NOW I have a problem with the new Suite policies

[Cap_D]

Has anyone spoken to anyone in charge on the ship, e.g., a hotel director or captain?  It's known Celebrity officers have time to be part of the entertainment and activities, including performing at the martini bar or in the theater.  They'll often mingle, and ask about how ones cruise is going when they are around the ship.  Captain Kate is posting on Instagram multiple times a week, and the twins are going to be front and center with the Ascent journey to FLL.  Since the shipboard experience has  deteriorated it seems that the issues go beyond the so called head butler that survived the purge, or the room steward / housekeeper, and shouldn't wait for a post cruise survey.  

[wineoclock]

For me my favourite thing on Apex in a CS last year (med cruise) was coming back to a tray of fruit. I’m limited mobility and after a day out to go to the lounge to get a drink or a bit to eat is sometimes too exhausting.

 

I’ll probably do what I did on Silhouette in May (Aqua) and either stop off at cafe al bacio or go straight back to my room depending on how I am. 

 

It’s fine but it’s not what I paid for at the time of booking.
 

And I’ll be making it known on the survey. 
 

And it’s why my booking I just made is on Regent. 

[chrisn-au]

2 hours ago, Cap_D said:

Since the shipboard experience has  deteriorated it seems that the issues go beyond the so called head butler that survived the purge, or the room steward / housekeeper, and shouldn't wait for a post cruise survey.  

We are on the Apex in a SS . I absolutely agree the Butler situation is different (although in no way has it affected us) - overall though the service on the ship (in the retreat and elsewhere ) has been outstanding and the over all experience really positive - I was annoyed at the $120 pp wine charge at Eden but that was sorted for us but you need to give direct feedback (also possibly known as complaining ) 

 

overall for us a great experience, on par albeit different to the beyond this time last year

 

i may just have low expectations  

[Oceangoer2]

20 hours ago, Team Stag said:

So I watched the Zach video.  I don't know Zach, I've never watched one of his videos so I don't know his style; but seems like a good dude.  If we cruised together, I would probably enjoy chatting with him at the bar.

My biggest takeaway from it - we (cruisers, patrons, guests, whatever) have a PERCEPTION problem.  Especially when it comes to Sky Suites and understanding what they are and what's included.  To me, the Sky Suite is the entry level suite with a slightly nicer room and access to the retreat / lumanie.  Expecting a butler who is servicing 18 (or 12 or 20 or whatever the magic number of SS is) to provide the same level of service as someone in the Penthouse or Royal Suite (where they might be one butler per 2 or 4 rooms) is unrealistic.  Similar to booking a Sky Suite vs a balcony; there are certain things you will get that you don't get with a balcony.  There are things Royal Suites get things that SS don't.

 

During the return to cruising, we saw a lot of things we really liked (low sailing numbers, reduced fares, etc) and policies that started that were allowed (or overlooked) but were not the rules.  Then people go on youtube or cruise critic and assume they are going to get what every single person before them got.

 

Let's look at some Zach's concerns:

1) The upper suites had butlers meet them in the boarding lounge - I have never had a butler meet me in the lounge in the boarding area while traveling in a Sky Suite.
2) I asked about pressing a shirt and was told to fill out the form & put it in the bag - I also inquire about pressing a shirt (every single cruise) and I fill out the form & put it in the bag.  The pressing became free when I reached elite.  But I still have to put it in the bag & fill out the form.
3) I asked about filling the mini-bar with drink of choice -  The mini-bar is not included in SS.  Even when we returned to sailing in July 2021 - we were told we needed the "drinks & things package" for the mini-bar.  So we brought things back from the retreat lounge.  When we sailed later that year in Nov, the Butler offered to stock it with our favorite items.  Granted the ship was 22% full and we were one of 3 suites on the whole ship this butler had to look after.  We saw it also on the 2 other cruises.  But we also understood while this may have been our previous experience it was not the rule.
** - now they should have emptied his mini-bar for him **
6) I never saw my butler -  with only 2 SS on that entire floor, you would never see your butler.  We have stayed in similar cabins and you quickly realize it's not the same as if you are staying on a hall with a line of SS.  You call your butler, you leave notes or you tell your stateroom attendant.  Most all of our request got sorted.
7) The room shows wear.  This ship only includes Retreat Lounge, Lumanie, and my room for $8000 - That's a YOU problem Zach.  While the Reflection was scheduled to be evolutionized; Covid messed that up. YOU need to do your research and see which ships have added the sun deck or been updated.  The Reflection Retreat rooms prices in most cases reflect that it has not been updated in a bit.
 
