It takes so little to keep us happy!

[daisy-mae]

Interesting thought. The sad thing is that it appears we are in fact paying for whatever perk we get. For example, looking at the November 8, 2014 sailing for Reflection: Inside=$599, Oceanview=$1049, balcony=$1059

 

Normally the starting points for inside versus oceanview is around $100 difference. However, because the 123 Go perks start at the oceanview level, the price point is jacked proportionate to the value of the potential perk. You will also note that desirable balcony cabins are much higher than the starting point, and proportionately higher than we had seen them without the perks being offered.

 

 

Our upcoming cruise will only be the second with Celebrity -- we are not "regulars". However, I agree that the 123 Go perks are not necessarily free. When booking our cruise we had a choice between a partially obstructed balcony cabin at a very attractive rate -- with no perks -- or a more expensive cabin with perks included. It was really a case of "six of one", "half dozen of the other". We chose the less expensive cabin with the knowledge that we could use the savings to choose when, where, and how much we wish to consume.

[Zenith Cruiser]

I seem to remember lots of people complaining about the white sofa's as being way to hard and very uncomfortable and they were quite pleased with the burgundy ones.

 

My tailbone still hurts from misjudging the comfort of the sofa on Solstice... and that was from the inaugural experience in 2008. ;)

[wpgcycler]

My husband likes a Seagrams 7 and 7 up pretty simple stuff. He could barely taste any alcohol and it did not taste like his choice brand. We are willing to pay for a good product, but the taste was not there.

 

So why not just ask for less 7up?

[Loracpin2]

I know I'll get blasted for this but, IMO, it's the free drink packages that are one of the causes of the diminished quality now being offered. Something has to suffer from this loss of revenue. Before I go any forward, we do not choose the complimentary drink option.

 

We were on the Oct. 31, 2013 Silhhouette 13 night Adriatic in a Concierge class cabin and I would rate this cruise a 10+ in every aspect. It's important to add that when we originally booked this cruises, the 1-2-3 wasn't offered. It was offered about 4 months before the sailing, but by then I'm sure a lot of cabins were previously booked.

 

Fast forward five months to our March 30 Silhouette sailing. Even though we were in Aqua and dined in Blu, I wouldn't rate it more than an 8 because of the obvious quality difficiencies from last October. We are now Elite Plus and had lots of time to discuss the changes with other loyal Celebrity cruisers during the evening cocktail hour. The conclusion was things probably had to be cut to pay for loss of revenue resulting from the 1-2-3. I would have provided this feed back on the on-line survey, if we had every received it, but that's for another thread.

 

The experience on our upcoming September Infinity will determine what we'll do on the other two future cruises already booked.

[wpgcycler]

I know I'll get blasted for this but, IMO, it's the free drink packages that are one of the causes of the diminished quality now being offered. Something has to suffer from this loss of revenue. Before I go any forward, we do not choose the complimentary drink option.

 

But, presumably you DID choose the OBC. How is this different?

[hcat]

Hmmm.... Coincidentally, Royal C has recently indicated it needed to offer more incentives to fill its ships for the Carib....according to an artilce I stumbled upon..maybe a link from yahoo to reuters..(?)

 

anyhow I started another thread called Article of interest with the link to the story if anyone wants to check it out..

 

it ends with a hopeful outlook so that'd be good for their bottom line and loyal pax will be restored to receiving modern luxury!

 

not cancelling anything just yet!!

[Loracpin2]

Quote "But, presumably you DID choose the OBC. How is this different?"

 

There were NO promotional incentives from Celebrity when we booked the Oct 2013 cruise. The Celebrity OBC for the March cruise was $200 for the cabin. The value of a Classic drink package for two for a seven night cruise is $616. The additional $416 benefit we did not use is the difference.

[wpgcycler]

Quote "But, presumably you DID choose the OBC. How is this different?"

 

There were NO promotional incentives from Celebrity when we booked the Oct 2013 cruise. The Celebrity OBC for the March cruise was $200 for the cabin. The value of a Classic drink package for two for a seven night cruise is $616. The additional $416 benefit we did not use is the difference.

 

Value and cost are not the same thing.

[Christine Frances]

Quote "But, presumably you DID choose the OBC. How is this different?"

 

There were NO promotional incentives from Celebrity when we booked the Oct 2013 cruise. The Celebrity OBC for the March cruise was $200 for the cabin. The value of a Classic drink package for two for a seven night cruise is $616. The additional $416 benefit we did not use is the difference.

