The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!

The Good: 

Captain Demitrius – Funny, approachable and did a great job avoiding as 

much of the storm (Arthur) as he could. 

Cruise Director Ken – Did a fine job and we were pleased.

Captain’s Club Ashley – Did everything in her power to help correct major 

grievances to be voiced later. 

Entertainer Jonny Mantra – Was excellent and we really enjoyed all his 

shows. 

Bartenders Stevo and Ricky in Sunset Bar – Were AWESOME!!!

The Bad:

Guest Relations – Had many issues that were NEVER resolved.

Senior Bartender Keisha – Mast Bar, took over 20 minutes to get an order 

placed and then it was incorrectly made.

Sunset Bar – Noise filtering into cabin 9162 was at unacceptable levels.

Cabin Stewards – Pathetic, had to be asked daily for simple things like 

keeping a bottle of champagne iced, that was provided by Celebrity.

Lack of daily flowers as promised in amenities of Concierge Class, this 

could be considered a breach of contract. We were eventually given a 

complimentary bouquet by someone; it did not include any card or reason 

for our receiving it. 

The Ugly:

I purchased 2 special occasions for this cruise, which I managed to keep 

a secret (for me this is very hard to do).

The first was a birthday package to be done on July 1st and a Romance Package

that was to be done upon departure, as this cruise was our honeymoon.

When rooms were cleared for occupancy @ 1PM, our room was not even done being vacuumed,

and there was no sign of the set up for my “surprise” romance package. When I queried our Cabin 

Steward (Marissa), she blurted out that this was scheduled for July 1st

with the Birthday Package – Guess what – Now both surprises were 

blown. Needless to say this was disconcerting, to say the least. I 

proceeded to go to Guest Relations to attempt to sort it all out. I was 

assured it would be done ASAP. Well ASAP ended up being turn down 

that evening. The “plush” bathrobes I thought I was purchasing are NOT 

PLUSH, the cabin bathrobes were much nicer and this is what I expected to be included in the package. 

Guest relations also assured me that the included dinner would be 

scheduled for Normandie at the 6:30 requested time. This never 

happened; I ended up needing to schedule it myself on July 1st at one of the only remaining available times,

as Guest Services personnel never got around to it. These issues were 

brought up to an Officer of the ship during the Meet and 

Mingle and he assured us he would get to the bottom of it and get back 

to us. Never heard a word, nor saw him again. Ashley in the Captain’s 

Club, after hearing of our issues during the Captain’s Club meet and 

greet, provided us with a cheap bottle of Chardonnay and managed to 

provide a free dinner in Q-Sine. It was all she could do, and it was a great 

effort, but in no way made up for what had transpired. 

Additional issues included one entertainer in the Sunset Bar was 

exceptionally loud. We complained and received a phone call from someone saying that

his volume would be reduced after 10PM, an acceptable compromise. It was not reduced, in 

fact I am certain it was louder on the last 2 nights of the cruise, as I went 

up there and could not even have a conversation with the bartenders. 

Children in bar areas after 10PM, if this is an acceptable practice it should 

not be. 

Drink of the day – I had the classic beverage package that included 

alcohol and for the first few days I was sampling the drink of the day, 

Rum Swizzle, Rum Punch, Yellow Bird – Consistency did not exist, I had 1 

Yellow Bird with absolutely NO pineapple juice, I watched it being made. 

All the other drinks were by no means much better. If you are going to 

have a drink of the day, ALL your bartenders should know how to make it 

and have the proper ingredients available. I ended up ordering Gosling’s 

Rum and cokes for the remainder of my cruise and several times, I had to 

substitute Bacardi as bar was out of Gosling’s, also very unacceptable as 

Gosling’s is the rum of Bermuda. 

Prior to boarding, (and this should have sent a red flag), I attempted to 

get the dinning scheduled that came with my Premium Romance Package 

to ensure I could have it on day and time I wanted. After more than two 

hours on the phone, being transferred, cut-off, and just placed on endless 

hold, I eventually hung up after 55 minutes (the time it took to cook and consume dinner),

calling the phone number from their site. I gave up and contacted 

our Cruise Consultant that eventually told me that this could not be 

accomplished until boarding. I would think in today’s high tech world you 

would be able to schedule this in advance or at least put a disclaimer in 

the package saying that the dinner cannot be pre-scheduled and must be 

done once on board. 

I have cruised before in lessor staterooms and have had much better service.

David