1st Celebrity Cruise: The Good and the Bad

[NLH Arizona]

If I were Celebrity, would I care if this account, supplemented by others who "enjoyed" the same experience, went onto social media? I have no such intention, but good business would seem to suggest that soothing a customer is a better strategy than antagonizing him, or her.

The contrast between the crew--overworked and no doubt under paid--and management's attitude was stark.

Well, miss, I guess Celebrity didn't want to pay someone off not to write the truth. If I were Celebrity, I would want someone who booked a short cruise during spring break to tell everyone exactly what you experienced, as it might save others who don't do due diligence from making the same mistake. Or maybe, unless it was brought up, they never even thought about social media. I certainly believe that compensation is due to a customer where Celebrity caused the issue, but in this instance, it was other passengers not Celebrity. Did your travel agent ask questions about the number of children onboard or college age onboard or large groups on board?

 

I do agree that Celebrity should have stopped some of the behavior of these young folks...maybe more of them should have been booted off the ship. Also, maybe Celebrity (don't know if they do or not) should not sell beverage packages to those under say 25 during the spring break time frames, like some other cruise lines do.

 

Glad you got such great compensation from another cruise line. I probably would have been in a similar position on Crystal when I was offered an upgrade to a cabin right under the pool area, but since I had done my research (I never book a cabin that doesn't have cabins above and below it), I didn't take the upgrade.

 

Hey, we all see things differently...it doesn't mean that I'm right and you are wrong or that you are right and I'm wrong....just difference of opinion.

Edited March 13, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[Azulann]

Celebrity is doing away with the short five day cruises in 2017. The Constellation will be going points east after their European cruises in 2016.

Thank you for your review.

I hope you try the M class ships on a longer cruise in the future. I too love the crew on this ship and all theother Celebrity ships.

After saling again on the Constellation in 2016, I will be downsizing to a small ship for the first time. :)

[notsodesperatehousewife]

We were also on this cruise. In the OPs defense, I have been on cruises before during Spring Break and I have been to Nassau during Spring Break and I have never seen behavior like this before. There's a difference between kids being kids and kids being excessively inconsiderate, banging on cabin doors at 3 a.m. for fun, pitching glassware off the side of the boat, etc. I heard (and rumors flew on this ship) that Celebrity booked a block of 60 cabins to students from the University of Central Florida so surely they had an idea what to expect. I also heard (perhaps falsely) that some of the other big lines do not sell unlimited drink packages during the entire month of March in order to discourage this possibility.

 

I can sympathize with the OP's position in that Celebrity does market itself as more upscale than some of the other large cruise companies and that wasn't the experience that was delivered. I also think that Celebrity could have done more to curb them. I saw officers walking past the pool area when the kids were drinking from glass bottles in the pools and hot tubs and when hot tubs held three times their capacity and they did nothing. No reprimand. Nothing. Click on the thumbnails below.

 

I did not expect compensation from Celebrity although I do hope they will learn from this experience if they want to maintain their reputation. I felt sorry primarily for the average crew person who had to put up with the fallout. They were unfailingly patient and pleasant, bless them. I also felt badly for the younger children - when the college kids colonized the pools, there was no place for them to go. Older adults could escape to the spa or the therapy pools, at least. Finally, there were many very nice college students on the ship and some of them had their experience impacted negatively because they ended up being lumped with the troublemakers.

 

As for me, lesson learned, I probably wouldn't pick a 5 day cruise this time of year again. My sister and I decided to let it go, to view the kids as a people-watching opportunity, and to rise above the antics. We also enjoyed the peace of our balcony.

