What has happened to Celebrity?

[4774Papa]

We have done 7 Celebrity cruises in the past three years and have found the food, service and entertainment to be consistently excellent.

Offensive behavior by other passengers may happen. On our recent Infinity cruise we had serial smoking violations by Europeans staying in cabins next to us and one cabin over. Celebrity responded, but apparently the due process to prove the smoking is a high threshold. DW and I both saw people on those balconies smoking, but apparently, that is not enough to prove the violation, which I understand is a $2000 fine.

 

We still plan on more Celebrity cruises, but will ask for another cabin if we get the serial smokers again.

[Fouremco]

We have done 7 Celebrity cruises in the past three years and have found the food, service and entertainment to be consistently excellent.

Offensive behavior by other passengers may happen. On our recent Infinity cruise we had serial smoking violations by Europeans staying in cabins next to us and one cabin over. Celebrity responded, but apparently the due process to prove the smoking is a high threshold. DW and I both saw people on those balconies smoking, but apparently, that is not enough to prove the violation, which I understand is a $2000 fine.

 

We still plan on more Celebrity cruises, but will ask for another cabin if we get the serial smokers again.

Based on posts in other threads, action can be taken based on passengers' testimony, even if it a stern warning and not an immediate fine. I suppose it depends largely on the ship's crew and the extent to which they are interested in enforcing company policy.

 

I'd hate to think that their requirement for a higher threshold could lead to passengers photographing other passengers in breach of this or other rules, as that could potentially lead to far greater problems than the smoking itself.

[Despegue]

We have done 7 Celebrity cruises in the past three years and have found the food, service and entertainment to be consistently excellent.

Offensive behavior by other passengers may happen. On our recent Infinity cruise we had serial smoking violations by Europeans staying in cabins next to us and one cabin over. Celebrity responded, but apparently the due process to prove the smoking is a high threshold. DW and I both saw people on those balconies smoking, but apparently, that is not enough to prove the violation, which I understand is a $2000 fine.

 

We still plan on more Celebrity cruises, but will ask for another cabin if we get the serial smokers again.

 

And last cruise, I saw Americans shouting to the crew and keeping their baseball hats in the MDR :rolleyes:

 

Can we please refrain from Nationality bashing?!

 

Smoking on balconies is not allowed by Celebrity, and this for good safety reasons, It is however done by some passengers, not only Europeans. ( although we do have a lot of chain smokers, especially in Southern and Middle European countries.)

[Despegue]

Changes in the entertainment were very needed.

 

The entertainment was geared to seniors, not to the 30-40 age demographic that Celebrity aims to attract and to which we belong.

Face it, our age group is the future for the cruise line. There are still enough classical options available, but acapella groups are fine in a retirement home, not on a modern cruise ship.

 

That is not to say that I am a fan of several DJ's onboard. But a great party band like the Smart Casuals ( currently on Silhouette) is very welcome.

We do like the Philipino bands though, especially Caroussel and Kenosis!

 

I would like them to add some saxophone players to the entertainment lineup.

[20pluscruises]

Based on posts in other threads, action can be taken based on passengers' testimony, even if it a stern warning and not an immediate fine. I suppose it depends largely on the ship's crew and the extent to which they are interested in enforcing company policy.

 

I'd hate to think that their requirement for a higher threshold could lead to passengers photographing other passengers in breach of this or other rules, as that could potentially lead to far greater problems than the smoking itself.

 

Not sure the photos would even help...we took photos and videos of health hazard rules being breached....they didn't seem to care or even ask to have a copy.

[ghstudio]

Changes in the entertainment were very needed.

 

The entertainment was geared to seniors, not to the 30-40 age demographic that Celebrity aims to attract and to which we belong.

Face it, our age group is the future for the cruise line. There are still enough classical options available, but acapella groups are fine in a retirement home, not on a modern cruise ship.

 

That is not to say that I am a fan of several DJ's onboard. But a great party band like the Smart Casuals ( currently on Silhouette) is very welcome.

We do like the Philipino bands though, especially Caroussel and Kenosis!

 

I would like them to add some saxophone players to the entertainment lineup.

 

Wow...talk about stereotype. Have you ever heard barber shop quartets, gregorian chants and so on. There are so many different types of music. I'm not sure where someone playing a record with their hands, moving it in both directions belongs....but some think that's great music. Is Rap music? God forbid they had a full orchestra playing, perish the thought, classical music.

 

I think having some good music, certainly a good live band is very important..and I even miss the steel drums around the pool...but I also enjoy a good string quartet (not saying that those on celebrity have been good) and there have been some terrific barbershop groups on some of the cruises.

