Celebrity Eclipse Sky Lounge closed during 12 day cruise

[canderson]

Personally, it's not just the fact that a private company would have taken over 'our' public space, it's the idea that the private company that occupies it has previously demonstrated the integrity of a used car lot run out of a trailer with a big "We Finance Here" sign hanging crookedly over the door.  Worse, and here's the nub of it, they're making a profit at our expense.

[PTC DAWG]

17 minutes ago, RichYak said:

All those paragraphs when all they're really saying is "GFY".

What kind of response would one be expecting? 

[hcat]

6 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I have asked and they will not tell me if this is going to happen ever again, and if it will affect any other ships

quasar, Celebrity Central, meeting rooms, Tuscan,   

Yes it is

Thank you for this info and bringing it to our attention initially. 

 

We will plan accordingly for Silhouette  in December. Will   be disappointing  not having  forward views, ( just like E Class),  but at least we will have a  real balcony.

 

  Hope the  Park West incursion is the worst of it,  and we do not get bumped last minute for a charter.

Edited August 25 by hcat

[RichYak]

4 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

What kind of response would one be expecting? 

Nothing different at all. It's they're ship and they get to make the rules. There is no "public" area on a privately owned cruise ship. The only recourse is to take one's business elsewhere in the future.

[Stem to Stern]

25 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

They still make Tupperware? 

I saw some at TJ Maxx recently.

[cruisestitch]

27 minutes ago, Moxiefurball said:

On Sea days , so no one can use sky lounge on sea says due to Auction 

s ? What time are the auctions generally ?

Some days they ended at 3, others they continued until 9 pm

[cruisestitch]

9 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thank you for this info and bringing it to our attention initially. 

 

We will plan accordingly for Silhouette  in December. Will   be disappointing  not having  forward views, ( just like E Class),  but at least we will have a  real balcony.

 

  Hope the  Park West incursion is the worst of it,  and we do not get bumped last minute for a charter.

At this time, it is not scheduled to go into December. There are five cruises affected. I am on cruise number two so there are three more going forward and that doesn’t take us to December.

[hcat]

It is surprising there was no big press announcement ( fb?)  or group call to Travel Agents about the revival of these Park West  art  auctions....esp if X thinks is such a great thing.  

 

Or is this a test..like the cookie roll out?

 

There will be no " regular" cruisers left as  X caters to more and more special interest groups!

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Nothing different at all. It's they're ship and they get to make the rules. There is no "public" area on a privately owned cruise ship. The only recourse is to take one's business elsewhere in the future.

Back to Silversea, where I would imagine they'd be embarrassed to have these hucksters aboard.  Perhaps too discerning of a clientele for it to make any money?

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, canderson said:

Back to Silversea, where I would imagine they'd be embarrassed to have these hucksters aboard.  Perhaps too discerning of a clientele for it to make any money?

Overall customer satisfaction is less integral to mass market cruise lines like Celebrity. There are plenty of new customers to attract. Much less so for the luxury cruise market. Anything that even bears the scent of nickel-and-diming would be a risk for the luxury lines.

[markeb]

4 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Overall customer satisfaction is less integral to mass market cruise lines like Celebrity. There are plenty of new customers to attract. Much less so for the luxury cruise market. Anything that even bears the scent of nickel-and-diming would be a risk for the luxury lines.

 

Yep. Celebrity attempted to go there with the AI pricing. The reaction here demonstrated their market and customer base wasn't as near luxury as they thought it was. (Yes, world events hit them pretty hard as well.) And it seems likely they've been hit with profit goals from RCG, and their president is no longer on the board. (Same as Silversea, BTW...)

 

The Sky Lounge is a bar from a management standpoint. The bar opens at 4:00 on most cruises I've looked at. It's actually opening earlier (3:00) on the cruise in question (although there are the 9:00 pm days already mentioned). They've turned a cost center (an empty bar) into a profit center (private event space). If there were enough people in the Sky Lounge on typical cruises to keep the bar open, it would be a different calculation.

 

22 minutes ago, canderson said:

Back to Silversea, where I would imagine they'd be embarrassed to have these hucksters aboard.  Perhaps too discerning of a clientele for it to make any money?

 

Doesn't fit their business strategy. Price everything appropriately high and include almost everything. They don't need the side gig. And are apparently meeting their internal metrics to RCG because they also don't have a seat on the board.

