New CEO of Celebrity Interesting but happy they stay within for promotions.

[LetsGoToo]

34 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

She may be calling this a glide path to retirement but from the SEC filing it seems likely she was forced out.  Last year she made $820k in base salary and was eligible for a 130% performance bonus (don't know if she qualified).  In her new role her base pay is down to $360K.  You don't cut a valued executives pay in half just before retirement.  The filing also speaks to her being eligible for severance. which shouldn't come into play in a voluntary separation.  Maybe she is just looking to retire or maybe she was a Richard Fain appointee and Jason Liberty wants to install his own team.  Would be nice if this was Liberty responding to all the recent X complaints but that's likely too much to hope for.

 

Note that RCL has never broken out X's financials so we have no idea how they are performing.  Also, despite having the title of president she is really just a division manager, responsible for less than 1/3 of RCL's total berths and shouldn't be compared with Fain, Donald and Del Rio.  She doesn't even sit on the RCL board.  

Disagree. Totally appears to me that she wanted to retire and they moved her to a “fluff” role to make the transition more smooth. 

[1Virgo]

So if she was planning on vacating her position, why was I inundated with a cruise Alaska with Lisa and Captain Kate 2 months ago…… 

[NMTraveller]

She was axed.  And given a lesser role to assist with the transition if she stays on...

[Andrewgary]

So is Lisa still gonna be on the Alaska cruise with Captain Kate?

[paulh84]

3 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

She may be calling this a glide path to retirement but from the SEC filing it seems likely she was forced out.  Last year she made $820k in base salary and was eligible for a 130% performance bonus (don't know if she qualified).  In her new role her base pay is down to $360K.  You don't cut a valued executives pay in half just before retirement.  The filing also speaks to her being eligible for severance. which shouldn't come into play in a voluntary separation.  Maybe she is just looking to retire or maybe she was a Richard Fain appointee and Jason Liberty wants to install his own team.  Would be nice if this was Liberty responding to all the recent X complaints but that's likely too much to hope for.

 

Note that RCL has never broken out X's financials so we have no idea how they are performing.  Also, despite having the title of president she is really just a division manager, responsible for less than 1/3 of RCL's total berths and shouldn't be compared with Fain, Donald and Del Rio.  She doesn't even sit on the RCL board.  

Yes you do. Retaining a CEO in an advisory role is perfectly normal. Del Rio is doing it. Donald Arnold is doing it. Roberto Martinoli is still on as a senior advisor at Silversea since Barbara Muckermann took over in January. Richard Fain is still doing it in some capacity as the RCG board chair. Michael Bayley also isn’t on the RCG board so there is nothing to surmise from that. 

[jaywoods678]

On 4/6/2023 at 9:05 PM, Bobsgonecoastal said:

Very true, and that was just one of many poor decisions and bad communications by LLP.  Yes, some of us loyal X customers are getting older, but that doesn’t mean you communicate your desire to throw us overboard for a new woke group of hipsters.  That really soured my taste for LLP, and X overall.  We still have the time and we still have the money! I’ve had numerous other bones to pick with her, but won’t get into them now.

 

I truly hope the new X President steers the ship back to it’s previous market position of a premium cruise line.  one that I would feel good about spending my time and money with.

That is so true. She made it VERY clear she no longer wanted us, and she was determined to go after a different market. That's why they turned the music way up on all their ships and started having weird performance art in Eden, not to mention the uncomfortable IKEA dorm room looking furniture. I work at a university with the type of new folks she wants to cruise Celebrity, and trust me they don't even like cruising. They think it's just for old rich racist white people, and they would never give their money to an industry that is so bad for the environment.

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, LetsGoToo said:

Disagree. Totally appears to me that she wanted to retire and they moved her to a “fluff” role to make the transition more smooth. 

I will assume that you have never worked for a company where the CEO was let go and they wanted to act as if it never happened...

 

Put positive spin on the CEO getting axed ...

Edited April 8, 2023 by NMTraveller

[LetsGoToo]

3 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I will assume that you have never worked for a company where the CEO was let go and they wanted to act as if it never happened...

I've actually held said role and we did this exact thing on several occasions.

 

We also didn't keep people around that we no longer wanted. Why would any one think that's a good idea?

