Cap_D

How is Azarma's occupancy? As a non travel agent, and casual observer, I'd add that in various YouTube videos by TAs when Edge Class ships were unveiled to the trade Dondra makes many appearances. She's often the one that the TAs are trying to sweet talk and vice versa. Given her past role that makes sense, and presumably she thrived selling the Celebrity product as envisioned and executed in during the LLP era to TAs. Unclear how much experience she would have with anything shipboard related, logistics, finances, or anything of the sort.

Here is @terrydtx's HAL thread, with a focus on differences from Celebrity very informative. Thanks.

We found Brittany of Canada to be very good, and also saw some interviews on YouTube with Lewis that made him likeable. (Also learned that his recent scheduling and ship assignment was to plan around the birth of a child). A big part of the CDs job is the behind the scenes coordination and placement of entertainment assets, activities, etc. Considering that Celebrity is low key-ish, and utilizes in room video and other methods of communication, works to create a vibe, my sense is the persona is only part of what makes for a good CD. Whenever there's a good team approach between departments and among officers, the experience is always better. We've noticed that when sailing with one of the few kids onboard the two Edge class sailings we've taken. No question that Brittany was part of being making a magic moment for our child, but also that it took coordination with a few others, too.

Fully agree. Whether Oasis or Icon, we can't fathom being on a ship with 5-6,000 people no matter how well thought out the ship design and activities are, and especially being bombarded with "mall" like food, upcharges, and so on.

LLP had said something along the lines that the tangerine color was not universally liked when it was proposed, but that they went with it. It certainly works in port and pictures (not sure what else would), and orange is a color retailers use to make displays pop even if the color doesn't actually sell well. The MC is itself an amortized cost in the loan for the ship, so not a big deal and functionality neat in my view. Just FYI, the head of ship design has been the same RCCL senior executive for multiple classes of ships at Celebrity and RCL. It's more a function of do they want to add a feature to an X ship, and probably know would it make money or justify a higher price. https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/executive-bio/4/harri-kulovaara/. And, FWIW, a suite in RCL with all day access to coastal kitchen (Luminae substitute) once drink packages are added still comes out to more than Excel on comparable weeks for a SS or CS. So, in some ways, it would seem Celebrity still has a way to go to have the same margins as the big Oasis and Icon class ships.

TM registration filed in July.

Small things like this make for a fun vacation experience. And, considering the movie was Barbie and the sorbet is kind of pinkish, I'm inclined to give Celebrity credit for giving that some thought. Great to hear.

@bnurick thank you for sharing your trip.

On the subject of trust - not that this is the thread for the butler cutbacks, but since it was mentioned just above, we are reserved for a SS on Beyond in March. We recieved an email today with Retreat branding that promotes a butler and team that is hyperlinked to the following: https://www.celebritycruises.com/blog/cruise-butler. Many mentions of the team, but plenty of mentions of things that someone would supposedly still be doing when asked (although there are many reports that such requests can't be fulfilled adequately). It's that we got the email and then directed to a page of promises (already revised in August) that is one of those examples of can they be trusted?

@Norwaylady thank you for sharing your trip with us. Your writing style is delightful. Hope you are having a great time. @Jim_Iain Jim, thanks for supplementing with the ship's position, the screenshot of the map, video, insights, and more. * * * Jessica Jane performed on our Apex sailing last Spring before she went on tour in the United States during the summer. Her show was terrific, and what was as delightful was how interactive she'd be with passengers throughout the cruise, including our 5y old child who found her show inspiring. (As an aside, a ticket to a touring magic show making a stop at a local theater starts around $85 plus fees per seat). We see Charlie Pothecary may be on board too. He was also on Apex, and a terrific guitar, violinist, and singer; and positive guy to have on a ship.

Current management acts like a bunch of airheads that don't know their own product and seems to relish it. At some point presenting an image along the lines of "gee whiz, we saw volleyball with the crew," "have a hangover," and acting clueless is about the least sophisticated form of damage control one can present. If they have actual chefs (like the mysterious Cornelius Gallagher) or anyone that could act like they know and care about food, how the day unfolds, and the overall experience, now would be the time to use them. Perplexing.

