Celebrity Cruises Discrimination?

My partner and I just returned from the July 8 sailing of the Celebrity Summit to Bermuda, where we were in Aqua Class. Upon arrival, our stateroom attendant refused to move the beds together.

Although he eagerly took our tip, he refused to shake our hands or make eye contact. Coupled with his brusque and disputatious attitude, it quickly became clear that he would not be helping us. We were forced to request management intervention to switch to a different stateroom attendant, before the ship even sailed.

This was a embarrassing and demoralizing experience. However, this was only the first in what was a pattern of our marginalization by certain members of the Celebrity Cruises staff, throughout the cruise.

As one senior staff member candidly told us, it was possible that the social attitudes of some crew members' native cultures made their intolerance toward the LGBT community not only possible, but likely.

We have not yet felt that Celebrity Cruises takes these recent events seriously. We are hopeful that they will quickly contact us with assurances that diversity training will be provided to the Celebrity employees.

Until this situation is resolved, we regrettably cannot recommend Celebrity Cruises, based upon the discrimination that we recently encountered aboard the Celebrity Summit.

I am sorry, but we have been traveling on Celebrity as can seen below, for many years. We have NEVER seen discriminated against nor every made to feel unwelcome by EVERYONE from the Captain down on their ships. We have always had our beds together and do not hide who were are from anyone. NEVER has any crew member shown any intolerance to the gay community.

They have FOD parties and always do their best to welcome everyone aboard. I am not doubting you, but it seems that most people who gripe have just posted their first or second posting. It can be seen on the "gay and lesbian" section also the Celebrity is one of the most welcoming cruise lines !!!

Sorry, but I cannot take your post seriously !!!

__________________

I am sorry that you do not take my post seriously, and am glad to hear that you have only had great experiences on Celebrity. However, that does not preclude the events that we encountered having happened.

In fact, we went on a Celebrity cruise because of the positive comments that we heard about the line being gay-friendly. For the most part, everything was smooth sailing. Nevertheless, our initial problem was egregious. Even though it does not reflect company policy, it needs to be dealt with.

As i posted on the other board, you now state that when you spoke to housekeeping your problems were felt with and corrected. I am sorry you had a bad experience, I sincerely am, but as you state, there are always some bad apples. If the line corrected the problem I do not understand what else you can expect from them. Celebrity has always been very supportive of the gay and lesbian community and that "one bad apple" was felt with and your problem corrected.

Sounds like your experience was about one person who didn't follow Celebrity policies...not a results of poor culture on the ship or bad policies, but rather one individual.

As someone who is in Executive Management for a company with 20,000+ employees that deal directly with the public, no matter the training we give, there are also some who provide bad service that doesn't meet our goals or training expectations. But that doesn't make the who company bad or at fault. Many of those issues are dealt with on an individual basis.

Our recent experience on Celebrity with 2 gay couples traveling could not have been better. From the Butler, Room Steward, Housekeeping Mgmt, Ships Crew, Dining Room Host to Bartenders, everyone went out of their way to be welcoming and treat us great. It seemed as if the entire crew new who the 4 gay guys were and stopped to talk to us and make us feel welcome. It's unfortunate your experience was different, or that you let 1 person ruin your vacation!

And i cannot really tell what you are expecting from Celebrity? You stated they changed the room steward when you requested and housekeeping tried to make it up. So, what else are they supposed to do? You mention diversity training, but my understanding is all cruiselines put their crew threw diversity training as part of standard practice due to all the cultures that the crew will encounter in any given day.

Sounds like your experience was about one person who didn't follow Celebrity policies...not a results of poor culture on the ship or bad policies, but rather one individual.

 

As someone who is in Executive Management for a company with 20,000+ employees that deal directly with the public, no matter the training we give, there are also some who provide bad service that doesn't meet our goals or training expectations. But that doesn't make the who company bad or at fault. Many of those issues are dealt with on an individual basis.

