LGW59

5 minutes ago, bnurick said:

No worries @Bo1953 I voted three times. 😉 

Are you from Boston too?

1 hour ago, Chardonnay Char said:

I think I heard some Celebrity big-wig say: "Let them eat Tilapia."

     or: "Let them eat Fish Fingers (tilapia in disguise)

 

    Folks currently onboard and those onboard next week:  Please tell us if any of these drastic food cuts are still on the menu.

There are several currently live threads going on here a couple from the Beyond and one from Silhouette and a few others very fair and mostly positive balanced reviews from folks enjoying their cruise.  I’d suggest you check them out but it seems your looking for negative, so never mind.

38 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Blinking ummer ( a Yorkshire phrase) cant people just answer if they want to on a hypothetical basis rather than saying that they dont do 7 day (or night) cruises 🙈

but if they have taken 40+ cruises and the sun isn't shining or the moon is not full and there is a 50% chance of rain...where do they eat then?

9 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Where's 7 days?  (kidding)...You probably meant 7 NIGHT sailing

🙄

3 minutes ago, bonagrad said:

So why chime in, mockingly,  if it's inconsequential to you?  I don't a downgrade in food quantity and quality is a topic that's going away.  Food is a major component of cruising or any vacation for that matter.

a moderator in the making 🙂  

14 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

I disagree, there are threads from the past where people, and very many of them the majority of posters contributing, said they would never eat in the OVC. Many reasons were given, hygiene, too informal and so on. So I too was surprised and saw the irony in so many people now bemoaning it’s reduction in service.

very many of them the majority of posters contributing, said they would never eat in the OVC.  This is exactly me, though I had a temporary and regrettable lapse on my cruise this past fall.  On sail away day, I went to OVC for something quick and had mac n cheese, honestly it was quite good.  So I thought perhaps I've been a buffet snob all these years and need to re-consider.  One morning I wanted to get off the ship fast so decided to go there for breakfast, eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, fresh fruit and yogurt.  I don't want to be dramatic (but I will) and say it was inedible but it was degusting.  Apparently I got those powdered eggs and the sausage, bacon and hash browns were I think "marinated" in a vat of lard for 24 hours before being served.  The fresh fruit and yogurt were good, the rest was left on the table after one bite.  I walked through again during the cruise on several occasions and all I could think was how can anyone eat this college cafeteria food that was prepared hours ago and then placed in a metal tin to sit in hot water to keep it warm.  In every other restaurant I ate in, Luminae, Eden, Grand Bistro, Cosmopolitan...every meal I ate was plentiful and delicious and the service was A+..  

Just now, grandgeezer said:

The only way this will change is, instead of whining on the internet, change lines or stop cruising all together. As long as the money is rolling in, nothing is going to change. If you can post specific instances where something was changed strictly based on written complaints only, please share with the rest of us.

I should have been more clear.  My dining experience on Edge in Oct/Nov was fantastic.  The cost of a specific cruise was what prompted me to look at O, for the Med cruise, better ports of call and much better $$$.

Just now, jcbnuge said:

I was recently on the Beyond, and they had no crème brûlée. Then I was on the Silhouette, and it was offered every night. It seems that it’s not offered on the Edge class ships. I was rather disappointed in the food offerings overall and found myself going to the Ocean View a number of nights. And now we see that they are reducing the offerings in the Ocean View at night. I found hamburgers at the Mast Grill to have no flavor whatsoever.  I notice is first on the Apex and then again on the Beyond and the Silhouette. Obviously, they have another meat supplier. I hope Celebrity makes note of these comments by everyone. We all know how they suffered during the pandemic and they need to get back, but reducing quality isn’t the way to do it.

When were you most recently on-board?  When I was on my TA in Oct/Nov we had creme brulee available every night.

4 minutes ago, drevil0208 said:

Can we keep this topic to discussions about the Oceanview Cafe and people's experiences opinions on it?  Seems like this is turning into a thread comparing and discussing other cruise lines which is very off topic.  

Well if the OVC is really that bad, and others chime in with comparison to other lines on recent cruises, perhaps that will prompt them to do further research on what is out there.  If it causes them to re-think cruising with Celebrity, then perhaps the powers that be will take notice.  I know it has caused me to look at Oceania and to book a cruise on them this spring.

