1st Celebrity Cruise: The Good and the Bad

[maggie.1008]

I hope everyone on this cruise will let X know how unhappy they were. No one should have to worry about their cruise being ruined, I don`t care what time of year it is. X has a conduct policy that they do not enforce. I am Elite Plus and very loyal to X but I am very disappointed in the lack of control on this cruise.

[gimletgal]

For all of the non-believers on here stating the OP should have known better, I would like to know how many of you were on this sailing.

 

My wife and I are Celebrity loyalists (Elite) and under age 30. We love the Celebrity product and generally the people on it. We are not too far removed from our college days but I could write a book on the poor behavior by many (not all) of the college spring breakers on this cruise. We did expect a college party atmosphere on this sailing and were somewhat prepared for a rowdier crown than normal. My wife is a teacher and so our choices this time of year are limited to school breaks. We are also expecting our first baby this summer so this was our last hurrah for a little while.

 

Like many others on this thread we were booked in AQ and while the service in Blu was impeccable some of the dishes were hit and miss. But I want to primarily address the issue of the behavior of the college aged spring breakers. As has been stated here by almost every poster that was on this sailing, their behavior was unbelievable and inexcusable. These passengers were so rude it was like they were trying to start something up. Constantly unyielding when walking 3-5 wide in public spaces practically mowing you over. Drunkenly shoving through 2 and 4 people deep at the poolside bars to get another drink. Screaming all over the place and more F-bombs than you can imagine. While I'm no saint, the pool deck with families around is certainly no place for screaming obscenities. I am a frequent customer in the casino and even there I wasn't immune from their drunken behavior. Loudly and rudely asking for a bar server to come over when they were clearly already over served. The muster drill alone in the casino should have given the staff grounds to be concerned and come up with a plan of action.

 

While I'm disappointed with the behavior of the college kids they are college kids. I'm more upset with Celebrity for failing to enforce a code of conduct and ensure a safe environment for all passengers. Instead of constantly making unheeded announcements, staff should have been given the tools to enforce the dress code in public areas. Instead of fueling the fire of drunkenness, bartenders should be equipped and trained to identify passengers who have been served plenty and not fear for making the call that someone is cutoff. This is type of behavior in any land based bar is potentially grounds for a lawsuit and increases the possibility of an accident. It is no secret almost all passengers overboard are a result of being highly intoxicated. Celebrity needed to do a better job of identifying the problems and addressing them head on. On the first sea day, my wife and I were at the pool enjoying the sunny weather. I had a mojito and my wife had a lemonade in the pool plastic glasses and were sitting on the tanning deck of the children's pool when the Celebrity life activities started up. When the competition moved to the pool for synchronized swimming my wife and I were harassed several times for having beverages in the pool while many of the college spring breakers were in the pool drinking beers out of glass bottles. Not a word was said to any of them. I'm not sure if the staff were intimidated to the point of inaction and felt their only outlet of recourse were other passengers but it was very disappointing. I even pointed out the sign on all pools that said "No glassware" and she said its now no drinks as she walked off leaving all the kids with their glass bottles in hand.

 

I have rambled long enough now but my overall experience was still a vacation that we enjoyed. It definitely could have been improved if Celebrity had just enforced the rules they were so routinely announcing.

 

I was on this cruise. You hit the nail on the head. It was all about enforcement of the rules. Celebrity clearly did not enforce the rules. It is all on them. And I am not talking the regular staff....I am talking about management on the ship. They seemed intimidated and frozen in place. Pretty sad. As I said on our Roll Call - the inmates were running the asylum!

 

(Having said that, we still had a great cruise! :))

[rM3panno]

I was on this cruise. You hit the nail on the head. It was all about enforcement of the rules. Celebrity clearly did not enforce the rules. It is all on them. And I am not talking the regular staff....I am talking about management on the ship. They seemed intimidated and frozen in place. Pretty sad. As I said on our Roll Call - the inmates were running the asylum!

 

(Having said that, we still had a great cruise! :))

 

I agree 100%, even though it was probably my worst cruise experience we still had a great time on our vacation!

[soraya]

After reading this, I was a bit concerned - this is my first Celebrity cruise and if asked I would say that although I'm aware that the US has spring break (not a UK thing), I wouldn't have worried about booking this cruise as I would have thought there are other cruise lines who would match better with college students than Celebrity (from what I know of them).

