Crew to Passenger Ratio / Cutbacks Impacting Service?

[buncosquad]

5 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Seeing that you have only sailed in the Iconic and Edge Villa on a new edge class ship, I am truly not surprised you are totally satisfied.  I think 99% of us would probably be satisfied as well a la Thurston Howe III.  

I'm being respectful. Please don't deride me.

 

People are posting all the negative for others to read.

 

I'm merely stating contrast in case others (perhaps like me) question if the negativity applies to all classes of stateroom and ships.

 

It doesn't, is the reason for my adding to the conversation. 

 

I'm trying to be helpful.

[jean87510]

5 minutes ago, buncosquad said:

I'm being respectful. Please don't deride me.

 

People are posting all the negative for others to read.

 

I'm merely stating contrast in case others (perhaps like me) question if the negativity applies to all classes of stateroom and ships.

 

It doesn't, is the reason for my adding to the conversation. 

 

I'm trying to be helpful.

I was merely pointing out your experience would be satisfactory to most if not all of us and I would be shocked if it wasn't.  And yes, I would feel like Lovey and Thurston if in that suite.  Don't take it as an insult.  Take it as a compliment!  Most of us would love to be in those suites 1x let alone 4xs!  Although I don't think I could get my husband (the inside cabin is fine man) to do it. 

It seems that most of the concerns are the sky suites and their cutbacks.  It is a shame.  

[Dolebludger]

Oh, I’m sure (I hope) that all on this board  are aware that any service cuts will not impact all booking levels the same. For example, if cuts are causing poor service in bars in the main ship, this will not impact those in the Retreat much as they drink mostly  in the Retreat Lounge. Room service problems in the main ship won’t impact those in RS and above, because the butler takes care of that. When we cruised in CS and RS right before the shut down (and before the recent cuts), we actually did little in the main ship. Those were very good cruises. The only reasons we don’t book those accommodations again is due to huge fare increases, and the lack of butler and included mini fridge in CS. 

[doghog]

2 hours ago, KansasK said:

Has Celebrity gone to once a day cabin cleaning yet?

No. You can elect to sign up for go green which is a once a day stateroom service. 

[kr00t0n]

I believe there is also a combined struggle with a lot of cruise staff (regardless of brand) quitting the industry during Covid, so coupled with new X ships each needing like 1.5k staff, backfilling has been tricky for the entire industry.

[rmalbers]

6 hours ago, kr00t0n said:

I believe there is also a combined struggle with a lot of cruise staff (regardless of brand) quitting the industry during Covid, so coupled with new X ships each needing like 1.5k staff, backfilling has been tricky for the entire industry.

That is a good point that I'm not sure has been brought up lately.  There are even more megaships coming online each year from different brands that require a lot of crew.  Maybe that is part of the problem.  I still say that people's perception is a lot different between people that cruised X a lot before and after the 'changes'.  and people that have only cruised during/after the changes. 

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, rmalbers said:

That is a good point that I'm not sure has been brought up lately.  There are even more megaships coming online each year from different brands that require a lot of crew.  Maybe that is part of the problem.  I still say that people's perception is a lot different between people that cruised X a lot before and after the 'changes'.  and people that have only cruised during/after the changes. 

This is the issue X are addressing by setting up recruitment offices in the Caribbean and South America.

X said that crew choosing to quit has not been such a major issue as the difficulty potential crew members had in getting vaccinated. Vaccinations are no longer such a major issue but there are delays with Visas.
An increasing issue is the ongoing war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia which combined has reduced the availability of staff from those countries.

 

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, rmalbers said:

That is a good point that I'm not sure has been brought up lately.  There are even more megaships coming online each year from different brands that require a lot of crew.  Maybe that is part of the problem.  I still say that people's perception is a lot different between people that cruised X a lot before and after the 'changes'.  and people that have only cruised during/after the changes. 

I would suggest that passengers who will be cruising soon should ask the ships they are on to hold similar Q and A sessions to the one we attended on Silhouette as this should sort the facts from the rumors/fiction.

