How many people led to their room upon embarkation?

[jcbbjb]

Hi everyone,

I just returned from the Aug 4th sailing of the Galaxy. Although I have taken other cruises in the past two years, I haven't been on a Celebrity ship since June 04. This was my 8th Celebrity cruise. My husband and I noticed that the "perks" or little extras that Celebrity does to keep us coming back have diminished a bit. This leads me to my question-- we have ALWAYS been shown to our stateroom when we board the ship. This time we were met with champagne (nice touch but unfortunately it happened to be in a dirty glass) and then we were left to find our room on our own. No problem in finding our room, I just was expecting that "nice touch". Our tablemates at dinner said they were both led to their rooms and that they thought it just depended on when you boarded the ship. Soooo, can you all tell me has this perk fallen by the wayside, or have most of you been led to your rooms? You may think I'm being petty, but there are other things I noticed as well on this cruise (and we are NOT complainers--we give excellents 9 times out of 10 on the majority of our cruise evaluations)-- but I won't go into the other things at this point.

 

That was a long-winded way of asking if you were led to your rooms. I'm just curious. Overall, we enjoyed our cruise, just noticed things have changed a bit...

Thanks for your time,

Jill

[Cinnabel]

Hi everyone,

That was a long-winded way of asking if you were led to your rooms. I'm just curious. Overall, we enjoyed our cruise, just noticed things have changed a bit...

Thanks for your time,

Jill

 

We embarked on "Infinity" on 23 July, 06 just before 12 noon and were welcomed with the obligatory champagne. After looking around the lobby for a while, we then proceeded to find our staterooms ourselves. There were 5 of us in three separate rooms. 1 Concierge Class on Deck 8, 1 2A on Deck 7 and 1 Inside on deck 3. None of us were led to our rooms or could see anyone available to do this little chore. Maybe we were too early????

[MortgageChick]

I sailed on X 3 times in 2005( my only 3 times) and no one showed us to our stateroom. On HAL Rotterdam in 2003, we were escorted to our inside stateroom

on the lowest of decks, not sure if they still do that now. It was a nice touch, for sure, and they show you how everything works as well.

[suntan]

On our first Celebrity cruise in 2004 on the Galaxy we also were greeted with champers and were shown to our stateroom. The following year on the Summit we didn't receive any champers - we were told to go directly to the Waterfall Grill - and we were left to find our stateroom. This probably was because the ship was late in arriving in Ft. Lauderdale and they didn't have the rooms ready yet. The overall service on the Summit we felt was a couple of notches down the scale from what we received the previous year. I do hope that we will experience the same great service on the Galaxy in 2007.

[RickT]

Just off the Connie and not lead to our room. We were on the Summit last year and also were not lead to our room. Oh well... still had a great cruise.

[spearmint]

Just off the Connie and not lead to our room. We were on the Summit last year and also were not lead to our room. Oh well... still had a great cruise.

 

Disappointing to hear. We are on Constellation next week. On our other 4 cruises, all with X, we were taken to our room. Even though we now know how to find our way around ship, it is a great touch of welcome that I did not think other lines had. On our first cruise, which was on Century several years ago, the first wow-factor was the sighting of the ship. The second thing that was special, was being led to our room. What a way to start...:)

[greeneg]

We have ALWAYS been shown to our cabin, with our hand luggage being carried for us.

[kelmac]

People are embarking earlier. They don't show you to your cabin until after all the cabins have been cleaned. If you act like you "know the drill" and just bolt, they will leave you alone. Board at 2:00pm and there will be a long line of employees to show you to your cabin. They are pretty good at reading your body language.

We board at 11:00am, grab a glass bubbly, and head out on our own.

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[Lsimon]

When we've arrived at or after the "official" boarding time, which I think is around 2PM for most departures and AFTER the staterooms have been finished and cleared, we've been escorted to our room.

 

However, recently we've arrived early and boarded between 11 and noon. We've always been greeted by champagne, except once when we were literally among the first group on and the champagne wasn't ready yet (we went back for a glass later!) but escort service has been spotty. I think if you want to see the escort service it is better to arrive at 2PM or later.

 

I also like to avoid the escort service when we board early as I like to stash our carry on (minus valuables) in the closet of the stateroom even though the room isn't ready yet. The stewards have never minded as long as you don't put things in the way of their cleaning and leave the door open. However, the escort, if there is one, will only take you to the cafe or pool deck if you arrive before the staterooms are ready.

[cruiserone]

We were on the Constellation last year and had CC aft cabin. Our cabin steward was never around and never once greeted us BUT we did get escorted to our cabin with a glass (clean) of champagne. Royal Caribbean still escorts you as well as Princess (in 2005). I do think it has to do with what time you enter the ship. I also think that they have a limited number of escorts and they could be busy with other passengers.:D

[tbelian]

This really is a double edged sword.

