Cruise Director bashes Cruise Critic at Meet & Greet

[socreader]

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!

 

We have not experienced other than very supportive Cruise Directors. I wonder if he still has a job? He was out of line and you all should have booed him right there in front of his Captain. We usually try to take or organize small group tours ( max 10 to 12 people) due to the flexibility it gives us to chose where we want to go within the time frames we have. There are some specialized tours such as the lagoon tour in Pago Pago that is so small it could not happen with the cruiseline. However, there are some tours which cannot be done privately due to time constraints - a trip to Paris from Le Harve ( if the train times do not work) or a sail to the Barrier Reef in Australia.

 

I will be interested to see how this plays out. The home office does read the boards.

[CathyCruises]

Personally I would love it if each person stood up and introduced themselves by their screen name! It would be great to put faces with the names of people we have been 'talking' with for a long time.

 

On our last cruise, the CD was lame, didn't want there to be any announcements, it was a total bore and we all left after 10 minutes.

[micruiser12]

Hi all,

 

We're currently looking into this, and will be sure to address any issues that we have been made aware of. We have a great relationship with the Cruise Critic community, which is why we have Roll Calls, and arrange Meet and Greets.

 

This should not be an issue on any future sailings, and we thank you all for bringing this to our attention.

 

Appreciate that Celebrity will look into this. We were on an early June Constellation cruise and liked JC and the Capt very much and thought it was the best staff yet. So sorry to hear that this has could have happened on a later cruise and this could tarnish how others would preceive that staff, especially JC.

 

Just wondering if anyone from that gathering complained at the time (while still on the ship) about what JC said and what the response was?

[england1]

Appreciate that Celebrity will look into this. We were on an early June Constellation cruise and liked JC and the Capt very much and thought it was the best staff yet. So sorry to hear that this has could have happened on a later cruise and this could tarnish how others would preceive that staff, especially JC.

 

Just wondering if anyone from that gathering complained at the time (while still on the ship) about what JC said and what the response was?

 

We were on the same cruise with micruiser. In no way was JC inappropriate during the M&M. He does have a kind of ironic sense of humour which may have been misinterrupted. At one point he asked if anyone had any questions and someone wanted to know who Mary Jo was. I had organized a roll call tour with SPB that involved about 60 people. In no way did he make me feel uncomfortable about that. I thought the staff and crew on the Constellation were terrific.

[Host Anne]

I've sailed on many Celebrity cruises, attended many Cruise Critic parties, taken Celebrity shore excursions, joined private excursions planned by Cruise Critic members on roll calls and planned several private excursions with those on our roll call.

 

I've never seen anyone at any on board Cruise Critic parties ever promote their private shore excursions. I've never seen a Cruise Critic member grab a microphone at a party and I've never seen money changing hands to pay for private excursions at parties.

 

If this were/is happening, both Celebrity and Cruise Critic have a right to address the situation. But not publicly. If there was a problem on the recent sailing of Constellation, the offending parties should have been pulled aside and the situation addressed.

 

I've always felt that Cruise Critic has strengthened cruising and feeds our cruising addiction. I'm sorry to read that a cruise director took out frustrations at a Cruise Critic party.

 

I appreciate that Celebrity and Cruise Critic are both looking into the situation.

[alcpa1]

Host Ann, Celebrity Cruise Critic Monitor and fellow passengers,

This is the golden opportunity to establish a system that is fair to all. Even with the criticism recently proliferating here there is still a far larger proportion of cruise passengers extolling the virtues of the ships, the crew and the itineraries. We know we are in the minority of cruise passengers and we appreciate the honor some of the cruise lines have given us just by recognizing Cruise Critic.

Evidently I have been operating without fully understanding the rules, and for that I apologize. But, after organizing shore excursions for our last six cruises I do think it is best to take arrangements off the Roll Call by way of e mail. It permits the Roll Call to flow without the incessant reminders and communications necessary to make the excursions viable.

