Embarrassed!

We have loved every one of our cruises on Celebrity. We have friends who also cruise frequently with 25+ cruises on Carnival, HAL, Princess & Royal. We have often suggested they try Celebrity. To be fair, or share the blame, they have met folks on other cruises who also have said " try Celebrity you'll love it."

Well they did a 10 night cruise over Thanksgiving on the Equinox. We saw them tonight and asked how they enjoyed their cruise. Their response- worst cruise we have taken. Apparently the service was not good, both bars and MDR. Regularly took 20-30 minutes to get a drink (they didn't have a drink package). They felt crew was indifferent at best and said that other passengers who learned that this was their 1st cruise on X told them not to judge Celebrity by that cruise- but of course they will.

Lesson learned don't recommend a cruise line to friends, a lot of $ spent and a bad experience leaves both parties feeling uncomfortable.

Don't be embarrassed. We were on the 11 day cruise on Equinox before Thanksgiving. For us it was a very good sailing, but we had one couple in our Roll Call that were on their 1st Celebrity cruise. They too said it was the worst cruise they had ever been on, compared to Princess, Carnival, or HAL. Go figure.

There will always be different experiences by people at the same event.

Recommendations are always a risky thing no matter what you are recommending. I never say to anyone "You will love/hate such-and-such" and I hate it when someone says it to me. Nobody really knows what someone else will enjoy or otherwise.

Instead I just say "we had a great time because of these reasons". If someone wants to take that as a recommendation then that's their business and if things don't work out for them well that's just because they had a different experience or perhaps they are just different to me. No embarrassment there.

For many years people kept telling me "don't cruise with Carnival, you will hate it". "Why?", I asked. "Because of all the kids", they answered . So I cruised with Carnival out of school holidays on a ship which had less than 20 kids on it and loved it.

Recommendations are useless unless backed up with facts.

Recommendations are always a risky thing no matter what you are recommending..............Instead say "we had a great time because of these reasons". .......

Agree :) I have not had the advantage of sailing on other lines and only sailed on my first being Solstice on it's first year 'down under'.

A new colleague at work was interested in going on a cruise and I mentioned this time last year about the Equinox doing a great med cruise with a longer itinerary in Aug/sept this year that I'd love to go on if the flights to get there didn't cost the same as the cruise!

She and her husband booked it because it was such a great deal for them, and because of the reasons we said we had a great time on Solstice.

We gave no promises of expectations, just shared our delights of what we experienced on our cruise.

They went with an open mind and LOVED it - in their own style. ;)

(PS: my colleague has been on other cruises before).

Don't feel too bad. If someone recommends something to me, I look into it. I do my own research and if I am happy with it, I will then go for it.

I would never make the other person feel uncomfortable for a recommendation, but rather blame myself for not having it researched enough for myself. :)

Recommendations are always a risky thing no matter what you are recommending.

Agreed - my father told me years ago never to recommend anything. Two reasons (1) food and service are very subjective, (2) despite always being great for you, the provider will, at some point, have a bad day and it's bound to be the day they decide to go!

Don't feel too bad. If someone recommends something to me, I look into it. I do my own research and if I am happy with it, I will then go for it.

 

I would never make the other person feel uncomfortable for a recommendation, but rather blame myself for not having it researched enough for myself. :)

Soooo agree! (with this too...:D)

Jelayne - I know how you feel, because I'd secretly hoped my colleague and her husband (and their friends that decided to join them) would have a good time - even though I didn't give them promises - And I suspect you didn't give them promises either - you just shared your experience.

But do accept that everyone's experiences are different including their perceptions and including the service they might get. You are not responsible for that :) , So, please don't feel embarrassed or wear any guilt.

There is nothing you can do about someone else's experience. We are frequent Celebrity cruisers and had three couples who were Princess and Royal Caribbean frequent cruisers traveling with us. 2 couples booked another cruise while on the ship and enjoyed their experience and the 3rd thought is was just ok, preferring the other cruise lines. Kim

I certainly won't disagree that this was their experience, and I would probably feel the same way in your shoes. However I was on that sailing and did not experience any of that--in fact I would say the service was above average for the cruises I have been on.

One thing I will say is that the ship was completely full and it showed. Public areas were often very full.