 

A.) Board early, arrve before the 'masses', and before 1pm, and you probably won't get the escort. The people who do the escorting duties are the ones getting the ship ready. Almost always, boarding before 1pm, we have been advised that the staterooms would not be ready until 1pm.

 

B.) Board after 1pm, get the 'nice touch' escort, but , as indicated, you will be gettinag on board with a lot of the other passengers.

 

In my mind, I'd rather get their early, and get on board asap. I can do without the guide. But, this is not something they have 'cut back on'.

[SheilaNC]

I agree...love getting onboard among the first, having the ship to ourselves (relatively speaking ;)) for a little while, stowing carry-on, having lunch before the buffet gets crazy and enjoying our champagne while sitting on deck. An escort is nice if you're new to the ship and boarding at 'regular' boarding time, but I prefer no escort and the 'stuff' noted.

[jcbbjb]

Thanks for all your comments. In this last case on the Galaxy, we did not board early. In fact we arrived several hours after the official start of boarding. Like I said earlier, it's not a big deal. I just was curious to see what others had experienced.

Jill

[greeneg]

One point which might be worth stressing, is that if you board relatively early you get lunch; board later and it may be catch as catch can.

 

As always, food is central to the cruising experience.....:)

[newmexicoNita]

Our first cruise on X we were but not this past December. It really isn't a big deal, but it something that X has alwasy prided themselves in; escort, champagne, wet wash clothes when returning from port,etc. We didn't get the wash cloths last time either. NMNita

[SharkieRools]

Had an escort to our cabin on the Inifinity last April and the cold washcloths before embarking and in each port as well. It was a long walk to the ship from the check in area in the sun, hence the cold washcloths when embarking.

 

We got on early and they still had the line of staff waiting to escort people to their room, of course the ship just came out of drydock and there were no disembarking passengers to clean up after.:cool:

[chessbriar]

The people to lead you don't arrive until after 1:00. Once they complete their other duties. If you note your documentation says boarding doesn't begin until 2:00 in most cases.

 

Most of us board around noon, hence no one to guide you.

[Lois R]

I am another one who would rather board early, find my cabin,

drop off my carry and go exploring!:D Being escorted just doesn't

matter to me.

 

Quote by Kelmac

"People are embarking earlier. They don't show you to your cabin until after all the cabins have been cleaned. If you act like you "know the drill" and just bolt, they will leave you alone. Board at 2:00pm and there will be a long line of employees to show you to your cabin. They are pretty good at reading your body language.

We board at 11:00am, grab a glass bubbly, and head out on our own."

 

Kelly....see you and Lauren 4 months from Sunday:) And I will

buy us a round....see you then:D

[SusieV]

On our honeymoon last year, we boarded around noon and were given neither champagne nor shown to our room. A little disappointing.

[Jimsgirl]

This may raise a smile.

 

I was boarding Crystal, (I knew the ship quite well) the staffer who took my bag, did not speak much English, did not know where my cabin was, didn't even know the decks.!

It turned out he had only joined the ship for the first time 30 mins before myself!

 

My experience having done quite a few cruises with different ships, is that each ship varies with its "welcome aboard" routine. Of course the routine does depend on the upper echelon staff, if an "important person " says "you will greet all passengers, with a drink, a smile and show them to their cabins " then it is done, but if that person does not issue the orders it is not done.

 

In fact this goes for all aspects of the cruise, the treatment of passengers does come down from "the person in charge" whether it is cleaning, food, entertainment , or whatever.

[starysacz]

Escorted each time on our 27 HAL cruises with carry-on taken care of by crew member. Never on Celebrity, Costa, or Royal Caribbean.

[sisson_d]

I sailed on the Zenith on February '06. There were plenty of employees to escort passengers to their rooms when we boarded at about 2 pm. Unfortunately, we got the "new guy" that had no idea where anything was. It was comical to watch us and two other passengers escorting the new employee to our rooms.:)

[cechase]

On our very first X cruise on Mercury, we boarded at just after noon, and were in the suite check-in line, and a young lady escorted us right from the check-in counter to our RS.

 

Thereafter, on our next four X cruises, we were never escorted to our RS. However, on all five cruises we were given a glass of champagne [never looked to see if the glass was dirty or not :D].

 

Perhaps we will get an escort for our Infinity cruise next month because we will be boarding around 2:00 p.m. That will be nice because it will be our first cruise on a M class vessel. While we know the C-class vessels like the back of our hand, our RS on Infinity is on deck 6 and not deck 10, and quite far to aft.

[patrickc]

Zenith in June- 2 of our party of 7 handed champagne-- we were told to drink it right there-- which is hard when there are people boarding behind you. No one lead us to room. Zenith was a lousy ship-- went with an open mind but it seemed to be missing just about every perk experienced on other ships. Don't waste your time & money-- Zenith is NOT the celebrity treatment.

[ACCagent]

Just off Century and we were escorted to our room as we always have been on Celebrity. Sailings were on Mercury, Infinity, Zenith and Horizon. Not sure why the difference unless it's early arrivals.