These boards are scaring me. Has Celebrity dropped THAT much in quality???

[AstridSJ]

We still had the weather cards on Summit in April.

[Ma Bell]

Here are a few pictures from the corner aft balcony on Infinity through the Panama Canal. I can't think of a better way to see it.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/431311338gaFDhN

[greatam]

I noticed that too on my recent trip on Zenith, and wondered where the weather cards went. I figured since we were just docked in Hamilton for four nights that's maybe why they didn't bother. If this is a cost-cutting measure then it's a shame. It's these little touches that add up to the special Celebrity experience. If a couple go missing, it's no big deal, but if more and more disappear then I'll wonder ????

 

You hit the nail on the head. Thank you. The little touches are truly what make X special.

 

I fully understand good, bad and other people's perspectives. And I am NOT a prima donna. I own a global logistics management company (read-glorified transportation company, including 38 semi trucks). Everything that can happen in business probably has happened and I go with the flow. I am nonplussed with "missed ports", "captain arrested", "we had to tender", "we got Norwalk virus". But when the "little touches" are reduced, the difference in "total quality" (to me) is substantial.

 

I choose X primarily because of the more "formal" atmosphere. I spend my days in warehouses, ports and food docks. Levi's and t-shirts rule my life. Every once in while, I want to feel "very special". That includes dressing up in sequined gowns and having someone serve me tea, carry my tray, and keep the ice bucket filled. The little things mean A LOT.

 

Are the little things being discontinued on X? Those mean the most to me.

 

And to Leela. It is the QE2 Panama Canal segment of the World Cruise I have on hold. NOT the QM2. I have been on QE2 and love the service and the ship. But like the itinerary, cabin, dates (and price for cabin) on the Infinity far better.

But for the few day I get to be a "princess", I want the experience to be the best it can be.

[Ine]

I noticed that too on my recent trip on Zenith, and wondered where the weather cards went. I figured since we were just docked in Hamilton for four nights that's maybe why they didn't bother. If this is a cost-cutting measure then it's a shame. It's these little touches that add up to the special Celebrity experience. If a couple go missing, it's no big deal, but if more and more disappear then I'll wonder ????

 

Those cards were still there on our Hawaii cruise. Come on guys...be realistic ..I would never call that a shame...not important enough to bother about.... If that is all you can complain about....

 

We were on the same Hawaii cruise as Jaybirds and we also had a great time. The staff, the food, the cabin all were fine.

If anything isnot on the menu most of the times you can still order anything you like, talk to your waiter.

 

We have cruised a few times on various lines and also have travelled all over the world, realise anywhere things can turn out different, but certainly most of the times not bad enough to spoil your trip if you realise nobody/no cruiseline/no airline/no hotel is always perfect.

[Ma Bell]

Our last cruise was in March and the cards were there. There was nothing missing as far as I could see.

[cechase]

 

Also, I think that location comes into play. I happened to see into a suite on the opposite side Zenith from us, and it was decorated totally differently and was much better looking than ours.

 

On our first cruise on Century, we had the most forward RS on the port side. While very nice, it just seemed to be blah. Then last February, we had the most forward RS on the starboard side on Century, and it was spectacular and so different. We probably should have sneaked a peak at our old RS to see if it had been spruced up and maybe refurbished, but didn't - we were having too good of a time. :D

 

Now, there might be an explaination. On our Jan. 2006 cruise on Mercury, we had a RS [most forward RS on starboard side] and our cabin had been completely refurbished from what we had on Mercury on our first cruise on her. We did ask our butler about it, and he acknowledged that it had been redone, with new furniture and new carpet.

[c-legs]

:) Good morning,all

 

This has to be one of the healthiest threads I've ever read on this board.

What a breath of fresh air, after what we've had to deal with in the past 2 months or so. Thank you very much to all posters who have so far shared their toughts. Not surprisingly, the majority of you are '' old-timers'' with many, many posts and a good number of cruises.

We're also a bit weary, booked as we are on MERCURY , 8th December full Canal transit from SanDiego to Miami ....Holding a '' standby'' alternative on SERENADE OF THE SEAS, full transit 29th Oct SanDiego-SanJuan...

