Positivity for Celebrity - Who's with me?

[pamstravel]

I am honestly not being facetious when I write that I don't understand this complete loyalty to a company (cruise line). I have undying loyalty to my family, friends, church etc. but not to a faceless company! Somehow, I get the impression that some cruise CRITIC (notice the emphasis on critic) posters are loyal to this brand no matter what! I have the feeling that these people consider any negative comment about Celebrity to be a personal affront! I have enjoyed my cruises on Celebrity but have noticed a reduction in service, food, entertainment etc. When I make these comments I am not being negative but rather trying to give my most honest assessment to future cruisers who can take my comments along with all the others and make their best assessment as to whether they think Celebrity is the best fit for them. It is true that a day at sea with no work is a gift, however, I want the best value for my money and am not willing to put up with most anything to be at sea. Not everyone is the same nor is there one cruise line that is best for everyone.....just please, don't tell posters that if they aren't happy or find fault with X that they should choose another line.

[swsfrail]

I am honestly not being facetious when I write that I don't understand this complete loyalty to a company (cruise line)..... I have the feeling that these people consider any negative comment about Celebrity to be a personal affront! .....When I make these comments I am not being negative but rather trying to give my most honest assessment to future cruisers who can take my comments along with all the others and make their best assessment as to whether they think Celebrity is the best fit for them......

 

pamstravel, perhaps if the majority of your posts weren't negative I could accept your reasoning. A quick overview of your many recent posts show quite clearly that when you post something, it is rarely anything positive. For someone to earn my trust in their opinion, I need to see balance, not just a continual list of criticisms. Future cruisers are best served with impartial, balanced, and helpful advice, some of which, at least for a cruise lines as well liked as Celebrity, would be positive. Your advice rarely offers anything positive.

[shipshape sam]

I have noticed a number of threads and posts lately that are very negative toward Celebrity cruises.

 

I completely agree with the right to voice and opinion, but I have noticed that the opinions have taken a tone that is frankly turning me off of Cruise Critic.

 

It used to be a place where I could come and share an opinion, share my thoughts good or bad, and see balance. If I were a brand new person lurking the boards to find out about Celebrity - I'd run away. Very bad and sad.

 

That balance seems to be disappearing.

 

The most recent trend seems to be "I don't like "fill in the blank" Celebrity - are you listening - change it or I'll stop cruising."

 

I love Celebrity. I think the cruise experience is terrific. The food is good to great. The entertainment is good to great. The ships are good to fantastic. I prefer Solstice class ships to Constellation - but that doesn't give me the right to suggest Celebrity only have Solstice class ships.

 

Things change - and maybe not the way I like them. Me? I am blessed to be able to cruise at all.

 

I have heard Celebrity monitors these boards.

 

I for one give a shout out for Celebrity! You may not be perfect, but frankly until I can look in the mirror and see a perfect person in front of me, I won't expect perfection from you - I will continue to expect a wonderful vacation experience.

 

For those who are unhappy with changes, current trends, food, service, etc. I'm sorry. Maybe Celebrity is no longer for you - I'm just saying.

 

I hope you respect me enough to have my own opinion and the right to state that opinon.

 

Positivity for Celebrity!

 

Judy

 

We prefer Celebrity and look to book Celebrity as our first choice on most cruises. We just had some friends return from a Carnival cruise with family, and apparently it was not a good cruise for them.

 

Can Celebrity improve things, for sure depending on the issue. Celebrity is in business to make money by providing a product/service at a high level of quality. For me, Celebrity delivers most of the time. They have made changes I do not like, but realize they are doing some of these changes in response to many other requests or they are doing them to make more money.

 

Anyone who thinks Celebrity is bad, go try Princess, HAL, Royal Caribbean a couple of times and then compare how those lines are also making changes/reducing services/products.

[gelo7]

I'm with you...

[ghstudio]

I am patiently waiting for someone to start a positive thread about Celebrity's web site?

[Ma Bell]

Having been on lots of cruises (100+), many of them on Celebrity, I can say that each cruise is an experience unto itself. There are so many variables as well as just the cruiser's personal taste that experiences vary from person to person on the same cruise.