[tikigal]

Just got off the Eclipse.

my experience for the most part was wonderful.  Starting with the husband and wife team in the passport bar, continuing on to the pool bar with Panda, the bartender, and then onto the Sky Lounge for Captains Club events and just to hang out during Captains Club time with Rahul and Victoria. My service was excellent and my glasses stayed full. They poured very good drinks for me and all had wonderful service oriented personalities!

 

The main dining room food: was good, but it used to be much better.  But so did all the other cruise lines.  Some of the Waite staff showed inexperience, like maybe in their off hours they should have some special training for these people because it showed inexperience.  I am sure the longer that these employees remain on, the more polished they will become.  Some are just on their first contract. I realize that the staffing isn’t at 100% or if it is, it seemed a little thin to me in the dining room.  I realize it is hard to recruit and train and have everyone on board coming off of the Covid epidemic. It is certainly not just Celebrity having these issues. It is all the cruise lines along with stateside Restaurants and businesses.  They are in the same predicament. I cannot fault them for this.

 

 Blue restaurant was very good. The only thing I did notice was that some  of the waiters didn’t have the solid training to anticipate the needs of the guests.  They are getting there, but many employees admitted that This was their first contract. It seems with the more that you pay for your room the better quality of service you get almost wondering if the people in aqua class should’ve been more hand-picked to work in that restaurant. The menu  has been shortened considerably as well as in the main dining room.
 

Many of the favorites that used to be : you could have it anytime or simply just added to the menu.  But…many of the other items taken off the menu totally in the main dining room! or, I could say, the choices were limited nightly. If you stayed on the cruise for more than a week, you repeated the same menu. How about a rotation every 21 days instead of 7.  There were literally hundreds of back to back guess each commenting on that same idea of expanding the menu and also rotating weeks.
now to be fair to Celebrity,  there was a price point for these cruises on the West Coast. They were fairly inexpensive compared to the Caribbean so you have to allocate , the food quantities per guest, and types of food you’re serving to fit your price point or you’ll lose money so I understand their issues.  Food prices have gone up worldwide and you can’t expect filet mignon on a beer budget so I actually applaud Celebrity for what they were able to accomplish on such a low price point. I think they did an excellent job. I’m just used to more maybe it will change once I get back to the Caribbean , hopefully.

 

my room was wonderful, kept neat by my room Steward, Kade. I signed up for the Go Green program with Celebrity, and still had an excellent opinion of my clean room and happy room steward, who is willing to go the extra mile.

 

 Senior staff:  Cruise Director, Hotel , Director, Chief Engineer, Staff Captain and Captain  were each wonderful to get to know for me, as a guest.  I  enjoyed the laughs and cordial meetings with all of them.  It’s too bad we can’t have more staff like them on the different cruise ships. Each was super friendly and circulated well throughout  the ship when not busy with their particular duties. Impressive.

 

The clientele on board mostly. ( over 50) which is great as I am in that age group. I found a great party at the martini bar nightly, and there were 2 flair bartenders out of the three bartenders, which means they could perform some pretty crazy tricks at the bar shaking up those martinis! They definitely kept me entertained.  Lots of chances to meet single women and men as well.

 

I loved the ports that I was able to visit and would do this entire trip again in a heartbeat.

 

See you all on another Celebrity Cruise.😁

Edited November 15, 2023 by tikigal
Verbage

[someguyfl]

10 minutes ago, tikigal said:

Just got off the Eclipse.

If you stayed on the cruise for more than a week, you repeated the same menu. They should have an expanded menu and more days at sea with different menus. It made eating boring.

 

The Eclipse is all short cruises on the west coast right now, isn't it? 

Do you mean the menu would repeat if you did a back-to-back?

[tikigal]

Yes

[Ex-Airbalancer]

The staff have off hours 🤔

Dont they work 20 hours a day now 🥵

[Dolebludger]

I think tikigal’s post above is spot on. Vacation/resort areas on land in the USA have staffing shortages as well as on X. I know. I live in one. But I will also say that we took an Alaska cruise in Regent last June and did not experience any sign of staff shortage onboard. But the land provided hotel and transfers were to be avoided, as was the air. There is a definite shortage of staffing in the hospitality/transportation industry world wide. So unless your can drive to and from your cruise, be prepared to have poor service along the way, even if not onboard.

