Should you expect anything for Celebrity to mark a special date ?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Should you expect anything from Celebrity to mark a special date in your life?

Should expect anything from Celebrity if the date is before or after your cruise?

 

With them treating you so good on the ship I real do not expect anything from them

a couple of dollars in OBC would be nice and I would not turn it down :p

[WestLakeGirl]

OBC? No, but you should be able to order a cake at dinner. That's about it

[wvufan]

I suspect that at least half of all passengers could say they are having or celebrating a special day. For example, if there are 35 people, chances are that at least two have the same birthday (day, not year).

 

I think they still give you a small cake, and the wait staff will sing happy birthday etc. but that is about it.

 

Congratulations on your special day. :)

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE :D:D Bob and Phyl

[rebeccalouiseagain]

There are birthday and special occasion packages that you can order. My father has routinely ordered things for us to enhance our vacation. They will decorate the cabin, provide a cake, flowers, candy, robes, etc. etc. but it's not complimentary. I did get a cake one year on my birthday and to be honest I am not sure who made arrangements for that. I assumed it was my tablemates for some reason but maybe it was my travel agent or father. It was a lovely large cake that fed the whole table of ten. Definitely remind the Matre D about the special occasion and ask if they do anything for it. We just discussed this on another thread.

Edited July 11, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[NLH Arizona]

I don't think Celebrity should be responsible for doing anything for someone's special occasion. It should be up to the individual to plan for their special date.

[miched]

On a 5 day Constellation cruise the CD mentioned call outs for those celebrating birthdays and mentioning that there were over 450 celebrating one. Add in anniversaries, honeymoons, engagements, and etc. Everyone cruising is basically celebrating something, even if it is waking up in the morning.

 

Personnally I don't mention anything to anyone if I am and don't expect anything other than what I paid for. Don't need anyone to give me special consideration, treatment or whatever because it is. Treat me the same as anyone else and the way that you should.

 

Cruise on 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[cle-guy]

They may remember to say happy birthday. If you ask they will arrange a small cake or something. I don't at all EXPECT them to be proactive in these matters, even if I indicated a special occasion during my booking.

 

I think they leave occasions as private matters unless one specifically requests some additional device thru the Concierge or Guest Services staff once aboard.

 

But they are a business, and part of the business is selling celebration packages, so review the menu at gifts by celebrity at website or in the guide in the cabin to see what package seems appropriate for your celebration and arrange it with the guest services or concierge staff, billed to your sea pass account.

[Orator]

Guess we know the inspiration for this thread :) If anyone should give you anything it should be the person who gets the commission. It always amazes me the number of people who have a special occasion the last or next to last night of a cruise. I expect nothing other than what I've paid to receive. That being said I've been quite surprised by things that some have done for us. On our 45 Anniversary Exec Chef Jason Banyon made an incredible cake. Very large white cake and heavily decorated. Jayson is a long time friend who has taken his talents to Dublin, Ireland. We still communicate via social media.

[NLH Arizona]

I expect nothing other than what I've paid to receive.

I agree with you 100%, as I feel the same way!!!

[spookwife]

Should you expect anything from Celebrity to mark a special date in your life?

Should expect anything from Celebrity if the date is before or after your cruise?

 

With them treating you so good on the ship I real do not expect anything from them

a couple of dollars in OBC would be nice and I would not turn it down :p

 

 

everyone on board is celebrating something.

 

if you want it recognized you need to arrange for it( and pay for it) yourself.

[wallie5446]

Should you expect anything from Celebrity to mark a special date in your life?

Should expect anything from Celebrity if the date is before or after your cruise?

 

With them treating you so good on the ship I real do not expect anything from them

a couple of dollars in OBC would be nice and I would not turn it down :p

 

Not from Celebrity, but the rest of my fellow pax could pass the hat and help pay for our cruise.

 

Why is it that we are always putting our hand out wanting something more than what we paid for? Next there will be a thread about someone being upset because the big bad cruise company dose not double coupons like Safeway.

[cle-guy]

Not from Celebrity, but the rest of my fellow pax could pass the hat and help pay for our cruise.

 

Why is it that we are always putting our hand out wanting something more than what we paid for? Next there will be a thread about someone being upset because the big bad cruise company dose not double coupons like Safeway.

 

Actually with the $5 match play elite coupon, they DO double your $5 bet on Roulette or blackjack... :D

[macky2]

A gift should never be expected. If a cruise ship staff chooses to gift someone with a cake and a song, balloons, a sign on the door etc. that's their option and should be received gracefully.

