Disappointed with our first Celebrity Cruise within first 24 hrs

[mdpa]

1 minute ago, dkjretired said:

 

 

 

1 minute ago, dkjretired said:

 

 

We did have our embarkation lunch. The Cosmopolitan restaurant told us they would only be open for lunch on sea days (last day for us) and 7-9AM for breakfast. 

[bengaltiger1]

20 hours ago, Zoedokey said:

Ok, I am a little confused that people are saying if you booked a beverage package but are under 21 you can’t use it.  My 20 year old daughter and I are booked in one cabin, my 18 year old son booked with my husband in a connecting cabin.  We got classic packages for all as a perk.  Are you saying my adult kids won’t be able to use the packages for soda, bottled water or cafe al bacio?  

It depends where you are cruising from. The legal age in most of Europe is 18. 

[Denny01]

1 hour ago, mdpa said:

Maybe people are not doing their research but this is why my comments comparing Silversea are so relevant. RCL now owns Silversea. 

 

https://www.silversea.com/other-resources/press-releases/2018/july-/royal-caribbean-completes-acquisition-of-silversea-cruises-share.html

I stand corrected!  And it occurred back in July. 

 

Den

[mdpa]

Ok, I appreciate the helpful and constructive feedback from many of you. Celebrity seems like a decent value but maybe not the best for us. 

 

I just got done booking an Oceania cruise for our family and my parents for next Summer. I’ll get a chance to see if this works well compared to other inclusive land based options. 

 

No no one needs to interpret this as negative in any other way. I wouldn’t enjoy a luxury hotel in Vegas although many people love that place. I’m thinking the smaller ships will better align with our taste. I would have preferred to cross shop Oceania against Azamara while on the ship but the travel consultant never let me get that far into the conversation. Oh well. 

Edited November 26, 2018 by mdpa

[Ma Bell]

Wow.

[Zoedokey]

14 hours ago, upwarduk said:

 See answer in post #54.

Originally the OP stated that he had booked the Classic package for his 14 year old, which was what I was alluding to. Obviously there are different drinking laws in different countries ( You don’t state which country you are a resident of.) so see post #47 for variations in laws, which leads to confusion when sailing with a US company.

 

We are sailing from the US, but the drinking age shouldn’t matter when my 18 year just wants to get  a hot chocolate with his classic package, correct?  

[Ma Bell]

Under age package holders' cards will show that they are not of age to consume alcoholic drinks.

[dkjretired]

5 hours ago, mdpa said:

 

We did have our embarkation lunch. The Cosmopolitan restaurant told us they would only be open for lunch on sea days (last day for us) and 7-9AM for breakfast. 

 

 

I only posted that because you said the dining room was only open for dinner.  

[Zoedokey]

1 hour ago, Ma Bell said:

Under age package holders' cards will show that they are not of age to consume alcoholic drinks.

Once again, I am not asking about alcohol.  I am asking if my 18 year old can get a hot chocolate or a soda.  Someone earlier said if they are under 21,  they can’t use the package.  I am asking if they can use the package for non-alcoholic drinks.  

[Ma Bell]

23 minutes ago, Zoedokey said:

Once again, I am not asking about alcohol.  I am asking if my 18 year old can get a hot chocolate or a soda.  Someone earlier said if they are under 21,  they can’t use the package.  I am asking if they can use the package for non-alcoholic drinks.  

I thought I answered the question. The servers will know what they can have and what they can't.

[Martinjjd]

Very sorry that you are disappointed on your first day but please don't let it spoil your cruise.

We have ALWAYS found Celebrity great to deal with. I know the various offers can be confusing but at times we need to have a clearer understanding of what we have booked. 

To be critical of handing over our seapass card for purchases seems unreasonable as it is an excellent system which you get used to very quickly & which has been on all cruise lines for us.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Martinjjd

[Pushkin]

3 hours ago, Zoedokey said:

We are sailing from the US, but the drinking age shouldn’t matter when my 18 year just wants to get  a hot chocolate with his classic package, correct?  

Classic non-alcoholic drink package includes sodas, coffees, bottled water (no frozen nonalcoholic drinks).

[upwarduk]

5 hours ago, Martinjjd said:

 

To be critical of handing over our seapass card for purchases seems unreasonable as it is an excellent system which you get used to very quickly & which has been on all cruise lines for us.

 

 

Certainly beats having to sign for every drink.

[oskarNZ]

On 11/26/2018 at 6:20 AM, keep on cruisin said:

Depending on when you booked you may have had old terms and conditions regarding the drink package. 

 

We have been on tge Summit 3 times.  The first 2 we had the go best option which bumped up the 2 beverage packages to premium and added the classic non-alcohol package for our minor son.

 

When we booked the 3rd, the terms and conditions for the  go best plan showed they were the same.  We were hove told that since we got the 1/2 off for our son he did not get the best upgrades.  There was no exclusion in the terms and conditions at the time.  They have since updated the printed policies to reflect it.  

