samofam

Update; I did hear back from Celebrity a short while ago and they were apologetic and will be crediting back the charge. Hopefully that will take care of it.

Ended a cruise on Silhouette last week and our TV invoice showed we owed $4.75. Exactly what we expected. Then the next morning after disembarking, the ship emailed an invoice for $105 and it was immediately on our CC. Hubby had taken a photo of the TV screen at 6.45 the morning of disembarkation. Have called Celebrity and emailed Zenith department. Nothing! No reply, no help! So frustrating. I will challenge the charge with the CC company, but what a hassle.

It is not productive for the staff or other passengers if passengers allow problems to slide. I'm not saying be a nitpicker but address problems immediately. That is what helps keep up the standards and not allow the occasional lazy worker to slip by, we are told they share tips so they should be kept accountable. The cabins should be properly cleaned and prepared, it is really gross to find remnants from the previous guests and this includes having the verandah clean also. It is also a question of hygiene. I have once needed to ask for a different cabin steward and once for a different butler. Cabin stewards do not necessarily notice if draperies are coming down or drains are slow or blocked to give a couple of examples.

The OBCs can be quite confusing. We are entitled to military, teachers, shareholders, AARP and have experienced having at least one left off and not given to us. It's very difficult to tell from their invoices as everything is lumped together, even worse if you are working through a travel agent as HAL won't always discuss the booking directly. We have been told some of these are not combinable but then a different agent may say they are combinable! Then add the confusion of various promos and 'all included', it indeed takes follow-up. I do find their customer service department when reached through email is usually very helpful and responsive. One other point. I do not like their practice of bringing a glass of wine to the table already poured, without seeing the bottle. Also, they seem to have gotten rid of all the wine stewards and now the waiters have to handle the drinks as well as all their other duties.

This happened to us on Beyond recently. It was actually our 'free' achieving Zenith cruise. We had confirmed the celebration with the Zenith desk. NOTHING! Checked with guest relations manager towards the end of the cruise. Apparently our whole celebration was overlooked! We have been told it will be done on our next cruise. Also, it is still confusing going through the suites entrance as Zenith, we had one worker at the door in Fort Lauderdale try to turn us away to the general entrance even though it says Zenith on the boarding pass.

Are you Zenith but not booked in a suite? Was this in Fort Lauderdale?

This totally sums it up. 'Pampered paying passengers, you may now do your own fetching'!!! We take a bag with us to the retreat lounge to stock up on evian and pelegrino for our 'suite'. It's a bit like a scavenger hunt getting the various supplies to the room. Even the glasses for red wine were no longer supplied automatically. Now, for a mere $30 (approx.) per day one may purchase 'Premium Access' . Check it out on the web-site. Selling some of the perks that come with suites and Zenith, although Zenith level passengers no longer board with suite passengers, an elimination of a benefit which had been very enjoyable and special.

Recently did 12 days sky suite on Constellation. This was our second experience of 'no dedicated butler'. As with many others, when we booked and made final payment 'dedicated butler' was included. Celebrity is digging in their heels about NO compensation for the elimination of the butlers. 'Dedicated butler' did not mean they only served us but usually the butlers had approx. 12 rooms each to service. Yes, because of health issues we did make use of the help to unpack. Our cabin steward Christian was outstanding and tried magnificently to make up for no butler. He worked so hard and was constantly in a sweat. The head butler Tony also worked very hard and provided a tablecloth for our balcony lunch and brought drinks to us in the show lounge. We were told butlers would be brought back, no details. One premium wine was re-introduced and we were told that more would be coming back. Retreat lounge provided the better brandy that was normally now a $2.00(plus tip) upcharge but did not charge. I think many of the staff are really embarrassed by the cut-backs. Also, the Zenith lunch was not provided, nor was there a substitution such as to send the guest to a specialty restaurant. For the last several years we have always had approx. 5-7 Celebrity cruises on our upcoming future cruises list, where we have paid the deposit. On most cruises we would also make a new booking while onboard. Future cruises department was NOT busy on our last couple of cruises and one of the salespeople told me suite sales are way down. We have one more cruise in March in Aqua class. With our Zenith benefits we do get pretty good perks. We will see how this goes. We still have gratuities included from when we booked. But if they've not improved the premium wines, or the food in Blu has been cut in quality, this will be our last Celebrity cruise.

Reply to #113. Yes, we consider that the value was excellent. When you compare the cost and what has previously been included. Plus Celebrity has always provided really good food and wine selection over the years. Our memories are amazing and we always considered the cost was reasonable for what we received. We also did some really long cruises, Vancouver to Sydney, Rome to Fort Lauderdale to mention a couple. It is sad to see this decline and it has happened rapidly. I would prefer to pay more to keep the quality up but unfortunately the quality has gone down even though prices have increased.

This is just another example of cut-backs. One of the Zenith benefits is to attend the concierge lunch usually on embarkation day. However, Zenith CC members no longer have priority embarkation. Zenith members are now assigned a boarding time at the time of checking in online. How is a passenger supposed to keep the boarding time of 12.30 - 1 pm and make it to the lunch without a rush, which is basically impossible when you walk with a cane. I reached out to retreated support and asked for an earlier boarding time and was told 'regrettably' that is not possible. LOL. Holland America does it in one phone call! Last week I booked 5 cabins on Holland for my whole family. My husband and I used to take our family on Celebrity. Not again. We have one more verandah cabin booked and one more suite. Then that's it spending our money on Celebrity. There are too many choices in cruising to be subject to removal of benefits which take years to attain and when calculated out, over $200,000 to reach Zenith status.

November 2023 SS on Silhouette. Celebrating our 45th anniversary. We treat ourselves to a suite every couple of sailings. We are Zenith so the main reason for us to splurge on a suite is for the extra luxury of having a butler. When we asked the room attendant to send the butler, that is when we were told there is now a 'team'. Really??? But apparently the 'team' is not available to help us unpack. Can not deliver specially prepared hot coffee when we call in the morning. The 'team' is not available to set the balcony table with a tablecloth etc. for our lunch. No email or communication of any kind before this cruise. The room was looking shabby, the 'team' refused to provide a safety mat for the tub which was quite slippery. Our refrigerator was never restocked with our water choice, just regular cans left on the dresser. We have one more suite booked which is too late to cancel without financial loss. This will be our last suite booking on Celebrity if corrections are not made by the time we set sail. I have heard great reports about the Haven suites on the NCL Viva and Prima so with no reason to stay with Celebrity suites we will be checking alternative cruise lines. In addition, yes we did request compensation but were told Celebrity will not be doing that as they now have a 'team'. Apparently they are protected in their contract but our extra few thousands $$$ for a 'non' suite experience is not! It is just so disappointing for the company to drop their standard. We've done more than 50 cruises with Celebrity to many different countries and continents with very few problems and great pleasure and satisfaction. Also, we have a large extended family who have also enjoyed Celebrity and booked suites on our recommendation. No more recommendations. BTW I did email LHB at the executive offices and my email got handed off to an office worker. She was very nice but of course of no help.