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14 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

We always just go the first night then decide. We have always been accommodated as jelayne said by being seated with the same wait staff.  Sometimes they would coordinate same table for us. Easy once on board.

 

Thanks for this information.  I would never have known this unless I was on Cruise Critic!  

Do we need to make a reservation daily to have the same table each night?  We signed up for early dining, but this apparently no longer exists?

RoyalC said at the end of his post: Wish Carnival did similar but I'm sailing on Carnival soon. Looking forward to see how the food offerings compare.

I am also hoping Carnival has better food and is the reason I am trying Carnival again.  I saw Carnival's new main dining room menus a while back, and they look better than what Royal served in the main dining room on our last cruise.  

My husband and I have sailed on Oasis class ships since they started building them.  We are still able to walk easily, so the length of the ship is not a problem for us.  We enjoy Central Park, the Water Theatre, and the Boardwalk, especially.  With the neighborhoods, the ship does not feel crowded. When there are sales in the Royal Promenade or on the Boardwalk, then there are crowds.  I am trying Celebrity because the food in Royal's Main Dining room was not very good.  They changed the menu and they need to change it again. I was not unhappy with Royal's big ships, though. The Icon looks amazing, but it is too expensive right now.  

I saw a video on this site of two higher level staff talking about the menu in the main dining room.  They said all the favorite menus would be added back to the current menu as an option, so people could have variety and still get their favorites. 

This is my first cruise on Celebrity, but this sounded good to me.  More variety has to be better. 

Have they done this to the menu?  

On 11/11/2023 at 1:29 PM, deliver42 said:

Our wonderful president is bringing staffing level equal to RCCL, but at a very premium price.

Has Celebrity gone to once a day cabin cleaning yet?  Royal had this and while we adapted to it because nobody has any oher choice, it is a definite drop in service.  The main dining room food was not good in that there was so little variety in side dishes and the concept of every night serving food from a different country does not work well with cutting back on the food served. I am trying Celebrity in April and trying Carnival in July,  We try to adapt to the changes, but felt we are no longer getting what we paid for. 

21 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Our last time on Carnival was in 2022.  At that time they just passed out printed menus. If there was an option to the printed menus I wasn't aware of it.  Must be something relatively new.   

So in the main dining room, do we have to look at the app on our phones to see the menus or ask for paper ones?  I have not been on Carnival since before the pandemic. Thanks!

I was on RCCL last April and with the menu changes, we only saw mashed potatoes all week.  I wondered if they were from real potatoes or if they were instant potatoes. They were served with a round scoop.  We could only get a different side from the sides on the menu and there was never a different potato dish.  One night, all the sides were rice and served with a round scoop. We could not order outside of the menu. I started out thinking the new menus might be OK, but as the week progressed, I felt the choices were so limited if you did not want the side with what you ordered.  We booked Celebrity hoping this would be different.  It seems like it is on some ships.  

Dinner in the main dining room used to be something I looked forward to.  Why cruise lines are dumbing down the food is something that makes me want to look for a different cruise line or a different vacation. 

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

The X way, twice a day stateroom service, evening public restroom attendants with cloth hand towels, no lido/pool towel station and fewer kids.  Those are the only positive differences I can think of

I have a cruise booked on the Apex in April, 2024.  This is our first cruise on Celebrity. We had made it to Diamond Plus on Royal, but we decided to try something else after our last cruise. If all this is still available in April, 2024, I will be happy!  With no lido/pool towel station, where would we get towels?  Thanks!

I was on Royal Caribbean on the Harmony of the Seas last April and had 1 cleaning per day for the first time. I thought I would just manage with it, and we did, but I really did not like it.  Having the towels replaced twice a day is nice with twice a day cleaning.  We asked for more towels with once a day cleaning and got them, but ones on the floor sat there in a pile until the next day.  The wastebaskets are small and they fill up. I would like the trash picked up twice a day, but it is not. Dishes tend to pile up, and putting them outside the door is not a good idea with once a day cleaning.  Some people said they always just asked for just once a day cleaning, but I didn't. The cabin attendant worked very hard since there are less of them now. I booked a cruise on the Apex in April 2024 because Celebrity is supposed to be more upscale.  If they go to once a day cleaning, they will lose their upscale reputation. 