 

I can honestly say I've never had a bad cruise but some are obviously better than others. We prefer Celebrity to the other larger ship cruiselines we have sailed and when there have been problems Celebrity has always tried their best to solve them. Can't ask more than that. We always fill out our comment cards and also use "attention to detail cards" to give feedback both positive and negative, although the great majority is positive for us.

 

There are some things that we feel have diminished the cruise experience but also a lot of new additions that provide a lot more choices which can enhance the cruise experience. The ships and accommodations are very nice compared to the past, especially in the less expensive categories.

 

I do see a difference in the posters on the boards more recently. There's a different attitude about life in general and it seems a lot more encouragement of self-centered behavior. We've seen a little more of this attitude onboard, but for the most part the passengers remain well mannered, fun and interesting. When that balance changes, that would be the thing that makes us look elsewhere.

[pamstravel]

pamstravel, perhaps if the majority of your posts weren't negative I could accept your reasoning. A quick overview of your many recent posts show quite clearly that when you post something, it is rarely anything positive. For someone to earn my trust in their opinion, I need to see balance, not just a continual list of criticisms. Future cruisers are best served with impartial, balanced, and helpful advice, some of which, at least for a cruise lines as well liked as Celebrity, would be positive. Your advice rarely offers anything positive.

 

Your response is typical of the "go elsewhere if you don't like Celebrity poster" that I was referring to. It is also simply not true.

[ghstudio]

I think there is a difference when one is posting in a thread of general nature vs a thread asking for specifics. For example, if someone starts a thread asking for opinions of Silk Harvest on the Equinox, one would expect unbiased remarks....after all, what would one learn if they only got "oh, it's great like all the celebrity restaurants" type of responses. Similarly, "how noisy are the deck 9 cabins" calls for real life experience....not "all celebrity cabins are blissfully quiet". There are also threads asking "will my teens like celebrity...did I pick the wrong cruise line" which calls for some honest answers. MDR food questions are mixed, as you would expect since there is a variation in what folks expect and like. And so on.....

 

I don't think I've seen very many recent threads that didn't give a somewhat balanced view in response to a question....and the few that seem unbalanced seem to be unbalanced in an honest way....for example, threads on Blu seem to be very postive; threads on Celebrity's computer systems are less positive (is that a positive way to say it :) )? Individual posts may be overly positive or overly negative, but if the posts are balanced, it's not all that hard to get the drift of the responses.

[nycmode]

I don't mind seeing people with dissenting opinions. Sometimes I find it hard to believe when all the opinions are on the positive side ... I do like to see/hear about the negatives as well, just so I can form a balanced picture in my mind. But if I see a troll, I'll avoid them! (or fight them, cuz I'm a troll hunter muahahaha :D)

[jmps]

Here is a positive.

 

My wife and I sailed on the Equinox out of Rome this last October for our anniversary.

 

This past week we were on the Carnival Legend with our girls. The Equinox was in port with us twice. My wife started crying when she saw the Equinox because she loved that cruise experience so much. She started crying again when she saw the Equinox sail away.

[SixOneTwo]

Years ago I learned about the 3-11 Rule. That is, if a customer is satisfied, they will tell three of their friends. If they are dissatisfied, they will tell eleven. Humans, I think (and I'm no psychologist) tend to linger on the bad experiences. I'm not saying this is right, and I certainly don't encourage the negativity, it's just something that seems to be the case. It would be interesting to do a study of just the main topic of each discussion here and see what statistics come up.

 

Secondly, in this tech age, we are now able to complain about or request correction of a problem instantaneously. We've all heard the stories about people who have had bad experiences who use Twitter and Facebook to report the situation to whoever will listen. Sometimes this is good, but many times we should all take a deep breath and count to ten before we set into motion something that can't be taken back. We expect that businesses are monitoring these new media and will react.

 

Finally, in this economy everything is taking a back seat to economics in almost every area of service. Staff is being reduced, quality of goods is diminishing, perks and extras are fewer. And it's costing us more. Until things brighten up financially, we should anticipate this will be the case and temper our expectations.

