Another lie from Celebrity, re: Silhouette

[Turtles06]

 

Silhouette is a beautiful ship with a great crew and wonderful food. I would be happy with another long cruise on her going nowhere.:D

 

 

Ditto from me; I think that wonderful TA spoiled us! :)

 

(But I sympathize with those who booked a cruise with ports and are missing out because of a known mechanical problem.)

[CRUZBUDS]

Celebrity are in a class of their own in term of missed ports with my family. A bad workman blames his tools (weather in this case). If Celebrity continue with this attitude towards their customers then they will ultimately lose market share.

.

 

I had to read this one twice-- I have to admit -- I don't understand

 

35+ cruises on many lines we missed three ports that I recall -- Last month on Royal we missed Halifax-- 75 MPH winds --- I don't get the bad workman blaming his tool analogy :confused:

 

It does sound like you had bad luck. 100+ days on Celebrity we missed one port

[Charles4515]

I'm not objecting to the missed port so much as being told lies. There's a difference. If it's because of a problem with one of the engines, and it is, then own up to it.

 

I really can't complain because I knew about the azipod issues before I made final payment on both the Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 cruises. I could have changed ships. Actually I was surprised they made no itinerary adjustment because they did make adjustments in Europe so I was kind of expecting it. Also I didn't really care because having been to all those ports multiple times none of them were important for my cruise choice with San Juan being one of my all time least favorite ports. I booked the cruises for a relaxing laid back vacation not the port. As for them owning up to it. They should. Then again I hate to sound cynical but having done 48 cruises I am used to the fact the cruise lines don't usually own up to it.

[Redtravel]

I have had ships skip ports or change ports due to bad weather, rough seas, and strikes at ports. It happens. Rather than risk the safety of the passengers, the captain can skip a port. I have never received any refund of port charges. Should they refund the port fees? I never really thought about it. $100 OBC is more compensation than I have ever received for a missed port. When you take a cruise, you have to be flexible. It is a shame that the ship will skip San Juan due to mechanical problems. A stop in San Juan from 3 pm to 10 pm is very limited. By the time you would have docked, the sun will be going down. Your activities are limited. Maybe dinner and visiting a casino. Use your OBC to dine at a specialty restaurant or try your luck in the ship's casino. Enjoy the cruise.

[PROCRUISE]

I have had ships skip ports or change ports due to bad weather, rough seas, and strikes at ports. It happens. Rather than risk the safety of the passengers, the captain can skip a port. I have never received any refund of port charges. Should they refund the port fees? I never really thought about it. $100 OBC is more compensation than I have ever received for a missed port. When you take a cruise, you have to be flexible. It is a shame that the ship will skip San Juan due to mechanical problems. A stop in San Juan from 3 pm to 10 pm is very limited. By the time you would have docked, the sun will be going down. Your activities are limited. Maybe dinner and visiting a casino. Use your OBC to dine at a specialty restaurant or try your luck in the ship's casino. Enjoy the cruise.

 

Not questioning anything you say except, San Juan at night during Christmas time is absolutely beautiful. Luckily, we've seen it before and were looking forward to enjoying it again. :(

[missyg176]

are there any safety issues with a propulsion problem or it just moves slower?

[c-legs]

When there are only 3 stops on a cruise and they take one away it really seems like you should get more compensation than $100 per cabin! Especially since this is a ship problem...not a weather issue!

You are still enjoying a full 7 day cruise, with two ports ( instead of 3 ) and with everything else provided as usual.

I suggest their $100 giveaway is fair, as they really don't have to .

[c-legs]

Shouldn't we receive a refund of some of our port charges in addition to the OBC?

 

 

Yes.

[c-legs]

On the Dec 21st sailing. Will be very disappointed if Celebrity is not honest about this situation.

I'll venture the guess the 21st dec sailing will be identical to the 7th., and with the same ''compensation'' and JanJuan port charges refunded.

[c-legs]

are there any safety issues with a propulsion problem or it just moves slower?

Only affects speed as one azipod out of two is powered to ~~ 70% of its

capacity...thus the familiar decision to limit the overall speed of an affected ship to 17kt.

When an itinerary such as Eastern Carribean, quite challenging to start with , is in need of over 20kt average speed, something has got to give if you can only deliver 17kt speed.....and if the trade winds are against you,.,,,and strong, then you're really handcuffed as regards time-keeping.

No safety issue whatsoever.....If there were, the Master, his crew and the USCG wouldn't allow it to leave homeport in the first place.

[royalcruz]

Being that they know in advance about this, I wonder why they didn't replace the port, as 2 port days on a 7 nighter isn't very interesting. X used to go to Casa de Campo and Key West on their Eastern Caribbean cruises. Maybe it doesn't work well into the schedule of the other ports it is going to, or those ports are already full?

Edited December 5, 2014 by royalcruz

[Seabourn Pearls]

When you address problems with honesty and integrity you create trust and loyalty. When you make excuses problems compound. The cover up is always the more egregious offense.

 

Would it be so terrible to say......