I also join those in opposition to any passenger engaged in selling their own excursions on board.

[Andy]

Personally I would love it if each person stood up and introduced themselves by their screen name! It would be great to put faces with the names of people we have been 'talking' with for a long time.

 

 

Hi CathyCruises,

 

Whenever I'm onboard. I always try to encourage that we go around the room, and introduce ourselves, and it's always very enjoyable. The only issue is, the Meet and Mingles continue to grow in attendance - but that's a good thing ! At some point, it may take the entire cruise to introduce ourselves :)

Edited July 17, 2014 by Host Andy

[fleckle]

.......I also join those in opposition to any passenger engaged in selling their own excursions on board.

Another problem with this is that the passenger acting as the tour organizer on the roll call may get sick, or not show up for one reason or another.

 

We like the ones who simply mention that they are going on the xyz tour with such-and-such company, and tell you to contract the tour operator directly if you would like to go along too.

There are no incessant reminders and communications necessary.

 

No money is collected by the person who is acting as tour organizer, and it eliminates the need to post one's email address on the roll call.

 

When done that way, since all passengers pay the tour operator directly, it doesn't even matter whether or not the roll call tour organizer shows up.

 

 

But some persist in eagerly trying to solicit additional passengers to join them on "their" tour because they receive the tour free if they can recruit a group of a certain size.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2014 by fleckle

[Tony UK]

I do agree that people shouldn't be selling their tours on board.

 

I thought I wasn't able to give the tour company name so people could get in touch directly as this was promoting one company on the boards! I have contravened the rules I guess by giving my contact details so people can contact me if they are interested. I usually host a private gathering on the ship for those going on the tour so we can agree times, meeting places etc.

 

It would help if CC could provide a template for us all to follow on how private tours should be organised so we don't inadvertently contravene the rules.

 

JC does have an ironic kind of humour which some get and some don't. Lets hope we hear from him what he intended! We do a mix of on our own, private tours and ship tours on most trips. Modern luxury for us is doing what we want to do in port on vacation!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Personally I would love it if each person stood up and introduced themselves by their screen name! It would be great to put faces with the names of people we have been 'talking' with for a long time.

 

On our last cruise, the CD was lame, didn't want there to be any announcements, it was a total bore and we all left after 10 minutes.

 

That happen on our Azamara cruise, but there was only about 20 people there

 

I agree with you Cathy , about the Silhouette April TA, it was a mad house in the Sky lounge

[dkjretired]

That happen on our Azamara cruise, but there was only about 20 people there

 

I agree with you Cathy , about the Silhouette April TA, it was a mad house in the Sky lounge

 

I agree, on my last cruise on Silhoeette we had name tags with our names on them, on all our other cruises the nametags had our screen names. It was a very odd party, nobody knew who anyone was and it was over very quickly.

Edited July 17, 2014 by dkjretired

[Vol fan]

Hi CathyCruises,

 

Whenever I'm onboard. I always try to encourage that we go around the room, and introduce ourselves, and it's always very enjoyable. The only issue is, the Meet and Mingles continue to grow in attendance - but that's a good thing ! At some point, it may take the entire cruise to introduce ourselves :)

 

We do this on our cruises as well. It's great to put faces with names!

[The_Big_M]

Next up: "You people have to stop taking your own photos! We sell all the photos you need right here on the ship."

 

Agreed.

 

Whatever happened to the free market? Who knew that we were compelled to book excursions with the cruise line?

 

The cruise lines have a captive market, and a strong advantage that we would look to them first for convenience. If that advantage still isn't sufficient for those who find better alternative elsewhere, then I believe that indicates significant deficiencies in their product, that they would do better to address.

Edited July 17, 2014 by The_Big_M

[porrah]

I met JC a couple of years ago when he was with HAL. I liked him, and, being an expat Brit, I totally got his sense of humour. We are booked on the Connie next year. I was happy to hear that this was the ship JC was on and was hoping that he would be on our sailing. Having read this thread, I don't know what to think now. If he did make these statements and more or less insulted people, he has really gone down in my estimation. I was disappointed to read all the comments.