Agree with posters that the video is not professional or hospitality driven. The only vibe it gives off is caddy and inexperience. The presenters don't speak with authority or knowledge about the product (they admit the opposite), and continue to act like the product is something they don't have control over or want to take responsibility for. There's also a reference to crew vs passenger events that seems juvenile. Do we trust this team with our vacation? They are not instilling confidence. Nothing about the announcement shows a desire to do little or big things that are meant to meet the needs of customers or wow them. Instead the conversation is about restoring basic items most mid tier restaurants stock in some form. Nothing about quality, adding grab and go options for other day parts, room service improvements, innovation, or anything PR worthy. Something chocolate every evening in the menu is Restaurant 101. Pathetic.

Too soon to know what this means, but glad to hear it and its something positive. The tone still seems off considering the marketing done elsewhere. 1. Props to those that provided feedback, and everyone should keep it up. 2. Anyone that was subjected to the hyper experimentation on Equinox sailings should get hazard OBC or something meaningful. Thank you to those folks especially. 3. Meanwhile LLP is promoting her new autobiography / leadership book. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzEedPsOaLx/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

@GenerationXlooks like the JJ Cruise YouTube duo were broadcasting live during the changeover and will be on today's sailing.

Thanks, @GenerationX and Jeremy.

@lukaaj12, great review. Thanks. @wrk2cruise We observed these 1-2 stripe walkie talkie/ phone and ipad crew members on the two cruises we took. We found it annoying that they'd be standing just a step or two away from another crew member but rarely engage directly with a customer. In hindsight, we rationalized this as they were for quality control and their roles were a result of low cost labor and the ship caste system. That may still be the case, but it also could result in the feeling no one was responsible or owning a particular issue and inefficiency. In some ways I hope it keeps crew on their toes. But, the impression made might get worse now in light of the cutbacks. How many crew does one need to interact with for [fill in the blank] or to make a decent meal? The answer may or has become it won't matter, because the middle management and the crew don't have the right material, ingredients, parameters to be customer centric. Agree with @zitsky and @RichYak - We'd take any customer service issue directly to the top (Hotel Director) and let them sort it out in the absence of anyone clearly taking ownership and being reliable. If they can't handle it they can appoint a designee, and report back to HQ that the new team doesn't work. (Not that anyone seems to care at HQ). Of course, it's possible the Hotel Directors and Retreat Managers won't care about customer service. I haven't read anyone comment on that yet. Given the changes and orders from HQ, the days of relying on the Hotel Director to care may be numbered. At some point they may be fine with Retreat customers being given the run around and back of the hand by the head butler or whomever. There are possible solutions to the service issues that could be implemented, but all involve wanting to be customer centric and giving customers access to things that cost money, including food. The changes are still very disappointing, and seem like a bait and switch. Was recently at a top hotel in a top tourist city known for hospitality and found the physical hotel had seen better days including cleanliness and other areas that could be helped by active management and staff. Some physical issues won't be helped by the staff, but would be looked over if the service was better. Yet, the manager was never present and didn't do a thing when the issues were brought to their attention. Hopefully that isn't what the shipboard experience becomes on Celebrity.

The recent management visit to Equinox to review the success and impact of the cutbacks has been reported on the Celebrity website. https://www.celebritycruises.com/au/captains-club/newsletter/exclusive-captains-club-newsletter-october-2023 Excerpt: On October 8th President of Celebrity Cruises, Laura Hodges Bethge and her team joined Celebrity Equinox for six nights in the Caribbean. To fully understand the guest experience, they were busy morning, noon, and night going to all the guest activities, trying out all the restaurants, joining Celebrity shore excursions, talking with guests onboard, and more. And to fully understand the crew experience, they changed into their uniforms to serve food in Luminae, answer calls at Guest Relations, make drinks at the Pool Bar, seat guests in the Main Dining Room and help guests book their adventures at the shore excursion desk and spa. They capped off the week with a beautiful lunch in Blu with all Zenith members on board. The week was well worth-it. As Laura shared, “There are things that you just can’t see and feel from the office in Miami. Getting out on the water with our guests and crew was illuminating. I always knew our crew are the heartbeat of our brand, but boy did they exceed my already high expectations. And, I always learn so much from our guests. We took away so much and are very excited to put this experience into action!"

