Zenith back in the Retreat

[LGW59]

3 minutes ago, Orator said:

There is no excuse for rudeness!

Well, that didn't happen, and I actually stayed much longer than I had planned because of it. An Orator after my own heart, love it!!!

[HskrCrsr]

Celebrity has chosen an incredibly lazy route for posting the change in Zenith status. They have this statement in the CC Program Updates page:

When we return to service, we’ll be tightly managing capacity in each venue. To adhere to elevated safety standards, Zenith access to the lounge at The Retreat^® and Michael’s Club will be limited to members staying in The Retreat.

 

This used to include "until further notice" and I believe that is the only change. They have returned to service, and the change is not to adhere to safety standards but they cannot even bother to rephrase this. Simply lazy.

[Orator]

3 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Well, that didn't happen, and I actually stayed much longer than I had planned because of it. An Orator after my own heart, love it!!!

Way to go! Ignore them and what they say. I didn’t know that there were reserved seats in the Retreat. 

[TrueCruiseaholic]

Interesting given the email from Captain's Club said:

 

"And while we no longer need to practice social distancing, we do need to prioritize space in The Retreat for those guests booking The Retreat. Given the current number of Zenith members, projected Zenith member growth rates and the varying level of members on board a given sailing, unfortunately, we won’t be able to offer this benefit going forward unless you have booked in The Retreat."

 

Curious that social distancing is the justification still from that update when the email specifically states that it has nothing to do with social distancing.

[CruisinNole]

1 hour ago, Beachin2 said:

 

The last straw for me occurred in the Concierge/Suite lounge on a sea day, early in the afternoon, in a nearly empty lounge while quietly reading a book.  I was sternly ordered by a very self important P that "I  was in the P lounge and he had a group of people on their way and that I was in their seats and that I needed to move immediately".  Well, that didn't happen, and I actually stayed much longer than I had planned because of it. 

 

Quietly mentioned the incident to both the Loyalty person and the suite Concierge and was basically told that they were P and could pretty much do whatever they wanted.  That was the last time we set foot on an RC ship.  We cancelled our remaining bookings. It wasn't just this incident that drove us away, I have others from over the years, but this is the one that broke the deal for us.

 

We are long time Royal cruisers and have experienced this more times than we can count. Since we mainly cruise the smaller ships with smaller Concierge/Suite lounges, the Pinnacles who expect to have "assigned seating", as I call it, are much more noticeable. We've gotten the stink eye for sitting in "reserved seats". I personally think that it has less to do with their loyalty level and more to do with the type of person they are. We have never experienced this behavior in the suite lounge on a Celebrity ship. We have one last cruise booked on Royal and plan to cruise only on Celebrity, not because of this issue but because the suite benefits are so much better than Royal unless you sail on the large ships.

[Beachin2]

2 minutes ago, CruisinNole said:

We are long time Royal cruisers and have experienced this more times than we can count. Since we mainly cruise the smaller ships with smaller Concierge/Suite lounges, the Pinnacles who expect to have "assigned seating", as I call it, are much more noticeable. We've gotten the stink eye for sitting in "reserved seats". I personally think that it has less to do with their loyalty level and more to do with the type of person they are. We have never experienced this behavior in the suite lounge on a Celebrity ship. We have one last cruise booked on Royal and plan to cruise only on Celebrity, not because of this issue but because the suite benefits are so much better than Royal unless you sail on the large ships.

We also preferred the smaller RC ships generally.  Glad we aren't the only one who had witnessed this conduct.  IMHO - it continues because RC allows it to continue and that monster will get nothing but worse as time progresses and point bonus deals rage on. 

 

I wish them luck, but eventually they are going to need to face the loyalty monster they have created.  The Covid shutdown was a once in a lifetime (we all hope) time to corporately address that.  X chose to address it to some extent, RC did not.

[wrk2cruise]

On 4/7/2022 at 5:46 PM, cruising teacher said:

They definitely should get rid of the so called loyalty director. She only mimics what LLP tells her. I would not want to be a Captains Club Host or Hostess in the next couple of weeks🥺 I feel sorry for them because they are all lovely people!

 

I was onboard Connie and read the email while in my cabin.   About 5 minutes later the lovely Isobella called me regarding something else.   I bet she was sorry she called although I tried not to focus it on her but rather ask that she get my comments up the food chain.

[verizon]

I know there are some Anti-Zenith.

Thats is the reason why I never show up at Welcome Back Party even I was the Top cruiser from my recent sailings.

 

[cruising teacher]

11 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

I was onboard Connie and read the email while in my cabin.   About 5 minutes later the lovely Isobella called me regarding something else.   I bet she was sorry she called although I tried not to focus it on her but rather ask that she get my comments up the food chain.

The next time that an officer says that they value our loyalty I will laugh out loud. The second time will be a giant eye roll. 🙄

[TeeRick]

23 minutes ago, verizon said:

I know there are some Anti-Zenith.

