Is Celebrity going to Eliminate Butlers on Sky and Celebrity Suites?

[binro01]

On 7/28/2023 at 2:33 PM, phoenix_dream said:

I'm hoping when they start getting their credit card bills in and start needing to pay back their student loans (in the US) that maybe some normalcy will return to pricing. 

I think most of the people who book suites have some sort of financial discipline. They are not vacationing on credit card interest and the demographic most likely has had their student loans paid off decades.

 

I have not or never vacationed on credit card debt and I have had my student loans paid of for over 20 years. 
 

The way prices go down is if when the market will not tolerate the pricing for the services received. Plain and simple. 

[dlh015]

55 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

How much does a junior suite passenger need.       You have got to be kidding!!!  . If not, this is definitely coming across as a very egoistical, conceited statement.      So as a person who books a Sky Suite….. I m on holiday. I dont need a diningroom in my cabin nor do I need a piano.  I don’t need to put on airs. And I don’t  look down on anyone that has not booked a suite class cabin. 

Believe me...he's not kidding...just has no empathy for the 'junior class' of anything...he's been on ignore almost from the get go...but I saw his absolutely completely offensive post because you quoted it. Ugh. 

[RichYak]

4 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Believe me...he's not kidding...just has no empathy for the 'junior class' of anything...he's been on ignore almost from the get go...but I saw his absolutely completely offensive post because you quoted it. Ugh. 

He is the most reprehensible of all posters on this board. I struggle to remain silent when he spews his hatred while at the same time ending his posts with "Peace to all" hypocrisy. 

[jelayne]

32 minutes ago, wineoclock said:

 

 

If they took away Lounge not sure I’d be fussed. Sundeck & Luminae then I would be. 

We would gladly trade Luminae for Blu and keep the Sundeck on E class and Lounge although we spend more time at the Martini, Sunset and Craft Social.  

[wineoclock]

Very true regarding Blu. We also prefer it. But where would extra passengers go if they got rid of Luminae for SS or even CS? 

[kirtihk]

10 minutes ago, wineoclock said:

Very true regarding Blu. We also prefer it. But where would extra passengers go if they got rid of Luminae for SS or even CS? 

Fishing for a meal…

[jelayne]

16 minutes ago, RichYak said:

He is the most reprehensible of all posters on this board. I struggle to remain silent when he spews his hatred while at the same time ending his posts with "Peace to all" hypocrisy. 

Hatred?  Maybe, more like a need to remind everyone how superior he thinks he is.

[MamaFej]

3 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Sorry but this is a response from an elitist cruiser who boasts that they will never sail in anything below a Villa or IC suite on a new Edge class ship.

 

Sheesh

I understand every part of this response except "Sorry, but."  I just can't fathom that part. I respect that you feel that way, and I do not intend to diminish your feelings. I just don't get it. 

 

*^*^*^*^*^*

 

Edited to add: I had typed the above, then my phone rang, and I stepped away for a few hours. I had not read the intervening posts upon reopening my computer before just clicking to post. I have now.

 

It seems I am most defintely not alone in my assessment of the arrogance. Upon further consideration, I think "I'm sorry" in this case is a colloquialism, more than an apology. 

 

I clearly need to sleep more. 

Edited July 30, 2023 by MamaFej
I'm a tired doofus

[kirtihk]

27 minutes ago, binro01 said:

I think most of the people who book suites have some sort of financial discipline. They are not vacationing on credit card interest and the demographic most likely has had their student loans paid off decades.

 

I have not or never vacationed on credit card debt and I have had my student loans paid of for over 20 years. 
 

The way prices go down is if when the market will not tolerate the pricing for the services received. Plain and simple. 

Now we are talking.  These people do not live on borrowed life, that’s for sure.

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Hatred?

Yes. 100%. Peace to all.

[zitsky]

I decided to book a Sky Suite after trying Aqua.  We don’t need a lot of space.  But we like the perks.  If perks are eliminated I’ll go back to Aqua or another cruise line entirely.

 

[NMTraveller]

14 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Yes. 100%. Peace to all.

Peace to 99.5% of you.  😁😁

 

You have to admit that is a good line.  Insult someone's intelligence and then say Peace to all.

 

This is something our politicians would do 😁😁

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by NMTraveller

[ohiojohn]

In all honesty, how do you book a future SS cabin with a high non refundable deposit NOT knowing what your actually product and service will be for SS cabin.  Best to book a lower cost AQ cabin with the lower non returnable deposit, then decide to use the move up if the value is apparent. But to me the worse part is losing trust, I simple do not trust the product and service I purchased will exist in the future. I can not honesty advise friends and grown kids that Celebrity will delivery the product or service you paid for.

Edited July 30, 2023 by ohiojohn

[MamaFej]

2 minutes ago, ohiojohn said:

In all honesty, how do you book a future SS cabin with a high non refundable deposit NOT knowing what your actually product and service will be for SS cabin.  Best to book a lower cost AQ cabin with the lower non returnable deposit, then decide to use the move up if the value is apparent. But to me the worse part is losing trust, I simple do not trust the product and service I purchased will exist in the future. I can not honesty advise friends and grown kids that Celebrity will delivery the product or service you paid for.