We sailed Princess and Celebrity before;;Princess is GOOD, real good...Celebrity is just.... BETTER, imo....But I personally have grown a bit leery about 1/ Celebrity preventive maintenance schedule, which APPEARS too risky and longtime coming...with the inevitable consequences which seem to be showing up....and 2/ a persistent problem Celebrity seems to have with its shoreside pre/post cruise customer service.

As to the onboard quality of goods and service, I'm not concerned, they appear to hold that part up quite nicely;; regards the appearance, well, we all age, can't avoid the odd sign of that.

Finally, IF someone REALLY wants to find something wrong, well, there will always be something wrong at any given time, anywhere, allover on this planet....funny how, if you don't go looking for this sort of things, then it's actually not there most of the time.!!!! Funny, ain't it ???

We're heavily leaning on just keeping our MERCURY booking and keep a positive outlook and a healthy set of realistic expectations.

 

Again, all of you, thanks for the healthy posts.

Cheers

Happy sailings

Claude

;)

[Leela]

Those cards were still there on our Hawaii cruise. Come on guys...be realistic ..I would never call that a shame...not important enough to bother about.... If that is all you can complain about....

How many "not important to bother about" things have to build up before someone can be allowed to express any kind of disappointment on these boards?

 

I never said not having the weather card spoiled my trip, but it did make me wonder for a minute if it was an oversight, or something that they've stopped doing. I wasn't about to call Cabin Services and ask for a weather card, but I did wonder where the heck it had gotten to.

 

Add the missing weather card to bleach-stained towels, sheets with holes in them, a sofa so faded that I couldn't tell what color it was, a 4" tear in our drapes, a thermostat that kept the air at the same temperature no matter what we set it at (fortunately it was comfortable for us 90% of the time), a bit of mildew in the corners of the tub, the fact that we had to call the plumbers twice -- once to get the sink to drain, once to get the tub to drain. It's all little stuff, each thing really doesn't matter, but it all adds up to something.

 

We had a great time. Any time something wasn't good it was handled very well. But there's something wonderful about being someplace where all the little things are handled automatically and don't add up to anything at all because there's nothing to add. It is all just right from the start. THAT, to me, is the best kind of customer service.

[Ma Bell]

I agree with you Leela. It would be disappointing to have that many things wrong. Unfortunately someone is always going to be the one in the cabin just before they refurbish. I've seen it on other lines as well. The best thing is to do is to keep up with the ships to see where they are in the cycle and if it is overly bothersome to take the chance that everything may not be perfect, don't sail that particular ship. I know that's what you do.

 

For those people who go with realistic expectations knowing it is an older ship and may not have been recently refurbished, the cruises will be great. I think if I had holey linens, I would just ask for them to be replaced. The soft goods are another thing.

[catmand]

AH HA!.....................can't pass this one up.

You have got to "consider the source" when you read these complaints. Yesterday I noticed 2 older threads that were bumped up to page 1 so a disgruntled passenger could get more licks in about how awful things were.

We have sailed almost 20,000 miles in the past 3 years...........2 Princess ships and 3 Celebrity ships. Not everything has been "perfect" but whatever problem there may have been was easily taken care of.

I truly think that our vacation dollar is very well spent on cruising, so far we have not been disappointed.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

Interesting thread. I have been on countless Celebrity sailings, and other than ONE so-so Cruise, they have all been wonderful. I definately do NOT feel that Celebrity is falling apart, or in crisis, or whatever term of bashing is popular today.

 

I am well aware, this board has become popular for those who have issues with Celebrity. While it is frustrating to see, we understand there will be problems on Cruises, just like any other vacation.

 

I would strongly recommend, that one should look at a large sampling of posts, over a longer period of time, before getting too worried about Celebrity. You will find many more positive posts than negative posts.

 

Would I book another Celebrity Cruise again ? The answer is, in a heartbeat. In fact, I have 4 Celebrity Cruises booked over the next 10 months.

 

For those of you considering a Celebrity Cruise, I say... go and enjoy. I am confident you will not be disappointed.

[Skeezics]

Last cruise Summit, April 23, 2006. Trays carried, weather cards present, doors opened, staff friendly, butler superb, CS needed freshening. Total of 87 days on Celebrity cruises. Two more coming up. Nov, 2006, Dec, 2007. Guess you would call me a happy cruiser. Do not think quality has gone down or I wouldn't continue to book.

[Andy]

AH HA!.....................can't pass this one up.

