1st Celebrity Experience: Bad Luck or New Normal?

[dinosaurdem]

My wife and I are just beginning to cruise and trying to find our choice ship. We had heard great things about Celebrity and decided on a 4NT on the Costellation over Valentine's Day weekend. We were Concierge Class so did not get a chance to try Blu (next time). The highlight was a truly impressive meal at Oceanliners. However, since we are trying to really find our brand - we wanted to hear from seasoned Celebrity cruisers if our misses were exceptions or just the nature of a upscale yet mass market brand. We've also read reviews on the lowering of food quality in the MDR for Celebrity. Here's a quick list of misses. Of course - there is a longer list of wins but still would welcome others to share if this is typical.

 

 

 

- seated at Group table although requested private dining. Eventually resolved but uncomfortable.

On 15 cruises on either select or assigned we have always gotten tables for 2.

- outdoor pools generally very cold

Yes

- very limited pool service for drinks

Get my own. Don't know.

- lackluster food at San Marco. Worst was a flavorless tuna carpaccio and a $5 "ribeye" the last night

I am not sure whether San Marco is the MDR or the buffet, but I have never seen a $5 rib eye anywhere on Celebrity and yes occasionally a dish is mediocre, but I have had a mediocre steak at Ruth's Chris.

- room canapés consisting of a handful of raisins and olives (only 2 of 3 days)

The new canape trays do have olives but I've never seen a raisin. Both the new and old are mediocre at best. Try cheese ( blue and brie and ...) and crackers.

- cold room service breakfasts both days ordered

As others have said, lukewarm to warm.

- rude treatment by Nina at Guest Relations regarding first point above

Rudeness has been quite rare, but when it has occurred it has been guest relations. shore excursions, or security.

 

 

Again, all is relative but any insights on others' experience will help understand if we just got a bad batch, should lower our expectations, or keep shopping (Princess?). Any help appreciated.

 

Have been on 5 long Princess cruises, prefer Celebrity. (dinosaurdem)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

 

Hope this helps.

Edited February 20, 2014 by dinosaurdem

[Hlitner]

First, we want to thank the OP for taking the time to post their comments on the recent cruise. Second, we will not post our own experiences since that is not at all relevant to the issues cited by the OP. Having spent more then 3 1/2 years as a cruise passenger on 14 cruise lines (Elite Plus on Celebrity) we know, first hand, that not everything is going to be perfect on any cruise. We think that short cruises (we seldom take anything less then 14 days anymore) tend to magnify the negative. On a longer cruise, a few negative experiences can often get lost among lots of good things.

 

Although DW and I really are fond of Celebrity, we found nothing in the OP that sounds all that much off the mark.

 

Hank

[cle-guy]

I had to chuckle a little bit ago. I've been watching the Carnival boards a bit looking at a 23 day TPAC LA to Sydney.

 

Where in this thread, a service "miss" while on board was lack of drink service at pool......

 

On the carnival boards, people instead complain about the never ending pool waiters bugging you to try and spend money on more drinks.

 

just some food for thought....!:D

[jkgourmet]

"tons of opinions??!!!" :confused:

 

I don't have any, nor have I expressed any opinions on Celebrity cruises at all. I'm simply observing (after spending many hours on this board in preparation for my first cruise) that posts which voice any degree of dissatisfaction with a Celebrity cruise are frequently met with a barrage of posts which either contradict the poster's view or express some sort of excuse on Celebrity's behalf for their failure to meet expectations. Surely you don't suggest I need to have cruised on Celebrity to make this observation?

 

This is exactly the same on the boards for all the mass market lines. You could cut and paste the OP and replace the word Celebrity with Princess, NCL, HAL, RCCL,Carnival,etc and get exactly the same type of replies.

 

Every one of these lines has its "apologists" aka cheerleaders. I prefer to call them fans.

 

 

 

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[cle-guy]

Every one of these lines has its "apologists" aka cheerleaders. I prefer to call them fans.

 

 

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Forums mobile app

 

Or they can be considered the 95% of passengers who leave actually happy about their experience.

 

I find these boards to often be full of the "vocal minority" as well I think a lot of longtime cruisers fall prey to the "law of diminishing returns" over time. I spend a lot of time passing over the "subjective" type reviews and complaints and focus on the concrete "objective" operational types of issues and how they are handled.

[jkgourmet]

Try either specialty resturants or as you mention Aqua class, you'll most likely enjoy the dining better.

 

Don't get me wrong. I like Celebrity - a lot. Our next cruise is on celebrity for 16 days.

 

But a guest shouldn't have to upgrade or pay for speciality dining to get the level of service and food that one deserves to expect when boarding the ship - even if they are booked in the cheapest inside cabin.

