Do You Remember When ???

[curtdesilets]

Jan 23, 2008 Press Release

 

 

Celebrity Cruises Celebrates Third Year at Number One in Prestigious Conde Nast Traveler's Annual Readers Poll

 

On the heels of announcing its industry- first Lawn Club on its new ship, Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Cruises today celebrates its first-place ranking in the prestigious Conde' Nast Traveler magazine's annual "Top Cruise Ships in the World" readers' poll.

 

For the third consecutive year, Celebrity Constellation earned the number- one slot in the large-ship category. Sister ship Celebrity Summit tied for the second-place ranking, Celebrity Millennium came in third, and Celebrity Infinity tied for the sixth slots. The rankings effectively place every Millennium-class ship in the brand's fleet in the top 10, and retain Celebrity's position as the world's top-rated premium cruise line.

 

Celebrity Century and Celebrity Galaxy tied for number 13 among the 27 ships considered the world's best in the large-ship category.

 

"We're thrilled and honored that the knowledgeable travelers who subscribe to Conde' Nast Traveler continue to appreciate the Celebrity experience, and the service with style the extraordinary staff on every ship is dedicated to offering our guests," said Celebrity's President and CEO Dan Hanrahan.

 

Conde' Nast Traveler subscribers rated a total of 298 ships on a 100-point scale in seven categories: itineraries, shore excursions, crew/service, cabins, food/dining, activities/facilities, and design/layout. Only ships that received a required minimum number of responses were eligible to be included in the rankings.

 

Celebrity Cruises offers comfortably sophisticated, upscale cruise experiences with highly personalized service, exceptional dining, and extraordinary attention to detail. Celebrity sails in Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, California, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Europe, Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, Panama Canal and South America. The line also offers unique land-tour vacations in Alaska, Canada, Europe and Australia through its cruisetour affiliate.

 

Noted for "The Top Cruise Ships in the World," as voted by the readers of Conde' Nast Traveler (February 2008 readers' poll), Celebrity's current fleet will be joined by Celebrity Solstice in 2008, Celebrity Equinox in 2009, Celebrity Eclipse in 2010, and a fourth Solstice-class ship in 2011.

[Lois R]

Solstice arrived in the fleet in 2008. So it was 6 ago when they came

out with that press release. Dan Hanrahan was in charge.

 

I am guessing you know this thread is going to get out of hand like

this......(snap your fingers together).:eek:

[dkjretired]

Solstice arrived in the fleet in 2008. So it was 6 ago when they came

out with that press release. Dan Hanrahan was in charge.

 

I am guessing you know this thread is going to get out of hand like

this......(snap your fingers together).:eek:

 

And as of this press release ships 4 & 5 had not been named.

[cle-guy]

Curious, when did Celebrity become part of RCI?

 

I've read someplace that there was a point in time where X was losing money hand over fist for a while and needed "saved" by RCI. Can anyone point me to where I can get the information, or tell me when it was?

 

I'm curious to see if they "were the best" at a time they couldn't be profitable and therefore being the best wasn't being done in a manner that was sustainable. Perhaps it was done as a way to entice a suitor to take them over....

[NLH Arizona]

Curious, when did Celebrity become part of RCI?

 

I've read someplace that there was a point in time where X was losing money hand over fist for a while and needed "saved" by RCI. Can anyone point me to where I can get the information, or tell me when it was?

 

I'm curious to see if they "were the best" at a time they couldn't be profitable and therefore being the best wasn't being done in a manner that was sustainable. Perhaps it was done as a way to entice a suitor to take them over....

Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line which was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group. In 1997, Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Club Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France.

Edited May 18, 2014 by NLH Arizona

[dkjretired]

Curious, when did Celebrity become part of RCI?

 

I've read someplace that there was a point in time where X was losing money hand over fist for a while and needed "saved" by RCI. Can anyone point me to where I can get the information, or tell me when it was?

 

I'm curious to see if they "were the best" at a time they couldn't be profitable and therefore being the best wasn't being done in a manner that was sustainable. Perhaps it was done as a way to entice a suitor to take them over....

 

It was 97 and as to your comments the answer is who knows. After the purchase if someone farted on board it was blamed on RCI. I do know that Celebrity had a wonderful food supplier named Apollo which I believe went out of business and of course Michel Roux left. Probably a whole bunch of reasons such as starting buffets for dinner which they did not have in the early 90's. Food budget probably had to be spread over more venues.

[jcpc]

Apollo Ship Chandlers is still in business - located in Miami FL and caters to cruise ship employment. Celebrity, however, does not utilize their services anymore. I know when Celebrity stopped using Apollo many of the food and beverage personnel onboard the ships were not happy that they no longer worked for Apollo but rather got paid by the cruiseline and were employees of the cruiseline.

