What would make you leave Celebrity?

[phoenix_dream]

Let me post a different slant on this question. We haven't left Celebrity...for the past three or four years, we have been very loyal to celebrity (100%)...but that changed this year and our next cruise is on Holland American (our first on that line). We now also have cruises booked on Oceania...but yes, we do have two 28 day B2B cruises booked with Celebrity..one in 2016, one in 2017.

 

Why did we "stray".

 

1) we book aqua...we like blu....we are just tired of the menus and I almost dread seeing those three dishes of whatever with the celery stick and two carrot sticks when I sit down to dinner....no change in crudites ever..not even an olive for a change, no real change in the menus....it's gotten dull and repetitive. In fact we booked our 2016 b2b in a C2 cabin for a change.

 

2) The constant reminder of change...which in this context is pretty much take aways. String Quartets, flowers, mixed fruit bowls, chocolates (now back), the OJ situation now and so on...there's always something new missing on each cruise.

 

3) Itineraries...we've traveled a great deal..when we get to Grand Cayman on a ship, the sting rays spell out "welcome back GH" on the bottom under our balcony". Celebrity seems to have the same cruises to the same ports. Our next cruise does 5 stops in Iceland...can't do that on celebrity...not sure if you can even do 1 or 2. With limited ships, I guess they have to appeal to the masses..but we don't like repetition.

 

4) You're never sure who is giving you the right information when you contact celebrity. I can't tell you the number of times I've called, gotten information, called back to confirm only to find out that the first person gave me wrong information...or is it the second person? It's gotten so I only call celebrity as a last resort. Celebrity Cruises (cc id) is helping here so that's a plus.

 

5)Lack of consistency. Four M class ships...with different smoking areas...do I book a rear cabin on deck 11 or not (is there smoking on deck 10 or not?)...it seems to depend on ship...and perhaps sailing. Are bloody mary's served in the captains club cocktail event...not on the menu but I never had a problem ordering one in the past (remember we've cruised a great deal on Celebrity), but the last cruise the head bartender told me it wasn't on the menu....huh? I can get it free for breakfast but not at the elite cocktail party...really??? (I know this is some hq decision, but I have a problem with things that just don't make sense). Changes like that are just annoying..and sometimes it's the little things you remember.

 

6) When we started sailing Celebrity, we felt loved...or at least valued. For whatever reason that's not our current feeling. The recent laser focus on suites has really turned me, a repeat aqua passenger, off. Nothing specific, but I feel that we (non suite guests) get lip service..."modern luxury" and advertising. I guess to some extent I've begun to feel like a number rather than a valued customer. Of course this is subjective....maybe I participate in CC too much.

 

7) If I have to think of one event that changed my viewpoint about Celebrity, it was their attempt to drastically reduce the classic drink package...and the way it was handled. I guess I was disappointed to see how little Celebrity seemed to care about customer relations, perceptions and the importance of repeat customers.

 

So for us, it's not about leaving Celebrity....it's about when/why did we start to look and book with other cruise lines rather than being fully "loyal". I still think Celebrity is the best of the mass market cruise lines...but they have to keep earning that "badge" on each cruise. Never assume you don't have to care about keeping long time repeat customers....I think that's something that has stopped resonating in Celebrity HQ.

I so agree with everything you have written here. I am not ready to drop Celebrity - it is still my preferred line. But for many of the reasons you have written we are now more willing to consider other cruise lines. I cannot afford exotic itineraries, but even changes to Caribbean sailings would be a very welcome change. We used to love the 10 days out of San Juan that went to Aruba - could afford that in money and vacation time. Those are gone. Same old, same old, same old ports.

 

As a long time loyal cruiser I also notice little (and some not so little) things going missing, seemingly each and every cruise. These things ARE important - and ARE noticeable. I also feel very pushed aside with the marketing emphasis on suites and the upper 10% of the 30-something crowd. I understand building a new base but heck, even those of us who have been loyal for 20+ years now plan to cruise at least another 15-20 years! That's a lot of money I plan to spend on cruising - are you listening Celebrity?? I'm still here. I'm still cruising. Do you still want my business? Sometimes I wonder.

