Confirmed, pillow chocolates 1st & last night only unless requested, AQ amenities by request & no more canapés,

[Julma]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Pillow chocolates, 1st & last nights only; you can reach out to your stateroom attendant to request them nightly

 

AQ canapés, gone

 

AQ amenities, by request yet I’m being told on the Millie at least, if you populated the AQ form online, that’s no longer being used.  Must be requested once on board with your stateroom attendant and therefore will probably be first come first serve

 

Send back that you will be deducting 200$ from your final payment.  Make sure to add "I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or discomfort this might cause you".  

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, 39august said:

Another service paid for and dropped. No canapes is not a big deal as they were questionable anyway. BUT, you've already PAID for them. Let me count the ways!

In all fairness, X’s cruise contract allows them to make cutbacks/changes at will.  What’s disappointing is virtually nothing is being added

[mahdnc]

6 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

What would be something you’d miss if X took it away?  French onion soup?  Steaks? Etc

 

Reduction in housekeeping services.

[hcat]

we will be in AQ class on Ascent and will def  ask for the pillow chocs and the daily canapes if we will be on the ship to enjoy them..we usually ask for shrimp, cheese and with fruit for some variety   we always bring our own non- stale crackers..

 

Will staff get demerits if we ask for what we paid for??

 

so far our  gowing carry- on  packing list includes:  plastic take away containers, straws, utensils, baggies for foraging,  brita  mini pitcher to filter water, crackers  cookies..

 

It's all part of the new Self Serve Modern Luxury...

[Julma]

Just now, NutsAboutGolf said:

In all fairness, X’s cruise contract allows them to make cutbacks/changes at will.  What’s disappointing is virtually nothing is being added

They can put whatever they want in a contract, but it can't break consumer laws.  Not sure it does, but I wonder if AGs or credit card companies would be interested in this practice.  

[Luvcrusn]

1 minute ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

In all fairness, X’s cruise contract allows them to make cutbacks/changes at will.  What’s disappointing is virtually nothing is being added

The only things I've noted that have been added are extra charges for things that were once included in our cruise fare.

[markeb]

12 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

*Jason 

I seriously think she’s just the executor of policy. And she’s NOT a CEO. I think that change in terminology was intentional…

[1Virgo]

59 minutes ago, baggal said:

I guess I'm one of the few people here on cruise critic who are just happy to be able to cruise a few times a year, with or without pillow chocolates.  

For us the issue  is, and probably many loyal X cruisers, who have had the things that made Celebrity a premium line, look forward to their vacation experience, yet everytime we cruise, something that used to be included (and paid for in our fares) is disappearing but the cost to us is increasing.    DH and I started listing the things and foods we used to have but now gone.  That was a bit of an eye opener.     Sad, but it is the cheapening of what was known as a Premium line, that is bothering us

[doghog]

 

6 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

*Jason 

Laura since she's Celebrity who works for RCG Jason and lets not forget Lisa in her new role. 

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, baggal said:

I guess I'm one of the few people here on cruise critic who are just happy to be able to cruise a few times a year, with or without pillow chocolates.  

Me too.

And I can totally understand those who are not happy with what they get. It is fine. But please do us a service and cancel as fast as you can, so that Celebrity rushes to fill ships and drops prices. Thank you!

[Jeremiah1212]

3 minutes ago, doghog said:

 

Laura since she's Celebrity who works for RCG Jason and lets not forget Lisa in her new role. 

 

They removed the CEO title for incoming Presidents of both Celebrity and Silversea. That wasn't an oversight. Jason Liberty (former CFO now CEO) has more control over all the brands now as there are no competing CEO roles. If Michael Bayley steps down, I would put money on the new RCI head being President minus CEO as well. My take is Laura's position was awarded after her success with Coco Cay and the RCI and the Royal Amplified program. Lisa is now "chair of external affairs" for RGC. I would translate that as they gave her $300k to do some light legacy consulting work and she hasn't been to an office or answered an email since May. 

