CELEBRITY REFLECTION PHOTO DISASTER RANT

[crewsgirl]

Warning: Long Post. We sailed on Celebrity Reflection on June 10 from Barcelona to Spain. We disembarked in Naples to fly home early, and before we disembarked with special permission, I went to the Photo Gallery to purchase our cruise photos. The Photo Manager REFUSED to allow me to pay for our photos, and instructed me to ask a friend to purchase them for me that night and they would send me an email link for the photos. She refused to allow me to leave my credit card information to process later at her convenience, she refused to help at all while onboard. HOW AWKWARD! My husband & I were traveling alone, but luckily I had met a friend, and I messaged her and she agreed to pay for the photos & sent me the receipt and I venmo'ed the funds. I thought I would be receiving the photos from Celebrity with no issues. FF to July 1. NO PHOTOS. I have called Celebrity every day, emailed them with all the details, they have a copy of the receipt, they know my cabin number, reservation number, email address, and my friend has reached out through Twitter, and while they are clearly aware of the problem....NO PHOTOS, NO PHOTO LINK, NO EMAIL. This rant is to let Celebrity know they need to address the customer service issue of instructing someone else to pay for goods, then never producing the merchandise. I am furious. This was a birthday/anniversary cruise and yes, I want my photos that I paid for, and numerous phone calls, emails, messages, etc has produced absolutely nothing from Celebrity. Customer Service is NOT adequate in this situation and we will not be X customers in the future.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

They still photographers on the ship ? 
Never noticed them in April 

[crewsgirl]

11 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

They still photographers on the ship ? 
Never noticed them in April 

Clearly, you are one of the many passengers that don't have cruise photographs, so one would think they have plenty of time to take care of the few customers they do have...apparently, not. Such poor customer service, they shouldn't bother with photographers. 

[Mark_T]

34 minutes ago, crewsgirl said:

We disembarked in Naples to fly home early, and before we disembarked with special permission, I went to the Photo Gallery to purchase our cruise photos. The Photo Manager REFUSED to allow me to pay for our photos, and instructed me to ask a friend to purchase them for me that night and they would send me an email link for the photos. She refused to allow me to leave my credit card information to process later at her convenience, she refused to help at all while onboard. HOW AWKWARD!

Obviously there is no excuse for failing to provide you with the download link via email after your friend had purchased them for you, but for the initial problems paying for it yourself, did you approach the Photo Manager while you were at sea, or after you were already in port?

 

Once in port, a lot of the retail services do shut down to avoid tax issues, and from a security perspective I can see why they would not want to take a copy of your card details to use later...

[1Virgo]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

They still photographers on the ship ? 
Never noticed them in April 

On Equinox and Summit, recently,  we noticed that you have to book an appointment.  No more trying to nab you as you walk by or eating

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, crewsgirl said:

Warning: Long Post. We sailed on Celebrity Reflection on June 10 from Barcelona to Spain. We disembarked in Naples to fly home early, and before we disembarked with special permission, I went to the Photo Gallery to purchase our cruise photos. The Photo Manager REFUSED to allow me to pay for our photos, and instructed me to ask a friend to purchase them for me that night and they would send me an email link for the photos. She refused to allow me to leave my credit card information to process later at her convenience, she refused to help at all while onboard. HOW AWKWARD! My husband & I were traveling alone, but luckily I had met a friend, and I messaged her and she agreed to pay for the photos & sent me the receipt and I venmo'ed the funds. I thought I would be receiving the photos from Celebrity with no issues. FF to July 1. NO PHOTOS. I have called Celebrity every day, emailed them with all the details, they have a copy of the receipt, they know my cabin number, reservation number, email address, and my friend has reached out through Twitter, and while they are clearly aware of the problem....NO PHOTOS, NO PHOTO LINK, NO EMAIL. This rant is to let Celebrity know they need to address the customer service issue of instructing someone else to pay for goods, then never producing the merchandise. I am furious. This was a birthday/anniversary cruise and yes, I want my photos that I paid for, and numerous phone calls, emails, messages, etc has produced absolutely nothing from Celebrity. Customer Service is NOT adequate in this situation and we will not be X customers in the future.