[zitsky]

On 11/12/2023 at 6:44 AM, Northern Aurora said:

We boarded the Edge on October 30 and will be onboard for three legs. We are in the same aft Sky Suite for all three legs.  
 

My perception mirrors that of jeylane.  We have met the head butler several times. Our retreat host is excellent but does not seem to have the authority to do much —such as exchanging the cheap bubbly in the stateroom found on embarkation day for a bottle of red.  It was exchanged but took several days.  And when we return to the stateroom the room stewards are generally still working on their assigned staterooms after 2:30 PM.  All feels very impersonal, and this Zenith member of the loyalty club is not overly impressed and has discussed the situation with one of the powers to be. 

Thank you for discussing with management!  Because infrequent cruisers like me don’t have much influence on Cekebrity.  In a SS in early 2025 on Millie.

[Mimiya11]

Just off a TA on the Apex. 

 

Cutbacks were most obvious in the Oceanview Cafe where there were not enough staff to clean tables, often resulting in people moving dirty dishes aside to sit or just waiting and waiting to get the attention of a service person.  

 

[Mimiya11]

On 11/15/2023 at 1:23 PM, tikigal said:

Many of the favorites that used to be : you could have it anytime or simply just added to the menu.  But…many of the other items taken off the menu totally in the main dining room! or, I could say, the choices were limited nightly. If you stayed on the cruise for more than a week, you repeated the same menu. How about a rotation every 21 days instead of 7.  There were literally hundreds of back to back guess each commenting on that same idea of expanding the menu and also rotating weeks.

 

Agreed!   Plus it was obvious that yesterday's leftover duck became today's duck salad or soup.  And there must have been a sale on octopus as it was offered in various formats at least 4 times in Luminae in our 2 weeks on board.     

[tfred]

1 hour ago, Mimiya11 said:

 

Agreed!   Plus it was obvious that yesterday's leftover duck became today's duck salad or soup.  And there must have been a sale on octopus as it was offered in various formats at least 4 times in Luminae in our 2 weeks on board.     

pretty much every restautant reuses yesterdays food as todays side dish 

 

It is really a balance between keeping enough old menu items that people order, offering something new to repeat cruisers and editing out the under ordered items.  Octopus isnt inexpensive and is viewed as "edgy" as a menu item. As many people order some would view it as Eww.  Probably depends which restaurant serves it although I have seen Luminae pax order well done filet mignon so who knows peoples taste in food.  

 

Rotation is based on food costs and controlling the menu complexity with vendors and staff prep. Would like to see the actual B2B numbers - probably low especially in the Caribbean   Other more exotic routes may be higher

[Cap_D]

The end of this terrific report from @Norwaylady shares thoughts on Sky Suite in Retreat as compared to Concierge class (as she and her husband are in a B2B on Edge).  I'm sharing this here so it's also present for anyone reading about the cutbacks and practical impact they cause.  I would add that from my own experience the pre-August cutbacks staff levels to occupancy in Retreat on Edge Class ships were already causing the product to the struggling to keep up with expectations. 

 

1 hour ago, Norwaylady said:

Some thoughts about our sky suite experience as of now, day 9. 

This is really not easy. 

I feel that you are walking on a thin line of offending people and their preferences. 

 

What I will make absolutely clear is that the crew are working their socks off. 

This is not a crew issue on the ship. 

It’s connected to corporate decisions and their lack of contact to the their product. 

Cut backs is a major part of this problem. 

 

So, we are b2b. 

So we did board the ship in Italy in a concierge cabin. 

I know this sailing is very special in all ways. Number of captain’s club higher levels are far over the usual numbers. Specifically Zenith’s. So they shouldn’t cut anything in butler’s or people connected to the retreat before after the ship arrives in NZ/Aus. It’s a demanding crowd onboard🤓😅

What would be the correct decision was to keep the number as before until they reached NZ/AUS. 

