What does Celebrity do right and what do they do wrong?

This is all a matter of opinion. :) Respectfully, there are no right or wrong opinions.

With that said, we always see threads that have people saying one thing and other people chiming in to say they're wrong and that their cruise was perfect or not perfect, depending on the circumstance. So what, in your opinion, does Celebrity right and wrong? This is not intended to be negative thread or one where people argue, it's just a thread to show what areas that we, as customers, feel that they can improve upon. As well as show them what areas we DO appreciate and feel that they're nearly perfect.

Let's be positive first with what they do right: In 2 cruises, I've felt the service was impeccable, especially in the dining room. I also love the food choices they offer, from the buffet to the AquaSpa Café to Café al Bacio and more. Finally, you feel like you get your money's worth when sailing with them, with no pressure to buy pictures or whatever. to me that is a HUGE thing. I'm on vacation to relax and not be pressured.

What they really do wrong: This is already being related in another thread, but their customer service (NOT the service you receive on board in the dining room or from your room steward, etc.) is horrid. You really need to push back for them to even be persuaded to look into to really fixing the problem. That customer service problem also occurs on board. So while I know they cannot make everyone happy, they should focus on making the person(s) affected happy rather than offer something small. Not everything can solved with $200 OBC.

Anyway, IMHO, Celebrity does a LOT more right than wrong. What they do "wrong" is very minimal and it certainly will never deter me from sailing with them. And mostly everyone I've had to deal with has always been extremely friendly and quite accommodating.

Your turn now! :)

Even though I think this topic will end up being contentious, I have one observation to relate.

My experience on board with customer service has always been very positive. In every instance the Officers and crew have gone above and beyond to solve the problems that have arisen, including on our most recent B2B cruises on Reflection. You are correct, that they are not able to please everyone, as we have observed while standing in line at the Guest Relations desk, but I know that they do their best to try. :)

Based on our first cruise on the Eclipse

what they do well

(1) Service was excellent

(2) Plenty of choice food wise

(3) Stunning ship in very good condition

(4) Relaxed but still up market feel

(5) Whilst those who pay for better rooms get some extra facilities those who haven't paid the extra may well be blissfully unaware - we didn't constantly have to walk past areas that were off limits to us.

Not so well

For light drinkers / teetotalers like us the drinks packages aren't particularly good value and the cost of drinks on board is very high - it was cheaper to drink in Portofino!!

Agree with DYKWIA. Just back from Eclipse and all was wonderful. We did not have a drink package and also found the drink prices to be out of sight!!

If something works - don't fix it.

I wish Celebrity never changed the menu in Aqua café- I just loved the old set up.

I wish they never brought " baskets" in the café on Summit.

I wish I still get chocolates on my pillow and the ice bucket with ice in my room.

I wish they wouldn't charge so much for pictures.

Even though I think this topic will end up being contentious, I have one observation to relate.

My experience on board with customer service has always been very positive. In every instance the Officers and crew have gone above and beyond to solve the problems that have arisen, including on our most recent B2B cruises on Reflection. You are correct, that they are not able to please everyone, as we have observed while standing in line at the Guest Relations desk, but I know that they do their best to try. :)

I hope it does not become contentious as I am hoping that the Celebrity person who posts here sees this thread and takes note of what we like and dislike. There a lot of threads that focus on certain topics, but here's the place to not only say, "I wish X would fix or bring back ___________," but also let them know it's not all bad! :)

I would have to say that Celebrity does a lot right for my partner and I. We started going on Celebrity back in 2012, and already have cruised more then 6 times already, with 4 more planned through 2015. The reason we keep coming back is that our experiences that we have had onboard have been ones in which the crew goes above and beyond for us - on our last cruise on the Summit, the guest relations officer at the desk even remembered me from a cruise that I took the YEAR BEFORE, and sent up a bottle of wine to welcome me back.