 

If a passenger wants a special occasion celebration for a loved one it's up to that person to make it happen including making all the arrangements and paying whatever costs are involved.

[LetsGetWet!]

I have mixed feelings about this. I sure don't think we should "expect" it from the cruise line, but do think it is something that they could work on to really get some good PR and additional loyalty from customers.

 

The arguments made by several about how there are too many celebrating something just don't make sense, because they could apply to land-based restaurants equally. We've had a number of celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries at upscale local restaurants here - and at the best, they do things which really help to make it special, without costing much money at all. For instance, the last time we celebrated an anniversary, I mentioned the occasion when I made the reservation - when we arrived we were shown to a somewhat secluded table for 2 which was covered with "Happy Anniversary" sparkly confetti, a little 3x5 frame sitting on the table with "Happy Anniversary Mr. & Mrs. ______ from [restaurant]" printed in fancy script (which we were invited to take home.) The desserts were complimentary and the dessert plates were done with decorative icing around the edges stating Happy Anniversary.

 

Now all that cost the restaurant next to nothing, but made a huge impression. Onboard ship, it would cost even LESS since the desserts are already included. I assure you I didn't spend 5% of the amount of money with that restaurant that evening as I spend with Celebrity for a cruise!

Edited July 11, 2014 by LetsGetWet!

[grandgeezer]

When we booked our TA on the Silohuette this year, the travel agent asked if we would be celebrating anything special on this cruise. I told her yes, my wife's birthday on April 29. At dinner that night, the waiter brought over a small cake, and a bunch of the waiters/asst. waiters gathered around and sang Happy Birthday. Nice touch.

[cle-guy]

The arguments made by several about how there are too many celebrating something just don't make sense, because they could apply to land-based restaurants equally. We've had a number of celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries at upscale local restaurants here - and at the best, they do things which really help to make it special, without costing much money at all. For instance, the last time we celebrated an anniversary, I mentioned the occasion when I made the reservation - when we arrived we were shown to a somewhat secluded table for 2 which was covered with "Happy Anniversary" sparkly confetti, a little 3x5 frame sitting on the table with "Happy Anniversary Mr. & Mrs. ______ from [restaurant]" printed in fancy script (which we were invited to take home.) The desserts were complimentary and the dessert plates were done with decorative icing around the edges stating Happy Anniversary.

 

Now all that cost the restaurant next to nothing, but made a huge impression. Onboard ship, it would cost even LESS since the desserts are already included. I assure you I didn't spend 5% of the amount of money with that restaurant that evening as I spend with Celebrity for a cruise!

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and imagine you also didn't spend 7 nights sleeping in that restaurant, or having it transport you hundreds of miles to enjoy dinner each night in a different location, or eating breakfast lunch and dinner every night at that restaurant either... :D

 

I imagine if you broke the daily cost down and assigned $200 per day to cover the accommodations, $100 a day to cover the rental car, er, uh transport, you may find not really a whole lot was earmarked for that dinner on the ship as opposed to what you paid at this restaurant.

 

But I digress.... (I love math and running budgets...)

 

Anyway, lets be honest that restaurant probably served 50 tables at a leisurely pace serving 200 people or so from 5 pm to 11pm The ship served 2000 people from 6pm to 10:30 pm. So they just don't really have the time to do this to every single passenger who has a special occasion as a restaurant does who serves people more often NOT celebrating something versus the percentage of people who ARE celebrating on a ship. I'm not saying half the ship is celebrating, but where in that restaurant you may have been the only table, on the ship there may have been 20 or 30 special occasions at least. Maybe even multiple special occasions at a single table even. Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary! Congrats on getting married! And oh sorry you other 2 couples, just sit and watch your table mates eat their fancy desert...Here's the menu for you, please select something. I'll be back to take your orders, I have 10 more special birthday surprises to deliver before I can accommodate you....

 

Additionally if they did the dining room would begin to feel like a Chuck-E-Cheeses with all the singing and singing and singing and singing of happy birthday, happy anniversary, happy retirement, happy first cruise with your new mistress and ruin the whole MDR atmosphere. So they choose to recognize those who take the time to ask for the recognition once they board the ship and arrange it, unless a friend or someone had taken extra measures in advance of sailing to have something prepared.

