Celebrity Moving Down Market??

[aquanaut1]

When people start complaining about children on cruises, I often wonder why they don't then just vacation in quiet all adult resorts.

 

I'm taking my 15 and 13 year old on Solstice and will be polite enough to keep them away from the adults only areas such as Solarium and Martini Bar. Other than that, I'm paying full adult fare for them and they offer children and teen programs to encourage families!

 

Anyway, if i expect peace and seclusion - I wouldn't pick a 2k-4k passenger boat in general. I would definitely be thinking St. Barts or if boating is part of the interest - Windstar type cruises.

 

 

I heartily agree, we always keep the kids away from the adult only areas , we rarely take them to bars , except the pool one , as we fully understand a cheeky six year old is not to everyone's taste

 

 

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[leehal]

The problem is that there are badly behaved drunks and badly behaved children/poor parenting skills.

 

I'm sure this can happen whether drinks or included for adults or whether it's the school holidays or not.

 

I'm quite offended by the insistence of people to avoid Southampton as a departure point, I've had more issues with drunken people from other countries when I've been abroad rather than British people. So easy to tag us all as Chavs I guess.

 

Anyway, I'm cruising from Southampton in September I have a drinks package and I will drink a lot. I won't get rowdy or loud. It's all down to individuals, wherever they are from.

 

With regards children, we've chosen to travel outside of the school holiday period in the hope of fewer children being on board. Nothing against kids (I used to be one), we have kids/grandkids, it would just be nice to have relax a little without too many disturbances.

 

Have fun wherever you are off to on your cruise.

 

 

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Edited July 12, 2016 by leehal

[aquanaut1]

The problem is that there are badly behaved drunks and badly behaved children/poor parenting skills.

 

I'm sure this can happen whether drinks or included for adults or whether it's the school holidays or not.

 

I'm quite offended by the insistence of people to avoid Southampton as a departure point, I've had more issues with drunken people from other countries when I've been abroad rather than British people. So easy to tag us all as Chavs I guess.

 

Anyway, I'm cruising from Southampton in September I have a drinks package and I will drink a lot. I won't get rowdy or loud. It's all down to individuals, wherever they are from.

 

With regards children, we've chosen to travel outside of the school holiday period in the hope of fewer children being on board. Nothing against kids (I used to be one), we have kids/grandkids, it would just be nice to have relax a little without too many disturbances.

 

Have fun wherever you are off to on your cruise.

 

 

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Have a wonderful trip !

 

 

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[ECCruise]

Is Celebrity moving "down market?"

 

One change sums it all up:

 

Ocean Liner restaurants out

Tuscan Grille in

[Adammara]

For those wishing to sail from Southampton P&O have 2 adult only ships.

 

We mainly sail in term time, and have only had one or instances of children behaving badly, the majority by far have been a credit to their parents. And I'm a grumpy old man in his seventies, to busy looking after the kids houses and grand children's pets in the school holidays!

[ISABELLA]

Yes lets keep Celebrity as kid free as possible. I get flamed every time I say this. Yet I still say it. Good to see someone who was on Royal Carib, which has all kinds of stuff for kids, say that there are too many kids so they have returned to Celeb. Hope they dont bring their kids with them.

 

You got my vote! I am so happy X don't have "good" kids programs.

[Creepella]

The problem is that there are badly behaved drunks and badly behaved children/poor parenting skills.

 

I'm sure this can happen whether drinks or included for adults or whether it's the school holidays or not.

 

I'm quite offended by the insistence of people to avoid Southampton as a departure point, I've had more issues with drunken people from other countries when I've been abroad rather than British people. So easy to tag us all as Chavs I guess.

 

Anyway, I'm cruising from Southampton in September I have a drinks package and I will drink a lot. I won't get rowdy or loud. It's all down to individuals, wherever they are from.

 

With regards children, we've chosen to travel outside of the school holiday period in the hope of fewer children being on board. Nothing against kids (I used to be one), we have kids/grandkids, it would just be nice to have relax a little without too many disturbances.

 

Have fun wherever you are off to on your cruise.

 

 

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I agree that the stereotype of British pax drinking to excess is inaccurate. You folks don't drink nearly as much as us Canadians. ;)

[cruzeluver]

X actually has very good kids programs. Several friends of ours sail X with their children who love the program. Granted the ships do not have a lot of the features found on lines like Royal and Carnival which promote their family-friendly atmospheres.

[Hlitner]

I agree that the stereotype of British pax drinking to excess is inaccurate. You folks don't drink nearly as much as us Canadians. ;)

 

We thought Canadians only drink during happy hours......eh?

 

Hank

[Bo1953]

I agree that the stereotype of British pax drinking to excess is inaccurate. You folks don't drink nearly as much as us Canadians. ;)

 

 

Actually, Canadians do not drink as much as New Yorker's although being from Jersey, we give a good run for the bottle tooo!

 

LOL...

 

bon voyage

[Creepella]

We thought Canadians only drink during happy hours......eh?

