Julian Greenspun

Age: 61+
Occupation: trial attorney
Number of Cruises: 6
Cruise Line: Celebrity
Ship: Millennium
Sailing Date: October 12th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Mediterranean

This is a cut and paste of my e-mail to Celebrity.

"We paid for transfers. After getting our luggage from the blue building in Barcelona, we had to go over to a truck, because the bus luggage compartment was full. Much luggage on the ground at the truck, and no one from Celebrity there to assure us it would get loaded. One elderly man couldn't lift his suitcase onto the truck, and told a woman who had some kind of badge on he needed help. She just looked at him. We got on the bus, but I could see our luggage remained on the ground and was not being loaded. I had to get off the bus to assure that someone would put it on the truck.

When we got to the airport we waited at the curb while they were unloading the truck. There were 2 girls from Celebrity there who told us when the truck was completely unloaded then we should go get our luggage and told us what terminal to take it to. We had a number of pieces of heavy luggage, but managed to get it inside the airport. The Airport was a zoo. it was very confusing...and almost pandemonium. After asking a number of people and going back and forth, we finally found the right line to stand in.

As we were standing in line, we saw Holland America staff holding up signs and leading their guests and porters carrying their luggage to exactly where they had to go in a strange airport in a foreign land. We said "oh this is what your supposed to get for a transfer". we would have had far fewer headaches had we taken a $25 cab ride, instead of $80 for transfers. This was outrageous, and for that alone will not go on Celebrity again nor recommend it to anyone. Everyone on the boat worked so hard, and to spoil it with this at the end reflects horrible management and judgment.

The cruise also would have benefited from a small rock band. It was an older crowd , but we [ages 62 and 60] like rock n roll--in fact one of the bigger events was a 50's prom night, but it was with a dj. we like to dance to a rock n roll band , so do many others in our age group who were teenagers in the 50's and 60's, and, there were a lot of young people on the boat. honeymooners etc. Also, at the pool...meager entertainment at the pool. It would have been nice to have the band out there, the way RC does it. How much does a 3 or 4 piece band cost, for goodness sake?. The band which you did have and played primarily in the Rendezvous lounge had eastern European accents, sang a few rock-n-roll songs, fast and slow, and sounded like Dan Ackroyd and Steve Martin doing a Saturday night live lounge routine.. wild and crazy guys do ballads and rock n roll from America.

The cabin and dining staff took good care of us and we were satisfied, as well as with the staff that handled debarkation, embarkation and the Tenders at the ports of call.

The entertainment was good; your cruise staff-entertainers, the singers and dancers, were wonderful.

I emailed all of this information to our travel agent, Eilen Hackley Levine, who told me that she forwarded it your rep, and all she got in response was a disinterested thank you for the information, which surprised her...so this is a reflection on your company too.. you need major improvements ..start watching how your parent, RC does it, and share this with them. Because we didn't get a response from your rep, we'll post it on CruiseReviews.com, and see if that encourages people to choose Celebrity.

Julian Greenspun

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