sarahharris818

I would like to preface this review by saying that my husband and I are avid travelers and cruisers and we are not the complaining type. If you look at my reviews on this site and other sites, I tend to never leave bad reviews. Our experience has to be pretty bad in order for us to even think about leaving a bad review and this experience fits the criteria.

My husband and I had a terrible experience on our recent Pacific Coast cruise on the Celebrity Century Ship. The first issue had to do with our luggage. We boarded the ship and while all of the other passengers received their luggage, we were informed that ours could not be found. The concierge explained that perhaps it had been delivered to another room on our floor or it might be on a completely different floor entirely. My medication and all of my valuables were in my suitcase, and we would have had to leave the cruise at our next port if they didn’t locate it. After 2 hours of complete panic, we were notified that our bag was found.

On the same night we notified the front desk that our television wasn’t working. They said that they would have someone come up to the room right away to fix it and the man explained that it was too big of an issue to fix that evening so he would send someone by the next morning to switch out the TV. Unfortunately, by the third day the issue still hadn’t been addressed.

Initially when we booked our cruise, we selected our time and seating for the main dining room on the ship. We selected a table for 4 people, for my husband and I and our two friends. When we arrived for our dinner, my husband and I were escorted to a table for 6 with 4 people we didn’t know already sitting down. We explained the situation to the host and he brought us to the dining manager and we sat with him for 20 minutes so that he could rectify the situation. Once they handled our seating arrangements, the 4 of us were seated at a 10-person table because they didn’t have any smaller tables available. My husband and I, along with our 2 friends were less than impressed with the food. We each ordered different appetizers, entrees, and deserts and we all agreed that the food was pretty terrible.

The ship itself is extremely outdated and has its own old moldy distinct smell. You really couldn’t escape it and I understand that the ship is old, but if you’re going to keep an old ship in operation, I think it’s worth taking better care of it. In addition to the smell, many areas of the ship looked dirty and neglected.

The food on the ship in the main dining room, in the buffet and in their specialty restaurant, Murano, was awful. In the main dining room, everything looked and tasted like a TV dinner. In the specialty restaurant Murano, the food was so loaded with salt and cream that my husband felt sick and we ended up leaving before they could even bring out our entrees. The buffet was probably the best food that the ship had to offer and that’s really not saying much. It seemed to be the safest in terms of taste and appearance.

On the third night the water was extremely choppy and my husband was vomiting in the bathroom for the majority of the night. While I was walking around the ship that evening, it was a ghost town and the people that were out and about were complaining about how rocky the boat was and staff members even put barf bags in each of the elevators in case the passengers couldn’t make it to their bathroom.

Considering how sick my husband was feeling and how bad the cruise was going, we figured we had to get off the boat and just be done with the cruise. We decided to pack our things and exit in San Francisco. When we spoke with the front desk staff, we were told to speak with Aelred Almeid (the ship’s documentation officer). We told him about our situation and he explained that we would each have to pay a $300 fine if we wanted to exit the ship. I was in complete shock and Aelred said that he would talk with Cameron Robertson (the guest relations manager) and explain the situation to him and call us back in our room. Aelred called about an hour later and told us to come and speak with Cameron Robertson. When we explained our situation to him, I started to break down in tears because I was just so upset about everything we had been through up to this point. Cameron was extremely cold and told my husband and I that it was too bad and there wasn’t anything he could do. He didn’t offer us any alternatives, any compensation, but most of all any compassion.

Even if there wasn’t anything Cameron could do about the penalty fees, he could have at least shown my husband and I some compassion. He looked at me and said in a cold rude tone, “well your husband looks fine now.” When I told him he was being very cold and rude to us he said, “well if you want to leave, just leave.”

