New Celebrity President

[deliver42]

I don't care who the president is, I lay the blame on Jason Liberty, CEO of the Royal Group. He either starts this garbage, or at the very least, has to sign off on it. All this crap started after Richard Fain retired and this jebuby took over.

[Cap_D]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

I don't care who the president is, I lay the blame on Jason Liberty, CEO of the Royal Group. He either starts this garbage, or at the very least, has to sign off on it. All this crap started after Richard Fain retired and this jebuby took over.

True.  As a new cruiser, but someone who looked backward quite a bit to understand it and select a first cruise (or none at all), it seemed from actions and words the prior execs were at least attempting to create a positive feel good experience; and that Celebrity / LLP were allowed to be different, and better.  Money that went to water slides and shows went to having more crew and space per passenger, and other things. The new crew are all Bob Chapek's looking to squeeze the last dollar, and rubbing it in

 

I will say that we found that prices for a suite with access to coastal kitchen on RC (which was really hard to figure out the final pricing on) was coming out higher than Retreat in 2022.  And, that was before we added in the necessary upsells that were fuzzy to create a comparable package, including the value of OBC to cover excursions.  So, Celebrity was a relative bargain and known to be demonstrably better quality in many ways. That seems to be over.  Folks should also keep count of all all the pricing info and metrics.  By the time the new management is finished, many of the prices for optional but needed packages will be impossible to find or dynamic, including desserts, coffee, drinks, and more.  The Royal model is to get and force people to spend onboard.  That was not the vibe Celebrity was going for with all included and crew that would be incentivised to generate satisfaction. The cookie is more than just being about a cookie.  It's about getting wallets open.  Look for more ways to drain OBC onboard, more overages on certain drinks, and other top off upsells, then less OBC, and even more gimmicks. There's going to need to be an shifting of onboard culture if Jason and Laura succeed with their playbook.  And, for them Celebrity is a tremendous opportunity if you're looking to find more opportunities for revenue, even if we perceive risk to keeping a flow of reccuring passengers.  

Edited August 26, 2023 by Cap_D

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Relaxed luxury

Please fill us in on where we can get any luxury at all?  

[Rocky4]

20 hours ago, pbrady said:

Does anyone else think this new president was hired to increase profits by cutting services, cheapening food selections, instituting charges for things that were free (cookies, 2nd lobster...) and raising the prices (quite a bit) on things like the drink packages, excursions..?  

Personal opinion is that she is doing a lot of harm by instituting all this in such a short period. 

I think this is a cultural change from service focus to cost focus.  The RCL Group CEO's career is all financial and accounting.  Given the pandemic damage done to the company, it is my opinion he was put in place to "right the ship".  The new Celebrity leadership is executing against the objectives they were assigned.  Perks and reduced pricing will only return to incent new customers when Celebrity is not filling up suite cabins.  Until that time I expect changes to continue to help pay down debt and increase margins.

[horseymike]

21 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Many of us believe because the previous CEO LLP and the title of CEO were removed, it's RCG's CEO Jason Liberty running the show and wants to bring many RCI items to X 

Is Jason Liberty related to Liberty Valence ? 
Sure seems like it.

[horseymike]

20 hours ago, CunucuMom said:

Reminds me of many corporate environments when a new leader takes the helm and makes immediate changes (read: cost-cutting) without fully understanding the impact on daily operations and customer satisfaction.  Sometimes the knee-jerk alterations work, more often they fail.

Jerk being the operative word.

[horseymike]

20 hours ago, lv2cruisgrl said:

I liked Lisa Perlo better!  This new chick is the new hatchet woman...not liking it.

She is probably a beard for Jason Liberty.

[horseymike]

20 hours ago, Cap_D said:

She's not a hospitality person or marketer and it shows in the video from the President's Cruise and handling of all the changes. She was fortunate that they had arranged to fly in Captain Kate to the President's Cruise.  

 

As for the marketing, it's just one BS promo after the same, sliced a different way, while the overall price is inching up, insults and cutbacks are growing, and foot in mouth surveys will become the norm. 

 

Meanwhile, all of the bookings and reputation is based on the LLP era.  The halo of an empowered crew first leads to happy passengers, elevated ship for everyone, influencer videos, impressions of what the Retreat should be, crew to passenger ratios, culture, design choices, whimsy, pricing that didn't become annoying while onboard, and so on, plus past positive experiences, that is what was selling the full ships of today.  

 

Meanwhile there were other retirements or layoffs / attrition proximate to LLP departure that probably also were partially due to their work about to be undone.

 

Was on an E class ship when the announcement was made.  Small sample, but we didn't get the warm and fuzzies when the topic was mentioned to people that took pride in what they were providing (and built) during chit chat.  

 

 

[horseymike]

I remember a car rental company that was the GOLD STANDARD in the rental car business for decades. After being sold multiple times the same company is still out there trying to profit from a reputation long since gone. Needless to say , things are not going very well for them.