😎I just didn't get the service I expected - Apparently Zach has watched a lot of youtube videos and came in with a list of expectations that just didn't get met.  He seemed laser focused on it from the beginning.

Final 2 items: first, the focus on the cost (multiple times he brings up the $8000 price tag) shows that he spent a lot more than he usually does and expected an exponentially better experience which he felt he didn't get.  Spending more will not by default give you a better vacation.  If you spend more than you are comfortable, then it is natural for you to put more pressure on Celebrity to "give" you that experience.  The lesson is - spend what you are comfortable with.  Second, (AND MORE IMPORTANTLY); if you have questions or concerns, don't wait until the day before you leave to voice them.  At least give Celebrity (or fill in the name of whatever company) the chance to fix it.  Simply coming home to blast them via Cruise Critic or YouTube seems like a waste of a vacation to me.  He got off to a rough start and just seemed convinced that it was going to stay there.  At some point, we need to control our own narrative.

I don't expect the same Butler service in a Sky Suite as I do the Penthouse suite.  I'm ok with the team approach as long as it gets done.  I have not sailed with the team approach; so I may end up coming back and singing a different tune. But previously, one of my big gripes was the time it took to get Room Service.  Twice we had to wait between 90 -120 mins bc our butler was "attending to other guests & duties".  I didn't need my butler to bring me my room service.  Anyone could have done it.  But I guess to help support tips to the butler it makes sense but expedited customer service it does not.

I think the one thing the Team Butler approach does, especially with the growing about amount of Sky Suites on each new ship, is it makes the experience consistent and repeatable.  It allows them the flexibility to move resources to take care of all the needs.  Especially if certain Butlers were going over the top (like filling the mini fridge w retreat lounge drinks) but other Butlers weren't - then people might complain.  Or if I read it on CC so I feel like I deserve it.  This is new.  There will be kinks to work out.  Not starting off stellar out of the gate is not surprising.  

Do a quick search for these posts "First time in a Sky Suite; what can I make my butler do?".  People end up making list of 12 things they expect daily of their Butlers.  People make it a sport to "see what my butler can do".  While an Icon Suite or Penthouse Suite may have those list, I don't see where it makes sense for a Sky Suite guest who has a butler with 18 rooms to unload on with a list of demands that probably wouldn't have had prior to researching it on these boards or other social media.

You said everything I didn't!  Zach has a very big microphone.

[deliver42]

I watched the video by Zach, and it just shows how low Celebrity has gone in reference to the sky suites. With the pricing they are charging, one would expect more and better services. It used to be almost worth it, but no more in my opinion.

[The_Big_M]

16 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

 The lack of emptied trash cans, etc, like he mentioned, could have occurred in an inside. That's not a suite specific issue.

 

...But keep in mind when a butler was around, they sometimes helped the room attendant with his duties when he was fully loaded, or had something else to do. Or even were just a second set of eyes/notes for any issues. Meaning there was less chance of the above happening when you had two; again to deliver a better level of suite service.

