Celebrity Error - Build a "Class System" into Your Ships

[Kordy]

I agree that all these little things add-up, to make you enjoy your vacation less and less, if you feel excluded, or if you see areas you'd like to relax in, roped off, or seats that are sitting empty just because you haven't paid extra.  I really think they need to find a balance, in such a way that we all enjoy our vacation and if we have to pay a little extra up-front, so be it.  I don't like the roping off the best theatre seats, it just rubs me the wrong way - there should be a happy medium.  I think that there should be a fair price for a cruise and that price should be inclusive of a good experience, as much as possible, for everyone on-board, without creating bad feelings in people, as this thread describes.

[tfred]

2 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

Hence why there are many posters on the Oceania, Azamara, Regent, SB threads that used to patronize Celebrity - they are called "Celebrity Refugees".

I moved from Celebrity in 2019 due to all the aforementioned reasons.

No intention of returning.

those lines are double the price of a standard X veranda so you are paying for the single class experience

 

When looking at X Retreat those lines are amazingly similar in price. 

[NMTraveller]

I call this the nickel and dime experience.  Once you pay for all of these upgrades you find out that you could sail on a more upscale line for less or the same.  On my last cruise I should have brought an accountant onboard to track the daily upgrades 🤣

 

For my next cruise it will be steerage for me 😁

 

Now the VIP theater seating is not where I would sit anyways ...

 

Even the upgrades have upgrades ...

Edited Saturday at 03:55 PM by NMTraveller

[tfred]

47 minutes ago, canderson said:

There's only one way to find out.

Example, Silversea, Silver Nova:

 

 

Numerous dining options, all but one of which have no upcharge.

 

we just got off Silver Moon Med cruise - 12 night. It was actually the same price as an X Med cruise of the same length. Obviously you are paying for it as it is double the price of a standard X veranda of any sort. 

 

Silversea was "one class" and you could go anywhere. Enough bars and restaurants commensurate with the size of the ship and pax count. 

[Dolebludger]

It seems that Celebrity is trying to offer all levels of cruising, from “bare bones” budget to luxury.and encountering problems doing so. Many cruise lines seem to be making controversial changes. Maybe this is due to the tremendous amount of  high interest debt they incurred during the pandemic. IDK. Last Spring I suggested here that Regent just might be a less expensive alternative to the Retreat. But back then air and land transfers were included in the fare. But for bookings made after July 1 this is no longer the case, so my previous suggestion may not be valid. I’m going to take a break from cruising until (and unless) things settle down a bit.

[Honolulu Blue]

I'm going to run at this from a different perspective and briefly discuss the main theater seating arrangements I've seen on my cruises (not all on Celebrity).

 

On the vast majority of my regular, non-charter cruises, there has been either no reserved seating that I saw or just for the front row.

 

On the first cruise back from the pandemic (which was on Celebrity) almost half the seats were "reserved" due to social distancing requirements.  I'm conflicted on whether I want to go back to those days or not. 🤔

 

Princess has a program where holders of their highest tier level get reserved seats in the main theater for their main production shows - not the guest entertainers when they appear there.  On the particular cruise I was on, there were three separate groups of seats - none, I thought in the very best locations.  But my fellow passengers did have reserved spots if they wanted them.

 

On my music charter cruises, there have been different arrangements.  The most common is to open the doors about half an hour before the show and allow those that are particularly interested to stand in line somewhere nearby to wait for that time.  No reserved seats.

 

One of my music charters does things a little different.  They have reserved seats based on when the cruise was booked - the earlier, the better tier you get.  They then have an opportunity to grab the seat of your choice several months before the cruise.  Once a seat it's chosen, it's yours for all the shows on that cruise.  This also means you can't, officially, choose a different seat for any other show.  The reserved and reservable seats take up roughly a quarter of the theater (not on Celebrity).  Most of the best seats, IMHO, are in the reserved section, but certainly not all the good ones.  They do have security checking passes and making sure the riffraff don't sit where they're not supposed to.

[IggleDoer]

When I go to a theater, I pay more to sit in the orchestra seats, as opposed to the balcony.   Same with business class seats versus economy class.  It’s the way of the world.   