 

"Silhouette has a propulsion problem that will be fixed the first week of January. The ship is safe but has, until repairs are made, a lower top speed. Due to the reduced speed Silhouette Eastern Caribbean itineraries thru the end of 2014 will not be making originally scheduled stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment. We will, of course, refund San Juan port fees to our passengers. As an additional gesture of goodwill all cabins will be given $100 (suites $200) in OBC. Guests who choose to book a future cruise while on board an affected Silhouette cruise will be given additional OBC of $100 to $300 to be used while on board or in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you aboard."

[rucruisn2]

When you address problems with honesty and integrity you create trust and loyalty. When you make excuses problems compound. The cover up is always the more egregious offense.

 

Would it be so terrible to say......

 

"Silhouette has a propulsion problem that will be fixed the first week of January. The ship is safe but has, until repairs are made, a lower top speed. Due to the reduced speed Silhouette Eastern Caribbean itineraries thru the end of 2014 will not be making originally scheduled stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment. We will, of course, refund San Juan port fees to our passengers. As an additional gesture of goodwill all cabins will be given $100 (suites $200) in OBC. Guests who choose to book a future cruise while on board an affected Silhouette cruise will be given additional OBC of $100 to $300 to be used while on board or in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you aboard."

 

My point exactly! That's all they had to say, and I would not be upset. Just be honest with your guests and they would respect you for it.

[candhu18]

When you address problems with honesty and integrity you create trust and loyalty. When you make excuses problems compound. The cover up is always the more egregious offense.

 

Would it be so terrible to say......

 

"Silhouette has a propulsion problem that will be fixed the first week of January. The ship is safe but has, until repairs are made, a lower top speed. Due to the reduced speed Silhouette Eastern Caribbean itineraries thru the end of 2014 will not be making originally scheduled stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment. We will, of course, refund San Juan port fees to our passengers. As an additional gesture of goodwill all cabins will be given $100 (suites $200) in OBC. Guests who choose to book a future cruise while on board an affected Silhouette cruise will be given additional OBC of $100 to $300 to be used while on board or in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you aboard."

 

Totally agree Seabourn Pearls. Unfortunately multi-national companies do have a tendency to blame anyone or anything other than themselves. This attitude will not endear them to their consumers. Officially it was the weather for my cruise on 23 November. Celebrity have said they would get back to me, but so far nothing. The photographs speak for themselves. I have one more cruise booked with Celebrity for next year; it will probably be our last, might even cancel it if I can find a suitable replacement with another provider.

[chrishb]

We were on the cruises 11/16 and 11/23 and overall very disappointed with how X dealt with the propulsion issue.

We were late by ~2h in Grand Cayman and could not tender directly to George Town but from another position from which they offered a bus shuttle which took 20 min each way. Given a high tender number we were at the shuttle at 2:30h and in George Town shortly before 3:00h. In order to reach one of the last tenders we had to leave already again at 5:00h. So no real time to enjoy Grand Cayman and the chance to do anything else than shopping.

In Labadee we were also late by more than two hours, just giving us the chance to enjoy everything for 4 1/2 hours before sunset.

Each time mother nature was made guilty by Celebrity which is of course nonsense.

In the second week we missed as already stated San Juan, also by blaming mother nature. For that missing port we got the port charges as OBC which were $17,90 per person.

After expressing our disappointment at guest relation we were told in an very arrogant way that we agreed to a sea contract were X could skip ports and times like they want. Really the best way how to deal with unsatisfied customers. After directly asking if there is a relationship of being late and missing port with the propulsion issue we were told that there is no problem and that the reason are the strong head winds...

Overall we got not the best impression by X and how they dealt with the issue. Lying the customer directly in the face leaves a realy bad taste...

[Islandbuoy]

For missing San Juan on the 11/23 cruise they gave us $12.50 eachand as a credit to our account. Getting $100 --wow!!!!

[boneatnik]

When you address problems with honesty and integrity you create trust and loyalty. When you make excuses problems compound. The cover up is always the more egregious offense.

 

Would it be so terrible to say......

 

"Silhouette has a propulsion problem that will be fixed the first week of January. The ship is safe but has, until repairs are made, a lower top speed. Due to the reduced speed Silhouette Eastern Caribbean itineraries thru the end of 2014 will not be making originally scheduled stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment. We will, of course, refund San Juan port fees to our passengers. As an additional gesture of goodwill all cabins will be given $100 (suites $200) in OBC. Guests who choose to book a future cruise while on board an affected Silhouette cruise will be given additional OBC of $100 to $300 to be used while on board or in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you aboard."

 

 

Bravissimo!!!!

[ghstudio]

When you address problems with honesty and integrity you create trust and loyalty. When you make excuses problems compound. The cover up is always the more egregious offense.

 

Would it be so terrible to say......

 

"Silhouette has a propulsion problem that will be fixed the first week of January. The ship is safe but has, until repairs are made, a lower top speed. Due to the reduced speed Silhouette Eastern Caribbean itineraries thru the end of 2014 will not be making originally scheduled stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment. We will, of course, refund San Juan port fees to our passengers. As an additional gesture of goodwill all cabins will be given $100 (suites $200) in OBC. Guests who choose to book a future cruise while on board an affected Silhouette cruise will be given additional OBC of $100 to $300 to be used while on board or in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding. We look forward to welcoming you aboard."

