Are Celebrity cost cutting and penny pinching there faithful customers off the ship?

[chromered7]

Does the new boss of Celebrity really care about their long established and faithful customers with the raft of changes she is implementing? Perhaps they are aiming for a new demographic of young passengers who have never experienced the quality that Celebrity once was?

[basenji56]

If you don't have Elite and Elite Plus cruisers, more people are likely to purchase the drink packages because there are no free drinks.

 

As I always say, if cruise lines lost money on drink packages, they wouldn't sell them.  

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by basenji56

[CruiseImage]

16 minutes ago, chromered7 said:

Does the new boss of Celebrity really care about their long established and faithful customers with the raft of changes she is implementing? Perhaps they are aiming for a new demographic of young passengers who have never experienced the quality that Celebrity once was?

That’s been the target market for several years, it’s just now been accelerated with the new CEO. 
Just gotta move with the times 

[BlackLion 213]

55 minutes ago, chromered7 said:

Does the new boss of Celebrity really care about their long established and faithful customers with the raft of changes she is implementing?

 

In a word, NO...

 

It sure doesn't appear as if she does!

 

It's not ALL about the changes affecting loyal customers, but too many things in the recent course of X events have turned us away from Celebrity, our once favored cruise line. A horribly disappointing recent experience on Eclipse didn't help!

 

As I have said, and will likely say many times before this subsides, she is making "how to kill a cruise line" moves.

 

[lv2cruisgrl]

It seems she is a bean counter and only wants to make the company more profitable.   In doing so us "Older and Loyal" customers will possibly stop cruising on Celebrity.  She is looking to the next,  younger generation to fill the cabins.  Unfortunately things don't always stay the same in life.  We sail on Beyond again in November and if we dislike all the changes we may cancel our 2024 cruises with them.  Sad....

[Bo1953]

How can anyone be sure that these plans were not already in progress/place and she is only executing them, as was passed on to her???

 

I do not see her as being in the role long enough to work with the team to implement these items/changes.

 

Could she have halted implementation? I Am sure, yet I do not know the business decision(s) that went into making the new policies.

 

For example, I did know that the charge of gratuities were going up, about 90 days ago, yet there are a few here who were blind sided by it and believed they were deceived when it happened.

 

But, be that as it may.

 

bon voyage

Edited August 1, 2023 by Bo1953

[horseymike]

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

If you don't have Elite and Elite Plus cruisers, more people are likely to purchase the drink packages because there are no free drinks.

 

As I always say, if cruise lines lost money on drink packages, they wouldn't sell them.  

 

To your point, remember before the advent of the drink packages, there was a beverage server every 4 feet asking if you would like a cocktail, now with all the prepaid drink packages you find yourself waiting in line at the bar to order a drink .

[horseymike]

1 hour ago, chromered7 said:

Does the new boss of Celebrity really care about their long established and faithful customers with the raft of changes she is implementing? Perhaps they are aiming for a new demographic of young passengers who have never experienced the quality that Celebrity once was?

I have noticed that retired / older people have more free time on their hands to travel / cruise.

They also seem to have budgeted accordingly. With that said , I would not be in any hurry to chase them away, repeat business is the biggest business in the world . Someone’s mistake may end up being someone else’s gain.

[Babr]

Didn’t you see this coming? Celebrity paid for a lot of private jet rides, hotels, and meals during COVID to get people home or to reimburse quarantine expenses.

[hrhdhd]

I decided to book a HAL cruise for December after not sailing that line in 10 years. And I'm close to booking a Princess cruise for next May. While I am sure those lines have also had cutbacks, I want to check them out myself to compare.

[Joker54]

We have several cruises on the books but only 2 are paid in full. The deposits on the others are minimal so we can walk away without a huge hit.

 

We are booking something in MSC Yacht Club in December to give them a try.

 

We are b2b on the Equinox in Oct so between those 3 cruises we hope to be able to make an informed decision. The cruising industry is ever changing so who knows.