You have got to "consider the source" when you read these complaints. Yesterday I noticed 2 older threads that were bumped up to page 1 so a disgruntled passenger could get more licks in about how awful things were.

 

Hi Catmand !

 

You noticed that too ? :)

[caviargal]

 

 

For those of you considering a Celebrity Cruise, I say... go and enjoy. I am confident you will not be disappointed.

 

 

I have always found generalizations to be a bit dangerous.:confused:

 

While I have not been on "countless" Celebrity cruises, I am a pretty experienced cruiser with many lines, including X.

 

I, too, thought I could be very confident in highly recommending Celebrity and talked three others (two whom are Diamond members of RCI) in joining me on Mercury this past October. It was a bit embarrassing to say the least.

 

On several occasions throughout the cruise, my fellow travellers commented about the state of the ship, the quality of service, the condition of the cabins to be disappointing versus not only their experiences on other lines but also based on what I had described to be the Celebrity experience. Food and dining service (main dining room) was an area where there were consistently excellent reviews, however.

 

Perhaps this ship is simply not representative of today's Celebrity. I surely hope it is not because it was not even close to the experience I enjoyed on previous Celebrity sailings. It has been 5 years since my last X cruise on Infinity which I loved (and it was not perfect but it was wonderful!) and I had very much looked further to cruising again with X.

 

Again, we all have different criteria for what we enjoy on a cruise and perfection has never been something I expect in any vacation. However, based on my own experiences on X and many other lines, the only thing I am confident is saying about Mercury is that I sincerely hope this is not what I can expect from Celebrity in the future.

[C 2 C]

While cruising for the last month I missed a lot of fireworks on these boards. Sorry I wasn't around to light a few fuses.

 

We just returned from B2B cruises on Galaxy. The crossing from Galveston to Rome was wonderful, the food was good. We found a real deterioration in the service and general ambience on the ship after Rome. You will read some people's reviews that the trip was fantastic. The weather was outstanding, the ports of call better still. I found Galaxy and life on board among the worst cruises we have taken; once off the ship everything was great The food deteriorated, the service was mixed, music in the lounges (new groups) was unbearable, fewer staff smiled, disembarkation at ports was mismanaged. I would not advise anyone to make Galaxy a choice for their cruise vacation. I will eventually post a review but I just want to warn people that Celebrity does not do everything right all the time. We just can't believe how much different the same ship can be from one week to the next. I don't blame Celebrity as such but from the captain on down there is something amiss on Galaxy. And because I can find fault so easily and rant about Celebrity, I booked five more Celebrity cruises over the next year to prove how much their product has declined;). However I liked our preceding cruise on RCL well enough to book two more RCL cruises as well.

[Karynanne]

We have sailed with Celebrity many times, and this year twice already, and 4 more booked for the next 2 yrs.

 

There is another way to look at this issue of disgruntled pax. Assuming that the average cruise has about 1800 passengers, and only 70-100 sign up for any given Roll Call (that's a high number), and maybe 10% of those are grumbling about one thing or another....it's an extremely small amount of people...

 

So enjoy your ship...you'll love your Aft cabin (perfect for the Canal), and don't worry about the little things...you'll have a fabulous time.

 

We're never dissapointed, always have a fantastic time, and have made many wonderful friends...

 

Karyn

[BaltiGator]

I made this comment in another thread, but I think it bears repeating here.

 

My take from reading this forum is that the two distinctly different types of ships in Celebrity's fleet account for some very different cruising experiences.

 

That is to say, I've seen virtually zero really negative posts about cruises aboard the newer M-class ships - pod issue aside. I'm putting the pod issue aside because that is a completely different animal that doesn't directly reflect on Celebrity's overall product. If you "ignore" (just for the duration of this post, please :D ) negative comments about cruises that went bad when the pods acted up, show me an otherwise really negative review of an M-class ship. Hard to find.

 

On the other hand, reviews of the older ships are all over the place. Some people love Galaxy, others don't. Lots of even-handed and well-mannered posters struggle for good things to say about Zenith or Mercury, and as we know some people have downright hated their cruises on those ships, but others are perfectly happy with these ships also. Century is a wild-card - we're all hoping she's fabulous now, but no one knows yet for sure.

