Pod Problems--Would You Sail M-Class?

[many cruises]

No, I wouldn't sail an "M" class ship to Alaska. We were on the ill fated Infinity on July 16, 2006 & we took a chance. Unfortunately, we had pod problems. So, if you're never affected by this problem, I guess it is alright to take a chance. Once you are affected, I doubt that you'll ever take a chance again. That is why we are sailing on HAL in November & Princess in the spring.

[Jimsgirl]

Greeneg, I fully agree with you, the itineraries on Celebrity have fallen behind very badly compared to other lines, and I hope very much that someone in the corner office will do the obvious and "liven " up the itineraries.

 

I was to have been on the Sept 13th sailing which ws cancelled , it was part of a B2B so am still going on the 24th Panama sailing (providing the ship is out of dry dock.

 

My complaint is not repairing the pods themselves , it is how the situation is handled.

Celebrity did send out faxes to agents and make a press release, but that is when things went wrong.

Some agents did not react to the faxes, their clients were ignored or given only partial facts on the compensation they would get.

 

Passengers on the Panama cruise had the cruise shortened by one day - not the end of the world- but Celebrity staff continues to this day to insist that the cruise will sail at 5p.m on the 23. They say "that is what my screen is showing" On Wednesday one staffer actually denied Infinity was being dry docked and insisted very strongly that the ship was "in Alaska as we speak" !

 

Some passengers got the cruise documents but minus the tickets, others got hopelessly incorrect tickets, Hotels/Flights booked by Celebrity after the event were completely incorrect.

 

If a passenger calls Celebrity they are put on hold for up to 25 mins, only to be mis-informed yet again with the same "that is on my screen " speech

I have been informed (by Captains Club) that when the cancellation/changed sailing/hotel changes/flight date changes took place the incorrect information was fed into Celebrity computers and that the computers quote "cannot be changed or corrected and that is why people are being given incorrect tickets/information. we are sorry but that is the situation"

 

I can understand a mechanical failure of the pods but not computers that cannot be corrected/or the issuing of incorrect ticket/ transportation/hotel reservations etc.

 

I will be on the Panama Canal cruise and have two more cruises booked in 2007 with Celebrity

[LeftcoastBC]

a pretty good thread with lots of opinions on the subject. and some really good tips.

I too have been effected by pods...twice actually. Once when I had no idea what a pod was and once since. Was treated weel by X considering everything.

 

Important tips.

 

1. AIR and other self bookings. you will likely be on the hook for these.

 

2. Time. If your vacation time is not flexable you will have a problem.

 

3. LOTTERY. A free cruise could be had with really good planning especially on the Infinity. Anything booked around 12 months of a major service on her has a great chance. Your second best odds are with the Summit

 

I think the worst thing that happens is that X doesn't make people fully aware of the possibilities. I know and understand why they don't but it just does not seem right. They are stuck with the pods and ships until they can be replaced......but who in their right mind would actually buy them.....

[Cachecara]

I would not sail on an M class ship if it were to an itinerary that dearly mattered to me.

I just returned from a cruise today. At the Cruise Critic party I spoke with one officer in particular that reluctantly admitted the Infinity and Summit in particular were having a very bad year (as these boards reflected) and that this perplexed X itself as the Connie and Millie don't seem to be "as" affected. He said that they are eagerly awaiting the 3 new ships due out to help remove some of this "stain". So go figure, as this was an "officer". He readily indicated X was well aware there was a "problem".

So take a cruise on what their own consider a "problem". Nah, I got enough of my own.

[cruiser2004]

No, I wouldn't sail an "M" class ship to Alaska. We were on the ill fated Infinity on July 16, 2006 & we took a chance. Unfortunately, we had pod problems. So, if you're never affected by this problem, I guess it is alright to take a chance. Once you are affected, I doubt that you'll ever take a chance again. That is why we are sailing on HAL in November & Princess in the spring.

 

Many cruises, you hit the nail on the head. We are also non-willing members of the Celebrity "burned by the pods" club. I think until you are a member most people have no idea what the effect of having your vacation altered in a drastic manner by skipping ports and missing one's purchased itinerary. As was stated above you could take a chance on the Celebrity lottery and win a free cruise if you booked the cruise that is going into dry dock, but on the other hand you could loose your bet and be on the cruise when the pod trouble starts. The problem is that most passengers, just as we were, are unaware of the potential for pod problems. I am with you that I would not take the chance again.

[2ladies]

What an interesting thread.:cool: Well, we have sailed on the Connie many times and I remember Captain Papanikolau ages ago saying that he has been very careful with the engines on the Connie from the get-go - he apparently had reservations about something mechanical - you must all forgive me for not knowing exactly what he had reservations about, but Azimuth pods are not something I am very familiar with!!