[Cindy]

I met JC a couple of years ago when he was with HAL. I liked him, and, being an expat Brit, I totally got his sense of humour. We are booked on the Connie next year. I was happy to hear that this was the ship JC was on and was hoping that he would be on our sailing. Having read this thread, I don't know what to think now. If he did make these statements and more or less insulted people, he has really gone down in my estimation. I was disappointed to read all the comments.

 

I also think it's puzzling. While I realize not everyone will like JC's style, we thoroughly enjoyed him on our May 21st cruise, and thought the staff was the best we've sailed with on any ship. The interaction between JC and Captain Tasos was superb, and really enhanced the trip for me.

 

We had a very large roll call with MANY private tours arranged through Cruise Critic. Over 100 people were in attendance at the Connections Party, and nothing negative or remotely inappropriate was said.

 

I really can't fathom what could have provoked this.

[richstowe]

Thank you OP (ny cruisequeen) for starting a thread that has gotten posts from 3 hosts and Celebrity itself.

That must be some kind of record.;)

Any thread that can bring that sort of response is an important one.

 

I thank Host Anne for pointing out that these over the top acts by passengers are pretty rare

and that a public shamming is not necessary.

[2theship]

I believe that the vast majority of people who arrange private excursions are individuals who post something like "I've booked a van for 8 people to go to Florence from Livorno, the total cost is this much, if there are 8 of us, each will pay this much. You will pay the driver at the end of the tour. Email me if you're interested." From that point forward, all discussion is handled privately.

 

One of my favorite parts of Cruise Critic is that while I might arrange an activity for one port, someone else would arrange another, someone else would arrange another, etc. Sort of a sharing of the labor for small groups.

 

However, more than once, I have seen people who book larges bus tours at each and every port and demand payment to them in advance when clearly it's something they are getting to their advantage. Sometimes, they are obviously travel professionals and Cruise Critic will block them. However, sometimes it's not quite so obvious.

 

Fortunately, I have never experienced having a Connections party hijacked by private excursion planners. However, I have had one hijacked by a Cruise Critic host who was cruising with us. The entire event consisted of her drawing names out of a bag to give away CC merchandise. By the time she was done, the party was over and no one had a chance to talk to anyone else.

[NLH Arizona]

Agreed.

 

Whatever happened to the free market? Who knew that we were compelled to book excursions with the cruise line?

 

I don't look at it as they are trying to compel everyone to book their excursions, even though they would love if everyone did. I look at it as they don't want someone selling someone else's product on their ship that they sell. It would be like someone selling dresses inside Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus at a lower cost than what the stores sell them for. There are many ways to still set up alternative (non cruise line) shore excursions, one just doesn't have to do it in the face of the cruise line.

[Bounce]

I was on this Norway cruise. Although I was not able to attend the M&G gathering, I certainly got to know the people who reported this incident and absolutely believe they have reported honestly.

 

About 25-30 of us arranged to meet to discuss private tours one hour before the M&G gathering. We had arranged for these tours on CC well before sailing. There was some money exchanged - but it was done with great discretion. It was my understanding the person who arranged the tour(s) had to pay for them up front. We were just reimbursing him. It truly was not a big deal - no microphone, no raised voices, no one selling anything. A group of people excited to be on the cruise and finally meeting each other.

 

In the latest edition of Travel and Leisure, Cruise Critic was cited as a great site for information. I certainly use CC to learn. It is the place I researched Celebrity and decided to try this cruise line. I have now taken 4 cruises and brought along family and friends who never tried Celebrity. It is improbable to think any of this came from a directive of Celebrity. CC must be considered a great marketing tool for the cruise lines.

 

As for the CD – well, no one should make another person feel uncomfortable. But, who has not opened mouth/inserted foot. I would love to know exactly what set him off since this was, by far, the best cruise ever. The service was over the top - they made us feel nothing was impossible (but so happy I'm just hearing about the M&G comments now).