 

I, personally, think Celebrity started to go downhill after the purchase by RCI, but that is just my opinion.

 

Yes, Celebrity has gone downhill since the "early days" (I sailed on Horizon in 1990 and have sailed Celebrity almost exclusively since then) but they are still my cruiseline of choice.

Edited May 18, 2014 by jcpc

[Loracpin2]

.....I remember when in 1993 on the Horizon, any dinner in the MDR was better than the last meal we had on the Silhouette in Murano's this past March.

[NLH Arizona]

.....I remember when in 1993 on the Horizon, any dinner in the MDR was better than the last meal we had on the Silhouette in Murano's this past March.

Amazing how everything changes. I remember my first flight to Hawaii in coach, we got a choice of three entrees and the food was very good. Now the food you get in first class is not even as good as the food we use to get in coach, not to mention that the airfares have skyrocket in price since then.

Edited May 18, 2014 by NLH Arizona

[curtdesilets]

Apollo Ship Chandlers is still in business - located in Miami FL and caters to cruise ship employment...

 

Yes, Celebrity has gone downhill since the "early days" (I sailed on Horizon in 1990 and have sailed Celebrity almost exclusively since then) but they are still my cruiseline of choice.

 

Celebrity is still our favorite Cruise line, but the line has slipped a bit.

 

We started cruising in May 2001 on the brand new (like a month old) Infinity. She was such an amazing ship, and the introduction of the M-Class ships was truly spectacular and really IMO created the Celebrity image. Those four M-Class ships consistently were rated in the top 5 for several years on the Conde Nast surveys, and with good reason

 

On that initial Infinity sailing, the food was divine. The MDR Dining Service was 5-stars, without a doubt. There was silverware all over our table and fine bone china. Food was presented synchronously, like they now do in Murano. Formal nights were truly formal with the vast majority men dressed in tuxedos and women dressed to the nines.

 

In a word: we were spoiled, and also entirely hooked on Celebrity.

 

We just did a Pacific Coastal on Century. It was very good (service wise), but a far cry from our initial Infinity experience in 2001.

[JEDIKNIGHT]

One of the reasons these changes have happened, is that they started GRADUALLY. And people just like us shrugged. We were troopers. We’d say “it’s what you make of it” and “i’m not a complainer” and little by little, these businesses figured out that they can cut themselves a bigger profit.

 

So here we are.

 

I have little doubt that cruise lines 5-7 years from now will be less customer service oriented. The cruise industry is where the airlines were ‘way back when’ - on the cusp of going from customer focus, to cattle mentality.

 

Hoep I’m wrong. But this is the trend I see.

[mcrcruiser]

One of the reasons these changes have happened, is that they started GRADUALLY. And people just like us shrugged. We were troopers. We’d say “it’s what you make of it” and “i’m not a complainer” and little by little, these businesses figured out that they can cut themselves a bigger profit.

 

So here we are.

 

I have little doubt that cruise lines 5-7 years from now will be less customer service oriented. The cruise industry is where the airlines were ‘way back when’ - on the cusp of going from customer focus, to cattle mentality.

 

Hoep I’m wrong. But this is the trend I see.

 

We agree with your input;) .We too have seen slippage in quality . Thus ,we have cut back in our Celebrity cruises & doing more land vacations now & we actually save money as well;) . Our next Celebrity cruise in not until Sept 2015 . We have done over 30 celebrity cruises & 63 total cruises

[curtdesilets]

One of the reasons these changes have happened, is that they started GRADUALLY. And people just like us shrugged. We were troopers. We’d say “it’s what you make of it” and “i’m not a complainer” and little by little, these businesses figured out that they can cut themselves a bigger profit.

 

So here we are.

 

I have little doubt that cruise lines 5-7 years from now will be less customer service oriented. The cruise industry is where the airlines were ‘way back when’ - on the cusp of going from customer focus, to cattle mentality.

 

Hoep I’m wrong. But this is the trend I see.

 

Even the Luxury lines like Crystal seem to be more about profits than service right now. Our first Crystal Cruise was by far the best cruise for service and dining that we were ever on. On our 2nd one, after they went all-inclusive with the drinks and gratuities, the service fell considerably. Now they have eliminated their great Formal nights: replaced it with something called "formal optional", or some ridiculous thing. Seems noone cares for formal service anymore.

 

I think we have seen the end of the golden age of cruising.

 

I too hope we are wrong, but I doubt it.

Edited May 20, 2014 by curtdesilets
clarification