What would make you leave Celebrity?

[Gordoncruickshank]

I'm with you. I wanted to take the Dalmatian Coast cruise out of Venice in August. Fat chance, the prices are ridiculous. I'll probably rent a car and do it the right way in a cooler season, but I am amazed at what people will pay. We like X, but it's not worth the cost on some cruises.

We did Barcelona to Venice on Princess a few years ago in October and weather was still good.

[dkjretired]

My thoughts exactly. I hear a lot of criticism, but most of the specifics seem trivial to me. I would understand if it were a case of "death by a thousand cuts" (i.e., so many little problems that it ruins the whole experience), but that doesn't seem to be what's happening. I would look elsewhere if the food quality went substantially down, since that affects my experience for several hours of of each day; if it was truly that bad I'd probably switch to a land vacation, or MAYBE try one of the "luxury" lines, although as you point out they are much more expensive for a plain vanilla veranda passenger.

 

I could care less about the chocolates but I will give you one very substantial thing that has changed and that is the food in the MDR. Wife and I have cruised on Celebrity since the early 90s and the food and service in the MDR then every night is what you get now in the specialty restaurants.

 

Don't get me wrong I still enjoy MDR but tend to try and book Blu on upgrades if I can.

 

I also have a concern that the new ships are going to be more centered on the suites to the detriment of the vast majority on board.

Edited February 9, 2015 by dkjretired

[laslomas]

I could care less about the chocolates but I will give you one very substantial thing that has changed and that is the food in the MDR. Wife and I have cruised on Celebrity since the early 90s and the food and service in the MDR then every night is what you get now in the specialty restaurants.

 

Don't get me wrong I still enjoy MDR but tend to try and book Blu on upgrades if I can.

 

I also have a concern that the new ships are going to be more centered on the suites to the detriment of the vast majority on board.

 

I agree concerning food quality and service in the MDR. I believe it has had to gradually slip to a lower quality so that they can have a the 'better quality' in the Speciality venues. How would they be able to charge extra if the food was not much different. Now they will either have to find a way to create something even better for Luminae, or dumb all the rest down a bit more. I hope I am wrong. I like to dine in the MDR and I also like good, perfectly cooked and presented food.

I understand the push to give more to suite passengers, however Celebrity should also be trying to come up with extra little niceties for all the other passengers too.

[NLH Arizona]

I understand the push to give more to suite passengers, however Celebrity should also be trying to come up with extra little niceties for all the other passengers too.

Would you be willing to pay more for extra little niceties, like the suite passengers are doing?

[laslomas]

Would you be willing to pay more for extra little niceties, like the suite passengers are doing?

 

I want a cruise to be special. I cannot cruise often and have cruised with 5 different cruise lines since the early nineties. I always feel special when I board a ship, especially a Celebrity ship, and I do not want that to change. But over the years I have found that some of the special little touches have disappeared and one day I worry I will not get that lovely feeling on embarkation. I cannot travel suite class but I do understand that a passenger in a suite will expect so much more for the price they pay. I just do not want to lose any of my niceties. So probably the answer to your question is - possibly. What I actually should have said in my earlier post is not to give me more, just do not take it away. I know everything has to be paid for somehow and I have not found the prices to be reducing. I just want my cruise to stay 'special'.

Edited February 9, 2015 by laslomas

[NLH Arizona]

I want a cruise to be special. I cannot cruise often and have cruised with 5 different cruise lines since the early nineties. I always feel special when I board a ship, especially a Celebrity ship, and I do not want that to change. But over the years I have found that some of the special little touches have disappeared and one day I worry I will not get that lovely feeling on embarkation. I cannot travel suite class but I do understand that a passenger in a suite will expect so much more for the price they pay. I just do not want to lose any of my niceties. So probably the answer to your question is - possibly. What I actually should have said in my earlier post is not to give me more, just do not take it away. I know everything has to be paid for somehow and I have not found the prices to be reducing. I just want my cruise to stay 'special'.

With people complaining all the time on here about how the prices have gone up, I just wonder how Celebrity would keep things the same without raising the prices or making cuts in other areas (that we all know there is a lot of complaining about).

 

For me it is not the little extra things, like chocolates on the pillow, flowers, ice buckets, white gloved waiters, china, etc., that makes my cruises special, it is the ports, the places I get to see, the people I meet along the way and the fact that I can cruise, while others only dream about it. I guess we all have an opinion on what makes a cruise special to them and reasons why we might leave a line. Who knows, if Celebrity keeps changing, I might be the only one on the ship LOL!