If this is how Celebrity Cruises treats their passengers, I want nothing to do with them. My husband and I love every cruise line we’ve ever been on…Norwegian, Princess, and Holland America. Our Celebrity Cruise on the Century was the cruise from hell. To put someone in charge of guest relations that could care less about an experience as bad as ours was a HUGE mistake. I wouldn’t recommend this cruise line to anyone and due to this experience, I will never cruise with them in the future.

jacketwatch

I tried to look at other reviews from you on this site and this one is the first. What other sites do you post on? Got links to them?

sarahharris818

This is the first time I've been compelled to leave a review Jacketwatch. My husband and I had such a bad experience and I want to let others know about it. You can see my TripAdvisor reviews here http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/SarahHarris818 if you're seriously interested.

gail

Regular posters here are always somewhat skeptical of new posters whose first and only post is one such as yours - while acknowledging that everyone has to have a first post. I also find myself wondering how an avid traveler and cruiser would come to put medication and valuables in a checked bag.

Wishing you better future travels.

jacketwatch

"If you look at my reviews on this site and other sites, I tend to never leave bad reviews."

And now you say this is the first time you have been compelled to leave a review. So which one is it?

I too agree that its weird that an avid traveller would leave meds in checked bags. Mine are always with me in my carry on bags.

jacketwatch

Also I too would have been upset about the TV situation. Was it ever fixed?

Food I think is the most subjective part of any cruise evaluation. I am surprised you were so disappointed with the food in the Murano. What we had there was excellent.

Choppy seas are unfortunately part of any cruise. It's happened to us too and you just have go thru it.

I have never heard of an early disembarkation fee. A long time and revered post here, the late "dogslter" and us were on the Celebrity Constellation together once and disembarked early to catch another cruise and there were no problems. Anyone else ever heard of this sort of thing?

It's hard to imagine a CD being so callous as they usually bend over backwards to be meet the passengers needs. We have been on 10 cruises and never once met a CD that wasn't a people person though once we encountered an asst. hotel manager at an Intercontinental property who acted like he was full of himself. Hopefully not as much now after he dealt with our party as we let him have it so yes It can happen and if he was like this you should report him to the Celebrity corporate office in Florida.

Yes I am seriously interested or otherwise I would not have replied. Next time just tell the truth. If you have not posted here before don't say you have. It's not a good way to start.

JM2C. Larry. Better luck next time.

jacketwatch

So I looked at your link and read all three of your reviews.

sarahharris818

Geez all you skeptics, I gave you my TripAdvisor link and here's my Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/sarah.harris.372019. I don't know who you all think I am, but I guess I will admit to being a moron for packing my meds in my luggage...lesson learned.

To answer your questions...


1. The TV wasn't fixed, at least not while we were on the boat
2. Choppy seas are not part of ANY cruise. I've been on a lot of cruises and I've never cruised on such a small boat. I believe that smaller cruise boats (such as this one) get knocked around a bit more. I've also never been on a cruise where the staff put barf bags all over the ship and in the elevator. Obviously the staff knew this ship was especially rocky because they were doing this as a precaution.
3. The food at the Murano was filled to the brim with salt, cream, and butter. I'm sure a lot of people like that kind of food, but I'm speaking to mine and my husband's personal experience and Fodor's forum is a place where I should feel free to do so.
4. As for the review comment, I originally wrote this so that I could submit it to multiple review sites. I should have modified that section for each place I submitted the post, but I didn't.
5. It may be hard to imagine a CD being so callous, and I'm glad you've had such great experiences, but again I'm writing about my personal experience here and it wasn't good.
6. In regards to the fee, call up Celebrity and ask them about it for yourself. It wasn't $300 total, it was $300 per person!

After all the feedback, I am a bit of a skeptic too. Do you guys have something to do with Celebrity? Why so defensive? I'm just posting a review about MY experience and I should feel free to do so.

jacketwatch

Well choppy seas can happen and they do. It do agree that smaller ships can be more affected by them and the century is small by todays standards but we were once on a 32k ton ship, the Tahitian Princess and it is way smaller of course and the seas got rough. You just cant say when and if it will happen. Its not the fault of the cruise line and putting bags around the ship is actually a good idea really. Its better that vomiting on the floor or in an elevator. Just thjnk in terms of germ containment.

i have no connection to Celebrity. Actually our first cruise with them had some rough spots which I complained about both during and after the cruise and eventually we were given a $240.00 credit towards a future cruise so I think it was well handled.