 

It was excellent this was reported leading to so much discussion. I truly never knew you should not give out e-mail addresses since I’ve seen it done so many times. But it is CC’s bat and ball and they have a right to make policy. This particular one needs to be put out there more.

 

The person who planned the private tours on this cruise – I hope this has not upset you. Your work and thoughtfulness (which took Celebrity into careful consideration every step of the way) should not be diminished in the least.

 

Humph! A bump I the road ……… smooth it out Celebrity. Tell us you still love us.

[ny cruisequeen]

I've sailed on many Celebrity cruises, attended many Cruise Critic parties, taken Celebrity shore excursions, joined private excursions planned by Cruise Critic members on roll calls and planned several private excursions with those on our roll call.

 

I've never seen anyone at any on board Cruise Critic parties ever promote their private shore excursions. I've never seen a Cruise Critic member grab a microphone at a party and I've never seen money changing hands to pay for private excursions at parties.

 

If this were/is happening, both Celebrity and Cruise Critic have a right to address the situation. But not publicly. If there was a problem on the recent sailing of Constellation, the offending parties should have been pulled aside and the situation addressed.

 

I've always felt that Cruise Critic has strengthened cruising and feeds our cruising addiction. I'm sorry to read that a cruise director took out frustrations at a Cruise Critic party.

 

I appreciate that Celebrity and Cruise Critic are both looking into the situation.

 

I am in TOTAL agreement and I thank you for how perfectly you phrased this! Since I am the Original Poster here, I have been reading all the replies. I would like to add a few things now....

 

First, my intent was to clarify the rules of arranging private excursions, not to crucify the Cruise Director. I used his name to legitimize my posting. I know that the cruise lines do not love when we book them by ourselves, but I thought it was like the alcohol policy...they want you to buy it from them, but allow two bottles of wine brought by you to come onboard. A small amount. Reasonable.

 

When the cruise director made his announcement, it was very clear that he conveyed his displeasure over ALL private excursions. He made very clear comments about "loss of revenue that contributed to the demise of the cruise industry." Strong words. There was NO doubt that he was serious. This was NOT a misinterpretation. This is NOT about our lacking a "sense of humor". So far, three others from my Roll Call have written here to confirm this.

 

No one said anything. No one responded. Why? Personally, I was so surprised that I did not know what to think. The captain, (who stood silently beside him) said nothing. Honestly, at the time I believed that the cruise director was told to say these things by some official. I think many of us felt the same. As I initially wrote, you could hear a pin drop in that room. We were all stunned by the unexpected rebuke.

 

InRetirement did ask him if he could ask the Captain a question. I thought he wanted to address this situation. (I could be very wrong.) He was told the captain had to leave. The cruise director did not ask what questions needed answers. I felt like we were being shut down about this as he then moved the gathering into a different direction, asking us to call out CC names of those we wanted to meet. As people raised their hands, we still did not get a chance to get up and greet them.

 

We left soon after that. I think we were all just too polite, just too surprised to say anything. For me, it was both a combination of surprise over what he said, how he said it and a wonder over why he said it.

 

Again, there was NO ONE hawking excursions! NO ONE discussing excursions. NO ONE collecting money at this meeting. Any transactions and discussions were done at a different time, not here. No Mike grabbing. Just people sitting and waiting to meet each other. Period.

 

I was there early. I needed my morning caffeine and was waiting for the coffee cart to be set up. This was the first sea day and it was, unfortunately, a morning gathering! (I had jet lag. I really wanted to sleep late, like my DH chose to do.). I was the Keeper of the Roll Call and wanted to be there for the whole meeting. I wanted to put faces to the names of people I had been corresponding with for over a year so I know what was going on, and what was NOT going on in that room.

