Do Celebrity Care – NO!

[NLH Arizona]

Blueboro, the problem is, it's the same Mexican fare, same Indian, same pasta etc. And remember, not everyone likes the ethnic fare offered. I feel for those who are vegan or have dietary issues. And then there's the poor dessert offerings in the buffet. It's either jello, some kind of mystery puddings or cookies. But desserts, IMHO, have always been a weakness. Thank heaven for really good fruit selections.

I think the problem with vegans or others that have dietary restrictions, is that the cruise line cooks for the masses, not the one-offs (for no better word). If someone is vegan or has dietary restrictions, I would suggest that they contact the cruise line before they cruise and advised them of their issues, not just expect to find the items they can eat in the MDR or buffet. From what I have read, the cruise line does handle these requests quite admirably; sometimes going above and beyond to make sure the passenger has a good meal.

 

As far as the sugar free/gluten free, etc. desserts, I can understand why they don't go to a lot of time, man power and money making them, as the number of passengers that eat them are very limited and it would take away from the time, man power and money that they would need to make regular desserts for the masses. In saying that, I don't particularly like the desserts in the buffett, with the exception of the cookies, but I see a lot of others eating them, so someone must like them.

[NLH Arizona]

You may not want cereal but that doesn't mean nobody does. It'd be pretty boring if everyone just wanted eggs.

 

In any case, no other mainstream cruise line is so poor as you claim it is expensive, that they have such a limited variety.

I'm sure that if people put on their comment cards or sent a message to dining services requesting additional cereal and the cruise line gets enough comments they would add additional types of cereal. If they don't get comments, then they probably assume that they have the right mix of cereal. Just like land restaurants, they are not going to serve something that doesn't sell well, so if only a few want, say coco puffs, they probably aren't going to stock it, because it would go to waste before they used up their supply.

[ariawoman]

To the OP, yes Celebrity stopped putting flowers on the tables in the MDR at least a year or two ago.

 

The review you have written could have been my 2011 Summit cruise. If we had never sailed Celebrity before we might have not gone back. My DH sent at least 3 entrees back on different evenings in the MDR. One night almost everyone at the table got the pork chop and none of us could eat it. When the maitre d came by and asked if there was something wrong we told him the meat was tough and inedible. He just shrugged his shoulders.

 

I am so sorry you had such a bad cruise experience and also that Celebrity has not responded to your letters and e-mails.

 

CruisingChick -

 

My apologies if you've already expanded but you mentioned your 2011 summit cruise being a bit off....yet you went on her in 2012 and 2013. Was your experience better those years? Just curious as I'm going on her in october. I was on board for a ship inspection yesterday and the filet mignon was incredible, so hopefully they've gotten their act together from your 2011 experience.

 

Also curious, how were you able to look past the bad sailing and rebook the same ship? Many would be turned off. Just curious since it's not all that typical of folks to have a bad experience then go back to the exact same ship.

[ariawoman]

You may not want cereal but that doesn't mean nobody does. It'd be pretty boring if everyone just wanted eggs.

 

In any case, no other mainstream cruise line is so poor as you claim it is expensive, that they have such a limited variety.

 

Waffles. I want waffles. Every day of the cruise. YUM LOL.

[cruise love]

do you remember who you spoke with? or who replied to your email? .. we got told ..no.. flat..

we are not members of the captains club because we have not cruised with celebrity before.. although we have cruised RCCL, and it appears that they are operated by the same people?? ..

we have emailed the address on the Australian ( .com.au) website, but are waiting for a reply.

 

Thank you for your e-mail. We apologize for any delay in our response.

 

We are sorry to hear you will be unable to join us on the Celebrity Solstice sailing on April 11, 2014. In order to make the changes you desire you will need to contact us directly at 1-800-760-0654. We are unable to make changes that affect a reservation financially by e-mail correspondence.

 

As you are not canceling your reservation, just moving sail dates, your onboard credit for booking onboard and the payments you have already made will remain on your reservation. You will also keep the same reservation number

Carrie Bottomley

Celebrity Cruises Captains Club

 

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

 

Call: 1-800-760-0654, 8 am-11 pm EST, Monday-Friday; 9 am-8 pm EST Saturday-Sunday

(Outside the United States or Canada: +1-316-554-5961)

Visit our Web site: http://www.celebrity.com/captainsclub

E-mail us: captainsclub@celebrity.com

Write us: Captains Club

P.O. Box 026052

Miami, FL 33102-6052

 

This is copy of the body of the letter that was emailed to me.I have never heard of not being able to transfer bookings although sometimes there is a fee

 

Cruise Love

[MicCanberra]

Waffles. I want waffles. Every day of the cruise. YUM LOL.

