Celebrity Cruises Discrimination?

[ONT-CA]

... One time though 5 or 6 cruises ago, one of the couple we sat with were complaining at dinner on how they were being discriminated against by passengers and crew onboard because they were a gay couple. Our table sat 12 people and every night we would here another injustice they suffered because they were a same sex couple, but no one else had same experience.

 

Wearing our gayness on our sleeve can be a bid disconcerting to staff. They can and will figure it out in time. Reminds me of the TV program "Little Britain" where the character insisted that he was "the only gay in the village, you see. Yes, the only gay, I am the only gay..."

[Phxazzcruisers]

My partner and I are doing our first ever cruise in Nov 2013 for my 50th on the Celebrity Equinox from Barcelona. I have to be honest I am really hoping that we do not get looked upon as the "gay couple" . We travel overseas at least 2-3 times a year and have always been worried cruises may not accept gay people and being left on a 12nt cruise with bad attitude of staff worries me a bit.

 

Peter :confused:

I have posted earlier, but will repeat. We love Celebrity and have never had any type of problem. Our beds are always together and teh staff have always gone out of their way to be accepting and more than helpful. Note also, that Celebrity just won an award for best line on a Gay/Lesbian/TG cruise site called Meet Me Onboard.

[Brennivan]

We were totally discriminated on the Summit in March of 2012. A stateroom attendant came straight out and called us "******s."

 

Being that it was the last sea day and we were returning to port, I made sure he enjoyed a very large and bloody lump on the side of his head.

 

Security came and did nothing. This was on the CC Deck.

 

We left the ship the next morning in SJU.

 

Toodles!

[Rotterdam]

All British men are gay.....(so I heard)!

 

We never had a problem on Cunard regarding beds. They were always together when we boarded. I really wonder how much of a stink this couple made. There are polite ways & over the top ways of dealing with these issues. The steward may in fact have had cultural issues. This is a bit of a surprise, as ALL staff is advised/taught about the different types of pax who may be on board. I'll admit the tipping part is a bit odd. We don't tip until the last formal night. Why would anyone tip before you get the service?

[JonAlone]

We were totally discriminated on the Summit in March of 2012. A stateroom attendant came straight out and called us "******s."

 

Being that it was the last sea day and we were returning to port, I made sure he enjoyed a very large and bloody lump on the side of his head.

 

Security came and did nothing. This was on the CC Deck.

 

We left the ship the next morning in SJU.

 

Toodles!

 

I had the opposite experience.. after being seated at a dinner table with some Born Again Christians who didnt appreciate I couldnt pray to Jesus before the meal ( I am Jewish) and then questioned me why I was travelling solo (and then told me how God looks upon deviants) - Celebrity changed me to an Aqua Class cabin so I could eat with friends in Blu... OK .. The change was on the ship and not sanctioned by head office in Miami, but the staff were doing their utmost to help me despite Head Office saying I couldnt eat in Blu !

There are gay drinks parties every night in Martini Bar on Solstice Class if requested as a FOD meet (or LGBT) signposted at reception.

I have never had a problem with 2 beds together on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean and nver had a problem with cabin, bar or table staff with Celebrity currently my cruise line of choice...

 

The transatlantics going east in spring are always a blast, even travelling solo! (i think even 99% of the passengers are more educated and accepting too - dont forget Atlantis use Celebrity for their private charters! and Pied Piper use them frequently too for TAs)

[cruzeluver]

We were totally discriminated on the Summit in March of 2012. A stateroom attendant came straight out and called us "******s."

 

Being that it was the last sea day and we were returning to port, I made sure he enjoyed a very large and bloody lump on the side of his head.

 

Security came and did nothing. This was on the CC Deck.

 

We left the ship the next morning in SJU.

 

Toodles!

 

If this story is true (and I have a hard time believing it is), you were no better than the steward. Shame you weren't arrested for assault.

[keithm]

If this story is true (and I have a hard time believing it is), you were no better than the steward. Shame you weren't arrested for assault.

Yes, really! I would have gone to the purser's desk & had the auto tip removed(you can on Cunard)given the $$ to everyone else & then filed a formal complaint with the "hotel" mgr.

[downundermatt]

Hi Peter and Matt

 

We have just booked on the same cruise as you, and are seasoned Celebrity guys so I know you will have no problems - please Mykanos if on the itinerary so if our fellow customers can't cope with Gays then they are on the wrong sailing.

 

See you on board

 

Matt (and Juan) from Sydney

[mnywmn1]

We've taken many Celebrity cruises and have always been treated well. On our last Cunard QE cruise, the waiter in the Commodore tried to steer us away from the FOD meeting. Perhaps because we were both feminine. No other problems, ever, on Cunard.

