Cruise Director bashes Cruise Critic at Meet & Greet

[jagoffee]

On our recent Celebrity Constellation cruise to the Norway Fjords, the Cruise Director, ( Jay Cee) attended the Meet and Greet on the first sea day. He stood next to our Captain, and made a startling statement.

 

He said that "Cruise Critic is contributing to the demise of the cruise industry because cruisers get together on Roll Calls and arrange private excursions." These excursions "hurt the companies that run cruises, as it takes away badly needed revenue."

 

He went to say that such privately arranged excursions should be limited to very small groups only and kept private, not publicly discussed on the boards. The Captain never said a word.

 

Has anyone else had experience with a Cruise Director making such an announcement?

 

Can anyone in official Celebrity or Cruise Critic positions respond to this? In my thirty cruises, this is the first I ever heard about this issue!

 

I remember a post on the Princess board about a Meet & Mingle attended by CD/Officers who were very upset that at that same meeting a woman had set up a large table to collect for her many tours that she had organized. The CD and Officers were not impressed at all. I made it a point on our Asia cruise to have pay'ts for tours that I organized to be done at a set time at our cabin. I don't know if that was happening during the OP's CC meeting or not.

 

Obviously a comment by a CD as presented would be totally inappropriate. It would also have been inappropriate for any cruisers to be making announcements concerning private excursions or collecting money at the Celebrity event. It does make me wonder.

[Orator]

I find it annoying when someone grabs a mike at a Cruise Critic gathering and starts handling their tour or tours. Frankly, I walk out as soon as this starts. I will probably not go to the gathering for one of my cruises since the entire roll call seems to be about large tours and I believe that will become the theme of the gathering. However, there are no rules governing posting or announcing tours that have been violated and I don't believe Celebrity has specific rules governing what can or cannot be said. Perhaps there should be, but that should be a discussion between people at Celebrity and people at Cruise Critic. If there is a problem it should be addressed by the two parties. If they feel that there should be guidelines, they can take action to implement them. Perhaps that the good that come out of this.

[jagoffee]

I find it annoying when someone grabs a mike at a Cruise Critic gathering and starts handling their tour or tours. Frankly, I walk out as soon as this starts. I will probably not go to the gathering for one of my cruises since the entire roll call seems to be about large tours and I believe that will become the theme of the gathering. However, there are no rules governing posting or announcing tours that have been violated and I don't believe Celebrity has specific rules governing what can or cannot be said. Perhaps there should be, but that should be a discussion between people at Celebrity and people at Cruise Critic. If there is a problem it should be addressed by the two parties. If they feel that there should be guidelines, they can take action to implement them. Perhaps that the good that come out of this.

 

We posted at the same time. I thought I have read that is is clearly against the guidelines for the meetings. It may have been several years ago.

[Orator]

We posted at the same time. I thought I have read that is is clearly against the guidelines for the meetings. It may have been several years ago.

 

Clearly not enforced if it is. I've heard CDs invite people to make announcements. I go to the party to meet people, not hear announcements. But, that's just me and I don't pretend to represent others.

[NLH Arizona]

Clearly not enforced if it is. I've heard CDs invite people to make announcements. I go to the party to meet people, not hear announcements. But, that's just me and I don't pretend to represent others.

Something must be freezing over, because I agree with you 100 percent. LOL!

[jjikids]

We will be cruising on the Summit in October and will be interested to see what happens then. We cruised Norwegian in May. Cruise Critic was complemented by all the NCL staff and we were treated like royalty.

[hulamoon]

I agree with Orator and NLH Arizona completely, it is rude to use the meet and greets to organize tours.

[cruising sister]

The bottom line is that this is our vacation. What we do when we are off the ship is our business. We are not committed to do only Celebrity sponsored activities when we pay to cruise with them. I agree that if there were quality, reasonable priced excursions we would do more ship sponsored trips. I will continue to compare private excursions with ship sponsored and pick what works best for me.

[RDC1]

There was a Meet and Greet on Princess a couple of years ago where the organizers were very flagrantly signing people up for tours. Passing around signup sheets at the M&G and having signs advertising the various private tours.

 

The Captain made a statement that such solicitation was a violation of the cruise contract. Note solicitation was in the context of soliciting sales, not the other frequent use of the term often used with another word beginning with s.

