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Why affirmatively acknowledge and rollout cutbacks / dining changes for RC, but have zero official info about changes to Celebrity (e.g., bologna, and fish fingers being the main dish at the OVC for dinner)?

The magic code for switching by a week! Flights are obnoxious, but such is that time of year, and inflation. Just more interested in Beyond as compared to Apex (shame they didn't do anything to differentiate it just slightly).

Bummer/Advice Welcome, please. We're booked on Apex CS for the week prior April 1 -April 8. As we have yet to book flights (they are a fortune), we'd be FINE switching to this Beyond sailing if we could be in Retreat. (If we had knocking that would be an issue). We are fully paid, and had a refundable deposit. We got a decent price relative to the price before this class of room sold out, and given the holiday week. Having already been on Edge, the small differences on Beyond are appealing.

Thanks for the fun review! Concur about the shuffleboard. Have never played, but it's ship appropriate and the space is otherwise unused. And, costs almost nothing as they have paint. Enjoy the build up to WM. We'll be on Apex, so will be a good test for StarLink.

Can't be worse than any typical Mexico or Caribbean port and beach club experience. Almost has to be an improvement. Not like the plates of tex mex at insert your favorite beach club are anything special.

Unless you're seeing a regular pattern, in late December 2022, a scan of the schedule showed there were only a handful of cruises each year to Labedee with shorter sailings. Nothing consistent week after week or month after month. Would love for an Edge Class ship to skip one of the usual Carribean ports for a private and secure beach experience.

@David Kane Thank you. Came for the live review, and enjoying the references to wrestling (or as some more refined people call it sports entertainment) and Jim Shooter. @DaKahuna what was the brand of hair gel? Have a wonderful trip.

Flame away - We'd be more likely to consider and promote cruising if health, like crew testing, were a feature. We wouldn't have ever considered a cruise, and sailed in April 2022, had it not been for the testing, vaccine requirement, and bubble. Our group included a child who was not yet eligible for a vaccine (then under 5), so that meant testing at Pier 25 and the potential to be denied boarding. And, all had avoided Covid up to that point, yet desired a warm weather vacation. We would have gladly paid a premium at the time given the circumstances. At the time, it seemed as if it was one of the safer vacation experiences. So, everyone was vaccinated with the exception of a handful of people (the list was not a long one), all were tested, and crew and many passengers were masked. OVC was served by staff, and almost everyone was respectful of people's space, etc. Better than most other options that one could book with a few clicks of a mouse (and having to confirm by phone given the wonderful website). There was and will probably never be anything like that window. None of us tested positive in the aftermath of the trip, which was priceless. Definitely a different time now, and will continue to evolve.

Strangely, the Forbes article is also recycled PR, and not even fresh taking into account the current state of the economy etc. Even the sister Royal Caribbean press around cutbacks has acknowledged them of upfront, and then put a spin on them in light of the current situation. So, Celebrity's response so far has been to absolutely ignore acknowledging the cutbacks in any public manner. Even McDonald's when they cut menu items makes announcements about it and doesn't hide them.

Many of us have said this many times on this site and elsewhere: (1) Some public announcement and definite menu/consistency on what OVC will be at dinner time would make the situation somewhat better. Hard to plan or decide to buy when the food selection seems unpredictable or one is locked into the MDR for an included dinner. This could also serve to clarify the menus, definitive source, etc. (2) Celebrity could use a quick serve style dinner option with a menu that allows customization (old OVC apparently had enough options that various food needs were able to be met). This could be a buffet, the room service menu with some tweaks, Eden Cafe or one of the 4 dining rooms on Edge class, or just in OVC. (3) All of the comments also have me realizing that Celebrity needs a solid Allergen / Vegetarian/Vegan dedicated menu available every night somewhere. If Celebrity can have vegetarian and allergy free food options around the ship and all the speciality dining rooms, there should be some way to aggregate the options and make them available. Kind of like the basics or kids menu. This way at least there's options on the MDR that don't carry the same hassle and risk of having to try to customize a standing menu item. The menus I've seen for MDR have the nice logos at the bottom,but then few options.

Might it also be that Royal/Celebrity use different suppliers for mixes, commissary items, etc. depending on the home port? For example, we've seen the use of Gordon Food Service products on a sailing from FLL. On the same sailing, we observed crates of bags of frozen french fries (the ones that fry up with a yellow shade, coated to crisp up) that are not able to be purchased in the U.S., which can be stored for a long time in a commercial freezer.

Most importantly Eden Cafe may be open at most 1 or 2 times per trip. So, check the schedules and watchout for early closing times.

No sausage? Really?

Even the Hampton Inn chain provides waffles, which is a staple option for breakfast. Eliminating a waffle option strikes me as one of the lamer cutbacks, and offering it is an easy way to delight anyone that enjoys a fresh waffle.

The cutbacks and lack of transparency impact every potential customer and anyone that has made final payment one way or another. Blu and Luminae are not immune from cutbacks, and not open for every meal. Most people generally would want or need options, especially in light of Celebrity's food primary model being designed around plated, composed, multicourse meals that don't lend themselves to being customized. As anyone who has ever tried to get extra x in place of y knows, often the server defaults to bringing a second full plate because sides and garnishes are already plated.