 

Finally for me (and I don't think you mentioned this directly) cost is starting to be a concern. The pricing has seemed to skyrocket this past year and if it continues the Celebrity experience will fall out of my price range. I like to cruise 2-3 times a year. I am willing to make some sacrifice in quality (if need be) to keep up that quantity. I am hoping it doesn't come to that but the upcoming cruises I have deposits on are really, really stretching my budget. It's not a good cycle - prices skyrocketing, while what you get for the money is declining. Hmmmm. Not a good combination.

[Project_gal]

... As a long time loyal cruiser I also notice little (and some not so little) things going missing, seemingly each and every cruise. These things ARE important - and ARE noticeable. I also feel very pushed aside with the marketing emphasis on suites and the upper 10% of the 30-something crowd. ...

Finally for me (and I don't think you mentioned this directly) cost is starting to be a concern. The pricing has seemed to skyrocket this past year and if it continues the Celebrity experience will fall out of my price range. I like to cruise 2-3 times a year. I am willing to make some sacrifice in quality (if need be) to keep up that quantity. ...

 

So you want no cuts but prices to remain the same without Celebrity trying attract the higher-spending demographics who are willing to pay more [in higher fares and/or higher on board spend] and may just subsidise the product for everyone else?

[lyndarra]

Another current thread states they are leaving Celebrity over the discontinuance of fresh squeezed OJ.

 

It made me wonder what would be the 'straw or straws' that would make me leave or at least try another cruise line. (We have tried other lines and like to sail Celebrity and Royal when price and itinerary are within a range that we can justify paying more based on our value proposition for Celebrity and Royal quality of products/services.)

 

With all the changes of late, my sense is that Celebrity and Royal would lose their value add with us when:

 

1) I feel there is a class system onboard. Have no problem of private facilities, etc. Just keep them out of 'in your face' locations. So for example, reserved seating in various public venues. So far this has NOT been a problem, but if a show creates overflow of attendees and there are vacant seats being held, that might help sway me. On last cruise, they released reserved seating about 10-15 minutes ahead of show time as I recall.

 

 

2) continued cutbacks in food quality/selection unless you pay more. In past have not had a problem with free/included coffee and charging for speciality coffees as an example. On last cruise, one table mate ordered upgraded steak in MDR and we compared steaks and was not too happy with my "free/included" steak with a side by side comparison.

 

3) raising prices to then include items I don't want. Many of the recent free perks were covered by price increases. Then, having tiers of packages and including only the base/basic in the 'free' perks and at least for me having to then pay more to get the upgraded package that had the drinks I wanted.

 

Above are my quick thoughts.

 

Celebrity still has fresh squeezed OJ so, whoever it was, should not jump ship yet.

[luv2trvlnow]

So which cruiseline are you now checking out? We pretty much know all those issues have occurred. It's the canceling a cruise becaues it's being chartered that would kill it for me. Especially if you have purchased Air & or a hotel. I do feel if you have insurance(which YOU NEED!!)you'll at least be covered for the loss of air & hotel accomodations.

Unless you had Celebrity's insurance I can tell you that you are not covered for the loss of air. We had a cruise cancelled and when I checked with our insurance (purchased through insure my trip dot com) I got a big shock. I was told even though the cruise line cancelled the airline hadn't. So no getting your airfare returned.

 

I did have some coverage for a change of the flight ($75pp, but the airline would charge $200pp) I couldn't just get all my money back for the flight. We usually don't fly, so we were stuck with airfare and no cruise. This is how we ended up on our first Celebrity cruise last month. We had airfare to San Juan and Celebrity had a cruise we could take between our arrival and departure dates in San Juan.

 

It is amazing to find out you don't have coverage for things you thought were covered. I would have never thought that you had no coverage for airfare if the cruise line cancelled your cruise. I thought they went hand in hand. I mean if they cancel the cruise why do you need the airfare to go there. But the insurance companies don't look at it the same way. You don't find out about these things until you need it and then it is too late.

