CEO and team from Miami on Equinox

[Orator]

Today I disembarked from Equinox and the new CEO and team from Miami were on the ship. Some shadowed the crew and they wanted to learn the experience of passengers. I had a few conversations with Laura and found her to be charming. I detected a positive shift in corporate culture which is more positive to the passenger. I thanked Laura for returning the Zeniths to the Retreat Lounge and asked several questions which were all answered. Laura truly wants feedback from passengers. There will be changes to the menu in the MDR in November which will be bringing back items that were removed. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 minutes ago, Orator said:

Today I disembarked from Equinox and the new CEO and team from Miami were on the ship. Some shadowed the crew and they wanted to learn the experience of passengers. I had a few conversations with Laura and found her to be charming. I detected a positive shift in corporate culture which is more positive to the passenger. I thanked Laura for returning the Zeniths to the Retreat Lounge and asked several questions which were all answered. Laura truly wants feedback from passengers. There will be changes to the menu in the MDR in November which will be bringing back items that were removed. 

 MInd sharing the Q&As?

[Orator]

I asked about many of the items on Cruise Critic and discussed with some the importance of someone to monitor Cruise Critic and offer advice and correct misinformation. I discussed the former "Celebrity Cruises".I will let the team make any announcements on their own schedule.

[NutsAboutGolf]

8 minutes ago, Orator said:

I asked about many of the items on Cruise Critic and discussed with some the importance of someone to monitor Cruise Critic and offer advice and correct misinformation. I discussed the former "Celebrity Cruises".I will let the team make any announcements on their own schedule.

 

Thanks.  Sounds like there could be some passenger-friendly changes coming.  Cruise Critic is the best source of info in a summary format as some of the FB groups have little-to-no moderation.  Reading the 100+ comments about Cookiegate on the Sailing Group was exhausting

[jelayne]

21 minutes ago, Orator said:

I asked about many of the items on Cruise Critic and discussed with some the importance of someone to monitor Cruise Critic and offer advice and correct misinformation. I discussed the former "Celebrity Cruises".I will let the team make any announcements on their own schedule.

Thanks for sharing  you conversation.  I  am encouraged that some steps to get back to the cruise line of the past will be forthcoming.

[lv2cruisgrl]

Wow great to hear this. They really do need to eat in the dining room each night for a week. They need to "Be a passenger" for a week and experience everything!

[Jim_Iain]

Tom -  Thanks for posting here.   I was reluctant to share what I was reading on FB.   I'm happy that you got to meet her.   She sounds like she is really interested in feedback and hopefully we wall will be rewarded for your and others feedback to her team.

[ALANG]

Sounds like some positive news for a change.

[nikel]

37 minutes ago, lv2cruisgrl said:

Wow great to hear this. They really do need to eat in the dining room each night for a week. They need to "Be a passenger" for a week and experience everything!

 

 

And get mashed potatoes every night with their dinner.!!

[bnurick]

Thank you for sharing. I feel strongly they want to do the best they can given all factors. I appreciate rolling up the sleeves and figuring things out on the ground. Hopeful things move forward. Cheers.

[DaKahuna]

It has been reported that they are dining in the MDR.  Dollars to doughnuts a lot more care and attention is being given to the preparation and serving of meals while they are onboard.  I highly doubt anyone receives a lukewarm meal while the team is aboard. 
 

[Cap_D]

Equinix Passengers:

 

Everyone on the cruise should give management an earful, and ask for refunds. Most would have reserved prior to the cutbacks and final payment would have been in July, which was before cookiegate and other issues became well known.  Know your cruise would have undoubtedly been better before current management was in charge, even after the pandemic.  

 

We recently stayed at a US resort where the corporate swat team was deployed to address quality issues after there had been a very large financial investment in the property.  In that instance, the food and beverage needed work, but corporate was there to address it.  Even then we still had to speak with them due to some specific issues.  On Equinox that Celebrity management is present is almost the opposite situation. 

 

The ship by all accounts is not getting a renovation and the crew is okay, but the management needs to be convinced by customers there are issues.  So, Equinox passengers please tell them the menus and quality are crap, call them out on OVC issues, dirty cabins, and anything else.  Don't get blinded by the crew (They are there to be helpful and should be cheerful), don't get blinded by the allure of management (you are their customer, not the other way around), don't project your own feelings about supply chain, and so on.  Don't pull your punches.  

 

You will be doing everyone a favor by not only sharing your feedback, but also raising the very issue that having to give feedback is part of the problem.  A vacation should not be lots of the flies, or self service.  It's not normal for a cruise line and food program to go from well regarded (and just about the only thing it had as a differentiator) to virtually last place.  

 

Thank you! 

[maggie.1008]

Sounds promising. Looking forward to better food in MDR, Blu and Luminae. 

