A negative post from a positive poster 😔

[MR_T]

Hi All, 

 

First of all I’d like to qualify my title by saying after 25ish cruises mostly on celebrity I’m a pretty positive person most if not all the time regarding anything celebrity as we love/loved the brand… however and unfortunately we find ourselves in a somewhat different place on our current cruise. 
 

We are currently on the Equinox (B2B first leg) and have found some of the recent reported issues (cleanliness) around the ship (cabin & pool deck areas mainly) to be somewhat relevant to our current situation. 

 

So, starting off after a pretty smooth check in & boarding on day 1 we head to the cabin as usual, drop our bags then head out to lunch, everything going great, we get back to our cabin around 3pm to find it in the same condition as at 11.45am which was when the room attendant quickly knocked to inform us we couldn’t stay in the cabin as it wasn’t finished/ready yet… the sign was still on the bed saying not ready so we new this and wasn’t planning on staying anyway but didn’t really think anymore of it so we left until 3pm, the first thing we noticed was it the sign was still on the bed 🤷🏼‍♂️ no issue I guess they just forgot to pick it up so no issue, it was only as we moved around the cabin we noticed that it really hadn’t been cleaned well if at all 😱 2 x filthy bedside tables, a pill I guess from the last guests on the flood by the bed, not under the bed but between the bed & patio doors… a dirty towel on the rack, a heavily dusty sofa table base & a stained bed cover just for good measure… 

 

some of the pictures might not show how bad it was but the face towel is what I used to clean 1 side table, 

 

Before it gets mentioned yes I did report it and yes some of the issues was addressed, but not all, it took until day 3 for the side table by the lounge area to be cleaned properly even though it was reported twice, 

 

Moving on to today day 4… (still not properly met our room attendant if at all)

 

Today we are in a port and we decided to say onboard for a quiet ship day by the pool, We are in Antigua and been here before so just fancied a quiet ship day after 2 full sea days. 

However, returning to our sunbeds around 10am we find some heavy cleaning going on either side of our sunbeds at the location of the double bed seatings, Now I say heavy cleaning because the areas under these double beds were absolutely covered in think dirt, I mean almost like a think layer of mud covering the whole area that these beds sit on… So 2 things come to mind… 

 

1 - how long has it been or how often is it that these get cleaned 😱 there must be all sorts of body fats/creams festering under there enjoying a perfect breeding environment for some pretty bad stuff, and going on the strong bleach smell around the area I’d say it’s been a while since the last cleaning… 

2 - why is this being done during the day in full view of guests vs at night/early morning while no one’s around… 🤷🏼‍♂️ I know there’s only a fraction of the guests onboard but still it’s having a huge impact on our planned quiet day of relaxing, still at nearly 11am all we can hear is the loud jet washers going off constantly, 

So, good news… it’s being cleaned 👍🏼 

Bad news… it’s being cleaned now😡 

 

Now these issues are not the full extent of our issues/concerns but I just have to say on day 4 of 19 we are pretty disappointed with our current celebrity experience, I must say though the crew in general are great as usual, some departments more than others are obviously understaffed which doesn't help but I guess that’s just something that’s happened over the years with cutbacks etc but this cruise just seems worse to us and maybe it just time for us to move on to something new. 

 

PS - The pictures don’t do it justice as they had started to clean before I could get the pictures…

[JDPCruisers]

This is unfortunate to hear and the slow response to rectify the situation. A rocky start for sure but, as you do, certainly hope the rest of your cruise gets better. How about the conditions around other areas of the ship? 

[hcat]

who in mgmnt.. going up the food chain is monitoring this..?

 

can u remove any daily or pre paid  grats for housekeeping  ?  you are not getting any proper service!

 

for outdoor loungers I'd look for another spot..maybe a higher or lower deck !

[JDPCruisers]

2 minutes ago, hcat said:

who in mgmnt.. going up the food chain is monitoring this..?

 

can u remove any daily or pre paid  grats for housekeeping  ?  you are not getting any proper service!

 

for outdoor loungers I'd look for another spot..maybe a higher or lower deck !

Agree and if they have a chance to meet the Hotel Director, I would not hesitate to make them aware of your situation. 

 

I'm not sure but they should be able to have housekeeping gratuities removed by Guest Services.  

[CruisinShips]

Sorry for that experience.  It seems the issues you had were specifically about the Equinox as opposed to the entire line...so I will choose to use that distinction as a qualifier!

