Head office sailing on Connie

[negc]

If the Celebrity head office execs were really onboard for some nefarious purpose or to gauge the operation, service or passenger satisfaction, I doubt they would make their presence so obvious. It would be pretty much counter-productive and they would be hard-pressed to get an accurate impression of what is really going on onboard the ship. I think that "Occam's Razor" applies.:)

[Lois R]

After the Galaxy event, big changes were made in the menus, on-board activities, etc.

 

what "Galaxy event" are you referring to ????

 

Hi,:) I was wondering the same thing...what event?

[Shirley and Les]

For me, the following scenario leaps into my mind for an onboard corporate meeting.

Scene I: The ship is pulling into a port at 05:30 am and propulsion power is lost. After a few minutes, the ship drifts into a shoal and is abruptedly grounded. The sudden stop awakens all passenger with many of them winding up on the floor of their cabin as the ship grinds to a halt.

The CEO immediately calls the bridge and demands to speak to the Captain.

CEO: What happened?

CAPT: (Imagine a Greek accent) We had both pods fail and we ran onto some rocks.

CEO: Has this happened before?

CAPT: Sir, I have sent you ten memos about similar failures over the last five years.

CEO: Gee, I don't remember that. Are you sure? Tell you what, I will give you thirty minutes to come up with a solution.

CAPT: Thirty minutes? You've had five years and .....

CEO: I'm the boss!

CAPT: Yes, Sir. I'll get back to you.

Scene ends with onboard executives and company employees calling the CEO to complain about the abrupt stop and being bounced out of bed....

Scene II

The Captain calls the CEO after his alloted thirty minutes and,

CAPT: Sir, I suggest we offer everyone on board a $200 Future Cruise Credit for the abrupt stop this morning.

CEO: $200? I want a $2000 FCC and all of my employees want at least $1000. Your offer is ridiculous!

CAPT: Sir, would you settle for a $500 credit.

CEO: Yes, that would be fine.

CAPT: Can you sell that to the rest of the company employees?

CEO: Yes, they all work for me. Carry On!

CAPT: Thank you, Sir. Have A Great Day!

Curtain falls with a standing ovation.

[C 2 C]

A few observations:

At lunch time in Aruba I mentioned to one of RCI/X sales people that it would be nice if a few of the top cruisers on board would be invited to their evening gathering in the Bar at the Edge which was reserved for their event.

Mr. Salesman: "Do you know Richard"?

me: "Which Richard"?

Mr. Salesman: "Richard Fain. Why don't you ask him"?

 

The next evening, a semi-formal dress code event, we were sitting in the Cova listening to the Quartet when three guys in cut off shorts and sloppy Ts looked at the card room and said: "We'll be making too much noise to sit in there. Let's go back to where we had the meeting today."

 

As I walked through the ship on the days after the sales people got on board there was seldom a smile, never a greeting as they moved from place to place. They stood out because fellow passengers and crew members always look at you when you pass in the halls and greet you with hello or good day. Not with this bunch.

I had the pleasure to meet a VP in an elevator who was friendly and gave me an opportunity to talk to a person in the Product Marketing Division of Celebrity/Azamara.

 

Except for this one positive event I found the whole experience very depressing.

 

For all of those cruisers who expect an improvement in the Captain's Club program... don't hold your breath.

The lack of a Captain's Club newsletter, and lack of publication of certificates for bookings made between Oct 1st and Dec 31 of this year, the removal of dates for Captain's Club reunion cruises are a true indication of how Celebrity views its past passengers.

As long as addicted cruisers like myself continue to cruise frequently despite a lack of incentives from X, there will be no change in their attitude.

As a witness to this sales meeting and RCI/Celebrity staff deportment on board I now understand why shorts are allowed in the dining room at night and why jeans are allowed on formal nights.

The product that these people are responsible for selling is very different from the world as they see it. They seem to be part of a new demographic and it seems that the traditional cruiser is held in contempt.

I discussed my views with other cruise critics who were in different lounges. I hope they will express their opinions of what they witnessed. They were as shocked as I was. :(

[stinsowm]

Arno summed the experience up nicely with the Celebrity sales people that were on our sailing. They did stand out--not only because once they boarded the already crowded ship felt very crowded, but they were not friendly at all. I tried to speak to one of them and she acted as if she were better than me. They were very poorly dressed/loud and not friendly at all. However, on a positive note the crew on board the Connie were some of the friendliest at sea. The crew worked very hard and I observed some passengers..not Celebrity sales people who were not so nice to the hard working crew. Wish everyone would just live by the golden rule. By the way Arno it was a pleasure talking with you and your wife on this sailing. You are a true gentlemen and she a true lady. I could tell you both were having a great cruise.

 

Walter

[aaerobear]

I tell you all, if it were me, I would surely send these postings in an e-mail to Hanrahan. He would not diddly, but then again, he might.

