A Few More Cut-backs!

[riclop]

They are every where.

[Oville]

Just off the Silly a few weeks ago- to go cups always available in OVC, Carmel on my macchiato every day and even though we asked our cabin steward not to place chocolates on our pillows, they were there every night.

 

 

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Same experience, left the sparkling wine in the cabin when we're disembarked as well as the pillow chocolates. Also got the cheap credit card holder and the internet was fine. Cruised on the Silhouette 4/16 thru 4/23.

 

Our only complaint, thought our cruise was boring in comparison to other Celebrity cruises.

[volk904]

We got off the Summit last week. Sailed Aqua. In our room we had bag with slippers, pool Bag, a cheap card older that stuck to my I phone which was great. I saved it for my next cruise. Never asked for the sparkling wine. Very happy with the extras.

 

 

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[GottaKnowWhen]

... the chocolates, I don't eat them (if chocolates are a cutback, it would be strange because the new President made such a big deal when she brought them back), ...

 

I just five minutes ago finished the last of the pillow chocolates I had hoarded from our Feb. trip on Eclipse. Don't eat them on the cruise, but rather bring them home and occasionally have one with a good glass of Malbec as I reflect on the last cruise and lay plans for the next...

 

And we did have the sparkly wine and the card holder and the tote bag. (Concierge Class) And I felt appreciated and well taken care of and am looking forward to many more Celebrity cruises.

 

Stan

[Luvcrusn]

Well, that was 4 months ago. We have experienced "Lisa-cuts" on every Celebrity cruise since she took over as CEO. The "Lisa-cuts" seem to be her gift to the customers....and it seems to be the gift that just keeps on coming :(.

 

Hank

I have noticed a continuing theme across many of your posts of dissatisfaction with Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. In this instance I don't think that this is a case of corporate cuts. Absence of paper cups or vinyl card-holders or even a welcome bottle of wine in what seems like a single instance is a corporate decision by the CEO aimed at anyone and is more likely a rare slip up. I think cruising across many of the main-stream lines has changed with the growing popularity of cruising over the years. While I miss some things from days of yore, I suspect my memories are colored with a rose colored filter. I still love the X experience and value the days I spend aboard lovely ships. As was said before, I have so many little cardholders and tote bags that I could open my own X souvenir shop, and one more or less isn't important to making a memorable cruise. A few less chocolates during a 2 week cruise won't be missed by me, there's more than I can eat on any cruise and I generally come home with good reason not to miss my gym workouts. Someone is making my bed, preparing my very tasty meals, bringing me room service, entertaining me, serving me beverages whenever the whim hits, entertaining me and transporting me to wonderful places to explore, all while I lounge by the pool or have a massage. How lucky I am to enjoy the luxury. That's my slice of heaven. I can find no reason to complain about Ms. Lutoff-Perlo!

[laslomas]

When things are not in the cabin as they should be I will always ask for them if I want them. But I feel sorry for the first time Celebrity cruisers who are probably unaware of the little niceties that they are missing out on and may never know unless it comes up in conversation or they read a forum such as this.

 

It should not be that difficult for stewards to have a check list of what should be in each cabin category and ensure there is uniformity. If it is to do with cruise wide cut backs surely it would be the same for everyone not just hit and miss. So is it more a problem with stewards? I know that there is now only one per cabin rather than also having an assistant.

 

One item I have never found in my Concierge class cabin, but also never asked for as it was not required, is the "extra handheld hair dryer" Has anyone had one of these in their CC cabin? If so, does it still have the annoying on switch that needs to be held down constantly when in use? If it has a 'normal' switch I think I may request one on my upcoming cruise to give my fingers a rest.

[4774Papa]

IMO, they can keep the pillow chocolate, the leather card holder and the paper cup. Your second paragraph was more important: Great food, entertainment and service. To me, just my opinion,.... the small stuff is not important if this keeps the cruise fare down. :cool: Hoping you had a great time and thank you for your input.:)

Agree. Sorry, I don't remember card holders. What the heck is that for?

[cruisestitch]

Just disembarked Silhouette. All amenities were in the stateroom as expected. Sparkling wine was used for mimosas. Broken binoculars were replaced the following day. Chocolates, robe etc. all were there.

 

Paper cups were always available for the asking, although usually personal mugs kept the coffee warmer (when they were remembered. Before caffeine the memory doesn't work so well!)

 

I concur with others who suspect that the OP had a stateroom attendant who wasn't up to snuff.

[ChucktownSteve]

Agree. Sorry, I don't remember card holders. What the heck is that for?

 

The card holders were convenient to hold your sea pass and a credit card when going ashore. It also helped protect your sea pass from getting demagnetized by something coming into contact with it.

 

Regarding cutbacks...I know this is extremely minor and I haven't mentioned it before, however on my last cruise I noticed the reduced the size of the heat shields for the to go coffee cups.

