Are Celebrity cost cutting and penny pinching there faithful customers off the ship?

[D. B.]

2 hours ago, Harrylinden said:

If Celebrity and the CEO are leaning towards younger people to fill the cabins, boy are they in for a rude awakening! Younger people don't have any money! They live off credit cards and can't even afford to pay them off once they are maxed out. Older and retired people are the one's with the money!!!  Just Saying!!

The Younger People have been buying Homes on my street for One Million + and paying Cash so Some of them sure have money?

[MamaFej]

4 hours ago, mayleeman said:

 

I think if Celeb reps read this forum, in a couple years we can expect what I call "Gilligan-style" rowing machines in the gym connected to generators and the ship's batteries. You get a couple CC pts for every megawatt you produce.

CC points? Unlikely... I mean Power Up Points was right there!

😉

[shipshape sam]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:31 PM, NMTraveller said:

In the evenings or the morning?  For us it was packed in the mornings even though they added extra space.  OMG the whole ship felt packed due to the reduced number of public spaces.  

 

I guess that loud and shouty and packed is a positive with the younger generation.

I guess I should have thought through my comment.  I did think OV cafe felt spacious.  Our sailing was about 65% capacity in January 2023.  Sailings around ours were close to or were 100 % packed.

 

As to evenings or mornings, we never had an issue getting a  place to sit and eat, nor stand in line other than getting a fried egg in the morning. Never ate dinner there.  Did go for snacks later in evening.

 

My specific memory is a picture that I took in the late evening showing the long hallway and tall walkway through the OV cafe over by the bar are looking aft.

[mayleeman]

41 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

CC points? Unlikely... I mean Power Up Points was right there!

😉

 

As my younger friends say...OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! 

[mayleeman]

1 hour ago, ECCruise said:

My first response was "yes, that sounds right."

 

But then I did a bit of research re: credit card debt and realized that my first response would have been flawed.  Badly.

And these numbers have likely gotten worse since CC debt has absolutely exploded in the last 3 years to $1 Trillion in the US.

 

Americans who are 75 and older have the highest average credit card debt, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) by the Federal Reserve Board. They had an average balance of $8,078 as of 2019. That's the most recent year when the Federal Reserve conducted the SCF

 

I wonder how much of seniors' credit card debt is due to medical bills. 

[ECCruise]

1 minute ago, mayleeman said:

 

I wonder how much of seniors' credit card debt is due to medical bills. 

Good point.

[Ipeeinthepools]

3 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

 

I wonder how much of seniors' credit card debt is due to medical bills. 

or maybe it is toward paying your kids bills.

[cruisebeachgirl703]

I am responding to the title only, didn't have time to read through. We are Elite with Celebrity and Amethyst with the Casino. We are Sapphire with NCL and Pearl with the Casino. We are Diamond with MSC. Our most recent Celebrity cruise on Summit in Retreat was subpar from what we have experienced with them. Our most recent on NCL Haven Joy was subpar from what we have experienced with them. Our most recent on MSC YC was amazing. MSC is planning on winning. Will sail Celebrity and NCL again, but will take casino offer and not pay $ to upgrade until things turn around. If they turn around.

[Ipeeinthepools]

44 minutes ago, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

I am responding to the title only, didn't have time to read through. We are Elite with Celebrity and Amethyst with the Casino. We are Sapphire with NCL and Pearl with the Casino. We are Diamond with MSC. Our most recent Celebrity cruise on Summit in Retreat was subpar from what we have experienced with them. Our most recent on NCL Haven Joy was subpar from what we have experienced with them. Our most recent on MSC YC was amazing. MSC is planning on winning. Will sail Celebrity and NCL again, but will take casino offer and not pay $ to upgrade until things turn around. If they turn around.

Since you’re too busy to read the entire thread, I won’t spend a lot of time on your comments.  There’s a big difference between the suite an non-suite experience on most cruise lines.  It would probably be useful to limit your comments to a specific category.

[RichYak]

On 8/10/2023 at 7:40 AM, Gracie115 said:

 

How has your cruise been?  Hopefully things have improved since Monday.

Thanks. There has been plenty of good to be sure. Unfortunately, the issues keep piling up as well. It’s day 5 and we’re already on our 3rd stateroom attendant and 2nd waiter in Luminae. There were issues with food prep (or lack thereof) in LPC. We are “roll with it” type of people but that’s been difficult to do. Based on conversations with other passengers, it’s not just us. 