 

So....stop stereotyping. I don't think any 30 YO is going to dis a cruise line for having an a capella group, as long as they also have music they like.

 

I hope celebrity is successful in finding 800,000 folks in the younger group who enjoy "modern luxury" (whatever that is) and have the time and money to cruise. Until then, they need someone to fill the cabins and pay their salaries, so keeping us older folks happy probably would be a good idea :) (for the record, I don't care for a capella groups, but I never found them bothersome if they were at least on key).

[Despegue]

Ghstudio,

 

The Acapella groups on Celebrity were sometimes talented, sometimes abysmal, but always seen for maybe 30 minutes max. Each day, mostly performing the same songs, mostly old songs in an oldfashioned way.

 

We have tons of friends, all in their thirties and forties, all with enough holidays to take two vacations a year, but who refuse to go on a Cruise as they think it is for "old people" and utterly boring.

Celebrity NEEDS to make the ships more attractive to a younger clientele. But...

You are RIGHT that they should also keep being attractive to the more mature guests, who as you correctly point out, represent the current majority of clientele.

 

One thing they could do is to give the members of the Celebrity Orchestra some solo time. Some of these are very talented and deserve more recognition.

[Ma Bell]

Changes in the entertainment were very needed.

 

The entertainment was geared to seniors, not to the 30-40 age demographic that Celebrity aims to attract and to which we belong.

Face it, our age group is the future for the cruise line. There are still enough classical options available, but acapella groups are fine in a retirement home, not on a modern cruise ship.

 

That is not to say that I am a fan of several DJ's onboard. But a great party band like the Smart Casuals ( currently on Silhouette) is very welcome.

We do like the Philipino bands though, especially Caroussel and Kenosis!

 

I would like them to add some saxophone players to the entertainment lineup.

 

By the time the group you think they should be marketing to get to the point where they can cruise frequently they'll be the old folks too.

[Fouremco]

While a cappella may not be popular in Belgium, in America and elsewhere there has been a resurgence of interest, with TV programs and at least one movie to date. A sequel has been given the green light after the original movie became a pop culture phenomenon and spawned a hit soundtrack album.

 

American Idol producer 19 Entertainment and its parent company CORE Media Group have signed an exclusive deal with Varsity Vocals, the collegiate a cappella organization that organizes the International Championship of A Cappella, to develop a show built around the competition and the college students who participate in it.

[Despegue]

Those that cruise frequently are a minority, most passengers are infrequent cruisers.

Celebrity needs to become attractive again to the infrequent or first time cruiser who is looking for an affortable hut comfortable modern cruise experience. Rhis is where the future of the company lies, and the Miami office seems to agree.

 

Carnival became Huge thanks to the first time cruiser who got addicted to the product, introduced more new cruisers and kept innovating. Same goes for RCCL.

 

Celebrity is still looked at by many as a semi HAL senior citizen cruise line. This has to change if X wants to survive.

 

Look at HAL... They are the problem child of the Carnival Group. Why? Because they fail to innovate ( cost cutting rampant there too by the way) have old fashioned interiors, old fashioned entertainement and an old passenger demographic that is literally slowly dying.

[Ma Bell]

Those that cruise frequently are a minority, most passengers are infrequent cruisers.

Celebrity needs to become attractive again to the infrequent or first time cruiser who is looking for an affortable hut comfortable modern cruise experience. Rhis is where the future of the company lies, and the Miami office seems to agree.

 

Carnival became Huge thanks to the first time cruiser who got addicted to the product, introduced more new cruisers and kept innovating. Same goes for RCCL.

 

Celebrity is still looked at by many as a semi HAL senior citizen cruise line. This has to change if X wants to survive.

 

Look at HAL... They are the problem child of the Carnival Group. Why? Because they fail to innovate ( cost cutting rampant there too by the way) have old fashioned interiors, old fashioned entertainement and an old passenger demographic that is literally slowly dying.

 

If all the cruise lines and all the ships are planning on being 7 days or less in the Caribbean good luck at finding enough new cruisers to fill them. What do they do with the ships the rest of the time?

[Despegue]

And why exactly would first time cruisers not go on longer sailings?!

[jackdiamond]

Those that cruise frequently are a minority, most passengers are infrequent cruisers.

Celebrity needs to become attractive again to the infrequent or first time cruiser who is looking for an affortable hut comfortable modern cruise experience. Rhis is where the future of the company lies, and the Miami office seems to agree.

 

Carnival became Huge thanks to the first time cruiser who got addicted to the product, introduced more new cruisers and kept innovating. Same goes for RCCL.

