Is Celebrity going to Eliminate Butlers on Sky and Celebrity Suites?

[NMTraveller]

5 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Maybe they will bring back shuffleboard.

Pickleball is the new sport...

[neverlaysup]

7 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

It really is becoming a race to the bottom. Other than E-muster, I can't think of a single change on Royal or X since the restart that has been positive for the paying guests. 

 

mac_tlc

The 4, 5 or 6 drinks loaded to your sea pass card on Royal was a great positive change for  Diamond and above guests.

[Georgia_Peaches]

5 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I'm sure then the SS and CS gratuities will be lowered to that of CC and AQ 🤣

Probably not but it will eliminate at least one additional gratuity that I will have to account for on two future sky suite sailings. 

[micruiser2002]

2 hours ago, Straughn said:

I am waiting for Sky Suites to be kicked out of The Retreat, no access to the suite Sundeck area, and dinner in Luminae based on availability, just the same as Royal’s Junior Suites. If the rumor that Butlers will only be in the high end suites turns out to be true, that is just another example. All the focus will be on increasing  the perks/exclusivity (and therefore, the price) for the high end suites. 

That is exactly what I said earlier.  I will bet they plan to do the same as Royal and treat Sky suites like Junior Suites.

 

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, Straughn said:

 

I am waiting for Sky Suites to be kicked out of The Retreat, no access to the suite Sundeck area, and dinner in Luminae based on availability, just the same as Royal’s Junior Suites. If the rumor that Butlers will only be in the high end suites turns out to be true, that is just another example. All the focus will be on increasing  the perks/exclusivity (and therefore, the price) for the high end suites. 

 

Without the 152 SS & CS on the E class ships the Retreat spaces will be a ghost town.  Those 14 high end suites will certainly enjoy  quiet spaces and their choice of seats.

 

Why invest $1B each in ships with so much space dedicated to the Retreat for 28 or so guests. Even if you include CS you have 30 suites out of  176. 

[NMTraveller]

Can we bring our own butlers?  Asking for a friend 🙂 

[abbydancer2003]

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Without the 152 SS & CS on the E class ships the Retreat spaces will be a ghost town.  Those 14 high end suites will certainly enjoy  quiet spaces and their choice of seats.

 

Why invest $1B each in ships with so much space dedicated to the Retreat for 28 or so guests. Even if you include CS you have 30 suites out of  176. 

If that were the case the 6 butlers would probably have lots of free time, since each would have 2.3 rooms.  

[abbydancer2003]

6 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Can we bring our own butlers?  Asking for a friend 🙂 

Ha.  The first time my sister and I got a sky suite, we'd booked concierge (or Aqua) - and the prices dropped where a sky suite became close.  I told her she'd get a butler.  She asked what they do.  I said they'd bring coffee in the morning.  She said "you already have that". (on our first cruise she went swimming early while I slept in a little (Caribbean - she's from NY me from California so very early for me) and she brought me coffee on her way back every morning.  

[chemmo]

We have been cruising suites on Celebrity since before there were any perks. It has evolved over time and I am sure will continue to do so.
 

I remember a PH with the only perks being the butler, two bottles of spirits and I think just one (or two?) speciality dining included. No lounge, no concierge, no drinks package, no Luminae…

 

Then came the Revolution. At first Sky Suites were not allowed in Michael’s Club, they only had access to Luminae and many grumbled because as they were given Luminae they lost their free speciality dining….Drinks packages were not included for any suite so top suites did frequently enjoy Michael’s Club pre and post dinner. 
 

Then Sky Suites were allowed access to Michael’s and many top suites grumbled that service levels would fall, there would not be enough seating…

 

This is obviously not a full review of the changes made over the years but it does indicate that the suite experience is not static. Changes positive and negative can come from financial pressure, a need to keep up with the offerings of competitors and a desire to respond to the feedback of guests…

Finance, I am sure is definitely behind this move…
 

 

 

[Mark_T]

I guess something like this was inevitable as pretty much all the other changes have not impacted on the Retreat at all...

 

So with the higher prices seemingly not causing a lack of bookings, the door was open to some service reductions there as well...

 

 

[ChucktownSteve]

14 hours ago, Crazy planning mom said:

I don't ever sail in a suite but given Royal's great earning report, is this further cost cutting really necessary?

 

As a shareholder of a paltry 100 shares, who has jumped ship until the pricing becomes more reasonable, I say AYE!

[horseymike]

The market will sort this all out at some point , people are still in the revenge travel mode post covid.

[MustBCruzn]

18 hours ago, terrydtx said:

There is a long discussion, on the social media site we can't mention here, that recently Celebrity management made a decision to eliminate Retreat Butlers for Sky and Celebrity Suites. Supposedly this information was given yesterday to a meeting of butlers on the Apex and that there would only be 6 butlers left on the Apex in the future.