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by LetsGoToo

[Fly and Sail]

22 hours ago, LetsGoToo said:

I’m what way? Celebrity has newer ships, more ships, better food, and better service. Plus, it’s in a much more strong financial position than Carnival or Virgin. 

 

I had a look at Virgin's ships, and they are a complete disaster. Nobody who likes Celebrity will feel comfortable on a Virgin Voyages vessel, and they all follow the same design, meaning this will be their fleet for the better part of two decades. Very cold, odd design, and unused/underutilized spaces. Add to that the informal staff attitude and tech issues (who thinks the X app is bad, good luck trying Virgin's onboard technology).

[jaywoods678]

17 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Really?  LLP approved the E-class ship concept that eliminated the most common type of cabin on the ship for an unproved concept of the IV balconies.  For years cruise lines saw the importance of balcony cabins and tried to add as many as possible and LLP eliminated those cabins for the non-suite guests.  For passengers that actually use their balcony to sit outside by the ocean, the IV balconies are a non-starter and force those passengers to move to other cruise lines.  The IV balconies also resulted in the ridiculous miniature dollhouse furniture because nothing else fit on the IV balconies.  And tell me again, what's the purpose of the Magic Carpet?  Another expensive ill-conceived addition to the E-class ships.  While we're on the subject of ill-conceived, has anyone forgot about the Eden concept?  All of these issues are still in the E-class ships.  Any CEO that alienates a large portion of the cruise passengers should be sent to the exit gates.  Unfortunately, the E-class ships will still be around after many of us are gone. 

 

Although not unique to the E-class ships, has anyone forgot about Goop?  Who takes responsibility for approving that silly program.

 

The fact that LLP is near retirement age only hides these issues.

 

Bye-bye LLP, many of us won't miss you.

Totally agree with everything you said. In regards to the Magic Carpet, it's way to gimmicky. Usually these types of gimmicks are for the mainstream lines (Carnival, Norwegian, & Royal), but not for the premium lines, like Celebrity says they are. It's not even very useful, plus it's very ugly sitting on one side. It's just not very appealing or attractive.

[jaywoods678]

12 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

100% agree...If X wants to keep the IVs, fine, yet for every IV cabin there should be a traditional balcony.  We can pretty safe to say the Eden space and magic carpet were a miss.

 

For the Eden, the original "whimsical" concept was to have an ongoing show all evening, you could pop in at anytime and stay for 15mins or 3 hours.  Now more often than not they just have musicians play in Eden but the musicians could (and do) play anywhere on the ship

 

Magic carpet is a gimmick that fixes a tender problem that never existed.  It makes tendering slightly easier, but at what costs?  It creates several obstructed viewed staterooms, had a lot of R&D costs and requires ongoing maintenance, surely X is passing those costs onto its passengers

 

All and all, we'll see with the next class of ships if X continues with the magic carpet, Eden and traditional balcony % vs IV %

Completely agree with all of this. So it sounds like they got rid of some of the really bad creepy weird performance art in Eden. At least that is one good thing, but Eden is still a big miss.

[NMTraveller]

32 minutes ago, LetsGoToo said:

I've actually held said role and we did this exact thing on several occasions.

 

We also didn't keep people around that we no longer wanted. Why would any one think that's a good idea?

 

OK probably not for a company in the S&P500 where the CEO got axed.  How can you build 5 new ships where the majority of your faithful cruisers (non-suite) do not like them and will not sail on them again?

Edited April 8, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Bobsgonecoastal]

16 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

You're correct, but it will only be a small number of cabins not completely eliminating the most common type of cabin.  MSC also has some but they are not advertised as a balcony cabin.  If you have a few of these cabins, I think they could be marketed as an enhanced ocean view cabin.  Eliminating the most common type of cabin was just plain dumb.

Exactly!  As far as bad top down decisions go, that one was epic.  We don’t sail E class ships for that exact reason.  Unless you’re booked in a suite, there are few traditional balconies on these ships.  I’m sure this has had an effect on demand for E class cruises.  I’ve talked to several of my X cruise mates, and they feel the same. Those that have experienced IV (aqua class) cabins said never again.

[BigAl94]

She was a disaster for Celebrity and its loyal customers - good riddance.