We were in Blu and ate in some specialty restaurants so I can't comment on the MDR service. We just don't do the MDR anymore after a few bad experiences with service--it's either Aqua or the ultimate specialty package now.

As far as getting a drink, though, I had many of them in many venues and never experienced anything like 20-30 minutes to get one.

We were on this cruise as well & ate in the MDR and did not experience anything of what your friends did. Yes the martini bar was extremely busy but we had a great time & food was very good.

Don't be embarrassed. Different people see and react to things differently. It might not be a big deal for someone to wait a few minutes for a drink or have the crew not fawn all over them, but for others it is the end of the world.

We ran into a similar situation, except we were along to hear every step of the way how bad they thought it was! A few years ago we convinced 2 couples who loved Carnival to take a Celebrity cruise with us. We were sure they would love it as much as we did and we were really excited to introduce them to this wonderful cruise line. Well, they hated it, and said so at every turn. The ship wasn't as lively as Carnival, the decor was too subdued, dinner was too "stuffy", worst waiter they ever had (not a great one, I had to admit), and so on all week. Lesson learned. There was a reason their other cruises were on Carnival --- they liked the product. Those of us who love Celebrity feel they have a superior product, but the other cruise lines definitely have their devoted fans too.

We have loved every one of our cruises on Celebrity. We have friends who also cruise frequently with 25+ cruises on Carnival, HAL, Princess & Royal. We have often suggested they try Celebrity. To be fair, or share the blame, they have met folks on other cruises who also have said " try Celebrity you'll love it."

 

Well they did a 10 night cruise over Thanksgiving on the Equinox. We saw them tonight and asked how they enjoyed their cruise. Their response- worst cruise we have taken. Apparently the service was not good, both bars and MDR. Regularly took 20-30 minutes to get a drink (they didn't have a drink package). They felt crew was indifferent at best and said that other passengers who learned that this was their 1st cruise on X told them not to judge Celebrity by that cruise- but of course they will.

 

 

 

Lesson learned don't recommend a cruise line to friends, a lot of $ spent and a bad experience leaves both parties feeling uncomfortable.

I was on that sailing and I thought it was one of our best cruises. First night bar service was slow (10 - 15 min maybe) but I didn't mind. It was a crappy day weather wise and everyone was indoors. The dining room staff provided great service (minus maitre d, I never saw him/her) and I thought the food was pretty good overall. Entertainment was lacking a little but I know that might be Celebrity's weak area. So I really didn't experience what your friends did.

I have only sailed with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so can't compare to other lines.

Thanks for your responses. Just to be clear the other couple did not in anyway try & make us feel bad about their cruise.

Since we both cruise a lot and have been on different cruise lines we have asked what they liked about HAL or Princess and they asked us why we cruised with Celebrity so often. We said excellent service, food, beautiful ships and visible officers. They liked the Officers vs guest activities and the ship itself.

I had the same experience with a good friend. I recommended taking a cruise with us on Celebrity because of their experiences with other cruise lines. It turned out to be the worst cruise for both of us and a lot of it was due to them. We learned our lesson and no longer built up, try to sell or be ambassadors for anything. We also are content with traveling by ourselves and not inviting anyone to join us.

My wife and I did the same cruise on the same ship the following year and it turned out to be one of our favorites.

When you build up something it will never live up to the expectations.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

But we really did love Celebrity last year--we just felt it was a slightly classier experience overall. Would that keep us from cruising other lines? Nope.

And indifferent/slow service can happen anywhere at any time, so I always figure that is situational unless it is ALWAYS that way.

I remember one cruise we were on (don't remember which line) and we were checking email in the internet lounge & a woman was going on & on about what a horrid cruise this was & she was going to post all over the internet about how bad it was, etc. etc.--DH & I looked at each other & thought, huh? Are we on the same cruise??!!

We have NEVER had a bad cruise. There are things we like better on one ship/line than another, but always have a great time.

Attitude is EVERYTHING.:D

(seriously, DH, DM & DF all thought that Carnival cruise that lost power & floated at sea for several days would have been an adventure!!!)

We too have come to the descion( thats not right! ) that we would rather cruise alone anymore.

I wish I was'nt like this, but I feel responsible for them having a good time or not. :eek: Crazy I know , but it detracts from our enjoyment if they are not happy. It's also another way to lose friends!.....Joan.