 

Do not know if there was anything like that going on in this case but if it was too active and visible it might have drawn a reaction from the CD.

Edited July 16, 2014 by RDC1

[pris993]

CD out of line for sure. I don't pay much attention to anything CDs have to say, most of what they say is very self serving for the cruis line, their employer.

 

We are independent travelers, tour on our own. Don't like groups small or larger.

[woodyren]

I am a relatively inexperienced cruiser compared to many on here but from a little research and common sense I had an understanding that the CC meet & greet was not an appropriate place to be openly touting tours. In fact I thought it was in the T&C that it was against policy to "sell" privately operated tours.

 

I have joined up with a few privately organised ones through my roll call. One even involved 3 bus loads as each filled up someone on the roll call kindly volunteered to be the organiser for another. The only discussion about them at the M&G was informal and discreet and would have been no more than the general discussion about any ports of call.

 

I think is was totally inappropriate for the CD to criticise CC at the M&G but would be fine to reinforce that people may not "sell" tours on board or use the meeting to collect monies etc. As others have said the meeting is a chance to meet people.

 

Please note that I see a difference between selling a tour and sharing the cost of a private tour between friends and acquaintances.

[RDC1]

The Celebrity Cruise Contract does contain the following clause:

 

Nothing in this Agreement shall grant to Passenger any right to sell products to or provide services to other guests

onboard the Cruise or CruiseTour and Passenger shall be prohibited from doing so

 

Similar to the Princess contract so I can see why the CD may have commented the way he did if there was active and visible activity to sign people up for private tours.

[iancal]

That may be so...but tough. This is the internet age. You have to take the good with the bad. Touting tours while on the ship or in a meet and greet is clearly not appropriate. But prearranging private groups via the internet prior to departure date certainly is.

 

On the upside, we decided not to consider a cruise on a competing line because, thanks to Cruise Critic boards. We discovered that the ship had been experiencing severe AC and plumbing problems in specific areas for months on end and the cruise line was doing a less than adequate job of responding to the issues.

 

We booked on a Celebrity ship instead. And were very glad we did after reading a few reports from our original first choice ship/cruise line after returning home.

Edited July 16, 2014 by iancal

[bighairtexan]

I think an announcement by the CD "we would really prefer that any tours, outside of those booked on Celebrity, please be dealt with outside the Celebrity Connections party. Thanks for that."

 

I don't think anyone would object to a polite request. And I understand why they don't want to host a party for us, where business is transacted that even slightly hurts their bottom line. So while there may be profit reasoning behind it, it appears that the execution of the "request" was really out of line. More of a bash than a request.

[Orator]

The Celebrity Cruise Contract does contain the following clause:

 

Nothing in this Agreement shall grant to Passenger any right to sell products to or provide services to other guests

onboard the Cruise or CruiseTour and Passenger shall be prohibited from doing so

 

Similar to the Princess contract so I can see why the CD may have commented the way he did if there was active and visible activity to sign people up for private tours.

 

If someone is openly violating a provision of the cruise contact someone in authority should approach and inform the person of the violation. They could be removed from the ship if they continue to violate the contract. Should be handled as quietly and privately as possible. Certainly not the job of the CD to make a public statement that is directed to an entire group.

[CHUCKIE50]

I agree completely with those who have posted that JC was out of line with his announcement. The main reason we book small private tours is to maximize our time in port. The time it takes to load and unload and reload a large tour bus uses up valuable time that I am not willing to waste when I may never be back to that port. If this bothers management that is just too bad.

[antsnanny]

I find it annoying when someone grabs a mike at a Cruise Critic gathering and starts handling their tour or tours. Frankly, I walk out as soon as this starts. I will probably not go to the gathering for one of my cruises since the entire roll call seems to be about large tours and I believe that will become the theme of the gathering. However, there are no rules governing posting or announcing tours that have been violated and I don't believe Celebrity has specific rules governing what can or cannot be said. Perhaps there should be, but that should be a discussion between people at Celebrity and people at Cruise Critic. If there is a problem it should be addressed by the two parties. If they feel that there should be guidelines, they can take action to implement them. Perhaps that the good that come out of this.

 

 

I have the same situation on my upcoming cruise in Sept, its all about a group of people organizing private tours and not much of anything else. Im not attending...