 

There were some of the old ones and the new ones at Cafe al Bacio. Side by side, I noticed the new ones were made 1" shorter. Not a big deal but another way Celebrity is attempting to save pennies on each which probably adds up to quite a savings across all ships/sailing.

[Arzeena]

We were on Summit for the repositioning to Bayonne. We were in a C1 but all of those things were in our room or available (of course except for the slippers).

 

 

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Same cruise. In Aqua. Everything was there, including slippers and lip balm in the white nylon mesh bag. The card holder was different than the leather one.

[Arzeena]

Has anyone recieved the sparkling wine lately?

 

We did. On the Summit.

[Arzeena]

After many cruises I have learned that once in awhile, for whatever mysterious reason, things are just "off" - sometimes it's a new department manager, staff at end or beginning of contract, supplies not being delivered , etc ...... hard to always know where the issue stems from.

 

We all save, plan and work hard to afford vacations so I understand when things aren't quite up to snuff the disappointments, but at the same time I recognize there is usually some force behind things and just try and go with the flow (unless there are SERIOUS issues) :cool:

 

Well said. I agree.

[Arzeena]

We got off the Summit last week. Sailed Aqua. In our room we had bag with slippers, pool Bag, a cheap card older that stuck to my I phone which was great. I saved it for my next cruise. Never asked for the sparkling wine. Very happy with the extras.

 

 

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Our room steward (yours must be the same man and woman pair as mine) kept the sparkling wine in our room near the TV. I asked who did that belong to and he said it was ours.

[Arzeena]

The card holders were convenient to hold your sea pass and a credit card when going ashore. It also helped protect your sea pass from getting demagnetized by something coming into contact with it.

 

Regarding cutbacks...I know this is extremely minor and I haven't mentioned it before, however on my last cruise I noticed the reduced the size of the heat shields for the to go coffee cups.

 

There were some of the old ones and the new ones at Cafe al Bacio. Side by side, I noticed the new ones were made 1" shorter. Not a big deal but another way Celebrity is attempting to save pennies on each which probably adds up to quite a savings across all ships/sailing.

 

I sincerely hope you are joking about the one inch shorter heat shields! :D:D:D

[TeeRick]

The card holders were convenient to hold your sea pass and a credit card when going ashore. It also helped protect your sea pass from getting demagnetized by something coming into contact with it.

 

Regarding cutbacks...I know this is extremely minor and I haven't mentioned it before, however on my last cruise I noticed the reduced the size of the heat shields for the to go coffee cups.

 

There were some of the old ones and the new ones at Cafe al Bacio. Side by side, I noticed the new ones were made 1" shorter. Not a big deal but another way Celebrity is attempting to save pennies on each which probably adds up to quite a savings across all ships/sailing.

 

Seriously??

[NLH Arizona]

Regarding cutbacks...I know this is extremely minor and I haven't mentioned it before, however on my last cruise I noticed the reduced the size of the heat shields for the to go coffee cups.

 

There were some of the old ones and the new ones at Cafe al Bacio. Side by side, I noticed the new ones were made 1" shorter. Not a big deal but another way Celebrity is attempting to save pennies on each which probably adds up to quite a savings across all ships/sailing.

Do you think that possibly the vendor changed the size to save their company $$$'s? I can't tell you how many items I see where the packaging size has been reduced, but the vendors still charge the same amount even though you are getting less product. Or possibly Celebrity changed vendors and this was the only size they sell.

[silkismom]

I always put the chocolates in the drawer to take home, sometimes you just need a bite of chocolate.:D

[Hlitner]

I have noticed a continuing theme across many of your posts of dissatisfaction with Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. In this instance I don't think that this is a case of corporate cuts. Absence of paper cups or vinyl card-holders or even a welcome bottle of wine in what seems like a single instance is a corporate decision by the CEO aimed at anyone and is more likely a rare slip up. I think cruising across many of the main-stream lines has changed with the growing popularity of cruising over the years. While I miss some things from days of yore, I suspect my memories are colored with a rose colored filter. I still love the X experience and value the days I spend aboard lovely ships. As was said before, I have so many little cardholders and tote bags that I could open my own X souvenir shop, and one more or less isn't important to making a memorable cruise. A few less chocolates during a 2 week cruise won't be missed by me, there's more than I can eat on any cruise and I generally come home with good reason not to miss my gym workouts. Someone is making my bed, preparing my very tasty meals, bringing me room service, entertaining me, serving me beverages whenever the whim hits, entertaining me and transporting me to wonderful places to explore, all while I lounge by the pool or have a massage. How lucky I am to enjoy the luxury. That's my slice of heaven. I can find no reason to complain about Ms. Lutoff-Perlo!