You will have to fight Texed for them.:eek:

BTW, I like them too.:D

[MicCanberra]

Thank you for your e-mail. We apologize for any delay in our response.

 

We are sorry to hear you will be unable to join us on the Celebrity Solstice sailing on April 11, 2014. In order to make the changes you desire you will need to contact us directly at 1-800-760-0654. We are unable to make changes that affect a reservation financially by e-mail correspondence.

 

As you are not canceling your reservation, just moving sail dates, your onboard credit for booking onboard and the payments you have already made will remain on your reservation. You will also keep the same reservation number

Carrie Bottomley

Celebrity Cruises Captains Club

 

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

 

Call: 1-800-760-0654, 8 am-11 pm EST, Monday-Friday; 9 am-8 pm EST Saturday-Sunday

(Outside the United States or Canada: +1-316-554-5961)

Visit our Web site: www.celebrity.com/captainsclub

E-mail us: captainsclub@celebrity.com

Write us: Captains Club

P.O. Box 026052

Miami, FL 33102-6052

 

This is copy of the body of the letter that was emailed to me.I have never heard of not being able to transfer bookings although sometimes there is a fee

 

Cruise Love

This email seems fair, but it is a transfer and not a cancellation, the terminology being used may be the issue.:D

[Texed]

Waffles. I want waffles. Every day of the cruise. YUM LOL.

 

I must say that you have impeccable taste. ;)

[MicCanberra]

I must say that you have impeccable taste. ;)

Waffle eating competition starting soon, stay tuned.:D

[ozzycruiser15]

we have a couple in mind for Feb next year before the season ends here.. but didn't want to fall in love with a cruise if it was not an option to transfer.. I guess we could look closer..

thank you for the advice

[ozzycruiser15]

thank you, cruise love!

 

we will give this number a try :)

[ozzycruiser15]

Thank you for your e-mail. We apologize for any delay in our response.

 

We are sorry to hear you will be unable to join us on the Celebrity Solstice sailing on April 11, 2014. In order to make the changes you desire you will need to contact us directly at 1-800-760-0654. We are unable to make changes that affect a reservation financially by e-mail correspondence.

 

As you are not canceling your reservation, just moving sail dates, your onboard credit for booking onboard and the payments you have already made will remain on your reservation. You will also keep the same reservation number

Carrie Bottomley

Celebrity Cruises Captains Club

 

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

 

Call: 1-800-760-0654, 8 am-11 pm EST, Monday-Friday; 9 am-8 pm EST Saturday-Sunday

(Outside the United States or Canada: +1-316-554-5961)

Visit our Web site: http://www.celebrity.com/captainsclub

E-mail us: captainsclub@celebrity.com

Write us: Captains Club

P.O. Box 026052

Miami, FL 33102-6052

 

This is copy of the body of the letter that was emailed to me.I have never heard of not being able to transfer bookings although sometimes there is a fee

 

Cruise Love

thank you "Cruise Love"

we will give this contact a try!

[MicCanberra]

thank you "Cruise Love"

we will give this contact a try!

 

Good luck.:D

[purrtriciacruise]

I am taken back at the service I also had with Celebrity. I was booked on the Xpedition in June when the trips were cancelled due to negligence on following the regulations of the Galapagos Islands. Celebrity promised publicly to match our price for the same cabin and to also give a 25% discount on the same trip if re-booked to go in the next two years. Now Celebrity says my price was too good and they cannot match it. The 25% discount only applies if I travel in the next year, not two. And the 25% credit is based on the low price I paid before they they cannot match. I lost my airfare on this cruise also. Celebrity offered to re-book me from the $7000 price I paid originally to now only $10000 for the same room and cruise (13 months after my original sailing date). Great 25% discount there! I should not have to pay more to go on the same cruise but that is not how Celebrity sees it.

[Muushka]

I didn't read the entire thread but I wanted to make a comment.