 

Celebrity is still looked at by many as a semi HAL senior citizen cruise line. This has to change if X wants to survive.

 

Look at HAL... They are the problem child of the Carnival Group. Why? Because they fail to innovate ( cost cutting rampant there too by the way) have old fashioned interiors, old fashioned entertainement and an old passenger demographic that is literally slowly dying.

What is the meaning of Rhis? Your observations might be more understandable if you did not utilize acronyms.

[Despegue]

I blame the Ipad for mispelling THIS:o sorry, Jackdiamond, my fault.

[jackdiamond]

Ghstudio,

 

The Acapella groups on Celebrity were sometimes talented, sometimes abysmal, but always seen for maybe 30 minutes max. Each day, mostly performing the same songs, mostly old songs in an oldfashioned way.

 

We have tons of friends, all in their thirties and forties, all with enough holidays to take two vacations a year, but who refuse to go on a Cruise as they think it is for "old people" and utterly boring.

Celebrity NEEDS to make the ships more attractive to a younger clientele. But...

You are RIGHT that they should also keep being attractive to the more mature guests, who as you correctly point out, represent the current majority of clientele.

 

One thing they could do is to give the members of the Celebrity Orchestra some solo time. Some of these are very talented and deserve more recognition.

Do your "tons of friends" mostly come from your country, which population is about 50% of that of Florida. A plethora of folks from Florida sail on Celebrity ships. As a matter of fact, there are two very nice cruises leaving this month with outstanding fares for Florida residents.

[celebritydave]

I have to agree with Hank. I'm so upset with Celebrity that I only have eight Celebrity cruises booked at the moment. :D

 

Yeah, we hated our Celebrity Silhouette TA in 2012 so much, that I booked it again for 2014:)

[ghstudio]

Those that cruise frequently are a minority, most passengers are infrequent cruisers.

Celebrity needs to become attractive again to the infrequent or first time cruiser who is looking for an affortable hut comfortable modern cruise experience. Rhis is where the future of the company lies, and the Miami office seems to agree.

 

Carnival became Huge thanks to the first time cruiser who got addicted to the product, introduced more new cruisers and kept innovating. Same goes for RCCL.

 

Celebrity is still looked at by many as a semi HAL senior citizen cruise line. This has to change if X wants to survive.

 

Look at HAL... They are the problem child of the Carnival Group. Why? Because they fail to innovate ( cost cutting rampant there too by the way) have old fashioned interiors, old fashioned entertainement and an old passenger demographic that is literally slowly dying.

 

It's rather amazing that folks don't look in the mirror! Many folks who loved RCL have moved to Celebrity for the very reason that it is perhaps a bit more sedate. The young moderns will be getting older...as a matter of fact, more younger folks will be getting older than old folks who die off at least for the next few years. There are always folks getting older. Celebrity is at no risk of not surviving.....so let's not get melodramatic...

 

Celebrity needs to find a way to fit between RCL, the "family" cruise line with rock climbing walls and such.....and an "old person's" cruise line. If I were looking at a market niche (and I did that for many years for a major corporation), I'd focus on the 40-60 year old crowd where the kids are off to college, some folks are retiring a bit earlier (I know, many are now retiring older or not retiring), and they have (at least after the kids leave college) more discretionary/travel money.

 

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what draws that group....clearly Celebrity marketing is focused on "modern luxury" which hopefully they can define....but the fatal mistake is if they get folks on their first cruise and they don't like it...or it doesn't live up to the marketing.

 

That means you have to have some good entertainment, some good music, and some good food. The issue I see is that all of these areas seem to have been cut...and that may prove counter productive. Or it may not, if the folks in the target market think that the current level of offering is good enough to try again. I come from cruising where we saw better entertainment, music and food, so I'm sensitive, I guess, to cutbacks. Perhaps the new folks without my background will develop a new base level and continue with Celebrity. The risk is that celebrity gains new cruisers and loses older ones...and if the new don't equal or exceed the old who leave, that's a problem.

 

It's a balancing act....I think Celebrity is near the edge of losing some of it's repeat customers based on reading here....and they need to focus on the experience on board a little more than the bottom line in order to keep those customers.

 

One way to do this is to do honest customer surveys....NOT the ones they do on board where you are pleaded with to give folks high marks, irrespective of your real feelings. Those surveys, if they look at them at all, are useless. I'm not sure how they get good opinions and honest results, but I hope they have some other process for input.

Edited January 22, 2014 by ghstudio

[Ma Bell]

And why exactly would first time cruisers not go on longer sailings?!