Harmony in April 2023 - 5/10.  The only type of potatoes were mashed, on Caribbean night, all the side dishes were rice or rice and beans, very few green vegetables any night, and so on. The wait staff worked hard, but the food was lacking in many ways. 

I am afraid Royal will keep this menu change, also.  We just made Diamond Plus, but have two cruises booked on two other cruise lines to see how they will do with food. 

I think providing cabin cleaning once a day is training us to just do it ourselves.  I found myself wishing I had access to a large garbage can to dump my wastecans in, so they would not be so full. I don't want to take it up to the pool deck, it needs to be on my deck and available.  If your wastebasket is not full, good for you.  Mine was.

I doubt this will ever change. Charge more, provide less.  I have two cruises booked on different cruise lines to see if anything is better.  It is a shame, too, because on our next cruise, we would have been Diamond Plus.  Oh, well. 

For my last cruise on Royal Caribbean, the gratuities had been inceased and the cabin attendant came once a day.  So we paid more tips for less service.  

However, we knew it was not the fault of the cabin attendant and he was working awfully hard all the time.  We still tipped him what we prepaid and a little more for how hard he worked. 

I have not tried the menu, but it looks a lot better than the new menus on Royal Caribbean, which I did have.  Theirs was more by country, so one day was France, another was Italian, then Caribbean, Mexico, Europe and the first and last day were not by country. Carnival has a longer list of appetizers and main dishes, and more variety in the side dishes.  If none of it tastes good, then the above does not matter, but if it does, it shows that a new menu does not have to make people wish for the old menu. 

I agree with NMTraveller - they are interested in paying down their debt from the pandemic shut down. Until their ships are not full, they will not change what they are doing.  Sadly, most of us  just accept the changes, or why would the ships be full?

We were on the Harmony of the Seas last April and our experience with the food is why we booked a cruise on Celebrity for next April.  I hope the food will prove to be better on Celebrity and that by next April, I don't see the same menues I saw on the Harmony in the dining room. 

My brother always buys a case of water and it is delivered to his cabin.  This was on Royal Caribbean. He is on the Celebrity cruise with my husband and myself and wanted to buy a case of water on the website for the cruise, but it is not listed.  He called and was given the number for Customer Service.  He called them.  He was told that on embarkation day, he can bring all the soda or water that he can carry onto the ship.  Carry is the key - they said it cannot be in luggage. If it is, they said Celebrity would take it away from him.  He was also told he cannot buy a case of water in a port and carry it onto the ship. 

I know that this contradicts the experiences of serveral posters who successfully brought soda onto the ship in luggage for past cruises.  I thought I would share the information he was given since it is for an upcoming cruise.  As he said, bad news. 

1 hour ago, GRBlizz said:

There is no policy prohibiting any quantity of soft drinks. No need to hide it.

Thanks, GRBlizz, that is good to know!  There are also no cases of water being sold.  Is this also something they do not sell?  I would buy the soda package on Royal Caribbean, and a case of 12 bottles of water.  I am not afraid to drink the ship's water, though. 

1 hour ago, lostchild said:

I found on internet $3 for soda, and $5 for premium water.   You will have to drink 10 cans of soda every day to break even with the zero proof package.

I think I will put a case of soda in my carry-on and see what happens. I always bought the soda package, but if it is gone, then I will try to bring on my own.  Or is it better to put it in a checked suitcase? Either way, they can see it.  

We are on the Apex in April 2024 and I thought the soda package was just not there yet, but if this is fleet wide, then it never will show up.  I think the no alcohol package is priced by day and is more than the soda package total was. 

What does an individual can of soda cost?  I assume you get a can if you buy it at a bar. 

8 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

Some of the Cabanas at Coco Cay go for $1,600 per day.  Sounds pretty upscale to me, so not sure why this wouldn't appeal to the Celebrity cruiser crowd?  There are several areas on the island currently where you can separate yourself away from the family friendly atmosphere, ie kids on water slides.

