Profits more important than customer satisfaction

[curiousabouttheworld]

Do not, repeat not, sail with this cruise line. They present themselves as making customer satisfaction their number one priority. This is the opposite to the truth.

Our cruise of the Mediterranean aboard the Galaxy, leaving Rome on August 24, 2007 was a disaster. On most days we were met with non-functioning toilets in our stateroom and when they were working they were often foul-smelling. Water frequently dripped from the ceiling in the outside corridor and buckets were left for extended periods to catch that water. Complaints to Guest Relations were met with a mere "the engineering department has been called." On one occasion a staff member "helpfully" suggested that we could use the public washrooms - at a time when there was a gastrointestinal outbreak and extra sanitary steps had to be taken! Requests to speak to the manager were met with "he's not working right now" rather than an offer to get him to call when he was on duty. Is this the Cruise Line's idea of a luxury cruise ship with luxury facilities?

What's worse though is the totally non-caring attitude of the corporate office in Miami. When we complained we were told it was "corporate policy" not to provide the compensation requested. In other words they are more concerned about being sued for more money by other cabins that were equally affected than genuinely caring about their customers' well being. It is not fair to penalize us because so many people complained. That’s their problem and I should not be penalized for the fact that many complaints were received. Take responsibility Celebrity – if the ship had been sea worthy in the first place you would have had no complaints – it is your fault. Not your passengers’.

[weelv2cruise]

Do not, repeat not, sail with this cruise line. They present themselves as making customer satisfaction their number one priority. This is the opposite to the truth.

Our cruise of the Mediterranean aboard the Galaxy, leaving Rome on August 24, 2007 was a disaster. On most days we were met with non-functioning toilets in our stateroom and when they were working they were often foul-smelling. Water frequently dripped from the ceiling in the outside corridor and buckets were left for extended periods to catch that water. Complaints to Guest Relations were met with a mere "the engineering department has been called." On one occasion a staff member "helpfully" suggested that we could use the public washrooms - at a time when there was a gastrointestinal outbreak and extra sanitary steps had to be taken! Requests to speak to the manager were met with "he's not working right now" rather than an offer to get him to call when he was on duty. Is this the Cruise Line's idea of a luxury cruise ship with luxury facilities?

What's worse though is the totally non-caring attitude of the corporate office in Miami. When we complained we were told it was "corporate policy" not to provide the compensation requested. In other words they are more concerned about being sued for more money by other cabins that were equally affected than genuinely caring about their customers' well being. It is not fair to penalize us because so many people complained. That’s their problem and I should not be penalized for the fact that many complaints were received. Take responsibility Celebrity – if the ship had been sea worthy in the first place you would have had no complaints – it is your fault. Not your passengers’.

 

So sorry to hear you had a terrible time. Will be interesting to hear what others who were on the same cruise have to say.

[croozinsnoozin79]

Gee, first post and what a slam!! You waited to complain about your cruise for a month and a half?? I recall a post with the same tone and same complaints on another board a while back also and that poster never did reply back. Are you one and the same?? Regardless, I am sooo looking forward to my first X cruise I can hardly contain myself. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I am sure my attitude will go along way in enjoyment too.

[woodofpine]

Do not, repeat not, sail with this cruise line. They present themselves as making customer satisfaction their number one priority. This is the opposite to the truth.

Our cruise of the Mediterranean aboard the Galaxy, leaving Rome on August 24, 2007 was a disaster. On most days we were met with non-functioning toilets in our stateroom and when they were working they were often foul-smelling. Water frequently dripped from the ceiling in the outside corridor and buckets were left for extended periods to catch that water. Complaints to Guest Relations were met with a mere "the engineering department has been called." On one occasion a staff member "helpfully" suggested that we could use the public washrooms - at a time when there was a gastrointestinal outbreak and extra sanitary steps had to be taken! Requests to speak to the manager were met with "he's not working right now" rather than an offer to get him to call when he was on duty. Is this the Cruise Line's idea of a luxury cruise ship with luxury facilities?

What's worse though is the totally non-caring attitude of the corporate office in Miami. When we complained we were told it was "corporate policy" not to provide the compensation requested. In other words they are more concerned about being sued for more money by other cabins that were equally affected than genuinely caring about their customers' well being. It is not fair to penalize us because so many people complained. That’s their problem and I should not be penalized for the fact that many complaints were received. Take responsibility Celebrity – if the ship had been sea worthy in the first place you would have had no complaints – it is your fault. Not your passengers’.

 

Yawn,,,,,

 

OK so how much $$ did you ask for - the loyal customer demand for this travesty of unseaworthiness?

 

Go ahead, surprise me with another post... an answer...