 

The value of a Classic drink pkg has a value/cost to you It definitely doesn't cost Celebrity that much. They buy booze really cheap. The OBC was probably equal amount of an expense to them.

[milesfromu]

We hate seeing the key point being lost too. Agreed, drinks do not cost X much, but when everyone has beverage packages and staff are cut back, the expectation is that the level of service would decrease, and that is what we realized onboard too. Even though drinks do not cost X much, the perks are factored into fares. What is being promoted now is "value on the dollar", seems what loyalists are saying is we are willing to pay for the old version of "Modern Luxury".

[wallie5446]

We hate seeing the key point being lost too. Agreed, drinks do not cost X much, but when everyone has beverage packages and staff are cut back, the expectation is that the level of service would decrease, and that is what we realized onboard too. Even though drinks do not cost X much, the perks are factored into fares. What is being promoted now is "value on the dollar", seems what loyalists are saying is we are willing to pay for the old version of "Modern Luxury".

 

How is that?:confused: We are paying less for our upcoming 11 day Equinox sailing with a perk, than we did for a 7 day on the Horizon in Dec 2000 with a Capt Club discount to boot:confused:

OV is sold out, so are the 1A verandas, and the 1B's are over $600 higher. Now that is value.

 

Like I said in post #8, "the grass is not always greener on the other side of the hill."

Edited April 24, 2014 by wallie5446

[NLH Arizona]

We hate seeing the key point being lost too. Agreed, drinks do not cost X much, but when everyone has beverage packages and staff are cut back, the expectation is that the level of service would decrease, and that is what we realized onboard too. Even though drinks do not cost X much, the perks are factored into fares. What is being promoted now is "value on the dollar", seems what loyalists are saying is we are willing to pay for the old version of "Modern Luxury".

Possibly some "loyalists" are willing to pay more to have the "old version" of modern luxury (even though you see that some are complaining about some of the prices that have increased for the 2015/2016 cruises), but I would venture to guess that the majority of Celebrity's passengers wouldn't be willing to pay more, especially for some of the items that some "loyalists" want from the "old version" of cruising. Think of it, if people were willing to pay more, the prices would be higher than they are now and there would be no sales.

[Ma Bell]

Possibly some "loyalists" are willing to pay more to have the "old version" of modern luxury (even though you see that some are complaining about some of the prices that have increased for the 2015/2016 cruises), but I would venture to guess that the majority of Celebrity's passengers wouldn't be willing to pay more, especially for some of the items that some "loyalists" want from the "old version" of cruising. Think of it, if people were willing to pay more, the prices would be higher than they are now and there would be no sales.

 

What is the "old version" of Modern Luxury and what are the items you are talking about? Do you really think they are having "sales"?

[Ma Bell]

Is it actually possible that Celebrity may have gone over the line in diminishing the experience they have been known for? I've been sailing with them over 20 years and have always been one of their biggest supporters.

 

First let me say that the staff and crew have always been extremely kind and attentive and do their best to make our cruise wonderful. I've never had a "bad" cruise and am not a complainer. I've embraced the many changes that have occurred over time and also understand why changes are necessary. There are quite a few things that I observed on my cruise last month that have me concerned about the direction Celebrity seems to be taking. Rather than complaining here, I have done what I think is always the best thing to do and sent an email to the President of Celebrity stating my concerns. I've received a response and will wait for my next booked cruises to decide if Celebrity is still the cruise line for me.

 

One thing about being around for a long time is having seen quite a few things that haven't worked, I've also seen Celebrity responding to valid concerns and rethinking some poor decisions. I'm hoping they will give some thought to some of their recent changes.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Ma Bell

[blueboro]

Maybe we are easier to please or looking for different things on cruises than others, but we found our February Reflection cruise far superior to our cruise on Caribbean Princess in 2013 and on HAL Nieuw Amsterdam prior to that. We were not completely thrilled with the dreaded Miami DJ's but food was excellent and the drink package spoiled us. We do not go to trivia, zumba, etc. so again maybe our needs are not as great as others. But X is still the top of our list and superior to Princess, HAL and RCCL in our experiences.

[Zenith Cruiser]

Your posting style seems very familiar, did you have another Cruise Critic nic before this one?

 

I'm married to one... and we seem to finish one another's sentences..