[ECCruise]

I applaud the changes to suite class (would never even remotely think of paying the current per diems--and we've sailed in suites in the past--but that is a different discussion).

 

However...the minute that the suite amenities start to negatively impact my experience as a 1A, or CC or AQ passenger I have a different view. When I have to wait an inordinate amount of time for whatever--whether to book a future cruise or to eat in a dining room--and the source of the wait for many is to kowtow to a single suite passenger, then it is sayonara.

[casique39]

I'm not stuck in any one cruise company. I shop and compare, but only at the same level of service and expectations. I don't sail on cheap cruise lines. Bottomline, if I'll cruise with the any company that offers me the best deal for my expectations and requirements.

[NLH Arizona]

I'm not stuck in any one cruise company. I shop and compare, but only at the same level of service and expectations. I don't sail on cheap cruise lines. Bottomline, if I'll cruise with the any company that offers me the best deal for my expectations and requirements.

I cruise all levels. I cruise with Crystal, Celebrity and NCL. The funny thing, the items people have issue with being removed from Celebrity (chocolates on pillows, flowers in cabins, ice buckets filled twice a day and q-tips and cotton balls in glass containers) are all available on Crystal and NCL without asking. If I only cruised cruise lines with the same level of service, I would have never added Celebrity to my mix (since I only cruised with Crystal when I added Celebrity) and would have missed out on some great cruises. Edited February 9, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[Kevnzworld]

With people complaining all the time on here about how the prices have gone up, I just wonder how Celebrity would keep things the same without raising the prices or making cuts in other areas (that we all know there is a lot of complaining about).

 

I think the issue for many is that Celebrity is both raising prices AND cutting back on what used to be offered at the lower prices.

After sailing on Seabourn and Oceania, it's difficult for me to see how Celebrity is going to fill suites in the $1000 per cabin price range, even with the new Suite restaurant.

Eventually it's all a value proposition.

[NLH Arizona]

I think the issue for many is that Celebrity is both raising prices AND cutting back on what used to be offered at the lower prices.

After sailing on Seabourn and Oceania, it's difficult for me to see how Celebrity is going to fill suites in the $1000 per cabin price range, even with the new Suite restaurant.

Eventually it's all a value proposition.

I would expect prices to raise yearly, just like most all companies and I wonder, if they would have not cut the items they have cut, would the price be even more!!! Who knows.

 

I don't see the price increase in suites to be an issue, but I guess we will all have to see what happens in the future. If Celebrity is wrong, then the price will drop drastically on the suites.

[Ma Bell]

I just don't get why no one seems to understand what has happened with Celebrity. From the beginning of the 123 offerings it was obvious to me that this is what would happen. They had to be paid for somehow. They were a big success in the beginning and bookings were up. Prices were raised and services cut or compromised. When everyone has a drink package it has to affect service in the dining room as well as the bars. This was a plan that provided great short term profitability for them.

 

When a company takes a gamble like this they need to closely monitor the response to their policies. Many of Celebrity's regular cruisers decided to experiment with other cruise lines and some of them won't be back or will at least consider other alternatives now. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost and they are beginning to cut prices on many of the itineraries. The huge increases in the stock price are over and the stock is declining daily.

 

Hopefully they now realize there is only so far you can go without alienating your customer and they will begin to balance things out so the Celebrity product remains attractive to their loyal customers as well as the newcomers.

 

Celebrity has been one of the best products available and I hope it remains that way. I have a feeling they will figure it out, they usually do.

[Presto2]

We have had to leave.......

 

We had a couple of disappointing cruises on Celebrity in 2012, and decided to take a sabbatical from cruising. When the new suite 'deal' was announced, we decide to book a Royal Suite on Eclipse in May to celebrate our Golden Wedding.

 

Just before Christmas I had a health scare, which had to be reported to our Travel insurance company. Result, they withdrew our insurance, even for UK travel, my wife had cancer 10 years ago and insurance has always been a problem, adding my issues seems to have made us uninsurable for travel.

 

In the last 2 years we have enjoyed luxury holiday cottages and 4 star hotels (with freshly squeezed OJ!), which we shall continue to do whilst we are able.