 

Hopefully someone with the company can read your post and see that the issues are addressed.

[Ferry_Watcher]

On my last cruise our regular balcony stateroom was located near a suite, and when that person wanted the room attendant's attention, he/she would leave large notes taped to their stateroom door so everyone walking by would be aware of their request.  ("Bathroom needs cleaning"  "Room is ready for cleaning")  It certainly got everyone's' attention - crew and neighboring passengers.

[MISTER 67]

This is unacceptable, how does stuff like this happen on a mainstream cruise line.

That being said we have been on 5 Celebrity cruises since the startup in late 2021, we sailed on the Equinox 3 times, the Reflection and the Infinity one time each and all 5 cruises the ships were very clean and despite their age, in very good shape. The only thing that we saw that needed attention were the condition of the verandas.

[JDPCruisers]

5 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

On my last cruise our regular balcony stateroom was located near a suite, and when that person wanted the room attendant's attention, he/she would leave large notes taped to their stateroom door so everyone walking by would be aware of their request.  ("Bathroom needs cleaning"  "Room is ready for cleaning")  It certainly got everyone's' attention - crew and neighboring passengers.

Interesting, we have not seen that before. One way to do it if you are getting the attention you deserve and mgmt is not doing anything about it. 

[JDPCruisers]

2 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

This is unacceptable, how does stuff like this happen on a mainstream cruise line.

That being said we have been on 5 Celebrity cruises since the startup in late 2021, we sailed on the Equinox 3 times, the Reflection and the Infinity one time each and all 5 cruises the ships were very clean and despite their age, in very good shape. The only thing that we saw that needed attention were the condition of the verandas.

Was on Constellation last month and the bathroom was very worn and past the need for refurb, but our attendant/Retreat Host kept if very clean. Was just some things she couldn't do as need to be replaced. 

[Ferry_Watcher]

Just now, JDPCruisers said:

Interesting, we have not seen that before. One way to do it if you are getting the attention you deserve and mgmt is not doing anything about it. 

 

Sadly, I think this passenger in the suite had alcohol issues, and the room needed a lot of TLC from housekeeping.  But, the use of the public note did get a lot of attention. 

[JDPCruisers]

1 minute ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

Sadly, I think this passenger in the suite had alcohol issues, and the room needed a lot of TLC from housekeeping.  But, the use of the public note did get a lot of attention. 

Ah ha, usually with too much alcohol unusual things can happen...good and bad! I'm sure housekeeping were not happy campers but it's their job and, for most, gotta feed the family back home.

[billc23]

7 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

Sadly, I think this passenger in the suite had alcohol issues, and the room needed a lot of TLC from housekeeping.  But, the use of the public note did get a lot of attention. 

Alcohol issues definition: someone who drinks more than me!

[Jim_Iain]

I would suggest you send an Attention to Detail message using the QR code.    All of these go to the Hotel Director as well as the appropriate Manager.   Not sure if you used this initially but is one of the best way to get action.   Also address to Hotel Director -   Often the Captain also gets a summary of these reports.

[the penguins]

58 minutes ago, JDPCruisers said:

Agree and if they have a chance to meet the Hotel Director, I would not hesitate to make them aware of your situation. 

 

I'm not sure but they should be able to have housekeeping gratuities removed by Guest Services.  

 

59 minutes ago, JDPCruisers said:

Agree and if they have a chance to meet the Hotel Director, I would not hesitate to make them aware of your situation. 

 

I'm not sure but they should be able to have housekeeping gratuities removed by Guest Services.  

You can't remove part of the daily grats (we tried when we had an appalling cabin steward) and specify the split. For example if you reduced the grats by $5 per day this would be spread pro rata across everyone in the grats pool. Clearly removing all grats is unfair to the other crew members who are doing their jobs. If you did remove all grats it would be impossible to tip all the people who would have been included had you not done so e.g. laundry staff or, if have any time dining, each waiter/assistant waiter.

[Pinboy]

56 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

when that person wanted the room attendant's attention, he/she would leave large notes taped to their stateroom door so everyone walking by would be aware of their request.  

It certainly got everyone's' attention - crew and neighboring passengers.

Why not just call the Attendant ?

We were always given their card ( contact info ) when we first met our cabin Attendant.

