Not entirely sold on Celebrity

This was our second cruise on Celebrity and we had talked our cruise friends into joining us.  We were sailing on Concierge Class for the first time, and were really disappointed.  We were pretty embarrassed with how poor an experience they had from the beginning.  First, Celebrity check in was a fiasco.  Their key cards could not be found so new ones were issued.  New cards were faulty and tripped security when we tried to board.  Room number was incorrect, and photos did not match, and old cards that were not found were listed as stolen.  Great....back to check in and another wait in line.  Supposably problem solved, wrong.  New, new key card won't open cabin door.  On to guest services, key cards again fixed.  Not so fast, won't swipe in gift stores.  Nothing was offered to them as compensation for the poor service and gross incompetence.  A speciality dining voucher or something would have been nice.  Nope, nothing.

Second, Concierge Class is not worth the up charge.  Afternoon "Savories" were pretty nasty, we didn't eat them on the first day, tried again the next with the same result.  Yuck!  Fresh Fruit was supposed to be in the room and our friends got theirs, we did not.  They make a big deal about having an umbrella and binoculars provided but both were so cheap and flimsy we didn't use them.  The balcony rooms are small with little storage for clothing which is a problem on a ten day cruise with 2 Formal nights.  We had the room steward take all the superfluous pillows out of the room because they took up too much space in the room when not on the beds. I mentioned rooms are small. The limited counter space is taken up with their advertising literature, empty fruit dish, and plates and flatware for in edible PM "Savories".

We found the "entertainment" amateurish, repetitive and fairly boring.  This cruise is geared for an older crowd that still remembers Laurence Welk fondly.

We upgraded the drink package to Premium at an additional cost and I was irritated at dinner when I was told "you can't get that wine because it is too much for your package" not that I could get it and pay an additional charge of the difference, just you can't get that!.  So I asked for a list of wines that were within the Premium package, was handed the original wine list and was quickly told most of all the upgraded wines were not available.  Sold out on last cruise and not replaced. Really!

My husband went down one morning to get us a cup of coffee from the speciality coffee bar (Gastro something) and asked for the coffee to be take away.  Young lady behind the counter sniped "if you are at the counter, it's to go".  OK, a bit early to be chastised by a crew member.  He also neglected to take my key card and was curtly informed "you only get one at a time!".  The coffee they served at breakfast buffet was not very good so it worth the hassle to put up with rude service.  Should you really have to make that trade off.

We had booked this same ship for next November on the 11 day, different port cruise.  Talked our friends into that one as well.  We both are canceling our booking and looking into something else.  For the same dollar amount we can get a Grand Suite on Carnival and comparable perks....oh Carnival will do your laundry for free, Celebrity will do one paper bag of laundry for $45.