34 minutes ago, OhioJourneys said:

Anyone know if we can carry on bottled water & if so, how much?  Found info on wine, 2 bottle per stateroom, & plan to do that.  I have always ordereda case of water to our room, but Celebrity does not offer that option.  All they have is beverage packages & we don't want that.  Thanks!
 

You can carry water on, and have seen folks here say they have carried a few cases.  For wine, it is not two bottles/stateroom, it is two bottles/person.

18 minutes ago, sptrout said:

We were on the Beyond last week staying in a S1 cabin (corner aft, deck 12). Both of us noticed considerable food cutbacks. The portion sizes in Luminae were reduced, with just very small servings of sides (veggies, etc.), the sides that were included were more for looks than complete sides. The biggest cutback was in the size of the desserts, nothing all that special and many times could be found the next day in the buffet. I need not need big desserts, but the reductions were obvious. Note that the menus may look the same as previous Cruises, but that can be deceiving. 

 

As usual the service was great and very friendly. The food cuts, even though deep, were not bad enough to cancel our 11 day Beyond cruise January 2024.

 

We also went to Eden and Le Voyage. Eden was so so, but with nice view. Le Voyage was outstanding and was the special meal of the week.

Easy way around reduced portion size is to ask for double size veggies or whatever.

6 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Thank you for talking me off the ledge.  We've traveled the trains in Italy before and I agree, it was pretty easy to navigate.  I'm over my initial annoyance...but agree with @WonderMan3 that the way it is listed is quite misleading.  No different with what the do with Rome when it's really Civitavecchia, I suppose.

Very true on both!  My cruise is May of this year, I’ll post regarding the train ride from Trieste to Venice.

15 minutes ago, mperrizo said:

 

After showers it was time to hit the Grand Plaza and specifically the Martini Bar at 6:00 tonight. At the Martini Bar a bride and groom we saw earlier in the day were partying on the dance floor with friends and family to the tunes of the Dance Band Cari Soul. After another fantastic experience at what we might consider our local watering hole after two weeks we made our way to the Casino.

 

Walking around early tonight and at the Martini Bar everyone must be at dinner as it was quiet and table mins were even at $5.00 on some of the games which we have not seen this low. After an hour of playing roulette we had our best luck so far and had only left $1.00 in Celebrity’s coffers for tonight’s play.

 

We went to Cyprus around 7:40pm and had no wait at all for a table. After a relaxing dinner we found the Grand Plaza busy as groups seemed to be shifting from shows to dinner and from dinner to the show. We browsed the gift shops, and stopped into the Club for the end of Majority Rules. We stopped by the room to drop off a purchase of more sunscreen and had to promise each other we would not sit down as we knew we wouldn’t make the 11:00pm show in Eden.

 

After struggling to stay awake we had a double espresso and started a bar crawl on the way to Eden. One of the things we have noticed on the back half of this B2B is how much bar staff have moved from one location to another. I am not sure if this is normal every cruise or if we just happen to catch the wave of change. Regardless the bar service from the floor staff was noticeably better today pool side.

 

We made it to Eden right about 10:00pm and we’re able to get great seats for the show Dreams. By about 10:30 the venue was almost full with one off chairs available and standing room. We were lucky enough to secure front row opposite the bar for this performance. 

 

The Eden cast was the same cast as last week but we had heard that one of the casts are rotating off the ship after this cruise. Regardless the Eden cast in the production of Dreams was amazing. This retelling of the Alice and Wonderland story was fun and a must do if live entertainment is something that even just mildly interest you.

 

The casts enthusiasm for providing top notch entertainment in a small venue is palatable. This may be because where we sat but it was worth it to get to the venue early and having a few cocktails. I encourage for the Eden shows to arrive early as a poor seat in this small venue will defiantly impact your enjoyment of the performance.

 

After the show we found ourselves walking out of Eden at 11:50 to an empty ship. With a quiet stroll through the casino and the Grand Plaza we joined are fellow cruisers in resting for our port day tomorrow in Costa Maya.

Ive so enjoyed reading this each morning on my subway ride, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

2 hours ago, Cruising Princess said:

When we were on the Beyond in December we noticed they made significant changes to the suite lunch and dinner menus. Not all good changes. We were told they made these changes on all of the E-class ships.

