Celebrity's Service Level Is Rapidly Deteriorating

[fortinweb]

We’ve recently gotten back from our last Celebrity cruise and I need to express my complaints about the worsening service level we experienced. We are committed Celebrity customers, having been on a grand total of 1 cruise so far, so I have had ample opportunity to make a few observations about the deteriorating level of service Celebrity is now providing. Here are my main complaints:

When booking our last Celebrity cruise (which was also our first) we had to contact Celebrity ourselves to make the reservation. If they were serious about customer service they would have contacted us instead. Why should I take my valuable time contacting them in order for them to make money off of me?

Celebrity has far too many choices in itinerary, dates, and ships. The only cruise they needed to provide was the one we wanted. All the other selections only complicated the process by making booking the cruise much too confusing, forcing us to sort through a useless list of alternate cruises. They were totally unnecessary. Obviously, Celebrity management is only concerned about their own egos by providing such a large selection of cruise opportunities, cruises that we had no intention of taking.

My strong belief is that the primary purpose of a stateroom is for sleeping. It shouldn’t cost more than a room at our local Motel 6. Because of the overly cumbersome search through the bloated list of stateroom categories, we had to waste much of our limited time searching for the lowest cost inside stateroom available. Celebrity arrogantly created more than that one category just to suck more money out of our wallets, a blatant marketing ploy to benefit only their self serving profit margins. We refuse to pay extortionist prices for the supposedly “better” stateroom. Balconies and windows need to be cleaned, thereby raising the price of the cruise to cover the cost of the extra cleaning required. That translates into more money stolen out of our wallets.

When we arrived at the port we were not allowed to bring our own alcohol on board. We had to abandon all that we brought with us except for a measly two bottles of wine. We only had 10 cases of scotch, 15 cases of gin, 20 cases of beer, and one bottle of home made ouzo. How was I to know that I couldn’t set up my own bar outside my stateroom? I set up a similar bar at every festival in my home town, and I should be able to do the same on my vacation. I paid good money to cruise on that ship and I should have been able to make a little of it back in personal alcohol sales.

Also confiscated were our blender, our gas bar-b-que, and our massage recliner chair (we refuse to be ripped off in the spa area!). I wanted to do some skeet shooting off the aft end, but they adamantly refused to let me bring my shotgun and box of skeet targets on board. The NRA will be hearing from me about that!

During our week on board, we suffered the indignity of having to unlock our own stateroom door each and every time we wanted to enter. No one was stationed next to our door to lessening the burden of fishing out our card key. Obviously, they could care less that we had to endure the stressful experience of searching through our belongings for the card and aiming the card into the slot in the door locking mechanism, all the while trying to keep people passing by in the corridor from sneaking a peak into our private rest area.

Our cabin attendant (his name must have been “Notmyjob” based on his attitude towards the service level we demanded from him), refused to rub our feet after our long day walking the lengthy distances on the ship to the dining rooms, public areas, and pool area. We had to go to bed every night with sore feet because of Celebrity’s inconsiderate policy of placing many of the facilities we wanted to use at the other end of the ship from our stateroom.

The cabin attendant’s assistant was even worse. Not once did he tuck us in and sing us lullabies to help us fall asleep. Did you ever try to tuck yourselves in? It’s awkward, and it’s almost impossible to get the sheets tight like we like it. I’m disgusted that Celebrity let’s the staff get away with not providing that simple end of day service. We lost a lot of sleep over this insolent service level.

Breakfast in the main dining areas was almost unbearable. We couldn’t wear our PJs to the table like we do at home, and my wife had to remove her curlers before we were allowed to be seated. Can you imagine that? To make matters even worse, we had to choose our own food, and even cut it ourselves. I have no idea where Celebrity came up with such restrictive policies for a passenger’s first experience of the morning. Have they no consideration to how badly we feel with the hangovers from the previous evening's bing drinking?

Day time experiences were no better than that experienced at breakfast. The pool staff refused to clear out the pool area of those other people, who we did not know, or cared to be around, so that we could have quiet leisure time at the pool by ourselves like we have at home. I am quite offended that they wouldn’t treat us as passengers of highest importance. It’s a dismal failure on Celebrity’s part that their claim of “Starring You” is subsequently ignored after they get our hard earned money into their greedy bank account.