 

So I've done a search for my August cruise and my eyes have been opened. I had no idea that there were naturist, gay themed or religious cruises :D. Makes P&O's celebrity cooking, gardening and dance cruises look dull.

 

I think I've lucked out though the August Connie sailing has an Emergency Medicine Conference - hope to never need them, but could be handy!

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for posting about this cruise. We once had a "bad" cruise on celebrity. Many passengers complained in writing during the cruise and after.

 

Focus on the safety and sanitary violations in your letter. Keep it short. List what you want as compensation now, usually a discount or obc on future sailing is all that is given as a goodwill gesture.

 

We got a discount on a future sailing and it paid for us and for celebrity. They probably will not apologize or admit fault but may offer a goodwill gesture.

 

Good luck, bad cruises happen on every line when the demographics are not good.

 

Posting here is good for the readers. Write a letter to help yourself?

[DZalumni]

This is why we don't take vacations over spring break, Presidents' Day through Easter. Not worth the hassle.

[phoenix_dream]

Again to those blaming the passengers for booking that cruise - I have been on multiple spring break cruises over the years - perhaps as many as 10 or 12. I had never, ever, ever, ever seen behavior of that type. I had never, ever seen Celebrity so at a loss as to how to control it. So just how was I supposed to anticipate this type of cruise and not book (not that I should have to!)? Someone on my Roll Call was on the same cruise last year with 700 college kids. They said it was a bit more lively but reported NOTHING to even begin to match this year's cruise. It's all about the drink package folks (coupled with lack of preparation for how to handle the drink package)

 

There were times on the ship where I was literally uncomfortable and actually felt a little unsafe. I was pushed and shoved aside, witnessed not just rowdy but downright belligerent behavior and heard from other cruisers about the kids taunting the crew, seemingly looking for a fight. I heard directly from more than one crew member that they themselves were afraid that the situation would get to the point where they could not control it. I repeat - directly from the mouths of the crew members themselves.

 

As a long time Celebrity cheerleader, I implore those who witnessed and experienced these things to report them. Simply not booking these future cruises is a lame response at best.

[Ma Bell]

Yes, I'm sure they didn't know what to do. From the beginning they have not fully taken into consideration what effect these "free" drink packages have on their product. This, of course, was a magnification of the problems that can be encountered.

 

There's no excuse for this complete lack of control of the situation.

[Lois R]

Yes, I'm sure they didn't know what to do. From the beginning they have not fully taken into consideration what effect these "free" drink packages have on their product. This, of course, was a magnification of the problems that can be encountered.

 

There's no excuse for this complete lack of control of the situation.

 

Hi Joanie, that is exactly correct......lack of control. Now, I have read

a few postings from folks who seemed to have no issues and that is all

well and good....isn't that always the intent? To go and have a wonderful

time. For the first time ever I felt quite leary/uncomfortable.

And I know there are people on here saying I should have known better.

So, my rebuttle won't do any good because they will continue to say

it is my fault.

 

In my opinion, there were definitely more than "just a few kids" who

were out of control. I realized at Muster that it was going to be

different...and spoke with others too...I actually thought somewhere

along the line that something terrible was going to happen........

Edited March 15, 2015 by Lois R

[D C]

Yes, I'm sure they didn't know what to do. From the beginning they have not fully taken into consideration what effect these "free" drink packages have on their product. This, of course, was a magnification of the problems that can be encountered.

 

There's no excuse for this complete lack of control of the situation.

 

But the free drink packages have been around for more than a year, so last year's spring break should have seen similar crowd levels.

 

I suspect there were large numbers of kids from the same school(s), which would be worse than the same number of kids from many different schools.

 

If the crew was actually concerned about being able to control the crowd, they should have taken on more security staff at the first port.

Edited March 15, 2015 by D C

[jerseygirl3]

I was on the same cruise and you are so far off base you could be writing this from Siberia!!