Thats is the reason why I never show up at Welcome Back Party even I was the Top cruiser from my recent sailings.

 

Anti-Zenith?  I never heard of that.  Is it even a thing??  If so- why?  What have you experienced to make you avoid the Welcome Back Party or maybe other Captain's club events?  

[mac_tlc]

20 hours ago, Beachin2 said:

We also preferred the smaller RC ships generally.  Glad we aren't the only one who had witnessed this conduct.  IMHO - it continues because RC allows it to continue and that monster will get nothing but worse as time progresses and point bonus deals rage on. 

 

I wish them luck, but eventually they are going to need to face the loyalty monster they have created.  The Covid shutdown was a once in a lifetime (we all hope) time to corporately address that.  X chose to address it to some extent, RC did not.

I will say the Royal did address the untenable situation in the Diamond lounge by applying daily drink vouchers to D, D+ and P Sea Pass cards, good all day at any bar. This is a great change.

 

mac_tlc

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

4 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

I will say the Royal did address the untenable situation in the Diamond lounge by applying daily drink vouchers to D, D+ and P Sea Pass cards, good all day at any bar. This is a great change.

 

mac_tlc

 

 

When sailing Royal (suite, but not in Star Class), why even consider a drink package. Drinks in the suite lounge for an hour or so, then 4 more whenever. If I go beyond that, it's certainly not to the tune of a drink package!

[mac_tlc]

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

When sailing Royal (suite, but not in Star Class), why even consider a drink package. Drinks in the suite lounge for an hour or so, then 4 more whenever. If I go beyond that, it's certainly not to the tune of a drink package!

We agree. We are D+, so we get 5/day, plus if in suite more in lounge. Plenty for us.

 

mac_tlc

[di T]

On 3/1/2022 at 10:16 PM, WestLakeGirl said:

What is a Zephyr?

That’s what I want to know, have we missed something? 

[mfs2k]

34 minutes ago, cruising teacher said:

The next time that an officer says that they value our loyalty I will laugh out loud. The second time will be a giant eye roll. 🙄

Reminds me of Ghandi hunger strikes and 1000 mile marches to protest indignities. You got this. 

[TrueCruiseaholic]

Heard from another cruiser who discussed the removal of Zenith access to Retreat Lounge with crew on a Celebrity ship.

 

The mentality behind the decision is that Celebrity corporate does not want to give Zeniths that were booking suites after the restart a reason to stop booking suites (a permanent price increase on Zenith members to maintain their benefits). The concern is that if Celebrity gives Retreat Lounge access back to Zeniths, Zenith members could actually sail in non-suites and get the benefits that they used to get while not sailing in suites. Essentially any reason to not book a suite has to be mitigated.

 

I look forward to the next class of Celebrity ships that are (guessing) twice the size of the Flora with only suites. Celebrity corporate has literally just told Zenith members that either the Zeniths cruise in a suite or Celebrity corporate does not want their business. I have heard from more than one Zenith member that they are curtailing their future Celebrity cruises (in some instances to zero).

 

A quick addition: a passive aggressive Zenith member sent an email to Celebrity that just had phrases like "$1, $5, $100" and then a postscript that said "hopefully you understand what I wrote since the only thing you understand is money." They were very proud of the idea, though we all know it will not make any difference.

[cruising teacher]

16 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

I was onboard Connie and read the email while in my cabin.   About 5 minutes later the lovely Isobella called me regarding something else.   I bet she was sorry she called although I tried not to focus it on her but rather ask that she get my comments up the food chain.

I would love to hear how this is being received by other Zenith on board now. How is the staff handling this fiasco 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Celebrity is fully aware that some will stay and the rest will stray, but they've already done the math. All the while new Zeniths rise to the ranks and then won't have to (for a time at least!) experience losing something which they previously enjoyed.

 

Celebrity will simply accept the grumbling as the price of change, knowing that the path forward is still bright for them, new blood you know. Who knows, at some point they may have some dedicated Club Z Lounge, or not...

 

No doubt by the time we make Zenith, if that ever comes to pass, there will be more changes. 

 

When I compare the loyalty program with that of Carnival, where we were Diamond when the program began ~10 years ago, it's like night and day. We received a once in a lifetime "complimentary" steakhouse meal, yay us... lol. Spend extra on a suite, no extra points or perks to speak of. Even when they debuted their new "Excel Suites" last year with the Mardi Gras, they were (shock!) going to for the first time offer coffee makers in those rooms. A few weeks before she set sail, that was quietly deleted from their website. They did offer no charge room service with those rooms, but then went on to charge you anyway - if you're sharp enough to catch that and bring it to your attention it MIGHT be removed at the end of the sailing (a "known" glitch, so they say). Once we had a taste of the suite life on other lines, it was a no-brainer. Right now we're pushing towards our "Milestone" 75th Carnival sailing (one of us is 4 shy of the other) where we'll enjoy 75% of our cruise fare as OBC, so we'll get a few grand back to play with - it would be more, but it's not possible to spend $15k+ for a cabin on a week long Carnival cruise, and that's about my "fun ship" limit anyway!

