How has Celebrity responded? - seems to be alot of negative comments lately...

[USVI-4-me]

The positive and negative opinions posted on this board matter to me because I can read, make my own judgments, and consider the options for my next cruise.

 

What matters to me may be different from what matters to other cruisers. I scan for important points that apply for my decisions. We have always enjoyed every aspect of Princess except the smoking. Now that Celebrity has no smoking cabins, balconies, and casino we lean more toward future cruises with Celebrity. Yet, iffy.

 

Since Celebrity is also known for its service, the company could do a service to all of us by having the reps who read these posts identify themselves and offer comments.

 

I appreciate this thread and all the posts. Even the example of ice; because, it may matter to somebody planning a cruise.

 

We feel negative about the over abundance of noise coming from the Grand Foyer during our cocktail hours.

And we want to read the dinner buffet has expanded or improved.

-Maris

[true45]

On our last cruise on the Century in May, we booked an excursion to Roatan (sightseeing). Within 5 minutes, we were taken to an under-construction shopping center with one open store where apparently the tourguide had a relationship with the personnel there. We chose that tour (never had been to Roatan before) because we didn't want to go shopping & wanted to spend our limited time in Roatan looking around. We were also taken to a lovely beach & sat in our clothes while the tourguide had lunch with other tourguides (with notice, we would have brought swimsuits & watershoes), we could have gone swimming. Ok, yes, we complained on our comment card & in person at the excursion desk. The tour was not as described & we didn't know if Celebrity knew what the tour company was really doing.

 

We received a call from Celebrity a couple of weeks later & our excursion charges reversed.

 

Mostly, our experience with Celebrity is that they will do everything possible to help with an unhappy cruiser. We just booked another Celebrity cruise.

[satchiesmom]

I don't want to sound like a Pollyanna, but we have never found anything to complain about on any of the cruises we have taken - whether on Celebrity (our favorite) or other lines. Whether aboard the old Polynesia with Windjammer Barefoot Cruises or the Azamara Journey, or anything in between,we've always had a wonderful time. I've either been very fortunate or I'm just easy to please, whatever the reason I'm truly grateful.

[Solstice23]

I'm just wondering..

#1. Do you think anyone on behalf of celebrity reads these fora?

#2. for those of you who have complained to Celebrity (and not just anonymously on an internet forum), What have they had to say for themselves?

 

I know that forums like this get to be a place for many disgruntled people to freely complain, and many complaints are probably out of context, So I'm sure we're getting a biased and slanted view,but I've always found Celebrity to maintain a standard. It seems as though lately there's been alot of Negative reviews.

 

Has Celebrity fallen that far?

 

Are the complaints the musings of nit-picking faceless people who enjoy the confrontationless atmosphere of an internet forum?

 

Are the Complaints aberrations that Celebrity will work towards eliminating?

 

Given the atmosphere of negativity, I'm starting to get a bit worried about my cruise...I'm just hoping for some positivity on this board.

 

We have just sailed Celebrity in March (Solstice) and May (Century) and both were amazing in service and the food was spectacular on Solstice and the entertainment amazing on our 7 night Century Cruise. Both of these cruises were much better then our previous cruises on X and other lines in 2009

 

I find in the summer you will see more harsh reviews of the lines when they leave more from upper east coast.

[Retty2Go]

I don't want to sound like a Pollyanna, but we have never found anything to complain about on any of the cruises we have taken - whether on Celebrity (our favorite) or other lines. Whether aboard the old Polynesia with Windjammer Barefoot Cruises or the Azamara Journey, or anything in between,we've always had a wonderful time. I've either been very fortunate or I'm just easy to please, whatever the reason I'm truly grateful.

 

I feel the same as you about most of my travel experiences. I have had some "issues" that were resolved on site, but have also had a few genuine disasters that required corporate intervention.

[Dunelm]

Occasionally, there may be a good reason for a complaint; however, there are some people who just seem to enjoy complaining. I wonder whether they are projecting their frustrations onto something that may be "safer," or whether they are merely attention seekers, or whether they just enjoy their misery. Years ago there was a saying that went: "two men looked out of prison bars; one saw mud and the other saw stars."