Since then has anyone seen changes to the Luminae menus on the other class ships?

 

Drop and run?!?!  Maybe provide some specifics.

39 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Ok you just prompted me to take another look at our itinerary for this cruise booked for May, 2024. You’re right, it says Venice with (Ravenna).  So this means we fly into Venice but have to travel another 2+ hours to get to the ship on embarkation day?  Our cruise does not overnight on days 1 & 2. We were planning to fly in a few days early but knowing nothing about Venice and based on the itinerary SAYING Venice, I assumed we embarked in Venice 🤦‍♀️  More than a year out and I’m already stressing over this 😳. 

I’d not fret too much over it, the train runs very frequently and is very reliable, if you go after breakfast you can still get a good solid day in Venice.  This is my plan when my cruise ports in Trieste, plus I love the trains in Italy.

9 minutes ago, Cruise Gopher said:

On Apex right now and these menus have been lackluster to say the least. 
 

Appetizers have been pretty good for the most part. 
 

Entree options seem very limited and very basic. No lamb spotted yet. 
 

No crème brûlée so far either. 

Settle down CG, you got your adult size martini today, even if it was in a margarita glass, that’s enough premium cruise excitement for you!

4 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

This is really awful, and I'm glad there are repercussions, especially for an employee on a work visa whose likely first reaction is not to make waves. 

Also assuming we can expect a "you won't BELIEVE what WE just learned happened on OUR CRUISE!?" video in the next few days from that pair of obnoxious You Tubers on this sailing 🤮

 

 

I think they did a video when this first happened in August.  I live in Boston and a “police incident on a cruise ship “ made the local news.  Those YouTubers will have a click bait field day with this.

1 minute ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Well I finally got my large martini….in this obnoxious margarita glass. 
 

Woot woot finally the good life returns!  I’d probably snag the glass for a just in case back up.

2 minutes ago, dreamboat43 said:

Please tell me about the behind-the-scene ship tour on Apex.  It is over $100 per person.  Is it worth it?  Do you really get to see interesting things on the tour?  

I thought it was well worth it on Edge.  You will see the control room, some of the kitchens, laundry room, wine & food storage, the bridge

3 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

According to Bloomberg (based on RCL's Q3 10Q filing) RCL had $30bn in total liabilities at 9/30/22, of which total debt was roughly $24bn (20bn long term and 4bn short term). Hope that helps clarify a little.

I hate to quibble but just for a tad more clarity, I see it as $22.9bn as of 9/30/22

22 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

Wow is all I can say. There is so much defensiveness protecting Celebrities poor OVC. I sailed on the Infinity in June and the Edge in December and they were both not good. The Edge was particularly bad. My favorite memory from my 30 days on the Eclipse in 2019 was the great OVC where the head chef was present and was checking on the quality.  For the first time in my 30 years of cruising I ate breakfast in the MDR, burgers or hot dogs for lunch and ate in specialty restaurants for dinner. Luckily the Edge was only half full and we could get reservations.  
 

It is ok to say quality has changed and we are not happy. People are acting like it is one of their children we are complaining about. There is room for improvement and without feedback it will not happen. 

Interesting, most (not all) but most of the posts I've been reading here are from folks who like you, are not pleased.  There have of course been several offering their opinions while on or having just returned from a cruise.  Seems there is room for both sides to discuss, whether one likes or agrees with a post.

1 minute ago, bonagrad said:

You'll have to fight my DW for that!

I don't like to fight, I'll take your DW to the buffet and treat her to a bologna sandwich

1 minute ago, bonagrad said:

Not my jam at all!  I don't like seafood at all!

Can I have your free imitation lobster tail

38 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

I rarely touch the deserts as find them all similar tasting and pretty tasteless, one of my good friends is a very well known pastry chef so kind of spoiled.   The only thing I have a problem of not having enough are the dreaded breadsticks, could snack on them all day.   I agree plenty of food, and you're not going to go hungry.  Last few cruises I have actually lost weight, I rarely use elevators any more on the ships except for those late nights at the World Class Bar etc.  

and one of my good friends is a banker, but he does not let me sample the Benjamins!

31 minutes ago, kidz_rn said:

Am I correct that Celebrity does not require guests to sign out pool towels? I know Royal C does, and I never understood why the difference between the sister cruise lines. Demographics?

you are correct