 

On the plus side, the ship is large enough that it's easy to find a quiet spot. Reflections and the Rendevous lounges weren't frequented by the younger passengers. The library was pleasant and Cafe al Bacio had a nice singer/guitarrist in the afternoons. We were also in Aqua class (same steward, Asep, so we were probably neighbors) and our food in Blu was great (I don't eat red meat so I didn't experience any tough cuts). The sommelier there was very helpful in identifying wines included in the classic package. If we wanted the same variety, he'd sometimes leave the bottle. We did the wine pairing dinner at Ocean Liners so the Classic wine price point was a non-issue in that instance. We never ate at the MDR. The buffet was fine although longer hours would have been nice; there were some odd dead times.

 

I might try Celebrity again but perhaps for Alaska and/or a longer itinerary. Overall, I'd give Princess the edge based on the one cruise I took with them on the Ruby.

Edited March 13, 2015 by notsodesperatehousewife
Edited because I got a word wrong

[Lois R]

Also, in the Original Poster's defense.....I was on this cruise as well....

and yes, I was 20 once but OMG....if I ever spoke to staff in the language

used? Not in this lifetime......if I post what was said on here? I would be

banned. Being 20 means you are totally DISRESPECTFUL?.....

 

So yes, live and learn but if the if this is "our future".....I don't want

any part of it......if I should have "known better"? There are young

people who don't damage things, act like idiots, etc...etc....maybe I

thought they would know the difference between right and wrong.....?

Gee...guess I was wrong......

 

I am not writing a review because I would probably get flamed to

death by those who think it was "no big deal".....but in 12 years of

sailing with X? This was my worst experience ever.

[DinaS]

Just about ANY cruise ship leaving from Florida for a 7 day or less cruise, during spring break, will have a boat-load (pun intended) of spring break kids.

 

I would never, ever - even if someone gave me a free cruise - take a 5 day cruise from Florida during spring break.

 

I understand Celebrity's issue. If there were 1,000 spring break-ers - what if the other 1,000+ people all expected some kind of compensation?

 

Learn from experience - don't cruise again during spring break :)

 

Our experience on a 10 day cruise around this time last year was completely different. We left from NY for a 10 day Caribbean cruise on NCL, and you would never have known it was spring break.

Edited March 13, 2015 by DinaS

[happyscmom]

Thank you for this review. It is very disappointing that you had this on X. We took a CARNIVAL cruise for spring break two years ago, which you would think would be full of this, and had no troubles at all. I'm so shocked that exists on X. We are taking our first X cruise in 2 weeks, and I hope that this party crowd is back in school by that time.

[wwcruisers]

OP -- Thank you for posting your honest review. I am hoping that you will take the time to contact Celebrity (RCCL) Corporate headquarters, and let them know about your recent experience. I've heard the same horror stories from others who were onboard this cruise, so you won't be alone. And, I can't speak to the compensation issue -- but IMHO, the GR manager was totally off-base to suggest that you should have known (from the dates) that you were booking an "Animal House" cruise. I really don't think that X wants that particular reputation! :rolleyes:

 

You can address your letter to X's new CEO/President, Ms. Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, at: 1050 Caribbean Way, Miami FL 33132, or e-mail: contactmicheal@celebrity.com (Either way, be sure to include a day-time phone number, where you can be reached for a call-back.)

 

I hope that you receive a positive response, if you contact Corporate -- and, that your next X cruise is a better experience! :cool:

Edited March 13, 2015 by wwcruisers

[Ma Bell]

In all the years I've sailed on Celebrity I've never heard anything like this but I must say I'm not surprised. I would never book a short cruise during spring break to begin with but I'm sure the advent of the "free" drink packages had a lot to do with this.

 

IMHO a lot of the recent quality and service issues can be directly attributed to those promotions.

[JFontaine]

When cruise lines are held liable for over-serving passengers, they will be forced to change. Until then it is up to passengers to remind Celebrity that they sold a 'modern luxury' cruise and didn't deliver. It was ridiculous for a customer service manager to blame the OP for not knowing in advance the passenger makeup. To the OP, Lois, and the cruiser who posted the photos, thank you.

