1st time Celebrity Equinox cruisers

[SeaTrailer]

We are going on our first Celebrity cruise this coming March. This thread has me confused about the refrigerator.

 

Can someone explain what items are in the frig for purchase? Since food is included on all cruises I do not understand what would be "extra". I'm also confused by the "locked out" comment. Can we put sodas and other items in there during the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance for the responses.

 

As to the original post, that was an extraordinary list! I'm not sure I have even been on any vacation that I felt had that many things wrong.

[chamima]

We are going on our first Celebrity cruise this coming March. This thread has me confused about the refrigerator.

 

Can someone explain what items are in the frig for purchase? Since food is included on all cruises I do not understand what would be "extra". I'm also confused by the "locked out" comment. Can we put sodas and other items in there during the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance for the responses.

 

As to the original post, that was an extraordinary list! I'm not sure I have even been on any vacation that I felt had that many things wrong.

 

On Celebrity , like in many hotel rooms, there are items for purchase in your refrigerator.

We ask the room steward to remove everything and we use the refrigerator for our own water, sodas, etc.

On the last night of the cruise many stewards take out all personal food and put the "for sale" items back in.

I've found that a request not to do so, accompanied by a tip , usually lets me keep my own items in there until our last morning.

I will say that this has worked so far - don't want to jinx ourselves for the future. :o

[midwestchick]

On Celebrity , like in many hotel rooms, there are items for purchase in your refrigerator.

We ask the room steward to remove everything and we use the refrigerator for our own water, sodas, etc.

On the last night of the cruise many stewards take out all personal food and put the "for sale" items back in.

I've found that a request not to do so, accompanied by a tip , usually lets me keep my own items in there until our last morning.

I will say that this has worked so far - don't want to jinx ourselves for the future. :o

 

And that's fine but don't lock me out of my refrigerator. We had already tipped our room steward and assistant when it happened to us. They should not have to be tipped to allow pax full use of the ammenities in their stateroom. :mad:

[lazygal]

It's been my experience that most cruise lines lock the fridge on the last night - for accounting purposes. We have meds that must be kept at a certain temp- so we explain this to the cabin steward. As far as the "next cruise" prep - we also fully understand this. Cabin stewards have twice as many rooms to service from when we first started cruising. Turnaround day is their hardest day. The "start early" policy has to be coming from corporate. All mainstream lines are doing their best to stay afloat and yes, things have changed over the years. The staff on our Dec. Celebrity cruise was outstanding.

 

We've only had one bad cruise, but it was partially due to cultural differences and only 5 English speaking guests on board and the 2000, unsupervised teens on spring break - we did call security enough that they placed a guard outside our door. Imagine a muster drill in a foreign language with every kid blowing their whistle. I turned to my husband and said, "we're going to die".

[Bootstrap77]

Been on celebrity 8 times - been in the MDR 7 times this was our first cruise in blu. What an amazing restaurant. Got everything I ever asked for. The staff were tripping over themselves to serve our every need. Our waiter learned my food preferences quickly and I tried so many food dishes I would never make at home. The red meats were cooked perfectly to my liking and the fish was succulent and delicious. Some people are never satisfied with the service they receive which is more a reflection on themselves not the staff or the ship. Period.

[montrealroyalc]

I agree. I sailed on the Equinox on December 21st, 2015 for the Christmas and New Years cruise. We were in Aqua Class as well and all we got was an overpriced vacation. The entertainment was garbage. The food was mediocre and all the staff could care about is telling you sob stories about the life they live back home hoping to squeeze you for greater tips at the end. I have to laugh though at all the people on this forum who think being elite is such a big deal and how Celebrity owes them something. Folks, Celebrity cruises doesn't care about you all they want is your money.

[Averyblessedguy]

oops

Edited January 12, 2016 by Averyblessedguy

[astracat]

Ok Boys and girls, I want to know what I should know about this beautiful ship. We are going on the Transatlantic in October and are there any little spaces we should know about? We are booked Aqua class for the first time, we have been doing Concierge and love that. What should we look for? Hot glass shows? Neat spots to read a book, things to make sure they do in the room?

[MJB1437]

Hard to believe I was on the same cruise as the OP. We had a wonderful cruise, our cabin attendants were the best we've had. Some nights the service in the dining room might have been better than others, but who cares. We were on vacation, not rushing to go anywhere. Second night in line waiting for dinner with MTD, the lady in front of me complained to the person getting tables about how bad it was the night before, she didn't like the waiter, didn't like the people she sat with, didn't like the table. When it was our turn I said my only request is to not sit with that person. My philosophy is that if I don't have to cook it, clean it or serve it, it's fine. Everyone seems to complain that the industry is nickle and diming us and we're not getting what we used to for the money, but everyone is looking for rock bottom prices. You can't expect to pay for beer and get champagne. It seems every one wants more now, but they want to pay less. We have sailed celebrity (a lot), princess, RCI and NCL. Celebrity is our favorite and that's why we continue with them, but if I hated everything about my cruise, I would just try something else. There are plenty of cruise lines out there.

Myrna

[midwestchick]

Bravo!!!!