 

 

 

 

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[Bently57]

I have only been on one Celebrity cruise back in 2003 and we experienced some of the same things as the OP even then, so going out on a limb here, I do not think it is necessarily a proof of decline. It was only our 2nd cruise. Since then we have been Princess loyalists, and I have come to realize that cruises are just like anything else; there are some great ones and some mediocre ones. We have certainly had some Princess cruises that were phenomenal and some others that were more forgettable. Just like, for example, your fave restaurant; you will have some 'off' nights occasionally. We are trying Celebrity again on March 2nd and are very excited about it! We are now experience enough to expect some bumps in the road within reason, but also expect some great times!

[Cindy]

I have only been on one Celebrity cruise back in 2003 and we experienced some of the same things as the OP even then, so going out on a limb here, I do not think it is necessarily a proof of decline. It was only our 2nd cruise. Since then we have been Princess loyalists, and I have come to realize that cruises are just like anything else; there are some great ones and some mediocre ones. We have certainly had some Princess cruises that were phenomenal and some others that were more forgettable. Just like, for example, your fave restaurant; you will have some 'off' nights occasionally. We are trying Celebrity again on March 2nd and are very excited about it! We are now experience enough to expect some bumps in the road within reason, but also expect some great times!

 

I see so much of myself & DH in your remarks! Our first cruise was on Princess to Alaska, and we fell in love with cruising. Our second cruise was on RCI, and for the first half of the week, we found a lot of fault, but then we realized it wasn't necessarily worse than our Princess cruise, just different. Since then, we've been on 16 more cruises, and they all had good points and bad points -- some cruises were fantastic, and some just OK. Like you, I expect we will find the same when we finally take our first Celebrity cruise in May. There are going to be some things we love and some things we miss. The only thing that's guaranteed is we will have a great time!

[cle-guy]

But a guest shouldn't have to upgrade or pay for speciality dining to get the level of service and food that one deserves to expect when boarding the ship - even if they are booked in the cheapest inside cabin.

 

I prefer the travel industry's trend to a'la carte pricing.

 

I'm OK with a reduced overall fare (or even no increasing fares to keep pace with overall price increases worldwide) and reduction in amenities and services that comes with it, as long as I have an option to add back in the amenities I want to enjoy and pay for those that I actually want to use.

 

I also like the change in dining rooms and scenery sometimes by moving from MDR to Specialty restaurants and such.

[Iamthesea]

I had to chuckle a little bit ago. I've been watching the Carnival boards a bit looking at a 23 day TPAC LA to Sydney.

 

Where in this thread, a service "miss" while on board was lack of drink service at pool......

 

On the carnival boards, people instead complain about the never ending pool waiters bugging you to try and spend money on more drinks.

 

just some food for thought....!:D

 

I for one do not miss the drink hawking that we have had on other cruiselines. :eek: Boy, that got on my nerves. I'd put my book down and pretend that I was asleep everytime I'd see a server coming around. If I want a drink, I am pretty capable of getting up and getting one for myself. ;)

[Lightngsvt]

Based on my experience last March on Silhouette (7 night western Carib):

 

- seated at Group table although requested private dining. Eventually resolved but uncomfortable. -We only ate in the MDR one night and had an issue with seating. We were seated and had got as far as placing our order when we were moved because they seated us at "someone elses table". Not a huge deal in the end but a bit annoying

 

- outdoor pools generally very cold -Only used the pool in the Solarium and it was not cold

 

- very limited pool service for drinks -Did not see to many servers around the pool or Solarium but did notice more than a few security personnel wandering about

 

- room canapés consisting of a handful of raisins and olives (only 2 of 3 days) -The Canapes on Silhouette in CC were nothing to write home about, in fact some were pretty nasty. A fruit plate or cheese plate would have been MUCH preferred

 

- cold room service breakfasts both days ordered -We ordered breakfast every morning on our veranda and it was generally prompt and hot

 

- rude treatment by Nina at Guest Relations regarding first point above -We were never treated rudely by any staff members

 

We are going to be on Reflection on 3/22 and I have every confidence that the experience will equal last years on the Silhouette.

[Charles4515]

 

- seated at Group table although requested private dining. Eventually resolved but uncomfortable.

 

- outdoor pools generally very cold

 

- very limited pool service for drinks

 

- lackluster food at San Marco. Worst was a flavorless tuna carpaccio and a $5 "ribeye" the last night

 

- room canapés consisting of a handful of raisins and olives (only 2 of 3 days)

 

- cold room service breakfasts both days ordered

 

- rude treatment by Nina at Guest Relations regarding first point above

 

 

 

Again, all is relative but any insights on others' experience will help understand if we just got a bad batch, should lower our expectations, or keep shopping (Princess?). Any help appreciated.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

 

On any cruise line getting a table for two can be problematic. Tables in the MDR are mainly group tables. Pool water is going to be cool at certain times of they year. They don't turn on the heaters on tropical itineraries so it will be like the ocean temp.

 

Your other experiences, had nothing but good dining experiences myself at San Marco but I don't doubt there are some items on the menu that might be lackluster.

 

Concierge Class, never done it. Can't figure out why I would pay extra for some canapés every evening. I don't see the value of it. Celebrity is making out big time hooking passengers on that for extra revenue while it must cost them little.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Charles4515