Enough with all the moaning = Celebrity Cruises, you rock!

[Miaminice]

Celebrity Cruises, you rock! 
We are currently on the Iceland & Ireland cruise on Apex. It’s the last day of a great cruise.
With all the moaning an complaining I read on CC I need to tell you what happened to us.
 

1.

We embarked on Apex at 11.30am on June 7th with friends. We had not booked AQ as usual because we wanted to dine with our friends. 
When we checked in at the terminal we had stateroom 11115. Once on board we went to our stateroom and opened the envelope with our cards… so we thought. I looked at the cards and they had different names on them. Thinking we made a mistake we checked if we were on the right deck. We were, so we went to guest relations. While explaining the problem to them I opened the xpress pass on the app  to show them and wondered why it suddenly showed a different stateroom number and showed Aqua Class. 
The lovely lady at guest relations said “Apparently you got upgraded. Congratulations! You are going to like Aqua and Blu.”
Looking a bit puzzled we expressed our gratitude and said thank you “but we are cruising with friends and we would like to dine together.”
She replied: “I understand! And we are not going to ruin your cruise. We are going to see about your friends. Please be so kind and get back to me after lunch - but ask your friends not to unpack yet.”
To make a long story short, we returned from guest relations - both ending up in Aqua Class.
Celebrity cruises, you really made our day and cruise!

 

2. Yesterday, on the second to last day of the cruise, our friends were tested positive for Covid. They were moved to a stateroom on the isolation deck. Since they need to isolate for 5 days and then test negative for 2 days before they can travel, they were given the choice of isolating in a hotel room in Amsterdam or simply to stay on board for the next 7 nt Norway cruise for free. They are well taken care of and when they test negative after the five days they are allowed to leave the stateroom but have to eat in the stateroom. 
They chose to stay on board and feel safe and cared for.

 

 

[Denny01]

Sounds fantastic, and a free Norway cruise! We booked this Iceland followed by the Norway cruise in ‘23..  

 

Love the ‘Enough Moaning’’!

 

den

[canderson]

21 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

2. Yesterday, on the second to last day of the cruise, our friends were tested positive for Covid. They were moved to a stateroom on the isolation deck.

What cabin class were they provided for their time in isolation?

[Jim_Iain]

Was so happy to hear your positivity until I got to the last paragraph.   Hope they are doing well.

 

By the way what were the temperatures like in Iceland? 

[Bigdrinks]

Nice touch from Celebrity.
 

Presumably your friends fell ill to necessitate a covid test?  

[Miaminice]

16 hours ago, canderson said:

What cabin class were they provided for their time in isolation?

Some passengers were relocated to deck 6. Our friends moved to an Oceanview on deck 3.

[Miaminice]

15 hours ago, Bigdrinks said:

Nice touch from Celebrity.
 

Presumably your friends fell ill to necessitate a covid test?  

Because we were going to do (and did) a few tours together in a rental car, we had brought a bag full of Covid Antigen tests from home and tested each day before our tours. When we did a tour without them, our friends did not feel well and did a test which came out positive. It was confirmed by the ship‘s medical staff. 

 

So far my wife and I are negative. We will see when we are back home if it stays that way 🤷🏻

Edited June 19, 2022 by Miaminice

[Miaminice]

16 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Was so happy to hear your positivity until I got to the last paragraph.   Hope they are doing well.

 

By the way what were the temperatures like in Iceland? 

So far they feel like having a bad cold.

 

The temperatures were between 9 and 14 Celsius, so 50 to 59.

[Fly and Sail]

So just because you got upgraded this negates "all the other moaning" on CC?

 

Upgrades happen every day and I feel a lot more so recently on the larger EC vessels.

 

Hopefully your friends will be let out of their prison after the 5 days. A "free" cruise while being locked up in a cabin without verandah isn't exactly a pleasure.

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, Fly and Sail said:

So just because you got upgraded this negates "all the other moaning" on CC?

 

Upgrades happen every day and I feel a lot more so recently on the larger EC vessels.

 

Hopefully your friends will be let out of their prison after the 5 days. A "free" cruise while being locked up in a cabin without verandah isn't exactly a pleasure.

This pretty much sums it up .

[Oceangoer2]

20 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Celebrity Cruises, you rock! 
We are currently on the Iceland & Ireland cruise on Apex. It’s the last day of a great cruise.
With all the moaning an complaining I read on CC I need to tell you what happened to us.
 

1.

