Century---little things I noticed

[gregjm]

Just off the Century. First, the Century has now become my favorite Ship. I loved the size, the layout and the overall ambiance. There were a few things that I noticed on this cruise that hopefully are not precursors of system-wide slippage.

 

For example: Despite confirming with X on two occasions, the beds were made as twins upon our arrival instead of the requested queen. The room steward could not understand why we would want our beds together since we are two men traveling together, so he made the assumption that it was an error and made them seperately, after asking again if we were "sure". When he did put them together, he failed to move the headboard (that slides along the wall depending configuration) and also did not put a binder between the mattresses, so if one of us happened to lay in the middle of the bed, chances were that we would end up between the two mattresses or on the floor. (we finally got that fixed)

 

Secondly, we were in a sky suite and have always had access to the pillow menu--I asked for feather pillows and the room steward "didn't know if that was possible". We got the pillows

 

In the main dining room, the assistant waiter never introduced himself. He and the waiter were arguing constantly. The waiter or assistance waiter NEVER offered ground pepper, despite every other waiter very actively doing this. I had to ask for Iced tea every night---and it would finally arrive without ice. When someone at an adjoining table asked if she could have two appetizers in place of one entree, the waiter said he didnt think it was possible, but "would check". He finally came back and told her that it would be "ok this time".

 

Our ice bucket was filled sporadically. When I told these things to our Butler, he told me that the room steward was new and had only been on the Century for a week. (which points to lack of training). When I mentioned the waiter issues to the assistant Maitre'd we were told that our waiter was a new and not used to "X".

 

My point in raising these issues is that I really don't like having X customers being the training ground for new employees. These issues should be standard operating procedures and when new X employees are brought on board they should know, from the start, how things are done.

[Andy]

Hi Gregjm !

 

Interesting comments. If you ask me, I think you were somewhat unlucky and had some unseasoned crew take care of you. Typically, we find Celebrity's service and attention to detail outstanding.... far better than their competitors. Many of us have been wondering if Celebrity may be a bit short of experienced crew, as they just launched Solstice, and will soon be launching Equinox. This could be a part of the problem.

 

Regarding Your Waiter and Assistant, there is absolutely no excuse to see them arguing. A good Maitre'd, should have put a stop to that immediately. If I were the Maitre'd, they would have been sent home. I also wonder why new waitstaff were not placed in the casual dining area at the Buffet. That is the training grounds for new waitstaff. If they were placed there first, it would seem they were moved to the Dining Room too soon. If this happened to me, I would have asked to be moved to another table, though I realize that's not always possible. A chat with the Maitre'd should have resolved this. Fortunately, in all of our Celebrity Cruises, we've only had 1 very poor waiter, and 2 very poor cabin attendants. When the concerns were brought to the attention of supervisors, the problems were rectified quickly.

 

We were on Solstice in November. We thought the service was outstanding... some of the best ever. I noticed that many of the Crew came from Constellation. I am sailing on Constellation again in 2 months. I am very curious to see if the change of crew has any effect on Constellation. It should make for an interesting comparision.

 

While your concerns are important, I feel the odds of getting excellent service on Celebrity remains very strong.

[geoherb]

We've also had the bed issue come up on our bookings. When we sailed on Century in December, our cabin steward got it right. We were in an inside cabin. I requested feather pillows and got them.

 

Our waiters were not spectacular but not as bad as yours sound. The only major lapse we had was with the wine steward. He wanted us to sign for the three bottles of wine I ordered online. We had received two of the bottles in our cabin and had asked the first night about the third one. I refused to sign for something we had not yet received. We did end up getting the last bottle served to us on the last night of the cruise.

 

When we had a less than stellar waiter on a Royal Caribbean ship, one of our tablemates spoke to the maitre d'. We received a great waiter for the rest of the cruise.

[gregjm]

Hi Gregjm !

 

Interesting comments. If you ask me, I think you were somewhat unlucky and had some unseasoned crew take care of you. Typically, we find Celebrity's service and attention to detail outstanding.... far better than their competitors. Many of us have been wondering if Celebrity may be a bit short of experienced crew, as they just launched Solstice, and will soon be launching Equinox. This could be a part of the problem.

 

Regarding Your Waiter and Assistant, there is absolutely no excuse to see them arguing. A good Maitre'd, should have put a stop to that immediately. If I were the Maitre'd, they would have been sent home. I also wonder why new waitstaff were not placed in the casual dining area at the Buffet. That is the training grounds for new waitstaff. If they were placed there first, it would seem they were moved to the Dining Room too soon. If this happened to me, I would have asked to be moved to another table, though I realize that's not always possible. A chat with the Maitre'd should have resolved this. Fortunately, in all of our Celebrity Cruises, we've only had 1 very poor waiter, and 2 very poor cabin attendants. When the concerns were brought to the attention of supervisors, the problems were rectified quickly.

 

We were on Solstice in November. We thought the service was outstanding... some of the best ever. I noticed that many of the Crew came from Constellation. I am sailing on Constellation again in 2 months. I am very curious to see if the change of crew has any effect on Constellation. It should make for an interesting comparision.

 

While your concerns are important, I feel the odds of getting excellent service on Celebrity remains very strong.

 

Andy,

Overall, I agree with you. The service is usually excellent on Celebrity. The assistant maitre'd was concerned about the issue---in fact, one night he was doing the running to the kitchen for the waiter bringing back the trays of food (and not looking happy about it). Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the waiter may not be long-lived with Celebrity. The assistant maitre'd did offer a different table assignment, but we loved our table for two and the view out of the back of the ship so we stuck it out.

 

Now, Murano, on the other hand----it ranks among the top five customer service experiences of my life. :)

 

Greg

[Karynanne]

As far as beds being together or apart...I was on Constellation this past Sept. (Transatlantic) with a girlfriend. We left our husbands at home for this trip. When we got to our cabin (FV), our cabin steward asked if we wanted the bed left together. We told him we were traveling friends, and requested the beds apart. He smiled and said, "We always ask...you never know".

 

And I agree...waiters arguing is not acceptable, anywhere or anytime. This should have been discussed with the Maitre 'D.

[Blanco-Grande]

We were on Dec15 2008, the first cruise after the TransAtlantic..

The service was a little below par, I think they were on European Fatique

Anyway she is still my favorite ship, just this time you had to ask 3 times to get something done and we also were in a Sky Suite Deck 12

Thomas

[Blanco-Grande]

We ate in Murano every night so we have no comment on the MDR

Murano was still 5 stars plus

[campingman]

Recently sailed on a 14 day Century voyage.

Head Waiter and Assistant were the best out of 17 cruisers and they were so impressive i showed extra monetary gratitude.

 

Re being excellant above i wish the same could be said about the cleanliness of our Family View Cabin.

I have always found my cabins to be on the verge of being immaculate on all ships and lines.That was not to be said on the Century.The bathroom was full of mould and it took 3 days of showing/explaining to the attendant that it was not free of mould.Also the carpet was filthy because of the condition of the aft balcony deck.

[Tazzycat]

I would not give up on Celebrity because of this experience. I am so happy with our stateroom attendant that I wish I could have him around every day. I had not told anyone that I needed a shower chair or an extension cord and distilled water for my cpap breathing machine, but from the time I showed up to get on the ship (using a wheelchair in a regualr cabin) and the moment I arrived at my cabin, Willy had provided all three things magically. He was the best attendant we have ever had on any cruise. All attendats should be as wonderful as Willy.

 

(Constellation, 22 Dec 08 out of Ft. Lauderdale)