 

We planned to travel the world when we retired, but after the cancer we could only get cover for Europe. So no more overseas holidays for us. Incidentally. it took the TA 2 weeks to get a cancellation invoice from Celebrity UK!

 

To all poster, if you get the chance, do that special cruise, or item on the 'bucket' list, before its to late. We met loads of great people on our 39 cruises, and just a few we don't want to meet again!

 

Richard

 

ps will still haunt this board!!!

 

A great message - that is exactly what our parents told us, so we travel and travel while we can. Perhaps when some of us moan about little things we forget that we are so 'blessed' to be able to go at all.

 

Best wishes to you both and many happy holidays wherever. :)

[Cruise Junky]

I just don't get why no one seems to understand what has happened with Celebrity. From the beginning of the 123 offerings it was obvious to me that this is what would happen. They had to be paid for somehow. They were a big success in the beginning and bookings were up. Prices were raised and services cut or compromised. When everyone has a drink package it has to affect service in the dining room as well as the bars. This was a plan that provided great short term profitability for them.

 

When a company takes a gamble like this they need to closely monitor the response to their policies. Many of Celebrity's regular cruisers decided to experiment with other cruise lines and some of them won't be back or will at least consider other alternatives now. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost and they are beginning to cut prices on many of the itineraries. The huge increases in the stock price are over and the stock is declining daily.

 

Hopefully they now realize there is only so far you can go without alienating your customer and they will begin to balance things out so the Celebrity product remains attractive to their loyal customers as well as the newcomers.

 

Celebrity has been one of the best products available and I hope it remains that way. I have a feeling they will figure it out, they usually do.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you but have you cruised any other lines lately? The cuts are everywhere and plentiful. It seems easy to blame 123 but what do we blame on all the other lines?

[Ma Bell]

Of course it's not ever just one thing.

[NLH Arizona]

I'm not disagreeing with you but have you cruised any other lines lately? The cuts are everywhere and plentiful. It seems easy to blame 123 but what do we blame on all the other lines?

You are so correct. Every cruise line's threads you go on, they are complaining about cutbacks or that the food quality has declined, it is not just Celebrity. People on Celebrity were complaining about cutbacks and food quality way before the inception of the 123 promotion and I'm sure Celebrity has it calculated how many new customers they need to make it work and how many customers will leave. Edited February 9, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[soxfan2013]

They must be doing something right, because the ship's are full. They seem to be very smart when it comes to yield management and dynamic pricing and promotions. It's more of a "get what you pay for" strategy, but then they give you money or perls to choose what you want to pay for. Seems smart to me.

[MizDemeanor]

We did leave because the service levels on board were awful. Rationalizing this may have been a fluke we will try one more time on a short 7 night cruise since we are not engaging in longer cruises in case of customer dissatisfaction and risk until we go on Celebrity with an open mind one more time.

[Champagne Cruiser]

Assuming the quality of the food and service remain the same, the rising prices are driving us away from Celebrity. We took 5 cruises last year, but only 2 with Celebrity because of the high prices. We tried Princess and Holland America, but we like Celebrity the best. However, we don't like it twice as much, so because we like to vacation as much as possible it is a cost issue for us and will probably spend more time on other cruise lines.

[Iluvcruising2]

I've only sailed on Celebrity once and it was a very good experience. Chances of us sailing Celebrity again is very high.

 

Coming from Singapore, we do not have many choices. We have had to fly long distances to get to cruise ships.

 

In recent times more ships have come to Singapore and I hope to be able to sail on them. Celebrity Millennium is one such ship.

 

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[cpj]

They must be doing something right, because the ship's are full. They seem to be very smart when it comes to yield management and dynamic pricing and promotions. It's more of a "get what you pay for" strategy, but then they give you money or perls to choose what you want to pay for. Seems smart to me.

 

According to my travel agent there ships are not all full. They have been lowering prices like all the cruise lines do to get to about 80 percent capacity.

[Ma Bell]

According to the people who analyze the stock bookings are down.

[cpj]

I no longer book cruises in advance. In a position now to wait for the best deal. I think a lot of customers have taken that position.

[MizDemeanor]

The marketing info in me tells me that it is known that the most loyal customers are the least profitable and those customers who want the best price are the ones that are catered to the least.

[cpj]

The marketing info in me tells me that it is known that the most loyal customers are the least profitable and those customers who want the best price are the ones that are catered to the least.

 

And how do they know that. Does the people on the ships know what I paid. What a bunch of BS