[cruisestitch]

54 minutes ago, hcat said:

It is surprising there was no big press announcement ( fb?)  or group call to Travel Agents about the revival of these Park West  art  auctions....esp if X thinks is such a great thing.  

 

Or is this a test..like the cookie roll out?

 

There will be no " regular" cruisers left as  X caters to more and more special interest groups!

Not a test at all. It’s been going on for quite some time.

[doghog]

We'll be on the Edge in September. Hopefully PW is parking their crappy pictures in The Club or Eden. Maybe I'll suggest PW move to Camp At Sea. 😂

Edited August 25 by doghog

[RichYak]

43 minutes ago, markeb said:

Yep. Celebrity attempted to go there with the AI pricing.

Celebrity would need to replace their entire fleet of ships to be considered luxury. They are firmly in the mass market category.

[NMTraveller]

14 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Fixed it for you...

 

I generally consider Park West a total ripoff and have no idea why any cruise line (or corporation, because this is RCG wide, minus I would think Silversea) would have them onboard. BUT I've found the Sky Lounge to largely be underused space (other than on our Alaska cruise where it was packed). The people on the thread who talk about enjoying it love it because it's quiet (few people?). That's not a revenue producing space. Even on the Alaska cruise where it was packed going into Hubbard, most people weren't buying drinks. And every buck they make off of the invited guests for Park West is a buck they don't have to add to drink packages, dining packages, and excursions. All of which are a constant complaints on the board.

 

Since they've clearly decided to support this type of event, the Sky Lounge before late night music/dancing/etc. is probably the least disruptive space to use. They already kill Deck 5 next to the WCB on S class ships for the auctions!

For myself,  it is one of the reasons that I like S class and dislike E class.  I like the quiet spaces on the ship.  I don't need or want these spaces to be busy or packed.

 

Perhaps it would get more use if they had better wine selections at the Sky Lounge bar.

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, sheeng said:

We expressed our concerns, disappointment and frustrations with all the closures of Sky Lounge to the Hotel Manager in writing.

Below is the response.

 

Form letter.  This looks like a letter that they have printed 100s of.

[Sussex Cruiser]

I had the same on SIlhouette a couple of weeks back. Beyond frustrating on a cold weather cruise with outdoor decks closed, and during school holidays when there was 100+ children on board and about 300 people over double occupancy.  People were forced into sitting on the floor in lounges, on the stairs, and in stairwells.  Oceanview was almost impossible to use as no one ever gave up their seats for fear of not finding a seat anywhere.  The Sky Lounge is my favourite space, even when the bar is closed.  I was also told that it was for five consecutive cruises.  Celebrity are also refusing to provide a list of cruises where this will be happening again.  I'm REALLY not happy!

[Oville]

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

Some days they ended at 3, others they continued until 9 pm

But what time do they start?  Dinner must be involved at the 9:00 end.  Thanks

[owensjro]

Our Millenium cruise in Japan this summer was also a Park West cruise and the Sky Lounge was "reserved" for a large portion of it. Thankfully a port intensive day so it wasn't too annoying, but we really missed those front of ship views. 

[cruisestitch]

35 minutes ago, Oville said:

But what time do they start?  Dinner must be involved at the 9:00 end.  Thanks

They are serving them breakfast there and lunch as well

 

 

[NMTraveller]

13 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

They are serving them breakfast there and lunch as well

 

 

So how can we find out about these events so that we can avoid these sailings?

 

I realize that you gave us a list.  But how do we know whether they will be doing this in 6 months,  9 months, etc.  This would be enough for me to rebook something else.

 

 

Edited August 25 by NMTraveller

[Oville]

6 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

They are serving them breakfast there and lunch as well

 

 

Thank you.

[doghog]

I hope everyone that is currently on a cruise that this is happening and not happy with it is noting  it on their Mid Cruise Survey and their Post Cruise Survey. 

[NMTraveller]

It seems like some sort of compensation should be offered as they are taking away one of the main areas of the ship.  I doubt that they will,  but ...

[cruisestitch]

11 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

So how can we find out about these events so that we can avoid these sailings?

 

I realize that you gave us a list.  But how do we know whether they will be doing this in 6 months,  9 months, etc.  This would be enough for me to rebook something else.

 

 

As I have written, I know of no way of knowing which cruises will involve these special invited guests.  If you aren’t on the guest list, neither ParkWest nor celebrity will reveal that info.

 

supposedly, and I share this with a healthy dose of personal skepticism, there are some pieces of art valued at six figures and above and there are some reasons to worry about their security.