 

Imagine the phone calls to customer service and the line at guest services with folks who want a full refund, more OBC and so on....because this is a known celebrity problem....scary.

 

It's so much easier to say it's weather related or a problem outside of Celebrity's control. That doesn't make it right....but it's the easy way out for those passengers that believe the "lie"

[Seabourn Pearls]

First, blaming others and/or outside forces is not as problem peculiar to big companies. It's human nature. I forget who said it but the paraphrased quote is if you could kick the ass of the person most responsible for your problems you wouldn't be able to sit down.

 

I completely disagree with the last poster who seemed to suggest giving your customers honest answers would overwhelm the customer relations functions of the company. This is, IMHO, dangerous short-term thinking.

 

This issue is burgeoning into a PR problem that threatens to scuttle Celebrity's goodwill with a not insignificant number of its customers. Trust and integrity are valuable commodities that, once squandered, are nearly impossible to regain.

 

X would be far better off being upfront and honest and allowing any affected passengers to cancel and rebook a future cruise without penalty. I suspect very few passengers would take them up on it having made arrangements for vacation time, flights, pet and baby sitters etc. But if they took a hit on a handful of sailings that cast off at less than 100% capacity it would be a wise investment in their brand.

 

This is a classic PR blunder. Pennywise. Pound foolish.

[marineboy]

In my opinion, although this schedule change is undesirable, Celebrity have been totally honest and above board!

 

Below is part of the notification I received from Celebrity's UK Customer Service team:

 

14th December 2014

 

Dear ......

 

Important changes to your booking on Celebrity Silhouette / 12/21/2014

 

 

I am sorry to let you know that we have had to change the itinerary for your sailing as above. We know that

you will be disappointed and we only take this action when it is necessary. On this occasion, I’m afraid we

have had to alter the ship’s itinerary due to the Celebrity Silhouette currently experiencing a minor restriction

on her top speed.

 

As a result it will be necessary to bypass San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Celebrity Silhouette will spend the day

at sea. The remainder of your itinerary will remain unchanged. We realise that this change may be unwelcome

and we are sorry that this change will affect your holiday plans.

 

We would like to assure you that the small restriction on the top speed has no impact on other parts of our

operation.

 

As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank you for your understanding, Celebrity Cruises will provide each

stateroom with a $100 onboard credit, plus $25 for each third and fourth guest. This credit will be applied

directly to your onboard account and may be used for any onboard purchase or service. Any unused portion

will be refunded to you at the end of your cruise.

 

Guests who booked shore excursions in San Juan through Celebrity Cruises for Sunday will have those funds

automatically refunded to them in the form of a credit to their onboard account. This credit may be used to

book another shore excursion, or for any purchases onboard. Any unused portion will be refunded to you.

Our Shore Excursion staff would be happy to assist you with activities and excursions in Basseterre, St. Kitts,

and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

 

We apologise for these developments and its impact on your scheduled itinerary. Our staff in Port Everglades

will do their very best to minimize any further inconvenience to you.

This letter is for your information, however, if you have any questions......

 

 

I for one, will use the extra time on board to relax and enjoy all the Silhouette has to offer.

[Charles4515]

In my opinion, although this schedule change is undesirable, Celebrity have been totally honest and above board!

 

 

 

Below is part of the notification I received from Celebrity's UK Customer Service team:

 

 

 

 

14th December 2014

 

 

 

Dear ......

 

 

 

Important changes to your booking on Celebrity Silhouette / 12/21/2014

 

.........

 

 

 

 

 

I have not received that notification for my 12/7 sailing. Only 12 about embarkation by deck LOL. I will call my travel agent. Perhaps they sent it to her and she has not forwarded it to me. But if that is the case for my sailing I find that notification satisfactory. Also the refundable $100 is satisfactory to me for missing the short port call of San Juan.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Charles4515

[rnrcruzin]

Looks like that last post was pretty up front.

[candhu18]

I find it difficult to rationalise that a 30% reduction in top speed can be called anything other than major. On the 23 November cruise, Celebrity's story was that it was all due to "mother nature" over which they had no control. I can still see the Captain and Staff Captain wandering through Blu after announcing we would be missing San Juan because of weather with a smile that looked like a smirk on their faces. Perhaps it is time Celebrity contacted the 23/11 passengers and explained their new position. Some of us traveled a quarter way round the world to be disappointed with Celebrity's offering. They still haven't contacted me contrary to their promise.

[Seabourn Pearls]

Looks like that last post was pretty up front.

 

I agree. But be fair to the original poster and others. X's forthrightness is appreciated but it is a departure from the garbage they have been feeding their passengers.

[stickey_mouse]

We are on the Silhouette for a Western Caribbean cruise the week of December 14th. I must admit, I almost wish we had an Eastern Caribbean itinerary so that we could get the $100 extra OBC. I wonder if they will offer us (on a Western Caribbean itinerary) any compensation if we are late to each port?