 

We just think that everyone (well almost) has a point of view that has to be considered creditable based on their experience. Some people who have just had a wonderful cruise may doubt the experience of another whose cruise was not up to their expectations.

 

On a recent cruise a friend who has also cruised frequently, returned to their room in which the sewage line had broken right above the bed. If that had occurred during the night he would have been covered with the stuff. Now that does not happen to every Celebrity cruiser but it did happen and they were moved to another stateroom. Some would say that with Celebrity's consistent excellent tradition of maintenance that incident would never occur.

 

Just because "ship" does not happen to us, it may and does happen to others. All of us should give posters with a negative experience a little slack. All one has to do is check the history of the poster to see what their past posts were like.

 

I truly believe that those who post a negative experience want to let Celebrity know that there is a problem in the hope that their future cruise will be better. There are not that many that come here to say never again on a Celebrity ship. And venting does help.

[wpgcycler]

 

Some, with very little experience sailing on Celebrity ships, have a point of view that has been very consistent in attacking passengers who have recently had a negative experience based on their previous Celebrity cruises.

 

Although they may have impressive titles and a few real neat benefits, long time cruisers have no magical powers. Cruising is simply another form of travel/recreation - and anyone who has traveled extensively by any mode of transport and has availed themselves of many types of accommodation/dining options AND has spent time on a variety of travel forums, is easily able to recognize an unsupported criticism. If no one challenges such posts, the quality of the forum steadily declines.

 

When I decided it might be time for me to try cruising, I came to this site to take advice from the experts - I'm grateful for that opportunity as I'm sure it went a long way to enhancing my cruise experience. If I had come here on the wrong day, week or, it seems lately, month, I might have been sorely misled on the quality/value/enjoyment of a Celebrity cruise and made a decision to cruise another line or perhaps not to cruise at all. As it turned out, I found my cruise on Celebrity (yes, my one and only cruise, ever) to be a remarkable experience and it pains me to think that others reading these comments from "seasoned" cruisers might be turned away. Hence, if I see harsh criticism I ask for some degree of supporting detail - seeing or hearing none, I call it out - and I don't and won't apologize for that.

[Viktoria]

It seems as we get older we become more demanding and expect more. Everything has gone up in the past few years. I have sailed 6 times and will be taking my 7th next year. No complaints here. ;)

[Iamthesea]

Yes bathroom is a bit smaller, I hadn't thought of that. Don't think the later "S" class have the white sofa either. I know Solstice did, but pretty sure that when we were on Silhouette it had been changed to the burgundy....but can't be sure and don't have access to my pictures right now, maybe someone else can verify. Hope you enjoy your Connie cruise, we really love the ship, and Blu was quite good, SO MUCH better than the Select Dining we used last year on her before the drydock that added the AQ rooms.

 

Bathroom is a good bit larger and laid out so well. ;)

 

The Solstice and the Equinox have the white sofa's. I liked them, not so much for comfort (although I do like firm, but never really sat on it :)) but for the looks. :) They made the stateroom look ultra modern, bright and clean. The main point is that the stateroom is misrepresented online, making you think that you are booking the newer stateroom layout. ;)

 

I seem to remember lots of people complaining about the white sofa's as being way to hard and very uncomfortable and they were quite pleased with the burgundy ones.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Iamthesea

[Christine Frances]

Bathroom is a good bit larger and laid out so well. ;)

 

The Solstice and the Equinox have the white sofa's. I liked them, not so much for comfort (although I do like firm, but never really sat on it :)) but for the looks. :) They made the stateroom look ultra modern, bright and clean. The main point is that the stateroom is misrepresented online, making you think that you are booking the newer stateroom layout. ;)

 

Actually the white sofa's are the older stateroom layout. The newer Silhouette and Reflection have the burgundy sofa's. I think people preferred upholstery rather than pleather.

 

http://avidcruiser.avidtravelmediai.netdna-cdn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Photo-Jul-21-6-56-04-AM.jpeg

Edited April 24, 2014 by Christine Frances

[robandlil]

I haven't sailed with Celebrity in years, using instead Carnival and Norwegian for their price and or itinerary. But we are booked on the Infinty for Oct 1. I'm posting to list the fond memories we have of Celebrity that have made other cruises seem not quite up to par. I remember

 

Champagne and a cold damp cloth when returning to the ship from a port.

A person going around and misting people with a cool spray of water as they sunbathed.

