Celebrity Eclipse Sky Lounge closed during 12 day cruise

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, RichYak said:

You're right, it's probably not.

agreed.

A little interesting thing from last weekends UK Daily Mail travel sections adverts:

Both for Canary Islands/Madeira cruise from the UK.

Fred Olsen Cruise Line: 14 nights on Borealis (an old HAL ship) departing 21 December £2599 inside cabin.

Cunard Queen Victoria 12 nights departing 16 December: inside £1552, Oceanview £1639,  Balcony £2073.

The Cunard prices for a peak holiday sailing do little to enhance it's "5 Star status. 

[zitsky]

Thanks Host Anne.  I think most customers understand there may be occasional needs to close certain venues.  But as you say, all day or for the entire cruise is a bit unreasonable.

[canderson]

48 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Are we playing pretend imagination games? Or can you give me an example of such a line? I'm talking primarily about guest capacity--not ship tonnage.

When you said "Even M-class ships are far too big to be premium", perhaps I took that too literally.  What you evidently meant to say was "Even ships with 2170 passenger capacity are far too big to be premium".  Increasing passenger count is another whole kettle of fish.

 

Rather than the 1,000 or so crew that Celebrity put aboard M class ships for 2170 passengers (Royal's dismal pax:crew ratio makes an ever bigger case *), Silversea's current ratio for their new and larger Ray/Nova ships would require 1657 crew members.  So we're talking a physical ship design that's a bit different to begin with.  To get the amount of public space per person available on a Silversea ship, it would also require a ship quite a bit larger.

 

So if you're talking about the same number of pax, it would take a bigger ship to make it happen in the same manner.  But there's no reason that it couldn't be done.  Small ships (or small passenger counts, if that's what you prefer) aren't what makes it work.  It's a $ commitment by the brand that makes it possible to be either premium or luxury.  At a 1.31 pax:crew ratio as Silversea already has, they also have to charge accordingly.  The extra labor required to create the experience doesn't come for free.  But it can be bought.  Ditto operating costs for ships with more public space per passenger.

 

Why do you think this isn't possible if a company was interested in doing it? As I say, Silversea has already started heading in that direction.  Hard to tell if they'll continue.

 

I think the only reason that the pax count has remained lower for premium/luxury may be that the size of ship required to support premium/luxury with 2100 pax might take it out of the running for certain of the more exotic itineraries.

 

 

* Royal's more or less equivalent ship to M Class is Radiance.  There, the pax:crew ratio is 2.9:1.  Carnival does better than that.

 

[C4HCG]

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

Of course it is. But it is based in reality.

 

Here's where I would put all the cruise lines that come to mind:

 

Luxury - Seabourn, SilverSea, Regent, Ritz Carlton

Premium - Azamara, Cunard, Explora, Oceania, Viking 

Mass Mkt - Carnival, Celebrity, Disney, HAL, NCL, Princess, MSC, Royal, Virgin

So it’s your opinion that you agree is your opinion (so subjective) but is based on reality?? Doesn’t that make it fact not opinion? We are sat on the Celebrity Beyond now looking at Aruba having dinner. Day 4 of what has been a fabulous and luxurious cruise. My opinion but I am a celebrity cheerleader 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, Host Anne said:

Just got off Cunard's Queen Anne. There was nothing premium about the ship and cruise.  I'll be sharing a comparison to Celebrity soon. 

 

But back to the topic of this thread .... Groups often occupy public spaces on ships for relatively short periods of time (2 - 3 hours typically) but I've never seen an area like the Sky Lounge closed so often and for so long most days. It's extremely unfair to paying passengers and I'd be upset if it happened on a cruise I was on.

 

I really think it's time that cruise lines disclose the groups on board (say over 50 cabins for example) their ships along with the impact (public spaces closed for extended periods each day) as well as the type of group so guests can choose to make a change if they'd like.  But this will likely never happen.  

 

I've been on ships with large groups (I've even been part of some of them).  Some have had no impact on my cruise while others have created some annoyances.  Would have been nice to know ahead of time.

 thank you for this post and standing up for cruisers!  we hace cruised with various  group.. motorcycle folks were great,  but some others did impact us alot more.  A large deaf group with sign interp were the focus at every venue and activity & we felt left out.  Another group had elevs exclusive for use by their group run manually on Shabbat.. thus reducing use by .others..and crowds waiting!  We enjoyed a group of ballroom dancers..