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

It has been reported that they are dining in the MDR.  Dollars to doughnuts a lot more care and attention is being given to the preparation and serving of meals while they are onboard.  I highly doubt anyone receives a lukewarm meal while the team is aboard. 
 

This.

 

And I think that they should visit every ship.  I am sure that if there were any issues with the ship needing some maintenance or certain items were looking tired,  I am sure that they were taken care of before the visit.

 

To get a real idea of what service is like they would need to send out an undercover boss and not an entourage of corporate.

[Yoshikitty]

In am afraid the new CEO and team have been mainly installed to execute significant cuttings of cost and not so much to maximize the customer experience.

 

However I hope that the visit brings some positive changes for all of us passengers.

[horseymike]

Hopespringseternal , but if the quality issues keep declining there will be a point where people say enough. Not only on X , but any cruise line where the experience keeps going the wrong way.

The same thing happens on land based venues. We used to really enjoy Disney years ago and didn't feel like we were being robbed to go. That ship has sailed ( No pun intended ) for us.

 

[Texed]

Tom,

Thanks for the report.  😊

[Georgia_Peaches]

Thank you for sharing!  This feels like encouraging news. 

[deliver42]

Thanks for sharing. I hope the positives come to fruition.

[foodsvcmgr]

Having for 30 years been responsible for prepping a 700 room hotel for periodic visits by ownership I agree that many issues will be remediated and concealed for the exec team, this is nonetheless very good news.

While they will certainly receive their food hot, they will still experience the very small menu.

The ship will be clean, but still quite worn, etc.

[NMTraveller]

23 minutes ago, foodsvcmgr said:

The ship will be clean, but still quite worn, etc.

I think that everything that the ship and crew have within their means to do before the executive visit will be done.  Painting,  furniture swapped out, etc.  The ship will be less worn before the visit.

 

However I am somewhat skeptical about these visits.  It was this executive team that caused many of the current issues.

Edited October 15, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Rick&Jeannie]

10 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

To get a real idea of what service is like they would need to send out an undercover boss and not an entourage of corporate.

Much more would be accomplished if they were to take this path...this would *really* signal that they want to understand and make changes.

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

I think that everything that the ship and crew have within their means to do before the executive visit will be done.  Painting,  furniture swapped out, etc.  The ship will be less worn before the visit.

 

However I am somewhat skeptical about these visits.  It was this executive team that caused many of the current issues.

 

With LLP who was the CEO and President, you hardly ever saw the RCG (parent company) logo anywhere.  When Laura came on, they stripped the position's title of CEO, Laura is only the President of X.  RCG's CEO is Jason Liberty, a former CFO, and now we see the RCG logo everywhere.  We'll probably never know for sure but it wouldn't be surprising if RCG is behind the cutbacks

 

Social media seems convinced updated MDR menus are coming yet that could be nothing more than reversing some of the cutbacks

[NMTraveller]

10 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Social media seems convinced updated MDR menus are coming yet that could be nothing more than reversing some of the cutbacks

That is what I am seeing on my December cruise menu.  Mostly adding items back to the pared down MDR menus.  There are some changes,  I am not sure if they are for the better or not...

 

So far I would classify it as reversing the cutbacks...

Edited October 15, 2023 by NMTraveller

[goofysmom99]

I'm hopeful for dining improvements and soon but don't have much trust left in X.  The cynic in me suspects future bookings targets could be off and/or cancelations are up from the "old guard" of regulars.  Management obviously recognizes they've gone a step too far and is acknowledging the negative feedback both to them (surveys) and about them (social media).  As in, "Uh oh, we need to back up and return a few things (but as few as possible) that our pax have taken for granted for years; that should make them feel good about us again."  Sending the A-Team to the Equinox is good PR, right up there with tossing a bone (Retreat access) to Zeniths, but is still just PR, costing X nothing.  I personally couldn't care less about Retreat access but do care about food quality and selection for ALL venues.  If you haven't seen the painfully anemic regular room service menu, take a look.  No more concierge class breakfast options; no egg choices, just scrambled from that awful frozen liquid egg stuff.  The rest of the regular RS menu has been gutted, too.  However, since RS costs $12 now, its decline has largely gone unnoticed.  

 

We'll see how things go on my upcoming 16-night cruise.  At best, I'm cautiously hopeful for MDR but not so gullible I don't already have a Plan B = 8 specialty dinners.  Also bringing along a pen to write-in RS requests (remember when there were pens in a regular cabin?) as well as notes to F&B Mgr or HD if/when necessary.  X's slash and burn management this year has caused me to seriously doubt their sincerity.  Reminds me of the old military adage about the chain of command, "they only time they're not lying is when they're lips aren't moving."  I'll believe it when dinner is served.