I don't think the food at Murano was poorly prepared. There is a difference between that and it not suiting your personal taste. Did you tell the waiter you did not like it and wanted something else? i am sure they would have tried to help.

I will call X to see if there is an early embarkation fee and let you know what I find.

jacketwatch

So I called X and they said there is no fee to disembark early. You don't want us or me to be skeptical but first you say you have posted here before but in fact you have not. Then you say the early disembarkation fee was $300.00 but now its $600.00 and challenge me to call X which I did and I am told there is zero fee. This speaks for itself.

Have a nice day.

bettyk

We were on the Century back in 2001 to the Caribbean. It was a marvelous cruise at that time with wonderful food. But we also had terribly choppy seas which made many people sick but it only lasted about 24 hrs. I had taken Bonine with me and once I began taking it, I felt much better.

I too wondered about a seasoned traveler packing medications AND valuables in their luggage. This is one of the first things you learn when traveling that you NEVER pack anything you can't do without or you don't want stolen.

I'm sorry you had such a rotten experience and that it was handled so badly by the cruise ship personnel. Things have obviously changed for the worse since we cruised.

I doubt I will ever cruise again due to all the current problems with sickness onboard so many vessels. That is really a turn off for me to even think about spending a week under such conditions.

chepar

Sorry you had a bad cruise.

One of the first things I do after embarkation if I have traditional dining and the table arrangement is important to me is to go to where the maitre d' is set up and look at the dining room floor plan and my assigned table.

Sometimes seating requests made at booking are not fulfilled, so right after embarkation is the best time to make any requests for a seating change. The earlier the better - that is when they have the most flexibility. I have always found that they are most helpful in trying to find something for you that you will like.

And yes, to echo everyone else - never place medications and valuables in your checked luggage. Anything of that sort (or anything else I want to make sure I have access to) goes into the carry on that I carry myself onto the ship.

sarahharris818

Hi Jacketwatch, if you leave the ship in the middle of the cruise there is a $300 fee per person to disembark. I find it hard to believe that you called considering I now know this for a FACT.

Also, I never faulted the cruise for putting vomit bags out throughout the ship. Of course it's better than the alternative of having people barfing all over the boat. I just stated that they were doing this as a testament to how rocky the boat was. Also, I don't blame Celebrity for how choppy the sea was, of course they have no control over that, but I do blame them for sending our luggage to another floor, not fixing the TV, mixing up our dinner reservations, having terrible food (in my opinion, my husband's and several other passengers we spoke to on the boat) and for having NO compassion or concern for my husband being sick along with all of the things I mentioned above in addition to these crazy fees (WHICH I KNOW THEY HAVE BECAUSE WE PAID THEM).

AGAIN...I'm entitled to my opinion and Fodors is an open forum. Unless you own this forum or have something to do with Celebrity, I have no idea why my comments have such a tremendous impact on you and your life. Now go find another comment to attack because I'm allowed to post my review on this OPEN forum.

jacketwatch

Sarah: no one is guaranteed credibility. You post here for the 1st time and seem to expect to be believed. Well it doesn't work that way. Also you did tell me to call Celebrity. This was your idea so I did and now you say you find it hard to believe I called?? Why did you ask me to so then? You just can't have it both ways. Frankly grow up.

Reme

You need to realize that certain posters simply do not like complaints and almost always aggressively defend the cruise lines. I will certainly get criticism for posting this, but I too am entitled to my opinion. I agree that cruises are getting worse and are not as much fun as 10 or 15 years ago. The food is definitely worse. Bar food here is as good. And once they have your money it's into the cattle pen. Also they create problems by hiring front line personal whose command of English is rudimentary and expect the passenger to solve them. On the other hand our last trip, on Viking was a real pleasure.

jacketwatch

Well Reme if you are implying me you are wrong. I address the facts regardless of how new or old the poster is.