[canderson]

32 minutes ago, tfred said:

we just got off Silver Moon Med cruise - 12 night. It was actually the same price as an X Med cruise of the same length. Obviously you are paying for it as it is double the price of a standard X veranda of any sort. 

 

Silversea was "one class" and you could go anywhere. Enough bars and restaurants commensurate with the size of the ship and pax count. 

Nice change, wasn't it?

In the afternoons, we kept finding ourselves drawn to outdoor space just outside the Arts Cafe (it was a westbound TA).

[chemmo]

19 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

 I’m going to take a break from cruising until (and unless) things settle down a bit.

Whilst we are not taking a break from cruising we are definitely not cruising as often. We used to book one ‘world wide destination focused cruise’ a year plus one ‘crash out cruise’.

 

A positive from Covid for us was it made us revisit and thoroughly enjoy venues in the UK within a short drive of home in self catering lodges…We remembered and realised we could switch off, chill out and be surrounded by historical sites and enjoy great food and wine at a fraction of the cost of a cruise and no flights needed!

 

I think the second thing in our decision making is that before Covid a quality AI resort in a lovely venue wasn’t that much cheaper than a cruise whereas (when pricing from the UK to AI in the Mediterranean) AI is now a better option if the main focus is simply R&R…

 

So, in the future, I can see us as still enjoying a cruise a year but then using the rest of our holiday ££££ on a mix of AI venues or enjoying our wonderful country!

 

 

 

 

[QuestionEverything]

1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

If you left in 2019, I suppose you find this board a good place to feel superior?

Sure do.

Most interesting to have a wide variety of cruise experiences in order to compare and contrast.

CC is amazing in providing information and options.

Are you a Celebrity "influencer"?

[retiredtraveler70]

1 hour ago, Kordy said:

I agree that all these little things add-up, to make you enjoy your vacation less and less, if you feel excluded, or if you see areas you'd like to relax in, roped off, or seats that are sitting empty just because you haven't paid extra.  I really think they need to find a balance, in such a way that we all enjoy our vacation and if we have to pay a little extra up-front, so be it.  I don't like the roping off the best theatre seats, it just rubs me the wrong way - there should be a happy medium.  I think that there should be a fair price for a cruise and that price should be inclusive of a good experience, as much as possible, for everyone on-board, without creating bad feelings in people, as this thread describes.

Thank you. You summed up my feelings and its well said. Give everyone a basic great experience and then have extra things that you can pay for to enhance IF YOU WANT, such as Spa, Private Dining, and so on. But do NOT take away things from the average cruiser, who doesn't want to see roped off areas, and who (as an aside for future ship design) really should have access to a view forward.  

[retiredtraveler70]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

They do have security checking passes and making sure the riffraff don't sit where they're not supposed to.

 

Celebrity made us (Elite Plus) feel like riff-raff on the recent BEYOND cruise, due to the theater seating and the fact that there was no where I could go to watch the ship progress forward, unless I wanted to take my drink and stand by a treadmill. A cruise line should make EVERYONE, of EVERY class, feel like they have a special experience and not rub it in their noses every evening when they go to the entertainment.

[NMTraveller]

57 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Whilst we are not taking a break from cruising we are definitely not cruising as often. We used to book one ‘world wide destination focused cruise’ a year plus one ‘crash out cruise’.

 

A positive from Covid for us was it made us revisit and thoroughly enjoy venues in the UK within a short drive of home in self catering lodges…We remembered and realised we could switch off, chill out and be surrounded by historical sites and enjoy great food and wine at a fraction of the cost of a cruise and no flights needed!

 

I think the second thing in our decision making is that before Covid a quality AI resort in a lovely venue wasn’t that much cheaper than a cruise whereas (when pricing from the UK to AI in the Mediterranean) AI is now a better option if the main focus is simply R&R…

 

So, in the future, I can see us as still enjoying a cruise a year but then using the rest of our holiday ££££ on a mix of AI venues or enjoying our wonderful country!

 

 

 

 

We find ourselves booking shorter cruises and flying to another country for a land vacation.