If I had to be picky about one thing, I would agree with the comment on the pictures - I wish they were a little less...I also wish they wouldn't waste all of the paper printing them out, just use electronic kisoks; if they did they they would be able to charge less for the pictures anyways to make up for all of the waste they produce from the people not getting them.

Such a hard topic and discussion to put anything simple into any kind of a meaningful statement about, but here goes.

We had sailed on 4 different line's before our first with Celebrity in 1994 on the Zenith. The we sailed on 2 others, for a total of 7 diff lines.

From Dec 2000 to Oct 2011 life got in the way and we only managed 2 cruises, both with RCCL, another with Princess in 2012, and finally back with Celebrity on the Reflection last Nov 2013.

We found the Reflection sailing to be the best 7 days from start to finish, yet. We did not see, or experience, any drop off in quality or service from the Horizon in 2000. Oh I guess we could complain about the wifesters wine not being stocked at every bar, but please, this is why there are different bars with different choices. All 2500+ can not belly up at the same time:rolleyes::D

So here we are about to sail on our longest cruise yet. Finally after 20 years we will have enought CC point's to reach Elite for our next cruise.

Bottom line, IOHO, we do not feel there has been any slacking in the product delivered to us by the staff on a Celebrity ship. I have been known to have a bad day, and so should allow for someone else to have one too.

EW

We have done seven Celebrity cruises and X is our cruise line of choice. We have done five on NCL and while NCL is on par regarding entertainment, in service, food and atmosphere, X is better.

Once concern with X is that their prices for cruises seem to have jumped a bit more than NCL. It could be the constant 123 Go promotions where X gives some bennies. Easy for X to just jack up prices to cover the promotions. I prefer booking early and now I have to wait for the right promotion.

What Celebrity does wrong... very, VERY WRONG... Their WEBSIGHT! :mad:

For cripes sake, just build a completely NEW one. (once THAT is up and running, just scrap the old one)

What Celebrity does :) RIGHT :)

They build drop dead GORGEOUS Solstice Class ships. :)

They maintain those ships in spotlessly clean condition.

They offer a very nice (maybe not the best but still nice) mix of itineraries.

They staff their ships with incredibly friendly and exceptionally hard working people.

They offer absolutely incredible service in their restaurants and bars. ;)

They serve great food whether it's in the buffet, MDR or specialty restaurants.

They mix some of the strongest and tastiest martinis I have ever had.

They make some REALLY YUMMY lamb chops in the MDR, QSine and the Lawn Club Grill.

They have nicely equipped gyms that allow you to ATTEMPT to work off the martinis and lamb chops.

They offer fabulous last minute deals that even I can afford. :o

I

I wish I still get chocolates on my pillow and the ice bucket with ice in my room.

If you ask your stateroom attendant, you will get an ice bucket with ice in your stateroom.

Right:

Friendly and helpful staff and crew

Ship cleanliness

Not bombarding us with announcements throughout the day

Variety in types of food available and generally reasonably good quality

Usually keeping the music volume at a reasonable level

Well designed theaters with good sight lines where you don't need to arrive a half hour early to get a good seat

Thallasotherapy adult pool on M-class ships

Spa adult pool on S-class is pretty nice also

Wrong:

Unsanitary practices at the buffet when they neglect to put out holders for the serving utensils, so people toss them right back into the pans on top of the food -- ugh!

Poorly designed, inadequate cabin storage in regular cabins on the S-class ships

Changes to aqua spa cafe offerings

Serving fruits before they are ripe

Charging much higher prices then previously for equivalent accommodations on same itinerary.

Repeating the same production shows over and over

(We would rather they spent the money for more and varied individual performers instead)

All the little cutbacks.