[ny cruisequeen]

I find it annoying when someone grabs a mike at a Cruise Critic gathering and starts handling their tour or tours. Frankly, I walk out as soon as this starts. I will probably not go to the gathering for one of my cruises since the entire roll call seems to be about large tours and I believe that will become the theme of the gathering. However, there are no rules governing posting or announcing tours that have been violated and I don't believe Celebrity has specific rules governing what can or cannot be said. Perhaps there should be, but that should be a discussion between people at Celebrity and people at Cruise Critic. If there is a problem it should be addressed by the two parties. If they feel that there should be guidelines, they can take action to implement them. Perhaps that the good that come out of this.

 

I am the originator of this thread. I want to make the scenario clear for everyone. At NO TIME during the M&M did any tour announcement come about. At this meeting there was no money changing hands, no gathering at any tables. This was an unprovoked rebuke!

 

There were private tours arranged online, and the info and transactions were all done PRIOR to the meeting! In fact, the person in charge of the tours did all correspondence via his private emails, keeping them out of the Roll Call! Except for the common, " I am looking for people to join us on a private tour" type post initially, there was barely any mention to hijack the Roll Call.

 

Most people in the room had no idea what JC was referring to. When he walked into the room we were milling awkwardly about, going to the table where the morning coffee was being set up. JC took control of the meeting. He made his announcement and you could hear a pin drop. It was very awkward, indeed! Then he was asked if we could address the Captain, and he said no, the Captain had an important meeting. So he just showed up to stand there and then leave? I think he was protecting the good Captain from the inevitable fallout from his statement.

 

He tried to lighten up the atmosphere, but it was too little too late by then. He had squashed the meeting and we never really got to get up and find those of us who had written to each other for over a year! He wanted us to call out the names of those we wanted to find. It was a bit too public and embarrassing. And...they had scheduled the room for another event so we had to all leave anyway!

 

I am happy to answer any other questions about this, and I am STILL hoping someone from Celebrity can address it here for all of us. What, exactly, are the rules, if any?

[cruzzzinma]

On our transatlantic this Spring, one of our roll call members offered to teach a classe(es) on finger knitting. She explained what it was and the first gathering of a lot of ladies was at 10 am on the first sea day in the Rendezvous Lounge on the Infinity. I didn't make the first meeting but they agreed to meet in the same spot at 10 and 1 everyday except under some specific circumstances. We had non Cruise Critic attendees who heard about it at dinner, or whatever.

 

Early on the CD made it clear that he didn't value cruise critic or it's members.

 

Back to finger knitting, one of the ladies said something to the effect "I don't know why they don't encourage us to get together and publicize events like this." Someone asked why she thought that. She said "What are we talking about? Cruises we've been on or cruises we are going on. We are exchanging information. They should pay attention, we are selling their cruises to each other."

 

Pretty profound observation.

[Orator]

I believe that JC was on Connie. Just can't imagine either Capt. Tasos or Capt. Nicholas not saying something. They are both highly passenger centered. Two of my favorites. I hope people filled out comment cards reflecting their impressions of what happened.

[NJ Fred]

Celebrity will not comment publicly. To do so would be as unwise as the DC's absurd comment.

 

Notwithstanding, I would think Mike Bayley's office will investigate the allegation(s). I say "allegation" simply because I was not there.

 

If this CD admits his alleged indiscretion or if the Captain confirms the remarks, I would venture to say Bayley will take the appropriate remedial/disciplinary action.

 

I have used both independent contractors and Celebrity's excursions; I am a veteran of 64 voyages of which some 20 were on Celebrity ships.

 

Clearly, excursions sold by the cruise line (no matter which one) carry an extraordinary markup that rivals shipboard prices for a simple can of Coca Cola. I also find most independent operators to be more customer sensitive. If you have ever booked an SPB Tour, you know what I mean.

 

Cutbacks across the board have been the subject of countless threads in this forum and others within Cruise Critic. Most of the observations are spot-on. You are a virtual captive customer once aboard - and no one needs to remind the cruise line of that fact.

 

Bottom line is that passengers purchase ocean transportation, room and board and anything else labeled "included" when booking. Passengers enter into a binding contract and should expect tat contract to be enforced. Setting up shop to hawk tours, etc. is a violation of the contract of passage. It is left to shipboard staff to protect their employer's rights.

