Really weird - anything good?

[blindrid]

Seems like X is going through some goofy times. A lot of complaining. Their website is not up to other standards, promotions cause confusion (123), they seem to go out of their way to alienate new cruisers.

 

Am I getting old and crotchety or do other cruise lines make the total experience better?

 

Thoughts?

[AntjeG]

Seems like X is going through some goofy times. A lot of complaining. Their website is not up to other standards, promotions cause confusion (123), they seem to go out of their way to alienate new cruisers.

 

Am I getting old and crotchety or do other cruise lines make the total experience better?

 

Thoughts?

 

Yes there are some more or less important glitches. But I think that people tend to complain more than to praise. So if out of 10 people let´s say 5 enjoy their cruise and 5 experience a glitch of some sort you will find 4 negative and 2 positive reviews and the rest of the people doesn´t take the time to do a review. Also, you can often find a complaint of some sort on these boards and find the efforts X takes to solve the problem only if you ask the poster in detail.

 

That being said, I, too, think that their long ongoing website problems are quite ridiculous given the fact that we live in internet age. But this is a good example: I was not able to do online check in due to website problems. Something I could have complained about. I called X and a very friendly lady on the phone did online check in for me. Problem solved. Yes, I had to take the time to call them. Yes, this should not have happened. But no serious damage has been done, the phone call did only cost a few minutes of my time and no money and as I said the lady was friendly and helpfull. So why should I complain? As long as there are more positives than negatives and the negatives are solved I would enjoy my cruise. I would mention the problems on the guest survey to give X a chance to do better but not complain on an internet forum about minor issues.

[Aquahound]

Just maybe sometimes success goes to their head? I truly don't get the web issues in this day and age....I also don't like the reality that when I had to cancel a planned cruise at the last minute they were happy to keep my money but not happy to give me captain's club points for the cruise. "you only earn points on cruises you complete". Maybe I should apologize to them for being in the hospital then?

 

I'm with you on this one. There's no bigger kick in the gut than the cruise line keeping your money on top of being hospitalized and missing out on your long awaited vacation. Having rule mongers quote the contracts, insurance, etc, on top of it all, as if you didn't already know it, certainly doesn't help.

 

Seems like X is going through some goofy times. A lot of complaining. Their website is not up to other standards, promotions cause confusion (123), they seem to go out of their way to alienate new cruisers.

 

Am I getting old and crotchety or do other cruise lines make the total experience better?

 

Thoughts?

 

I think the website issues is a RCCL thing. I've had problems with Celebrity's site, but nowhere near as much as the disastrous RCI site. Earlier this year, I cruised also Princess and HAL, and didn't have the problems I have on RCCL sites.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Aquahound

[GWM907]

OP is correct IMO. While the onboard experience has been very good the rest of Celebrity's operation leaves much to be desired. This is clearly a management problem. Not only do they alienate new cruisers but they do a pretty good job with those of us who have remained loyal. For example, I am sailing on the Reflection in a little over a week (11/29). The price of cabins have come down substantially since final payment. I understand that's the way it goes and that they have every right to try to fill cabins. It so happens that there are a LOT of empty cabins on this cruise so why not at least offer an upgrade to those of us who paid substantially more than current prices and have been loyal to Celebrity (my 10th cruise with them). Doing this would cost them nothing and would go a long way in solidifying existing customer relationships. Don't get me wrong I am happy with my 1B balcony cabin and am looking forward to a great cruise but a little extra from Celebrity at no cost to them would be very appreciated. Who knows there is still some time left maybe the mysterious upgrade fairy will visit at the last minute.

[micruiser12]

On the negative side I would totally agree that the website issues are hard to understand. It has been years and nothing seems to get better.

 

As far as actually being on the ship we sailed twice this year. Once on the Summit and once on the Constellation and both experiences were excellent. The staff and Captain were wonderful and we thought the food seemed good or even improved.

 

So I do find the experience of doing much of anything with their website not a good experience, however we have been very fortunate in 9 cruises total to have a much better experience once we reach the ship and that's what is most meaningful for us.

[cle-guy]

OP is correct IMO. While the onboard experience has been very good the rest of Celebrity's operation leaves much to be desired. This is clearly a management problem. Not only do they alienate new cruisers but they do a pretty good job with those of us who have remained loyal. For example, I am sailing on the Reflection in a little over a week (11/29). The price of cabins have come down substantially since final payment. I understand that's the way it goes and that they have every right to try to fill cabins. It so happens that there are a LOT of empty cabins on this cruise so why not at least offer an upgrade to those of us who paid substantially more than current prices and have been loyal to Celebrity (my 10th cruise with them). Doing this would cost them nothing and would go a long way in solidifying existing customer relationships. Don't get me wrong I am happy with my 1B balcony cabin and am looking forward to a great cruise but a little extra from Celebrity at no cost to them would be very appreciated. Who knows there is still some time left maybe the mysterious upgrade fairy will visit at the last minute.

 

Generally you can pay the difference to upgrade to a better cabin category post final payment. You may lose perks depending on the nature of the discounted fare.

 

They won't automatically upgrade so they can keep those open for sale, and also, so they don't start people into the habit of doing just as you are proposing, book lower category and wait to be upgraded to the better category for free.

 

I think people are already too comfortable with waiting till post final payment, especially on caribbean routes, to play the fare game that it's hurting the cruise lines. There was an interview a couple months back with one of the RCI execs, who said that is an area they ware looking to tighten up in the upcoming year, and start to not drop fares so much if at all post final payments, to stop this process and keep cabin fares up.

[BILLP1]

They need to bring in a organization management consulting company to get the communications between the home office and the ships on the same page. Speak to the home office or people in management positions on the ships and you will get different answers to the same questions. This is badly managed company with a good product that is successful despite themselves.

[DYKWIA]

I think one thing that irked me a bit prior to our cruise was the way that certain policies / rules don't appear to be consistent across the company - which is annoying when you're talking about the same specific cruise.

 

We booked a guaranteed balcony stateroom direct with celebrity in the UK. We were assigned an aft room on deck 8, we were very happy. I did notice that there were some other cabins available nearer midships in the same price category so contacted celebrity to see if we could be assigned one of those (having heard that people have had some success doing this). I was told that for UK bookings this wasn't allowed. Not a major issue and as I say we were happy with our room, but it does seem there is some inconsistency here and not sure why.

Edited November 19, 2014 by DYKWIA

[GWM907]

Curt, I understand what you are saying however I am not proposing that they upgrade automatically on every cruise. If they were to do that some people would obviously book lower priced cabins and hope. Using my situation as an example the price of an aqua class cabin was recently priced lower than what I paid for a balcony cabin so I wouldn't have the option of paying the difference for an upgrade. As I understand it Celebrity sailings typically sail at or near capacity so upgrades are not usually available. That said at this time of year (late Nov - mid Dec.) cruise lines have a hard time filling their ships. Seems to me this is a marketing opportunity for them to WOW the customers on these few less than full sailings.

[GWM907]

Curt

You're right about the current pricing on Aqua and suites. As recently as less than a week ago Aqua was less than $800 for a short time. I cant recall if it was $799 or $749 however I would not have been able to upgrade at that point since my balcony cost that. Now at $1049 it is more than I want to spend. Enjoy your cruise.

[Host Walt]

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