 

 

 

This was not a cruise where the students were simply enjoying their vacation. a bit more lively than I would have. Many of us were such fun loving kids once upon a time. Never in my life would I ever have acted as they did, and certainly not on a nice cruise line (any cruise line for that matter). They virtually took over every venue on the ship except for Rendevouz lounge which was undoubtedly not their style. What things did they do specifically? (and this is just some of it):

 

- Threw 'f' bounds around loudly back and forth regardless who was in the vicinity (including very young children)

 

- Taunted and came near to blows with security staff trying to subdue them

 

- Wore bikinis and bathing shorts with no tops (the guys of course) anywhere and everywhere around the ship, often dripping water and every type of cocktail all over the floors

 

- Took over the pool area completely so you could not even get to the pool without trying to push through three deep

 

- Young women (certainly cannot refer to them as ladies) in very brief bikinis getting up on the decks at the pool twerking, grinding, and otherwise dirty dancing with each other

 

- Took over the T-pool at various times, shouting and rough-housing in loud voices

 

- Chanted and argued back and forth between tables in the MDR (where they were in various stages of nowhere close to dress codes)

 

- Stumbled around in various stages of drunkenness, up to and including the point where we know of at least one young woman being put in a wheelchair as she could not even walk

 

- Passed around their key cards like candy so the over 21's with drink packages could get their young friends drunk. The drinks of choice from what I saw were shots. Sometimes they would take these and pour them into other containers to take back to the room to their younger friends. The drinking started in full force by noon and I have no idea what time it ended

 

- Reports of groups of kids running up and down hallways after midnight yelling and knocking on random doors

 

 

 

I have been on many, many spring break cruises over the years but have never seen anything close to this type of behavior. I blame it almost totally on the drink packages, and the lack of preparation by Celebrity to predict the behavior and come up with a better plan of attack to prevent it.

 

 

 

I should not have to avoid any Celebrity cruise regardless of number of days or ports of call because I fear this type of behavior. Never. Ever. That is not the solution and we should not be accepting of anyone saying it is. A bit livelier crowd than normal at spring break? Understood. But this was completely and totally unacceptable.

 

 

 

ps

 

We also had a room on AQ on 11, and were determined to make the most of our cruise so we had a good time anyway.

 

 

Ok I retract my previous comment that spring breakers should be expected this time of year. The behavior you describe is certainly not what celebrity stands for. It's obvious offering the free drink package attracted more spring breakers this year. Perhaps celebrity needs to look into limiting the beverage package to only those over 25?

 

I would be furious if I encountered this. The only time we experienced anything close to this was on carnival many years ago. I would have been at Guest Relations constantly complaining. I'm so sorry for everyone on this sailing. Glad we switched our February 2016 constellation cruise to the equinox 10 day sailing. We've never had problems with spring breakers on that itinerary in February.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Ma Bell]

But the free drink packages have been around for more than a year, so last year's spring break should have seen similar crowd levels.

 

I suspect there were large numbers of kids from the same school(s), which would be worse than the same number of kids from many different schools.

 

If the crew was actually concerned about being able to control the crowd, they should have taken on more security staff at the first port.

 

They have been around but not really well publicized until this spring. No one knew they would be a regular thing. I was on a 14 day Caribbean cruise last March and even then I saw some things that I hadn't seen before and these were all adults. A lot more drunks, not being obnoxious but sloppy, spilling things, leaving food and glasses in the elevators and really running the crew ragged trying to serve them in the bars and dining room.

 

I know the drink packages have been successful in getting more customers and people seem to like them but they have had an adverse effect on the product and there have been cuts made that seem to me to be directly linked to the advent of "free" drink packages. We all have to live with that but this situation is something that really should never happen.

[CanadianDee]

 

I am sorry your children didn't get to enjoy the pool. But adjustments had to be made knowing this was going to happen the whole time aboard. I personally if I was looking to keep my children entertained and enjoy what they like to do I would have chosen a more child friendly cruise line that would be able to accommodate in this kind of situation...Carnival has kid water park type areas and larger pools , and so does Disney.

You should be able to vacation where ever you want but you had to know despite the crazy people that the pool areas were small and celebrity isn't really know for kid orientation.

 

 

I'm absolutely amazed at how many commenters want to absolve these ill-mannered adults of blame.

 

Rather it's the fault of other cruisers because they chose the wrong line (for kids who couldn't use the pool) or the wrong time of year? Or the fault of Celebrity for offering a drink package?

 

But not the fault of the out-of-control partiers?

Edited March 15, 2015 by CanadianDee

[wallie5446]

I'm absolutely amazed at how many commenters want to absolve these ill-mannered adults of blame.

