Seriously now-how many of you are REALLY looking at other cruise lines because of the CEO's changes going on?

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Princess did not grandfather in those pax who had already paid for the Plus/Premier packages prior to Dec, even though many had paid for their cruises, in full, months before the new changes! They also never informed pax until they boarded that there were new exclusions - not a pleasant feeling, very cavalier in fact. So, they are all it, not just X.

 

I did know that Princess did that.... agree pretty crummy thing to do.  

 

Sigh....there is less and less integrity in so many things today.

[JaneStarr]

4 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

What happened to the crafts? I learned decoupage, how to make a beaded lanyard (which I still have) scrapbooking, and more. Heck, I would be happy for classes in towel animals! Give my MIND something to do again!

I agree. The «craft» offerings have become rarely available and lame. Our last 2 cruises we had adult coloring and one «origami» class that involved making an envelope out of a sheet of office paper. What a disappointment

[deliver42]

All mainstream lines are looking to rob the passengers. The only difference is what they're charging to do it, and right now, Celebrity is charging more than the others, so I'll sail one of the others so it doesn't hurt so much.

[bigbenboys]

On 9/7/2023 at 1:12 PM, keysey222 said:

I agree with you on the lack of suite perks on HAL/Princess. However, the price of a suite is often lower on these lines. Even though I don't always have a private sundeck or dedicated restaurant, sometimes I find there is more value. But... if prices are equal among the lines, I'd still choose Celebrity as their suite product is far superior. 

After our Feb sailing we will be Elite with Princess. PCL does have a separate MDR area for suites called Reserve Dining. At least on Discovery. We have a aft PH suite with Premier package. Wifi, drinks up to $20 and tips are part of the package. With our suite we get 1st night specialty dining  and a 360: An Extraordinary Experience during our 7 nights and with the package we get 2 night specialty dining. That leaves us with 3 night to dine in Reserve Dining or casual dining. I'm sure Reserve Dining is no Luminae.

[markeb]

7 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

 

 

 

 

Does anyone remember seeing Here Comes Treble from Cornell.  They were awesome 🤩 

 

 

So George Michael meets Glee? Not getting the vibe here...

[markeb]

7 hours ago, the penguins said:

The A capella groups were discontinued in 2013 - we still miss them.

 

2013 is before my first Celebrity cruise? What were they? I'm trying to imagine this. I somehow think we're not talking Pentatonix...

[NMTraveller]

Celebrity pulling ships to run shorter itineraries in the Carribean has me looking at other lines.  I am finding it more difficult to actually find an acceptable itinerary on Celebrity.  Then you add in the pricing...

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, markeb said:

 

2013 is before my first Celebrity cruise? What were they? I'm trying to imagine this. I somehow think we're not talking Pentatonix...

Every ship had a group - 4 lads who sang without music. They performed a couple of times a day in various venues - Grand Foyer, Celebrity Central, etc doing sets of around 15 to 20 minutes. The repatoire included songs from classic musicals (for example  Le Mis) opera, barber shop and comic ( the "messed up version of The 12 days of Christmas was our favorite). If you were lucky they also did a spot in the Main Theatre and a full late night show in Sky Lounge. The groups were dropped as it was much cheaper to have one performer playing "electronic" music for longer periods. 

The little sandwiches in Al Bacio every morning seemed to disappear at around the same time.Yup cost cutting started way before Covid.

[cruiseerf]

I am a huge cheerleader for Celebrity and this is a time of great change for this line.   So Many employees have left for far greener pastures and Celebrity is still trying to sell X as a luxury line, when they are butchering the luxury experience on so many levels. Celebrity should replace their "X" with "$" because I really see their decisions no longer being based in customer loyalty and luxury product, return guests etc,  and more based on $.  

 

My family used to exclusively travel on Celebrity, Everyone is Zenith or double Zenith on Celebrity.  Our January cruises we chose to try a new line "Explora Journeys".....This is directly because we really don't like the way Celebrity as a line is changing.   We are also looking into Virgin and have booked one Princess as much of Celebrity cruises staff have moved over to these lines.  We are not swearing off Celebrity by any means, however it is time to look around as when we used to think about Celebrity, we thought about great service and food and itineraries.....And while the service still remains excellent the rest has become meh. So in answer to the question, Yes, the changes are our main reason to branch out and try new lines, experiences, itineraries etc.  Safe sails to all!    

[Gracie115]

6 hours ago, markeb said:

 

2013 is before my first Celebrity cruise? What were they? I'm trying to imagine this. I somehow think we're not talking Pentatonix...

 

They were actually quite good.  We saw them on Mercury, Summit, Millie and Constellation and looked forward to hearing them.  Just one of the early "cuts"  by Celebrity.

 

They also had great piano bar entertainers back then which were great fun.  They disappeared slowly but surely between 2010 & 2015.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

Every ship had a group - 4 lads who sang without music. They performed a couple of times a day in various venues - Grand Foyer, Celebrity Central, etc doing sets of around 15 to 20 minutes. The repatoire included songs from classic musicals (for example  Le Mis) opera, barber shop and comic ( the "messed up version of The 12 days of Christmas was our favorite). If you were lucky they also did a spot in the Main Theatre and a full late night show in Sky Lounge. The groups were dropped as it was much cheaper to have one performer playing "electronic" music for longer periods. 