We embarked on Apex at 11.30am on June 7th with friends. We had not booked AQ as usual because we wanted to dine with our friends. 
When we checked in at the terminal we had stateroom 11115. Once on board we went to our stateroom and opened the envelope with our cards… so we thought. I looked at the cards and they had different names on them. Thinking we made a mistake we checked if we were on the right deck. We were, so we went to guest relations. While explaining the problem to them I opened the xpress pass on the app  to show them and wondered why it suddenly showed a different stateroom number and showed Aqua Class. 
The lovely lady at guest relations said “Apparently you got upgraded. Congratulations! You are going to like Aqua and Blu.”
Looking a bit puzzled we expressed our gratitude and said thank you “but we are cruising with friends and we would like to dine together.”
She replied: “I understand! And we are not going to ruin your cruise. We are going to see about your friends. Please be so kind and get back to me after lunch - but ask your friends not to unpack yet.”
To make a long story short, we returned from guest relations - both ending up in Aqua Class.
Celebrity cruises, you really made our day and cruise!

 

2. Yesterday, on the second to last day of the cruise, our friends were tested positive for Covid. They were moved to a stateroom on the isolation deck. Since they need to isolate for 5 days and then test negative for 2 days before they can travel, they were given the choice of isolating in a hotel room in Amsterdam or simply to stay on board for the next 7 nt Norway cruise for free. They are well taken care of and when they test negative after the five days they are allowed to leave the stateroom but have to eat in the stateroom. 
They chose to stay on board and feel safe and cared for.

 

 

Happy you and your friends were treated so well by Celebrity....sorry your friends tested positive.  It's been my concern that if we also were infected would we be transferred to a cabin without a balcony.  That question is affecting our decision whether to cruise this November as an oceanview, over that period of time without the ability to be outside, would be difficult for us.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Oceangoer2

[LGW59]

6 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

So just because you got upgraded this negates "all the other moaning" on CC?

 

Upgrades happen every day and I feel a lot more so recently on the larger EC vessels.

 

Hopefully your friends will be let out of their prison after the 5 days. A "free" cruise while being locked up in a cabin without verandah isn't exactly a pleasure.

Moving people from their booked cabin to a different one for quarantine/isolation is such a joke and a game of smoke and mirrors.  Free cruise my a**!

[Miaminice]

Here we go, the complainers take over again. 🙄 As soon as one starts… Sad that some have such negativity in them. I sincerely feel sorry for you!

 

We were not only happy about their services because of an upgrade. It was a nice gesture to upgrade us both. But we would have also had a nice cruise without… it was nice nonetheless. 
 

It was also nice to see that they take care of their passengers as good as they can and give them a choice where to quarantine. Our friends chose the ship over a hotel because it’s a familiar environment. BTW quarantine hotels in Amsterdam also have no balconies. 

 

Yes, they move the passengers to another stateroom. But they also refund the days. 
Not good enough for you? Easy solution - stay at home, don’t book a cruise.

We had a great cruise - food was great, service was delightfully overwhelming, the ship is beautiful. Enough reasons for us to see things positive. But yeah, I figured that positivity is too old school for some who find a personal ego booster in moaning and complaining. I was waiting for being criticised for seeing the glass more than half full. So sad! Maybe pathetic is even the better word.

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Miaminice

[jagoffee]

7 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

So just because you got upgraded this negates "all the other moaning" on CC?

 

Upgrades happen every day and I feel a lot more so recently on the larger EC vessels.

 

Hopefully your friends will be let out of their prison after the 5 days. A "free" cruise while being locked up in a cabin without verandah isn't exactly a pleasure.

It was their choice as normally they would be isolated in a hotel in Amsterdam.  Personally I think it is very generous of Celebrity to give them an option.

[chillie_queen]

Thanks for your review. We're considering this cruise in August. We live in the Netherlands so it would be real easy.  Have never been to Ireland either, and I'm Scottish!  We love Celebrity and love Blu so are on the fence whether to chance booking Concierge since we must persuade our first time cruiser friends to go with us.  Celebrity cruise was Hong Kong to Shanghai in 2018 - seems so long ago.

 

[mahdnc]

On 6/18/2022 at 10:12 AM, Miaminice said:

Celebrity Cruises, you rock! 
We are currently on the Iceland & Ireland cruise on Apex. It’s the last day of a great cruise.
With all the moaning an complaining I read on CC I need to tell you what happened to us.
 

1.