[Ken the cruiser]

For us now that we're in our 70s and fully retired, we enjoy going to more exotic places where we have either not been before or had so much fun, we want to go back there again. Unfortunately, for Celebrity in our particular case PCL and NCL offer some pretty cool 3-5 week itineraries at very fair and refundable prices.

 

But that's OK too, as cruising with multiple lines allows us to avoid getting burned out on any one cruise line. 😉

[phoenix_dream]

17 minutes ago, horseymike said:

I have noticed that retired / older people have more free time on their hands to travel / cruise.

They also seem to have budgeted accordingly. With that said , I would not be in any hurry to chase them away, repeat business is the biggest business in the world . Someone’s mistake may end up being someone else’s gain.

This is exactly my thinking.  I understand bringing in fresh blood so to speak.  A business has to survive.  But many of us 55+ have 20+ more years to cruise and if they're like me had wanted it to be on Celebrity.  Now for the first time in literally 30+ years I am considering other lines.  Not ghosting Celebrity but not sailing as much with the line either.  Many of these young people now filling the ships will likely come back, but due to jobs, family, and finances they will definitely not come back to sail as often as I will, with 7-8 or more cruises per year since retirement. 

It seemed to me, CEO of only my own family (although DH would argue that point!) that the Royal group had a smart thing going before.  Younger people and young people with children chose Royal Caribbean for the entertainment aspect and child-friendliness.  As their children grew and left the house and they wanted a more restful cruise atmosphere, they graduated to Celebrity.  Seems logical and practical to me.  And to add to that, Royal keeps building floating resorts, bigger and bigger all the time.  And Celebrity keeps adding new E class.  After this post-Covid surge ebbs, will they really be able to fill ships on both lines with this business strategy?  CEO's in general have a habit of looking only at the immediate future as that is where their bonuses are built.  They tend not to look 4-5 or more years ahead as they will often be moving on by then.  I guess time will tell.

Edited August 1, 2023 by phoenix_dream

[keesar]

23 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

How can anyone be sure that these plans were not already in progress/place and she is only executing them, as was passed on to her???

 

For example, I did know that the charge of gratuities were going up, about 90 days ago, yet there are a few here who were blind sided by it and believed they were deceived when it happened.

 

 

This thread is a repeated theme  of those in the past going back years.  I remember people getting upset when the midnight buffet was removed.  Then the huge luncheon event in the MDR was gone. Now, some cruisers are upset at a $1.60 increase in tips for a Specialty Restaurants.  

 

The increase in gratuities were sent in an  email and even made the national news.  Blindsided if you did not read your email.  

[mrgabriel]

The changes aren't impacting our travel plans at all. We have two cruises booked with Celebrity and are planning to book more.

 

We also look at pretty much every other form of travel (other cruiselines, all-inclusives, booking our own, etc.) and for us, Celebrity cruises are still a great value. We have sailed enough to have a reasonable loyalty level (Elite +) but those benefits alone don't tip the scale. 

 

Different strokes ... 

[Maisyboo]

25 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

I decided to book a HAL cruise for December after not sailing that line in 10 years. And I'm close to booking a Princess cruise for next May. While I am sure those lines have also had cutbacks, I want to check them out myself to compare.

Unfortunately Holland America is also changing & not for the better in our opinion. After 17 cruises with HA we are done . Horrible experience  in March aboard the a Nieuw Statendam . Was thinking of going back to Celebrity.  What are the changes that are upsetting loyal customers?. 

[lv2cruisgrl]

22 minutes ago, keesar said:

 

This thread is a repeated theme  of those in the past going back years.  I remember people getting upset when the midnight buffet was removed.  Then the huge luncheon event in the MDR was gone. Now, some cruisers are upset at a $1.60 increase in tips for a Specialty Restaurants.  

 

The increase in gratuities were sent in an  email and even made the national news.  Blindsided if you did not read your email.  

We never got a email!  

[horseymike]

11 minutes ago, Maisyboo said:

Unfortunately Holland America is also changing & not for the better in our opinion. After 17 cruises with HA we are done . Horrible experience  in March aboard the a Nieuw Statendam . Was thinking of going back to Celebrity.  What are the changes that are upsetting loyal customers?. 

Basically the same old story , pay more , get less.