 

Our recent experience on Celebrity with 2 gay couples traveling could not have been better. From the Butler, Room Steward, Housekeeping Mgmt, Ships Crew, Dining Room Host to Bartenders, everyone went out of their way to be welcoming and treat us great. It seemed as if the entire crew new who the 4 gay guys were and stopped to talk to us and make us feel welcome. It's unfortunate your experience was different, or that you let 1 person ruin your vacation!

 

And i cannot really tell what you are expecting from Celebrity? You stated they changed the room steward when you requested and housekeeping tried to make it up. So, what else are they supposed to do? You mention diversity training, but my understanding is all cruiselines put their crew threw diversity training as part of standard practice due to all the cultures that the crew will encounter in any given day.

Although I do feel bad of what happened, I like johnb0529 really not sure it was more than just a bad apple. Doesn't seem systematic as I've been

on a 7 or 8 gay group cruises, a few gay charters, and a bunch of straight cruises, and never seen anything but positive attitudes from the crew towards the gay community.

I personally have seen incidents (two in particular come to mind) where a innebriated str8 passenger made an inappropriate comment to a gay person or couple, and they were told by ships crew in no uncertain terms they would be left at the next port if they EVER uttered another comment like that.

When after one of the incidents I asked the staff captain about it he told me "with 60+ nationalities & several different sexual orientations onboard we have zero tolerance for ANY type of discrimination against anyone, and we enforce that 100%. We see any sign of that with our crew and they will not return"

This is a repost from the thread on the Celebrity board.

There have been some curious responses to my original post. To paraphrase a few:

• I must be aggrandizing my experiences, since you have never experienced discrimination on this cruise line.
  
• The problem was resolved and should never be spoken of again, since a different stateroom attendant was assigned to us.
  
• I cannot be taken seriously, since I created a new [second] CC account today, specifically to describe this situation.
  
• I am not from the west coast, where people tend to be more tolerant of a perceived slight.
  

In response to these criticisms, I would like to respectfully note the following:

While it is distasteful for any of us to believe that discrimination still exists in 2012, it is our responsibility to identify it when it occurs -- even at the risk of being labeled a liar, complainer, or gripey New Yorker.

As for my expectations of Celebrity: as I noted in the OP, there is a continued need for cultural sensitivity training. This is what I would like to see Celebrity corporate address. An acknowledgement of the situation and an apology from Celebrity would be nice. Knowing that the offending employee has received some guidance on how to deal with gay customers would be even better.

The manager that we spoke with onboard suggested that we might be more comfortable on an all-gay cruise. While certainly an option, we reserve the right to select the cruise of our choice.

I look forward to a time when the LGBT mixers (aka "Friends of Dorothy") can be published in the Dailies, and when I will no longer have to speak with supervisors to insist that I receive the same rights as everyone else.

You had already tipped him before the ship sailed? That's odd. Also, most room attendants make whatever bed changes during the first evening's dinner service. Maybe you were a little impatient, or looking for a fight?

My partner and I just returned from the July 8 sailing of the Celebrity Summit to Bermuda, where we were in Aqua Class. Upon arrival, our stateroom attendant refused to move the beds together.

 

Although he eagerly took our tip, he refused to shake our hands or make eye contact. Coupled with his brusque and disputatious attitude, it quickly became clear that he would not be helping us. We were forced to request management intervention to switch to a different stateroom attendant, before the ship even sailed.

 

This was a embarrassing and demoralizing experience. However, this was only the first in what was a pattern of our marginalization by certain members of the Celebrity Cruises staff, throughout the cruise.

 

As one senior staff member candidly told us, it was possible that the social attitudes of some crew members' native cultures made their intolerance toward the LGBT community not only possible, but likely.

 

We have not yet felt that Celebrity Cruises takes these recent events seriously. We are hopeful that they will quickly contact us with assurances that diversity training will be provided to the Celebrity employees.

 

Until this situation is resolved, we regrettably cannot recommend Celebrity Cruises, based upon the discrimination that we recently encountered aboard the Celebrity Summit.