[wallie5446]

Ditto! ^^^^^^^^^^Myrna!

[Benthayer Gonbak]

That 's quite a list of negatives. :eek: probably the worst I've read. I guess we've been fortunate.

On that note, I will say that on our last cruise, when we returned from dinner, we were locked out of our refrigerator and our beer, water and soda were removed and set out to get warm. We've never had that happen before and it was not appreciated. We usually have our cabin attendant empty items for purchase when we first get there, but our's did not. We were told to just set them by the tv. :rolleyes: The robes, which we usually have removed, were also back in the closet, but no big deal....we had pretty much removed our clothes from the closet.

Other than that, we've had very good experiences on X.

 

Most of the repeat customers know to complain and to ask for an Attention to details card. That normally fixes most of the things that are within Celebrity's control. Although I must admit on the last Summit trip I had to really work at getting a problem with laundry fixed!

[vedettes1]

I asked for one of those Attention cards on our recent Equinox cruise and was told they did not have any.

[Benthayer Gonbak]

I asked for one of those Attention cards on our recent Equinox cruise and was told they did not have any.

 

I asked Guest Relations for it and yes, they hesitated. My answer is that then I want to talk to the Manager of Guest Relations, because the complaints are not always reported correctly from their logs.

 

 

On a back to back to back we used the Captain's Club representative to help with solutions. Normally, if the cabin steward can't seem to fix the problem Guest Relations can and has!

[vedettes1]

I asked Guest Relations for it and yes, they hesitated. My answer is that then I want to talk to the Manager of Guest Relations, because the complaints are not always reported correctly from their logs.

 

 

On a back to back to back we used the Captain's Club representative to help with solutions. Normally, if the cabin steward can't seem to fix the problem Guest Relations can and has!

 

Funny thing is I wanted the card in order to heap praise on a couple of staff members.

[chamima]

I asked for one of those Attention cards on our recent Equinox cruise and was told they did not have any.

 

Funny thing is I wanted the card in order to heap praise on a couple of staff members.

 

That exact thing happened to me on the Solstice a few years ago.

When I explained why I wanted them I was told to take stationery and write a detailed letter. :rolleyes:

[Benthayer Gonbak]

Funny thing is I wanted the card in order to heap praise on a couple of staff members.

 

 

I actually have done that too! Especially when the problem is persistent and there have been great efforts made my staff. But also just to say thank you. I tend to get sarcastic at times and might have said something like "So you don't want me to be able to write down what a great job you are doing !" Normally, I try to behave ----

[Benthayer Gonbak]

That exact thing happened to me on the Solstice a few years ago.

When I explained why I wanted them I was told to take stationery and write a detailed letter. :rolleyes:

 

 

Did you include the complaint about the directions to write the letter? :D

[Averyblessedguy]

I have heard that Celebrity, unlike Holland and Royal Caribbean, does not arrange for traveling ministers to organize Sunday services or anything. Does anyone have any experience with doing this ad hoc on Celebrity. I read two accounts that said Celebrity was very resistant and unsupportive of anything like this.

[astracat]

I have heard that Celebrity, unlike Holland and Royal Caribbean, does not arrange for traveling ministers to organize Sunday services or anything. Does anyone have any experience with doing this ad hoc on Celebrity. I read two accounts that said Celebrity was very resistant and unsupportive of anything like this.

 

Have you actually checked? While I have not gone to services while on ship, I do notice that there always several types of services and support groups on the ship. I am not sure who runs them. I would call Celebrity to find out directly.

[Cruise Raider]

I have heard that Celebrity, unlike Holland and Royal Caribbean, does not arrange for traveling ministers to organize Sunday services or anything. Does anyone have any experience with doing this ad hoc on Celebrity. I read two accounts that said Celebrity was very resistant and unsupportive of anything like this.

 

Funny you should ask this. A friend of mine, that is a Catholic priest, sailed on Celebrity, Norwegian and Princess .. all based on my helping him book these sailings. (sounds like this is going to be a bad joke ....right??)

Anyhow, upon him letting them know he was willing to do so, Norwegian and Celebrity both arranged everything for him to say mass on Sunday. Princess wouldn't have any part of it, which is why he will not sail with them again.

So, while they may not make arrangements for this, I know for a fact that if a passenger that is a minister volunteers, they will set most likely arrange everything for them and put the times / location and such into the daily paper.

[north29]

However, I have to agree with OP on a few a things, however the OP's expectations might have been a little high for a main stream cruise, no matter what he paid. Perhaps the suites and above cabin with butlers etc.would have been more appropriate for his expectations. Sounds like he needs to up grade to the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ cruises. I cannot believe that HAL is any better.

[Averyblessedguy]

Thanks. Good to know.

[Pickels]

WoW.. Sorry it wasn't good for you. We were on the Equinox last March, and that was the BEST cruise we had taken since 2003. We'll be cruising on her sister ship in a couple of months and we're sure it will be just as great.

[opa&oma]

I laughed out loud when I reached the end of the OP's LONG list of complaints, to read she MAY cancel their next Celebrity cruise. With that list why wouldn't you? But good luck finding a better, mid priced line.