[cruisinsusin]

we agree that cruising is still an overall good travel value. We have cruised with celebrity 5 times this year - in suites, concierge, and regular veranda cabins, and have a number of future ones booked,albeit with small deposits. . We did enjoy each one of the Celebrity cruises this year.  However, it is becoming clear that we are not the target demographic ( altho, as  @phoenix_dream  said previously, our demographic is the one that now has the time to do multiple cruises per year rather than one or two). We have seen the small and not so small cuts and have tried to be understanding, as covid did a number on the financials of all cruise lines. But, for the first time in many years, we have cruises booked with 3 other lines as well and will see.... 

[zitsky]

55 minutes ago, Maisyboo said:

Unfortunately Holland America is also changing & not for the better in our opinion. After 17 cruises with HA we are done . Horrible experience  in March aboard the a Nieuw Statendam . Was thinking of going back to Celebrity.  What are the changes that are upsetting loyal customers?. 

 

Vaping allowed in the casino.  And changes to butler service in Suites.  Upper suites no changes.  Sky Suite and others have a team of butlers instead of a dedicated person.

 

I've always booked Aqua but did a suite recently.  And booked another Sky Suite in 2025.  So I'm watching the butler changes.  But I think I've decided I'm OK with it as long as they don't take away something else, like the lounge or restaurant access.  

[Crazy planning mom]

The thing is Celebrity is known for their food.  Now, they are downgrading their menu, why sail on them?  That is what they are known for.

We have our 2nd Celebrity cruise booked for 2024.  However, if the food isn't better than Royal , then we will probably go back to Royal or NCL or try Virgin.

[bac513]

1 hour ago, Joker54 said:

...

 

We are booking something in MSC Yacht Club in December to give them a try.

 

 

 

We are 20+ years veterans of Celebrity. Have not  really had a bad cruise yet.  We book Retreat on E class as we do not want an infinite balcony.  We have, in he past 18 months sailed 4 times in Yacht Club.  The service and amenities were better at about 60-75% of the current Retreat prices.  We sail on Apex in December in the Retreat.  Would consider canceling except it was booked almost 2 years ago and large FCC which expire in December. Going back to MSC next year.  If Celebrity keeps raising prices, cost cutting, and vaping (although MSC allows smoking in some casinos) this may be a permanent transfer. of loyalty. No need for the casino on MSC since OBCs are daily small and can.go toward gratuities instead of the Celebrity casino.

 

We hate to give up Celebrity, but as others have mentioned, they appear to have no loyalty toward their long time cruisers. 

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

We have been regular Celebrity cruisers. I am not pleased with the changes, but where can we go without trading up to higher end cruise lines? As I have read about cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Disney, Carnival, and all of these similar classes of cruise lines, I learn they are all making cuts and removing amenities that we have experienced for years. It seems old fashioned hospitality has jumped ship just as it has with hotels and airlines. Why younger cruisers would not appreciate that same level of hospitality, I can't imagine.

[Crazy planning mom]

28 minutes ago, Silvery Seas Cruiser said:

We have been regular Celebrity cruisers. I am not pleased with the changes, but where can we go without trading up to higher end cruise lines? As I have read about cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Disney, Carnival, and all of these similar classes of cruise lines, I learn they are all making cuts and removing amenities that we have experienced for years. It seems old fashioned hospitality has jumped ship just as it has with hotels and airlines. Why younger cruisers would not appreciate that same level of hospitality, I can't imagine

My younger neighbor used to sail Celebrity 3x a year.  She was always praising it.  Well, she is sailing on Virgin this year.

[gardengalaz]

We're Elite on Celebrity but definitely not as enthusiastic about them as were were pre-Covid ... the product and value proposition have changed a bit too much to hold our loyalty.  So, earlier today, we booked our next cruise with Princess, with whom we've sailed many times, but switched to Celebrity for reasons that I can't remember.  Anyhoo -- with the deal Princess is offering on their Premiere package, the value can't be ignored. 

 

I'm sure Princess isn't going to be the cruise line we remember it being either ... but I think the good 'ole days of cruising have sailed long ago.