Don't mean to insult but reading back on this post it really doesn't make any sense

"Although he eagerly took our tip, he refused to shake our hands or

make eye contact....We were forced to request management intervention

to switch to a different stateroom attendant, before the ship even

sailed"

So you were tipping him before the ship ever sailed?, after you felt insulted and right before you had asked for a new cabin attendant before leaving port?

"the first in what was a pattern of our marginalization by certain

members of the Celebrity Cruises"

What exactly was the pattern?, and which members aside from the one

cabin attendant are you talking about, and what exactly did they do

that made you feel this way? From what you describe he just didn't for whatever reason want to push the beds together, not shaking hands on cruise ships isn't that unusual especially with Norovirus springing up on different lines.

"As one senior staff member candidly told us, it was possible that the

social attitudes of some crew members' native cultures made their

intolerance toward the LGBT community not only possible, but likely."

This one makes no sense, even if a senior staff member believed it

(and I really doubt he would), would he make statement condemming a

culture to try and appease you

Who exactly was the senior staff member that said this?

As we do on every Celebrity cruise when we book they ask if we want beds together or seperate very simple and you proberly prepayed your tips im believing ,Celebrity is the best

OP: I'm sorry you had this experience. My partner and I are experienced cruisers, and we took our first Celebrity cruise this spring, with Pied Piper in fact. Our group was nearly three dozen strong, and there were plenty of other g/l passengers traveling on their own. My partner and I had no problems (had a great time, in fact), and I think that if Celebrity as a company had problems with gay men and lesbians, you wouldn't see as much business from PP (and g/l independent travelers) as you do.

I am not minimizing your experience or making light of it. But I don't think it was typical. And I agree with you that Celebrity management should deal with the bad apple steward.

Separately, I find it weird that you felt the need to post your comments here and on the Celebrity board using a name other than your own longstanding Cruise Critic screen name. What's up with that?

[To OP: I see you've posted this on more than one board and so I reply in kind.]

I and my partner took two Pied Piper sailings on Summit to Bermuda. While the ship was not charted we were part of a small group of gay travelers under the auspices of Pied Piper. Fortunately we did not experience any known dissent from the crew of either sailing.

As to a poor stateroom attendant: yes, Celebrity does have them. On an Eclipse cruise our attendant was less than Motel 6 quality. After our complaints to Guests Services we believed the attendant retaliated by slashing all of our luggage tags from our bags upon departure. Too much of a coincidence that two tags per bag (equaling six tags in all) were cut off in the same exact manner. We had to search for our bags onshore.

I'm puzzled as to why you would feel the need to create a new screen name for this thread. If you expect to be treated consistently by Celebrity staff and the rest of the world in general, it seems a bit odd to me that you create this alias for this post and, one presumes, retain another moniker. Why? Is your other screen name more closeted? If you truly are a long-term poster (as you claim on the X board) , folks would be able to weigh your current gripes against the tone of your other posts. This seems very odd to me.

Thanks for posting your experience. My partner and I are on the July 29 sailing on the same ship, also in AquaClass, so I'm a little more than just concerned about your steward being one bad apple, since he could very easily be ours.

I've already asked my travel agent to make sure that we have in our reservation a request that our beds be put together so we don't have to deal with any possible friction.

We've been on one other Celebrity cruise, on the Solstice, and didn't encounter any problems being a part of a gay couple... though the fact that there was a large GLBT group on the sailing through Pied Piper might have smoothed the way for some extra "sensitivity" training.

Was there an FOD event on your sailing, and if so, did anyone show up? And how did you find out about it.

Any other tips you have about the ship or port? Did you eat at any of the specialty restaurants? What did you think of Blu? Did you hit any of the beaches in Bermuda? Any must see touristy things? As it turns out, there is a two day holiday during two of the three days in port. I hear most of the shops will be closed, public transportation will be limited, and the beaches will be thronged. So we are going to try to plan around that, and probably not even leave the ship on one of those two days.

