, it seemed that there was live music that could be heard throughout the atrium area every night.

 

No Brunch Buffet

 

No Parade of Chefs

 

Our stateroom service was wonderful although there was no ice service. We could have asked for it but the stateroom attendants seemed very busy.

 

Will we sail with Celebrity again? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, we are booked on B2B cruises in January, 2015 which we booked while on our January trip. In the future however, unless we see the little touches that we have grown to expect on Celebrity, we will choose our cruises based on itinerary and price rather than loyalty to Celebrity because in our opinion it is on par with other lines now.

 

I believe that going forward, Celebrity has actually increased perks and service for Suite guests- so the guest who aren't in suite class might continue to see a trend of declining service. I hope that I am wrong as we love Celebrity. We have enjoyed staying in suites as well as regular balcony cabins.

[Christine Frances]

I for one am happy to go to the bar on the pool deck and get my own drink. I have mentioned numerous times on the comment card to have the pool bartenders back off or at least have a method of letting them know that you will not be ordering. It is so annoying to have them coming by every 5 minutes or so and disturbing you. I noticed the change in not pushing drinks on our last B2B and it was so refreshing and we never had a wait at the pool bar. As for the other bars we just tell them to watch our drink and bring us another when it gets below the 1/2 way lol. We still make good use of our drink pkg but we will decide when we want another lol

Edited April 23, 2014 by Christine Frances

[milesfromu]

Similar changes were noted on our recent Summit outing as well, particularly wine and bar service in the MDR. Even guests in suites will have the same level of service on venues throughout the ship, and with the cutbacks noted so far, guests in suites are likely to experience similar disappointments. Let's hope the adverse feedback results in changes for the good.

[dwhe]

I'm used to going to the bar to get drinks coming from the UK, If there is a long wait for drinks at dinner on my upcoming cruise I will just get up nip to the bar and get them myself, it will not only issue a statement to any Management observing me, it will stop me from being dry and spending the entire dinner moaning.