And besides, who knows when the Attendant will see it, or, someone might even draw a picture of a pineapple up-side down on the note ( LOL). 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 11 by Pinboy

[MR_T]

1 hour ago, JDPCruisers said:

This is unfortunate to hear and the slow response to rectify the situation. A rocky start for sure but, as you do, certainly hope the rest of your cruise gets better. How about the conditions around other areas of the ship? 

In general the ship looks great, yes there’s a few areas that are tired looking and could do with touch ups/replacements but that happens over time but overall still a beautiful ship. 

[MR_T]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

who in mgmnt.. going up the food chain is monitoring this..?

 

can u remove any daily or pre paid  grats for housekeeping  ?  you are not getting any proper service!

 

for outdoor loungers I'd look for another spot..maybe a higher or lower deck !

We started with guest relations as there’s no longer a number for the attendant on our phone? Not sure if it’s been removed in general or just worn off ours… we’ve not met our attendant (currently day 4) so done have their number. GR said they would escalate it to management. So far only had call backs from GR 🤷🏼‍♂️ on a side note the it’s not gotten any better regarding the attendants service… 

 

As for removing gratuity’s that’s not something we would ever do, however we will most likely not leave any extra which we would generally do. 

[horseymike]

Hope things get better soon for you to enjoy the rest of the cruise 🚢.

[MR_T]

1 hour ago, MISTER 67 said:

This is unacceptable, how does stuff like this happen on a mainstream cruise line.

That being said we have been on 5 Celebrity cruises since the startup in late 2021, we sailed on the Equinox 3 times, the Reflection and the Infinity one time each and all 5 cruises the ships were very clean and despite their age, in very good shape. The only thing that we saw that needed attention were the condition of the verandas.

This is our first negative experience in 20 plus celebrity cruises. 

[horseymike]

3 minutes ago, MR_T said:

This is our first negative experience in 20 plus celebrity cruises. 

Unfortunate for sure. In 20 cruises lifetime, 6 on Celebrity, we had a horrible stateroom attendant one time . While it didn’t totally ruin our cruise , it sure made it less than memorable.

[phoenix_dream]

Wow I was shocked to read your review.  We did a b2b on Equinox a year ago and had great service from everyone.  Doing another starting next week.  We've been on 79 Celebrity cruises and only once have we had a poor experience with our room attendant thankfully.  Definitely take it to the Hotel Director's attention. 

[Zignewt]

2 hours ago, MR_T said:

 

1 - how long has it been or how often is it that these get cleaned 😱 there must be all sorts of body fats/creams festering under there enjoying a perfect breeding environment for some pretty bad stuff, and going on the strong bleach smell around the area I’d say it’s been a while since the last cleaning… 

 

 

Ewww those pics make me want to throw up.  I spent a lot of time last March on one of those sunbeds.  We were there the week after they had a norvovirus outbreak and I was very impressed with the cleaning.  It seemed like everytime someone even touched a banister it was wiped down by staff.  They were very on top of it.  Unfortunately it looks like they really let it slide again.

[1Virgo]

On the Equinox last January, I found hairs on the floor and in the drawers…even a pair of socks.    Spilled drink marks and dust on the bedside tables.    (i always wipe the drawers and line them).  I feel sorry for cabin stewards as their workload has increased

 

I blame Celebrity for this decline in cleanliness.   I know cruise lines have had a hard time getting staff, and,  they are cutting corners too, but to load a ship up when you dont have enough crew to maintain a proper cleanliness is unacceptable.  

 

Even in Blu.  several time cutlery was still dirty and lipstick on my cup

 

We look forward to our holidays, spend the money, so this is not acceptable.  Sorry you are experiencing this
 

 

[sonnycruises]

We're in the same category as Mr T with 25+ Celebrity cruises and for same reasons defined above plus  dishonest pricing practices, (IMHO) have 4 future cruises booked with Viking. 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Pinboy said:

Why not just call the Attendant ?

We were always given their card ( contact info ) when we first met our cabin Attendant.

And besides, who knows when the Attendant will see it, or, someone might even draw a picture of a pineapple up-side down on the note ( LOL). 

 

 

 

 

At the least leave a note where the attendant will see it.. mirror.. wall ??   

 

My husb would probably try to locate them...can't be very far away unless they are a "ghost" employee..

 

Try to get a mtg with attendant & housekeeping  supervisor..goal:   immediate service and retraining!