Seriously now-how many of you are REALLY looking at other cruise lines because of the CEO's changes going on?

[cruising sister]

I recently cruised Holland America to Norway and loved it. I am looking at longer and more interesting cruises. I can’t afford to cruise in suites so need to find line what works best for the pocketbook. I have a 94 day Grand Australia and the 35 day Voyage of the Vikings booked with Holland America and I am looking forward to it. I too don’t like the IV balcony and the lack of outside space on the Edge class ships. I am new a solo traveler since my DH died I will stick with cruises until I am more comfortable traveling alone. 

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

There is NO WAY that Celebrity is dumb enough to build a 5th E class ship.  However if they do, there is no way it has as many IV’s

it will be a duplicate of the Beyond and Ascent. This is from a recent forum on future cruise ship construction.

Edited September 10, 2023 by terrydtx

[the penguins]

37 minutes ago, tfred said:

Edge class has been on the water since 2018.  They have had plenty of time to evaluate acceptance.  Judging by bookings it is obvious that it isnt a problem. 

Your point would have more validity if X had waited to see if the first one was successful before ordering more. In reality they were building several before the first was even launched.

More remarkable to me is that the only cruise line with extensive experience of IV cabins (Viking's river cruise fleet) chose not to have them on its Ocean Fleet.

We won't really know what X thinks of IV's until it introduces it's next class of ships.

Popularity of Edge Line: also difficult to judge.

1) Suites and the cabins with real balconies sell out very quickly but not always the IV's

2) in some markets there is no choice. For example Silhouette has been very successful in the UK but from next year it's only an Edge Class ship. The big UK TA's are advertising "balconies" with no description or cabin details which could well come back to "bite" them. The pricing is way above Princess/P and O/MSC.

 

 

[TeeRick]

41 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

There is NO WAY that Celebrity is dumb enough to build a 5th E class ship.  However if they do, there is no way it has as many IV’s

Yes at this point they plan to build one.

Unfortunately for some, they cannot change the engineering design and build one with less IV's.  It is the framework of the ship.

[Tall Lad]

44 minutes ago, tfred said:

Cruise Critic is a very, very small subset of cruisers. Many people are signed up, few post.  

 

X probably looks at CC occasionally, but isnt basing corporate policy on what is said here.  

That's hardly the point is it? If someone has sailed with Celebrity and have come away unimpressed they are still entitled to their opinion.

 

We returned from Edge yesterday , having previously sailed on her 12 months ago. The difference in quality between the 2 cruises was night and day and we won't be back anytime soon. The quality of the menus and of the food itself in the 4 MDR's was abysmal. Nickel and diming was very much present with no bottled water or even glasses in the cabin now , the cabin was not serviced most days until late afternoon and they even charged for quayside transportation in Ibiza 10 euros per person. Cabin towels were wafer thin. WE got so fed up with the food that we opted for dinner 1 night in the OceanView cafe  which defeats the object of dinner being an occasion.

 

All in all the whole experience was hugely disappointing.

[TeeRick]

22 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I hear you - totally agree.  

 

And I have to wonder - does Celebrity even read these boards anymore?!?!  I know they used to.  They certainly would be wise to do so, even if they didn't care to respond to some points/questions as they used to years ago.  I know these boards are a small percentage of the overall passengers.  But there is also other social media, and long time cruisers who used to promote Celebrity to friends and family are now telling them to consider other options.  Word gets around quickly in this internet age.

@phoenix_dream it is not really a factor if the Celebrity execs or RCG execs or anybody in the corporation read these boards or not.  Why would they care about the many of us and our opinions about the cutbacks and high prices?  Why are we assuming that they don't know exactly what they are doing?  And why are we assuming that our posts can educate them?   The only thing they will respond to eventually is less bookings and losing money to their competition.  As long as everybody here and elsewhere keeps booking and sailing (while complaining) then they will not change direction.  The Celebrity we knew and loved pre-pandemic is gone.  We need to enjoy the new product or find another one to spend our money.  I personally am choosing the latter.  

[tfred]

4 minutes ago, Tall Lad said:

That's hardly the point is it? If someone has sailed with Celebrity and have come away unimpressed they are still entitled to their opinion.

 

We returned from Edge yesterday , having previously sailed on her 12 months ago. The difference in quality between the 2 cruises was night and day and we won't be back anytime soon. The quality of the menus and of the food itself in the 4 MDR's was abysmal. Nickel and diming was very much present with no bottled water or even glasses in the cabin now , the cabin was not serviced most days until late afternoon and they even charged for quayside transportation in Ibiza 10 euros per person. Cabin towels were wafer thin. WE got so fed up with the food that we opted for dinner 1 night in the OceanView cafe  which defeats the object of dinner being an occasion.

 

All in all the whole experience was hugely disappointing.