[gblotter]

If celebrating a special occasion in Blu or one of the specialty restaurants, it never hurts to alert the maitre'd in advance. I'm not sure I would even attempt the same thing in the main dining room. Have no expectations - but if something special arrives at the table, then consider it a bonus. I figure I will at least give them the opportunity to surpass my expectations, but there is no chance it will happen if my inaction leaves them unaware that we are celebrating something special.

 

Last year we celebrated an anniversary onboard Millennium. We had an AquaClass cabin. Blu is a relatively small/intimate environment on Millennium. One mention to the Blu maitre'd at the beginning of the week was all it took - a small personalized cake showed up after dinner on our special date (thankfully no singing). He was a very attentive maitre'd and we gave him a nice tip at the end of the cruise.

Edited July 11, 2014 by gblotter

[LetsGetWet!]

Anyway, lets be honest that restaurant probably served 50 tables at a leisurely pace serving 200 people or so from 5 pm to 11pm The ship served 2000 people from 6pm to 10:30 pm. So they just don't really have the time to do this to every single passenger who has a special occasion as a restaurant does who serves people more often NOT celebrating something versus the percentage of people who ARE celebrating on a ship. I'm not saying half the ship is celebrating, but where in that restaurant you may have been the only table, on the ship there may have been 20 or 30 special occasions at least. Maybe even multiple special occasions at a single table even. Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary! Congrats on getting married! And oh sorry you other 2 couples, just sit and watch your table mates eat their fancy desert...Here's the menu for you, please select something. I'll be back to take your orders, I have 10 more special birthday surprises to deliver before I can accommodate you....

 

Additionally if they did the dining room would begin to feel like a Chuck-E-Cheeses with all the singing and singing and singing and singing of happy birthday, happy anniversary, happy retirement, happy first cruise with your new mistress and ruin the whole MDR atmosphere. So they choose to recognize those who take the time to ask for the recognition once they board the ship and arrange it, unless a friend or someone had taken extra measures in advance of sailing to have something prepared.

Here's my suggestion - maybe I should charge for marketing consultation! :)

 

Offer something like that restaurant did for us. Offer it for those who make reservations at one of the (upcharged) specialty restaurants for the evening - not in the MDR. That's actually encouraging extra spend by the passenger (and makes it much closer to what that land-based restaurant was dealing with.) Those reservations will likely be made for two, maybe for four if sailing with friends or family - but very seldom for a table of 8-10 I imagine. The celebration we were provided at that restaurant most specifically did NOT include waitstaff singing at our table, the atmosphere/ambiance was such that that would be out of place - so no issues with your "Chuck-E-Cheese's" fears! :)

 

We have shared our experience (and pictures taken by the waitstaff of us and the table setup) at that restaurant with many family/friends, and I'm sure have driven some incremental business their direction. In our case, the pictures were taken using our own camera - for the cruise line, the photographer shows up and ... even more incremental revenue! :) I think doing something like this would tie in very nicely with the "Modern Luxury" image they're trying to present.

[boogs]

Here's my suggestion - maybe I should charge for marketing consultation! :)

 

Offer something like that restaurant did for us. Offer it for those who make reservations at one of the (upcharged) specialty restaurants for the evening - not in the MDR. That's actually encouraging extra spend by the passenger (and makes it much closer to what that land-based restaurant was dealing with.) Those reservations will likely be made for two, maybe for four if sailing with friends or family - but very seldom for a table of 8-10 I imagine. The celebration we were provided at that restaurant most specifically did NOT include waitstaff singing at our table, the atmosphere/ambiance was such that that would be out of place - so no issues with your "Chuck-E-Cheese's" fears! :)

 

We have shared our experience (and pictures taken by the waitstaff of us and the table setup) at that restaurant with many family/friends, and I'm sure have driven some incremental business their direction. In our case, the pictures were taken using our own camera - for the cruise line, the photographer shows up and ... even more incremental revenue! :) I think doing something like this would tie in very nicely with the "Modern Luxury" image they're trying to present.

 

And me, sitting at my table paying the same price as you for my dinner, would wonder why they get free stuff that we don't. If having a celebration is so important, then purchase a package that offers it. The cost of doing anything on a ship is finite. When the staff does something extra, there is a cost involved. Paying that cost has to come from somewhere. The easiest place, of course, is to charge more to all passengers to cover these costs. So I end up paying more for my meal so they can cover the cost of someone's special occasions. Why should I subsidize your celebration?

 

And the comparison to land based restaurants is full of holes. The biggest is that the land based restaurant is doing it to try to make you a loyal customer who will come back again. On a cruise, you're on the ship for a short amount of time, and after you disembark, you may never cruise on that ship again, so will not be able to dine at that restaurant again.