[Project_gal]

When Celebrity cancelled our cruise, it was the cost of the INSURANCE Celebrity would not cover. As it amounted to in the region of US$2,800, the compensation paid by Celebrity went no way to recompensing us. Luckily, our insurers valued our custom more than Celebrity and made an ex gratia refund of a large percentage of the premium for us.

[hulamoon]

From our perspective the AQ and suite categories are two to three times what they were two years ago. At the same time we watched additional benefits and resources going to suites they were also raising prices elsewhere and removing amenities and quality. We decided to do suites and see how it goes and will for three cruises before going back to AQ.

 

Most of those amenities have been restored but Celebrity can get stale if you are on the ships enough, like many of you, I remain hopeful but am more willing to shop around.

 

That is a good reminder insurance is not insured project_gal.

[CruisingChick]

Dynamic Dining.

 

Yuup, you got that right.

[CruisingChick]

From our perspective the AQ and suite categories are two to three times what they were two years ago. At the same time we watched additional benefits and resources going to suites they were also raising prices elsewhere and removing amenities and quality. We decided to do suites and see how it goes and will for three cruises before going back to AQ.

 

Most of those amenities have been restored but Celebrity can get stale if you are on the ships enough, like many of you, I remain hopeful but am more willing to shop around.

 

That is a good reminder insurance is not insured project_gal.

 

The reason prices are higher is they keep giving away drink packages, gratuities and OBC. There's a significant lowering of price once the perks go away. They have to cover the costs of all those somehow.

[wallie5446]

The reason prices are higher is they keep giving away drink packages, gratuities and OBC. There's a significant lowering of price once the perks go away. They have to cover the costs of all those somehow.

 

This is not always the case. Our Thanksgiving sailing on Equinox this Nov is up $824 per person for a Aqua 2 with only a choice of ONE of the perks, from what we booked at last Nov. We have all 3 perks, and double the OBC + another $150 from Capt Club.

 

Pricing depends on if the sailing is selling well or not. If it is a poor date and there is little interest any good marketing dept will drop the price to move the product off the shelf.

[CruisingChick]

This is not always the case. Our Thanksgiving sailing on Equinox this Nov is up $824 per person for a Aqua 2 with only a choice of ONE of the perks, from what we booked at last Nov. We have all 3 perks, and double the OBC + another $150 from Capt Club.

 

Pricing depends on if the sailing is selling well or not. If it is a poor date and there is little interest any good marketing dept will drop the price to move the product off the shelf.

 

You are sailing during a Holiday, prices always stay high for those sailings. If after final payment they have rooms to get rid of then they will tend to drop.

[hulamoon]

Last year most Thanksgiving and post Thanksgiving cruises dropped significantly. I think it was because they kept the higher prices up too long, longer than other lines leaving about the same did.

 

While some cruises may seem to be almost free with extra perks compared to what someone else paid I believe in the whole they are not giving away free anything. If you aren't paying for it, someone else is by paying a higher rate after the ship is filled by a certain percentage by those with lower fares and more perks, which in my mind is just a lower fare.

[happygran]

Price!

 

We love Celebrity, but aren't prepared to pay their current prices.

 

I looked at a cruise for 2016 that we did last year & the price is £1600 more!

 

I'm sorry, but as much as I love Celebrity, I'm not willing to pay that.........

[Giorgi-one]

Have no idea where comments on price are coming from. We booked a 7 day cruise on Reflection for next January in Concierge Class for $1099 per person plus tax. Amenities included prepaid gratuities, classic beverage package and $600 OBC. That is less than I paid for our first cruise in 1996 in an Oceanview cabin with no amenities. Cruising is the best value vacation out there and Celebrity prices are competitive or better than most.

[hcat]

But are not Aqua Class passengers a "relatively small minority" as well? At least suite passengers pay more. I have read how Aqua Class can be less expensive than Concierge Class or Balcony on some sailings.