 

Now it's clearly gone down to the one person visiting who, while having a similar official load to what he had before, now doesn't have that extra help to remind, or assist, or just support if something happens. Meaning the service is obviously degraded from what it used to be.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

@The_Big_M is correct. We often saw our butler helping the cabin attendant with some cleaning. They also provided the ice, chilled champagne, brought food/drinks and removed the dirty dishes and glasses, took and returned the laundry, brought our luggage and helped take it from the hall for disembarkation. Granted, this is referencing higher level suites so might not apply to SS but someone has to be tasked with providing these services and it doesn't seem the Retreat Host will always have time to provide attention to details.

[cruisefam38]

2 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Granted, this is referencing higher level suites so might not apply to SS

Very much our experience in Sky Suites.  Except for one notable exception, the butlers assigned to our cabins assisted their co-workers by lending a hand in daily chores, as well as taking care of the chores you listed. 

We remember a time when there were stateroom attendants and their assistants, that changed.  In suites class, there was a time when there was a stateroom attendant and a butler.  Now, there is only the stateroom attendant.  What's the business take on this?  Something like:  if you want to increase the work load for an employee, don't give a raise, give them a new title.  Presto changeo, the attendant becomes a Retreat Host.

[alistairg]

We are in a SS on the Apex on 16th of October. We booked this quite specifically as we liked the Egypt and Israel itinerary.

 

We have not been on Celebrity in 10 years. I like Celebrity but I felt the suites were overpriced relative to Royal. Our Last cruise was on MSC World Europa in YC (wanted to give it a try) and 3/4 previous cruises were in Star Class on Royal. We have another Star Class cruise booked in February.

 

SS is a bit of an odd man out as it similar same service to Sky Class on Royal (it was more with the butler), but the room the size of a Junior Suite on Royal. The price of a SS is roughly similar to an Owner's suite or even a 2 floor crown loft on Royal. These are much larger rooms. The size of a CS or almost an RS. Thus you really would expect more service for the price.

 

The most comparable product would seem to me to be the YC Deluxe balcony cabin on MSC and again here an SS is around 50% more expensive and has now done away with butlers.

 

We are not heavy users of the Genie/butler. We don't drink and filling the fridge with soda and water would have been nice but we can get them ourselves I guess.

 

The website still lists  "daily delivery of delectable delights" for a SS. Is this still happening? My wife really likes to have something like a cheese plate in the afternoon. Would you get it if you asked the head butler to arrange it?

 

I have also noticed that the Luminae menus were available in the app a few months ago but have mostly disappeared. I hope this is not a prelude to poorer food in Luminae.

 

Anyway considering the pricing and reduction in service we are likely to stick with Royal or possibly MSC.

[abbydancer2003]

21 minutes ago, alistairg said:

We are in a SS on the Apex on 16th of October. We booked this quite specifically as we liked the Egypt and Israel itinerary.

 

We have not been on Celebrity in 10 years. I like Celebrity but I felt the suites were overpriced relative to Royal. Our Last cruise was on MSC World Europa in YC (wanted to give it a try) and 3/4 previous cruises were in Star Class on Royal. We have another Star Class cruise booked in February.

 

SS is a bit of an odd man out as it similar same service to Sky Class on Royal (it was more with the butler), but the room the size of a Junior Suite on Royal. The price of a SS is roughly similar to an Owner's suite or even a 2 floor crown loft on Royal. These are much larger rooms. The size of a CS or almost an RS. Thus you really would expect more service for the price.

 

The most comparable product would seem to me to be the YC Deluxe balcony cabin on MSC and again here an SS is around 50% more expensive and has now done away with butlers.

 

We are not heavy users of the Genie/butler. We don't drink and filling the fridge with soda and water would have been nice but we can get them ourselves I guess.

 

The website still lists  "daily delivery of delectable delights" for a SS. Is this still happening? My wife really likes to have something like a cheese plate in the afternoon. Would you get it if you asked the head butler to arrange it?

 

I have also noticed that the Luminae menus were available in the app a few months ago but have mostly disappeared. I hope this is not a prelude to poorer food in Luminae.

 

Anyway considering the pricing and reduction in service we are likely to stick with Royal or possibly MSC.

