Will you ever be Zenith ?

[BrendaJ]

We are Elite+ and I'm afraid by the time we reach Zenith, we will be too old to enjoy it; however, we'll try to get there. As we generally cruise verandah or AQ, we'll have to do it the slow way, although we have booked a Royal Suite for next year, right after the new suite perks start, so that should be pretty exciting. However, that suite is for a special occasion, and no matter how great it is, I doubt we'll see the inside of a suite again, unless there is a stupendous deal or a lottery win in our future (and as we don't buy lottery tickets, that possibility is pretty slim). :p

 

That being said, I'm very happy with the existing Elite+ perks, and Celebrity's product pleases us enough that we have no desire to look for alternatives. We have enjoyed Azamara as well, but Celebrity really suits us better, at least for non port-intensive cruises. It will be a while before we run out of itineraries on Celebrity, although I do hope Celebrity eventually has more port-intensive cruises in French Polynesia - that's the one place that Celebrity does not have a desirable itinerary for us yet.

 

A level between Elite+ and Zenith makes sense to me, as so few people will ever manage to get to Zenith, but I'm happy either way.

[NEARING 100 CRUISES]

I am not leaving Celebrity just because of a flower. They are not the cruise line they used to be. My wife and I have now completed 111 cruises. Yes, we are crazy. In our opinion, Celebrity has gone downhill for the past year. As an example: We booked a shore excursion that said on our tickets that the tour leaves at 2:00p.m. and to be on the pier at 1:45. We were there by 1:20.

A couple from Canada showed up and a mom with 2 children. No bus ever showed up. We contacted shore excursions and were told the tour left at 1:00.

They said it was our fault. Wrong., so wrong.

 

We had an assistant waiter with no training. I ordered a salad. He brought 3 dressings, ranch, blue cheese and walnut. I said I will try the walnut. Turned out to be blue cheese. I sent it back and got another salad. He then said he had lemon dressing. I said fine. It turned out to be the horseradish for the prime rib.

Our head waiter saw us on the second evening and never again.

 

Sorry, folks there are better cruise lines than Celebrity right now. I was a cheerleader for them for many years.

[jagoffee]

Jagoffee: We were in a concierge room. There are no more flowers in the room and no we did not receive any flower from the Captains club. Our friends who are elite and in a balcony room did receive it. We had the same cabin attendant who told us that elite+ is no longer entitled to receive a Captain's club flower. How cheap can they get? This was our 41st Celebrity cruise and our fifth time on the Infinity. We have 1 more Celrbrity cruise booked and then goodbye.

 

As other have said it is very possible that your cabin steward was wrong/confused. As you said having a benefit for just Elite and not Elite+ unless there is an improved benefit that replaces it does not make much sense.

[Project_gal]

I believe your cabin attendant was misinformed or just didn't know and chose to give the wrong answer. It happens, you know.

 

I certainly wouldn't jump ship because the Captain's Club forgot to send me a rose, but to each his own, I guess.

 

 

It was a number of cruises before I understood what the stray rose mid-cruise was for or who it was from! I have always though that it was a strange thing to give.

[fleckle]

It was a number of cruises before I understood what the stray rose mid-cruise was for or who it was from! I have always though that it was a strange thing to give.

We usually (but not always) receive a card with it saying that it is from the Captain's Club hostess.

 

On one of our early Celebrity cruises, a few days into the cruise our stateroom attendant brought us 2 bottles of wine (one red and one white), saying only that they were "from the ship" and we never did find out why we received them.

We had not ordered them and we were not in a suite.

At the time we just thought it was a nice Celebrity custom, but it never happened again on any other cruise.

 

[C 2 C]

On one of our early Celebrity cruises, a few days into the cruise our stateroom attendant brought us 2 bottles of wine (one red and one white), saying only that they were "from the ship" and we never did find out why we received them.

 

At the time we just thought it was a nice Celebrity custom, but it never happened again on any other cruise.

 

 

That explains what happened to our Captain's Club wine ... I thought the crew enjoyed it when it was not delivered.. ;)

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I am not leaving Celebrity just because of a flower. They are not the cruise line they used to be. My wife and I have now completed 111 cruises. Yes, we are crazy. In our opinion, Celebrity has gone downhill for the past year. As an example: We booked a shore excursion that said on our tickets that the tour leaves at 2:00p.m. and to be on the pier at 1:45. We were there by 1:20.

A couple from Canada showed up and a mom with 2 children. No bus ever showed up. We contacted shore excursions and were told the tour left at 1:00.

They said it was our fault. Wrong., so wrong.

 

We had an assistant waiter with no training. I ordered a salad. He brought 3 dressings, ranch, blue cheese and walnut. I said I will try the walnut. Turned out to be blue cheese. I sent it back and got another salad. He then said he had lemon dressing. I said fine. It turned out to be the horseradish for the prime rib.

Our head waiter saw us on the second evening and never again.

 

Sorry, folks there are better cruise lines than Celebrity right now. I was a cheerleader for them for many years.

 

Hope you enjoy your new cruise line and get the service you want.

 

Here's how I handled an inexperienced waiter and assistant on the Century. After the first evening when I thought we would never get out of the MDR, I went to the maitre d' and said that if things didn't improve, our table of 8 would need to be moved. EVERY night after that, the maitre d' showed up at our table, helped out if necessary, and kept an eye on things. The service improved after that. It still wasn't to Celebrity's normal standards, but we were having such a good time with our tablemates, we decided to just laugh things off. Or correct the assistant when he tried to get me to re-use sliverware. I just politely informed him that Celebrity didn't do things that way and he would please bring me a clean fork.

 

We had a wonderful cruise. Yes, the waitstaff was not up to normal Celebrity standards, but there was an extraordinary amount of brand new crew on that ship and I think they did the best they could.

 

[fleckle]

That explains what happened to our Captain's Club wine ... I thought the crew enjoyed it when it was not delivered.. ;)

Aha, so after all these years we finally learn that we have you to thank.

It is a nice gesture, much appreciated. I hope they are continuing this lovely tradition of delivering wine from the top cruisers to the newcomers to welcome them to Celebrity. :D

 

[Algebralovr]

DH and I started cruising in our early 40s, and are currently spending all of our vacation time and budget on getting away from the Midwest winters to the Caribbean via Celebrity. We will finally reach Elite in Feb 2016, on our 10th cruise. It would have been after our 7th cruise on the old system, based on the type of room we have decided we like. In fact, we will have to request a special upgrade in Feb 2016, as we have a B2B booked and will be Elite on the second one but not the first. Unless, that is, I can talk CC into giving me 10 extra points, since that will be what I am short going into the 9th cruise in Feb 2016, or if I find a deal on an upgrade to a suite after final payment for Feb 2015.

 

Based on current bookings, including bonus point offers to date, we will have 410 points total after our Feb 2016 cruises. That means E+ after our 2021 cruises, assuming current trends. Maybe a little sooner if we can upgrade to a suite, or if they offer bonus points.

 

Looks like Zenith is going to take a really, really long time. Maybe we'll win the lottery!