 

While it does happen, usually we pay a bunch more for AQ and rarely see a price drop...

without AQ and BLU we might have given up already..

 

.and now we see other options with dining packages for Specialty restaurants...that might work out as well but MDR no longer in our plans,.....

[DYKWIA]

Have no idea where comments on price are coming from. .....

 

Look at some of the European Cruises! Constellation - Italian + Greek 14 night cruise in July - £6348 for a 2C Balcony (approx $9400)

 

The cruise we did last year around the Med this year has been running at between £1000 (no offers) -£2500 (when the 123 promo was on) more than we paid last year - This equates to roughly 35-75% hike in prices.

Edited April 15, 2015 by DYKWIA

[floridatravelersforlife]

Our past posts indicated we would wait until enough negatives lined up to make us not want to exclusively cruise Celebrity. As Elite Plus, we often marveled how good Celebrity was. Not any more

 

We were on the Valpariso to FLL cruise. We paid a bundle for Aqua Class and the precruise to Machu Pichu.

Positives - destination sites were great(MP) to mediocre. Blu finally turned good again with good service. Cabin location was good

Negatives - Poor food elsewhere, poor entertainment, poor cabin service with incomplete cleaning, terrible internet, terrible laundry, bad hygiene on board, sickness everywhere, cold and standoffish officers and drivers license bureau like attitude from the Guest Relations.

 

We used to feel like we were part of the Celebrity family but now it's more like us vs them.

 

The free drinks laundry and internet are not worth the allegiance. we may throw them some business on a short Caribe cruise but that's about all.

 

And yes we did mention the above, on board and yes we sent in a bad review ( The first in 13 years) You think they would take notice from a loyal Elite Pluser? The result? Nada Not one reply from anyone. sour grapes no , disappointed in the new Celebrity mantra-- yes

 

As we know there are plenty of other cruise lines to take their place.

[ghstudio]

I hope that "Celebrity Cruises" is following this thread and forwarding the comments to the appropriate folks. There is some commonality that should be of interest to a number of departments....and to the ships themselves. Yes, CC is a small cross section of passengers, so it's easy to shrug off the comments...but for every bad comment you see, there are probably 100 people walking around with the same thought...just not being vocal about it. That goes for good comments and bad comments of course.

[Northern Aurora]

Our past posts indicated we would wait until enough negatives lined up to make us not want to exclusively cruise Celebrity. As Elite Plus, we often marveled how good Celebrity was. Not any more

 

.......

 

We used to feel like we were part of the Celebrity family but now it's more like us vs them.

 

The free drinks laundry and internet are not worth the allegiance. we may throw them some business on a short Caribe cruise but that's about all.

 

And yes we did mention the above, on board and yes we sent in a bad review ( The first in 13 years) You think they would take notice from a loyal Elite Pluser? The result? Nada Not one reply from anyone. sour grapes no , disappointed in the new Celebrity mantra-- yes

 

As we know there are plenty of other cruise lines to take their place.

 

 

 

I also hope that the "official" Celebrity poster is reading this thread.

 

I also wonder if the powers that be at Celebrity truly understand that, with few exceptions, it is easier and cheaper to maintain a happy and satisfied repeat customer than to recruit a new customer. I am starting to doubt that folks in the Celebrity headquarters really understand.

[grandgeezer]

I also hope that the "official" Celebrity poster is reading this thread.

 

I also wonder if the powers that be at Celebrity truly understand that, with few exceptions, it is easier and cheaper to maintain a happy and satisfied repeat customer than to recruit a new customer. I am starting to doubt that folks in the Celebrity headquarters really understand.

 

I worked for a company that had a philosophy that it cost ten times as much to get a customer back as it does to keep them. It seemed to work really well.

[ECCruise]

I worked for a company that had a philosophy that it cost ten times as much to get a customer back as it does to keep them. It seemed to work really well.

 

Yes, but if you attract a suite customer who is willing to pay 10 times what the retained customer pays, it is economically worthwhile. And honestly, watching Celebrity's moves the last few months not sure that isn't the focus.