 

Rather it's the fault of other cruiser because they chose the wrong line (for kids who couldn't use the pool) or the wrong time of year?

 

I haven't read any comment yet that has tried to 'absolve' the ill maners of these kids.

They were bad.

[NLH Arizona]

Wondering how many of these kids there were. One poster said that there were 60 cabins full of them and another said 1,000 kids, which would be about half the passengers.

Edited March 15, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[wally_bushy]

I'm sure no one on this board was ever a fun loving college student. Lighten up and let everyone enjoy their vacation the way they see fit. I would never consider asking or expect compensation from X because other people were having too much fun on board. In the future, you may want to avoid 5 day cruises leaving from Florida during spring break that call on well know party ports.

 

Yep. This seems to be the current view.

I can do what I like and everybody else has to accept it

Wrong:mad:

[Lois R]

Wondering how many of these kids there were. One poster said that there were 60 cabins full of them and another said 1,000 kids, which would be about half the passengers.

 

I was given the number 1,000.....so yes, it was about 1/2 the ship.

[need2bespoiled]

They have been around but not really well publicized until this spring. No one knew they would be a regular thing. I was on a 14 day Caribbean cruise last March and even then I saw some things that I hadn't seen before and these were all adults. A lot more drunks, not being obnoxious but sloppy, spilling things, leaving food and glasses in the elevators and really running the crew ragged trying to serve them in the bars and dining room.

 

I know the drink packages have been successful in getting more customers and people seem to like them but they have had an adverse effect on the product and there have been cuts made that seem to me to be directly linked to the advent of "free" drink packages. We all have to live with that but this situation is something that really should never happen.

 

Not many 5 day cruises would qualify for the package at first, it started as 7 days are longer, balcony cabins or higher, or booked onboard, or during certain periods. The experiment worked and it has worked "its way down" to ocean view and shorter cruises and unfortunately (sadly) led to this.

 

They can control it. They MUST control it. I am sure they know it, and would urge letters to Celebrity. Even though they won't have these shorter cruises for long, they should know from as many voices as possible what happened.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[NLH Arizona]

I was given the number 1,000.....so yes, it was about 1/2 the ship.

Thanks, Lois.

[Lois R]

Thanks, Lois.

 

You're welcome. And yes, it felt like it was that number and more:eek::(

And yes, I was told many of the cabins had 4 in them and only 1 of them

needed to be 21.

[NLH Arizona]

You're welcome. And yes, it felt like it was that number and more:eek::(

And yes, I was told many of the cabins had 4 in them and only 1 of them

needed to be 21.

I think Celebrity should do what others do, NCL in particular, not sell beverage packages to anyone under 25 during spring break or make sure that passengers (young and old) are not over served. I think that would cut down on their consumption of alcohol during the cruise. Not to mention, Celebrity needs to enforce their rules and as I said before, maybe more should have been booted off the cruise. It would be interesting to see how many complaints Celebrity got on the cruise and why the Hotel Director didn't tell all crew members to either enforce the rules or call for an officer to do it. Edited March 15, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[wally_bushy]

This is why we don't take vacations over spring break, Presidents' Day through Easter. Not worth the hassle.

 

None of my business, and you may already know, but you have spelt Cruise as Cuise in your countdown clock:D

(but I do like it!)

Edited March 15, 2015 by wally_bushy

[cruise kitty]

It really bothers me to read all the posts of "you should have known better"

 

I don't book short cruises, or cruises during school holidays because I have no desire to deal with children (actually it's their parents/grandparents that make me crazy, 3 year old Johnny doesn't know any better than to play very scary monster in the passport bar, but his handlers should)

 

That being said, this was not a case of too many children, or too many college kids, this was a case of behavior from passengers bordering on illegal.

 

The blame rests solely with the Captain & Senior Officers for not putting a lid on this, they have the ability to put passengers on lockdown, they could have brought on more security, put a freeze on alcohol sales, they have the authority to handle this, & chose not to.

 

I think a very simple solution to this never happening again is just to require passports from every single passenger (even babies) on every single Celebrity cruise... it's pretty tough to fake a passport (for the under age drinking) & it would be a great way to thin out the herd, so to speak, you would have less spring breakers bothering to get a passport just for a booze cruise when they have other options.

 

The college kids who have passports because they've travelled internationally or studied abroad probably aren't the drunken f bomb dropping type, so I think you'd have less to worry about there.