Edited July 11, 2014 by boogs

[cle-guy]

Here's my suggestion - maybe I should charge for marketing consultation! :)

 

Offer something like that restaurant did for us. Offer it for those who make reservations at one of the (upcharged) specialty restaurants for the evening - not in the MDR. That's actually encouraging extra spend by the passenger

 

Thing is, Celebrity ALREADY has this in place., In the guest information binder in the cabin, they lay out a variety of ways (and the price list) to celebrate special occasions, from a simple champagne and chocolates, to champagne rose petals, chocolates cabin decorations and a cake.

 

Want to plan ahead of time? Gifts by Celebrity on website can arrange the same thing. They list out options and pricing there, and let you select a specific date and delivery time. Is nice for friends not traveling to generate a SUPRISE for their friends once they board.

[GaryT-UK]

I once arrived back in my cabin ( not Celebrity) to find a tray of mini cakes "compliments of the chef". It wasn't a special occasion & for all I know everyone else got the same, but I still remember a little treat like that made me feel special & I'm sailing with them again. I've had odd treats off Celebrity too - everyone loves a freebie. Whilst I enjoy seeing the waiters singing Happy Birthday in the MDR to someone, I'm sure random unexpected treats to everyone are far more likely to keep people coming back.

[LetsGetWet!]

And me, sitting at my table paying the same price as you for my dinner, would wonder why they get free stuff that we don't. If having a celebration is so important, then purchase a package that offers it. The cost of doing anything on a ship is finite. When the staff does something extra, there is a cost involved. Paying that cost has to come from somewhere. The easiest place, of course, is to charge more to all passengers to cover these costs. So I end up paying more for my meal so they can cover the cost of someone's special occasions. Why should I subsidize your celebration?

 

And the comparison to land based restaurants is full of holes. The biggest is that the land based restaurant is doing it to try to make you a loyal customer who will come back again. On a cruise, you're on the ship for a short amount of time, and after you disembark, you may never cruise on that ship again, so will not be able to dine at that restaurant again.

So... You sitting at a nearby table will wonder why we're getting "extra stuff" that you aren't - if that table is on a cruise ship, but not if the table is at a restaurant on land...

 

So... You'll still wonder even if we ordered and paid for it, because we and the cruise staff won't be sharing that information with you...

 

Why should you "subsidize my celebration"?? That's not for you to decide - others have reported receiving free decorated cakes and other things, guess you better complain about "subsidizing others celebrations" because its already happening! ;)

 

And I think its every bit as important for a cruise line to "try to make you a loyal customer so you'll come back again" as it is for a land-based restaurant. If that wasn't true, they wouldn't have the loyalty programs at all.

 

In short - to use your words, your arguments seem to be "full of holes!" :cool:

Edited July 11, 2014 by LetsGetWet!

[LetsGetWet!]

Thing is, Celebrity ALREADY has this in place., In the guest information binder in the cabin, they lay out a variety of ways (and the price list) to celebrate special occasions, from a simple champagne and chocolates, to champagne rose petals, chocolates cabin decorations and a cake.

 

Want to plan ahead of time? Gifts by Celebrity on website can arrange the same thing. They list out options and pricing there, and let you select a specific date and delivery time. Is nice for friends not traveling to generate a SUPRISE for their friends once they board.

That's great, but that's all things you can BUY. What that restaurant did that evening didn't cost them more than maybe $1, and I'm being generous. But they did it GRATIS, and they bought a great deal of good will and free word-of-mouth advertising with it. Seems like for probably $.25 worth of confetti, $.50 for a miniature picture frame, and $.05 worth of icing on plates - plus maybe 15 minutes of staff time - its pretty cheap good will and advertising.

[miched]

I don't understand the cake thing. Why does anyone need more deserts on a cruise? And then take it back to the cabin? If I am having a desert I want to be able to choose what it is and it will not be a plain cake. 🎂

 

I also don't need strangers interupting my dinner and the passnegers around me to sing happy birthday or etc. to me.

 

That is my opinion and thoughts.

 

Cruise on 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Nancyquilts]

I wouldn't mind the chocolate cake:D, but that goes with singing waiters and balloons, and DH is opposed to them. I doubt anyone in the dining room but us would care about our birthdays or anniversary, but the people who want the recognition that can be provided by the wait staff should get to enjoy it.

We're often sailing Princess (X rarely sails from SF) and opt for the ultimate balcony dinner.