 

Hank

 

But we're happy at all hours. :)

[The_Big_M]

You got my vote! I am so happy X don't have "good" kids programs.

 

Actually as cruzluver said, they do.

 

Better than RCL in a number of ways. Just they don't have so many active facilities on board, like ice skating, though all those appeal to non-kids as well.

[Cruise Junky]

We thought Canadians only drink during happy hours......eh?

 

Hank

 

We do, but were happy 24/7 ;)

[mcrcruiser]

My 2 cents .

 

Celebrity's marketing dept dreamed up the Big ,Better ,Best promotions to increase the cruise pricing .All these programs are included in the pricing of their cruises along with their profits . Cruise pax would be better off back to net pricing ,so they can more accurately compare cruise line prices .

 

By products of these promotions are slower service for wine ,beer cocktails ;as human nature steps in to get their moneys worth . From the labor point of view ,it places extra strain on the production capability of the wait staff ;as wine stewards are few & far between these days .

 

Bar staff are straining to pour more than the usual amount of drinks & are not happy; as they had been all before this marketing plan started . :o

 

We only select the non alcoholic perks & never the promo drink packages . ;)

 

A real problem of unlimited liquor on a cruise ship is arguments & perhaps people going over board :eek:

 

Again just my 2 cents

[Host Jazzbeau]

My 2 cents .

 

Celebrity's marketing dept dreamed up the Big ,Better ,Best promotions to increase the cruise pricing .All these programs are included in the pricing of their cruises along with their profits . Cruise pax would be better off back to net pricing ,so they can more accurately compare cruise line prices .

 

By products of these promotions are slower service for wine ,beer cocktails ;as human nature steps in to get their moneys worth . From the labor point of view ,it places extra strain on the production capability of the wait staff ;as wine stewards are few & far between these days .

 

Bar staff are straining to pour more than the usual amount of drinks & are not happy; as they had been all before this marketing plan started . :o

 

We only select the non alcoholic perks & never the promo drink packages . ;)

 

A real problem of unlimited liquor on a cruise ship is arguments & perhaps people going over board :eek:

 

Again just my 2 cents

 

All those things are hypothetically possible. I haven't noticed any of them on my Celebrity cruises. Oh, one thing: there is less paperwork with the Premium Package, which mitigates the extra workload on the serving staff.

[Viva_la_Vida]

 

-Sommeliers no longer talk to passengers in the MDR--they were running around with four half full bottles of wine in their hands, filling glasses

 

.

 

That's a bummer. I remember our fantastic female Summit sommelier, Anja, with a lot of fondness. While I may not remember how to spell her name, she took so much time with us and was a real professional. That being said, I'm just jealous you had one at all! Try finding a sommelier in an NCL main dining room! I sure couldn't on my recent Breakaway voyage!

[Cruise Junky]

That's a bummer. I remember our fantastic female Summit sommelier, Anja, with a lot of fondness. While I may not remember how to spell her name, she took so much time with us and was a real professional. That being said, I'm just jealous you had one at all! Try finding a sommelier in an NCL main dining room! I sure couldn't on my recent Breakaway voyage!

 

We had great conversations with our sommelier whenever we ate in the dining room. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Beanb41]

We have found that there appears a reduction in the number of "liquor" waiters across the ship which has resulted in longer waits between drinks. This is particularly noticeable at early breakfasts in the Buffet and in the Theatre at night.

[voldemortuslore]

With regard to RCCL , we are switching back to X because there are too many kids on board ex Southampton, esp in the holidays .

Last trip was its.isn med 1300 kids on board , adventure ocean couldn't cope. My kids didn't go too much as too busy , but the rest of the trip was great busy but fine . Service was good , not too many Chavfamilies as you say . It didn't stop us having a fab holiday , we didn't see hardly any drunkenness, but then we don't frequent the bars after ten !

 

We are switching back to X for less children , better food and a great trip to the fjords !!! So I'm praying they deliver .

 

If you want to see drunkenness at its best may I suggest Carnival out of Miami !!! It makes me cringe when you see British tourists wearing their football shirts , but hey .... That's life

 

 

 

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Oh yeah, I can agree with the children thing, our med cruise was still a great holiday, but there were just too many kids for the ship to properly handle really. They started hanging around in massive (20+) groups as well, and messing around, leaving rubbish everywhere, knocking on peoples cabin doors late at night.. it just went on and on. There were a great deal of people on the ship (The indy) who were in inside cabins, which they had got a very cheap last minute deal on, so the cruse unfortunately attracted the sort of people who it normally wouldn't, especially as it included drinks packages.

 

It was particularly irritating, because for them, the holiday was a cheap boozy one, whereas for some of us, it still cost full price of 8000+ for the family.

 

Kids are great, you expect them on a cruise of course, but the ones on the ship I sailed to Norway with were all well behaved and nice. The ones on the indy to the med were just the opposite.

 

And I didn't frequent the bars after 10pm particularly, but the drinking is definitely more of a problem with many British people, especially when the drinks are included.

 

And you don't have to tell me about the horrible habit of British people wearing football shirts on holiday- Im a massive football fan and a season ticket holder, but those shirts have no place on adults outside of the matches themselves.

