Celebrity Discouraging CC gatherings?

[K.T.B.]

We had one on our November cruise. It was at 10:00am on the first port day. It was quite embarrassing; there were 3 or 4 CC members and probably 7 or 8 officers, including the Captain. I realize that it was bad timing, but if attendance is that small at others as well, I don't think I would blame them for not wanting to do them.

 

That was the same time as ours on Summit in early February. My wfie and I already had an excursion planned for that time (8:30-11:30), so we were unable to attend. We were slightly disappointed.

[twosit]

This is the post that supposedly got everyone stirred up and necessitated coming to the main boards with the title "Celebrity Discouraging CC Gatherings"

 

 

I admire the organization of activities and hope they will come to fruition. On our last cruise in December, there was a conversation with some of the Celebrity staff about the expectations of Cruise Critic members wanting to organize so many events and how it was becoming more difficult to accommodate them.

 

"There are many things that can be done without involving staff, but they seemed to be concerned about things like special luncheons, bar crawls and even submitting names for bridge tours. They do have lists of Captain's Club members and instructions from corporate as to how to choose people for tours.

Also, this is at the discretion of the Captain.

 

I have hesitated to even mention this but as a long time Cruise Critic member I do think we have to be careful that we don't expect too much as there is a ship full of passengers who don't have any idea that there is such a group and they are entitled to be treated just as well as we are."

 

As you can see, I was just expressing "my" opinion that we should be considerate of staff and crew when requesting multiple "special events" involving larger numbers of staff and using facilities that may otherwise be closed.

 

I never said, they were "discouraging" anything, just that it was a simple conversation where they showed "concern" that it was becoming more difficult to meet expectations.

 

I clicked on your past posts just to see what cruise you were on where this conversation might have taken place. It is possible that Celebrity is changing their attitude about supporting some of these events--it is also possible that this is a situation with one ship and one group of "top people" from that ship.

I assume this was on your Silhouette transtlantic cruise. We were on the Silhouette for two weeks in January. Since we are also going on the spring transatlantic, I was talking with the CD about the transatlantic. She did not sound positive about the December ta and mentioned she was not looking forward to the spring ta. I would assume this was not just her attitude--but coming from above.

I asked about getting some rooms for some of our Cruise Critic activities and she brought up the same issue which was mentioned earlier about groups having paid extra for things. I don't think I have ever noticed groups like that on transatlantics--the more fun activities they are offering the more people will sail them. It does Celebrity no good to sail with empty ships.

I don't see how the sail away party would be a negative for them at all--and I certainly wouldn't worry about cancelling any events--wait and see how they react to what you are requesting.

[bigbenboys]

From what I saw on one of threads was that the CC get togethers were turning into mini off ship excursions booking area. Many plan private excursions while on the Boards and use the time onboard to finalize plans and collect money.

 

At our CC get together on Millie sailing Jan 2013. People were finalizing their private shore excursions and collecting money. Also using the the stag mic to talk about their tours. One guy had 79 people booked on a tour at Komodo Island. Celebrity had changed the order of our stops in Indonesia. It had to do with customs. Celebrity told everyone on the cruise they could have some free internet time to change private tours. I'm not sure I would have been so nice. When you book private tours, that is the chance you take. Richard

[Orator]

I clicked on your past posts just to see what cruise you were on where this conversation might have taken place. It is possible that Celebrity is changing their attitude about supporting some of these events--it is also possible that this is a situation with one ship and one group of "top people" from that ship.

I assume this was on your Silhouette transtlantic cruise. We were on the Silhouette for two weeks in January. Since we are also going on the spring transatlantic, I was talking with the CD about the transatlantic. She did not sound positive about the December ta and mentioned she was not looking forward to the spring ta. I would assume this was not just her attitude--but coming from above.

I asked about getting some rooms for some of our Cruise Critic activities and she brought up the same issue which was mentioned earlier about groups having paid extra for things. I don't think I have ever noticed groups like that on transatlantics--the more fun activities they are offering the more people will sail them. It does Celebrity no good to sail with empty ships.

I don't see how the sail away party would be a negative for them at all--and I certainly wouldn't worry about cancelling any events--wait and see how they react to what you are requesting.

 

The CD on that cruise was new to the ship. Actually it was her first week. She stayed only a few weeks befor moving to another ship. I wouldn't draw any conclusions based on possible conversation. I was on that cruise and the one prior and they were both wonderful.

[twosit]

The CD on that cruise was new to the ship. Actually it was her first week. She stayed only a few weeks befor moving to another ship. I wouldn't draw any conclusions based on possible conversation. I was on that cruise and the one prior and they were both wonderful.

I meant Captain's Club hostess--not CD. Sorry that it is too late to edit my post.

[Orator]

I meant Captain's Club hostess--not CD. Sorry that it is too late to edit my post.

 

I'll be seeing her in a few weeks and will get the story. I've had a number of discussions with people in her position an they all appear to be overworked. They literally are expected to be everywhere at the same time. The last thing they need is more responsibility. There have been a number of threads on this topic.The Host/Hostess would not normally be involved with special events unless they were directly related to Captain's Club.

[twosit]

I'll be seeing her in a few weeks and will get the story. I've had a number of discussions with people in her position an they all appear to be overworked. They literally are expected to be everywhere at the same time. The last thing they need is more responsibility. There have been a number of threads on this topic.The Host/Hostess would not normally be involved with special events unless they were directly related to Captain's Club.

I totally agree they are overworked--the host/hostesses, as well as much more of the staff. I'm sure you know this, but the host/hostesses have the dual responsibility of selling future cruises too--much of the time.

In this particular instance I was not asking her for anything--I was just asking the name and contact information for the event coordinator.

[Lynnees]

Those that book actual groups on the ships pay for special events by selling X number of cabins prior to sailing.

 

Just because a person is a member of cruise critic, doesn't mean they should get special events and tie of the co-ordinator and other staffs time. That, to my way of thinking is cheeky. You aren't a special group, you have earned extra rooms etc. You are a bunch of people who signed up on an internet site and booked the same cruise.

 

Just because you are willing to tip extra, doesn't make it right for you to interfer with other people's enjoyment.

[FLsunshinegal]

The point of involving the events coordinator is so that the events requested can be approved, and if so, then they are scheduled so that the don't conflict or interfere other things, or other people's enjoyment. None of the cc activities that I've attended or organized have done so and I think cc members are all very aware of this. Most cc members are, or soon will be frequent cruisers who want to be sure that everyone has a great cruise.