[High Seas Texan]

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 encountered similar rudeness on Celebrity a couple of years ago on the INFINITY to Alaska. I was in the Penthouse, and the first "butler" assigned to me was unacceptable and did nothing, even walking away from me when asked to assist with small tasks. I had him replace before sailing. The attitude was so thick I actually considered leaving the ship before send off. The response from Celebrity management, even with the intervention of m yTA and the local Celebrity rep was just insulting. I will never sail a Celebrity ship or any under their umbrella again. Sad you guys had to experience the same thing with this line. On the plus side, I have had nothing but good experience with Holland and Carnival.

[cruisingourmet]

I have taken 4 cruises (3 Trans Atlantic) with Celebrity. Always with a partner, younger guy and beds always together and never ANY ISSUE.

 

In fact our stewards were always SUPER NICE and even made little towel doggies and put on our beds with chocolates every night.

 

I suppose you could get a bad steward, but I NEVER HAVE..

 

Usually 30-40 gays on most crossings and no one else reported any issues at the martini bar for the daily FOD gatherings either.

 

Celebrity has spoiled me for any other line and I love the classy ambiance and more sophisticated passengers, who have been very cool and never made any disparaging looks or remarks about same sex couples.

 

It seems THIS WAS A VERY ISOLATED SITUATION...

[iconoclast]

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.

 

I keep reading comments like this and find it amusing that anyone thinks that poorly paid crew members who are sending probably 90% of their paychecks home every month to a family in the Third World are going to be insulted by an extra $20. If you don't want to tip above and beyond the gratuities that the cruise line adds automatically, just say so. These people clean up after you, pamper you and generally make the cruise experience luxurious. I find the "recommended gratuity" ridiculously small and I have known enough people who work these menial service jobs that I can assure you, they are NOT joking in the crew quarters about the big tippers...they are sharing info, so that a trusted friend on staff knows who to fawn over. This is not an art or a science. One does not require a Ph.D to pick up your underpants, and there is not a lot of professional pride in this.

[RevCo0219]

A few years ago my partner and I sailed Summit to Bermuda. A homophobic gym attendant made an outrageous comment to me ( we are mixed race couple) that was so over the top it left me speechless.

 

Long story short, the shis hotel Director and HR Director freaked, kept him below, comped my partner, and I threatened suit and got refund.

 

I was told "we've ever seen anything like this on ur ship..." And now I read this, which took place 18 months later.

 

I'm no Celebrity fan. Cunard, on the QM2 this last July, on the other hand, were delightful.

[Mersey Beat]

My partner and I are doing our first ever cruise in Nov 2013 for my 50th on the Celebrity Equinox from Barcelona. I have to be honest I am really hoping that we do not get looked upon as the "gay couple" . We travel overseas at least 2-3 times a year and have always been worried cruises may not accept gay people and being left on a 12nt cruise with bad attitude of staff worries me a bit.

 

Peter :confused:

 

Looks like we are on the same cruise Peter. We have been on many cruises and really only had a problem once on RC. Celebrity have been fine. We shall be having the FOD gatherings in the Martini Bar. See you there!

 

Peter ( yes another one)

[chicagopaul]

We've cruised on Celebrity twice and it is my new favorite cruise line. You won't catch me on anything else anytime soon. We have an 11 night and a 5 night planned in the next couple of months.

 

We've never had any problems on the ship. Our stewards were always very nice. Every morning we have breakfast delivered to our balcony and have never received a bad or questionable look.

 

I'm sure there are always those bad apples out there but they're in every large and small city across the world and there is nothing we can do about it.

 

Don't worry at all about Celebrity. You'll have an amazing time, with excellent service and be around a great class of people. You don't have to worry at all :-)

[Roy&Adrian]

You'll find homophobes everywhere.

I'm surprised the staff are like that. They see new people every 7-14 days and they should see that us gays are usually tidier and less demanding than the families (OK, we are - I can't say the same for you lot!). And as we know, once they get to know us, people's attitudes can change.

It's usually the other passenger's attitudes which can spoil a cruise. On our second night of our first cruise, we shared a table with a family from Warrington and a couple from Australia. The Australians we great and we saw them around the ship a number of times. The family were uptight and barely spoke to us. Fortunately, as the cruise went on, we realised they were the exception.

On a Queen Mary Trans Atlantic, one couple complained about the FOD getting their own section of the Commodore Club - for a couple of hours a day!

Apart from that, we've been fortunate. Some people are just natural born haters - to be pitied, if I could feel anything for them.