[writer100]

Wondering how many of these kids there were. One poster said that there were 60 cabins full of them and another said 1,000 kids, which would be about half the passengers.

Sir:

The number of spring breakers was just over 1,000, according to the Guest Relations Manager. As someone suggested, there were several schools represented in great numbers--University of Central Florida, University of Miami, U of Michigan, and others.

 

Earlier, someone posed the question of why someone who hadn't cruised X--or Princess or HAL--would choose this cruise. We were looking for a line on which we could take our son and his wife and their 5 kids--leaving behind the 2 dogs, 5 chickens and 3 goats. Our TA has sent many families to Celebrity, and suggested that this 5-nighter would be a good way to sample the line.

It seemed, as the airplane designer said after the crash, like a good idea at the time.

And actually it still does. We are just now poring over various Celebrity cruise options--or at least She Who Must be Obeyed is doing so.

The only real abuse of crew members that I witnessed was at the Ocean View Bar, where bartenders Rolly and William somehow never lost their cool, despite the frequent vulgarity of their teenaged "customers."

Did an officer see or hear this? I have no idea. Would they have acted if they had?

I did observe a parallel incident (sort of) on a Seabourn cruise a few years ago. On SB, everything is included, meaning you can drink as much as you wish with no financial consequence. That has little effect on most people.

But on this occasion a man parked himself at an outdoor bar in the early morning and (apparently) didn't leave his post for some hours. At some point he began to berate the bar tender in a loud and vicious manner. As it happened the Captain was walking past--the ship's officers on SB are very much in evidence--and he approached the man who was still cursing. "Sir," said the Captain. "on my ship no one abuses my crew, not even me."He raised a finger in warning. The drunk ignored him.

The next morning the offender was put off the ship.

I'm not drawing a comparison. Even the most action-oriented Captain wouldn't have kicked hundreds of passengers off the Constellation. What might have helped a bit was to broadcast far and wide that multiple spring breakers had been removed, and that anyone guilty of similar behavior would be treated the same way.

I look forward to meeting all of you on another cruise.

[NLH Arizona]

Sir:

The number of spring breakers was just over 1,000, according to the Guest Relations Manager. As someone suggested, there were several schools represented in great numbers--University of Central Florida, University of Miami, U of Michigan, and others.

 

Earlier, someone posed the question of why someone who hadn't cruised X--or Princess or HAL--would choose this cruise. We were looking for a line on which we could take our son and his wife and their 5 kids--leaving behind the 2 dogs, 5 chickens and 3 goats. Our TA has sent many families to Celebrity, and suggested that this 5-nighter would be a good way to sample the line.

It seemed, as the airplane designer said after the crash, like a good idea at the time.

And actually it still does. We are just now poring over various Celebrity cruise options--or at least She Who Must be Obeyed is doing so.

The only real abuse of crew members that I witnessed was at the Ocean View Bar, where bartenders Rolly and William somehow never lost their cool, despite the frequent vulgarity of their teenaged "customers."

Did an officer see or hear this? I have no idea. Would they have acted if they had?

I did observe a parallel incident (sort of) on a Seabourn cruise a few years ago. On SB, everything is included, meaning you can drink as much as you wish with no financial consequence. That has little effect on most people.

But on this occasion a man parked himself at an outdoor bar in the early morning and (apparently) didn't leave his post for some hours. At some point he began to berate the bar tender in a loud and vicious manner. As it happened the Captain was walking past--the ship's officers on SB are very much in evidence--and he approached the man who was still cursing. "Sir," said the Captain. "on my ship no one abuses my crew, not even me."He raised a finger in warning. The drunk ignored him.

The next morning the offender was put off the ship.

I'm not drawing a comparison. Even the most action-oriented Captain wouldn't have kicked hundreds of passengers off the Constellation. What might have helped a bit was to broadcast far and wide that multiple spring breakers had been removed, and that anyone guilty of similar behavior would be treated the same way.

I look forward to meeting all of you on another cruise.

Thank you, Miss, I believe that the Captain should have kicked off anyone who violated the passenger's code of conduct, either the college kids or any other passenger. I think that if the Captain would have done what you suggested, threatened these kids, it would not have changed their behavior, because obviously they were brought up to do what they please no matter how it affects anyone else.