 

If you overlook the complaints of the OP and just think about the way Celebrity handles complaints, that, to me, is the issue.

 

I also had a very bad experience on an X cruise once (along with the majority of the passengers on our cruise). It was the way X handled debarkation. We were stacked up on the gangplanks (or whatever you call that area that is neither on the ship nor in the building) for a couple of hours while we did not have a clue why.

 

I wrote 2 letters and a third to someone higher up and called a couple of times to have someone address what X would do in the future to avoid such a mess. I never heard one word from them. That is not any way to run a business.

 

We decided to greatly lower our expectations when debarking from Celebrity rather than switch to another cruise line. If we get off in less than 2 hours, we are happy.

 

We did DCL (a family planned cruise) in June. I wish the people at Celebrity could spend a few debarkation's with DCL to see how to handle them.

 

Please, Celebrity, if someone takes the time to write 3 letters and make 2 phone calls, at least follow up with them. Especially if you have never heard a negative peep out of them and these passengers have written to say something positive about a cruise experience (amazing, they got right back to me for that!)

[Priya2]

I didn't read the entire thread but I wanted to make a comment.

 

If you overlook the complaints of the OP and just think about the way Celebrity handles complaints, that, to me, is the issue.

 

I also had a very bad experience on an X cruise once (along with the majority of the passengers on our cruise). It was the way X handled debarkation. We were stacked up on the gangplanks (or whatever you call that area that is neither on the ship nor in the building) for a couple of hours while we did not have a clue why.

 

I wrote 2 letters and a third to someone higher up and called a couple of times to have someone address what X would do in the future to avoid such a mess. I never heard one word from them. That is not any way to run a business.

 

We decided to greatly lower our expectations when debarking from Celebrity rather than switch to another cruise line. If we get off in less than 2 hours, we are happy.

 

We did DCL (a family planned cruise) in June. I wish the people at Celebrity could spend a few debarkation's with DCL to see how to handle them.

 

Please, Celebrity, if someone takes the time to write 3 letters and make 2 phone calls, at least follow up with them. Especially if you have never heard a negative peep out of them and these passengers have written to say something positive about a cruise experience (amazing, they got right back to me for that!)

I agree that is very poor customer service. Celebrity clearly need to address the inadequacy in their 'after sales service'. :(

[purrtriciacruise]

I didn't read the entire thread but I wanted to make a comment.

 

If you overlook the complaints of the OP and just think about the way Celebrity handles complaints, that, to me, is the issue.

 

I also had a very bad experience on an X cruise once (along with the majority of the passengers on our cruise). It was the way X handled debarkation. We were stacked up on the gangplanks (or whatever you call that area that is neither on the ship nor in the building) for a couple of hours while we did not have a clue why.

 

I wrote 2 letters and a third to someone higher up and called a couple of times to have someone address what X would do in the future to avoid such a mess. I never heard one word from them. That is not any way to run a business.

 

We decided to greatly lower our expectations when debarking from Celebrity rather than switch to another cruise line. If we get off in less than 2 hours, we are happy.

 

We did DCL (a family planned cruise) in June. I wish the people at Celebrity could spend a few debarkation's with DCL to see how to handle them.

 

Please, Celebrity, if someone takes the time to write 3 letters and make 2 phone calls, at least follow up with them. Especially if you have never heard a negative peep out of them and these passengers have written to say something positive about a cruise experience (amazing, they got right back to me for that!)

 

Very true - I'm more upset over how I have been treated AFTER the cancellation than over the fact of the cruise being cancelled.

[cle-guy]

I think it's because of different laws that apply...

 

One example I seem to have picked up on here, is UK consumer laws require cruise line to issue partial refunds if a port of call is missed for any reason - and not just the port fees and taxes, but additional to cover the missed experience. in the US, no such refund will be issued. Thus the cruise line needs to accrue for these costs of UK business practices where in the US they don't, so this higher fares and stricter refund policies that allow them to have the money to cover the extra costs of following the foreign laws and rules.

 

I've run a retail business with branches in the US and UK and can tell you there are lots of little variances in business practices, customs and laws that add quite a bit of expense to doing business in the UK versus the US. It's partly why Starbucks in the US costs $3 for a quad grande Americano, while the UK its GBP 4.00 or more like $6 US. It's the same coffee in the same cup but different economics apply.