[Drew B]

Is this the Cruise Line's idea of a luxury cruise ship with luxury facilities?

 

Um' date=' no. They don't bill themselves as a luxury line. That doesn't mean that you should be content with non-functioning plumbing, but "luxury" is a term that implies a whole other level of facilities and service.[/font'][/size]

 

 

When we complained we were told it was "corporate policy" not to provide the compensation requested. In other words they are more concerned about being sued for more money by other cabins that were equally affected than genuinely caring about their customers' well being.

 

Exactly what compensation did you request? No offense, but when people go around demanding specific compensation (e.g. a full refund), I tend to think they are scammers, and it makes their legitimate concerns seem less sincere. Perhaps the Customer Service people make the same assumption.

[Shirley and Les]

'Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?'

It is really too bad that Customer Relations people can't respond in a manner that satisfies the customer to some extent. Taking a cabin number and saying that a manager will call is certainly better than saying 'This person is not on duty.'

I know that I am responding to a first time poster who might be playing the part of a troll. However, customer service personnel do have to be trained to help the client. Customers cannot leave a 'Help' desk in a worse state of mind than when they first appeared.

Les

[Desertbelle]

Thanks for the heads up about Celebrity, I will call my Travel Agent in the morning and cancel all my cruises! :rolleyes: NOT!!! :rolleyes:

[Brad1185]

I hear what you saying, but having a hard time believing that Celebrity did not bend over backwards in trying to fix and make things right.

 

We have occassionally run into problems cruising and everytime, we were impressed on how they did take care of things immediately.

[Bfson]

I don't know about the rest of you but every time I see a blistering note like the one that started this thread and it's that poster's first post ever, one word immediately comes to mind: FAKE.

 

Anyone else think like that?

[boatboat]

Having been on most of the cruise lines .... the reaction you received is typical of them all .... if it is an engineering problem they face a real dilemma .... otherwise, stick to your guns and try to get some courtesy .... best of luck :)

[curiousabouttheworld]

Thanks for the responses: Just to reply to some of the points made. First, the posting is certainly not fake. And in the interest of brevity I did not mention other problems, so it was actually worse than described. Third, it is a month, not one-and-a-half months since the end of the cruise. I had not posted before because I had tried to continue being reasonable with Celebrity by going through normal channels, such as writing a letter, as advised to by a ship crew member, speaking on the phone, and waiting for a response. It is only after continued stonewalling and out of sheer frustration that this post was written in anattempt to wake them up.

Some understood the root of my feelings. This cruise was saved for and planned for for ten years to mark an extra special anniversary. The lack of functioning facilities was a great disappointment, but where the real harm came was the lack of caring or adequate response to our concerns when we raised them. The response to a problem actually determines one's frustration far more than the original issue. I made repeated requests, in a calm, polite manner to Guest Relations staff to speak to a manager. Each time I was met with "he's not available" or "he's not on duty" and that's all. Basic customer service would dictate that they would at least offer to get the manager to call when he was available. I finally got a response - a recorded voice mail - at 10p.m. on the night before disembarkation, which was rather too late to do anything.

It is the stonewalling of staff, their doing the absolute minimum required

and making absolutely no attempt to go out of their way to help, that is far more a cause of our disappointment and frustration than the plumbing. An example of their help when the toilet broke down yet again was "well you can always use the public washrooms" - sure if I don't mind getting up at 2 a.m. and walking down a water dripping corridor to go down one floor to use a public washroom only to find them out of order - I am not making this up - it actually happened.

Similarly, when I spoke to Head Office I was stonewalled repeatedly when asking to speak with a manager, and every complaint I related was met with a scripted "I'm sorry.. but it's corporate policy...."

What I wanted was to speak to a genuine human being who dealt with me in a personal way, understand my concerns, and not as a scripted robot. A mere "I'm so sorry (said sincerely and not from a script) we did not provide the best of facilities and I would really like to see how we can make this anniversary memorable" would have ended the whole business on the ship.

Instead, the robotic denials and self preservation wall I have faced are designed for one purpose - to avoid losing money. It was clear they were taking this approach to avoid setting a precedent and paying compensation to a number of other passengers on the same floor who suffered the same problems. My repeated attempts to discuss this in a humane manner and in the context of where I could see that staff member actually did care about what happened went nowhere. I was dealing with corporate represenatives whose job was to maximize profits and not care about customer service. Thus I felt I had no choice but speak in terms of money and compensation because that was all they seemed to understand. Yes, this was a strong first post, but understand it represents the culmination of weeks attempting to be reasonable with that company and getting nowhere. I hope this will finally get their attention.