We embarked on Apex at 11.30am on June 7th with friends. We had not booked AQ as usual because we wanted to dine with our friends. 
When we checked in at the terminal we had stateroom 11115. Once on board we went to our stateroom and opened the envelope with our cards… so we thought. I looked at the cards and they had different names on them. Thinking we made a mistake we checked if we were on the right deck. We were, so we went to guest relations. While explaining the problem to them I opened the xpress pass on the app  to show them and wondered why it suddenly showed a different stateroom number and showed Aqua Class. 
The lovely lady at guest relations said “Apparently you got upgraded. Congratulations! You are going to like Aqua and Blu.”
Looking a bit puzzled we expressed our gratitude and said thank you “but we are cruising with friends and we would like to dine together.”
She replied: “I understand! And we are not going to ruin your cruise. We are going to see about your friends. Please be so kind and get back to me after lunch - but ask your friends not to unpack yet.”
To make a long story short, we returned from guest relations - both ending up in Aqua Class.
Celebrity cruises, you really made our day and cruise!

 

2. Yesterday, on the second to last day of the cruise, our friends were tested positive for Covid. They were moved to a stateroom on the isolation deck. Since they need to isolate for 5 days and then test negative for 2 days before they can travel, they were given the choice of isolating in a hotel room in Amsterdam or simply to stay on board for the next 7 nt Norway cruise for free. They are well taken care of and when they test negative after the five days they are allowed to leave the stateroom but have to eat in the stateroom. 
They chose to stay on board and feel safe and cared for.

 

 

 

Oliver, 

 

I am glad to read that your cruise went so well.

 

David

[RichYak]

56 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

Easy solution - stay at home, don’t book a cruise.

Not moaning, just stating the obvious. Many are choosing the other easy solution due to the restrictive protocols: don't go to medical when medical attention is not necessary.

[Provence55always]

Delighted Celebrity took care of you and friends….you obviously enjoyed upgrade as we did in May in Alaska. Glad your friends are doing well. Looking forward to Blu in October. Life is short enjoy be grateful as you are…..lots of folk could take a leave out of your book.

 

[Provence55always]

Correct…..leaf….

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, Miaminice said:

Yes, they move the passengers to another stateroom. But they also refund the days. 
Not good enough for you? Easy solution - stay at home, don’t book a cruise.

 

Many want (in writing), to be able to isolate in their room they booked or at a minimum a room with a balcony, not be forced to move to an OV.  Congrats to you and your friends for getting upgraded.

[Dolebludger]

All I can say is that we had a couple of X cruises in suites right before the pandemic, and even had an on-board deposit on a third, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. They were equal (and better in some ways) compared to some lux ls we’ve been on. I’ve been researching the performance of X and other lines after reopening in CC and other sources, and am forced to find that cruise quality is now “spotty”. Probably this is due to shortages of experienced staff. Of course there are negative reviews, so it is great to see positive ones.

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

All I can say is that we had a couple of X cruises in suites right before the pandemic, and even had an on-board deposit on a third, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. They were equal (and better in some ways) compared to some lux ls we’ve been on. I’ve been researching the performance of X and other lines after reopening in CC and other sources, and am forced to find that cruise quality is now “spotty”. Probably this is due to shortages of experienced staff. Of course there are negative reviews, so it is great to see positive ones.

 

If X wanted less complaints/better surveys, upgrading every passenger is one way to get there 🙃

[Fly and Sail]

38 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

It was their choice as normally they would be isolated in a hotel in Amsterdam.  Personally I think it is very generous of Celebrity to give them an option.

 

Normally they'd be off the ship and can then decide what to do. Shows you what world we're living in nowadays that this seems to be accepted as normality by some.

 

Sure it's nice to have the option but it's hardly a "free cruise" to be locked away in a room with just a window. In that case you could also call a prison stint a "free long term holiday". Personally I don't think the cruise line should be responsible if I get sick on board. I can't hold my local Whole Foods responsible either if I catch Covid while grocery shopping.

 

Another reason why I'd never ever have myself tested on board under any circumstances.

[George C]

We are also X fans , my first celebrity cruise over ten years ago we got upgraded to a sky suite, bad thing is we liked it so much we booked nothing but suites since .

[Denny01]

3 minutes ago, George C said:

We are also X fans , my first celebrity cruise over ten years ago we got upgraded to a sky suite, bad thing is we liked it so much we booked nothing but suites since .

We are booked on a TA with a Sky Suite for our first time, and That’s what I sweat!