Craig

DCASeahorse:

You will find an occasional stateroom attendant that is not up to cruise line standards. Stateroom comment cards are taken very seriously, and responses and complaints that indicate an attendant is less than par, will result in either redeployment, more training or dismissal. It only takes a couple of similar responses for action to be taken.

The beds together question has never been an issue on over 20 cruises on various lines for us - if the new cabin occupant bed assignment isn't clear from the cabin worksheet, the attendants will often leave the configuration and then check with the new passengers as to their preference (this has happened on our last 3 cruises). By the time you are back from your first dinner, the beds will be set correctly. I was surprised by how elegantly our attendant handled the conversation, given english was not his mother tongue.

FOD/GLBT meetings on Celebrity are now posted events found on the board somewhere near reception. They are no longer posted in the daily info sheet. I haven't found this to be an issue, though some long standing cruisers get somewhat upset over this corporate decision.

It sounds like you will be in Bermuda over cup match weekend, probably the biggest holiday in BDA - you may have to endure lots of cricket but it is a fun weekend when everyone lets their hair down - it's sort of renamed as Emancipation Day & Somers Day but most just call it cup match weekend.

As to beaches, the biggest and most well known is Horseshoe Bay (South Shore, #7 bus route) but I personally love Chaplin and Warwick Bays which are a short walk away and just up the coast - they are rockier, but more private and infinitely less touristy.

I am confused by all the questioning regarding the honesty and validity of the OPs experience, yet a statement about 6 name-tags being cut off baggage went unnoticed. The OP shared their experience and I appreciate that they did, as did Bundles. Though many have not had the same experience, this was the OPs (and Bundles). Neither would be a pleasant experience, or the norm according to other posters, but they are still their experiences. And as an aside regarding the CSI work of some of the posters, before my first cruise, I was on here reading voraciously, and one poster's suggestion stuck with me. On first meeting with your room steward, tip them 20 dollars to secure the relationship for the cruise. Thought it was good advice and still do. Maybe the OP felt the same way.

We just came off of the Summit in may for the repositioning cruise and our stateroom attendant Anthony couldn't have been more accommodating. He always greeted us by name and was always there when we needed him. To bad the OP didn't have him as a steward. He was terrific. Actually all of stateroom attendants had been wonderful. But then again we always went out of our way to be friendly and to be aware of their customs and beliefs as well. We never experienced any kind of discrimination on X. Probably because we treated the staff as human beings and not as servants. I think that has a lot to do with it too

Jeff and Kevin

It's been my experience that the beds are always left in the same formation that the old tenants had them in, but that the attendant moves them to whatever you like during your first trip to the dining room for dinner. They're simply so busy that turnaround morning that I have generally found they never bother with what your preference was. A quick read of the CC boards shows this experience is common to gay and straight travellers. Still, I fail to grasp why the OP felt the need to tip the person unless this was one of those "tip them the first day and they bring you extra stuff" moments that is more accurately called something else.

I fail to grasp why the OP felt the need to tip the person unless this was one of those "tip them the first day and they bring you extra stuff" moments that is more accurately called something else.

This idea always makes me smile - I'm not sure you could ever prove that your service was better because you 'pre-tipped' your attendant...... but I would lay odds that down in the crew areas, the attendants get together and laugh their heads off at what is (to me) a pretty obvious attempt to buy better service. I personally find it a little insulting on many levels.

To the OP:

Sorry for your experience. My husband and I have traveled with =X= for several years and have never had a questioning look from our room attendant on this line. (On another line, yes indeed we sure did!). It's not up to me to doubt your experience, or why you've changed your screen name (whatever), to each their own. I have to say though, some folks are a little hyper sensitive with others who intentionally join the board, or change names only to sabatoge a particular cruise line or ship, etc. You get the picture. :rolleyes:

We sailed the Summit to Bermuda in 2010 as part of a B2B, so had the same attendant for 3-weeks. Very pleasant. Additionally, we have not had an unpleasant reaction with having our beds pushed together. Like another poster mentioned, Noro-Virus contamination could have something to do with it as well. Some just don't shake hands, and that's OK. I don't think I ever shake my attendant's hand, but he / she knows we appreciate them and our smiles and gracious "thank you's" are there.