 

So to anyone who's considering trying Celebrity, my thinking is, if you're looking at a cruise on an M-class ship, you'll be very much pleased with the product overall, but of course the pods could act up. If you're looking at a cruise on one of their older ships, it's harder to say whether you'll personally be satisfied or not.

 

Thoughts?

[halos]

I have a Panama Canal/repo cruise booked for November on Infinity. I also have the Panama Canal segment of the World Cruise on hold on the QE2 in January.

 

I understand your worry because I too have a Panama repo cruise booked (Nov also) on the Infinity and the comments on the boards of late have left me feeling a little sad. When I booked this cruise 11 months ago, the boards were much more positive...I could hardly find anything negative as a matter of fact.

The advantage I have is that this is my first X cruise, so I don't have a previous X cruises to compare it to and most likely won't feel any decline in the line, if in fact there is a decline.

I will go with an open mind. I'm not too hard to please actually and most likely will love this cruise. I did want to say that if you're on the Nov 5th sailing, please join our roll call. :) if you decide to keep your booking.

[caviargal]

 

 

So to anyone who's considering trying Celebrity, my thinking is, if you're looking at a cruise on an M-class ship, you'll be very much pleased with the product overall, but of course the pods could act up. If you're looking at a cruise on one of their older ships, it's harder to say whether you'll personally be satisfied or not.

 

Thoughts?

 

BaltiGator, I think you have summed it up quite well and I agree with your conclusion.

 

I am not one who thinks that, in general, newer and larger is necessarily better. But, from reading many of the threads on this board recently, the widest divergence of opinion is most certainly on the older ships.

 

Other than Century (which I am soooooo looking forward to in November), I personally would not invest my hard earned time and money cruising on a non M class ship until I am convinced that conditions have improved. There are too many other options out there and I am not a one line loyalist.

 

While I can overlook individual aspects of a cruise that might not be up to my personal standards, I still want the overall experience to be much more positive than negative.

[Leela]

Unfortunately someone is always going to be the one in the cabin just before they refurbish.

That's a good point. Well, then, I'll take the fact that the cabin on the other side of the ship looked good as a good sign meaning that they are working on it.

[magmagee]

I have sailed Celebrity 4 times, with three more booked for this year and next. Have I seen changes? Yes, especially with the food. The new menu items that I experienced on Summit on my last X cruise weren't nearly as good as they were on my previous cruises. I've seen things like "roasted potatoes" and when the plate is presented, there's one tiny lonely potato. Fresh vegetables that accompany the entree were maybe three small pieces carrot or broccoli. And the salads, always the one thing I love at dinner, have been cut in half, portion-wise. The beef, which previously was always very good, was very disappointing in terms of taste and tenderness. And finally the desserts----I'm a dessert person and on the 14 day Panama cruise, I can count on one hand the number of nights I found anything that appealed to me---and that's very unusual. I found the desserts uninspired and quite tasteless. Then of course you have the absolutely perfect alternate restaurants. They are spectacular, and totally on par with the wonderful food served on Seabourn and Crystal.

 

BUT, and it's a pretty big BUT, the service still is fantastic, especially when you realize that I find X's service in many areas quite comparable to the likes of Silversea and Crystal. The Summit, Mille and Infinity are in great shape and don't look like they need major rennovation. I love all the activities on board and the support staff, like the entertainment staff and assistant cruise directors, are some of the best in the business.

 

I agree that Mercury needs some major work. She's beginning to look tired and the upkeep of many areas, including the cabins, is not up to par with either the Galaxy Class or Millennium Class ships. To be honest, I was very surprised to hear that Mercury is the ship they chose to do the Australian cruises. With all the money they poured into Century, it's a shame that they are doing 4 and 5 day cruises on her this winter and putting the tired Mercury on the fantastic exotic itineraries. It's one of the reasons I'm not booking any of those future cruises.

 

I have to agree with kitty9 with desserts. I should have mentioned that earlier. I am a sweets person and I found myself passing them up after awhile. They were just ok. I would not say they were terrible but nothing to write home about. The starch and veggie portions were small but the meat portions were ok to me. The meat selections were very good and the portions were ok. Without asking our waiter he kept bringing us lobster and finally we had to turn it away. It was good. The could not do enough to please us. The Normandie restaurant on the other hand was just fabulous. The service again was great and the food was beyond compare. It was a nice elegant evening. The piano and violin playing softy in the back ground was so enjoyable. All for $30.00 per person.