We're on Symphony OTS for 6 days just before our 7 day on the Apex in December.  The price of the Crown Loft is a little bit less than our Sky Suite on the Apex, but a per day of about 150.00 more total.  I guess we get a bigger room, but no butler on either.  Difference, of course, is that we were never getting a butler on Royal.

And a couple of days ago I noticed, that all the menus on the X app disappeared - main dining, Luminae, Blu, Specialy etc.  On the RC app, the Coastal Kitchen menus also are gone, but others are still there.

Edited October 4, 2023 by abbydancer

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, alistairg said:

 

The website still lists  "daily delivery of delectable delights" for a SS. Is this still happening? My wife really likes to have something like a cheese plate in the afternoon. Would you get it if you asked the head butler to arrange it?

 

Our experience in April/May was it was still available but you had to request it, it was no longer done automatically.  We simply asked our Butler for shrimp cocktail and cheese / cracker plate when we wanted it instead of ask for it every day. 

 

2 hours ago, alistairg said:

I have also noticed that thuminae menus were available in the app a few months ago but have mostly disappeared. I hope this is not a prelude to poorer food in Luminae.

 

 

 I would not pay attention to the menu's until just before you sailing and even then they may not be 100%.  What I would recommend is that you find a current sailing on your ship and look at the menus for the current sailing.  

 

[jelayne]

6 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

@The_Big_M is correct. We often saw our butler helping the cabin attendant with some cleaning. They also provided the ice, chilled champagne, brought food/drinks and removed the dirty dishes and glasses, took and returned the laundry, brought our luggage and helped take it from the hall for disembarkation. Granted, this is referencing higher level suites so might not apply to SS but someone has to be tasked with providing these services and it doesn't seem the Retreat Host will always have time to provide attention to details.

Our Butler when we have been in SS did all the things you citied above, as well as decorating the cabin for  special occasions, arranging for a small group gathering in our suite, on cruises where our passports were collected and returned later in the cruise (occasionally 2X in a sailing) the butler would pick them up from us and deliver back as many times as needed so we didn't have to stand in line.

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, alistairg said:

 

The website still lists  "daily delivery of delectable delights" for a SS. Is this still happening? My wife really likes to have something like a cheese plate in the afternoon. Would you get it if you asked the head butler to arrange it?

 

Recent report from a frequent poster was that SS ordered any snacks, meals, coffee, juice directly from Room Service.  Wait could be short or 30-45 minutes.

[DaKahuna]

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

Recent report from a frequent poster was that SS ordered any snacks, meals, coffee, juice directly from Room Service.  Wait could be short or 30-45 minutes.

 

 I wounder if it would be possible to place a standing order like before -- shrimp cocktail and cheese plate daily at 4 PM?  Guess I'll find out in May. 

 

[jelayne]

33 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I wounder if it would be possible to place a standing order like before -- shrimp cocktail and cheese plate daily at 4 PM?  Guess I'll find out in May. 

 

I asked that question and was told no, you had to place each order.  With a butler we always had 2 glasses of OJ delivered every sea day at  10 am and brought into the cabin even if we didn’t answer the door,  DH is very hard of hearing and when he is sleeping or doesn’t have his hearing aids in he will not hear a knock on the door.  
That seems to not be an option.  

[alistairg]

The drinks were never officially part of SS so that’s fair enough.

 

The butler was part of it when people booked and Celebrity are on dodgy ground changing it after booking and trying to claim it’s just the same service.

 

The “delectable delights” are actually still on the website and again they were certainly there when people booked. I’d kick up a fuss about this just in principle. Anyone can call for room service, this is clearly described as something over and above that.

[Midsomer Madness]

So annoyed were we with Celebrity making these changes after we’d booked, we have now booked Cunard’s Queens Grills for our Silver Wedding Anniversary…so that’s our future business they’ve lost, ok it’s not huge in the grand scheme of things but if others vote with their feet (and I’ve read many who are) then Celebrity might get the message…we will be sure to let them know on our feedback after our much watered down suite experience on Edge in January 2024.