[horseymike]

16 hours ago, Cap_D said:

True.  As a new cruiser, but someone who looked backward quite a bit to understand it and select a first cruise (or none at all), it seemed from actions and words the prior execs were at least attempting to create a positive feel good experience; and that Celebrity / LLP were allowed to be different, and better.  Money that went to water slides and shows went to having more crew and space per passenger, and other things. The new crew are all Bob Chapek's looking to squeeze the last dollar, and rubbing it in

 

I will say that we found that prices for a suite with access to coastal kitchen on RC (which was really hard to figure out the final pricing on) was coming out higher than Retreat in 2022.  And, that was before we added in the necessary upsells that were fuzzy to create a comparable package, including the value of OBC to cover excursions.  So, Celebrity was a relative bargain and known to be demonstrably better quality in many ways. That seems to be over.  Folks should also keep count of all all the pricing info and metrics.  By the time the new management is finished, many of the prices for optional but needed packages will be impossible to find or dynamic, including desserts, coffee, drinks, and more.  The Royal model is to get and force people to spend onboard.  That was not the vibe Celebrity was going for with all included and crew that would be incentivised to generate satisfaction. The cookie is more than just being about a cookie.  It's about getting wallets open.  Look for more ways to drain OBC onboard, more overages on certain drinks, and other top off upsells, then less OBC, and even more gimmicks. There's going to need to be an shifting of onboard culture if Jason and Laura succeed with their playbook.  And, for them Celebrity is a tremendous opportunity if you're looking to find more opportunities for revenue, even if we perceive risk to keeping a flow of reccuring passengers.  

The OBC seem to be dwindling every time I research a new booking.

[deliver42]

I don't care who the president is, I lay the blame on Jason Liberty, CEO of the Royal Group. He either starts this garbage, or at the very least, has to sign off on it. All this crap started after Richard Fain retired and this jebuby took over.

Edited August 26, 2023 by deliver42
sorry for the duplicate

[cruising.mark.uk]

22 hours ago, pbrady said:

Does anyone else think this new president was hired to increase profits by cutting services, cheapening food selections, instituting charges for things that were free (cookies, 2nd lobster...) and raising the prices (quite a bit) on things like the drink packages, excursions..?  

Personal opinion is that she is doing a lot of harm by instituting all this in such a short period. 

I think I must have misunderstood the rationale behind this post.  Are Royal Caribbean and Celebrity businesses or charities?  I always thought they were businesses and that businesses try to monetise elements of their product and give as little as possible away for free so as to maximise revenue. So, if these are businesses, it seems a little counter-intuitive to criticise them for hiring executives who introduce measures to increase revenue and profits.

[Cap_D]

1 hour ago, horseymike said:

I remember a car rental company that was the GOLD STANDARD in the rental car business for decades. After being sold multiple times the same company is still out there trying to profit from a reputation long since gone. Needless to say , things are not going very well for them.

Avoid Hertz unless you want lines like Alamo in Orlando in 1999, and cars that are lemons, in my experience.  At SFO a few weeks ago they rented me a car (Nissan Rogue) that as soon as I left wouldn't accelerate over 40 mph on the HWY 101, and then a malfunction warning message appeared.  I returned it after a nearby business meeting.  They asserted I took too long to return it, didn't know how to drive, and was imagining the issue.  They then proceeded to charge me for the rental that then had to be disputed with the bank.  There was barely anyone to engage with for resolution, and not even someone with an electronic scanner to mark the car in the system as being a death trap.   

 

Enterprise then walked me to another car, and couldn't have been better or easier to interact with both with their eager beaver new grad representatives and their app system. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Cap_D

[terrydtx]

23 hours ago, markeb said:

I think people are missing the obvious. Be more like Royal means make money…

It called Royalization plain and simple.

[markeb]

32 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

It called Royalization plain and simple.

 

How about it's the Chairman, Board, and CEO saying the shareholders want an ROE. And the President is executing their instructions. That's the only thing that's plain and simple. If Royal's making money, be like Royal. And no, I'm not on their board and they don't release numbers on their subsidiaries. Probably would be an SEC violation since the subsidiaries don't trade.

 

I don't like the changes either, but as was stated a couple of posts up, they're not a charity. And LHB mostly comes from an operational background, i.e., efficiency. Her only real strategy experience is Perfect Day at Cocoa Cay, and that may well have been the operations side as well for someone else's idea. Honestly, when was the last time RCG really had an original idea? Oasis Class at Royal and Edge Class at Celebrity? Those are both a lifetime ago. 

[NMTraveller]

Just now, markeb said:

 

How about it's the Chairman, Board, and CEO saying the shareholders want an ROE. And the President is executing their instructions. That's the only thing that's plain and simple. If Royal's making money, be like Royal. And no, I'm not on their board and they don't release numbers on their subsidiaries. Probably would be an SEC violation since the subsidiaries don't trade.

 

I don't like the changes either, but as was stated a couple of posts up, they're not a charity. And LHB mostly comes from an operational background, i.e., efficiency. Her only real strategy experience is Perfect Day at Cocoa Cay, and that may well have been the operations side as well for someone else's idea. Honestly, when was the last time RCG really had an original idea? Oasis Class at Royal and Edge Class at Celebrity? Those are both a lifetime ago. 

I understand them wanting an ROE.

 

I am just not sure that they are going about it the right way.  Pre-covid they had a very loyal and fanatical fanbase.  Much like the customers of Apple.  Willing to pay a premium for a premium product.  Apple improves their product each time around.  Now lowering the product like Celebrity has done,  one would eventually expect the cruise prices to come back to reality.

[markeb]

2 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

I understand them wanting an ROE.

 

I am just not sure that they are going about it the right way.  Pre-covid they had a very loyal and fanatical fanbase.  Much like the customers of Apple.  Willing to pay a premium for a premium product.  Apple improves their product each time around.  Now lowering the product like Celebrity has done,  one would eventually expect the cruise prices to come back to reality.

 

I don't disagree. They could be losing their differentiating features in the market to try to "out Walmart Walmart". I don't know what their strategy is.

 

Apple is an interesting example. They've likewise not truly had an original idea since Jobs died. Incremental improvements of the iPhone and iPad, but a product that's viewed as perishable. Those discussions are beyond this board!