Is anyone at Celebrity, Listening?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

10 minutes ago, Saturngrl said:

Lean Six Sigma is a method of process improvement focusing on elimination of errors/defects in a process.  Lean Certification is from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and Lean focuses on elimination of waste (known as Muda) in processes.   Those certifications mean I specialize in growing efficiency, reduce costs, improve satisfaction, based on the Voice of the Customer (us, in this case!). 

Ahh The people who cut jobs 

[phoenix_dream]

24 minutes ago, Saturngrl said:

Lean Six Sigma is a method of process improvement focusing on elimination of errors/defects in a process.  Lean Certification is from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and Lean focuses on elimination of waste (known as Muda) in processes.   Those certifications mean I specialize in growing efficiency, reduce costs, improve satisfaction, based on the Voice of the Customer (us, in this case!). 

I know what you mean about wishing you could help out just for awhile.  I never got Certified, but I was a project manager for corporate wide business process reengineering projects.  Sometimes it's all I can do in my daily life keeping my mouth shut about all the efficiencies I could suggest across so many businesses.

[Saturngrl]

14 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Ahh The people who cut jobs 

In Lean, we do NOT cut jobs!  We work to balance the workload among all team members.  If a team member is not needed as a result of improvements (again, based upon the Voice of the Customer), the team member is re-assigned to another task.   In my decades of work in this field,  NO team member has ever lost his/her job.  

[RichYak]

13 hours ago, RTShaker said:

Not my point. If you know there are cutbacks in your product be upfront about it. Truth in advertising is the best way to keep your customer base satisfied.

This reminds me of the movie Crazy People with Dudley Moore.

[NutsAboutGolf]

25 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Ahh The people who cut jobs 

 

Nearly all jobs will be replaced at some point.  Specifically for cruise ships, bartenders will be replaced by self-service dispensers (RCL, NCL CCL have had them for years) and waiters will be replaced by you ordering from the ships app.  You'll still need a human to oversea the dispenser machine but that's one person for perhaps a dozen dispensers.  With dining you'll still need food runners/delivers

 

 

[bigbenboys]

22 minutes ago, Saturngrl said:

In Lean, we do NOT cut jobs!  We work to balance the workload among all team members.  If a team member is not needed as a result of improvements (again, based upon the Voice of the Customer), the team member is re-assigned to another task.   In my decades of work in this field,  NO team member has ever lost his/her job.  

I was involved in a lean process. We documented the process in detail. Then the work was moved to Mexico. Then after a few years moved to China. If employees could not find different jobs at that location they were assigned jobs 40 miles away.

[C 2 C]

16 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Hopefully Celebrity is watching and reading.  And wondering if they care, or just in it for the $$$$$$$$$..  What used to be is no more

Very True.  Cruise lines have been forced to assume large debts as a result of trying to stay afloat.  The experiences we have enjoyed in the past are no longer economically viable.   We want to cruise.  Cruise lines will attempt to satisfy the demand while still trying to generate the income shareholders and the banks demand.  We have been able to find cruises that we can afford knowing that the experience will not be the same.  I firmly believe that X is paying attention to these boards and will respond according to what they can afford.

[gizmodog]

7 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

As long as ships are sailing full or mostly full, cutbacks or price increases will be all you see.

I have said this for a few years, there are so many celebrity cheerleaders though, sadly nothing will change. Just make excuses, keep paying and celebrity will laugh all the way to the bank. Do any of you honestly think these extra charges will go away when the majority are more than willing to pay them? How they are doing this is so wrong, just raise the cruise price and still make it all inclusive, but they both raised the cruise price and threw in extra charges everywhere.

I love cruising, celebrity has always been my line of choice, I will cruise with them again, I just won’t buy specialty dining,  won’t pay for room service and any other extra charges they throw my way. I am also now, very open to other cruise lines.

[weregoingcruising]

3 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I have been on 6 or so cruises since the resort..all have been great.  Some obviously better than others…I don’t get all the whining and complaining. 

Because can .

[C 2 C]

5 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

Not sure if I put in the Zaandam report or not. 

 

I could only imagine what would happen on this board if they ran out of certain alcohols like they have on HAL. When we were on HAL they ran out of the cheap amaretto on day 4 or 5.

We cruised on HAL 12 weeks over the last year, first on N Statendam that we loved and then recently on Zaandam which convinced me that if you can run out of Sam Adams on the Montreal to Boston run you need a better management team. 

 

[Mark_K]

5 hours ago, Saturngrl said:

I posted this on my review from February 2023 on Reflection.  I am Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Certified.  Six Sigma focuses on eliminating errors.  Lean focuses on reducing/eliminating waste.   

 

On my February 2023 Reflection cruise, I observed considerable amount of waste which leads to cost savings.  Example:  MDR seating for meals.  It's a manual process, involving three crew members and walkie talkies.  The waits at dinner amounted to HOURs for passengers without reservations.  They were handed buzzers and I heard many of them upset about waiting until 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. for dinner.  A more modern tech for this process would help re-assign one of the crew members elsewhere, where be put to better use.   

 

Another example:  at breakfast, the coffee servers were hard to find, yet the pastry servers were often idle, wandering around with trays of pastries.  No balanced workload for the servers.  Cost savings could occur with a better process leading to less waste of pastries, crew time,  etc. 

 

I wish I could work for Celebrity.  It would be so great to evaluate other services to help them save money.  

Based on what I, and lots of people here, have experienced with the Celebrity IT department, three guys with walkie-talkies is probably the more efficient option.

[Bo1953]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

With all due respect,

 

I would believe the correct wording would be Survival, Survival and Survival.   The most recent quarterly report showed RCL lost 48 Million quarter ending March and depleted 709 Million in Cash.

ji - I was thinking along the same lines, yet one has to understand financial statements and reports and where to find them to understand...

 

It is not only about the investors, but about the survival of the company.

 

But then...

 

bon voyage

[cgolf1]

43 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

We cruised on HAL 12 weeks over the last year, first on N Statendam that we loved and then recently on Zaandam which convinced me that if you can run out of Sam Adams on the Montreal to Boston run you need a better management team. 

 

 

They definitely didn't get a pass for the booze in our survey. That is something with a long shelf life and no reason to run out of those items. Luckily there wasn't a lot of us from WI on there or they would have run out of brandy from all the old fashioned that were ordered during happy hour;)

 

The Montreal to Boston run was an amazing Itinerary. It is a trip that we want to do again a little later in the season sometime. 

[FRMPEI]

2 hours ago, Saturngrl said:

Lean Six Sigma is a method of process improvement focusing on elimination of errors/defects in a process.  Lean Certification is from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and Lean focuses on elimination of waste (known as Muda) in processes.   Those certifications mean I specialize in growing efficiency, reduce costs, improve satisfaction, based on the Voice of the Customer (us, in this case!). 

 

Just to add to this. Six Sigma was basically invented by Toyota which gave them a competitive advantage in manufacturing but, they freely shared it with it's competitors and other industries. I worked for Honeywell's Aerospace division, here on Pei, from 2007-2011 and they required that every employee be certified in Six Sigma Green Belt and I also believe if your are a Prof. engineer you must also become certified in Black Belt. Like most things in this world it based on common sense. 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[NutsAboutGolf]

Of course X isn't using (Lean) Sigma Six, look at the first key principle:

 

[CaliB]

17 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I for one would pay extra to have the same food quality as we had in 2019...  Make it a mid tier dining option.

I'm in agreement with this, and would go further to pay extra for other upgrades to the experience like early boarding, premium seating in restaurants and poolside, etc...call it a VIP package or....

[C 2 C]

12 minutes ago, CaliB said:

I'm in agreement with this, and would go further to pay extra for other upgrades to the experience like early boarding, premium seating in restaurants and poolside, etc...call it a VIP package or....

You mean that by showing loyalty to the brand by becoming Elite Plus or Zenith you will be given these perks?

[weregoingcruising]

2 hours ago, weregoingcruising said:

Because they can .

 

[Baron Barracuda]

4 hours ago, ldtr said:

Not really. Those results were for a period that still had lower occupancy. Even then operations were cash flow positive. The cruise line was near being fully cash flow positive even with debt payments. Next quarter will be even better. They are past the concern for survival period, unless there is new major crisis.

 

The debt will restrict capital investment for years, but does not threaten survival.

Take a look at the cash flow statement and you'll see most of that positive operating cash flow came from a huge rise in customer deposits from $4B to over $5B.  With all ships back in service expect deposit balances to plateau.  And occupancy for the quarter was 102%, not far below the good old days.

[Bo1953]

3 hours ago, C 2 C said:

We cruised on HAL 12 weeks over the last year, first on N Statendam that we loved and then recently on Zaandam which convinced me that if you can run out of Sam Adams on the Montreal to Boston run you need a better management team. 

 

... as that might cause a near riot??? LOL

 

I understand... 

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[mayleeman]

17 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

And occupancy for the quarter was 102%, not far below the good old days

 

How can it be over 100%? Does the 2% come from collecting forfeited payments from cancelled cabins that then got resold?

[RichYak]

3 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

 

How can it be over 100%? Does the 2% come from collecting forfeited payments from cancelled cabins that then got resold?

100% means every room filled with 2 people. When you put 3 or 4 in some rooms, that will lift occupancy over 100%. 

[Baynanno1]

11 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Well, my take on this and similar topics includes:

 

1) X and other lines monitor on-board and follow up survey's about their product from passengers who just disembarked, as such coming to a 'limited and vocal few board' to hear what we may not like is of no value;

 

2) given their current financial situation, were we as families in the same situation and our children had the similar complaints about their living situation, what would you say or do to make up for it? Should they move to another familial situation;

 

3) Some have said they are willing to pay more for better this and that, well you can by going to other lines and go into their forum to proclaim the move (as a few on this forum have) to 'better' even if they have yet to sail;

 

4) If one had a 'product quality' issue aboard, nothing wrong with airing the issue here, but tell me how you handled it at the time it was noted/experienced and immediately after the sailing.;

 

5) I see nothing in bad taste for the critics be criticized, after all, this is CC - LOL of course some of us do not view it that way and that is fine;

 

6) Many of us do forget that were we to 'defect' to other forms of vacationing, there are quite a few behind us for our cabins regardless of the cost and will not complain about it.... go figure???;

 

7) As for this threads title, I can inform that more often than not, X does listen to me when aboard if I have an issue and in most of the time it is addressed right on the spot (or soon there after) and I sail on...

 

We all can have issues on any sailing, yet to come here to ask if they are listening, well.... just well!!!

 

X, like many other cruise lines need to get their finances back in order (whatever it takes at that) in order to attempt to return to their former 'glory' or just shut down. 

 

Okay, my critical or critic thoughts are done, at least for now... LOL

 

bon voyage

 

Very well said!

[Wakepatrol]

The ships are sailing full with a captive audience

good luck

[xamsx]

We have moved on. Of the six cruises we currently have booked, one is is with Celebrity, and that one is only because my mother insisted (the rest are just Hubby and me). We are only elite status, so we aren't leaving behind tremendous perks or anything.

Raise the prices and provide less product? See ya!