 

In the US it's seen as buying a ticket to board a ship, in the UK its seen as a ticket on a ship, and so many minutes in each port, so if a port is missed, the purchased product wasn't delivered and a pro-rated refund due, in the US, you just get a promise to board a ship and disembark at the end - what happens in between are anciliary and extra bonuses even though the cruiser assumes its expected.

[MicCanberra]

One example I seem to have picked up on here, is UK consumer laws require cruise line to issue partial refunds if a port of call is missed for any reason - and not just the port fees and taxes, but additional to cover the missed experience. in the US, no such refund will be issued. Thus the cruise line needs to accrue for these costs of UK business practices where in the US they don't, so this higher fares and stricter refund policies that allow them to have the money to cover the extra costs of following the foreign laws and rules.

 

I've run a retail business with branches in the US and UK and can tell you there are lots of little variances in business practices, customs and laws that add quite a bit of expense to doing business in the UK versus the US. It's partly why Starbucks in the US costs $3 for a quad grande Americano, while the UK its GBP 4.00 or more like $6 US. It's the same coffee in the same cup but different economics apply.

 

In the US it's seen as buying a ticket to board a ship, in the UK its seen as a ticket on a ship, and so many minutes in each port, so if a port is missed, the purchased product wasn't delivered and a pro-rated refund due, in the US, you just get a promise to board a ship and disembark at the end - what happens in between are anciliary and extra bonuses even though the cruiser assumes its expected.

A really sound arguement and explains it quite simply why prices vary from place to place. Thanks.:D

[MicCanberra]

Complaint handling is a specialised area nowadays and too many companies ignore this. Perhaps X should start to listen closer and invest in a better website and a better complaint department.:D

[Ma Bell]

It's also true that people complain a lot more than they used to and they also want compensation for even minor inconveniences. There is an attitude of entitlement that is staggering. It is evident on these boards as well. I can't believe some of the things people can find to complain about. Even when the problem is of their own making, they expect to be "compensated".

[MicCanberra]

It's also true that people complain a lot more than they used to and they also want compensation for even minor inconveniences. There is an attitude of entitlement that is staggering. It is evident on these boards as well. I can't believe some of the things people can find to complain about. Even when the problem is of their own making, they expect to be "compensated".

Yes, I heard a story of a person who did a ships tour, didn't like it, complained heavily and was asking for compensation. The reason they didn't like it was that they thought the time at stops was too limited (for toilet breaks and sightseeing) and they were stressed because of possibly missing the bus at each of these stops.:D

[NLH Arizona]

Yes, I heard a story of a person who did a ships tour, didn't like it, complained heavily and was asking for compensation. The reason they didn't like it was that they thought the time at stops was too limited (for toilet breaks and sightseeing) and they were stressed because of possibly missing the bus at each of these stops.:D

I think the problem is that Celebrity has rewarded these people with some kind of compensation and then these people pass along what they got to others. Celebrity needs to stop rewarding these people for trival complaints.

[Priya2]

I think the problem is that Celebrity has rewarded these people with some kind of compensation and then these people pass along what they got to others. Celebrity needs to stop rewarding these people for trival complaints.

I don't if that has happened or if it is a myth, but several accounts on this thread suggest that Celebrity have not even replied to some reasonable cruisers who have written raising reasonable complaints and sometimes simply feedback when things could have been better. That is pretty poor customer service.

[celebrity]

It's also true that people complain a lot more than they used to and they also want compensation for even minor inconveniences. There is an attitude of entitlement that is staggering. It is evident on these boards as well. I can't believe some of the things people can find to complain about. Even when the problem is of their own making, they expect to be "compensated".

 

As a Customer Service Manager for over 20 years, I can personally attest that our clients indeed complain a lot more often than in the past. We make every effort to encourage communication when anything goes awry and so it boggles my mind that clients will complain when our service has been completed yet never uttered a word when issues initially arise. I prefer to address concerns head on to avoid further disappointment.

Every client is given my name, title, office and cell phone number as well as my email address yet many do not reach out to me until all is said and done. There is little I can do after the fact other than offer them free service when I would have preferred that their transaction ran like clockwork.

More often than not, the complaints are the result of unrealistic expectations and a lack of communication.

Word to the wise: if you have a beef onboard, contact the appropriate party on the ship rather than hoping for a resolution after your vacation has concluded.