I see in your profile that SeaDream is your favorite cruise line.  If so, I can imagine you are looking sideways at X food.  X food (yes always subjective) is pretty good for most land based resort people who are taking a cruise.

 

SeaDream is 2 or 3 notches above X so it is no surprise that you are unhappy

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, miched said:

I booked cruises on other lines that are considered a step above X.  .  I have 10 cruises booked on X all in suites   If  my experiences on the other lines are better I will just bite the bullet and gladly forfeit the $100 pp service fee.    Ironically those other cruises don’t cost about the same.

 

It may result  that I will end  up thanking Celebrity for making me going outside the box and not being blind as a loyal cruiser, I only need a few more points for zenith.   I don’t want to keep throwing away my hard earned dollars for an inferior product if that is want it has become.    I don’t mind paying for quality but it appears as if it no longer there on Celebrity.. Will find out first hand on our next cruise as  the payment has been made.  
 

I hope it isn’t as bad as we think.   My money is gone.💰

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

I'm sure you are going to have a great time! I know we did on our recent 33-day B3B on the Eclipse in an Aqua cabin. The entertainment was great, the food was tasty, going on excursions when we're in port is always memorable, and watching the world go by from our balcony while cruising from port to port during the quiet times is always fun!

 

But then we always have a great time on all of the cruises we go on. 😊

[Tall Lad]

8 minutes ago, tfred said:

I see in your profile that SeaDream is your favorite cruise line.  If so, I can imagine you are looking sideways at X food.  X food (yes always subjective) is pretty good for most land based resort people who are taking a cruise.

 

SeaDream is 2 or 3 notches above X so it is no surprise that you are unhappy

It's got nothing to do with "looking sideways" at X food. If you'd read my post you would have discovered that the quality of the food is markedly down on what it was 12 months ago when it was perfectly acceptable , else we wouldn't have returned 12 months later.

 

In its current state I doubt whether X food is pretty good based on what we experienced last week. In fact we spoke to a number of people who thought it was pretty poor.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Tall Lad

[needhols]

35 minutes ago, Tall Lad said:

That's hardly the point is it? If someone has sailed with Celebrity and have come away unimpressed they are still entitled to their opinion.

 

We returned from Edge yesterday , having previously sailed on her 12 months ago. The difference in quality between the 2 cruises was night and day and we won't be back anytime soon. The quality of the menus and of the food itself in the 4 MDR's was abysmal. Nickel and diming was very much present with no bottled water or even glasses in the cabin now , the cabin was not serviced most days until late afternoon and they even charged for quayside transportation in Ibiza 10 euros per person. Cabin towels were wafer thin. WE got so fed up with the food that we opted for dinner 1 night in the OceanView cafe  which defeats the object of dinner being an occasion.

 

All in all the whole experience was hugely disappointing.

We are on Edge at present and  couldn't agree more.  First time with Celebrity, going back to RC, we thought we had a move up... 

 

[Harrylinden]

Whit all the cut backs going on and prices going up for poor quality of food and everything else being cut. We have a B2B on the Beyond  in December 2023 and this will be our deciding point IF we cruise on Celebrity in the future. We also have a B2B next December2024 on the Beyond booked. If we are not satisfied or happy with this December's B2B ,I'm gonna cancel for next year and look at other cruise line's for my annual cruise's! Looks to me like Celebrity is cutting off their own nose's to spite their own face's! You know it must be bad if their most loyal elite plus customers are looking at other cruise line's AKA (Jim and Iain). I was shocked when I read their posts last week!!!!  SMH

[Cruise till you drop]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

@phoenix_dream it is not really a factor if the Celebrity execs or RCG execs or anybody in the corporation read these boards or not.  Why would they care about the many of us and our opinions about the cutbacks and high prices?  Why are we assuming that they don't know exactly what they are doing?  And why are we assuming that our posts can educate them?   The only thing they will respond to eventually is less bookings and losing money to their competition.  As long as everybody here and elsewhere keeps booking and sailing (while complaining) then they will not change direction.  The Celebrity we knew and loved pre-pandemic is gone.  We need to enjoy the new product or find another one to spend our money.  I personally am choosing the latter.  

Even though I’m a big Celebrity fan, I agree that this could back to haunt them.  I worked for a major automobile manufacturer (T) and although we loved conquest sails, we also made sure we built brand loyalty so people would even dream of buying another product.

 

We would have never put a bean counter in charge.  It was usually someone from sales or engineering as the focus was on the product first. You get the product right and the bottom line will take care of itself 

 

I’m sure they are trying new things to gain new and younger passengers but if it comes at the price of driving away your loyal cruisers, that’s not a good move from a long term stability point of view

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[paulh84]

11 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

I’m sure they are trying new things to gain new and younger passengers but if it comes at the price of driving away your loyal cruisers, that’s not a good move from a long term stability point of view

 

 

Where did the loyal cruiser come from? They were the new and younger at one point. You have to start somewhere. The older ‘loyal’ crowd is at tipping point age-wise. I’m not sure the loyalist crowd are as important to the bottom line as some would like to think they are. 