 

I was in one way a bit surprised that we received no contact or letter from the retreat wishing us welcome to us on your next part of your sailing adventure a day before turnaround day. 

I was following our mail box as a hawk to hide it from Mr…🤭

Nothing…..

 

Upon boarding in Dubai, we were lucky. Since we could walk straight on, due to clearing of b2b in the morning. But there was a group of ladies in front of us sailing in SS on the gangway and they were greeted and followed onward by someone from the retreat standing on the destination deck. They had made it very visible and loudly marked we sail suites😅(we are not there😝….) 

 

We just walked on as normal. It was a made house of chaos. So not angry or upset. But it’s the lack of personal touch and the cherry on the top. 

 

We did not see our housekeeper until we tried to find him at 21.05 in the evening. Then we walked in the hallway back to the fun downstairs… Our room had not received turndown service yet…. 

So we went out again so they had a chance to get thru the staterooms. 

Our deck is definitely overwhelmed in housekeeping. 

It’s many suites and our fellow passengers are demanding in many ways. It’s stacks of plates and glasses in the hallway. People bring food from the OceanViev and don’t want the plates in their stateroom. (Fair enough, but team housekeeping is running a marathon picking up all of this on the floor in our hallway. I’m really surprised over the amount of this on our deck) 

 

They should definitely have an assistant on those floors containing several suites. To help off the pressure. 

To force on service from a butler to a housekeeper is not by chance possible. They lack training and don’t have time. They are already working on max capacity to serve their staterooms in ordinary housekeeping duties. (It’s already very clear to me that they are behind schedule of what corporate office thinks is possible and what in reality is possible to do in x hours) 

I can, but will not in a million years call my stateroom attendant to get coffee, I know he’s already overwhelmed by work.

This was just another example of missing cherries 🍒 on the top….

 

We had to ask on day 2, is the 2 bottles of water for us or do it belong to the mini bar? No notice or any information in the stateroom. (Communication is really not to underestimate😜) 

 

Breakfast from room service paper order has worked okey. We had to ask for them. 

It has arrived as requested and contained what we ordered. But they don’t follow it completely. Last delivery we ordered fruit and I always write in big letters and ! NO Pineapple 🍍! I’m allergic…. 

On our fruit it was pineapple….

 

The orange juice is concentrate. It has tasted so sour that your hair is raised. Why can’t they serve real juice? 

It’s just the detail of attention. It’s not ruining my stay. 

 

The biggest problem is the lack of a table to eat on. It’s very low and not really good for eating. This is a design error and they don’t use a pop-up table for serving. 

So it’s either sit on the floor or have you plate on your lap or in bed.

So we have a balcony but no table suitable for eating🙄

 

There’s no paper menu for room service daytime available. Only in the app. 

No options of pre ordering a fruit plate or something when you return from a shore excursion. We can walk to the buffet and pick up something. But I have this really nice balcony that I want to use also😜 at least offer me a tray to carry it with me🙃 So I can get something to eat and drink on one tour🤪🤪🤪( or X probably prefer that I go to the retreat… but half way dirty and done after my day. It’s nice to just land in your own home) Would I be welcomed and allowed to sit in the sofa if I were arriving as after my ship tour on Sil?😝🤭🫣

 

What can we ask for?

Can we request dinner delivery? 

So we can eat private on our own balcony. 

We can probably ask for some of it. But no one has greeted and told us from day 1 in our own home away from home. This is mega important for new people! 

It’s honestly a very important way to connect and make a good first impression! (And we all know that the first impression is important) 

 

We needed to raise some of our questions in the retreat(how do we order breakfast, should we have order forms?). The message is just call us, room service … or housekeeping. 

Again, my apologies for not wanting to be the demanding lady on holiday. (I really hate to call people I know is super busy and have loads of work. So I can put extra work into this….🫠) 

Things that they could have easily answered and made in order if they had time to stop by on day 1 in our suite or your housekeeping had time to actually visit and say hello. This and this works like this and this and this is the best way to make it happen. 

