terrydtx

Chemo, you and I have had this discussion on several threads and on all of our past 4 Sky Suites cruises we had the service from all of our butlers that I have described. Many others on CC and other social media sites have also posted they received the same service we described. I had every butler since Covid tell me that our Premium drinks package included the wine, beer and bottled water in our mini fridge along with bringing drinks from the bars to our cabin. When I am told this by a representative of Celebrity, the butler, it has to be part of the Celebrity policy. If we get anything less next month, it will be deemed to be a reduction in services by our new butler team. From what has been posted so far this is the case on current cruises.

Have you looked at 3rd party private shore excursions? We are at the point that we no longer book cruise line excursions unless we have an excursion credit or extra OBC. We are so tired of being ripped off for big bus crowded excursions that we have no control over itineraries. We will be in Lisbon next month and we booked a private tour for just the 4 of us in our group for $75pp less than the same excursion on a bus the cruise line offered.

We booked our 3 upcoming cruises in early 2022. The same thinking was used in January when Celebrity went from free room service for all cabin categories to charging for RM for all but the suite guests. No compensation or grandfathering for those who booked when the RS was free and included in their cruise fare. On our last cruise on the Reflection last year our SS butler had 15 suites and he was the only butler we saw for our cabin. Now with the reduction and changes they have about one butler for every 30-40 Sky Suites, this to me is a reduction in service

Celebrity's new motto "Luxury at an extra cost"

I brought that point up in my phone conversation with Celebrity and their response was, in their view the service was not taken away and no compensation will be offered. I told the person, I did not believe them and that after my 3 upcoming Retreat cruises I was done with Celebrity. Her response was that was my choice, they do not care if they lose any current customers as they know we can all be replaced.

Another cutback?

It all started in January when Celebrity changed room service to a cost on all except the Suites and the reduction of evening OVC entrees, now the chipping away continues, one warm chocolate chip cookie at a time.

Oh I will be very vocal on CC and the other social media site if we do not get the same level of service as in the past. I believe your cruise was the last one on the Apex before the changes went into effect on this past Monday. I have seen posts this week on another social media site, that on the E class ships that already made the change, the 130 Sky Suites on them are now being served by only 5 total butlers, not much of a team, IMO.

After cruising extensively for 20 years I can get a better lobster at Red Lobster than any I've ever had on any cruise. I tried the lobster once in Murano and as I said in this thread it was uneatable and it sent I back to get the Dover Sole. Move on Murano serves more than just lobster.

This is now a worse situation than the SS butler changes, this affects almost everyone on the ship. I think all cookie lovers should now jump ship, then maybe prices for cabins will drop. 🤣

The gratuities are included in your SS with the standard Retreat amenities and only a portion goes to the Butler team.

Well that answers a lot😁

How are you liking your Oceania cruise so far? We booked our first one in March 2025 after Celebrity pulled out of the South America market this last month.

We are looking at doing the same cruise in 2025 on HAL. We are Elite on Celebrity and 3 Star on HAL. We are to the point in our travels that we look at itinerary first and then the cruise line. Our past 5 cruises on Celebrity have been in Sky Suites with the Retreat. Our last two HAL cruises have been in Signature Suites, which have a name with no real suite amenities. Last year we had a SS on the Reflection from Rome followed by a 14 night cruise from Venice on the HAL Oosterdam. We love the extra amenities of the Retreat, smaller private restaurant and the lounge. Priority boarding and tendering is also nice. Overall we felt the food on the Oosterdam was superior to Celebrity and Luminae. Celebrity had better shows and bars but again overall I would rate both cruises about the same for satisfaction/ We are doing a one week cruise in November on one of the newer HAL Pinnacle class ships the Koingsdam in an Aft facing verandah cabin. We booked this with the HAL HIA promo for drinks, Wi-Fi and one night in a specialty restaurant and a $200 shore excursion credit. We also booked with the HAL Club Orange which provides breakfast and dinners in the Club Orange private restaurant with an enhanced MDR menu, we get an enhanced room service menu and priority boarding and tendering. BTW HAL doesn't not charge for room service in any cabin category. CO costs $25 pp per night to add on or $50 per cabin per night. The 3 new Pinnacle class ships all have the dedicated CO dining room. The 2025 British Isles cruise we are looking at is on one of these new ships, The New Statendam with CO dining room. With HAL if you book very early you can get the Early Booking promo with the HIA and get the Premium Bev package, Premium Wi-Fi and prepaid gratuities along with the other standard HIA amenities. We did this for our Volendam cruise next August which we booked with Club Orange to get priority tendering and the enhanced MDR menu in the MDR (no club orange dr). We booked this cruise for the better itinerary over Celebrity and Oceania we also booked in a Vista Suite with a balcony.

Again, whether you use a butler or not is NOT the issue here, people who have booked and paid for cruises prior to the butler change, are NOT getting what the booked and paid for.

No it was reported that all the sky suites only had 5 butlers as their team.

Is that per person or total for 2?

One post I saw said on E Class ships with over 130 Sky, Sky Aqua, Sky Sunset and Sky Magic Carper suites now only have 5 butlers to service all of them. I see no way they will be able to deliver our RS breakfasts.

When you check in is first come first serve and the early slots will fill up first. If you are in the Retreat you can check in at the cruise terminal anytime you want regardless of the time slot you got when you checked in online.

In June I ordered the "warm water" lobster in Murano on the Equinox, I took one bite and it tasted awful and was so tough and stringy. I sent it back and ordered the Dover Sole which was delicious. Maybe it is being removed from the menu, finally.

On the Equinox in June with the new Starlink system we found making both voice (Wi-Fi calling) and video calls only worked with the premium Wi-Fi and it was so much better than the old systems. We also were able to receive incoming calls too.

On the Reflection and Equinox we had a large round table on the balcony that the butlers would set up for our breakfasts.

We did not book a suite with a butler on the Oceania cruise, but its not like booking a Sky Suite with a butler that is not the same as we booked. We can live without a butler when we book a cabin that doesn't have one to begin with. If a SS had never had a butler not having one now would be no big deal, but we booked and paid for cruises with an advertised dedicated butler. We will be on the Apex in 3 weeks and will find out for ourselves what this new Team will do and will not do compared to our past butler experiences. For example, when our butlers have brought our room service breakfasts to our cabin, they would set up our table with a tablecloth and even pour our first cup of coffee. From some current posts I have read the butlers no longer bring your breakfast to the cabin, regular room service personnel bring the breakfast on a tray and just leave it in the room with no set ups as in the past. It is the little things like this that set the Retreat apart from the service in the rest of the ship that we have paid to have.

I paid and booked my SS cruises on the basis that my dedicated butler would deliver my espresso every morning from Cafe al Bacio and it looks like that is not the case. I am owed restitution by Celebrity.

The lobster is a warm water lobster tail and not worth the cost to dine in Murano. I ordered it on the Equinox in June, took one bite and sent it back to get the Sole which was delicious. The lobster had a terrible taste and was tough and stringy.