The little sandwiches in Al Bacio every morning seemed to disappear at around the same time.Yup cost cutting started way before Covid.

Women run to the shows to get a front to watch them 😁

 

there no more Apple fritters or Bear claws at Al Bacio since the restart 😭,

the good thing I don’t have worry about my pants fitting 🤣

[iandjm]

I am and have booked Princess and Oceania. 

[the penguins]

46 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Women run to the shows to get a front to watch them 😁

 

there no more Apple fritters or Bear claws at Al Bacio since the restart 😭,

the good thing I don’t have worry about my pants fitting 🤣

You won't have to worry whatever the changes as according to another of your Posts you will be enjoying the pleasures of Twatt - hope you liked the photo I attached to that one.

[jmfdr]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:30 PM, caymancouple said:

Elite Plus with Celebrity.  Just booked our first cruise with Princess.  

Also elite+ but after our last cruise on the Edge we are done with Celebrity.  Loved our Viking Ocean cruise and have 3 more booked.

[caymancouple]

4 minutes ago, jmfdr said:

Also elite+ but after our last cruise on the Edge we are done with Celebrity.  Loved our Viking Ocean cruise and have 3 more booked.

umm, thanks.  Will look into Viking.

[Host Anne]

We have sailed Celebrity more than any other line (more 55) since we began cruising in the early 90s.  We've sailed on 7 different lines over the years.  We are now trying even more lines but it doesn't have anything to do with management changes at Celebrity.  It has to do with the experiences we've had on our last three or four Celebrity cruises which were all before the management change.

 

Many of the issues discussed on our boards (reduced food quality, higher prices, staffing shortages, etc) have been prevalent on our Celebrity cruises the past two years.  When Celebrity first re-started cruising out of St. Maarten as the pandemic began to recede, we had one of our best cruises ever on Summit.  Since then (sailings on Equinox (2) and Beyond (1)) we've gone from our best experience to our worst.  Yes, being on a ship is still better than being at work, but after so many cruises on a line, there are expectations and those have fallen far short of the Celebrity we knew and loved.

 

We certainly understood the tremendous financial losses during the pandemic and the challenges of coming back afterwards, but I'm at the point in my life that we are choosing not to pay for what we think is an inferior product.  Like many things today, Celebrity simply isn't the same and we choose not to pay the prices being asked for a product that has slipped.

 

So we are have been branching out and checking out other cruise lines.  We've done two Windstar cruises in the last year (I'm liking smaller ships and crowds more and more) and we just booked our first Cunard cruise (yes, I understand the demographics but they have a new ship doing an itinerary I REALLY want to do) and it's the smaller - between the size of Summit and Solstice.

 

If you start really looking at pricing across lines (you need to look closely at what is included in the cruise fare of each), some of smaller, higher end lines aren't really much more expensive.

 

We've always loved Celebrity's ships and crew.  But we've learned that there are lots of other alternatives out there that are worth cruising as well.

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

23 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

We have sailed Celebrity more than any other line (more 55) since we began cruising in the early 90s.  We've sailed on 7 different lines over the years.  We are now trying even more lines but it doesn't have anything to do with management changes at Celebrity.  It has to do with the experiences we've had on our last three or four Celebrity cruises which were all before the management change.

 

Many of the issues discussed on our boards (reduced food quality, higher prices, staffing shortages, etc) have been prevalent on our Celebrity cruises the past two years.  When Celebrity first re-started cruising out of St. Maarten as the pandemic began to recede, we had one of our best cruises ever on Summit.  Since then (sailings on Equinox (2) and Beyond (1)) we've gone from our best experience to our worst.  Yes, being on a ship is still better than being at work, but after so many cruises on a line, there are expectations and those have fallen far short of the Celebrity we knew and loved.

 

We certainly understood the tremendous financial losses during the pandemic and the challenges of coming back afterwards, but I'm at the point in my life that we are choosing not to pay for what we think is an inferior product.  Like many things today, Celebrity simply isn't the same and we choose not to pay the prices being asked for a product that has slipped.

 

So we are have been branching out and checking out other cruise lines.  We've done two Windstar cruises in the last year (I'm liking smaller ships and crowds more and more) and we just booked our first Cunard cruise (yes, I understand the demographics but they have a new ship doing an itinerary I REALLY want to do) and it's the smaller - between the size of Summit and Solstice.

 

If you start really looking at pricing across lines (you need to look closely at what is included in the cruise fare of each), some of smaller, higher end lines aren't really much more expensive.

 

We've always loved Celebrity's ships and crew.  But we've learned that there are lots of other alternatives out there that are worth cruising as well.

 

 

I hear you - totally agree.  

 

And I have to wonder - does Celebrity even read these boards anymore?!?!  I know they used to.  They certainly would be wise to do so, even if they didn't care to respond to some points/questions as they used to years ago.  I know these boards are a small percentage of the overall passengers.  But there is also other social media, and long time cruisers who used to promote Celebrity to friends and family are now telling them to consider other options.  Word gets around quickly in this internet age.