 

In one way, it seems to me that The Retreat team assume everyone is regularly sailing in a suite. We have sailed several times on X, but none in suites on X. (Only JS suite on Royal,  Voyager, and that’s only a bigger room and nothing more. We where extremely underwhelmed) 

I find it a bit difficult to have to ask all this questions. It’s not my job. 

 

When we have stayed at places you want/can compare to The Retreat experience/SS to in Mauritius/China/Japan/Hong Kong/Dubai/USA/Thailand/Singapore. 

We have had a personal connection from the first few hours after arriving and they have talked us thru how to proceed for different services and how things work. 

We have not had anything near that. 

That’s our feedback….

 

We didn’t see/hear the butler before day 6. 

He meet us in the hallway. He knew us from pictures. 

He is definitely overwhelmed in people to take care of and serve in a decent way. 

3 butlers for all suites are crazy overloaded. 

 

Luminae is a nice restaurant in many ways. 

The crew works hard and nothing wrong in the crew. 

The biggest issue is the compose of the menus. Some days it’s an excellent selection and the next day is really hard to find something. (This is a personal preference, from a fish/seafood eater perspective) 

Both me and Mr agreed on that it’s good,  its details and what level they want to be that lacks the details. 

Personally we leaning towards Blu in menu options for vegetables and fish/seafood. 

Some things are better than others. But we are not wowed from a food perspective. My preference point is high, since it’s marketed and sold as excellent. 

Yesterdays dessert was on target+ of all parameters. 

 

We can pick up water and soda drinks in the retreat self-serve section. 

Okay, but I feel like a bad person when I stuff my x shopping bag full of water and sparkling water. Why can’t you just on day 1 tell your preference and what you need. So housekeeping can put it inside your fridge during day service? 

Not a full container, but 4 bottles of water at least. 

 

I’m not joking, we get 2 bottles of water in our stateroom and we need at least 3 more bottles of water and 4 bottles sparkling water. That’s what we drink every day in warmer climates just in our stateroom. I need to drink at least 1l after my 1 hour power walk in the hot sun. 

 

This is so far our experience and we are a decent distance from wowed about it. 

Mr likes the tub and likes the retreat area. 

But he’s not sold as of today. 

 

Crew is friendly and they work very hard. But corporate has taken the cut too far to deliver what they advertise. 

In my eyes it’s a miss/match of what they are advertising and what they deliver in reality. 

 

So we will see if we change our minds, but I think we will stick to “steerage class”  if this is what you can expect from a SS experience. 

 

[Dolebludger]

Sounds like a severe staff shortage to me. That is clear. What isn’t clear is the reason for the shortage. Is it because of a management mandate, or because of a general labor shortage? And it seemed to have occurred at the same time as a large Retreat fare increase. Accommodations below Retreat level may be competitively priced, but the price of the Retreat is well above its competition — while service and overall quality is well below that of the competition. This is the kind of thing that the free market system usually fixes for us — eventually.

[zgscl]

Currently on my 4th Celebrity cruise . All 4 in RS (2 on Solstice, 1 Connie & currently on Eclipse) & all since November 2021. Overall I have not noticed a big difference in service, but I also realize being in an upper suite probably makes a difference. 

 

My butler (who is fabulous and I have had before) said that they now only have 2 butlers onboard (down from I believe 4 or 5 on my first cruise a year ago). I assume this does not include the Head
Butler that oversees the sky suites. Luminae is very similar in service, although it seems like I am not interacting nearly as much with the assistant waiters as I have on previous cruises. 

 

We have 2 fabulous concierges in Michael's Club. On my last Solstice cruise we only had 1 but I have had 2 on all other cruises. Michael's is staffed from 8am-8pm daily (where there were limited concierge hours this summer due to only one concierge). Most of the time in Michaels it is just the concierge and a bartender and maybe one server. On previous cruises there were more servers in Michaels most of the time. 

 

Service at the bars has been good, it feels like less bartenders/servers but they are managing to keep up. I have never felt ignored at any of the bars I have visited. Specialty dining has been good so far, service at Sushi on 5 has felt a little slower than on my last cruise. My room attendant has been fabulous as they always are. 