Saying that...is it possible? Sure it is. As head of HR for a hospitality company, based in SF, we strive to hire the best - and most diverse employees we can. We can hire the absolute best, but there is no guarantee that an employee will not "crack" or that their behavior / performance doesn't change. Sh*t happens...but again, sorry for the bad experience.

Hope you'll try =X= again.

Don't mean to insult but reading back on this post it really doesn't make any sense

"Although he eagerly took our tip, he refused to shake our hands or

make eye contact....We were forced to request management intervention

to switch to a different stateroom attendant, before the ship even

sailed"

So you were tipping him before the ship ever sailed?, after you felt insulted and right before you had asked for a new cabin attendant before leaving port?

 

"the first in what was a pattern of our marginalization by certain

members of the Celebrity Cruises"

What exactly was the pattern?, and which members aside from the one

cabin attendant are you talking about, and what exactly did they do

that made you feel this way? From what you describe he just didn't for whatever reason want to push the beds together, not shaking hands on cruise ships isn't that unusual especially with Norovirus springing up on different lines.

 

"As one senior staff member candidly told us, it was possible that the

social attitudes of some crew members' native cultures made their

intolerance toward the LGBT community not only possible, but likely."

 

This one makes no sense, even if a senior staff member believed it

(and I really doubt he would), would he make statement condemming a

culture to try and appease you

 

Who exactly was the senior staff member that said this?

To take a line from the "Alfred Hitchcock's the Birds".."If the young lady claims she was attacked by birds, why don't any of you believe her?" I know it's a bit of a crazy analogy(well, that's just me!)It may very well have happened. We WEREN'T there.How do we KNOW it didn't happen? I know we get very loyal to our cruiselines(me & Cunard!)but we really should be careful in how we react & criticize others.

Excellent reference Keithm - from a Hitchcock fan.

I have travelled on RC and Celebrity several times now and never had any problems when travelling with a partner or more recently solo. They have always been open to moving the FOD gatherings to times and venues we have chosen, from Michael'sBar to Martini Bar, and many times gay officers have joined us for drinks and shore excursions.

I will certainly go on Celebrity again and will continue to do so until I experience anything remotely similar.

On a Holyland cruise last year I had the mosfortune of sharing a table with 2 Born Again Christians who wern't appreciative of my Jewish faith, my single status and my mention that I am gay. So much so I had to leave the table and order room service. When I mentioned this to Guest Relations they upgraded me so I could eat in Blu with friends who were travelling Aqua Class.

I understand you had a problem and I am glad Celebrity appear to have sorted it out for you. If you feel that it spoiled your holiday, I am sure a letter to head office will result in some sort of future cruise voucher to encourage you to sail with them again.

Happy sailing to all....

I have travelled on RC and Celebrity several times now and never had any problems when travelling with a partner or more recently solo. They have always been open to moving the FOD gatherings to times and venues we have chosen, from Michael'sBar to Martini Bar, and many times gay officers have joined us for drinks and shore excursions.

 

I will certainly go on Celebrity again and will continue to do so until I experience anything remotely similar.

 

On a Holyland cruise last year I had the mosfortune of sharing a table with 2 Born Again Christians who wern't appreciative of my Jewish faith, my single status and my mention that I am gay. So much so I had to leave the table and order room service. When I mentioned this to Guest Relations they upgraded me so I could eat in Blu with friends who were travelling Aqua Class.

 

I understand you had a problem and I am glad Celebrity appear to have sorted it out for you. If you feel that it spoiled your holiday, I am sure a letter to head office will result in some sort of future cruise voucher to encourage you to sail with them again.

 

Happy sailing to all....

Luckily, you weren't one of those Ethiopian Jewish sects. The skin color would probably have given those "fundies" apoplexy to boot!

Excellent reference Keithm - from a Hitchcock fan.

He wouldn't hurt a fly. Yeah,but he'll clobber us!