[maggie.1008]

People cruise on X from all over the world. How are they to know when our spring break is ? In California it seems winter break goes in to spring break. It is X who advertise Modern Luxury. Enforce the conduct rules you make. That is what we all want.

[kborth]

People cruise on X from all over the world. How are they to know when our spring break is ? In California it seems winter break goes in to spring break. It is X who advertise Modern Luxury. Enforce the conduct rules you make. That is what we all want.

 

Could not agree more.i see all kinds of liability issues here and thank goodness no one was severely injured by this behaviour. I also think that the beverage package is the main attraction. I have 3 sons at this age and would hope that they have been taught to respect others including other pax and crew members. It's up to Celebrity to enforce the rules and set standards.

[ccod]

Writer100, I have enjoyed reading your comments on the March 7 Constellation booze cruise. My DW and I were your neighbors immediately to the left of your cabin. We agree with the majority of what you are saying. We are veterans of many 5 day Constellation cruises, and even with the awareness that March brings Spring Breakers, we were blind sided by the droves of unruly UCF students. No amount of due deligence could have predicted what we experienced. However, as with many others on the cruise, we did the best we could to adapt to our environment and managed to have a good time overall. Spending extra time on our balcony, reading and watching sunsets, was actually a plus. And striking up conversations, even if briefly, with charming passengers such as you and your DW, was very rewarding.

 

We hope you don't give up on Celebrity. It is typically an elegant cruise line for its price point.

Edited March 14, 2015 by ccod

[need2bespoiled]

We normally sail on Celebrity, but we only had 4 days between work obligations in FL, and no Celebrity sailing matched our schedule. Our best option was Enchantment of the Seas for four days which disembarked in Port Canaveral this morning. There were more than 1000 college kids onboard Enchantment for this sailing, which was marketed as college party cruise . com. I didn't find this out until I saw a T-shirt by the pool after we embarked.

 

As we boarded, we were told there were that many kids, starting on the afternoon of the first day, we realized the impact they would have at the pool and bars. It wasn't our first choice of how to spend our cruise, but we adjusted our plans a bit, and avoided the kids as best we could. The pools and hot tubs looked similar to the pictures posted above or you can see on their website.

 

MANY had drink packages that were purchased, so Royal definitely also sells / allows drink packages. In fact, the college cruise promotion company listed above actually listed the ability to buy the unlimited drink packages as a benefit to sailing with them.

 

I only bring up the comparison, because our feeling was overall was the kids were well behaved in comparison to the descriptions above. We did see bikinis in hallways and elevators, but no wasted college kids and almost all were in jackets on "Formal" night. We weren't woken at night, nor did we stay out late to see partying. We ate 3 of the four nights in a specialty restaurant (and the 4th on shore), so maybe we avoided some of the issues but not going to the main dining room, we'll never know. We did find bars were pretty crowded, but we always found one with no college kids at all.

 

I am really sad to hear that Celebrity would let this happen and really wish they would take responsibility for what they clearly let happen. It's really sad because I am sure there are MANY others who feel the same way as the posters who shared their feelings on this thread and didn't get to experience what Celebrity can be, when at its best.

 

Hopefully you'll find reason to give Celebrity, and Constellation (my partner's favorite ship) another try.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[offnoncruiser]

We were on this 5 night Constellation cruise the same week last year, and knowing full well it was Spring Break since I had my two high school daughters with me, I was still surprised at the large number of college spring breakers on board. I was hoping for more high schoolers like my kids. But luckily, to my knowledge at least, I didn't experience or hear of anything even remotely close to that kind of behavior. And I specifically picked Celebrity because I thought it would be the best choice to avoid the booze cruise spring break crowd (although it is my favorite line to cruise).