 

Hope I don't get him into trouble for saying this, as he is a lovely man - an old time sailor who knows his job!! Perhaps he is right - no probs on the Connie as yet!!

[shipshape sam]

Hi Folks.

 

There seem to be a number of threads which alternate between negativity about Celebrity, and positive remarks by those who love Celebrity. For newcomers to bulletin boards, these are known as "flame wars", and almost any subject on these boards has provoked "flame wars" at some point. Examples of these include: smuggling liquor onboard, gifts for crew members, tipping issues, hogging/reserving pool deck chairs for prolonged periods, decline vs. improvement in service over the past few years, whether certain ships are shabby vs. "mature" or "classic". These posts seem to have taken a black-or-white approach, without acknowledging the possibility that grey exists, or even that black or white is the truth.

 

Consider the following: On a given (hypothetical) sailing, 5% of the passengers become ill with norovirus. If one supposes that 2000 passengers are on board, that means that 100 passengers will have a terrible cruise. By doing the math, we see that 1900 of the 2000 will be unaffected. But if one of the one hundred sick passengers describes the trip as horrible, it won't be a lie. And if one of the 1900 healthy passengers describes the trip as great, it also won't be a lie.

 

So when somebody says "the beds are terrible", and another says "I loved the bedding", these are not mutually exclusive statements. They can be both be true.

 

In the above example, if 95% of the passengers had a great cruise, and that's probably an outstanding result. Think of any other business that has a 95% satisfaction rate: Microsoft? No way. Dell? Nope. Wal-Mart? Sorry. Krispy Kreme? Just closed all their stores in Arizona.

 

Another point is this: statistics apply to groups--not individuals. If I tell you that you have a 1 in a million change of being killed by a lightning strike this year (completely made-up statistic), you don't die one- one millionth this year. You are in one category or the other (alive vs. dead), with 100% certainty. So if I were to say that 99% of passengers will have a great cruise (also made-up), that still means that a 20 of the passengers had a terrible cruise, and it won't comfort them to know that the other 1,980 had a fantastic time.

 

People have lately been discussing whether the known issues of the pod propulsion system failures, which lead to curtailed itineraries, followed by unscheduled dry docks are a just a further example of how Celebrity doesn't care, service has declined, Captain's Club is worthless, Customer Service is an oxymoron, etc. All of these statements may correlate closely with your opinion of Celebrity. But let's make the distinction between opinion and facts.

 

Fact: Millennium-class ships (Millennium, Summit, Infinity, Constellation) have a record of unpredictable, unscheduled pod failures which lead to altered itineraries and cancelled cruises. The huge majority of cruises take place as scheduled and on the announced itineraries. The huge majority of passengers have never HEARD of "pods", nor in all probability will they ever.

 

Opinion: The risk to ME of a pod failure leading to an altered itinerary or cancelled cruise is one of the following: unacceptably high so I won't sail on this class ship; is higher than I'd like, but I'll take a chance, or; is probably not going to affect me, so here's my reservation.

 

Here's how I have weighed my decision: "What is the RISK of being wrong vs. what is the COST of being wrong?" I'll explain:

 

Let's say you consider whether to wear a seat belt while leaving on your drive to work tomorrow. The RISK of your getting into a crash is very, very small but the COST of your making the wrong decision can be your life. So most people wear seatbelts. But compare this: you are picking up a frozen pizza at the grocery store, and there are 30 different kinds: there is a high risk that a pizza you pick at random will be bad--but the cost? Only $5, so big deal. The COST (or personal consequences) of choosing incorrectly is so low that a lot of people buy pizzas this way.

 

So back to the original question: "Would I sail an M-Class ship". The answer I give is framed by the discussion above. I would answer it thus: "I would sail an M-class, only if it were a vacation I didn't mind if it were changed or cancelled."

 

If I had to see a specific port on a specific day (and the trip would be _ruined_ if that didn't happen exactly as planned), I wouldn't take the trip on M-class. If this were the "trip of a lifetime" and there were limited chances for re-do's (ie, Mom has cancer and has always dreamed of seeing fill-in-the-blank, and all of us kids, spouses, and grandkids are going to come from far and wide to make that dream come true for her) I would absolutely NOT take an M-class. For me, if a given voyage is lengthy, unique, or very expensive--I might lean away from M-class if there were acceptable alternatives, either on another class ship or even (dare I say it?) another line.

 

But if you and your spouse are wanting to take some random trip to the Caribbean, stay on a ship for a few days, have somebody else cook and clean, feed you 10+ times per day, entertain you, massage you, sit by the pool, feed the slots, do some shopping and beachgoing, AND have nothing preventing you from rescheduling, then book on M-class and you'll probably (there's the statistics again) have a fantastic time.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Not to be verbose, but my response to your question is Yes. I would sail the Millienumn class ships again. I have twice in the last 12 months. Constellation and Infinity. :)