[Cruise till you drop]

2 hours ago, jmfdr said:

Also elite+ but after our last cruise on the Edge we are done with Celebrity.  Loved our Viking Ocean cruise and have 3 more booked.

We loved the Edge. Sailed on her twice.  Trying out Equinox and Beyond next

[doghog]

27 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I hear you - totally agree.  

 

And I have to wonder - does Celebrity even read these boards anymore?!?!  I know they used to.  They certainly would be wise to do so, even if they didn't care to respond to some points/questions as they used to years ago.  I know these boards are a small percentage of the overall passengers.  But there is also other social media, and long time cruisers who used to promote Celebrity to friends and family are now telling them to consider other options.  Word gets around quickly in this internet age.

I prefer voicing my concerns directly to Celebrity by Emailing  executiveoffice@celebrity.com. 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Host Anne said:

We have sailed Celebrity more than any other line (more 55) since we began cruising in the early 90s.  We've sailed on 7 different lines over the years.  We are now trying even more lines but it doesn't have anything to do with management changes at Celebrity.  It has to do with the experiences we've had on our last three or four Celebrity cruises which were all before the management change.

 

Many of the issues discussed on our boards (reduced food quality, higher prices, staffing shortages, etc) have been prevalent on our Celebrity cruises the past two years.  When Celebrity first re-started cruising out of St. Maarten as the pandemic began to recede, we had one of our best cruises ever on Summit.  Since then (sailings on Equinox (2) and Beyond (1)) we've gone from our best experience to our worst.  Yes, being on a ship is still better than being at work, but after so many cruises on a line, there are expectations and those have fallen far short of the Celebrity we knew and loved.

 

We certainly understood the tremendous financial losses during the pandemic and the challenges of coming back afterwards, but I'm at the point in my life that we are choosing not to pay for what we think is an inferior product.  Like many things today, Celebrity simply isn't the same and we choose not to pay the prices being asked for a product that has slipped.

 

So we are have been branching out and checking out other cruise lines.  We've done two Windstar cruises in the last year (I'm liking smaller ships and crowds more and more) and we just booked our first Cunard cruise (yes, I understand the demographics but they have a new ship doing an itinerary I REALLY want to do) and it's the smaller - between the size of Summit and Solstice.

 

If you start really looking at pricing across lines (you need to look closely at what is included in the cruise fare of each), some of smaller, higher end lines aren't really much more expensive.

 

We've always loved Celebrity's ships and crew.  But we've learned that there are lots of other alternatives out there that are worth cruising as well.

 

 

Well stated and what you saying is something Celebrity Corporate should be noting and addressing, when their most loyal customers are now looking elsewhere for a better bang or experience for their bucks spent. @Jim_Iain is another example of this, Jim and Lain are doing their first non Celebrity cruise in 22 years this next week and they are double Zenith. 

 

Our first cruise post covid was August 2021 on the Equinox just after cruising resumed, we were in a Sky Suite, and it was our best cruise ever. Since them our 3 subsequent Celebrity cruises have gone downhill with each one being worse than the one before. After our January B2B Celebrity cruises are done we are done with Celebrity unless we see some dramatic changes back. We now book a cruise for the itinerary first and not brand loyalty.

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Women run to the shows to get a front to watch them 😁

 

there no more Apple fritters or Bear claws at Al Bacio since the restart 😭,

the good thing I don’t have worry about my pants fitting 🤣

 

I forgot all about the Apple Fritters ---- 

[thebutlerdidit]

27 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Well stated and what you saying is something Celebrity Corporate should be noting and addressing, when their most loyal customers are now looking elsewhere for a better bang or experience for their bucks spent. @Jim_Iain is another example of this, Jim and Lain are doing their first non Celebrity cruise in 22 years this next week and they are double Zenith. 

 

I just wanted to point out that its Jim’s partner is spelled I-a-i-n, not L-a-i-n. No big deal, as you can see that Jim doesn’t bother correcting it  He’s seen it before and just rolls with it.  I just thought you’d like to know. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by thebutlerdidit

[Cruise till you drop]

2 minutes ago, thebutlerdidit said:

 

I just wanted to point out that its Jim’s partner is spelled I-a-i-n, not L-a-i-n. No big deal, as you can see that Jim doesn’t bother correcting it  He’s seen it before and just rolls with it.  I just thought you’d like to know. 

Maybe it’s just me that doesn’t get it but other capital letter L, what’s the difference between I-a-i-n and L-a-i-n ?

[Gracie115]

1 minute ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Maybe it’s just me that doesn’t get it but other capital letter L, what’s the difference between I-a-i-n and L-a-i-n ?

 

The name is IAIN, as in Ian, not Lain..... at least I believe so.

[thebutlerdidit]

2 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Maybe it’s just me that doesn’t get it but other capital letter L, what’s the difference between I-a-i-n and L-a-i-n ?

Nothing is different. Lain is not his name, it’s Iain, more commonly spelled Ian. 
 

You beat me to it Gracie!