[Ipeeinthepools]

9 hours ago, Andrewgary said:

So is Lisa still gonna be on the Alaska cruise with Captain Kate?

 

Probably.  What else does she have to do?

[Sussex Cruiser]

2 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

She was a disaster for Celebrity and its loyal customers - good riddance.

Couldn't agree more.  She was responsible for some truly staggering decision making which has undoubtedly done severe damage to the brand.

[bikerunner]

6 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

OK probably not for a company in the S&P500 where the CEO got axed.  How can you build 5 new ships where the majority of your faithful cruisers (non-suite) do not like them and will not sail on them again?

But the ships are back to full.  So they may have alienated some cruisers but gained new ones probably more since they have more ships to fill now.  The argument is since you don’t like it must mean all must not like it.  I personally don’t like the ships they use for the Galapagos, I guess I should hate and never sail with celebrity again  As I said before they do have ships that have traditional balconies. They actually have 8 of them. Only 3 e class right now with 2 more coming.  If it was not popular they would not have kept building them.From talking to freinds who went on a few of the e class the shows for Eden are standing room only. The restaurant is full and sold out every night.  To me they are still going after the same demographic and age range.  Peoples tastes change so they adapted to the more broader instead of just doing the same old thing and only catering to a smaller population.

[paulh84]

8 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

OK probably not for a company in the S&P500 where the CEO got axed.  How can you build 5 new ships where the majority of your faithful cruisers (non-suite) do not like them and will not sail on them again?

Where did you source all of these facts you have? 

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, bikerunner said:

But the ships are back to full.  So they may have alienated some cruisers but gained new ones probably more since they have more ships to fill now.  The argument is since you don’t like it must mean all must not like it.  I personally don’t like the ships they use for the Galapagos, I guess I should hate and never sail with celebrity again  As I said before they do have ships that have traditional balconies. They actually have 8 of them. Only 3 e class right now with 2 more coming.  If it was not popular they would not have kept building them.From talking to freinds who went on a few of the e class the shows for Eden are standing room only. The restaurant is full and sold out every night.  To me they are still going after the same demographic and age range.  Peoples tastes change so they adapted to the more broader instead of just doing the same old thing and only catering to a smaller population.

If this was a successful strategy then all of the lines would be doing it.

 

I do understand making a certain percentage IVs,  but not making all IVs and losing customers.

 

The optimal strategy would be to figure out what percentage of cruisers prefer a IV and which percentage prefer a real balcony and to make the IV/real balcony split with those percentages.

 

The fact that they did not put the IVs in suites says a lot.

Edited April 8, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Ipeeinthepools]

19 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

Where did you source all of these facts you have? 

 

He/she read it on CC.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

5 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

He/she read it on CC.

Which is a tiny portion of those who cruise. I have multiple friends who are not on CC who have cruised in more traditional verandas and in IVs and LOVE the IVs/ (I'm a weird duck on here who loves them as well.)

[Ipeeinthepools]

8 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Which is a tiny portion of those who cruise. I have multiple friends who are not on CC who have cruised in more traditional verandas and in IVs and LOVE the IVs/ (I'm a weird duck on here who loves them as well.)

 

If it's not on CC, it's just not true.

[NMTraveller]

11 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Which is a tiny portion of those who cruise. I have multiple friends who are not on CC who have cruised in more traditional verandas and in IVs and LOVE the IVs/ (I'm a weird duck on here who loves them as well.)

You have people complaining about the IVs while on the cruise ...  People that have tried them and did not like them.  If they were such a great idea why are they not in the suites?

 

While you don't hear many complaints while on a cruise, this is one of them.

Edited April 8, 2023 by NMTraveller

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Just now, NMTraveller said:

You have people complaining about the IVs while on the cruise ...

I'm not saying there aren't people who don't like them.

 

I AM saying there are plenty of people who DO like them. But the haters like to pretend that we don't exist.

[NMTraveller]

3 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

I'm not saying there aren't people who don't like them.

 

I AM saying there are plenty of people who DO like them. But the haters like to pretend that we don't exist.

Oh not at all.  My solution was to build the IVs/real balconies in the proportion of people who like each.

 

Why limit your pool of cruisers who will cruise on your ships?

Edited April 8, 2023 by NMTraveller