Dinner time was the most disappointing. On our first formal night I had to wear pants! At home I prefer to let my “manly parts” air out during dinner, and I was refused the opportunity to continue this ritual while on the ship. Everyone knows that a man isn’t as fertile if these nether parts are kept tightly confined. In all my 70 years on this planet, I have never been so rudely treated as by the maître d’, who looked at me in feigned shock, rolled his eyes, and then forced me to return to my stateroom to put on my pants. And this happened EVERY NIGHT! If I can no longer father a child, I will sue Celebrity for condemning my continued family lineage to an abrupt end.

I could go on, but it’s past my nap time and the nurse tells me I need to take my medication. In closing, I must reiterate that I cannot believe how poor Celebrity’s service is. It is obvious that the only reason they build these ships, organize these cruises, and allow people to book them, is to make a profit. This is totally absurd. I will never take another cruise on Celebrity, other than the next five we booked just before I started this review.

I. M. Clooliss

See our vacation photos at: www.whatabonehead.nut

[Canary50]

I loved this! That was most enjoyable and hilarious !!

[DocJohnB]

Funny stuff!!!!!!!!!

[Norcal Cruiser]

You obviously will never be happy on Celebrity.I suggest you look into Carnival.Not the cruise line.I mean the carnival!

[bubbie617]

Thanks for the giggles!

[dutchess43]

This has to be one of the best posts. Thanks so much for the laughs would love to sail with you.

[Elenna]

Thank you for the laughs!!!

[eileen & jay]

Gee, know exactly what you mean!

[Texed]

I enjoyed that!

[tink360]

Thanks for the laugh!

[Telluride]

Thanks for the smiles!!

Cheers,

Michelle

[Ma Bell]

What a shame they didn't know what an important person they had on board.

[Scottygirl1]

10/10 for that review!! I can't believe they took the gas BBQ... loved the laugh, thanks!

[The ships cat]

We must have been on the same cruise.....

Our waiter kept bringing us food, and being forced to eat it he kept bringing us more. He must have been insinuating that i was fat and that 1 meal was not enough.

[cruise47]

You review is right on target.

[dkjretired]

Originally Posted by Ma Bell

What a shame they didn't know what an important person they had on board.

Ma:

Have to take another star off the service for that, they should have known.....

[dkjretired]

Originally Posted by fortinweb

We’ve recently gotten back from our last Celebrity cruise and I need to express my complaints about the worsening service level we experienced. We are committed Celebrity customers, having been on a grand total of 1 cruise so far, so I have had ample opportunity to make a few observations about the deteriorating level of service Celebrity is now providing. Here are my main complaints:

When booking our last Celebrity cruise (which was also our first) we had to contact Celebrity ourselves to make the reservation. If they were serious about customer service they would have contacted us instead. Why should I take my valuable time contacting them in order for them to make money off of me?

Celebrity has far too many choices in itinerary, dates, and ships. The only cruise they needed to provide was the one we wanted. All the other selections only complicated the process by making booking the cruise much too confusing, forcing us to sort through a useless list of alternate cruises. They were totally unnecessary. Obviously, Celebrity management is only concerned about their own egos by providing such a large selection of cruise opportunities, cruises that we had no intention of taking.

My strong belief is that the primary purpose of a stateroom is for sleeping. It shouldn’t cost more than a room at our local Motel 6. Because of the overly cumbersome search through the bloated list of stateroom categories, we had to waste much of our limited time searching for the lowest cost inside stateroom available. Celebrity arrogantly created more than that one category just to suck more money out of our wallets, a blatant marketing ploy to benefit only their self serving profit margins. We refuse to pay extortionist prices for the supposedly “better” stateroom. Balconies and windows need to be cleaned, thereby raising the price of the cruise to cover the cost of the extra cleaning required. That translates into more money stolen out of our wallets.

When we arrived at the port we were not allowed to bring our own alcohol on board. We had to abandon all that we brought with us except for a measly two bottles of wine. We only had 10 cases of scotch, 15 cases of gin, 20 cases of beer, and one bottle of home made ouzo. How was I to know that I couldn’t set up my own bar outside my stateroom? I set up a similar bar at every festival in my home town, and I should be able to do the same on my vacation. I paid good money to cruise on that ship and I should have been able to make a little of it back in personal alcohol sales.

Also confiscated were our blender, our gas bar-b-que, and our massage recliner chair (we refuse to be ripped off in the spa area!). I wanted to do some skeet shooting off the aft end, but they adamantly refused to let me bring my shotgun and box of skeet targets on board. The NRA will be hearing from me about that!