 

I think these three things in combination make people complain more and louder.

 

These are just general observations and aren't limited to vacationing, they really seem to reflect what's going on in the world. Personally, I'd like to see the complaining, the instant feedback and the unreasonable expectations be replaced with common sense. But we all know how uncommon that truly is.

[Waihekean]

Hear, hear!!!

 

Following that; it would stand to reason that a lot of people feel powerless with what is happening around them due to the economic situation.

So, maybe the more positive people take it in their stride and the negative inclined people start shouting! i.e. complaining loudly:(

[connerjc]

On 11/11/11 we began our first Celebrity cruise on the Century starting in Hawaii and ending in Sydney on 11/30/11. Frankly, I was a little worried after reading some of the reviews/comments about the ship. It is an older ship but I needn't have had any reservations. From beginning to end it was enjoyable. Staff we had contact with were friendly, helpful and hard-working. Obviously not everything was perfect but I didn't have that expectation so this was probably the most enjoyable of our 19 (I think) cruises. The dining room food was my least favorite thing. However, the food itself was not necessarily bad; just didn't care for many of the offerings. Ship was clean, activities varied and numerous, rooms as expected, food venues plentiful. My fresh-squeezed orange juice was ready every morning and cheerfully presented to me by Nester, a very pleasant person. Room service was timely - even on one of the formal nights. Cruise Director Ian was wonderful! In short, whatever we asked for, we got. Truthfully can't think of a big negative except that I can't afford to cruise with Celebrity exclusively. As for design, decor, etc. complaints - to each his own. I don't stop visiting my friends because I dislike the design/decor of their home. It's all about the people and the experience - for me at least. Not everything has to be "perfect" for us to enjoy life. Mistakes are made and sometimes people are short-tempered, even on our cruises, and perhaps if we try to understand that, most of us can still enjoy our vacations. Happy cruising.

[boogs]

Your response is typical of the "go elsewhere if you don't like Celebrity poster" that I was referring to. It is also simply not true.

 

I didn't see that swsfrail wrote anything about "go elsewhere". However, my curiosity got the better of me I did take a look at your recent posts and they all focus primarily on the negative, hardly on anything positive. Sorry, but I think swsfrail won this round.

 

I've sailed on a variety of cruise lines, and by far Celebrity is my favorite. They may not get everything right, but what they do get right vastly overshadows what they do wrong. Like connerjc wrote, the main thing I don't like about Celebrity is that I can't afford to cruise with them as much as I would like to.

[bilgeboyPa]

It is amazing what some people expect from Celebrity. I have been on 11 Celebrity cruises and have LOVED each and everyone. The food is great, the rooms are always clean and if you greet and treat the crew like human beings instead of indentured servants, you will get to know some terrific people who WILL bend over backwards for you and probably have a friend for life.

I don't get the complainers. If they are eating that well everyday and have their every whim granted in everyday life, then I doubt they would be on a cruise in the first place. Lighten up you Debby Downers!!

 

Jeff

[beachgirl5]

I didn't see that swsfrail wrote anything about "go elsewhere". However, my curiosity got the better of me I did take a look at your recent posts and they all focus primarily on the negative, hardly on anything positive. Sorry, but I think swsfrail won this round.

 

I've sailed on a variety of cruise lines, and by far Celebrity is my favorite. They may not get everything right, but what they do get right vastly overshadows what they do wrong. Like connerjc wrote, the main thing I don't like about Celebrity is that I can't afford to cruise with them as much as I would like to.

 

I don't normally feel a need to get involved in these type discussions, but in this case I feel the need to add my two cents for what little it's worth. Upon reviewing pamstravel's post I mostly found well though out, constructive criticisms as well as general information. I don't think that cruise critic is the place to count who won a round as though we are in a battle or fight.

[nycmode]

I am patiently waiting for someone to start a positive thread about Celebrity's web site?

 

Is that even possible lol :D

 

You got me there, I loved nearly everything on our Celebrity cruise ... but man, that website is annoying!

[Fixit2010]

I agree with the first post.