You need to send your complaint (rant) to the following Email address concerning the so called armature photographers and what you experienced. The photos are from the contractor (the photo studio staff are not Celebrity employees) not Celebrity.  executiveoffice@celebrity.com

Edited July 1, 2023 by davekathy

[crewsgirl]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

Obviously there is no excuse for failing to provide you with the download link via email after your friend had purchased them for you, but for the initial problems paying for it yourself, did you approach the Photo Manager while you were at sea, or after you were already in port?

 

Once in port, a lot of the retail services do shut down to avoid tax issues, and from a security perspective I can see why they would not want to take a copy of your card details to use later...

We were in port debarking, so correct, that is why she would not take my card, but my SEAPASS is my card, right? Has the same info.....I was open to any method to pay, but asking a new friend to pay for a service onboard is awkward, and seemed very scam-like to me. Surely, after the friend paid, they should have sent the link immediately. We had excellent wifi in Rome at the hotel. 

 

17 minutes ago, davekathy said:

You need to send your complaint (rant) to the following Email address concerning the so called armature photographers and what you experienced. The photos are from the contractor (the photo studio staff are not Celebrity employees) not Celebrity.  executiveoffice@celebrity.com

Thank you for the contact info. I will send to them as well. Celebrity has a long detailed commentary on my file, but I appreciate you posting this information as well. That is very helpful. To be fair, the photographer remembered us to my friend when she paid, and she had no control in the situation, it was all the Photo Manager on Reflection. And that person refused to come out to the Gallery to handle the situation, it was abysmal. 

[prmssk]

1 minute ago, crewsgirl said:

We were in port debarking, so correct, that is why she would not take my card, but my SEAPASS is my card, right? Has the same info.....I was open to any method to pay, but asking a new friend to pay for a service onboard is awkward, and seemed very scam-like to me. Surely, after the friend paid, they should have sent the link immediately. We had excellent wifi in Rome at the hotel. 

They are not set up to take your credit card (everything is charged to your sea pass).  They can't charge to your sea pass while in port.  And if you were officially disembarking early, they were closing out your sea pass card at that time.  So this makes complete sense why they couldn't do what you were asking them to do.

 

Now, that doesn't excuse the fact that the link hasn't been sent even after payment was made on your behalf by someone else.

[Mark_T]

2 minutes ago, crewsgirl said:

We were in port debarking, so correct, that is why she would not take my card, but my SEAPASS is my card, right? Has the same info.....I was open to any method to pay, but asking a new friend to pay for a service onboard is awkward, and seemed very scam-like to me. Surely, after the friend paid, they should have sent the link immediately. We had excellent wifi in Rome at the hotel. 

I know this isn't helpful, but the only 'correct' way to handle this was to do it before you were in port and debarking, once that happens your onboard account is closed out so there really is no way for you to pay, this is why there are usually lots of warnings onboard to make sure you have made any purchases the day before you debark...

 

Since you were leaving early, you wouldn't have had a specific warning like everyone else on the final day of the cruise...

[davekathy]

2 minutes ago, crewsgirl said:

Thank you for the contact info. I will send to them as well. 

You're welcome. I have had good luck with those that respond from Celebrity using that Email. I've received phone calls from that office and follow up Emails concerning my questions/concerns. 

[horseymike]

1 hour ago, 1Virgo said:

On Equinox and Summit, recently,  we noticed that you have to book an appointment.  No more trying to nab you as you walk by or eating

I can remember waiting in line for a considerable amount of time to board the ship 🚢 as the mandatory pre cruise photos were being taken. I do not miss that at all.

[Mark_T]

... my biggest concern at this point would be that the photos are routinely deleted shortly after the end of the cruise, so if the fact that payment was actually made by a 3rd party after the onboard account had been closed is at the root of the failure to deliver the emailed link, the photos may already be gone...

[jwlane]

52 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

 the only 'correct' way to handle this was to do it before you were in port and debarking, once that happens your onboard account is closed out so there really is no way for you to pay

Nailed it.