At least give passengers the choice of individually selecting whether or not they still want things like the water pitcher, container of cotton balls and q-tips, trays at the buffet, chocolates at turndown, flowers in cabin, etc.

and of course #1

(drum roll)

the famous Celebrity website

Celebrity has great ships and pretty good food. Not fond of all this elite, zenith etc. it was off putting on our last cruise when all our table mates went on about their elite breakfast and happy hours. I understand why they do it, and I am happy people get benefits, but I get tired hearing about it all the time. It just seems the emphasis is a bit out of proportion.

Celebrity has great ships and pretty good food. Not fond of all this elite, zenith etc. it was off putting on our last cruise when all our table mates went on about their elite breakfast and happy hours. I understand why they do it, and I am happy people get benefits, but I get tired hearing about it all the time. It just seems the emphasis is a bit out of proportion.

I think that one apples to all lines. On one cruise I was on someone was carrying on how they were +++ whatever it was called and this other chap was only at level 2, but later on chatting with the other passenger I found out that he had done 3 Word cruises in the last 3 years each with a different line and had about 2,000 days at sea all up but with, I think he said, 10 different lines and numerous cargo ships it only came out when I mentioned a friend who did a lot of cargo ship cruises and t turned out they had actually done few on the same boat.

What Celebrity Does right:

Their promos. Some of the best ones out there. Their new 123 All Inclusive is great. I booked us on the Summit in a C3 for the NY-San Juan cruise at an unbelievable price when you take into account everything is included plus a 300 dollar OBC.

Their staff.

Their ship sizes. Perfect size for people like myself who don't want to be crammed on a 4500+ passenger behemoth.

What Celebrity does wrong:

Picture prices. But I think that's a industry wide complaint.

No Pacific Coastals. Personal preference for someone who lives out here and doesn't want to always fly somewhere to cruise.

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Staff welcoming and friendly. Feel taken care of. Beautiful ships. Excellent food. After that do not care much.

- Joel

What Celebrity Does right:

 

No Pacific Coastals. Personal preference for someone who lives out here and doesn't want to always fly somewhere to cruise.

 

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I hear this a lot from people in British Columbia, California etc.--all I can say is: those of us from non-costal areas (which I think is a VERY large portion of the population in Canada and the US) feel for you... (can you detect my hint of sarcasm??) :p :)

Shawn

Based on our first cruise on the Eclipse

 

what they do well

(1) Service was excellent

(2) Plenty of choice food wise

(3) Stunning ship in very good condition

(4) Relaxed but still up market feel

(5) Whilst those who pay for better rooms get some extra facilities those who haven't paid the extra may well be blissfully unaware - we didn't constantly have to walk past areas that were off limits to us.

 

Not so well

For light drinkers / teetotalers like us the drinks packages aren't particularly good value and the cost of drinks on board is very high - it was cheaper to drink in Portofino!!

Would agree with 1-5 no arguments. Thought emabarkation was very good as well.

Didn't think that the price of drinks was over the top really, was >GBP6.50 for an average glass of red in a 3 star Southampton hotel, so USD8-13 doesn't seem over the top for a 5 star residence.

The worst thing is the awful website where you cant actually see what you have booked, our classic packages didn't show once in 12 months, and the farce that is the pricing limit v inclusive of tips change when moving to Europe and now Australia. These could easily be sorted out and with the amount of angst amongst Customers that you read on CC these 2 issues need to be a top priority for Celebrity management.

Agree with most of the 'rights' and certainly on staff attentiveness.

Would add on the rights:

Minimal ship announcements

Good selection of entertainment

Lots of bars and public spaces to suit all types of people

Wrongs, in my opinion:

After our next cruise, we'll be near the next level of CC. I was looking for a few days away to take us into the next level. I couldn't see any 3 / 4 day trips out of the UK or even from anywhere in Europe. I do feel they don't cater for the English clientele as well in that sense.

The different deals for different countries for the same cruise. We booked our next cruise with an American TA. 3 weeks later, the UK TA's were offering a similar deal for our cruise. Why not offer the same to everyone at the same time?!!

If the lack of chocolates and certain toiletries is true, that needs rectifying.