 

My TA confirmed the change despite the printed terms.  I did try when we boarded to show them the printed terms from when we booked and they would not honor. This did not effect our trip we had a great trip. We love the Summit and will be on her again in August after the redo.  The T&C's are now corrected to match.

 

The sewer smell we have also experienced but as others have said it goes away quickly after departing.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree.  I had a similar experience to this and for that reason I can understand why the OP might have been expecting a drink package for his daughter.  People have been quick to decide that the OP was in the wrong, so I wanted to throw in my 2cents in their defence. 

 

I can become a bit obsessive when it comes to t&cs, so when I booked my upcoming cruise, I was adament that my son would be getting the classic non-alcohol package.  

As we all know, Celebrity’s website has its faults and the booking confirmations they send you can be very vague, so when I didn’t see the drink package itemised for each person, I didn’t think to worry.  

 

When I rang about 6 months ago to upgrade my son to the premium non-alcohol package, I was shocked to be told he didn’t have a drink package to upgrade.  The call staff member explained that that promotion hadn’t been available for about a year and I had booked under the 50% off for 3rd guest promotion which didn’t include any 3rd guest perks beyond the discount.  

 

I knew what I’d read, so I did some digging.  The 50% off promotion was still current, yet by doing a dummy booking, it took me just a few minutes to find a set of t&cs that stipulated if adults got the classic alcohol package, kids would get the non-alcohol one.  It turns out that the website was listing two contradicting sets of t&cs and depending on what link you clicked (both were accessible and easy to find) determined what t&cs you thought you were getting.  

 

Given that the child drink promotion had not been available for about a year, this means this section of the website had not been updated for close to a year.  While I wasn’t that surprised (Celebrity’s website issues are well known),  I was annoyed.

 

Anyway, I took dated screenshots and emailed Celebrity with details of their misleading information, only to be given some waffly response that didn’t acknowledge any of my evidence, but basically said I was wrong and they were right.  In essence, they were covering themselves.

 

I had a decision to make at this stage:

1) Keep fighting, knowing that I was getting more and more annoyed and less and less excited about the cruise I’d picked

2) Let it go, look forward to my cruise, but count it as a notch against Celebrity should I consider booking with them again.

 

Right or wrong, I went with the latter and am back to feeling really excited about my cruise.  But, I still count this is an example of Celebrity  mucking up, and I suspect that it was the same for the OP as well.  

OP, I hope your cruise only gets better from now on.  

[mdpa]

OscarNZ,

 

You hit the nail on the head! I find it ironic that I did more research than just about anyone but you and I seem to be getting advice from people that didn’t fully read my explanation. 

 

I probably would have been quicker to let it go and move on but I also had a goal of booking a second trip for me and my family to take advantage of the onboard booking program (Azamara or Celebrity). When I had so many customer service issues within the first 24 hours it made me  reconsider my decision. 

 

I had already reached out to Oceania so I could compare apples to apples with Azamara and when the rep called yesterday it was a night and day difference between our phone conversation with Oceania compared to our “in person” experience with Celebrity. 

 

We will enjoy the rest of the cruise 🚢. Had another nice dinner last night and managed to get the same 5-person table and serving team. People are already remembering our preferences. My family and I hung out at the beach in St Marteen yesterday with a bucket of beer and also rented jet skis. Very fun!

[waterbug123]

On 11/25/2018 at 2:48 PM, mdpa said:

Again, my frustration is according to the three people on the ship I escalated the issue to told me that no one on the ship was authorized to make an exception. Seems far fetched to me. 

 

It sounds like the exception you wanted was for someone to give your daughter a drink package for free with no proof that you booked under a special promotion.  Can you imagine what would happen if they did that?  Or am I wrong and there was some other "exception" you were looking for?    Can you no accept that maybe, just maybe, you were actually confused about what you bought?

 

 

On 11/25/2018 at 3:23 PM, mdpa said:

Unfortunately the booking I am paying for the parents does not count toward the status.

 

This is standard practice, and it's the same as airlines.  It doesn't matter who actually pays the bill; you only get credit for the one cabin, or one airplane seat, that your own butt physically occupies.  

 

19 hours ago, mdpa said:

Wiltonian,

 

You are selectively reading my statements and taking them out of context. The travel consultant said he could not provide the Black Friday offer...not that I could choose either offer but that they could not be combined. 

 

Again, standard practice for multiple offers to not be able to be combined.

 

16 hours ago, mdpa said:

 

We did have our embarkation lunch. The Cosmopolitan restaurant told us they would only be open for lunch on sea days (last day for us) and 7-9AM for breakfast. 

 

This is the norm on most large ships.  Dining room is only open on sea days, and there are set hours for meals when they are.  I, too, would often like to be able to eat in the dining room but we are almost never up and ready to go before 9:00. 