It's not unreasonable to expect that this request could not be processed until after the actual end of the cruise (was it the 19th?) with ALL the rest of this sailing's purchases.  Although I can't cite the exact verbiage, is a 10 to 14 day delivery timeframe excessive?

[Mark_T]

9 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Although I can't cite the exact verbiage, is a 10 to 14 day delivery timeframe excessive?

They aim for 4-7 days after end of cruise so they are a bit late now it seems.

 

30 days after the end of the cruise the web account is disabled, so if the photos were moved to the cloud and it is just the email that has gone missing there is still some time to go...

[phoenix_dream]

For reasons that have been explained, they could not handle it when you disembarked.  Once it has been paid for, however, you should be sent the link.  I don't think they promise to send it immediately though.  You mention contacting Celebrity daily by phone, emailing, etc..  What you didn't tell us is what they said to you when you contacted them?  You don't say what day you disembarked, just when you sailed, so it's not clear how many days have passed since they were paid for?  When you contacted them did they give you an expected timeframe?  I'm not sure of the promised timeframes in these situations.  If you got a timeframe, has it passed and by how long?

 

Your best bet is to use the email given above.  Ranting here doesn't reach Celebrity, as I don't think they read these boards anymore.  I hope your photos get sent to you and are all you hoped for.  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Are the photographers even Celebrity employees? I know a few cruise lines use an outside company for their photographers so you'd need to deal with that company.

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Are the photographers even Celebrity employees? I know a few cruise lines use an outside company for their photographers so you'd need to deal with that company.

The photographers are employees of the contractor Celebrity hires. As are the onboard shop, casino, art and spa workers. I believe shore excursion employees are also contractors 

[Mark_K]

10 hours ago, horseymike said:

I can remember waiting in line for a considerable amount of time to board the ship 🚢 as the mandatory pre cruise photos were being taken. I do not miss that at all.

If you’re talking about the security photos they took before they had the pre-cruise download option, yes. If you’re talking about the photo department photos as you boarded the ship, they were never mandatory. All you had to do was say no and keep walking.

[horseymike]

Not talking about the security photos. We were in a long line behind other passengers and did not have the option to cut in front of them . Once we reached the actual photo area we politely declined.

The point is everyone had to wait in the line that was being held up by the pre cruise photo op.

[mom says]

3 minutes ago, horseymike said:

Not talking about the security photos. We were in a long line behind other passengers and did not have the option to cut in front of them . Once we reached the actual photo area we politely declined.

The point is everyone had to wait in the line that was being held up by the pre cruise photo op.

In all my Celebrity cruises, I've never encountered a "mandatory" (not for security) pre cruise photo. People who didn't want the photo simply walked past those who were getting their photo taken.

[horseymike]

I guess I have been around too long. I did experience this same scenario multiple times over the years , and it was not only on X.

[prmssk]

7 minutes ago, mom says said:

In all my Celebrity cruises, I've never encountered a "mandatory" (not for security) pre cruise photo. People who didn't want the photo simply walked past those who were getting their photo taken.

I agree but I do recall times where we were stuck behind a line of people leading up to those photographers.  Depending on how it was set up, there wasn't always space to walk around so you had to wait until you got to the front of the line to pass on the photo.

[hcat]

we never leave a ship without our photos..printed out, on disk.or downloaded 

 

The photographers are nice but the managers tend to be slippery. Once they have the miney they want you to go away! 

 

Promised links do not arrive or cant be opened etc..  Lately we order a few nice  prints on board, pick up  our prints and make our own photobooks

[crewsgirl]

UPDATE! Just wanted to circle back and let you CruiseCritic people know that as a result of social media, my friend using Twitter, and specifically an additional email sent to the contact that davekathy shared here on this post, I was contacted today by Gali at Celebrity Executive Team and my link to my cruise photos were sent to my email and fully downloaded! I am THRILLED and I appreciate all the helpful comments and thoughts that helped me arrive at a timely solution! While photos aren't for everyone, I am glad we took the time to make these memories and now I can make my Europe cruise book. So, again, thanks for all the help and listening to my concerns. Celebrity did take care of it. Here's our photo with the Captain, just for fun! Have a great day, Cruisers! 

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Congrats on the successful resolution!