 

The biggest difference I have noticed is that on my first couple Celebrity cruises it seemed that several of the hotel officers made a point to know my name and interacted throughout the cruise. The last two cruises I have not spoken with a single one (not that I need to). Crew is great about recognizing me and using my name at the venues that I frequent. 

[Dolebludger]

Actually, from other posts here, it seem that the major service reduction (and fare increases) have been in SS and CS Retreat categories. They are now priced above cruises on Seaborne, Silversea, and Regent — all without the service and inclusions. Although we have cruised in RS before (in 2019) we really can’t afford that at current prices. But we have cruised there, and in CS a year before that. We had full butler service, and included use of the mini fridge. Our butler took care of anything we wanted, and contact was easy. And fares were then well below that for those “lux lines”. But now, the Retreat fares are much above those “lux lines”. We’ve been on one of those recently, and found no evidence of staff shortages. None at all. Some of us need convincing that we can book X in a SS or a CS at a lower cost than a “lux line” and still have the same service and inclusions we had before the pandemic. Not seeing it now.

[jelayne]

On 11/13/2023 at 5:37 AM, Dolebludger said:

Oh, I’m sure (I hope) that all on this board  are aware that any service cuts will not impact all booking levels the same. For example, if cuts are causing poor service in bars in the main ship, this will not impact those in the Retreat much as they drink mostly  in the Retreat Lounge. Room service problems in the main ship won’t impact those in RS and above, because the butler takes care of that. When we cruised in CS and RS right before the shut down (and before the recent cuts), we actually did little in the main ship. Those were very good cruises. The only reasons we don’t book those accommodations again is due to huge fare increases, and the lack of butler and included mini fridge in CS. 

We are just the opposite of you as we spend almost no time in the Retreat Lounge in the evening.  We much prefer the other bars and lounges.

We have been on board now for 18 nights and bar service is very slow.  Eden at 7-8pm has had 1 server.   Most guests are having to go to the bar to get a drink.   Servers in the Grand Plaza/Martini bar are few, waited almost about 10 minutes before we could flag down a server and another 10+ before our drink arrived.  

[Bejay219]

I posted on another thread... Why are Sky Suites paying the same gratuites as the Penthouse to the Iconic Suites and having their service cut? Just don't understand, cut my service but charge the same as the  huge Iconic Suite! 

 

 

 

[Mimiya11]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

We are just the opposite of you as we spend almost no time in the Retreat Lounge in the evening.  We much prefer the other bars and lounges.

We have been on board now for 18 nights and bar service is very slow.  Eden at 7-8pm has had 1 server.   Most guests are having to go to the bar to get a drink.   Servers in the Grand Plaza/Martini bar are few, waited almost about 10 minutes before we could flag down a server and another 10+ before our drink arrived.  

That is why we stuck to the Retreat Lounge on our recent cruise on the Apex.  Impossible to find seats or servers in most bars and lounges.  Service and drinks were first rate in the Retreat.     

[zitsky]

9 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Actually, from other posts here, it seem that the major service reduction (and fare increases) have been in SS and CS Retreat categories. They are now priced above cruises on Seaborne, Silversea, and Regent — all without the service and inclusions. Although we have cruised in RS before (in 2019) we really can’t afford that at current prices. But we have cruised there, and in CS a year before that. We had full butler service, and included use of the mini fridge. Our butler took care of anything we wanted, and contact was easy. And fares were then well below that for those “lux lines”. But now, the Retreat fares are much above those “lux lines”. We’ve been on one of those recently, and found no evidence of staff shortages. None at all. Some of us need convincing that we can book X in a SS or a CS at a lower cost than a “lux line” and still have the same service and inclusions we had before the pandemic. Not seeing it now.

I guess I need to call my TA because published fares for those lines are much higher than Celebrity when I look online.  What is the secret for getting 50% off Regent or Seabourn or Oceania so it’s less than Celebrity?  The fares I’ve seen clearly say “per person” and are often 2X Celebrity fares. 😳