[cheryl20772]

We had a wonderful cruise on Solstice June 13! Celebrity could not have been better to us. We had to cancel a previous cruise after Celebrity shortened the ininerary for extra norovirus cleaning back in March. Celebrity was more than fair in paying us for the trouble caused to us by changes in travel plans beyond any of our control. Will we sail Celebrity again? Hell yes! :)

 

People have urgent desire to report when things make them angry; so you will naturally see lots of complaints posted. People who enjoyd their cruise are more likely quietly dreaming and planning their next one rather than shouting about their best cruise ever on this forum.

[Cruise Arizona]

We have had 6 wonderful cruises with Celebrity, and while there were a few minor problems here and there, most were so minor it hardly affect my cruise. Most of them seemed too trivial to even mention, so when I read a review with problems, I try to read between the lines and see if the problems would be something that would bother me or not.

 

If I read a review that said that the buffet area had poor sight lines and the ice tea had small ice cubes, I would immediately see that those things would make no difference to my cruise enjoyment. I have also read reviews or posts from cruisers on the same sailing as me who had different experiences than what I had, and I am never quite sure what to make of those reviews.

 

However, I have read some reviews that are well balanced but to point out areas where Celebrity might be able to systematically address the issue. One of the issues that I had on my very first Celebrity cruises in 2003 was slow and in attentive wine service. Not sure what the issue was, perhaps they were short a sommelier or two on that cruise, and we did mention the issue both here on CC and in our comment card. Upon advice from other cc members we have since made a point of letting our sommelier know that we would be ordering a bottle of wine every night with dinner, and sometimes even pre-ordering it on the computer. We have had excellent service every cruise since then. So who knows if it is something that they addressed because of comments here or on board, but I think they made a conscious effort to improve the service in that area.

[jmark82]

For those complaining about coffee cup sizes, I just returned off the Solstice they have larger coffee mugs for use. I had no real complaints. I had the premium package but many of the psuedo-craftbrews and premium priced beers were not available on the ship. :( I made due and had a great cruise.

[jaybird from SC]

I feel the same as you about most of my travel experiences. I have had some "issues" that were resolved on site, but have also had a few genuine disasters that required corporate intervention.

Ditto! We feel the same way. Anytime we have ever had the slightest problem, Celebrity was quick to handle it. Last cruise I stopped into one of the public restrooms on the ship. When I started to wash my hands and reached for the soap lever, the entire container of soap fell from under the sink! Soap filled my shoe, splattered on my feet and legs and spilled all over the floor-this was like a gallon of soap!. Luckily a crew member came in and she was visibly shaken. I just laughed and explained what happened, cleaned up my shoes and feet and went on my merry way. I think she was shocked that I didn't make a scene about it and didn't even demand new shoes! We enjoy all our cruises, we don't look for negative things and we don't demand perfection. Shucks, we don't even have perfection at home. Happy cruising everyone!

[Project_gal]

Reading through this thread again this morning, I suddenly realised that there are two different complaints that need to be distinguished.

1. Something that happens out of the norm for the cruise line [when it matters how it is handled]. e.g. a single excursion which failed to match the description; a water leak that is not dealt with correctly; the ice cubes were small once; etc.
   
2. Something is done as a norm by a cruise line that an individual does not like. e.g. excursions never match their description; ship maintenance is so poor that leaks are the norm; the ice cubes are always small; etc.
   

Complaints that fall into the first category should be raised with the cruise line. Only if the resolution is exceptionally poor or exceptionally good need mention be made on these boards.

 

Complaints that fall into the second category are of interest here because they may be important in selecting a cruise. [Personally, I'd rather not have ice at all!!!]

 

There are probably too many complaints falling into the first category posted here rather than being taken up with the people who can actually address them.

 

Sue

[Retty2Go]

the entire container of soap fell from under the sink! Soap filled my shoe, splattered on my feet and legs and spilled all over the floor-this was like a gallon of soap!. Luckily a crew member came in and she was visibly shaken. I just laughed and explained what happened, cleaned up my shoes and feet and went on my merry way!

 

Some people would pay a lot of money for such a foot-washing service!