[ebtrip]

32 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Not at all. So you are saying anyone who isn’t getting wound up by these minor changes is part of the problem? Everyone has their threshold, yours may have been met, ours hasn’t yet, we cruise a week tomorrow and we may discover it now has, who knows. And as an aside I have seen many threads on here saying the canapés were a waste yet uproar when they are removed, the irony. Some posters here are only happy when they have something to complain about however trivial it seems to others 

We started cruising in 1986.  I have been sailing with a celebrity since 2006.  We are sailing again next month on the Equinox, which we have been on 4 times. We sail Aqua because enjoy Blu. No don’t care the the canapés, but alway ask our room steward for a cheese and fruit platter which we enjoyed with our afternoon wine.  We haven’t been on Celebrity since January 2020. Since then  we cruised on Viking Ocean 4 times, who do not nickel and dime us. Have a cruise booked on Azamara for next year.. our 2nd time on them. As Elite Plus, our perks are nice, but if I’m not getting what I pay for why bother.  I’ll take my money to another line. We stopped counting cruises after our 50th. Celebrity is looking to the younger generations for clients, us as seniors who spend our kids inheritance (lol) are being forgotten. 

[D. B.]

47 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Considering the ever-widening fare difference between Verandah and Aqua, it would be nice to receive those extra amenities that were included when we booked them. While none of these little niceties alone account for much, little by little they are eliminating them and at the same time are cheapening the menu items offered and cutting down on the number of choices as well in Blu and the MDR.  Our next cruise on X will most likely go forward since we have vacation plans both before and after the cruise, but looking ahead I question whether we will be booking X much. All of these little things added up to an enhanced experience that X offered to customers not provided by other mainstream lines. It looks like the new CEO is hurriedly bringing X down to the competition.  We've been accused of being X cheerleaders in the past, but things change. Our last cruise on Equinox in December 2022 had quite a few noticeable and unpleasant surprises. While the crew was wonderful, there were quite a few noticeable changes. Afternoon tea selections in the afternoon...gone, OVC lunch selection not nearly as abundant as on previous sailings, dinner selection in OVC cut way back (almost looked like it was closed), menu items featuring much cheaper proteins evident each evening. Since then, cheesecake and chocolate cake were removed as everyday dessert options, shrimp cocktail has been reported to have been discontinued as an everyday option, (after the shrimp have gotten smaller and fewer), appetizers seemingly have been replaced with soups and salads only, tilapia shows up multiple times over the course of a week, much more chicken and turkey options. There's been another active thread here reporting chocolate chip cookies for sale for $2 + 20% gratuity! I would ask what next, but I don't think I want to know the answer.

 

 

 

I’m onSummit and Shrimp Cocktail is on the MDR menu every night.😘

Cookies are also abundant and included.

[horseymike]

2 hours ago, baggal said:

Please all:  if you want a pillow chocolate book a standard veranda cabin and bring a $5 bag of Hershey Kisses on the cruise with you.  I'm sure if you ask your cabin attendant he will put them out on your pillow every night.  As for afternoon canapes bring back a snack from the Oceanview Cafe and leave it in your cabin refrigerator for a few hours.  It won't go bad.  Problem solved and $$$ saved.

Whose $$$$ was saved ? These cruises have already been paid for .

[ElmaLee]

We disembarked Edge on 19 August.  We had a Concierge class IV cabin.  We got chocolates left every night and canapés every afternoon without asking.

[Stem to Stern]

What is a kettle bell?

[OysterD]

1. I won't miss the canapés. They are always a bit meh anyway plus tend to be delivered afternoon and sit around for hours. Double meh. 

 

2. I won't miss the chocolates. Normal routine is get back to cabin late in evening/gone midnight, change, clean teeth then spot chocolate on pillow. Nope, not eating that now, I'll just put it on the counter over there and have it tomorrow. End of cruise rolls round and I find a dozen or so chocolates in a pile, put them in bag, forget, get home and pull melted chocolate out of bag!