During our week on board, we suffered the indignity of having to unlock our own stateroom door each and every time we wanted to enter. No one was stationed next to our door to lessening the burden of fishing out our card key. Obviously, they could care less that we had to endure the stressful experience of searching through our belongings for the card and aiming the card into the slot in the door locking mechanism, all the while trying to keep people passing by in the corridor from sneaking a peak into our private rest area.

Our cabin attendant (his name must have been “Notmyjob” based on his attitude towards the service level we demanded from him), refused to rub our feet after our long day walking the lengthy distances on the ship to the dining rooms, public areas, and pool area. We had to go to bed every night with sore feet because of Celebrity’s inconsiderate policy of placing many of the facilities we wanted to use at the other end of the ship from our stateroom.

The cabin attendant’s assistant was even worse. Not once did he tuck us in and sing us lullabies to help us fall asleep. Did you ever try to tuck yourselves in? It’s awkward, and it’s almost impossible to get the sheets tight like we like it. I’m disgusted that Celebrity let’s the staff get away with not providing that simple end of day service. We lost a lot of sleep over this insolent service level.

Breakfast in the main dining areas was almost unbearable. We couldn’t wear our PJs to the table like we do at home, and my wife had to remove her curlers before we were allowed to be seated. Can you imagine that? To make matters even worse, we had to choose our own food, and even cut it ourselves. I have no idea where Celebrity came up with such restrictive policies for a passenger’s first experience of the morning. Have they no consideration to how badly we feel with the hangovers from the previous evening's bing drinking?

Day time experiences were no better than that experienced at breakfast. The pool staff refused to clear out the pool area of those other people, who we did not know, or cared to be around, so that we could have quiet leisure time at the pool by ourselves like we have at home. I am quite offended that they wouldn’t treat us as passengers of highest importance. It’s a dismal failure on Celebrity’s part that their claim of “Starring You” is subsequently ignored after they get our hard earned money into their greedy bank account.

Dinner time was the most disappointing. On our first formal night I had to wear pants! At home I prefer to let my “manly parts” air out during dinner, and I was refused the opportunity to continue this ritual while on the ship. Everyone knows that a man isn’t as fertile if these nether parts are kept tightly confined. In all my 70 years on this planet, I have never been so rudely treated as by the maître d’, who looked at me in feigned shock, rolled his eyes, and then forced me to return to my stateroom to put on my pants. And this happened EVERY NIGHT! If I can no longer father a child, I will sue Celebrity for condemning my continued family lineage to an abrupt end.

I could go on, but it’s past my nap time and the nurse tells me I need to take my medication. In closing, I must reiterate that I cannot believe how poor Celebrity’s service is. It is obvious that the only reason they build these ships, organize these cruises, and allow people to book them, is to make a profit. This is totally absurd. I will never take another cruise on Celebrity, other than the next five we booked just before I started this review.

I. M. Clooliss

See our vacation photos at: www.whatabonehead.nut

Great for a good morning laugh....Did they at least let you fish off the aft area of the ship and not confiscate your blow up pool to be used on the veranda.....

[dkjretired]

Originally Posted by Texed

I enjoyed that!

And they force you to eat those, delicious, decadent, not good for you waffles....

[spearmint]

Thanks for such an accurate review. Finally.

I have said the same thing for years....after each of our seven cruises... but will any one take me seriously? Nooooooo!

Folks on this forum usually defend Celebrity no matter what atrocities they foist on us! So be prepared to be royally flambeed in Pernod.

This company has ruined so many cruises, that I won't even bother trying another company. Sheeesh...

[felixdacat]

Perfect!!!
I had a similar negative experience while cruising on Royal Caribbean.
I was sitting poolside, rereading my favorite chapter of my autobiography, the one where I was visiting the Sea of Galilee and I was able to walk on the water. I was asked to please leave the pool area. When I asked if they were expecting bad weather I was told no. It turned out that some inside stateroom passengers had placed several towels, shirts, and flip flops on numerous deckchairs earlier that day, and were now requesting that the entire pool area be vacated. As I left, I noticed the cruise director tossing rose petals about the obviously inebriated passenger’s feet.
And that is why Royal Caribbean will never see a dime of my money again and how I will only cruise with Celebrity from now on.
Ima Moron