Absolutely!

 

I must admit, it was enormously frustrating to have booked several cruises years in advance with the understanding that we would have room service included, then have it snatched away from us after final payment. Unlike before, when we used to have room service breakfast fairly frequently (and tipping nicely), we only did it three times on our cruises earlier this year, and only on days when we had early excursions. All three times, we were charged $12. All three times, the order was messed up. All three times, there was no time to rectify the situation, and we weren't thinking about it upon returning to the ship later in the day. It didn't seem right to call and complain the next day. Unlike before the charges went into effect, we never got a call asking us how our order was. 

 

I do think that people should be grandfathered into the cruise they paid for. Changes should be announced well in advance, with  clear communications when they will take effect. 

 

Celebrity (and now, Princess) seem to be doing everything in their power to encourage us away from booking with them and toward booking with Azamara, Viking, Windstar, Oceania...

[dlh015]

2 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

(and now, Princess)

Yes, I, too, have been watching the same sort of...stuff...going on over there...

[RichYak]

20 minutes ago, ohiojohn said:

In all honesty, how do you book a future SS cabin with a high non refundable deposit NOT knowing what your actually product and service will be for SS cabin.  Best to book a lower cost AQ cabin with the lower non returnable deposit, then decide to use the move up if the value is apparent.

Best maybe for some, but not for all. Ironically my wife and i were discussing just last night that Celebrity has run its course for us and they served us well. Now it's simply time to move on as the product is no longer what it used to be. For 2024 it's MSC Yacht Club and Azamara. Hopefully these are a more suitable fit for us. They certainly appear to be a far better value.

[wineoclock]

44 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I decided to book a Sky Suite after trying Aqua.  We don’t need a lot of space.  But we like the perks.  If perks are eliminated I’ll go back to Aqua or another cruise line entirely.

 

We went the other way recently on Silhouette. We really liked Blu far more than Luminae tbh. 

[MamaFej]

5 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Yes, I, too, have been watching the same sort of...stuff...going on over there...

We're sailing from Hawaii to Sydney on the Solstice, then, after some land time to visit Uluru and the Red Centre, we will be on the Coral Princess for a circumnavigation of Australia. It seems that neither of these cruises will entail what we originally booked and paid for. 

 

We've got 5 cruises booked on Celebrity in Asia early next year. I've spent quite a bit of time today trying to figure out a way to replace some of those cruises with better values. At this late date, I am striking out, as we got some pretty awesome prices by booking before the dramatic fare escalations. We will most likely cancel one and replace it with land time in India, partly because Celebrity took away an overnight in Singapore, replacing it with a sea day which they "are confident" will "enhance" our experience. They do not, however, intened to reduce the port taxes they are charging us. 

 

To steer back to the topic, our only Suite experiences on Celebrity have been on 2 Move Up bids as well as an onboard move up when Marlene, the Michael's Club Concierge pulled us aside when we reboarded a B2B, telling us she had a couple of no-shows, and worked with Revenue to get us an onboard upgrade at a very good price. Our butler/RH on Constellation in May 2022 was impressive. The two we had on Eclipse earlier this year were utterly delightful. I'd hate to see any of them devalued. However, I do see merit in the idea of a team, especially if there are a few passengers who monopolize one or more butlers' time. It could actually speed up response time in some instances, I suppose. 

[abbydancer2003]

37 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Yes, I, too, have been watching the same sort of...stuff...going on over there...

Yup.  I'm on page 23 of 52, as of now.  We've got a lot of catching up to do.😁

[MamaFej]

20 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Best maybe for some, but not for all. Ironically my wife and i were discussing just last night that Celebrity has run its course for us and they served us well. Now it's simply time to move on as the product is no longer what it used to be. For 2024 it's MSC Yacht Club and Azamara. Hopefully these are a more suitable fit for us. They certainly appear to be a far better value.

I'm intrigued by the idea of the MSC Yacht Club, especially with the loyatly status match. I have not yet found an itinerary and timing that has led me to pull that trigger. 

 

We've discovered in the last couple of years that we really like small ship cruising. We are okay with quieter nights and fewer activities. I totally respect that others are not. We love smaller ports, getting farther up rivers and into the interesting parts of cities, many more overnights, and other aspects. I suppose we are pretty darn lucky to even be able to consider such things. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 hours ago, wineoclock said:

No way I’d sail Aqua on e class. Suites

Why?

[MamaFej]

4 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Why?

I do not pretend to speak for wineoclock. I have read many concerns about the lack of windows in Blu on E class. I would not be surprised if that is part of their calculus. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

3 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

I do not pretend to speak for wineoclock. I have read many concerns about the lack of windows in Blu on E class. I would not be surprised if that is part of their calculus. 

Ah. I’ve not yet sailed on an e class ship. Good to know.

[cublet]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Why?

Hello,

 

I cannot speak for the OP, but in my case I don't go on a cruise to lose weight. During my one and only cruise dining in Blu on Eclipse I lost four kilos.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[wineoclock]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Why?

PP are right. It’s the IV I dislike. Our butler on Apex showed them to us. I use my balcony way too much for an IV to suit me. 

Edited July 30, 2023 by wineoclock