 

On the Roll Call there WAS extensive discussion and explicit, extremely helpful step-by-step assistance on how to book online excursions for boats and buses and trains that provided PUBLIC transportation through fjords...at a fraction of the ships prices. In fact, in Stavenger, as you walked off the ship, right behind us was the boat that many of us had booked online. People were trying to buy tickets on the spot. Most had already been sold out online. I can understand how the cruise line can be upset that we had the same trip without them for less. A loss of revenue for sure. I would understand if they charged a bit more, as a ticket broker, but not their huge mark-up. We paid $56.50 for the three hour trip. The ship charged $119 for it. Granted they stopped to serve coffee and waffles, which we did not get. Very very expensive coffee and waffles! In this specific instance, if the cruise industry lost a few customers, they more than made up for us with everyone else who did sign up with them!

 

With ship excursions you have the piece of mind that they will wait for you. This happened in Egypt. The buses were an hour late returning. We waited for them. With ship excursions you can cancel the day before and have your money refunded.

With ship excursions you have no say about how long you spend in a place, what buildings you will enter, what food you will be served, when the bathroom stop will occur. You have no say in anything from the moment you get on their big bus.

With ship excursions, they can cancel your tour a few days before and you can be left with nothing you want, (happened to us three times). We took the ship tour to the countryside and waterfall in Canada and they did not give us enough time to walk from the bus,(unescorted) to actually SEE the waterfall from the top view! We were really upset over that. They spent away too much time keeping us in a restaurant over lunch. In a private excursion, that just does not happen. As others have posted here, they should work on revamping their excursions to compete.

 

On the other hand, I have had some absolutely fabulous ship excursions! On this same cruise to Norway we went with the ship in Olden. We had another beautiful, scenic boat ride, yummy waffles and coffee, ( they are BIG in Norway) and went to see a glacier up close. It was a GREAT excursion. (I later heard that some others had the SAME private excursion for a fraction of the price. They had arranged it on the Roll Call. Most of those arrangements were discussed via emails as it did not concern the rest of us. We all believed that this was an appropriate procedure. No one made any profit by this arrangement and all transactions were discreet and respectful to the cruise line.)

 

Just last October I was on the Summit in Halifax and we did a costly, full day ship excursion on the big bus. We had the best guide, and saw the top sites. It was a fabulous day and worth every penny. This Fall we are going back there with Celebrity on the same ship. There are no ship excursions to different areas from those we experienced last year in Halifax. What does the cruise line expect us to do? Stay onboard? Walk around the town by ourselves, ... or go back to some of the same places? We naturally want to see other lovely towns and historic, scenic sites, and a private excursion is the only way to do so. To bring down the cost, we need to share the car. This is common. We find each other on the Roll Call. Over the years I have made the closest friends this way. That is one of the many reasons I just LOVE CruiseCritic!

 

If I could ONLY visit places with the ship excursions, believe me, they would lose even MORE revenue as I would be cruising LESS. I would get a hotel room in a city and go where I wanted. As InRetirement said, I cannot be forced to spend my money on their alcohol, photos, or casino. I can choose to buy in their gift shops, (actually I LIKE to get some trinkets there as sometimes they have unique port items and jewelry), and I can choose to buy art, ( which we do). I don't see excursions any differently. Am I wrong?

 

According to the Cruise Director, we should not book privately. That is why I posted here. I wanted clarification. I am, by my very nature, a rule follower. I am a retired Special Education teacher. I like order. I feel more comfortable when I know what to expect. I always return to the ship at least an hour before necessary. I don't like risk or taking chances with things like the ship leaving without me.

 

I am Elite on Celebrity and Diamond on RCCL. I love to travel and see new places and meet new people. I love to cruise. Once I unpack I can come "home" to my clean stateroom in a new port every day.

 

I love Celebrity. I love the way this cruise line's staff bends over backwards to make vacations wonderful. From the cabin stewards and maintenance staff to the dining room staff they are superb. The entertainment is wonderful. The ships are beautiful. Everything is clean. The food varied and delicious.