One of the current bullet points for The Retreat is a "Luminae room service breakfast menu." Stating the obvious, but what @GenerationXand Jeremy were brought for breakfast does not seem as good as any U.S. domestic airline lounge or budget hotel. How does it qualify as anything from Luminae or that they would want to market as such? We noticed this poor quality on certain days of our cruise in April 2023. The room service was very inconsistent, and the Butler didn't really help. Missed an excursion when he was massively late one day, and we resorted to marching up to Luminae for self service while family was preparing.

@GenerationX Hope you're having a great vacation. But, also hope you let the Hotel Director and everyone else on the ship leadership team that you encounter know your feedback on the reduced Retreat experience. The more feedback senior staff can communicate back to Laura and Miami the better.

Our corporate cafeteria grill station always has a variety of proteins available. And, there's always a pasta noodle that can be sauced a few different ways. Some classics and pasta do seem to be available at Luminae (some are on the kids menu), along with a salad, and veggies (which always seem like they are iffy and inconsistent). BUT, considering these are bleak times, we'll be lucky if quality and options from pre-Laura are actually available in the coming months. fingers crossed. I know it sounds nice when a waiter offers x,y,z like its special, but it would help if the menus were designed in such a way as to present all potential options. That may make it more difficult to service since the main Luminae items wouldn't be the focus, but it would alleviate some ambiguity about just what is available. That said, would not want them to limit themselves to the printed page, which is a likely by product of any change from the status quo (or what had been).

I remember your review very well, as it was confirmation of what we had on Apex just before you in the Caribbean, and the year earlier on Edge. Eye Round Steak roasted, is definitely what it is. The fat lines got tougher as the meat sat, too. At the time, the kids menu filet, which we often had on the table because of our child's order, was superior -- as you well know. Thank you all of your sharing..

We had a CS on Apex and found after the first day it wasn't worth it. We wanted the amenities, but the space ended up not being helpful. With an Edge Class CS the two rooms have the same issue as the IV, in that the rooms aren't really separated enough due to light and noise penetration issues. So, someone can't be in the main room with the balcony curtains open, working, lights on, or TV without light going into the bedroom. And, the sofa actually ends up being fairly far from the TV, so that there's a lot of empty space. We have three in our family, including a younger child. So, theoretically the CS is perfect for us, as we don't need two complete state rooms yet. But it doesn't work. It also wouldn't work well if it was just two adults due to the light issue. Its a unique room among cruise lines, and we are disappointed it doesn't accomplish the basics.

Celebrity excels in odd cuts of meat (maybe it's beef, but so we really know?), and even worse descriptions for it's menu items. It would be difficult to find a U.S. restaurant with cuts as unique as those found on Celebrity. Even the old Sizzler and Ponderosa (very low end steakhouses with plastic plates, salad bars, etc.) attempted to appear to be the usual shapes. Even with "meat glue" it's possible to create cuts that look like the usual from scraps. (Look up meat glue if you're curious).

The entire food program was far from perfect, but has now been gutted with no thought other than the savings. Had they given it any other thought they'd have attempted to market it. Instead Laura in her webinar can't even address it because they have nothing positive to say. They are far from being able to tell us what's in the food, because it's not a priority or even something they care about. (How a hospitality company doesn't care about food is mind boggling). One path they could take is to take food transparency to the next level, and instead they are circling the drain. On this thread's topic, for all the cost cutting and presumably uniformity Celebrity has implemented, there's no good reason why ingredient and allergen info shouldn't be made available. Not everything is even made from scratch, and the food that is hopefully isn't at the discretion of whoever is making it and what they want to toss in it (yes, I know that happens even with strict controls). Plenty of restaurants manage to do this, and the penny pinchers gutting the menus are making it easier to do than ever before since there are less items and a desire to control costs. That said, Celebrity cant, or doesn't want to, get it's new limited menus uploaded correctly, acknowledge the cuts or that food is premade (e.g., doubtful cookiegate dough was made onboard with raw ingredients, soft serve and ice cream uses a premade base, granola is from food service supplier, fries are frozen (and non-U.S. origin)) etc. There's more transparency and attention to allergen issues at the American Airlines lounge than on Celebrity.

She was full of it, and would you want to trust her with your vacation? Does she care if the product is a quality one or if you have a nice vacation?? I don't get that vibe.