 

Point is..just post a list!

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

My opinion but I am a celebrity cheerleader 

We know 😜

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, canderson said:

I think the only reason that the pax count has remained lower for premium/luxury may be that the size of ship required to support premium/luxury with 2100 pax might take it out of the running for certain of the more exotic itineraries.

 

This.  If your ship is too big to dock on the Amalfi Coast and you have to take a 3 or 4 hour bus ride to get there,  then your ship is not premium/luxury.  There is nothing luxurious about being on a bus all day.

Edited August 27 by NMTraveller

[zitsky]

3 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

This.  If your ship is too big to dock on the Amalfi Coast and you have to take a 3 or 4 hour bus ride to get there,  then your ship is not premium/luxury.  There is nothing luxurious about being on a bus all day.

I did a 2 hour bus ride each way with Celebrity in South America.  Never again.  We were supposed to have a sit down lunch but Celebrity made it better by giving us a boxed lunch instead.

[doghog]

10 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I did a 2 hour bus ride each way with Celebrity in South America.  Never again.  We were supposed to have a sit down lunch but Celebrity made it better by giving us a boxed lunch instead.

Were you sitting while you ate the box lunch Celebrity provide. 😁

[canderson]

40 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

This.  If your ship is too big to dock on the Amalfi Coast and you have to take a 3 or 4 hour bus ride to get there,  then your ship is not premium/luxury.  There is nothing luxurious about being on a bus all day.

Dock where?  Constellation already docks at Salerno, and Crystal's Symphony docks at Positano (650 pax, similar to the Silversea Muse Class).

 

You want to dock anywhere else, it'd better be in a ship with sails!

 

 

[C4HCG]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

We know 😜

😂but I will give an honest opinion and this ship is too full. And a far younger vibe. But still great.

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 8/25/2024 at 2:55 AM, WestLakeGirl said:

I have a cousin who goes on a quilting cruise every year. They spend their sea days in one of the conference rooms cutting and sewing, And on port days they visit the sights in each town, sometimes museums, and sometimes quilt shops.  She says it combines two things that she loves. I imagine that’s how the Park West customers feel.

I think the key to your comment is that the quilters occupy the conference rooms, not a popular public space at the front of the ship. I wonder why they don’t open the conference rooms to PW?  Maybe because there’s  no bar for people to get liquored up before bidding? 💁‍♀️

Edited August 28 by Georgia_Peaches

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, canderson said:

Dock where?  Constellation already docks at Salerno, and Crystal's Symphony docks at Positano (650 pax, similar to the Silversea Muse Class).

 

You want to dock anywhere else, it'd better be in a ship with sails!

 

 

Good point.  It would likely be with Windstar.

An even smaller step down in ship size ...

Edited August 28 by NMTraveller

[markeb]

25 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I think the key to your comment is that the quilters occupy the conference rooms, not a popular public space at the front of the ship. I wonder why they don’t open the conference rooms to PW?  Maybe because there’s  no bar for people to get liquored up before bidding? 💁‍♀️

 

Didn't they used to close at least most of the Sky Lounge for the Elite Happy Hour? Pretty sad to have paid for access to that public space and be shut out by Captain's Club members! 😄

 

From the sound of things they're bringing in larger pieces that probably wouldn't display well in a conference room. Just not a PW person, but that would be my suspicion. And the dance floor in the Sky Lounge would honestly be a great display space. I will confess that I've just never seen the popularity of this particular public space that others on this thread have seen, other than for late night events and scenic sailings. I think it's a questionable PR move but almost certainly a good business move. If they have a business partner paying them for 50+ customers for 6+ hours a day, versus the typical handful that are in there during most days (scenic passages excepted), it would actually be pretty bad business not to do the deal. Like most of these threads there are only a handful of people commenting here. Is this trending on other social media? If not, it's not even a bad PR move. (I don't know; I really don't follow cruising on other platforms.)

 

Would people be as upset if they were using the space for a continuing medical education at sea conference? Or some other private/semi-private group? Is it just PW? Is this also happening in the Viking Crown Lounge (or other areas) on Royal Caribbean? That would be an interesting situation to me if they're not!

 

 

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, markeb said:

 

Didn't they used to close at least most of the Sky Lounge for the Elite Happy Hour? Pretty sad to have paid for access to that public space and be shut out by Captain's Club members! 😄

 

 

Yes, you are correct.  (But that was different....)