[RichYak]

11 hours ago, RichYak said:

There were issues with food prep (or lack thereof) in LPC.

We dined at Le Petit Chef again tonight and this time it was flawless. 

[tigervixxxen]

I don’t want to start a whole thread on this but applies to the topic at hand. I’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on the MDR menus in the app as I’m curious how it’s going to look for my upcoming 17 night sailing. Yes I know the app is notoriously wrong and the placeholder menu for my sailing is nowhere close to accurate, what I’m looking for are updated menus on current sailings. I’ve noticed most ships (I’m not looking at the Edge class as I’m not sailing on one but otherwise) have now transitioned to the eliminated timeless appetizers and entrees section and now have them combined with the nightly offering only giving 3-4 new items in each course per evening. Also the up charge for steak, lobster and surf and turf are there. I’ve also noticed the silhouette has better food/more choices and still does for some reason. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by tigervixxxen

[goofysmom99]

41 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

I don’t want to start a whole thread on this but applies to the topic at hand. I’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on the MDR menus in the app as I’m curious how it’s going to look for my upcoming 17 night sailing. Yes I know the app is notoriously wrong and the placeholder menu for my sailing is nowhere close to accurate, what I’m looking for are updated menus on current sailings. I’ve noticed most ships (I’m not looking at the Edge class as I’m not sailing on one but otherwise) have now transitioned to the eliminated timeless appetizers and entrees section and now have them combined with the nightly offering only giving 3-4 new items in each course per evening. Also the up charge for steak, lobster and surf and turf are there. I’ve also noticed the silhouette has better food/more choices and still does for some reason. 

I noticed that about Silhouette too.  All the other non E-class ships' menus for current cruises look pretty sad indeed.  Silhouette's look good right now.  I have a 16 night cruise on Connie in Nov and if menus then are as bad as they are right now, it's going to be a looong 16 nights.

[NMTraveller]

56 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

I noticed that about Silhouette too.  All the other non E-class ships' menus for current cruises look pretty sad indeed.  Silhouette's look good right now.  I have a 16 night cruise on Connie in Nov and if menus then are as bad as they are right now, it's going to be a looong 16 nights.

I just looked at my current sailing menu and it was wiped.  Perhaps check back in a day or two??

[the penguins]

On 8/10/2023 at 7:56 PM, ECCruise said:

My first response was "yes, that sounds right."

 

But then I did a bit of research re: credit card debt and realized that my first response would have been flawed.  Badly.

And these numbers have likely gotten worse since CC debt has absolutely exploded in the last 3 years to $1 Trillion in the US.

 

Americans who are 75 and older have the highest average credit card debt, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) by the Federal Reserve Board. They had an average balance of $8,078 as of 2019. That's the most recent year when the Federal Reserve conducted the SCF

Since Covid more and more stores here (UK) are encouraging cards rather than cash and the card limit has been reduced from £5 minimum to 50p.

I volunteer as a cashier at a Charity  (thrift) shop and our % cash to cards is now 80% card. Although on paper this change has resulted in increasing Credit Card debt if, as we and most of our friends do, you clear the debt every month, in practical terms it makes no difference.

In addition increased on line spending has also on paper increased CC debt but again, if you pay in full each month it makes no real difference.

We are net gainers as we get more airmiles.

As always we take statistics with a pinch of salt.

In my experience big headline figures usually mean small %'s and big headline %'s mean small amounts.

 

[C4HCG]

39 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Since Covid more and more stores here (UK) are encouraging cards rather than cash and the card limit has been reduced from £5 minimum to 50p.

I volunteer as a cashier at a Charity  (thrift) shop and our % cash to cards is now 80% card. Although on paper this change has resulted in increasing Credit Card debt if, as we and most of our friends do, you clear the debt every month, in practical terms it makes no difference.

In addition increased on line spending has also on paper increased CC debt but again, if you pay in full each month it makes no real difference.

We are net gainers as we get more airmiles.

As always we take statistics with a pinch of salt.

In my experience big headline figures usually mean small %'s and big headline %'s mean small amounts.

 

Arent most card transactions debit card anyway?  In your shop that is. 
 

Edited August 12, 2023 by C4HCG

[Nemanoxer]

Celebrity got me addicted to cruising in 2012. I got me a 10 night cruise thru the Caribbean on Equinox for 1500 $ in stateroom 9182, that was a balcony including solo surcharge. Unimagineable today. I got food and service like I had hardly ever experienced that on land before.

