My wife and I just got back from a 14 day crossing (from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale 10/18 to 11/02) aboard the Celebrity Reflection and have some comments about our experiences. We have been on 64 cruises with 27 of them being on Celebrity.
Our cabin:
First of all the cabin had to be the dustiest we’ve ever had. When we got on board my wife and I noticed that it wasn’t clean, however, being some of the earliest to board, I said to give the cabin attendant a chance. When we were notified that our cabin was ready we went in and it was in the same condition. Again I said to give the cabin attendant a chance since it was the first day and he might be really busy. At that point my wife went up and got some towels to cover our couch because neither of us would sit on it. the next day she proceeded to run her finger over one the top of the mirror and great amount of dust came falling down. About 2 to 3 days in my wife stared coughing and wheezing because she has asthma induced allergies and it was obviously affecting her. I was fine. She eventually went down to guest services and spoke to an officer. Subsequently another officer came to our cabin and was shown the issue. She told us that they were going to deep clean the room. When we got back to our room it was indeed cleaner, but the towels were still on the couch and remained there until we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale. We opted for the once a day cleaning and it worked out great, we could sleep in in the morning without being disturbed by the cabin attendant, but it would have been nice if he actually cleaned the room!
Laundry:
Being Elite Plus, we both have 2 free bags of laundry for this trip. We took advantage and used it 3 times. The first 2 times I thought it took longer than expected. So the third time I filled the bag and gave it to our cabin attendant b for 9:00 AM. According to the laundry slip it was going to be back the next day, it wasn’t. The next day I called guest services and was told that since it was free it would be 48 hours! This is the first time I ever heard anything like that.
Main dining:
The first few nights we ate at table 238, Maria was obviously new. Service was not what we expected. We switched to late seating because we felt the service would be better, that everyday requested items would be on the table when we arrived, but not so. The only thing she got right was serving from the right. She was also not very attentive, which surprised us since we were her only table. We then switched to table 234. Sudiharto and Diana were excellent as was the Sommelier, Russell.
As for the food itself, the main dining was the same old thing, but after a few days, we were presented with the Chef’s specials which were excellent.
Specialty dining:
We also ate at the Lawn Club and my meal was good, but my wife did not like her lamb chops, she said it tasted like steak. The Tuscany was great as usual. We took exception to the Gratuities being added to our cover charge for the specialty dining. We were always informed in the past, by many different sources, that the cover charge was considered a tip and there were no further charges.
Captains Club:
In the past we always had a bag to use in our room upon boarding, this time we had to ask.
This one really annoyed us, this was a cruise to celebrate our 50th anniversary and we did not even get a piece of paper on our door signifying it even though our travel agent said it was on our reservation. Fortunately our TA was on this cruise and told us that Celebrity dropped the ball and rectified it. Jamie, the Captain’s Club rep. said it wasn’t on the reservation.
One small annoying thing about the bar service, we had the classic drink package and throughout most of the cruise I was drinking Bombay Dry Gin, until day number 12, when a bar tender said it was on the Premium package. I even showed him the listing on my phone and he still was going to charge me, but he relented.
I also noted that even on a simple bar transaction the server had to punch in information into the terminal an exorbitant amount of times, making getting even one drink a time consuming and inefficient ordeal.
Some things we were vey pleased with, as the fitness center being open 24/7 and the Captain’s Party being held in the Solarium. When I heard about it I doubted it was going to be any good, but it was an excellent choice.
I also would like to add that I think Celebrity is trying to be the next NCL. Your All-Inclusive doesn’t include gratuities, but your prices still went up!
What’s next, to offer a drink package but add gratuities on that also, just like adding tips to the specialty dining? When we first stating doing Celebrity we considered it an upscale sort of luxury brand where you didn’t have to worry about being charged for everything, but not anymore. It was just a very disappointing cruise experience.
In comparison, we did a Royal Caribbean cruise to Bermuda several weeks before this one and I would rate everything on that cruise above this cruise.
I know the stock answer, lack of workers and/or lack of training, but I think in the case of the cabin stewards when people opt for the once a day, the steward is given extra rooms stretching his limits. As for our dining, they need more training before being put on the floor of an “upscale” cruise company.
We have 2 more Celebrity cruises that we can’t cancel because of non-refundable deposits or final payment already being made, but we will not reserve another cruise vacation with Celebrity to see if things get worked out and return to the past Celebrity that we loved.