Some of you understood and some, unfortunately, could only focus on the money. I think that it is not unreasonable to hope that when you pay a company a large sum on the promise of top quality service they will deliver. When they can't, they should at least attempt to help the customer and not take the attitude of "Now we have your money we don't care any more." When I work, yes I do it for the money, but also for the pride I get when I see the client satisfied and happy with the service. I can then honestly feel I earned that money. A true win-win situation. Too bad Celebrity, based on their treatment of me, are concerned solely in keeping their money, whether it was truly and fairly earned or not. So Celebrity, is anyone listening? Does anyone care?

[tuggers]

Whether we agree, disagree or don't believe the OP, I do think a scenario as stated goes to show the litigious nature of our current society. In many areas of my life I have at times only wanted someone to say 'I feel your pain' or 'I'm sorry you had to endure this'. Those simple statements would have ended a lot of situations and no further action would have been taken on my part. But in today's society, when far too many people are quick to sue, we will continue to be denied these simple words because companies are afraid of admitting fault of any kind. It's a CYA world. And that is the shame of it.

We have all, at one time or another been subjected to the 'no reply' rule. It is frustrating, but I have to think it's the advice of those nasty corporate lawyers again.

curiousabouttheworld, for what it's worth, I'm sorry your vacation did not exceed your expectations and I'm sorry no one has been responsive, either onboard, or post-cruise.

[sasset]

I don't know about the rest of you but every time I see a blistering note like the one that started this thread and it's that poster's first post ever, one word immediately comes to mind: FAKE.

 

Anyone else think like that?

 

I don't. No more than when I see a first post gushing about how everything was wonderful.

 

Regards

[Steamboatin]

We now have cruised 17 times.

 

Our cruise on the Celebrity Constellation was the worst maintained and crew poor attitude we have ever sailed on. Torn carpets, meals served on chipped dishes, drinks served in broken glasses with the liquid leaking out of the cracks in the side of the glass, and these are only a random few problems we found.

 

Only cruise where we put a crew members name as a complaint in our cruise review form at the end of the cruise.

 

Now on the other hand we enjoyed that cruise the best soley because of the great Baltic itinerary which is the reason we booked the cruise for in the first place.

 

But Celebrity surely did not live up to the exhaulted high esteem of their followers here on CC. Not on that vessel on that cruise anyway.

 

We are loyal to no cruise line. We cruise for the itinerary.

[operafan]

curiousabouttheworld,

We had a problem with an X cruise last year and complained while onboard. We were assured it would be resolved within 3 weeks of coming home. Instead of waiting to hear from them I called and complained only to be told "so sorry" but they said there was no problem even though they had a record of my complaint. In other words I'm lying but so sorry it happened...... Not liking their response I asked to be bumped to "Conflict Resolution". After explaining what happened to an incredibly rude individual (Kept interupting me and demanding to know what I wanted) she told me she'd call back. Next day she calls back all sweetness and light with 2 FCC's. Moral of the story.....Don't give up!

[CatServants]

I'm sorry your cruise on X did not live up to your hopes. I'm sure I would be upset if I ever experienced similar circumstances. I hope a resolution satisfactory to all is accomplished.:)

 

 

Denise

[operafan]

Looks like the oh too familiar battle lines have been drawn on this one.

 

I think it is time some of you donned your fire proof suits as looking at my watch I think the flame throwers are about to come on duty.

 

It's a shame that "battle lines" have to be drawn at all. Sometimes it is what it is. We never had a problem with a cruise until our Millie Med cruise and that was a stinker. Literally. TBH, if they had handled it properly from the beginning I wouldn't have even thought about requesting FCC's but after waiting 2 weeks and getting unsatisfactory replies I got angry and dug in my heels. Got the FCC's. Used the FCC's. Had a wonderful time on the Constellation last April. We'll still sail X but we're going to be trying other lines too.........

[azzy]

Whenever someone posts anything negative about Celebrity they are met with

vicious retorts that go from sarcastic to outright calling the writer a liar.

So here is the truth from a 6/1/2007 Galaxy sailing.

The plumbing problems were so bad we had to be moved to another floor.

The smelll of septic is digusting.

The sinks are stained and there are tiles missing in the pool area.

There is a vibration at the back of the ship and sleeping can be a real problem.

The rooms are not cleaned well and sheets are not changed for the 10 day cruise.

I had a painting missing and was told I forgot it.

Customer service is very bad.

The food is good, the itinery is good, but make no mistake this ship is way beyond shipshape.

[tbelian]

Bottom line, from my perspective, do your own research, make up your own mind. A good travel agent helps with the decision on which cruise line to choose. There are many different choices. Don't base your decision strictly on what you read on a message board.

 

"One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch".

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

I have not had a cruise that had anywhere near the problems described by the op. In fact, no major porblems, yet.