[magmagee]

I noticed that too on my recent trip on Zenith, and wondered where the weather cards went. I figured since we were just docked in Hamilton for four nights that's maybe why they didn't bother. If this is a cost-cutting measure then it's a shame. It's these little touches that add up to the special Celebrity experience. If a couple go missing, it's no big deal, but if more and more disappear then I'll wonder ????

 

Just to let you know we did get them on the Summit in May .

[greeneg]

For what it's worth, we also had the cards on the Constellation last January.

 

And, Tom, those were Tequila Shots, I'm practicing for the next one...

[Leela]

I have to agree with kitty9 with desserts. I should have mentioned that earlier. I am a sweets person and I found myself passing them up after awhile. They were just ok.

I notice that they have changed some of the desserts offered during the week a little bit. I can't recall what was old and what was new, though, but the list was a little different. I think that even though the menu is standardized, there is still variance based on who is actually doing the cooking. The desserts and pastries on Horizon last year were the best of any cruise, Celebrity or otherwise, I've taken. They were great on Century, and very good on Zenith. But when I cruised Mercury last fall, they were just okay. Not bad, but they lacked something in the flavor department.

 

The starch and veggie portions were small but the meat portions were ok to me.

I agree with that, too. The side veggies brought up would contain two or three spears of asparagus. Fortunately, we could get more. I guess since so many people don't actually eat their veggies that they don't plate that many?

 

One night Mom asked for a whole plate of snow peas because she found them to be so tasty. The waiters will do anything to please...but at the same time, there's so much food out there that sometimes by the time we got to dinner we just didn't feel like eating. If something wasn't so great, instead of getting something else we'd just put it aside and figure we were done for the day. That kind of weirded out our waiters, because they'd keep asking if they could bring something and we'd keep saying no, we were fine. We kept joking privately about all the food opportunities, and considered putting a sign on our stateroom door saying "Please do not feed the occupants." :)

 

The meat selections were very good and the portions were ok.

I have always enjoyed the beef dishes. I'm not as happy with the seafood, as most of it, including the lobster tail, is frozen (our Assistant Maitre d'Hotel confirmed that, telling us that they carry three week's worth of food with them in case something happens). Now, a lot of seafood sold in grocery stores is also frozen -- for instance, shrimp is frozen on the boat as soon as it is caught. So freezing isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but if you're a seafood fan who is used to getting things as fresh as possible from the fish market, you might end up not liking those dishes as much. On the other hand, there's something to be said for not having to cook and clean up after a homemade lobster dinner! Another issue with the fish dishes is that there are different standards as to how people expect them to be served. "Done perfectly" means nearly raw to me, and something different to other people.

 

Lamb shanks were new on the menu, and ours were absolutely delicious. I make them at home from time to time, and the ones on the ship were great.

[Jimsgirl]

I have cruised 10 times on Celebrity, cruise 11,12 on Infinity coming in Sept, cruises 13,14 on Infinity coming March 2007.

I have also cruised 10 times on Crystal,6 times on HAL, 5 times on RCCC, 1 on Norwegian, 1 on Seabourn, 1 on Carnival, and 1 on QE2.

 

I would certainly keep your booking on Infinity for Panama Canal,rather than a segment of World Cruise on Cunard.

Cunard service depends a great deal on which "class" you are travelling in, both in the dining areas and in the amenties in your cabin. The "class" distinction will I feel be more even more obvious if you are "only doing a segment" of the World Cruise. I did a segment of a World cruise on another line and was totally upset, and have in fact never cruised with that line again.

It is also good to remember that crews change from time to time, in all areas of the ship. In the dining room, poor waiters can be replaced with good, and also in the kitchen,and in the overall quality of life on board.

 

There is also the way different passengers see the same ship. A neighbour in this condo building went on Princess Sun, came back full of complaints, starting with embarkation , nothing pleased her (and I do mean nothing). I was due on the same ship and ports of call in just 10 days. You can imagine how I felt. Well I went and my experience was 100% different to hers (I am booked on Princess for 31 days Aug 2007)

When I returned and told her of my views, she informed me that "obviously you have LOWER standards" Well that put me in my place !!!!!!

 

I wish you well whichever cruise you take,