 

There were big crowds in the afternoons at the pool (they all slept in the mornings I guess), but other than the pool bars being pretty crowded, it was a fairly well behaved crowd. I'm sure late into the night it got pretty wild, but up until about 1:00 AM (which was my kids curfew for the cruise) when we all met back at our cabins, it was not a bad crowd at all. After that I don't know, but didn't hear anything in the halls. There seemed to be plenty of security roaming the ship (not that they would have done much if they did run across what the OP described in the elevator).

 

I wholeheartedly agree that the free beverage packages are the culprit, and word is probably getting out in the college ranks. Plus no daily drink limit as on other lines to curtail the drinking. Hopefully Celebrity will be rethinking all of these possibly deadly combinations for future promos, or at least better ways to control that crowd. I'm sure the seven day cruises have similar problems.

 

Anyway, writer100, it is ashamed your first experience with Celebrity was like that, but as others have said, give them another try, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I too would recommend speaking to someone at Celebrity about your experience. I for one would be quite upset and dissapointed if my daughters ever behaved like that when they get to that age. Nothing wrong with having fun, especially at that age, but it seems like there are so many nowadays (mature adults as well) that choose to do so without any respect or regard for others around them.

 

Thx.

[monicajay]

Writer100, sorry to read about your 'break' cruise. Hopefully, you'll give Celebrity another try on a longer cruise that isn't on these dates. I can highly recommend the Summit out of San Juan, there were less that 100 kids on board last week.

 

Notsodesparatehousewife, Wow, those pictures speak volumes. I don't think anybody booking would expect this even if it is spring break time.

 

Ma Bell, some of us are more limited on when and how long we can take for vacations. Lucky you that you would "never book" during this time.

 

Personally, this thread has been a big help. I was booked on the Feb. 29th, 2016 for a 5 night trip and have just found out it is chartered. I was very upset but now I see the 5 night trip might not have been a good choice for us after all.

 

Spring Breaks vary from one state to another, and one country to another. It is not always easy for a person to figure out when a ship will be full of college kids.

[schlocklate]

Writer100 sorry to hear about your booze cruise, but am also glad you enjoyed and made the best of the situation. Good on you. This sounds (and looks) like the worst I've ever heard of, even for a short spring break cruise.

 

CCOD or others experience with short Celebrity spring cruises out of FL was it the fact that it was break for most Florida colleges (FSU, Miami, USF, ...)? Should we be prepared for the same on our 3/26 Constellation sailing? According to the site posted earlier there were almost 2,000,000 college students on break the week of March 7th w/ nearly 200,000 of them from Florida!!!!

http://www.tripsmarter.com/panama-city-beach/events/spring-break-college-university-dates

 

I hope we have much less of a party boat than Writer100 experienced. Still nearly 1M college students on break but few from FL.

 

-Terry

[Ma Bell]

Writer100, sorry to read about your 'break' cruise. Hopefully, you'll give Celebrity another try on a longer cruise that isn't on these dates. I can highly recommend the Summit out of San Juan, there were less that 100 kids on board last week.

 

Notsodesparatehousewife, Wow, those pictures speak volumes. I don't think anybody booking would expect this even if it is spring break time.

 

Ma Bell, some of us are more limited on when and how long we can take for vacations. Lucky you that you would "never book" during this time.

 

Personally, this thread has been a big help. I was booked on the Feb. 29th, 2016 for a 5 night trip and have just found out it is chartered. I was very upset but now I see the 5 night trip might not have been a good choice for us after all.

 

Spring Breaks vary from one state to another, and one country to another. It is not always easy for a person to figure out when a ship will be full of college kids.

 

For many years I was in the same position as you but I still wouldn't book a five day spring break cruise. Just a choice. Luck has nothing to do with it. Someone once told me the harder you work the luckier you get and I think that's true. LOL

Edited March 14, 2015 by Ma Bell

[writer100]

Writer100, I have enjoyed reading your comments on the March 7 Constellation booze cruise. My DW and I were your neighbors immediately to the left of your cabin. We agree with the majority of what you are saying. We are veterans of many 5 day Constellation cruises, and even with the awareness that March brings Spring Breakers, we were blind sided by the droves of unruly UCF students. No amount of due deligence could have predicted what we experienced. However, as with many others on the cruise, we did the best we could to adapt to our environment and managed to have a good time overall. Spending extra time on our balcony, reading and watching sunsets, was actually a plus. And striking up conversations, even if briefly, with charming passengers such as you and your DW, was very rewarding.