 

That Celebrity is no more. That is why I will try the Sun Princess in October 2024. If I was 15-20 years older, I might switch to Cunard. Had a QM2 cruise this year that was cheaper than anything I could find on Celebrity and closest to the former Celebrity experience out of all other cruise lines I have tried since then.

 

So, about the topic: We are all free to leave Celebrity because the beloved product does no longer exist. That is what I will try in 2024, hoping that overall Carnival brands are on the hunt for RCCL guests, bringing on what they can.

 

I made some extra money last year, and that is the only reason why I have booked Celebrity again for this September. I would no longer book them with my standard income. If my September cruise should turn out magnificent, I might go again. If not - again, we are all free to choose other cruise lines or other ways of travel.

 

[chemmo]

19 hours ago, RichYak said:

Thanks. There has been plenty of good to be sure. Unfortunately, the issues keep piling up as well. It’s day 5 and we’re already on our 3rd stateroom attendant and 2nd waiter in Luminae. There were issues with food prep (or lack thereof) in LPC. We are “roll with it” type of people but that’s been difficult to do. Based on conversations with other passengers, it’s not just us. 

We haven’t had many poor holiday experiences but those we have seen as ‘sub’ were usually a combination of small cumulative issues rather than one major disappointment…I guess we all go on vacation hoping to switch off, relax and unwind and little niggles prevent that.

 

8 hours ago, RichYak said:

We dined at Le Petit Chef again tonight and this time it was flawless. 

So pleased you have had a better experience. I am so pleased you gave them a chance to ‘put things right’. 
 

Hope the rest of your vacation goes smoothly.

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, C4HCG said:

Arent most card transactions debit card anyway?  In your shop that is. 
 

Zero Debit - all Credit Cards

[RichYak]

56 minutes ago, chemmo said:

 

So pleased you have had a better experience. I am so pleased you gave them a chance to ‘put things right’. 
 

Hope the rest of your vacation goes smoothly.

It was well handled at the time of the issue. We showed our waiter who brought over the restaurant manager. He wouldn't let the waiter clear the plate until he brought over the chef to see the “evidence.” We had no problem booking a repeat visit after that. 

[chemmo]

10 minutes ago, RichYak said:

It was well handled at the time of the issue. We showed our waiter who brought over the restaurant manager. He wouldn't let the waiter clear the plate until he brought over the chef to see the “evidence.” We had no problem booking a repeat visit after that. 

So pleased…Mistakes happen, nice when they are sorted without any issues.

[chromered7]

On 8/10/2023 at 8:24 PM, D. B. said:

To get back to the Penny Pinching on X these days.

 You make a good point about the newer cruisers who won't miss what they never experienced.

 Heck I miss Ice Carvings and It's a Small World parades in the MDR   BUT I still fine a Lot I like about Celebrity that will keep me cruising with  them.

 In the last 2 years we tried 5 different Lines (some Way more $$$)  and some equal.

 The $$$ lines seem to distill all the Fun out of Cursing and the = ones were not offering what we liked on X.

 We are all  Lucky that the Cruise Industry Survived the Covid shutdown and the penny pinching is the pay back. . In that  regard we are "All in the Same Boat"?😎

 

The Covid pandemic as been used by many companies as an excuse to increase prices . In the case of cruising penny pinching is being used to affect  quality and possibly lower standards while being charged more money. I understand that cruise companies want to make up the losses caused by Covid but CEOs ,in my opinion, are using that as an excuse to bring in agendas that reduce the experience of longstanding customers.

 

[FreestyleNovice]

On 8/10/2023 at 6:34 PM, Harrylinden said:

If Celebrity and the CEO are leaning towards younger people to fill the cabins, boy are they in for a rude awakening! Younger people don't have any money! They live off credit cards and can't even afford to pay them off once they are maxed out. Older and retired people are the one's with the money!!!  Just Saying!!

I thought the elderly learned us not to generalize..  

[dreamer321]

14 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

... I’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on the MDR menus in the app as I’m curious how it’s going to look for my upcoming 17 night sailing...

I've been tracking the menus in the MDR for Reflection for my upcoming cruise and I noticed the same thing you've notice. I think I'll be going to specialty dining a lot on my cruise.

[nikel]

32 minutes ago, dreamer321 said:

I've been tracking the menus in the MDR for Reflection for my upcoming cruise and I noticed the same thing you've notice. I think I'll be going to specialty dining a lot on my cruise.

 

Which is exactly what they want us to do !!......pay twice for our dinner!!