E-Class MDR is 1 dining room sliced into 4 decorated dining rooms sharing a massive banquet kitchen (watch the videos, and points of you find anyone cooking anything), and one is able to order from any of the menus. In fact, the dinner menus on their own barely form the equivalent of a complete menu. The distribution of the dishes among the venues could be adjusted, although there is some slight theming. And, 3 out of 4 seating areas are closed for all but 18.5 hrs a days. So, the seats in Cosmopolitan are more likely to be used 3x as much as the other three venues. Also, the upcharge Rooftop Garden Grill (upcharge) is frequently not open, too windy, and has a scaled back menu despite being cooked to order. Eden is at most about 55 people a night. And, Fine Cut Steakhouse and Raw on 5 are extensions of the plaza due to sound.

Not disputing the steps that seem appropriate to be heard. Yet, given the comments in various threads, the pattern seems to be Celebrity is all about making the pre and shipboard vacation experience a series of issues of its own making that customers have to engage on to obtain any resolution or feedback.

Defend all you want. While the ships may be pretty, in my view the ship layout and kitchen setups may not be sustainable as recent cutbacks have revealed. Celebrity's model already is built on marketing better food and service. With food and other costs going up, the ships could be designed with better space and systems to allow the same or less crew to meet the dining needs of cruisers. Instead one has an empty OVC at night with a bologna bar and bread pudding with a bunch of crew hanging out, cloth napkins, so on. That's as much the cutbacks, as it is bad design. 5 ships with empty OVCs, leaving the MDR as the only included "basic" option, at night is poor design c.2016 - 2018. Celebrity (or someone) will have these ships for 20 years or more. The current OVC setup, including with pizza orphaned to the back, coupled with the MDR chopped into 4 (plus suite class restaurants on the other end of the ship inhibiting requests from the MDR menu), is already dated and revealing a lack of foresight by Celebrity.

Take a look at the videos of the E-Class dinner OVC buffets post 1-1-2023. Use of 1 station out of multiple food stations, and an abandoned pizza station in the rare (after requiring passengers to walk the entire length of the empty OVC) does not look appealing or enhance the food.

Hope they redesign the dining/kitchen setup so that they can have food options that are not (1) banquet food; and (2) impacted by the poor design and space utilization of the OVC. The MDR concept (however its split up) is, at best, antiquated and not able to meet the needs of cruisers that want hot and freshly prepped food; and a ship built for 3k doesn't seem able to sustain options as presently designed and budgeted.

Thank you @Cjonthesea. Very nice of you to post.

Odd that for Royal Carribean changes were part of a roll, with announcement, a cohesive set of changes to dining (e.g , theme nights, etc.), and have been the subject of interviews, news reports with the company talking points, etc. Celebrity is crickets on changes and yet is paying someone to make outbound phone calls! While it's kind of the like the onboard experence where they will serve bologna with a smile, why is their plan some random stuff on the buffet and let messaging twist in the wind? Do they think the changes will have no impact? Are they trying to tank the company? Poorly managed and overseen by corporate?

Celebrity Cruises is going down hill and then some. Warning to Anyone Considering Celebrity Reading this Thead (January 21, 2023): strongly consider that the cutbacks reported on this website have gone unanswered by the company as of this date and have been without any public explanation or information release as other cruise brands have done. If you like bologna, fish sticks, and bread pudding you may be okay. If not, then consider keeping your options open on land or elsewhere.

The reality is everyone wants a terrific vacation. Anyone that prepaid thought it would be on Celebrity. And, others may need to find alternatives. There have been cutbacks, zero official explanation or transparency, reports of stalking by crew due to odd incentives and poor oversight, and a lack of common sense by Celebrity (e.g., using the phrase Pork and Beans on a menu, bologna bar, poor crew and space utilization, allowing this thread and other complaints to fester, and so on). As stated above, experiences and evidence from post 1/1/2023 sail dates is key. The video speaks for itself, as do first hand accounts, and criticisms of what's seen vs what most on here know it's replaced and have experienced first hand on their own sailings or what was expected on an upcoming prepaid trip. The rollout criticisms are also valid in my view, and are as or more distrubring due to what they reveal. (We also have read other reports on this website that are troubling / reprehensible, and indicate a lack of management attention to detail, and possibly indifference to the customer experience. Enough seem specific to Apex to suggest there needs to be a senior crew and hospitality audit and remediation when needed, if the company cares). For those who are questioning or influenced by attacks on the video: The Traveling Gamblers have very little incentive to be misleading, or offer editorial that is critical. Quite the opposite. Per their own postings and videos: They cruise on casino comps through Blue Chip, and frequently on Celebrity (probably in the past several years more than most or all posting here). They have posted since, including a longer video of their Apex sailing (you can view it for yourself and reach your own conclusions). Sadly they also have said that they will be pausing from scheduled cruising for health reasons (discussed in a video posted after the dinner OVC video, and from the same time period), so cut them some slack. They didn't have to post, and it's probably been a fun activity for them like providing a live post on here. That they share their journeys on YouTube vs Cruise Critic should not matter. Cruising, and any prepaid expenditure for services, is unlike any other purchase. Vacation time is often precious, and we all don't want to waste it. So, info is critical. In closing, props to the Traveling Gamblers for their videos, and to everyone sharing their views.

There have been a few threads identifying issues on Apex (e.g., food (although fleet wide concerns reported), tour group, this). Is there any reason to think that Apex is especially slipping? Perhaps onboard ship management is not up to their job? Asking because hand washing on ships, especially before entering the buffet, has become a meme. There are hundreds of videos from multiple years of the crew "personally" reminding passengers to washy washy or something along those lines.