Alternately another crew member went around with rolled up cool washcloths that they handed you with tongs so they were pristine.

I remember being addressed as Madam, as in "would madam care for more coffee?"

I remember drinks for $4.50 as liquor was duty free and cheap.

I remember tea time mid afternoon in one of the lounges where they went around with scones, jam and clotted cream.

Free drink were served on many occasions, ie past guest, and captains party

 

And I am not ancient. I'm 60 and these little luxurious memories are from about 15 years ago. We've been on 5 cruises since and always wish we were back on Celebrity because they do it right. Please, Tell me this Celebrity still exists.

[wallie5446]

I haven't sailed with Celebrity in years, using instead Carnival and Norwegian for their price and or itinerary. But we are booked on the Infinty for Oct 1. I'm posting to list the fond memories we have of Celebrity that have made other cruises seem not quite up to par. I remember

 

Champagne and a cold damp cloth when returning to the ship from a port.

A person going around and misting people with a cool spray of water as they sunbathed.

Alternately another crew member went around with rolled up cool washcloths that they handed you with tongs so they were pristine.

I remember being addressed as Madam, as in "would madam care for more coffee?"

I remember drinks for $4.50 as liquor was duty free and cheap.

I remember tea time mid afternoon in one of the lounges where they went around with scones, jam and clotted cream.

Free drink were served on many occasions, ie past guest, and captains party

 

And I am not ancient. I'm 60 and these little luxurious memories are from about 15 years ago. We've been on 5 cruises since and always wish we were back on Celebrity because they do it right. Please, Tell me this Celebrity still exists.

 

Yup, it did for us last Nov! Dont know about the price of drinks, we had the Premium Pkg. Oh, one night we had to pay $3 for our 5 martini flight tho.

 

They still have repeat cruiser get together things, sparkling something when you board, cold toweletts returning at a port. All in all about the same as when we first sailed in 1993.

[Ma Bell]

Although they may have impressive titles and a few real neat benefits, long time cruisers have no magical powers. Cruising is simply another form of travel/recreation - and anyone who has traveled extensively by any mode of transport and has availed themselves of many types of accommodation/dining options AND has spent time on a variety of travel forums, is easily able to recognize an unsupported criticism. If no one challenges such posts, the quality of the forum steadily declines.

 

When I decided it might be time for me to try cruising, I came to this site to take advice from the experts - I'm grateful for that opportunity as I'm sure it went a long way to enhancing my cruise experience. If I had come here on the wrong day, week or, it seems lately, month, I might have been sorely misled on the quality/value/enjoyment of a Celebrity cruise and made a decision to cruise another line or perhaps not to cruise at all. As it turned out, I found my cruise on Celebrity (yes, my one and only cruise, ever) to be a remarkable experience and it pains me to think that others reading these comments from "seasoned" cruisers might be turned away. Hence, if I see harsh criticism I ask for some degree of supporting detail - seeing or hearing none, I call it out - and I don't and won't apologize for that.

 

I absolutely agree that long time cruisers have no magical powers and every person is entitled to his opinion according to his own experience. Since we all have differing opinions on what is important to us, I always believe one should experience something himself and make decisions based on his own experience.

 

That doesn't mean that he shouldn't perhaps take into consideration the experiences of others and if I'm going to do that I would probably put a little more weight on the opinion of someone who has a lot of experience rather than one individual experience.

 

I would consider your harsh opinion of seasoned cruisers an unsupported criticism, so perhaps you could give me some degree of supporting detail as to why you believe their complaints are not valid.;)

 

The point I'm trying to make is it's usually best to provide your experience as a counter balance rather than "calling people out".

[pumpkin 11]

It's really sad that Celebrity Is getting away with all these cuts. They have a real edge to be the best in the premium market but aren't as consistent or always of the highest quality so it totally makes you wonder. I've been cruising on Celebrity for over a decade, and the changes / cuts are now too much. Less activities, falling food, they better turn it around or their empire will crumble. Not everyone loses their brains on a cruise.

[Cruising89143]

The value of a Classic drink pkg has a value/cost to you It definitely doesn't cost Celebrity that much. They buy booze really cheap. The OBC was probably equal amount of an expense to them.

 

I agree that the cost to X for the drink package is not as much as some might think. The drink package promotion has been in place for well over a year and if X were not making money by running this promotion it would have been axed by now.