New $9.95 + 18% grat for room service

[randomcruise]

7 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

We cruised recently and sent an email about our concerns to LLP. We received a call from her office in response.  The rep listened politely and thanked us for our imput. Frankly it seemed somewhat condescending but at least we were heard. I'd not rely on sending our feedback only through Cruise Critic to get our message where it needs to go. 

We did the same, and got the same kind of call.  Very polite, but also no indication that there was any real commitment to improve.   I suspect that improvement will happen only if Celebrity experiences a decline in bookings, and based on the vast majority of posts here, I don't really expect that to happen.  

 

[randomcruise]

3 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

The OVC at dinner has greatly improved on APEX according to this recent thread.  see the video.

 

 

I really hope that is the new norm every night on the Apex and all the other Celebrity ships.

[SmokeyRosey]

On 3/5/2023 at 9:45 AM, TeeRick said:

The OVC at dinner has greatly improved on APEX according to this recent thread.  see the video.

 

 

That's a big improvement over what we saw for the dinner buffet in the OVC on the Apex less than 2 weeks ago.  The ship was pretty full, so there were always people in the OVC, even for dinner.  Not sure what prompted them to step it back up after our cruise ended, but I'm thankful they did.  

[goofysmom99]

I order room service breakfast on a cruise every single day I can because it's one of my cruising guilty pleasures.  I recently cruised on Summit and ordered hot breakfast seven times.  On these cruises, I felt they had significantly upped their game since there's now a charge.  My food arrived 100% hot, correct, and on-time (well, consistently ~15 minutes early so I added 30 minutes and it showed up when I actually wanted it).  The presentation was much nicer, on a cloth-covered, larger tray.  Always had a follow-up call to ask if everything was OK.  First day, the over medium eggs were overcooked and she called just as I was lifting the cover.  She insisted on sending replacements which arrived in maybe 4 minutes, tops, perfectly cooked.  Full disclosure, I don't have to pay but if I did, I would still do it (I'd give up drinking before I'd give up hot breakfast).  

 

Edit: I asked if there might be a gluten-free muffin possible, and for the first time in 30 years of cruising, I was sent a basket of three muffins that weren't dry and actually tasted good.  First for me ever on Celebrity (all previous muffins were dry and quite tasteless, including Cafe al Bacio and Spa, so I had quit asking).

Edited March 7, 2023 by goofysmom99

[Lena11033]

I just got off summit and did room service twice (continental so should be easy). Both times the order had issues with it. 

[chamima]

On 3/6/2023 at 10:41 PM, goofysmom99 said:

I order room service breakfast on a cruise every single day I can because it's one of my cruising guilty pleasures.  I recently cruised on Summit and ordered hot breakfast seven times.  On these cruises, I felt they had significantly upped their game since there's now a charge.  My food arrived 100% hot, correct, and on-time (well, consistently ~15 minutes early so I added 30 minutes and it showed up when I actually wanted it).  The presentation was much nicer, on a cloth-covered, larger tray.  Always had a follow-up call to ask if everything was OK.  First day, the over medium eggs were overcooked and she called just as I was lifting the cover.  She insisted on sending replacements which arrived in maybe 4 minutes, tops, perfectly cooked.  Full disclosure, I don't have to pay but if I did, I would still do it (I'd give up drinking before I'd give up hot breakfast).  

 

Edit: I asked if there might be a gluten-free muffin possible, and for the first time in 30 years of cruising, I was sent a basket of three muffins that weren't dry and actually tasted good.  First for me ever on Celebrity (all previous muffins were dry and quite tasteless, including Cafe al Bacio and Spa, so I had quit asking).

 

 

From your comment highlighted above I guess you're sailing in a suite.

We recently sailed on the Equinox in Aqua class. I ordered room service one day and circled  6:30 - 7:00 AND 7:00- 7:30 , and crossed out the 6:30 and the 7:30, trying to indicate I wanted 7:00. Breakfast arrived at 7:35.

Granted it was served beautifully and the coffee was hot. But we had an early excursion and so it was almost useless.

I have found room service always arrives late on Celebrity and nothing has changed. We never ordered it again.

 

 

 

On 3/5/2023 at 9:36 AM, Luvcrusn said:

We cruised recently and sent an email about our concerns to LLP. We received a call from her office in response.  The rep listened politely and thanked us for our imput. Frankly it seemed somewhat condescending but at least we were heard. I'd not rely on sending our feedback only through Cruise Critic to get our message where it needs to go. 

 

Everyone who writes to LLP gets those phone calls.

The philosophy seems to be "make people feel heard" rahter than address any problems.

[Arizona Wildcat]

7 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

 

From your comment highlighted above I guess you're sailing in a suite.

We recently sailed on the Equinox in Aqua class. I ordered room service one day and circled  6:30 - 7:00 AND 7:00- 7:30 , and crossed out the 6:30 and the 7:30, trying to indicate I wanted 7:00. Breakfast arrived at 7:35.

Granted it was served beautifully and the coffee was hot. But we had an early excursion and so it was almost useless.

I have found room service always arrives late on Celebrity and nothing has changed. We never ordered it again.

 

 

 

 

Everyone who writes to LLP gets those phone calls.

The philosophy seems to be "make people feel heard" rahter than address any problems.

The execs at the office note the issue and asummary report is forwarded.   They obviously got the message loud and clear on OV.

The charge for room service might be a bit different.  It is a combo of being short staffed and trying to get a handle on costs.   I 100% agree if there is an issue with what is served- let them know by sending it back.  With fewer orders, they should arrive fresh, hot and reasonably close time wise.

Hada call from Miami yesterday about another issue and was told bookings continue strong.  Do not see this one being reversed

[goofysmom99]

3 hours ago, chamima said:

From your comment highlighted above I guess you're sailing in a suite.

No, I was in a C1 cabin but have zenith free room service benefit.

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, goofysmom99 said:

No, I was in a C1 cabin but have zenith free room service benefit.

 

I like the zenith free room benefit even better.

[HskrCrsr]

I was on Reflection (Aqua Class) when this charge was initiated. We ordered room service every morning as it is something we look forward to on every cruise. Our first two orders had significant errors (wrong items, items missing) and were also quite late. We complained so they put us on some priority list. No more errors, but I started going to the buffet to get items just in case. It became a waste of time and a waste of food. It sounds like perhaps they decided to improve the service if they're going to charge for it?

[mahdnc]

4 minutes ago, HskrCrsr said:

It sounds like perhaps they decided to improve the service if they're going to charge for it?

 

I would think that Celebrity would anticipate that paying for room service would raise the standards and expectations in passengers minds.  Otherwise you will be refunding the fee when complaints hit and then you are back to where you started: free room service. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by mahdnc