Celebrity is not for everyone.

Disappointments are easier dealt with on your own.

A good vacation for us is a not the same for friends.

We stick with a priority list and do the research.

jls

....When you build up something it will never live up to the expectations.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

My wife 'builds me up' to everybody she meets and I always fail to live up to those expectations too.:D

OP don't be embarrassed for recommending something you like. If your friends don't like it - so what, that's their issue, not yours. It's a "You like 'to-may-to', I like 'to-mah-to'" thing. ;)

We just came back from our first ever cruise with Celebrity Eclipse, it was a 50th birthday cruise so had high expectations, this with the excitement of our first ever cruise.

We LOVED it !!!! despite bar service being slow at times at the Martini Bar, (guess what it gets busy, with over 2,000 people on board), did it spoil our fun...NO WAY!! after all we are fortunate to be be able to afford to be there, if you have the right attitude then a few more minutes for your drink or waiter makes no difference. We actually saw a woman fly in to a rage over the wrong type of glass brought to her to drink her beer out of !!!!! in the ocean view she was rude and obnoxious and the waiter still smiled and brought her a different glass and she still did not day thank you, and you can bet she told the whole world about how it ruined her cruise.

Everyone's expectations are different and that is something you can not foresee. When i get asked how our cruise was I say it was fabulous because we had fun and met a lot of lovely people and made loads of new friends and had a blast for 2 weeks, thats what its all about ....for us anyways and we are doing it all again in 2015.

Agreed - my father told me years ago never to recommend anything. Two reasons (1) food and service are very subjective, (2) despite always being great for you, the provider will, at some point, have a bad day and it's bound to be the day they decide to go!

Disagree, getting recommendations is likely the best way to research for a trip or vacation.

Relying on one person's recommendation is more risky, that is why we have cruise critic with member reviews and the boards as well as websites like TripAdvisor.

A company's past performance in contracts is generally the best way to evaluate a firm.

That was my experience in contracts and it works for cruises as well.

We haven't cruised on another line except NCL and we find the Celebrity service more consistent on Celebrity.

However, one complaint that we have read more often here on cc lately is poor service at the bars.

We haven't experienced that, but we don't start drinking alcohol until around 5pm.

We find the service at the elite happy hour to be fantastic. Most of the time the waitor/waitress would see us enter and have our favorite drink ready for us right away, within seconds.

If you look at the member reviews of HAL, Princess and Celebrity, you will find they all seem to draw a similar rating, so to speak.

NCL and Carnival seem to do not quite as good.

....However, one complaint that we have read more often here on cc lately is poor service at the bars.

 

We haven't experienced that, but we don't start drinking alcohol until around 5pm....

I didn't realize the the bar service was much worse before 5pm. Interesting.

I've pretty much stopped recommending most anything....other than perhaps a local restaurant that I've eaten in very recently (e.g. a new restaurant). I'll certainly talk about my good and bad experiences on celebrity cruises with others who are interested. I make one exception...I do recommend the celebrity Xpedition cruise because it is consistent and consistently good (as far as I've been able to learn from others who have taken the cruise after us.

Certainly, it's easy to have different experiences on a 2000-3000 passenger ship...lots of things happen, lots of crew with varied experience and attitude. I tell folks to look at celebrity...our experience has been good...check it out.

Lesson learned don't recommend a cruise line to friends, a lot of $ spent and a bad experience leaves both parties feeling uncomfortable.

How absolutely true!

LuLu

I am careful with WHO I recommend things to, not what I recommend.

Sounds like the OP's friends were laying a bit of a guilt trip on them for what the friends thought was an unacceptable cruise.

I have friends and relatives who just can't be pleased and you can be sure I don't recommend anything to them. Other friends understand a personal recommendation from me is just that, a recommendation and not a guarantee that they will enjoy something as much as I did.

In the reverse I factor in who is recommending something and whether or not I can trust that recommendation (to some people EVERYTHING is wonderful) as well as whether my tastes and interests match. It can be a fantastic ballet but I doubt I'd thank them for that since I'm not a ballet person.

To the OP, how many people have you recommended Celebrity to (or anything else for that matter) who have thanked you for your recommendation. I'll bet the thank yous will outnumber the disappointments.