 

Captain Tassos was one of the most charming captains ever. He did "doughnuts" and turns at sail aways to allow incredible views of the magnificent fjords. He can even make Lifeboat Drills humorous.

 

I want to add here that CruiseCritic members on this trip were invited to go up to the helipad for two sail-aways. This was a special treat considering the spectacular scenery we sailed through. I want to thank whoever arranged this for us. It might have been Captain Tassos, or even our cruise director, to make it up to us. I would like to think so. My aim was, as I began in this long-winded post, to clarify, not crucify!

[LauraS]

Personally I would love it if each person stood up and introduced themselves by their screen name! It would be great to put faces with the names of people we have been 'talking' with for a long time.

 

On our last cruise, the CD was lame, didn't want there to be any announcements, it was a total bore and we all left after 10 minutes.

 

For years I've been saying not to rely on any "entertainment or mc'ing" but rather on your own abilities to mingle (I also like to say sitting down is the kiss of death at a Meet & Mingle; what are you sitting for???). I think it is always nice when someone takes the mike to help w/ the flow of the gathering..even if it is just to begin passing it around so you can introduce yourself!

 

Really, the onus is on YOU to make these worthwhile. Anything a cruise line does is icing on the cake!

 

Laura

[Orator]

I am in TOTAL agreement and I thank you for how perfectly you phrased this! Since I am the Original Poster here, I have been reading all the replies. I would like to add a few things now....

 

First, my intent was to clarify the rules of arranging private excursions, not to crucify the Cruise Director. I used his name to legitimize my posting. I know that the cruise lines do not love when we book them by ourselves, but I thought it was like the alcohol policy...they want you to buy it from them, but allow two bottles of wine brought by you to come onboard. A small amount. Reasonable.

 

When the cruise director made his announcement, it was very clear that he conveyed his displeasure over ALL private excursions. He made very clear comments about "loss of revenue that contributed to the demise of the cruise industry." Strong words. There was NO doubt that he was serious. This was NOT a misinterpretation. This is NOT about our lacking a "sense of humor". So far, three others from my Roll Call have written here to confirm this.

 

No one said anything. No one responded. Why? Personally, I was so surprised that I did not know what to think. The captain, (who stood silently beside him) said nothing. Honestly, at the time I believed that the cruise director was told to say these things by some official. I think many of us felt the same. As I initially wrote, you could hear a pin drop in that room. We were all stunned by the unexpected rebuke.

 

InRetirement did ask him if he could ask the Captain a question. I thought he wanted to address this situation. (I could be very wrong.) He was told the captain had to leave. The cruise director did not ask what questions needed answers. I felt like we were being shut down about this as he then moved the gathering into a different direction, asking us to call out CC names of those we wanted to meet. As people raised their hands, we still did not get a chance to get up and greet them.

 

We left soon after that. I think we were all just too polite, just too surprised to say anything. For me, it was both a combination of surprise over what he said, how he said it and a wonder over why he said it.

 

Again, there was NO ONE hawking excursions! NO ONE discussing excursions. NO ONE collecting money at this meeting. Any transactions and discussions were done at a different time, not here. No Mike grabbing. Just people sitting and waiting to meet each other. Period.

 

I was there early. I needed my morning caffeine and was waiting for the coffee cart to be set up. This was the first sea day and it was, unfortunately, a morning gathering! (I had jet lag. I really wanted to sleep late, like my DH chose to do.). I was the Keeper of the Roll Call and wanted to be there for the whole meeting. I wanted to put faces to the names of people I had been corresponding with for over a year so I know what was going on, and what was NOT going on in that room.

 

On the Roll Call there WAS extensive discussion and explicit, extremely helpful step-by-step assistance on how to book online excursions for boats and buses and trains that provided PUBLIC transportation through fjords...at a fraction of the ships prices. In fact, in Stavenger, as you walked off the ship, right behind us was the boat that many of us had booked online. People were trying to buy tickets on the spot. Most had already been sold out online. I can understand how the cruise line can be upset that we had the same trip without them for less. A loss of revenue for sure. I would understand if they charged a bit more, as a ticket broker, but not their huge mark-up. We paid $56.50 for the three hour trip. The ship charged $119 for it. Granted they stopped to serve coffee and waffles, which we did not get. Very very expensive coffee and waffles! In this specific instance, if the cruise industry lost a few customers, they more than made up for us with everyone else who did sign up with them!