 

What angers me are the scare tactics oftentimes used to help peddle cruise line land tours. The hooey about not being able to leave the boat in some ports unless you are on a sip's tour is pure malarkey. And not one of the private tours I have enjoyed ever came close to missing the sip's departure time.

 

We can shop for tours, souvenirs and the like wherever we please. If cruise lines want to combat private tours they need to compete and not complain. Said competition is best won via pricing, comfort and quality control.

 

JC, if you did what is alleged, if you made the comments mentioned in this thread then you put your employment at risk. And for what? Not overly bright, sir.

 

In fact, it might be judged as the act of a knucklehead.

Edited July 16, 2014 by NJ Fred

[Cruise Raider]

Do you think maybe that comment was made tongue in cheek? I wasn't there so honestly cannot judge but maybe there was a backward compliment that cruise critic members were doing such a good job at getting discounted cruises. It was, after all, said at a meet and greet. Do you really think he was trying to offend everyone? Like I said, I wasn't there -- just a thought. Everyone has a different threshold for their sense of humor. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't get his point across in the way it was intended. :confused:

 

So, with that being said, I took a private tour on the big island of Hawaii and tore my ACL while hiking in the lava tubes. It was our first port of call -- sucky cruise!! I went to the ship's doctor -- guess what, if I had been on a ship's tour, a refund for the tour would have been offered. Knowing I couldn't go on any of the other tours that cruise, he stamped all the subsequent ship's tour tickets and we were refunded even though we were past the date / time we could decide to cancel. The refund to our folio was almost immediate.

We also were on a tour in Boston once -- our tour guide was really giving us a tour of a lifetime and we were late getting back. The ship waited for us -- everyone clapped as our bus drove up. The fare to the next port wouldn't have been bad but sure was nice that the ship waited.

I still do sometimes arrange my own tours in port, but what you pay extra for on the ship's organized tours have certainly worked out to my benefit in more than one instance.

[CathyCruises]

Whether or not I joined a roll call tour, I would STILL never take a ship excursion, haven't in years. Overpriced, overcrowded, too slow, too regimented, too many shopping stops, etc. So until they get their act together and offer well priced, small group, interesting tours, they have no reason to complain when others do their jobs for them.

 

The comment is also ridiculous because

 

a) I read posts here every single day from people complaining that they can't book their shore excursions because the website is so bad--so obviously many on CC are still drinking the Koolaid, and

 

b) I figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10% max of any cruisers on any given cruise have ever even heard of Cruise Critic so I doubt it could be decimating the cruise industry!

Edited July 16, 2014 by CathyCruises

[DaKa2002]

I am the originator of this thread. I want to make the scenario clear for everyone. At NO TIME during the M&M did any tour announcement come about. At this meeting there was no money changing hands, no gathering at any tables. This was an unprovoked rebuke!

 

There were private tours arranged online, and the info and transactions were all done PRIOR to the meeting! In fact, the person in charge of the tours did all correspondence via his private emails, keeping them out of the Roll Call! Except for the common, " I am looking for people to join us on a private tour" type post initially, there was barely any mention to hijack the Roll Call.

 

Most people in the room had no idea what JC was referring to. When he walked into the room we were milling awkwardly about, going to the table where the morning coffee was being set up. JC took control of the meeting. He made his announcement and you could hear a pin drop. It was very awkward, indeed! Then he was asked if we could address the Captain, and he said no, the Captain had an important meeting. So he just showed up to stand there and then leave? I think he was protecting the good Captain from the inevitable fallout from his statement.

 

He tried to lighten up the atmosphere, but it was too little too late by then. He had squashed the meeting and we never really got to get up and find those of us who had written to each other for over a year! He wanted us to call out the names of those we wanted to find. It was a bit too public and embarrassing. And...they had scheduled the room for another event so we had to all leave anyway!

 

I am happy to answer any other questions about this, and I am STILL hoping someone from Celebrity can address it here for all of us. What, exactly, are the rules, if any?

 

We were attending our very first Meet & Greet and on the Connie to witness this event exactly as described! Stunned is a polite way to say it - and the gathering dissipated into thin air very quickly.

[hulamoon]

I witnessed a horrid comment by a celebrity manager once. It took awhile to get over it and it will not be forgotten. Thank goodness most interactions are superior to the one the OP mentioned.