[chrisn-au]

1 hour ago, Midsomer Madness said:

after our much watered down suite experience on Edge in January 2024.

It really is not that bad - after reading cc is was nervous on what the experience was going t be -  really t has been great ymmv

[riredsox]

21 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

@The_Big_M is correct. We often saw our butler helping the cabin attendant with some cleaning. They also provided the ice, chilled champagne, brought food/drinks and removed the dirty dishes and glasses, took and returned the laundry, brought our luggage and helped take it from the hall for disembarkation. Granted, this is referencing higher level suites so might not apply to SS but someone has to be tasked with providing these services and it doesn't seem the Retreat Host will always have time to provide attention to details.

I have found the butler also helped in the SS and was always there.  January on the Ascent will be my first suite since the new changes so I shall see what I shall see!

[Oceangoer2]

This should be an investigated case.... "the Butler didn't do it"??  LOL.

[micruiser2002]

3 hours ago, chrisn-au said:

It really is not that bad - after reading cc is was nervous on what the experience was going t be -  really t has been great ymmv

Have you previously sailed in a SS and used some of the services that are now no longer offered?  I think that is the main issue here.  Some people enjoyed some of the extras that were previously done by the butler and was what was listed for those of us who booked before these changes were rolled out.

[chemmo]

On 10/4/2023 at 6:21 AM, wineoclock said:

For me my favourite thing on Apex in a CS last year (med cruise) was coming back to a tray of fruit. I’m limited mobility and after a day out to go to the lounge to get a drink or a bit to eat is sometimes too exhausting.

 

I’ll probably do what I did on Silhouette in May (Aqua) and either stop off at cafe al bacio or go straight back to my room depending on how I am. 

 

It’s fine but it’s not what I paid for at the time of booking.
 

And I’ll be making it known on the survey. 
 

And it’s why my booking I just made is on Regent. 

Wineoclock, it has taken me the best part of six years to acknowledge that my mobility is below par despite not being wheelchair bound…It has taken me until last year to finally start asking for help with some of the smaller things in life both from family and services. 
 

We are presently enjoying a holiday in Turkey and I accepted the lanyard which fast tracked me through check in and security and at the hotel when the receptionist asked if I needed help with my luggage the answer was ‘Yes’….I have also accepted help getting my plate to my table at the buffet restaurant!

 

Regardless of room category or butler changes I am totally sure if you explain to any staff member your issues your fruit plate will be delivered daily!

[wineoclock]

Ahh thank you. I know I’m my own worst enemy. I use a walking stick and have done for 20+ years so it’s probably pretty obvious when you see me. At least as I’m approaching 60 years old people aren’t so surprised as they were when I was in my 30’s :)) 

[terrydtx]

20 hours ago, alistairg said:

The website still lists  "daily delivery of delectable delights" for a SS. Is this still happening? My wife really likes to have something like a cheese plate in the afternoon. Would you get it if you asked the head butler to arrange it?

We were in a SS last month on the Apex and the afternoon snacks had to ordered by us from room service. The Retreat butlers in the lounge would not do it on a standing basis. We ordered a cheese plate and shrimp cocktails a couple of times and it took 45 minutes to get them delivered, this was nothing like having a butler do it in the past. All room service orders had to be ordered directly from room service, when we called the butler "team" we were directed to room service for our orders.

[chrisn-au]

57 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

Have you previously sailed in a SS and used some of the services that are now no longer offered?  I think that is the main issue here.  Some people enjoyed some of the extras that were previously done by the butler and was what was listed for those of us who booked before these changes were rolled out.

I get the concern, we sailed in a SS last year on the beyond. We left a little confused as to the role of the butler - this time the onboard experience was very similar to last year, in fact enhanced in some areas - sure some of the fine details that we did not ask for may well be gone but it in no way affected us. We will rebook the reteat

 

having said that I understand the concern