 

With ship excursions you have the piece of mind that they will wait for you. This happened in Egypt. The buses were an hour late returning. We waited for them. With ship excursions you can cancel the day before and have your money refunded.

With ship excursions you have no say about how long you spend in a place, what buildings you will enter, what food you will be served, when the bathroom stop will occur. You have no say in anything from the moment you get on their big bus.

With ship excursions, they can cancel your tour a few days before and you can be left with nothing you want, (happened to us three times). We took the ship tour to the countryside and waterfall in Canada and they did not give us enough time to walk from the bus,(unescorted) to actually SEE the waterfall from the top view! We were really upset over that. They spent away too much time keeping us in a restaurant over lunch. In a private excursion, that just does not happen. As others have posted here, they should work on revamping their excursions to compete.

 

On the other hand, I have had some absolutely fabulous ship excursions! On this same cruise to Norway we went with the ship in Olden. We had another beautiful, scenic boat ride, yummy waffles and coffee, ( they are BIG in Norway) and went to see a glacier up close. It was a GREAT excursion. (I later heard that some others had the SAME private excursion for a fraction of the price. They had arranged it on the Roll Call. Most of those arrangements were discussed via emails as it did not concern the rest of us. We all believed that this was an appropriate procedure. No one made any profit by this arrangement and all transactions were discreet and respectful to the cruise line.)

 

Just last October I was on the Summit in Halifax and we did a costly, full day ship excursion on the big bus. We had the best guide, and saw the top sites. It was a fabulous day and worth every penny. This Fall we are going back there with Celebrity on the same ship. There are no ship excursions to different areas from those we experienced last year in Halifax. What does the cruise line expect us to do? Stay onboard? Walk around the town by ourselves, ... or go back to some of the same places? We naturally want to see other lovely towns and historic, scenic sites, and a private excursion is the only way to do so. To bring down the cost, we need to share the car. This is common. We find each other on the Roll Call. Over the years I have made the closest friends this way. That is one of the many reasons I just LOVE CruiseCritic!

 

If I could ONLY visit places with the ship excursions, believe me, they would lose even MORE revenue as I would be cruising LESS. I would get a hotel room in a city and go where I wanted. As InRetirement said, I cannot be forced to spend my money on their alcohol, photos, or casino. I can choose to buy in their gift shops, (actually I LIKE to get some trinkets there as sometimes they have unique port items and jewelry), and I can choose to buy art, ( which we do). I don't see excursions any differently. Am I wrong?

 

According to the Cruise Director, we should not book privately. That is why I posted here. I wanted clarification. I am, by my very nature, a rule follower. I am a retired Special Education teacher. I like order. I feel more comfortable when I know what to expect. I always return to the ship at least an hour before necessary. I don't like risk or taking chances with things like the ship leaving without me.

 

I am Elite on Celebrity and Diamond on RCCL. I love to travel and see new places and meet new people. I love to cruise. Once I unpack I can come "home" to my clean stateroom in a new port every day.

 

I love Celebrity. I love the way this cruise line's staff bends over backwards to make vacations wonderful. From the cabin stewards and maintenance staff to the dining room staff they are superb. The entertainment is wonderful. The ships are beautiful. Everything is clean. The food varied and delicious.

 

Captain Tassos was one of the most charming captains ever. He did "doughnuts" and turns at sail aways to allow incredible views of the magnificent fjords. He can even make Lifeboat Drills humorous.