I have mostly been on Royal, but for my next cruise, I am trying Celebrity. You can board a trolley when you get off the ship and don't have to walk to the island.  There are several trolley stops that go to different beaches on the island.  Once away from the water park areas, it is set up with beaches with many chairs and places to eat and drink, maybe four different beach stops, or maybe 5.  We have been to two of them and found it relaxing. It was fun to see the $1,600 (or more) cabanas. We rented floatable mats at one stop and floated out on the water there and paddled back.  We are over 70 and thought it was a fun day. 

We were on the Harmony for the April 15 sailing. It is a newer ship and the cabins were pretty and ship did not show any rust or wear and tear yet, that I noticed. We had early dining at 5:15 and had a table for two. We spent the second night at Chops, and missed the 5th night because my husband's excursion came back at 6:15.  The rest of the nights we ate in the dining room.  The food was always hot. I enjoyed the first night and the second formal night dinners the most.  I did not enjoy the Caribbean dinner much and would have liked a side dish besides rice or rice and beans. I think there was a lot of rice as a side dish all week, and also a lot of mashed potatoes. I don't think there was any other type of potato on the nights I was there.  I think they need to improve the sides, not that this will happen.

We ate at the Windjammer for lunch and at the Park Cafe.  We were happy with the Windjammer and also with the Park Cafe. We ate at Johnny Rockets on the night my husband's excursion was so late. My husband has always liked to eat here, but you can see changes here as well in the menu. 

I think the lack of variety in some of the food will eventually drive people away.  I might come back again, but I think I will get tired of the food and try a different vacation. Royal has not seen a downturn yet in filling their ships, so they may think they are doing great with their new menues,  but if others are not so pleased with the food as it is now, it may take more than one or two tries before we quit. 

On the plus side, the water show was great, the two ice skating shows were also very good, and the Broadway show was Grease.  We enjoyed it, but were scheduled for an afternoon showing and had to leave a little early to make it to Chops on time. The Columbus musical was well done. The Headliner was a musician and this was really good. The theater was full for this. The entertainment was much better than on the Allure a year ago. If we just didn't have to eat! 

I was on the Harmony last week.  Our cabin attendant always seemed to be working.  We asked for evening service, but we seemed to get early afternoon cleanings.  This was OK and seemed to work better in that the one time he did evening cleaning, which starts at 4:00,  we had to wait to get ready for 5:15 dinner. If we saw him when we left our cabin, we would tell him we were leaving.  Our cabin was always clean when we came back. I left him a note once to leave 4 bath towels and asked for 1 or 2 rolls of TP.  He saw me in the hall later and hurried up to me saying he got my note and understood about the towels, but asked "what is TP?"  I told him it is toilet paper and he seemed to happy to learn this! He was repeating to himself "TP, toilet paper"!  He always opened the door for us when he saw us coming.  

We felt he worked hard for us and tipped him extra.  Before when this came up on Cruise Critic, I felt it was not right to ask us to pay tips for half the service, but on the ship, watching him always greet us and provide what we asked for, we decided to tip him additional. It was different to deal with a person and not an issue.  If we had not had good service and a clean room, maybe I would have felt otherwise, but this was not what happened for us. 

I don't know who you e-mail, but I requested this when I called to make the reservation.  So if you call, they can add that to your reservation. Sometimes they place you on a wait list for early dining, so not waiting is a good idea. 

Maybe someone else can tell you who to e-mail, if you prefer to do that. 

I rinse out my swimsuit in the sink and hang it to dry on a hook on the ceiling, but beyond that, I send things to the laundry or take them home dirty to be washed. I bring enough clothes so I only need to wash a few.  I tend to send clothes to the laundry that come back ironed and on hangers.  I don't like clothes hanging in the bathroom and in the cabin drying. 

I was on a 10 day cruise on Princess and used their laundry that had washers and dryers and even an ironing board and iron. It is a shame Royal Caribbean does not do this on every deck, or every other deck. 

For the many posters who wash out clothes in the sink and shower - to each his own!