[Keys Kathy]

OK, let's do a quick survey. Just your CC status, please, and if you are staying with X or looking elsewhere. 

 

Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

[HS2BS]

Elite + with almost 50 celebrity cruises but - b2b Princess booked for February 24 and Hal for 25

 

Hal

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Tall Lad said:

That's hardly the point is it? If someone has sailed with Celebrity and have come away unimpressed they are still entitled to their opinion.

 

We returned from Edge yesterday , having previously sailed on her 12 months ago. The difference in quality between the 2 cruises was night and day and we won't be back anytime soon. The quality of the menus and of the food itself in the 4 MDR's was abysmal. Nickel and diming was very much present with no bottled water or even glasses in the cabin now , the cabin was not serviced most days until late afternoon and they even charged for quayside transportation in Ibiza 10 euros per person. Cabin towels were wafer thin. WE got so fed up with the food that we opted for dinner 1 night in the OceanView cafe  which defeats the object of dinner being an occasion.

 

All in all the whole experience was hugely disappointing.

Sorry to hear this about EDGE..

I was just organizing our folders and other memorabilia from our Edge Cruises in her inaguaral year.  Great memories.. First cruise was in AQ Class...7 days.  Fabulous in every way.

The next was a longer itin in a middle  SV with the 4 mdrs.. really outstanding!  Cabin attendants were top notch!

 *************

Long while ago, they were pushing AQ..  We were given superior toiletries, lots of stateroom perks and extras,  and beautiful soft plush aqua  color towels.  On our very next cruise..those towels were gone and replaced with scratchy threadbare  white rags! I saw the good ones on a cart headed to the suites!  Not happy to lose the AQUA towrks   but we just used the pool and t nice  excursion beach towels for our shower..

 ***********

 we  agree,  LOYAL ( older?) CRUISERS rec to others,  and younger family members who they often treat to cruises.  We are suggesting our kiddos go from Royal C to Disney! 

[JaneStarr]

2 hours ago, needhols said:

We are on Edge at present and  couldn't agree more.  First time with Celebrity, going back to RC, we thought we had a move up... 

 

We cruise on Royal Caribbean when with our adult kids and grandkids. I’m sad to say that our May cruise on Liberty OTS will be our last for awhile. We never got a hot meal in the main dining room, service was several notches below what was typical for them and the menu selection was reduced.

 

I do have to say that RC has the best shows of the cruiselines we have experienced.

Jane

PS we are Diamond + on RC and Elite + on Celebrity (earned separately), so I feel confident speaking about our experiences with them. Hoping our March sailing on Eclipse in a CS is improved over what has been recently reported.

We prefer Solstice Class ships on Celebrity. Haven’t had a desire to try Edge class after Celebrity repositioned ships landing us back on Eclipse.

Edited September 10, 2023 by JaneStarr
to add PS

[JaneStarr]

2 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

OK, let's do a quick survey. Just your CC status, please, and if you are staying with X or looking elsewhere. 

 

Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

Elite plus — shopping around. One Ecllipse left on the books. Tried & loved Azamara; waiting for their pre-cruise experience to improve. Viking booked next.

[jmfdr]

2 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

OK, let's do a quick survey. Just your CC status, please, and if you are staying with X or looking elsewhere. 

 

Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

[spiff2]

3 minutes ago, jmfdr said:

Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

Elite. Looking at Oceania but open to suggestions.

[RichYak]

4 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

There is NO WAY that Celebrity is dumb enough to build a 5th E class ship.  However if they do, there is no way it has as many IV’s

I suspect this post won't age well.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

OK, let's do a quick survey. Just your CC status, please, and if you are staying with X or looking elsewhere. 

 

Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

We are Elite Plus and have 12 future cruises booked with PCL, 5 with NCL, 2 with HAL, and 1 Galapagos cruise booked with X.

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

There is NO WAY that Celebrity is dumb enough to build a 5th E class ship.  However if they do, there is no way it has as many IV’s

I have a long list of there is NO WAY that Celebrity is dumb enough to ...

 

Yet they have exceeded expectations on this list every time.  The Department of Dumb Ideas is exceeding expectations.

 

Chasing away loyal cruisers is right at the top of this list.

Edited September 10, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Beachin2]

Doing more & more on MSC YC.  Voting against RC & X with my wallet.

[doghog]

I'm not impressed with any of MSC intinaries for the Caribbean. 7 or 11 night cruises. Limited ports and their longer cruises are like B2B cruises with a TAD.  Leaving from Miami, New York or Port Canaveral. I like their 10 and 11 night US/Canada cruise intinaries.