[cruiseyguy]

For some reason this board seems to draw an unusually large number of "grudge" posts.

[Dale Jr]

For some reason this board seems to draw an unusually large number of "grudge" posts.

 

Would it have anything to do with the way Celebrity Customer Service (on board and land based) treats their customers?

[Susan-M]

Bottom line, from my perspective, do your own research, make up your own mind. A good travel agent helps with the decision on which cruise line to choose. There are many different choices. Don't base your decision strictly on what you read on a message board.

 

 

Hi Tbelian ... I agree completely about doing your own research and checking various sources for information and reviews. My first stop when trying to pick a cruise is the CC Review section. Galaxy gets a 'mixed bag' of reviews - more positive than negative, but reading some of these reviews makes one wonder if the people were on the same ship. With so many variables (expectations, cabin conditions, service, etc.) I guess it's not that surprising that reviews are so mixed. http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=16

 

I do feel for the OP and hope that he can come to some resolution with Celebrity.

[hermang]

Hi Tbelian ... I agree completely about doing your own research and checking various sources for information and reviews. My first stop when trying to pick a cruise is the CC Review section. Galaxy gets a 'mixed bag' of reviews - more positive than negative, but reading some of these reviews makes one wonder if the people were on the same ship. With so many variables (expectations, cabin conditions, service, etc.) I guess it's not that surprising that reviews are so mixed. http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=16

 

I do feel for the OP and hope that he can come to some resolution with Celebrity.

 

I am a firm believer in empowerment. Look at the case of Stew Leonards - worlds largest grocerystore. Every employee from Cashier to Manager is empowered to make the customer satisfied. They have a rock engraved in front of the store: Rule #1 - The customer is always right Rule #2 if trhe customer is wrong - refer to Rule #1.

 

Yes cruise lines are very much focused with the bottom line and as a stockholder I like my cruise credits and dividends. What I suspect is an attitude from the part of middle management - namely a fear of upper management shooting the messenger.

 

On our last Celebrity Cruise - we had a major issue with a shore excursion.

Complained straight out - Shorex manager said he had to run it by Miami - THAT was a stupid answer, after bugging them for 3 days - we finally gotr an answer - 50% refund because we missed one part of the tour because of the guide's stupidity. MORE THAN FAIR. Did the answer come from Miami - maybe but when the second passenger complained - if I were running the show - I would do two things - call all of the pax on that shore ex and see what they felt and then refund 50% with in 24 hrs.

[junglejane]

Whether we agree, disagree or don't believe the OP, I do think a scenario as stated goes to show the litigious nature of our current society. In many areas of my life I have at times only wanted someone to say 'I feel your pain' or 'I'm sorry you had to endure this'. Those simple statements would have ended a lot of situations and no further action would have been taken on my part. But in today's society, when far too many people are quick to sue, we will continue to be denied these simple words because companies are afraid of admitting fault of any kind. It's a CYA world. And that is the shame of it.

 

We have all, at one time or another been subjected to the 'no reply' rule. It is frustrating, but I have to think it's the advice of those nasty corporate lawyers again.

 

curiousabouttheworld, for what it's worth, I'm sorry your vacation did not exceed your expectations and I'm sorry no one has been responsive, either onboard, or post-cruise.

 

I'm not weighing in on the OP's particular complaints, but I just have to jump in here to say that good customer service helps prevent lawsuits, not encourages them. There are many ways for Celebrity to express sympathy with customers and seek to help without admitting liability. Sometimes of course the proper course of action for a company is to say it's our responsibility (which is a little different from "our fault") and we'll make it up to you, like Celebrity seems to do when there's a major pod failure. Other situations probably run the gamut from legitimate, substantial complaints to frivolous complaints from chronic whiners.

 

My point is just that lots of companies have to balance customer service/public relations concerns against liability concerns. Corporate lawyers don't (or shouldn't) run the company. The buck stops with top management.

 

--Junglejane

[woodofpine]

Thanks for the responses: Just to reply to some of the points made.

 

So Celebrity, is anyone listening? Does anyone care?

 

And,,,,,

 

When we complained we were told it was "corporate policy" not to provide the compensation requested.

 

OK Curious... Answer the question HOW MUCH COMPENSATION WAS REQUESTED?

 

This forum knows that I'm not an X sycophant. I was disappoined by the "we could care less" attitude of X' ship board middle managers - folks that wouldn't permit communication with upper tier managers - on my first X cruise too. But 'attitude' is a non-compensible 'vote with your feet' characteristic. (By the way, my second X cruise was truly outstanding.)

 

So the toilet malfunctioned - how much money did YOU request?

 

Fess up.