Cheers, Larry.

jacketwatch

BTW Reme did you even read the thread?

jacketwatch

Yes its English and its correct. But you know that.

And yes we have had good times our our 2 X cruises and will do more if the right itinerary and price come along. Actually if you look at cruise critic you will see their reviews are normally very good so I'm not the only one who believes that.

My free time at home if you must know is spent surfing the net as you can see, doing the usual chores like bills, shopping and so on and cooking, especially Indian food for my Indian wife. Thanks for asking.

Too bad you expected to be believed carte blanche. I hope you learn you have to prove yourself and be consistent. Your story just did not make sense and its obvious really. You contradicted yourself several times and challenged me to call Celebrity to check on early disembarkation fees which I did and then you express dismay that I did so like I was supposed to take your word for it, a person I never met whose first post here was already laden with discrepancies and now you choose to make a personal attack, all because I asked you to clarify your contradictions. Like I said before grow up. You seems very immature.



Cheers, Larry.

jacketwatch

I meant to say "seem"

Eschew

Larry, I will give the OP the benefits of the doubt on some of the issues. The Century, which is the oldest ship in the Celebrity fleet, is going to be "retired" from Celebrity April 2015 as it is on its last leg. It is due to enter the fleet of Royal Caribbean’s French brand CDF Croisieres de France later that year.

The ship is worn, beat up and in dire need of refreshing for a while. There has been rumors of dry docking and refurbishing the ship circulating more than 2 years ago but never happened. I belief in the TV story. They probably don't have another working TV (the old CRT type) on board to replace it.

The $300 penalty is the Jones Act. It is antiquated and it is the law. Most wouldn't come across it unless you board in a US port and disembark on another US port without stopping in a foreign port first. That's why all Alaskan round trip cruises originated from the US always make that short stop in Victoria at a ridiculous hour, and all Pacific coastal cruises stopped at Ensenada, including those round trip Hawaiian cruises from LA or SF. The exception being NCL's Pride of America where it is US flagged and employ an all American crew, and it is not required to make a stop at a foreign port.

What I have noticed is that all the "older" ships from the mass market lines were assigned to the Gulf of Mexico first, and then to Pacific Coastal/Mexican Riviera and then to the "new" market which is Asia and Australia where they don't know any better. And if it is too beat up for the Asian market, then it is transfer to the second tier European operations.

There is a pattern here as Carnival/Princess had done the same thing as well with the allocation of their ships. RCL/Celerity is doing that, and NCL is doing the same.

Chopping sea (or rough flights), lost luggage are par for the course when you travel. For frequent travelers, I will be surprised if you have never lost your luggage or come across a rough flight or choppy sea.

On our first cruise on Princess years ago, they "misplaced" our luggage after the cruise. We got it back a week later. It had not deterred us from cruising with them. We also had a "bad" cruise with Celebrity, we are still cruising with them as well and we did not receive any compensation in both cases.

The worst we ever had on a rocky ride was on board the Ruby Princess, 130,000 tonne ship. We can hear the "creaking" in our cabin at night and felt the "pounding" from the bow hitting the wave while watching a show in the theater. I have video of the water in the swimming pool sloshing about and went 15 to 20 feet in the air!

It is too bad that you did not have a good time. I always try to see the positives and work my way around the negatives. No point in getting myself all upset over nothing.

Here is what I have always said: A bad day on a cruise ship is still better than a good day in the office.

As an aside, I seldom turn on the TV while I am travelling, not in a hotel, and definitely not while I am on board a ship. If I wanted to watch TV, I would have stayed home instead. So if the TV is broken in my room or cabin, I probably will never find out.