 

I would never travel carnival, maybe some folks love it, but its definitely not the line for us! So we are trying celebrity, not from the UK, for those reasons. Definitely no more Southampton for us.

[leehal]

Oh yeah, I can agree with the children thing, our med cruise was still a great holiday, but there were just too many kids for the ship to properly handle really. They started hanging around in massive (20+) groups as well, and messing around, leaving rubbish everywhere, knocking on peoples cabin doors late at night.. it just went on and on. There were a great deal of people on the ship (The indy) who were in inside cabins, which they had got a very cheap last minute deal on, so the cruse unfortunately attracted the sort of people who it normally wouldn't, especially as it included drinks packages.

 

It was particularly irritating, because for them, the holiday was a cheap boozy one, whereas for some of us, it still cost full price of 8000+ for the family.

 

Kids are great, you expect them on a cruise of course, but the ones on the ship I sailed to Norway with were all well behaved and nice. The ones on the indy to the med were just the opposite.

 

And I didn't frequent the bars after 10pm particularly, but the drinking is definitely more of a problem with many British people, especially when the drinks are included.

 

And you don't have to tell me about the horrible habit of British people wearing football shirts on holiday- Im a massive football fan and a season ticket holder, but those shirts have no place on adults outside of the matches themselves.

 

I would never travel carnival, maybe some folks love it, but its definitely not the line for us! So we are trying celebrity, not from the UK, for those reasons. Definitely no more Southampton for us.

 

Was your Med cruise during school term time or holidays?

 

We booked after the summer holidays with a view to hopefully having a quiet time. When we did the Norwegian cruise last year I think I spotted about 5 kids in total.

[bengaltiger1]

We are on Celebrity Eclipse at the moment. I have seen zero drunken behaviour. There are some children and the ones who are running around, making a lot of noise, but not really being a nuisance are Spanish speaking. I haven't seen a football shirt yet, but that is not to say that there aren't any. Plus, it's not only the British who wear football shirts outside of a stadium.

 

There seems to be a contradiction when people write they cannot get a drink due to how busy the waiters are due to the free drink packages, yet in the same paragraph are talking about drunken behaviour, which in my past experience includes people from all nations.

 

Maybe it's the age range on this cruise, because there are certainly more 'mature' people than I have seen other cruises. There has been a large proportion of people dressing for dinner, enjoying the Ensemble lounge etc. I have asked friends who are dining in the MDR and they have said the same.

 

 

 

 

 

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[mcrcruiser]

All those things are hypothetically possible. I haven't noticed any of them on my Celebrity cruises. Oh, one thing: there is less paperwork with the Premium Package, which mitigates the extra workload on the serving staff.

 

Cannot agree with your reply . Since we have sailed well over 40 Celebrity cruises ,we definitely have seen changes in less wine stewards ,ass't waiters serving wine & slowing down dinner deliveries:eek: . Additionally , bar tenders are busier than ever trying to keep up with the demand because of the drink packages .

 

a relative of Boneys super market San Diego was on a Carnival cruise & been drinking a lot & gets into a argument with another passenger & falls down a stairwell .today he is paralyzed . There has been someone who went over the railings in 2011 on millennium coming out of Cabo San Lucas toward San Diego .We were on that ship .In SD the FBI boarded the ship to get all the data of that death . Yes unfortunate but definitely NOT hypothetical at all

[mcrcruiser]

Talking about drinking on the job . When the Celebrity Mercury was doing the Mexican Riviera cruises ,the Captain at that time was arrested by the US coast guard because they smelled alcohol on his breath .

 

Yes most people can control their intake of alcohol ;but ,simply the odds of having problems with free flowing booze can & does create problems ,from time to time Celebrity mostly boards a older crowd ;but ,they also attract much younger people ( they prefer those younger who spend more on their ships & their marketing is to attract younger people to their cruise ships ) on week Caribbean cruises & during summer time when college kids are off from school

[CruisingChick]

Yes most people can control their intake of alcohol ;but ,simply the odds of having problems with free flowing booze can & does create problems ,from time to time Celebrity mostly boards a older crowd ;but ,they also attract much younger people ( they prefer those younger who spend more on their ships & their marketing is to attract younger people to their cruise ships ) on week Caribbean cruises & during summer time when college kids are off from school

 

Our May 29th Summit Bermuda cruise you could tell there was a big switch in demographics over past cruises we have done. Much younger crowd then in the past and almost everyone had a drink package, except for us since we booked an inside cabin.

[ChucktownSteve]

We have found that there appears a reduction in the number of "liquor" waiters across the ship which has resulted in longer waits between drinks. This is particularly noticeable at early breakfasts in the Buffet and in the Theatre at night.

 

The second night of a 14 night on the Constellation this past February, we experienced the same. There were only two servers assigned to the entire theater for the second show.

 

Before heading back to my cabin I filled out a comment card directed to the F&B Manager. The next night I observed him overlooking the eight servers falling over themselves trying to service the people in the theater.