I am starting to wonder if they're heading a bit too 'them' and 'us' with all the suite and Elite perks. Unfortunately, we'll probably always be in the lower class and that might stop us cruising X eventually.

Valuable space wasted with art galleries and certain shops. I know this is personal preference but given we can't buy half of the stuff as shipping costs would be ridiculous, it seems a bit pointless.

Price of some of the specialty restaurants. Having already spent so much on the cruise, do we need to spend another $30 + on these?

Last one which I know will never be changed but being English, is highly frustrating - adding grats on separately for everything! Build them into the price of the cruise (like UK lines do) put them included in the drinks, like they do on UK sailings. It's confusing enough trying to convert $ to £ without adding another 15% on!!

Wrong: Website

Right:Great food

robes

pool towels by pools

not overcrowded

beautiful ships

bathroom well designed on S-class

good cabins on S-class

well maintained

art studio on S-class- wish even more classes

dance activities-hope they still have! learn the swing or whatever for 20 to 30 minutes

What they do right:

• Wonderful service on the ships
  
• Beautiful aesthetically pleasing ships
  
• Nice perks for loyalty and soon for suites
  
• Good food (although it's a step down from where it was in the Roux days)
  
• Cold towels when arriving back to ship in port
  
• Welcome glass of sparkling wine when embarking
  
• Keeping Sommeliers on the ships
  
• Complimentary pastry at the coffee bar
  
• mini-fridges in all staterooms
  

What they've done wrong:

• Eliminating the grilled to order salmon and tuna at aqua cafe (this is a big sore spot for me)
  

• Not having a string quartet in the atrium
  
• Less live performers in general and more piped in music/DJs to replace live music
  
• Shore excursion selection on the website (why do I have to see the same excursions repeated a bunch of times?)
  

What they could do better:

• Put T pools back on ships. Maybe when they make a new build someday they will think about this. Even if it was a smaller hydro pool similar to what was on Mercury - I would pay a fee to use it along with the Persian Gardens.
  
• Serve some nice hors d'oeuvres in bars at cocktail time (HAL does this) I like having the passed hors d'oeuvres at the CC happy hour, but if drink tickets are used, that may go away
  
• Bring back the Chateaubriand in the main dining room
  
• Serve some classics in Muranos, like steak diane and the wonderful Tournedos that used to be on the menu.
  

I have been on a couple of their ships and each time we had an excellent experience. Close to perfect, really, except one thing:

Their performers suck.

I mean, I know it's a cruise so I shouldn't expect much but even with the lowest expectations they were still truly godawful. The variety show was a step below high school performances, and in general they were clearly inexperienced. I can't imagine how little rehearsal time they've had, until it occurs to me that they must have performed the same at least once every cruise, since on our 14 day cruise we saw repeat performances.

Serve some classics in Muranos, like steak diane and the wonderful Tournedos that used to be on the menu.

If you ask they will do this for you, at least from many posts I've read in the forums.

If you ask they will do this for you, at least from many posts I've read in the forums.

Unfortunately, I asked and they said they would not do it unless you had dined there more than once on your sailing. I thought that was lame. I have dined there numerous times. Just not all on the same sailing. Wanted to try something there that I haven't tried on the menu. They used to offer a "special" dish of the evening. Usually was the Tournedos, but they no longer do that.

Based on our first cruise on the Eclipse

 

what they do well

(1) Service was excellent

(2) Plenty of choice food wise

(3) Stunning ship in very good condition

(4) Relaxed but still up market feel

(5) Whilst those who pay for better rooms get some extra facilities those who haven't paid the extra may well be blissfully unaware - we didn't constantly have to walk past areas that were off limits to us.

 

Not so well

For light drinkers / teetotalers like us the drinks packages aren't particularly good value and the cost of drinks on board is very high - it was cheaper to drink in Portofino!!

Their drink prices are comparable to any restaurant in Canada