 

We still enjoy our Celebrity cruises just like we enjoy our cruises on many other lines. But it is quite reasonable (and correct) to put the onus or changes (good and bad) on the CEO, In the case of the current CEO, she made it quite clear (soon after assuming her position) that she wanted to make changes at Celebrity which would improve the bottom line. IMHO the changes have been some major price increases coupled with quite a few onboard cut-backs. As stockholders we applaud her efforts to enhance the bottom line :). But as cruisers, we abhor her decisions to cut back many things onboard....some of them such small items that it makes little sense. Our first introduction to her decision making was a few cruises ago when we came back to our Aqua Class cabin to find that we had no bottles of free water (which had always been provided in Aqua and replenished daily and/.or when needed. We saw our steward in the corridor and ask him for some water and he told us that effective with our cruise....they were now only supposed to supply 2 small bottles of water per cruise. He was embarrassed by the change and did later sneak us a few extra bottles. A few days later we were in Qsine and noticed that the cute little NZ lamb chops were no longer on the menu. This is an expensive product....so GONE! Went to our favorite bar the first night only to find that the selection of both Cognacs (a personal passion) and single malt scotches seemed to be curtailed from prior cruises. A conversation with the bar tender revealed that many of the higher end products had disappeared (leaving those with Premium drink packages with a smaller choice).

 

And last year we noticed that our cabin steward was working alone...and seemed to be working day and night. It turned out that that there had been another policy change and they had gone back to a siingle steward formula versus the 2-team system. But the number of cabins assigned was not cut in half...so each steward now had more cabins (which does impact on service). On previous cruises (when in Aqua) our cabin had always been made up by the time we returned from breakfast. Now, this was often not possible...and some days our overworked (and very hard working) steward could not get to some cabins until the afternoon.

 

And then there is the issue (discussed in other threads) about the wine-by-the-glass selection available to Premium drink package holders (or anyone). On our last cruise the selection seemed to have shrunk and there were very few decent selections in Blu. When we asked our wine stewardess if she could perhaps open a decent Malbec (the one offering was mediocre at best) and give us two glasses...she explained that it was not permitted. When we pointed out that we would happily pay any overage over the maximum cost per glass permitted by the Premium Package...she explained that it was "policy" not to open additional wines. She did kick the issue up to the beverage manager and told us the following day that she was simply not permitted to expand the offerings (by glass) but we were welcome to purchase full bottles :(.

Celebrity charges over $60 per passenger day for the Premium Drink package....but refuses to provide "premium wines by the glass" even though they do have those items on the ship.

 

Hank

[sandc4e]

...One item I have never found in my Concierge class cabin, but also never asked for as it was not required, is the "extra handheld hair dryer" Has anyone had one of these in their CC cabin? If so, does it still have the annoying on switch that needs to be held down constantly when in use? If it has a 'normal' switch I think I may request one on my upcoming cruise to give my fingers a rest.

 

We had it in our Concierge Class on Silhouette during Easter week. We were in an aft cabin and it was tucked away in one of the drawers.

[ChucktownSteve]

Do you think that possibly the vendor changed the size to save their company $$$'s? I can't tell you how many items I see where the packaging size has been reduced, but the vendors still charge the same amount even though you are getting less product. Or possibly Celebrity changed vendors and this was the only size they sell.

 

Packaging in grocery items usually remains the same but the content weight is reduced.

 

 

What vendor. Celebrity orders what they want. If Celebrity changed vendors then it was to save money. I didn't verify if the same company supplied both of the pre-printed heat shields. however I suspect it was the same vendor resizing at their customer's request to pay less.

[russg140]

While I'm sure these things affected you personally, all I could think reading your complaints was "you're kidding". A complaint about the food (which is always subjective), the entertainment (ditto), or the service (almost never a problem) I get. But complaining about the carmel on top of a coffee drink is like complaining about the size of the olives in a martini!

[ChucktownSteve]

I sincerely hope you are joking about the one inch shorter heat shields! :D:D:D

It was just an observation. I have large hands and needed to take two.

[keesar]

It was just an observation. I have large hands and needed to take two.

 

Now I know you are kidding! :)

[caribsun]

We have only booked inside staterooms, never realize we were missing out on those paid amenities. :rolleyes:

[NLH Arizona]

While I'm sure these things affected you personally, all I could think reading your complaints was "you're kidding". A complaint about the food (which is always subjective), the entertainment (ditto), or the service (almost never a problem) I get. But complaining about the carmel on top of a coffee drink is like complaining about the size of the olives in a martini!

I think with some of the trival things I see folks having an issue with, all I can figure out is that they are just looking for things to be wrong. It is the same with folks that comment on a chip of paint here or a cracked tile there or dust above a light fixture or the size of a cup, etc....who spends their vacation looking for things that are wrong, instead of enjoying their cruise.