 

Overall, it sounds like you were surprised by a lot of things that shoudn't have been a surprise if you had come to this board before booking.   But I get it- sometimes you simply don't know enough to know what you don't know, and therefore what you need to ask about.  I experienced that recently when we went on our first Viking River Cruise.   Having done dozens of ocean cruises but never a river cruise, it never occurred to me that water levels could be an issue....but they were.  I didn't ask ahead of time because I had no idea that was even a thing.  In hindsight, it seems perfectly logical of course.  What it taught me was that when doing something different for the first time, perhaps post and inquire along the lines of "I've sailed on X, Y and Z, but never Q...what should I know that might be different?"  

Along those lines, I will tell you that I've sailed on Celebrity multiple times, but have also sailed on Oceania twice, which I believe you said you have now booked for next year.   The first time was one of their small ships, 684 pax, and the second time was one of their larger ships, with around 1500 pax.  Compared to any mass market line, including Celebrity, there was a difference on both, but it wasn't as noticeable on the larger Oceania ship.  The small ship was where I really felt like we got the top notch service, the personal touch, and the feeling that we were not just a number.  On the larger ship, there were times when, in comparison to the smaller one, I felt like we were on a mass market line.  I say that, hoping you have booked one of their smaller ships since I think that's where you will be happiest.

[HawaiiUK]

23 hours ago, mdpa said:

I’m enjoying the breakfast buffet, especially after I realized we simply walk up stairs from our room (9160) and we are at the least crowded part of the buffet. I really like the egg Benedict station and the small waffles. After breakfast we head down to the coffee bar and get a 3-shot Americano .

We disembarked the Summit on Saturday 😞

We too had an aft balcony. What are you doing 'walking upstairs' to the breakfast buffet?? 😉 I loved our balcony so much we had room service breakfast every day bar the sea day (MDR) and disembarkation day (buffet) so that we could sit out there. But yes, the egg Benedicts and waffles were good, admittedly. 

[snyniew]

14 hours ago, Pushkin said:

Classic non-alcoholic drink package includes sodas, coffees, bottled water (no frozen nonalcoholic drinks).

 

deleted

Edited November 27, 2018 by snyniew

[Paulras]

5 hours ago, HawaiiUK said:

We disembarked the Summit on Saturday 😞

We too had an aft balcony. What are you doing 'walking upstairs' to the breakfast buffet?? 😉 I loved our balcony so much we had room service breakfast every day bar the sea day (MDR) and disembarkation day (buffet) so that we could sit out there. But yes, the egg Benedicts and waffles were good, admittedly. 

Personally, I'd go up to the buffet too if it was that close and just bring it back to the room. I have yet to ever have my room service order on any cruiseline come as ordered, with all utensils/condiments, or warm enough. And waiting for the delivery is annoying. I can't sit on the balcony or I won't hear the door. Or it comes earlier than expected and I'm in the bathroom. More of a hassle - never understood the fascination with it.

[CulverCityCruisers]

I think the OP should go on Carnival and then see that mass cruise lines are really like.

[mdpa]

38 minutes ago, CulverCityCruisers said:

I think the OP should go on Carnival and then see that mass cruise lines are really like.

No thanks. We were extremely happy with Silversea and I suspect Oceania will be more to our liking. Our family likes service levels of Hampton Inn/Marriott Courtyard or above. Again, I understand normal service and have travelled for a living the last 25 years averaging 50 - 100 hotel nights a year. Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. Usually stay mid level for business and at nicer places for vacation. 

 

Still not not a fan of all the closed venues. Almost every place with comfortable seats is closed during the day for drinks. That being said, the ship is very nice. My complaints are related to poor customer service and inability to resolve issues. 

 

Case in point: already mentioned sewage odor to steward. Received a card in my room asking about satisfaction. Couldn’t find pen in the room so walked down to floor 3 and borrowed a pen to fill out card. I gave one very nice compliment about a server and also asked for someone to address the sewer odor in our bathroom. 24 hours later and no response or update.

 

Glad I’ve never tried Carnival.  

[broberts]

On 11/25/2018 at 8:33 AM, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I don't think you will enjoy the cruise.  Perhaps you should just leave the ship at the first port and fly home.  At least you won't be in misery for a week (assuming a 7 day cruise).

 

 

I don't think you will enjoy this thread. Perhaps you should stop reading it.

 

Oh my, the cheerleaders are out in force.

Edited November 27, 2018 by broberts

[mdpa]

I did want to provide an update. The cruise is getting better each day. Yesterday our cabin steward (Tim, who is very good) followed up on the bathroom issue and my wife even received a call from customer service to make sure we were happy. 

 

Dinners every night have been great. Very personal and attentive service (Cedric, John, and Gardena). We are greeted warmly and our choices have been remembered. For this reason, we have asked for the same table and same time every night and have gotten it so far. 

[Sascol]

OP states so many issues, yet also states:

 

"tried to book another cruise to take advantage of Black Friday promo."

 

That makes sense!  So miserable you're willing to do it all again.

[alwaysonaship]

It is unfortunate that the OP cannot state his opinions without being bashed. I think you will be happier with the smaller luxury cruise lines. Celebrity is mass market and there is a difference.