Edited Saturday at 05:25 PM by NMTraveller

[retiredtraveler70]

1 hour ago, IggleDoer said:

When I go to a theater, I pay more to sit in the orchestra seats, as opposed to the balcony.   Same with business class seats versus economy class.  It’s the way of the world.   

 

Well on the recent BEYOND cruise, they had security roping off seats on both the main floor AND the balcony.

[chemmo]

17 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

We find ourselves booking shorter cruises and flying to another country for a land vacation.

Our six land vacations in the USA are amongst our favourites….We loved the diversity and beauty…So glad we did them when we had the stamina, couldn’t do it now!

[markeb]

17 minutes ago, davejensen70 said:

 

Well on the recent BEYOND cruise, they had security roping off seats on both the main floor AND the balcony.

 

They're almost certainly not security. They've historically been the Retreat staff and butlers. The balcony area is hardly the best seating, and it generally went mostly unused (your butler would spot you and steer you there but it's also a harder area to escape when you realize the show isn't that good). Ten minutes before the show they drop the ropes and anyone can sit there.

 

The Premier Access thing is new and maybe more people who paid for the 3-4 things they get with it feel more obligated to use this "benefit". I don't know where the priority area is on the main level; that's also new. It's probably the first row for the comedy shows; never sit in the first row of a comedy show...

 

I'd be happy to wave my Retreat card and let you have my seat in the balcony. It's not that good.

[markeb]

25 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

We find ourselves booking shorter cruises and flying to another country for a land vacation.

 

We're heading to Montreal at the end of the month and London in November. No fake islands with overpriced chintzy souvenirs. A real Michelin 2-Star already reserved in London. Need to do more research for this trip to Montreal; we've been before but we're spending a little more time on this one.

[IggleDoer]

So, when you went to the theater, were there no seats available, either upstairs or downstairs?

[bigbenboys]

35 minutes ago, davejensen70 said:

 

Well on the recent BEYOND cruise, they had security roping off seats on both the main floor AND the balcony.

On our cruise last month on Solstice we met up with a couple from CC. They were in a Concierge cabin. She said Concierge Class passengers have reserved seating in the theater on the main floor. I'm not sure if it was only for evening chic nights. Also this was the 1st time on X that I heard that suites have a reserved section of the theater every night.

When we were doing 3 to 5 cruises a year we would book Concierge or Aqua. Now that we are only doing 2 cruises a year we are only booking suites. We did book a Aqua class after being in a suite. I did not feel like I was missing out on anything being in Aqua.

 

[Lena11033]

When I was on Apex my dinner ran late so no room downstairs by the time I got there, upstairs was cornered off for reserved seating but before the show they opened it up for everyone - wasn't a big deal I got a seat.

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, markeb said:

 A real Michelin 2-Star already reserved in London. 

Which one?  We are going to London/Paris next year.

[retiredtraveler70]

1 hour ago, Lena11033 said:

When I was on Apex my dinner ran late so no room downstairs by the time I got there, upstairs was cornered off for reserved seating but before the show they opened it up for everyone - wasn't a big deal I got a seat.

 

Great - you feel like it is OK to be relegated to the cattle line that is waiting for the reserved ropes to go away?  There were MANY people complaining about this to the security team managing the ropes (Butlers? Seemed more like Security people to me). And when the ropes came down, a mad rush to the seats that opened. This is a class system if ever there was one. The auditorium used to be for everyone, and every class of passenger. Soon, Celebrity ships will be like those passenger vessels in the Titanic days, with the Asters and the Vanderbilts enjoying the views and the entertainment, and the rest of the ship dedicated to "steerage."

[doghog]

On our recent Edge cruise the reserved seats in the theater in our opinion weren't in a location we would have sat in. We don't cruise in suites but if we did, based on what we saw we wouldn't have sat in that location. 

[markeb]

22 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Which one?  We are going to London/Paris next year.

Gymkhana. I think it’s rated #11 in London. Punjabi. 

[canderson]

1 minute ago, markeb said:

Gymkhana. I think it’s rated #11 in London. Punjabi. 

Odd name for a restaurant.  Do they hold competitions in the kitchen?