Happy Cruiser 6143

Post pandemic, they are short staffed. It took two days to get the laundry back on both of my Summit cruises in April and May.

Actually, it's not quite that simple. First, those tests don't drop out of thin air. They cost money. And medical personnel to administer them. Then there's the issue of uploading the test results of all those passengers on limited bandwidth with satellite internet which comes and goes. And if the seas are not conducive to tendering, they won't be running the tenders. That's why we didn't get to go to Newport. Best of luck to you. I hope you can survive your disappointment and have a good cruise in spite of it.

Folks, this has been happening since the first cruise to Bermuda et al. on May 4. If you have been following the boards, you would have had ample warning to cancel. Because of the reversal of the itinerary, we were unable to get to Newport because of high seas. So I lost a nonrefundable excursion booked a long time ago. Not happy, but I'll live. And, of course, Newport was the only port on the cruise I had not been to previously. So, if this is a BFD for those of you on the rest of the Bermuda cruises, I suggest you cancel rather than come here and wail. Bermuda is not going to blink on this. And neither is Celebrity.

I don't believe anyone has alleged there was no ice cream available.

I've not had good experiences in Tuscan on other ships in the past, but it was great on the April 25 Summit cruise. Also tried Le Petit Chef to see what all the hype was about. We went on steak & lobster night. The food was excellent and the presentation was amusing. Sushi on 5 has always been excellent. That being said, the specialty restaurants were included in the price of my suite, so no upcharge. Not sure the upcharges are really worth it. I find the food in Luminae and the MDR to be excellent.

You can believe anything you choose to. However, several recent cruisers have reported that there was no soft serve available. There was none on the April 25 and May 4 cruises on the Summit. A poster above reported none on the May 13 cruise.

Well, guess what? That's really a thing. Your local stores are experiencing the same issues.

If the Retreat hostesses haven't heard of these problems previously, they're either brand new or haven't been listening. There's nothing they can do about it anyway. I loved the video raving about the "large" closet space. Prior to this great redo, there were walk-in closets in the sky suites! As for those school chairs on the balcony, they should be tossed overboard and put out of their misery.

The answer is simple: they weren't thinking. They have somehow got it in their heads that all their customers are young and lithe. If they would just go on their ships once in a while, they would see this is not the case. I get that their target audience is younger, they just haven't succeeded in populating their ships with their target audience. And my guess is that their younger target audience all takes showers and doesn't want to climb over a steep tub wall in order to do that.

Why are you so sure it is the crew that has covid? I was on a B2B on the Summit recently and 100% of the crew tested negative on both cruises.

Just off two cruises on the Summit. Registered for connections parties on both and received notice that the required number had registered. No invitation once on board.

News flash: Wall Street is pretty much negative on everything these days.

I had no problems with my ancient PC. This was by far the best one they've done--you could feel their excitement. Although I must admit that the reflection in Lisa's glasses is annoying. It sounded like a great cruise--I went to check it out and then realized that I'm on another trip on September 5. Oh well.

Thank you for letting us know of Don's passing. He was a wonderful participant and contributor to these boards and his contributions will be missed. May your happy memories sustain you in your loss.

There seem to be a lot of judgmental folks here. If you think door decor is tacky, don't do it. Why not live and let live? Seems there's too much my way or the highway in the world these days.

Well, if Bermuda isn't a "distant foreign port," how did Celebrity get away with having a cruise that went from Cape Liberty to Bermuda, then to Charleston, then back to Cape Liberty? That was our itinerary on the May 4 Summit cruise.

😁 I suspect it was a supply chain issue as I only had a couple of glasses each night.

I was actually alerted to the existence of the Fre sparkling by a wonderful sommelier in Luminae. Even some regular champagne drinkers tried it after she brought it to the table and they enjoyed it as well.

Unfortunately, common sense is woefully in short supply these days.

I suspect that my October cruise will drop Bermuda as a port if Bermuda does not change its testing requirements. It's not needed as there are other "distant foreign ports" and the present setup is a major headache.

Just a few comments. I do not believe Celebrity is intentionally trying to keep the staffing levels down. That would be long-term suicide. I am just off a B2B on the Summit. On the first cruise we had around 350 pax and the captain kept referring to it as a private yacht. I was in a suite and experienced wonderful service. The second cruise which we moved forward from one previously booked so as to do a B2B had no suite availability, so I was in a C1. Same cabin attendent as the previous cruise, so no complaints about the cabin. However, suddenly there were about 1600 pax on the ship! The Bacio waitresses were literally running to keep up with the increase. I personally witnessed stripes pitching in to help--several times my order got delivered by an officer. The MDR was a complete disaster. Long waits to get in and then no service once one got in. It was clearly understaffed and/or staffed with untrained newbies, although the MDR manager maintained they were properly staffed. That made me wonder how much experience with Celebrity he had. It was nothing like my many previous experiences with the MDR. Two nights of that sent us to talk to the wonderful Lobo, maitre d' extradordinaire in Luminae. He magically conjured up some handicapped SSs and the rest of our cruise was delightful. Our butler on the first cruise said that they were down to 3 butlers from the usual 5, but that did not prevent him from providing exceptional service. With the exception of the MDR, all the Celebrity staff I encountered were as helpful and cheerful as I have previously experienced. No complaints about MDR food--I frequently mix & match MDR & Luminae items when dining in Luminae.