Oceanview Cafe dinner service being eliminated?

[Lastdance]

2 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

 

Typically pizza, salads, premade sandwiches, and some deserts.  Typically simple things that don't take too much staff.

However, if the quality/experience falls below a certain level people will stop booking.  Once you lose a customer for bad experience it takes forever to get them back.

That is happening in so many businesses today; it seems like quality has a different definition. I agree that there are some bad experiences that definitely lose customers.  

[iandjm]

I’m quite shocked at what is happening to the Celebrity I loved. I know it’s only a small thing, but it’s another small thing being eroded! Plus prices are now going through the roof to the point where it’s cheaper to cruise with Oceania and Azamara.  

[LB_NJ]

16 minutes ago, iandjm said:

I’m quite shocked at what is happening to the Celebrity I loved. I know it’s only a small thing, but it’s another small thing being eroded! Plus prices are now going through the roof to the point where it’s cheaper to cruise with Oceania and Azamara.  

Personally, I prefer Oceania and if they are cheaper or even a little more expensive, I would always choose them over Celebrity.

[iandjm]

1 minute ago, LB_NJ said:

Personally, I prefer Oceania and if they are cheaper or even a little more expensive, I would always choose them over Celebrity.

I agree totally. The dining is amazing and the entertainment does not annoyingly follow you around the ship to the point where you cannot even talk to friends without shouting.  Funny enough the Oceania dining is not dissimilar to that I experienced on my first cruise on Millennium back in 2004. 

[kathynorth]

4 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

We may try that we have just been reading the wait times have been long so we are keeping our options as open as possible. Being gluten free though makes it a little tougher though. 

 

You can walk up to any of the 4 MDR and ask which has the fastest seating time. The attendant can check the computer and add you to the active waitlist for any of the  4 restaurants. 

[BermudaBound2014]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

On a "reasonable and logical" scale of one to ten, ten being the most reasonable and logical:

Room service charge: 7.5

Soda package: 5

No more dinner at the buffet: 1

 

X is well aware of the staffing challenges at the MDR therefore it makes zero sense to eliminate dinner assuming they don't add some other options

 

In a FB group I can no longer remember where I saw it (I'm in a bunch of ship specific ones and another 7 sailing specific ones), someone was claiming they heard X is getting rid of all photographers.  No idea how true that is

I go with a 9 for room service (most other main stream lines already charge).

 

8 for soda package- every cruise line executive has stated they plan to make up losses through onboard spending. 
 

1 for eliminating the buffet food, 9 for eliminating buffet service (in other words get your own drinks). 
 

1 for eliminating photographers. It’s a money maker. 
 

9 for going down to once a day state room make up as the norm. It’s a money saver and again, most main stream lines have already made this change.

 

BTW- RCL just removed the everyday items on the mdr menu. That change will effect me because I used to get shrimp cocktail and French onion soup often. Lots of times the mdr menu is too fancy for my average taste buds. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[dlh015]

3 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

1 for eliminating photographers. It’s a money maker. 

Really? I have rarely seen them taking pics...and the viewing area for pics has never been packed...at least not since the restart.

 

I think, if they keep these high prices, photography is one of the first items pax will cut back on...

 

But lordy knows the photogs were all over people leaving and entering the ship during excursions...I saw a few bump into each other vying to get to a pax first...lol... 

[Ipeeinthepools]

5 hours ago, davekathy said:

But weren't you allowed to order off the dining venue menus and not just the limited RS menu? If we had no choice then RS would have to be our only choice. 

 

We could order anything we wanted.  But at the end of the day, if it costs an additional $10 for dinner to be delivered, is that really enough to change your choice of cruise lines?

[BermudaBound2014]

5 hours ago, davekathy said:

But weren't you allowed to order off the dining venue menus and not just the limited RS menu? If we had no choice then RS would have to be our only choice. 

 

We were always allowed to order off the diner menu for room service on Celebrity. I know we did that pre-pandemic. Has that changed also?

[ChucktownSteve]

I wish Celebrity would bring back the Kobe like hamburgers for a charge.  That's luxury!

[phoenix_dream]

6 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

.......................

 

BTW- RCL just removed the everyday items on the mdr menu. That change will effect me because I used to get shrimp cocktail and French onion soup often. Lots of times the mdr menu is too fancy for my average taste buds. 

This would definitely affect our enjoyment of cruising with Celebrity (which we have been doing for going on 30 years!).  DH orders the Caesar salad literally every night.  I order the shrimp cocktail probably 50% of the time as I usually eat in Luminae and most of their apps are awful IMHO.  French onion soup is also a common order, as again, many of the Luminae or Blu soup options are definitely not to our taste.  And then there's the creme brule.  One of the few desserts on Celebrity we enjoy.  We would be EXTREMELY disappointed if they go this route as well, and honestly it could push us to another brand.  We really enjoy the dining experience and removing Classics would be a real issue for us.  Maybe that sounds silly to some people, but at our retirement ages we cruise to relax and a nice dinner is a big part of that for us.  I don't want to pay the already quite high suite prices and have to choose from what we call too many "frou frou" choices.

[DaKahuna]

I am amazed that an unsubstantiated rumor has created so many comments.  

I know it's hard to read emotions into text based messages but seems to me that a lot of people are getting upset about something that has not even been officially mentioned. 

 

[Bo1953]

On 1/1/2023 at 12:40 PM, davekathy said:

With all the recent rumors we'll just wait until we are on the ship to see if anything has been eliminated or an additional charge for that specific ship.  