Things do change and yes costs are cut here and there.

 

However I think Celebrity is a 5 star line and certainly worthy of that acclaim.

 

When you go on holiday/vacation, there will always be something that goes wrong or unplanned. These things happen, that is called life. It is not the fault of the cruise line, its probably karma.

 

If you go through life moaning and complaining at everything, then at some point karma is going to bite you in the arse and show you when its really time to moan. Appreciate the positives what you do have, what the ship/staff does well and look on the bright side.

 

Having tried other lines, I am happy to keep my business with Celebrity.

[Compass Rose Monica]

Positivity for Celebrity!

Monica

[loosygoosy]

I have to say that I have not read ALL of the posts on this thread but, based on the first post, WE ARE AVID X FANS. I agree that sometimes things go wrong...but our experience has always been positive.

It's not always about what's wrong (even if it is only your opinion) it's about how it is handled. We have always been more than satisfied with our treatment on X.

We will continue to be loyal to X and will always follow our own rule about travel: You get what you give. Be kind. Be appreciative. Be honest. Be patient. After all, it's supposed to be a holiday!!

[junglejane]

Let me start by saying that in 13 cruises we have never had a bad cruise. (We had one that was a little disappointing, which was a 2 night repositioning cruise on the Dawn Princess, but I considered that an aberration and attributed the shortcomings to the quick turnaround.) When I review a cruise I definitely try to focus on the positives, although I also mention things that I either think (1) could've been improved, or (2) that IMHO another line does better. For example, when I reviewed our summer cruise on the Equinox, I was overall very enthusiastic about the Solstice class ships (I can't wait to return) but had to admit I was disappointed in the MDR.

 

I think some people get very "invested" in their cruise line of choice, and take it personally when someone strongly criticizes that line. I don't really understand that reaction. I feel that when I read a review, I can quickly assess whether that person is someone whose opinion impresses me. I always discount the review that is a nonstop litany of over the top complaints. Plus, I never make too much of a single review but look at overall trends. If the overall trend is to complain about a particular ship, especially if it's repeated complaints from different posters about the same issue on the same ship, then I start to be concerned.

 

I am very impressed by Celebrity and will happily book another cruise as soon as timing and finances permit (maybe Baltic cruise in 2013? It could happen. :)). I don't lose sleep over the occasional negative, whiny review, and don't think anyone else should, either.

[geospyder]

We’ve only cruised on Celebrity once (Constellation May 2010) and unfortunately the ship had Norovirus (we didn't catch it). But, we were so impressed with the ship and crew that we have booked two other Celebrity cruises. One departs in three weeks and the other next June. Guess you might say we’re positive with Celebrity :)

[fleckle]

I would not request either positivity or negativity, only honesty.

 

People should feel free to describe their experiences as they see them without being intimidated into believing that they are expected to agree with you or with me.

[Onessa]

. . . I think some people get very "invested" in their cruise line of choice, and take it personally when someone strongly criticizes that line. I don't really understand that reaction. I feel that when I read a review, I can quickly assess whether that person is someone whose opinion impresses me. I always discount the review that is a nonstop litany of over the top complaints. Plus, I never make too much of a single review but look at overall trends. If the overall trend is to complain about a particular ship, especially if it's repeated complaints from different posters about the same issue on the same ship, then I start to be concerned. . . . .

 

I concur, I pay attention to reviews when I am booking, but take the the posters' comments in context. I pay attention to things that I care about -- if the poster is complaining about that "as a quaduple diamond with platinum sprinkes cruiser on this cruiseline and I am SO disappointed that the bartender in the concierge club crushed the olive with too much force when making their martini and that it "ruined" their entire vacation" I just don't care.

 

I cruise for itinerary (#1) - #2 clean and comfortable accomodations, #3 a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. We've cruised X, RCCI, NCL, Princess and Regency -- all trips had good points and bad points.

[anniegb]

I would not request either positivity or negativity, only honesty.

 

People should feel free to describe their experiences as they see them without being intimidated into believing that they are expected to agree with you or with me.

 

100% agree.

 

Annie