[Cruise Arizona]

It does seem strange that they are so aloof, maybe they were told not to mingle with passengers? Who know?

 

It would seem to me that they would want to be very interested in the input of passengers. It also does seem strange they were not told to follow the dress codes at all times.... They represent the company, for goodness sake. My son dresses in a coat and tie for his 6th grade basket ball game days, you'd think that grown men could certainly do that.

 

But you know this may be another example of that weird disconnect that we al feel between the wonderful customer service and friendliness we receive from the on board staff, and the lousy respsonses that so many of us have gotten when dealing with the land based customer service.

[AstridSJ]

Arno,

 

I could not agree more with your statement about that group of sales people we had onboard, from the time they boarded the ship till the time we disembarked, they were hard to miss and yes, they were loud, rude, and obnoxious and definitely no positive reflection on RCI.

 

Otherwise we had a great cruise with excellent service.

 

I am glad that both of you were feeling so much better towards the end of the cruise.

 

Astrid

[Gadgetguru]

C2C… I also agree with you. I had also noted how rude and obnoxious this group was. They would meet in the martini bar before dinner and would be yelling across the room, not the type of behavior that I would let my employees portray to my customers, you could not miss them as they had company name tags on. Not a very good impression. You would think we were on a party cruise of one of those other cruise lines not Celebrity. If this is some of the top employees, I see why we are have some of the problems that have been coming up and an insight into their lack of respect for their customers. I have had many good experiences with Celebrity over the years, I just hope this is not what we can expect in the future, most of them had on Celebrity and Azamara T-shirts, we will be sailing on Quest in March, we will see.

[szdiver]

I tend to agree with all of you. I too witnessed the martini bar and their loud and obnoxious behaviour. Also, coming out of the Ocean Liner, they pushed their way past people and up the staircase, making their own way through elderly people, and it did not give people a good impression of the off-board staff. The on-board staff were great, except for a few individuals.

[CaroleV]

I was on the cruise, observed them and have sort of a different view. They were on a work trip. I saw many of them during the day dressed in strict business attire and overheared how they had 8:00 am meetings set up & other meetings throughout the day. It didn't seem like they were having much fun. I can't blame them too much for not mingling with other passengers, afterall they came in when the cruise was 2/3 over. They also looked like they were a different demographic than the rest of us cruisers. They were mostly young male & female executives. While I am also an executive & not all that old, I was on the ship for almost a week & extremely laid back by that point. These guys looked like they were still in their meet & mingle with each other work mode. As for having a little fun at night or at the pools, I had no problem with them any more than I had with the cruise critic group calling to each other off the balconies or just having fun. They were just another group who hung out together. Please don't flame me! LOL

[Maraprince]

The Galaxy "event" I was referring to was shortly after RCI took over operations of Celebrity. The RCI people sat at the same table in the dining room every night discussing who knows what, barely acknowleging their wait staff. They always came in late after everyone was seated and left before everyone else. No smiles at that table. They were there to conduct business and not to enjoy themselves but had to eat somewhere. The wait staff was very polite to them but were all but ignored. They did not linger over dinnner -- just ate and left to go who knows where. But their eyes followed the passengers around them observing the service, etc. Later the same year, changes were made to the menu al la M. Roue, gourmet bites were introduced and the nightly late buffets eliminated among other changes.

 

If the group that was on board the Connie conducted business all day long, the evening hours were their own. It is sad that they could not dress or conduct themselves better since it truly does reflect back on their company especially if they were wearing name badges. At my office, if we are meeting with an outside person we always have to be in business attire no matter what the visitor is wearing since we represent our company. No one should have to tell these RCI/Celebrity employees that and their behavior should be beyond reproach.

 

Some years ago on another cruise line we had a gentleman who sat at our table who was on board to audit the line's new billing system. He was free to act like a guest during the day, but he actually started his job at 12 midnight when the days' charges were posted to the passengers accounts. He would work through the night and be finished around 8AM and then be free for the rest of the day. At night, he always dressed for dinner according to the dress code. He socialized with the others at our table and joined the cruise on the 3rd day and was staying on for the next cruise as well.

 

If these individuals were dress inappropriately at night or acted unprofessional, I would blame the supervisors who were with them who let them get away with it. They DO represent RCI and Celebrity and passengers will judge them and the company accordingly. If you set a standard, the employees have to be the first to follow it, not break the rules. There is a way to dress casually but not look like a 12-yr. old and still not spend a fortune doing so. It sounds like they need a class in manners and how to dress. Wearing name badges is only making a bad situation even worse. No one should have to tell them to act responsibly. I can understand if they were told not to mix with the passengers, but not bad manners and bad dressing. They are there on a business meeting and not a vacation and should be a good representative of the companies they work for and not an embarassment.

 

 

MARAPRINCE