I can concur with this approach, yet for those of us who get spooked by such issues we can cancel immediately and book another line in order to 'potentially' avoid the situation... instead of only promulgating it.

 

True or not, personally, it would not affect my sailing X in the least... either we work with it or around it or move on as we may not like it...

 

bon voyage

[LMaxwell]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

I am amazed that an unsubstantiated rumor has created so many comments.  

I know it's hard to read emotions into text based messages but seems to me that a lot of people are getting upset about something that has not even been officially mentioned. 

 

Companies have large social media teams; even if they do not engage here or on social media sites, they monitor and may see something and there's always a small chance leadership can read the tea leaves. Who knows? It's a discussion forum. We are all seeing so many changes across many lines, and many of the things being reported in a handful of posts are denied and decried and then the next day are policy. Not just one company, but several. 

 

Talking about things we like, dislike, would like to see happen, do not like seeing happen, etc. is the nature of the forum.  I guess we will see what changes materialize, and which do not. I, personally, take the position of siding with other paying guests in wanting to maximize value and retain services and amenities. I find it disingenuous for anyone to say that something doesn't impact them. Even if I don't use something, it's availability very much impacts me. Wherever I am at, is less crowded because of the availability of an alternative. More venues with more activities creates flow and helps manage crowds, for example. If activities, that I personally didn't care for, were eliminated that will push more people to the venues I do enjoy. If they are overcrowded, that reduces my enjoyment. And the people who had the activity eliminated that they liked also got shortchanged, even worse. So I am very much aware that a change to one thing can have a ripple effect and impact elsewhere. 

 

We rolls the dice, give the code to our Amex, get onboard and see what's up. 

 

 

[Glendakayself]

10 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Is it a vestibular injury? 
 

That term has never been used by his doctors. 

[LB_NJ]

4 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

We could order anything we wanted.  But at the end of the day, if it costs an additional $10 for dinner to be delivered, is that really enough to change your choice of cruise lines?

 

It is the issue of Celebrity making a cut here and there and slowly degrading the quality of the cruise experience.

[gkbiiii]

4 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

I am amazed that an unsubstantiated rumor has created so many comments.  

I know it's hard to read emotions into text based messages but seems to me that a lot of people are getting upset about something that has not even been officially mentioned. 

 

How is it a "unsubstantiated rumor," when parent company Royal Caribbean is doing just that?

[gkbiiii]

3 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

How is it a "unsubstantiated rumor," when parent company Royal Caribbean is doing just that?

That being Royal "eliminating Classic Side of Menu," as well as Celebrity downgrading Dinner buffet.  Most officers eat at the Lunch buffet, which was the much better of the two.

Edited January 3, 2023 by gkbiiii

[Ipeeinthepools]

9 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

 

It is the issue of Celebrity making a cut here and there and slowly degrading the quality of the cruise experience.

 

No, the issue is value for your money.  You could have room service once a day for $70 on a 7-day cruise.  Is that still a good value for you?   Would you still go on the cruise if the cruise was $70 more expensive?

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 1/1/2023 at 11:16 AM, LMaxwell said:

There are several, uncorroborated, reports that the Oceanview Cafe dinner service is going to be suspended in 2023. I don't know if this is a test, set in stone, a few ships or all ships. Has anyone heard anything to this effect? Anything published somewhere?

 

This takes me back to the reports in late 2021 that Royal Caribbean's private port of Labadee was being abandoned by the line.

 

Per CC user posts, officers and crew on board other ships reported that Labadee had been taken over by squatters during the pandemic, and the line would never return. The entire resort had been burned to the ground, the dorms stripped by looters, and the beaches overrun with pirates. Our February 2022 Anthem of the Seas roll call was in full-on hysterics mode... we were only the second ship scheduled to stop at the port.

 

Imagine our surprise when docking when we found the entire resort in pristine condition: freshly painted, new pathways, and in tip-top shape. 

 

It was a great reminder that CC is still the internet, and trolls are gonna troll (even on this dopey message board). 

 

 

[chamima]

8 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

No, the issue is value for your money.  You could have room service once a day for $70 on a 7-day cruise.  Is that still a good value for you?   Would you still go on the cruise if the cruise was $70 more expensive?

 

Sorry but I disagree.

You could also probably go on Carnival or NCL for less money but have chosen to go on Celebrity. And, yes, if the cruise was $70 more I wouldn't care.

It's the tacky feel of these charges and cuts that is such a turn off.

[LGW59]

7 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

Sorry but I disagree.

You could also probably go on Carnival or NCL for less money but have chosen to go on Celebrity. And, yes, if the cruise was $70 more I wouldn't care.

It's the tacky feel of these charges and cuts that is such a turn off.

All they need to do is make it a full on all in 100% all inclusive/included, charge accordingly and only difference is the type of suite we select, otherwise everyone gets the same everything else.

[NutsAboutGolf]

14 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

I wish Celebrity would bring back the Kobe like hamburgers for a charge.  That's luxury!

 

It wasn't real Kobe but doesn't craft social still have the "Wagyu style" sliders?

[ChucktownSteve]

28 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

It wasn't real Kobe but doesn't craft social still have the "Wagyu style" sliders?

hahaha  Koke "like" was the term used.  Kinda the same as Kobe adjacent?

[ChucktownSteve]

I did a seven night on Reflection last month and was very much less than impressed with the oceanview cafe offerings.  The cuts of meat were inferior to the rest of the ship.  EVERYTHING was overcooked.  Way too many pots of "food" swimming in sauces and gravy.  Everything was loaded with sugars.