 

I want to add here that CruiseCritic members on this trip were invited to go up to the helipad for two sail-aways. This was a special treat considering the spectacular scenery we sailed through. I want to thank whoever arranged this for us. It might have been Captain Tassos, or even our cruise director, to make it up to us. I would like to think so. My aim was, as I began in this long-winded post, to clarify, not crucify!

 

I believe that you have made a very important contribution to the Cruise Critic community. Celebrity Cruises has responded and assured that appropriate action, it deemed necessary, will be taken. We've had an informative discussion of appropriate behavior at the gatherings and had some of the posting rules clarified.

Thank you

[360Guy]

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.

 

My partner and I were also present for JC's "shaming" speech. While a response would certainly have been appropriate, like others, I was so stunned by the remarks I didn't know what to say--since in all my previous cruise CC meet and greets I have never been spoken to like that!

 

Some of the previous comments note what clearly is not appropriate at a meet and greet--but our group simply showed up. All of our tour activity planning/organizing as noted was done "off line" from the CC Roll Call--we were the very model of CC discretion IMHO!

 

Best comment I have read so far---subsequent cruise meet and greet didn't repeat the earlier comments!

 

Bob and Ray:)

[ghstudio]

We have been to many of these events and I don't recall anyone getting up and saying we have openings in a tour. I have seen folks stand up and ask that the people that booked their tour with them get together. Since I always do a "live from the xxxx" on a cruise, I do announce my cc name and tell folks that the "blog" will be there...if they have a comment about what I write, find me:).

 

On our Indonesian cruise, one individual arranged for 60 people to go ashore at Komodo Island with guides. The ship actually allowed the group of 60 to be on the first tender. I think that's the largest group..but it was a unique place and we wanted to be sure we had a guide with just a few people (even though there were 60 in total, each group was just 8 or 10 of us with a guide/park ranger. I have seen many groups of 16-18...arranged through the roll calls, but most seem to be 10-12.

 

I might pay a little more for celebrity tours if they were smaller and not on huge busses....but they don't offer those....and as others have pointed out, they do offer private cars and drivers, but at a ridiculous rate.

 

Celebrity really has to look at the excursions they offer and their markup. Most of us aren't dumb...we check the prices of local excursions because we know celebrity marks them up so much. We don't book excursions with celebrity because they don't offer the type of excursion we want. I know I'm not alone...far from it...in not liking 40 people bus tours. It's a bit annoying that Celebrity would complain about our setting up private tours when they actually don't compete. If their message is to those who set up major excursions, then don't chide everyone...that's just annoying and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of passenger's excursion wants.

Edited July 17, 2014 by ghstudio

[CathyCruises]

For years I've been saying not to rely on any "entertainment or mc'ing" but rather on your own abilities to mingle (I also like to say sitting down is the kiss of death at a Meet & Mingle; what are you sitting for???). I think it is always nice when someone takes the mike to help w/ the flow of the gathering..even if it is just to begin passing it around so you can introduce yourself!

 

Really, the onus is on YOU to make these worthwhile. Anything a cruise line does is icing on the cake!

 

Laura

I actually think it makes it MORE awkward when the CD or other crew members show up--because then people expect them to 'run' the event. I think it would be better if Celebrity provided the location, possibly some coffee, and left us to make the most (or least) of our time together. I am always waiting for someone to get up and 'start the show' but frequently no one wants to do it. If some brave soul (and we're ALL brave hiding behind the anonymity of our computers) would get up and suggest that we go around the room and introduce ourselves, it would be a great way to kick off the gathering. I now there can be hundreds of roll call members there, but it is a doable thing and would be very helpful.

 

At our last M&G, the CD made a few comments and then said, "no one wants to hear announcements" and left. A few brave souls tried to shout out a few things, but the crowd was exceptionally rude and would not stop talking--so no one could hear a thing and it was a big bust. When people politely say "Shhh", no one thinks it pertains to THEM!! One hates to be a schoolmarm and demand silence, but until people develop some social skills and realize when it's time to chat and when it's time to listen, we are our own worst enemies as far as M&Gs go.