 

3. With cruises going on sale 18+ months in advance, management can't really decide to make a small change but think oh, we can't stop the chocolates on pillows just yet because some people have booked cruises through 2025 and its not fair, pop it in the diary for 2026! They also can't grandfather changes like that in, can't expect room stewards to have lists of when people booked cabins to know whether to deliver them canapés or chocolates. 

 

I'm sure some people will miss the chocolates and canapés, I get that, but I'd rather they brought back the various carafes of infused tea they used to bring around if I'm being honest. Or make the canapés actually worth bothering with! 

[hcat]

and these are mini chocs

we used to get full sized bars  when we first started with X..

we save them up and give them to.our grands!

[Bejay219]

2 hours ago, cublet said:

 

 

I think what this needs is some big American TA, or whatever you call them, to pick up the 'phone to Freedom and say something along the lines of 'we can no longer recommend X to our clients because of the diminishing standards, blah, blah etc, etc'. Perhaps then he will get the message as the complaints here will be water off a duck's back.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

We are with a large T.A. and have a dedicated person in their "Luxury Department".  Because we always travel in Suites on Celebrity, she does our bookings. 

Over 2 conference calls ( her, Celebrity and us) with two different Celebrity agents, trying to get answers on some questions and why they told us $300 OBC and our cruise documents said $200, we all gave up!  It was a Transatlantic next spring, just booked and big deposit paid so we couldn't cancel.  She finally told us when we were thinking about adding on to it 2 more cruises, she said honestly, she has had so much trouble with Celebrity, she will not recommend them anymore.  We decided to give it another chance, called Captains Club.  Asked the questions, the gentleman asked us to send screen shots with his name in the subject line (verified the email address, his name and gave him our phone number also) he promised he would get back to us in a couple hours. Gave it 3 days, sent an email to Captains Club with all the info, asking why we haven't heard from anyone.... and could a supervisor please contact us. That was August 11th.  Still waiting... So we just booked a 33 day cruise with Viking to tack onto the Celebrity Transatlantic...We are Zeniths... Guess they don't want our business, we shouldn't have to work so hard, guess our T. A. was right. So sad! 

[kwokpot]

13 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

What is a kettle bell?

A type of weight lifting equipment used for exercise. As part of Aquaclass amenities you can have certain exercise equipment predelivered to your cabin;yoga mat, kettlebells, etc. To do exercises in the privacy of your own cabin. 

[ebtrip]

17 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

What is a kettle bell?

Exercise equipment. 

[mrgabriel]

Maybe I dreamt this but I recall that nightly chocolates and canapes were removed at least a couple of years ago. Going back to our last pre-pandemic cruise in September 2019, I remember being surprised when there were chocolates on the pillows. 

 

Or maybe I'm wildly prescient. 😆

 

Exercise Equipment: Yesterday I received an email from X asking me to select our AQ amenities for our December sailing on Ascent. Typical lack of consistency. 

Edited August 25, 2023 by mrgabriel

[lv2cruisgrl]

Well the changes keep coming.  Can't wait to sail in November to see if any of this really impacts our love for Celebrity.   If so we may divorce ourselves from them.

[C4HCG]

3 minutes ago, lv2cruisgrl said:

Well the changes keep coming.  Can't wait to sail in November to see if any of this really impacts our love for Celebrity.   If so we may divorce ourselves from them.

Best way, wait and see then decide. That’s what we’re doing. And if it happened we would quietly disappear from this board as I hope those who tell us hourly they’re done with Celebrity will.  Suspect they will be back to tell us how on the other lines the butler actually brushes their hair for them and takes them by sedan chair to wherever they want to go.

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

In all fairness, X’s cruise contract allows them to make cutbacks/changes at will.  What’s disappointing is virtually nothing is being added

What is really worrying is most of the changes are literally only saving them peanuts! A couple of members of staff here, a bottle of water there, a few pillow chocolates…Whilst my Mum always said “Watch the pennies and the £’s will look after themselves” I cannot believe these petty reductions in service will actually help the overall financial situation of Celebrity and if people start cancelling or cruising less then those pennies saved will be £ and $ lost…