 

Aah, but when that money goes away....

 

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Forums mobile app

[DWhit]

We wont and have no need to spend $$ on the uppity lines like Cunard...

Not sure what makes you think Cunard is uppity. That was not my experience, in fact the passengers and crew we met were without exception very nice.

[Germancruiser]

I have a Cunard Cruise in a few weeks time. ( Queen Victoria) Cunard may become my cruise line in the future. I sailed QE 2 , QM 2 twice- I also found to be absolutley not upitiy. Nice and friendly service! GOOD TEA! The High Tea in the Queens Room is just great! ( AND FOR ALL TO ATTEND - NOT ONLY BY INVIATION FOR ELITE AND ABOVE) The dancing in the Queens Room great fun to watch AND participate! LOL! Their prices are sometimes a bit on ridiculous side- but one can get bargains. LOL!

[dhill]

The real question is why would you sail with only one cruise line :eek: With so manycruise lines and so many offers why not shop around ,. But maybe if you sail with the same line all the time you get a few little extras and after you become gold or diamond or what ever it will make you feel a little more important:rolleyes:

[goodycruising]

The real question is why would you sail with only one cruise line :eek: With so manycruise lines and so many offers why not shop around ,. But maybe if you sail with the same line all the time you get a few little extras and after you become gold or diamond or what ever it will make you feel a little more important:rolleyes:

 

We find the loyalty benefits of the diamond lounge (Royal) and the elite equivalents (Celebrity) to be very much a big factor when looking at other lines. I think it is interesting that people like to knock the loyalty benefits as just people wanting to feel important. Just to clarify, gold means you have done one cruise. Diamond means you get access to the diamond lounge. Elite means you get some free laundry, wifi and evening drinks and nibbles along with other discount benefits.

 

We add up the dollars, and 3 1/2 hours of drinks and nibbles(Royal) or 2 on Celebrity, plus use of a quiet lounge all day (Diamond lounge), with good coffee, often with very pleasant like minded company to talk to. Loyalty discounts for our bookings. There is a little bit more to the loyalty scheme than a badge that makes me feel important.

 

I don't understand the need to put people down, but anyhow...I think the loyalty schemes do offer benefits that are worth dollars when comparing cruise lines.

[shipshape sam]

We find the loyalty benefits of the diamond lounge (Royal) and the elite equivalents (Celebrity) to be very much a big factor when looking at other lines. I think it is interesting that people like to knock the loyalty benefits as just people wanting to feel important. Just to clarify, gold means you have done one cruise. Diamond means you get access to the diamond lounge. Elite means you get some free laundry, wifi and evening drinks and nibbles along with other discount benefits.

 

We add up the dollars, and 3 1/2 hours of drinks and nibbles(Royal) or 2 on Celebrity, plus use of a quiet lounge all day (Diamond lounge), with good coffee, often with very pleasant like minded company to talk to. Loyalty discounts for our bookings. There is a little bit more to the loyalty scheme than a badge that makes me feel important.

 

I don't understand the need to put people down, but anyhow...I think the loyalty schemes do offer benefits that are worth dollars when comparing cruise lines.

 

Not sure I have put down benefits of Crown & Anchor or Captain's Club. I will say as you mention, there are a number of benefits and most people focus on the evening social hour. For us that is the main benefit. If I take advantage of other benefits, it is not often OR I am not aware I am doing it.

 

Benefits I know we have used:

 

evening cocktail gathering

free 8x10 picture

laundry service (free or discounted)

cabin category upgrade

casino match play

 

maybe others, but that's what I can think of and don't even use all the 5 above on each cruise.

 

We do consider the benefits when considering our next cruise, but even more so, we consider itinerary, passenger mix (we escheat lots of kids), cost of cruise/cost to travel to specific port. I would not pay more to sail on Royal or Celebrity just to get benefits beyond some nominal amount.

Edited April 16, 2015 by shipshape sam