 

There is obviously a very large demographic needed to fill all the cruise ships available now. Many younger people have families which limits the time and money available for longer vacations. Of course there are younger people with different circumstances who can do whatever they want but the much larger demographic who has the time and money available for long cruise vacations is the older generation. Sorry, but that's just the plain unvarnished truth.

[Ma Bell]

It's rather amazing that folks don't look in the mirror! Many folks who loved RCL have moved to Celebrity for the very reason that it is perhaps a bit more sedate. The young moderns will be getting older...as a matter of fact, more younger folks will be getting older than old folks who die off at least for the next few years. There are always folks getting older. Celebrity is at no risk of not surviving.....so let's not get melodramatic...

 

Celebrity needs to find a way to fit between RCL, the "family" cruise line with rock climbing walls and such.....and an "old person's" cruise line. If I were looking at a market niche (and I did that for many years for a major corporation), I'd focus on the 40-60 year old crowd where the kids are off to college, some folks are retiring a bit earlier (I know, many are now retiring older or not retiring), and they have (at least after the kids leave college) more discretionary/travel money.

 

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what draws that group....clearly Celebrity marketing is focused on "modern luxury" which hopefully they can define....but the fatal mistake is if they get folks on their first cruise and they don't like it...or it doesn't live up to the marketing.

 

That means you have to have some good entertainment, some good music, and some good food. The issue I see is that all of these areas seem to have been cut...and that may prove counter productive. Or it may not, if the folks in the target market think that the current level of offering is good enough to try again. I come from cruising where we saw better entertainment, music and food, so I'm sensitive, I guess, to cutbacks. Perhaps the new folks without my background will develop a new base level and continue with Celebrity. The risk is that celebrity gains new cruisers and loses older ones...and if the new don't equal or exceed the old who leave, that's a problem.

 

It's a balancing act....I think Celebrity is near the edge of losing some of it's repeat customers based on reading here....and they need to focus on the experience on board a little more than the bottom line in order to keep those customers.

 

One way to do this is to do honest customer surveys....NOT the ones they do on board where you are pleaded with to give folks high marks, irrespective of your real feelings. Those surveys, if they look at them at all, are useless. I'm not sure how they get good opinions and honest results, but I hope they have some other process for input.

 

I agree completely. There is a real difference in preferences between 30 and 60 year olds but really not as much between 50 and 80 year olds.

[jackdiamond]

I blame the Ipad for mispelling THIS:o sorry, Jackdiamond, my fault.

Your apology is accepted. By the way, that is why I rely on my own vocabulary, instead of reliance upon a machine. Perhaps, that is some indicia of the intelligence of many of we older folks.

[Despegue]

Jackdiamond,

 

Your level of English is unparalleled and I, as a non native speaker, always admire how you always find the correct phraseology.

But I do not let any machine decide for me, I just can't type.

[jackdiamond]

Jackdiamond,

 

Your level of English is unparalleled and I, as a non native speaker, always admire how you always find the correct phraseology.

But I do not let any machine decide for me, I just can't type.

Welcome to the club. Sadly, in today's world, virtually everything is done by machine. I suppose, I should be happy that I retired as a trial attorney twenty years ago.

[terrierjohn]

Getting back to the original comment by the OP, I am amazed at the level of criticism of Celebrity, even if most is fairly minor. As a penance I think all those who have complained should be forced to take an over priced early booked cruise on P&O, after 24 hours on board you will all be desperate to get back to Celebrity.

[jackdiamond]

Getting back to the original comment by the OP, I am amazed at the level of criticism of Celebrity, even if most is fairly minor. As a penance I think all those who have complained should be forced to take an over priced early booked cruise on P&O, after 24 hours on board you will all be desperate to get back to Celebrity.

I believe that that would be appropriate if you included three Our Fathers.

[Bugeye]

My hubby and I have cruised Celebrity since 2001. At the time it was a great value for the money. It still is, even though we go for the Blu Restaurant and cabins. We are booked on a TA in November on the Eclipse in Blu. What is expensive is the one way air to England, in fact for $300 more we could take a TA from New York to Southampton on the QM2 in a balcony.

 

We enjoy some of the entertainment, most lecturers, and the food in Blu. The service in Blu is comparable to the Grill Restaurants on Cunard. A restaurant with no defined settings is a must! We dislike the casual dress on Celebrity but that is the new way. Food on Celebrity is similar in quality to the Cunard main restaurant with the same complaints from passengers.

 

Still, there is a cruise line for every passenger and you do get what you pay for!

 

Karen