 

Tom

[isdoo]

On 4/8/2022 at 3:09 PM, Beachin2 said:

as a suite cruiser I'm very glad to see this made permanent by X.

This is good news that the lounge will only be for suite guests. 

 

[TeeRick]

19 hours ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Heard from another cruiser who discussed the removal of Zenith access to Retreat Lounge with crew on a Celebrity ship.

 

The mentality behind the decision is that Celebrity corporate does not want to give Zeniths that were booking suites after the restart a reason to stop booking suites (a permanent price increase on Zenith members to maintain their benefits). The concern is that if Celebrity gives Retreat Lounge access back to Zeniths, Zenith members could actually sail in non-suites and get the benefits that they used to get while not sailing in suites. Essentially any reason to not book a suite has to be mitigated.

 

I look forward to the next class of Celebrity ships that are (guessing) twice the size of the Flora with only suites. Celebrity corporate has literally just told Zenith members that either the Zeniths cruise in a suite or Celebrity corporate does not want their business. I have heard from more than one Zenith member that they are curtailing their future Celebrity cruises (in some instances to zero).

 

A quick addition: a passive aggressive Zenith member sent an email to Celebrity that just had phrases like "$1, $5, $100" and then a postscript that said "hopefully you understand what I wrote since the only thing you understand is money." They were very proud of the idea, though we all know it will not make any difference.

Sorry but I am having a difficult time believing your information.  But maybe it is just me.  Others might agree with you.   So you heard from another cruiser who spoke to a crew member?  So that is your basis of these statements?   Then you make a number of statements about Celebrity Corporate and Zenith members and report it here as fact?  And you have heard from more than one Zenith member about this and represent their opinions here?   Here is a true fact.  None of this makes any difference.  If a Zenith member wants to sail in a suite they do so and pay for it.  Same as the rest of us.  And many of them do so.  And enjoy it.  No vast Celebrity anti-Zenith conspiracy IMHO.

[LGW59]

On 4/9/2022 at 7:42 AM, cruising teacher said:

The next time that an officer says that they value our loyalty I will laugh out loud. The second time will be a giant eye roll. 🙄

Sure, but do you think any officer has any say in these types of corporate decisions! 🙄

[graphicguy]

I’ve sailed Celebrity Sky Suites 3X.  

 

The flip side of this, I would be a bit peeved if I knew I paid for the Retreat, and someone else who didn’t pay, ended up taking up space in the Retreat.

 

Regardless, if you want access to the Retreat, book a Retreat Suite.  It really is that simple.

 

I don’t know of any mainstream line that allows non-suite guests access to suite only areas.

 

MSC won’t allow Non-Yacht Club guests into the Yacht Club.  NCL won’t allow non-Haven guests access to the Haven.  

[tfred]

X's first priority is the full fare paying suite guest experience - that's where a lot of profit lies.  If X sees that Zenith pax are too much for the Retreat (crowded, eating all the food, sitting in all the chairs) then they will be excluded

 

Every other lounge experience that I have had (Marriott, Amex, Delta) has done this as their programs evolved.  Top tier population numbers increased and started to overwhelm the lounge and services.  Amex is really getting overwhelmed at airports with card members and guests.  They now dont allow inbound travelers, only outbound.  No one enters more than 3 hours before a flight and still it looks like a frat party at many locations.  

 

The fail in the X program is that there is no periodic renewal to retain status.  Once you are what you are that is your lifetime status.  Hotels and airlines make you retain status yearly through revenue and nights.  I am a lifetime Titanium with Marriott and that required at least 600 nights ( have over 2000), 10 years at Platinum (reattained every  year) and a certain $ amount.  X should do the same.  I viewed program status as a vehicle for "can you fix this for me?" problem resolution, not for free stuff.  Missed flights, away from the ice machine etc.

 

Rules change all the time in these programs and almost never for the better.  Get used to it. You can take your business elsewhere but you have no status over there at all.  They really dont care that you were Zenith at X since there are no real status match programs.   

 

Most membership clubs have a "lounge dragon" checking credentials and kicking out the "I'm with him" add ons with no status other than knowing the status person.  Hotel lounges are famous for people holding the door open for extended friends and family killing the experience for just about everyone else.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

18 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

MSC won’t allow Non-Yacht Club guests into the Yacht Club.  NCL won’t allow non-Haven guests access to the Haven.  

 

I know what you mean, however doesn't MSC status match to non-cruise travel brands, such as hotel and airlines?  Some credit cards give you status such as the AMEX Hilton Aspire.

[tfred]

6 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I know what you mean, however doesn't MSC status match to non-cruise travel brands, such as hotel and airlines?  Some credit cards give you status such as the AMEX Hilton Aspire.

They do match against some hotels, but it is also (or at least was) a "challenge" as well - you had to actually cruise within a certain timeframe or lose the temporary status