 

We hope you don't give up on Celebrity. It is typically an elegant cruise line for its price point.

 

Sir: How nice to hear from you! Indeed, my wife is charming. She has to be to make up for my, um, social shortfall. We haven't given up on Celebrity. It was possible to glimpse (just barely) what a normal cruise on Constellation might be like, and that vision is quite attractive.

Just as a footnote to Celebrity's marketing practices, it used to be that the age at which you could purchase a beverage package was 25. That changed to 21 a few years ago.

Look forward to sailing with you and your charming lady again.

[bebe08]

We were on this cruise the last week of November, and had a wonderful time!

 

We recently did a 3 day getaway at a ski resort and encountered a similar issue with Spring Breakers. There was a very loud drama going on in the hall outside our room until 4 in the morning. I complained and got no more than a "sorry".

 

I do think that Hotels, cruise ships and the like do have a responsibility to uphold a certain standard and hold guests accountable to an appropriate code of conduct.

 

Celebrity does have a guest conduct policy and the consequences are outlined. It is unfortunate that Celebrity did not see fit to take appropriate action.

 

We are looking at doing a 14 day Caribbean cruise next year that begins March 6th. I had not thought about spring breakers - should we re-think this or are the longer itineraries less likely to attract this crowd?

[Miss SeaBee]

Don't write Celebrity off because of this unfortunate experience. I believe you would have had the same experience on any line doing a short cruise during Spring Break. Either a longer itinerary or a different time and you'd have been able to enjoy yourself more. Give Celebrity another try! Try an S-Class ship.

 

Agree! S-class and 7 or more night cruise. Just got off Reflection today, none of the concerns mentioned here.

[Ma Bell]

We were on this cruise the last week of November, and had a wonderful time!

 

We recently did a 3 day getaway at a ski resort and encountered a similar issue with Spring Breakers. There was a very loud drama going on in the hall outside our room until 4 in the morning. I complained and got no more than a "sorry".

 

I do think that Hotels, cruise ships and the like do have a responsibility to uphold a certain standard and hold guests accountable to an appropriate code of conduct.

 

Celebrity does have a guest conduct policy and the consequences are outlined. It is unfortunate that Celebrity did not see fit to take appropriate action.

 

We are looking at doing a 14 day Caribbean cruise next year that begins March 6th. I had not thought about spring breakers - should we re-think this or are the longer itineraries less likely to attract this crowd?

 

This wouldn't be a spring break cruise. It's too long.

[sealover155]

What an eye-opener. I'm sure that after such a severe winter many considered a shorter winter break from it all by taking this cruise.

 

If Celebrity continues to market to the spring break crowd before they discontinue the shorter cruises, two things should happen:

 

First, they need additional crew, especially security and pool attendants. In the wake of beverage packages and younger guests, the whole dynamic changes, considering the 21 year old age limit.

 

Second, all crew need to be trained and empowered to ensure that safety is not compromised for all guests, not just the young spring breakers. If I were hotel director on these cruises, I would hold special training each spring with an emphasis on security. And, I'd show those pictures of the hot tubs and read this thread aloud so everyone knows what to expect.

 

Seems like Modern Luxury was only wishful thinking on this one.

Edited March 14, 2015 by sealover155

[need2bespoiled]

We were on this cruise the last week of November, and had a wonderful time!

 

We recently did a 3 day getaway at a ski resort and encountered a similar issue with Spring Breakers. There was a very loud drama going on in the hall outside our room until 4 in the morning. I complained and got no more than a "sorry".