[markeb]

18 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Yes, you are correct.  (But that was different....)

Cueing up Alannis…

 

(And waiting to see who gets the reference.)

[canderson]

9 minutes ago, markeb said:

Cueing up Alannis…

 

(And waiting to see who gets the reference.)

Alanis?

 

[Bobal]

4 hours ago, markeb said:

Cueing up Alannis…

 

(And waiting to see who gets the reference.)

 

Ironic 😁

Edited August 28 by Bobal

[zitsky]

9 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Didn't they used to close at least most of the Sky Lounge for the Elite Happy Hour? Pretty sad to have paid for access to that public space and be shut out by Captain's Club members! 😄

 

From the sound of things they're bringing in larger pieces that probably wouldn't display well in a conference room. Just not a PW person, but that would be my suspicion. And the dance floor in the Sky Lounge would honestly be a great display space. I will confess that I've just never seen the popularity of this particular public space that others on this thread have seen, other than for late night events and scenic sailings. I think it's a questionable PR move but almost certainly a good business move. If they have a business partner paying them for 50+ customers for 6+ hours a day, versus the typical handful that are in there during most days (scenic passages excepted), it would actually be pretty bad business not to do the deal. Like most of these threads there are only a handful of people commenting here. Is this trending on other social media? If not, it's not even a bad PR move. (I don't know; I really don't follow cruising on other platforms.)

 

Would people be as upset if they were using the space for a continuing medical education at sea conference? Or some other private/semi-private group? Is it just PW? Is this also happening in the Viking Crown Lounge (or other areas) on Royal Caribbean? That would be an interesting situation to me if they're not!

 

 

“I don’t use the space.  Why would anyone else want to?”

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

8 hours ago, markeb said:

Cueing up Alannis…

 

(And waiting to see who gets the reference.)

She doesn’t have any song with references Sky Lounge or Park West 🤔😉😁

[wrk2cruise]

This PW event is nothing new.  We were on Constellation in 2022 on B2B2B and the sky lounge was closed one of the sailings for PW special invite sailing events (but not the TA).   Yes people were just as upset and complaining.  You can see what good that did.

Edited August 28 by wrk2cruise

[zitsky]

1 minute ago, wrk2cruise said:

This PW event is nothing new.  We were on Constellation in 2022 on B2B2B and it was closed one of the sailings (but not the TA).   Yes people were just as upset and complaining.  You can see what good that did.

So what was the response on the ship and from corporate to all those complaints?  Did anyone tell you?

[NMTraveller]

12 hours ago, canderson said:

Dock where?  Constellation already docks at Salerno, and Crystal's Symphony docks at Positano (650 pax, similar to the Silversea Muse Class).

 

You want to dock anywhere else, it'd better be in a ship with sails!

 

 

Another location that you would cruise on a small ship would be Bora Bora ...

[Liao]

10 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Didn't they used to close at least most of the Sky Lounge for the Elite Happy Hour? Pretty sad to have paid for access to that public space and be shut out by Captain's Club members! 😄

 

From the sound of things they're bringing in larger pieces that probably wouldn't display well in a conference room. Just not a PW person, but that would be my suspicion. And the dance floor in the Sky Lounge would honestly be a great display space. I will confess that I've just never seen the popularity of this particular public space that others on this thread have seen, other than for late night events and scenic sailings. I think it's a questionable PR move but almost certainly a good business move. If they have a business partner paying them for 50+ customers for 6+ hours a day, versus the typical handful that are in there during most days (scenic passages excepted), it would actually be pretty bad business not to do the deal. Like most of these threads there are only a handful of people commenting here. Is this trending on other social media? If not, it's not even a bad PR move. (I don't know; I really don't follow cruising on other platforms.)

 

Would people be as upset if they were using the space for a continuing medical education at sea conference? Or some other private/semi-private group? Is it just PW? Is this also happening in the Viking Crown Lounge (or other areas) on Royal Caribbean? That would be an interesting situation to me if they're not!

 

 

It’s just a temporary filler “gate” until the next Celebrity crisis comes along.

[cublet]

Hello,

 

There was a period whilst Eclipse was out of Southampton when anyone was allowed in the Sky Lounge during Elite Happy hour because the only way to get free swill, sorry - drink, was to hand-over a paper voucher.

 

The same did not apply to the hot & cold appetisers.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet