Is anyone at Celebrity, Listening?

[C4HCG]

18 minutes ago, Nemanoxer said:

Making a complex issue simple, surely without the intention to offend any fellow cruisers:

 

Why would I care about my customers as long as I can be sure that they care more about some fancy machine hanging over the water that they can brag about after the cruise, than they care about top notch food, superb service and feeling well on older but super taken care of ships?

 

People keep booking Celebrity like crazy no matter what. 

 

For the first time in my crusing life, I have kicked X out of my plans now. I will try Sun Princess next year.

 

To close this post on a more objective note: I hope the new CEO is no longer all about the bling only. How I would personally find out? If one day someone tells me X has fired up a real and full out refurbish of the S-Class - then I would believe someone is back in reality. That ship class is the best X has to offer, my opinion only.

 

I don’t mind people saying they no longer will sail Celebrity, personal choice. But why the comment about customers caring more about some fancy machine so they can brag? really no need. And people keep booking Celebrity like crazy because they want to, same as you leaving, personal choice. Why does that bother you so much, you go your way, others will go theirs.

Edited June 12, 2023 by C4HCG

[Hawkstar33]

4 hours ago, C4HCG said:

A lot of people who post here are still willing to pay the price and they know full well what Celebrity was. You clearly have done with Celebrity which is fine, each to their own, but don’t deride those of us who for now, still value them. We have done 2 cruises post covid, loved them both, next up Equinox in September. We will keep an open mind and are not blind loyalists and if we find that to be not up to scratch we will say so. 

Sept 2nd for us too, on Equinox.  I'm hoping for the usual great experience, but will also review accordingly.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

ok.  we rent from local families.

Unless you are doing home swaps, they have still taken a property that could be used for local housing and turned it into a vacation rental. Thus removing it from local housing. The downtown areas of many tourist cities,  as well as many other areas such as beach towns have bad major portions of their available housing converted.

 

Cruise ships and rental conversions are enemy number 1 and number 2 of many tourist areas and many areas are moving to restrict both.

Edited June 12, 2023 by ldtr

[C4HCG]

43 minutes ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Sept 2nd for us too, on Equinox.  I'm hoping for the usual great experience, but will also review accordingly.

Same cruise as us 👍

[RichYak]

10 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

There has been change in leadership for sure but I have not heard about a change in base salary and commission due to the being in financial hardship.  The only people who is paying the price is the consumer.  

I just want to make sure I understand what you're writing. You want to dock the compensation of a corporate CEO because there was a global pandemic. Am I getting it right?

[curtsfan]

On 6/4/2023 at 9:49 PM, Hawkstar33 said:

Seems like a lot of griping mainly about cost, cutbacks, refurbishments on quite a few ships, and sadly about overall quality of the product.  I imagine that Celebrity has eyes on this site, as well as others.  But are they listening?  Nobody paying the higher price of cruising these days, wants to hear about pandemic losses, anymore. Cruise lines, according to what I see, and read,  are banging us with increases for every possible thing associated with each cruise. So with price increases, you think there should be no crappy chairs, cushions with stains, tired mattresses,  chipped rusted verandas, or worn musty smelling carpets, as I myself have also seen these past 2 years.  Just read about Eclipse, and how she needs some much needed attention in many areas.  I'm booked next June, and now I've gotta watch for further reviews, as I'm already not happy with the current poor reviews.  Hopefully Celebrity is watching and reading.  And wondering if they care, or just in it for the $$$$$$$$$..  What used to be is no more

We were on the Eclipse this past January.  And it was a beautiful ship!  I can’t say that we thought it needed a lot of attention.  But I can say that the crew was fantastic & the service was incredible.  We have sailed on the Summit, Solstice, Reflection ( a number of times) Equinox, Millie, Connie & the Edge as well.  Each ship has its own personality. And each trip was great.  Don’t let a few less than stellar reviews throw you.  

[crusinthrough]

On 6/12/2023 at 6:54 AM, RichYak said:

I just want to make sure I understand what you're writing. You want to dock the compensation of a corporate CEO because there was a global pandemic. Am I getting it right?

To financially recover from the global pandemic, It's either the consumer pays more or the corporate CEO million dollar bonus is reduced. Yes, I am advocating for both.  In Celebrity's case it appears to only be the customer.  

[crusinthrough]

On 6/12/2023 at 1:32 AM, C4HCG said:

A lot of people who post here are still willing to pay the price and they know full well what Celebrity was. You clearly have done with Celebrity which is fine, each to their own, but don’t deride those of us who for now, still value them. 

No one is trying to persuaded you or anyone from taking a Celebrity cruise.  If pricing and value ares still good for you, continue to cruise.  This is what Celebrity is counting on.  However, there are people who have taken a double digit number of cruises post pandemic compared to your two and have witnessed the decline.  Everyone has choices and are independent thinkers who make choices based on what's best.  Happy cruising!

[C4HCG]

20 minutes ago, crusinthrough said:

No one is trying to persuaded you or anyone from taking a Celebrity cruise.  If pricing and value ares still good for you, continue to cruise.  This is what Celebrity is counting on.  However, there are people who have taken a double digit number of cruises post pandemic compared to your two and have witnessed the decline.  Everyone has choices and are independent thinkers who make choices based on what's best.  Happy cruising!

Everyone making their own choices independently is exactly what I was saying and trust me, I wouldn’t be persuaded by anyone on here when deciding to cruise or not. but I have learnt lots of good tips from some brilliant posters here.

 

Sorry us only having cruised twice post covid means in your eyes we are unqualified to give an opinion.

[cgolf1]

28 minutes ago, crusinthrough said:

No one is trying to persuaded you or anyone from taking a Celebrity cruise.  If pricing and value ares still good for you, continue to cruise.  This is what Celebrity is counting on.  However, there are people who have taken a double digit number of cruises post pandemic compared to your two and have witnessed the decline.  Everyone has choices and are independent thinkers who make choices based on what's best.  Happy cruising!

 For certain room classes, on the lower end, X is still a great deal. It appears the higher end room rates are jumping, and I don't blame those folks for leaving.I have onbly done 3, but have noticed changes. Apparently not enough vaca time and $ to cruise more.

Edited June 13, 2023 by cgolf1

[Guest ldtr]

43 minutes ago, crusinthrough said:

To financially recover from the global pandemic, It's either the consumer pays more or the corporate CEO million dollar bonus is reduced. Yes, I am advocating for both.  In Celebrity's case it appears to only be the customer.  

The price increases to the customer have little to do with recovery from the pandemic and more to do with the fact that they have the pricing power to do so.

 

The cruise lines kept prices low while they were getting occupancy backup and getting people used to cruising again. They did that while their competition, the rest of the travel industry, raised prices significantly. 

 

The cruise lines are now following the rest of the industry in raising prices restoring the relationship in pricing between cruising and other land based options.

 

Cruise lines traditionally have limited pricing power. Now that they have the ability it would be mismanagement for them not to take advantage of it. If bookings remain strong prices will go up, until bookings show they have reached the limit in pricing power.

[Whinenowine]

On 6/11/2023 at 3:48 PM, ChucktownSteve said:

 

 During the pandemic I found three Regent cruises that were priced lower than Celebrity for the identical size suite pp pn.  That wound up being an elevation for a better price.  Celebrity was raising prices to gobble up all the FCCs they issued.  Hotel, air, excursions and much more were included in Regent.  

Yes, this!  I've been banging this gong for a year.  I'm not cruising on X in 2023 because their suite pricing has just gone stratospheric. I've priced a number of cruises on Regent, SilverSea and Oceania this month, and more often than not they're the same or sometimes even cheaper than X.  That includes Med, Baltic, TA, and Caribbean itineraries.  I find just find that...odd, even when stripping out the airfare/airport transfers/shorex/etc.  One cruise had almost the identical itinerary, yet a cruise-only Regent Superior Suite (F2) was over 12% cheaper an X Sky Suite, despite being larger.  That's four-figures of cash savings.

 

I know that many X loyalists prefer the larger ships with more entertainment, nightlife, etc.  I totally get that--the vibe is a personal choice and does matter.  But for me, I like the more relaxed 700-1200 sized luxury ships anyway, so it's more of a win-win.  As long as pricing remains at this level, I can't see going back to X.  And RCL management won't care because there seems to be an endless supply of cruisers who will replace me.

[XLVIII]

3 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

To financially recover from the global pandemic, It's either the consumer pays more or the corporate CEO million dollar bonus is reduced. Yes, I am advocating for both.  In Celebrity's case it appears to only be the customer.  

Million dollar bonuses are a drop in the bucket compared to the Billions of dollars in debt. It would take 1000 years of million dollar cutbacks to make up even a billion of the debt. I’d rather have a competent CEO getting the bonus vs a cut rate CEO driving the company into the ground. 27 million people will take a cruise this year - you’re probably paying less than a dollar per cruise for that compensation. 

[Guest ldtr]

6 minutes ago, XLVIII said:

Million dollar bonuses are a drop in the bucket compared to the Billions of dollars in debt. It would take 1000 years of million dollar cutbacks to make up even a billion of the debt. I’d rather have a competent CEO getting the bonus vs a cut rate CEO driving the company into the ground. 27 million people will take a cruise this year - you’re probably paying less than a dollar per cruise for that compensation. 

Considering that most of their compensation comes from stock options or otherwise performance based, probably much less than that.

Edited June 13, 2023 by ldtr

[XLVIII]

On 6/11/2023 at 1:59 PM, crusinthrough said:

When I read about CEOs taking pay or bonus cuts then I'll believe it's about getting out of the pandemic hole.  Prices have significantly increased and food quality significantly declined.  Unfortunately, there isn't much value in cruising anymore especially for those who have been to  ports multiple times and cruise for the enjoyment.  Some of the non refurbished ships are in a desperate need of "modern luxury" upgrades or a lower price tag so that expectations matches the actual experience.  

 

Suite pricing is insane and the non refundable 10% deposit makes them harder to justify.  I'm glad I took advantage of causing when it restarted and ships were empty because of the vaccine mandates and fear of getting back on a ship. These will forever be some of my best cruises.  

 

I stayed with Celebrity and booked a few cruises during the pandemic and restart.   Most have the old packages (Elevate or Indulge) and pricing.  These may be my last cruises, which is disappointing because I really like cruising but pricing is not matching the service.  Hopefully, I'll see deals like the Beyond April cruise. 

 

Where is the logic for this type of pricing on a mainstream cruise line? A 9N Caribbean sailing on the Beyond in November.  

Maybe the price is so high because the demand is so high. Looks like this is the only suite left on this cruise?