 

Has anyone else heard about this? We have a Sky Suite booked and paid for on the Apex in September. I sincerely hope this is just a rumor and not reality.

 

DH and I are on the Apex Baltic cruise right now. I just asked our butler about this and he confirmed that there will be staffing changes in the future, but said he didn't have more details. I  take that as a yes.  😞

[weregoingcruising]

15 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Maybe they will bring back shuffleboard.

I hope so.

[weregoingcruising]

Does this mean the Suite life won’t be as Sweet or be Bittter without the Butler?

[cruising43]

The butter is bitter if there isn't a butler to bring it to you.

[terrydtx]

30 minutes ago, MustBCruzn said:

 

DH and I are on the Apex Baltic cruise right now. I just asked our butler about this and he confirmed that there will be staffing changes in the future, but said he didn't have more details. I  take that as a yes.  😞

One more confirmation of our worst fears. Royalizing instead of Revolutionizeing. What is next, 4000+ passenger mega ships with rock climbing walls and water slides?

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by terrydtx

[C4HCG]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

One more confirmation of our worst fears. Royalization instead of Revolutionizeing. 

 

Not the way I view it. Like any business in the hospitality trade (or any other for that matter), cutting costs due to covid is my opinion. Anyone know a company not doing that? I don’t. 

[bnurick]

We have primarily only been in suites. I did accept a blue chip CC transatlantic cruise and booked Murano and Tuscan 4x each. The food was better than Luminae, and I agree with an earlier comment the menu is not great. The total cost if I had paid for the CC plus dining would have been much less than a SS. So I guess if I can get the specialty dining it would meet my expectations going forward. To be honest, whenever I cash tip I get excellent service, so that could be an additional workaround for certain items. 

[ChucktownSteve]

15 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

One more confirmation of our worst fears. Royalizing instead of Revolutionizeing. What is next, 4000+ passenger mega ships with rock climbing walls and water slides?

 

Don't forget the blaring techno "music" which I consider musicless music.

Edited July 29, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[cruising43]

10 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

cutting costs

Is it not possible that cost cutting measures are synonymous with the term "Royalization"?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

11 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

They implement significant new policies with newly-released itineraries. 

So that means if we have already booked they wouldn’t change this?  We booked a Sunset Sky Suite on the Equinox for June, Barcelona to Rome. I just checked and the they still have the following suites available on our cruise. 

4 Sky suites

8 sunset sky suites

8 Aqua sky suites

8 Celebrity suites and 

1 Royal suite 

 

I booked this while onboard on December. It doesn’t appear they are selling very well to me, although it’s still 320 days out. We’ve had a $700+ price drop since then, but even at that we could get a veranda for half!  If they change this policy, can we change room categories without penalty (still considered an onboard booking?) What’s the point of getting a suite if we don’t have a butler and the sundeck doesn’t have a pool?  I should add that I’m not a foodie so the retreat menu doesn’t seem that appealing to me. (I’m the yacht club I ordered the filet half the nights) We’d mostly be paying for retreat access and better restaurant service. 
 

We sailed with MSC in the yacht club earlier this summer. We absolutely loved it!  It was our first time in a suite with benefits though. I’m looking forward to comparing the experiences of the two. I already know that the YC will win the sun deck category because we had a lovely pool (and hot tubs we didn’t use, but others did) with plenty of loungers all day, and a full service bar and grill, got waited on with fast service from our loungers, with buffet.  BTW, we did this for 57% of the cost and had a butler, and reserved theater seating every night. We were waited on constantly, we’re completely pampered and had special elevator access that called an empty elevator for us a YC guests. This may be our first and last retreat experience, but dh said he could never go back after the service we received in the YC so perhaps a move to MSC for future sailings. We’re keeping our X cruise because the itinerary is amazing! That’s why we picked it over a newer ship with a retreat pool.
 

We will be disappointed if we don’t have a butler to bring us coffee in the morning, but it won’t ruin our cruise. We aren’t needy and we only used our butler for morning coffee, room service, and laundry on the MSC cruise. Oh, and since the mini bar was included he asked us what we wanted it stocked with. 

[ChucktownSteve]

13 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Not the way I view it. Like any business in the hospitality trade (or any other for that matter), cutting costs due to covid is my opinion. Anyone know a company not doing that? I don’t. 

It's called shrinkflation.  Just like items in your grocery store which raise prices, then next they shrink the contents, Celebrity is doing the same. It started long before covid!

[terrydtx]

I sent an email to ExecutiveOffice@celebrity.com this morning to see if they will confirm or deny that this is going to be a new policy. It will be interesting to see if they respond and what the answer will be.

[djh]

8 hours ago, abbydancer said:

If that were the case the 6 butlers would probably have lots of free time, since each would have 2.3 rooms.  

I seem to think that they might keep butlers for the 16 Celebrity suites. That would bring the average to 5 per butler which is still less than many of the butlers have now.