 

I do think that Hotels, cruise ships and the like do have a responsibility to uphold a certain standard and hold guests accountable to an appropriate code of conduct.

 

Celebrity does have a guest conduct policy and the consequences are outlined. It is unfortunate that Celebrity did not see fit to take appropriate action.

 

We are looking at doing a 14 day Caribbean cruise next year that begins March 6th. I had not thought about spring breakers - should we re-think this or are the longer itineraries less likely to attract this crowd?

 

As MaBell said, too long, but also too expensive. The longer the cruise, the less kids, as they can't generally be out of school for more than a week. This goes for school age children as well as older kids. We did a 7 day Reflection in April 2013 and had 750 kids onboard. Same time frame, April 2014 on Equinox for 10 days and there were many less, even with it Starting on a Friday.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[jerseygirl3]

Sir: I do agree that if we had known or suspected the presence of Girls (and Boys) Gone Wild on this cruise we would have opted to go elsewhere. We have, in fact, sailed on both Oceania and Seabourn to the Caribbean in March, though perhaps on itineraries that would not attract the hordes of kids.

Do I really think Celebrity owes us--and the dozens of others who registered a complaint--something other than a cold shoulder?

 

I do. Celebrity sold hundreds of cabins to groups of four college kids, with at least one Classic beverage package per cabin. As by rule, there must be one 21-year old per cabin, making it almost inevitable that underage drinking would take place, followed by behavior I won't detail here.

 

If I sailed on the Constellation in anticipation of seeing shows in the Celebrity theater at the later time, and discovered that the theater was booked on successive late evenings for a group that had booked half the cabins en masse, would you think I was entitled to compensation? After all, I was denied access to an amenity featured in the cruise brochure as being available.

In this case, the amenity was the pool, hot tubs and surrounding lounges.

 

Let me contrast that with a premium line, unnamed, on which I (recklessly) booked a gty cabin. It turned out to be a lovely cabin, except that it was under an outdoor dining/bar area, to which the crew attended every morning at 5:00am, shoving furniture around as they hosed the deck, etc. I did ask the on board hotel manager if he could do something. He demurred.

Back on land, my ta spoke to her contacts and compensation was awarded for a future cruise--a discount of several thousand dollars, and an upgrade to the highest available suite in the total category. Now, the leverage here may not be me, a single cruiser, but the significant volume that flows from this ta. Or maybe because the pax loads are smaller, and the prices much higher, the cruise line is (or should be, anyhow) more sensitive to good and bad consumer relations. Maybe?

If I were Celebrity, would I care if this account, supplemented by others who "enjoyed" the same experience, went onto social media? I have no such intention, but good business would seem to suggest that soothing a customer is a better strategy than antagonizing him, or her.

The contrast between the crew--overworked and no doubt under paid--and management's attitude was stark.

 

While I can appreciate how unfortunate it was that you encountered such a rowdy group, if you're an experienced cruiser (albeit your past experience has been on ultra premium lines), you should have realized booking a 5 night cruise to those particular ports (especially Cozumel, known to hold a special attraction to spring breakers) during the height of spring break would bring with it unwelcome consequences. I do not agree that Celebrity owes you anything; they could have been more gracious in their decline of your request, but it is true that everybody on that ship who was bothered would expect the same.

 

Having said all that, I really do hope you will give Celebrity another try. My recommendation would be one of the S-class ships on a longer sailing. We've sailed Celebrity and/or HAL in February the past 10 years or so and we've never experienced what you describe. Equinox does a wonderful 10 night itinerary, and Eclipse does a 14 night. I doubt that you would encounter anything similar on either of those sailings.

[Caribbean Amphibean]

Agree! S-class and 7 or more night cruise. Just got off Reflection today, none of the concerns mentioned here.

 

Thanks for posting this! We are sailing March 21 on Reflection, and this thread was scaring me. Whew!