Oceanview Cafe dinner service being eliminated?

[D C]

21 minutes ago, psuboater said:

This is exactly why we loved the Oceanview Cafe for dinner. The Stirfry was my absolute favorite because I was able to control (as much as one can dining out) how healthy I wanted to be. The grilled fish or chicken made to order with a salad was also a go-to choice. Our favorite meals are taking our OVC meals out  on the Sunset bar. With the smaller class ships (Summit) having limited dining options, I'm a bit worried what this will look like for our cruise in June.

Some of our most enjoyable dinners have been sitting out by the Sunset Bar with OVC food.  

Not a stir fry fan, but do enjoy the cooked-to-order steaks.  Sadly, those were missing on the 2 nights we dined at OVC on the Infinity back in November (Thanksgiving).  DW enjoyed the pasta bar though. 

[barbette165]

Reading through these threads, it seems that the offerings in the OVC for dinner and the scale of the change vary slightly by ship. I can think of three different explanations for this (there's probably more);

 

1. There isn't any real difference, and it's just the posters on here spinning the story differently.

2. The F&B managers on the different ships are interpreting the instruction differently / deciding to offer a bit more than they have been told to.

3. The ships are providing what they've been told to provide, having received different guidance. Celebrity are then monitoring how each flavour of change is received by the passengers to determine the fleet wide offering.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, dodger1964 said:

maybe some passengers can volunteer to catch fish from off the back of the ship?

Like this?

[anniegb]

9 minutes ago, barbette165 said:

Reading through these threads, it seems that the offerings in the OVC for dinner and the scale of the change vary slightly by ship. I can think of three different explanations for this (there's probably more);

 

1. There isn't any real difference, and it's just the posters on here spinning the story differently.

2. The F&B managers on the different ships are interpreting the instruction differently / deciding to offer a bit more than they have been told to.

3. The ships are providing what they've been told to provide, having received different guidance. Celebrity are then monitoring how each flavour of change is received by the passengers to determine the fleet wide offering.

I thought that any variation could be determined by ship class ??

 

 

[Oceangoer2]

39 minutes ago, barbette165 said:

Reading through these threads, it seems that the offerings in the OVC for dinner and the scale of the change vary slightly by ship. I can think of three different explanations for this (there's probably more);

 

1. There isn't any real difference, and it's just the posters on here spinning the story differently.

2. The F&B managers on the different ships are interpreting the instruction differently / deciding to offer a bit more than they have been told to.

3. The ships are providing what they've been told to provide, having received different guidance. Celebrity are then monitoring how each flavour of change is received by the passengers to determine the fleet wide offering.

I can think of one more....the chefs are working with what they have on hand in the larder....then the real change across the board will be evident.

[drowelf]

We have an upcoming Celebrity Cruise and reading all this is very disheartening. I'll reserve final option until we actually sail, but if its true, its going to be a major con to our future sailing. Somedays we just don't feel like getting cleaned up and dressed for dinner in the MDR, especially after a long port day. We don't want to spend 1.5+ hours eating dinner on some occasions either. We would just like a quick meal at the buffet and then onto our evening activities. That is one of the things we always enjoyed on Holland America Ships. The buffet generally always served the same meal as the MDR. We only occasionally eat in the specialty restaurants, generally as a treat once or twice a cruise. We already paid a bundle for our room and board and spending additional $$ in another restaurant on board has never sat well with us. 

[ambrtonj]

We also have an upcoming cruise scheduled for the end of January and when I first read about service being eliminated I was indeed disappointed. We will choose to visit Oceanview occasionally in the evening. I was relieved to learn that the choices were limited but not eliminated. There have been times that I have wondered around and didn't really see anything that appealed to me, but ended up just grabbing a salad. Didn't leave hungry then, probably wont when we visit the next time in the evening. 

 

I had thought that I would just pay the 10+ grats for getting room service and see if I could get it delivered to the Oceanview. I should be really easy to spot, the guy with his wife holding her head down in shame while is ginning from ear to ear. Since I'm fairly twisted it would be worth twice the price just to see if it could/would be done...

[cgolf1]

We sail insides by choice, but I wonder if how much you pay for your room changes your perspective on the food quality and of course other stuff as well?

 

We will likely be fine with the food options on our next trip, but if we did a different room and instead of paying under 200 a night per person it was over 500 per night I am guessing our expectations may change. 

 

I don't know if that is fair or not but since we bargain shop, currently pretty much X, maybe our expectations are too low and we shouldn't let things slide that we do. We are just happy to see the ocean go by.

 

Also before anyone takes this the wrong way, this is not saying this is what happens. It is a question for all. 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, dilbertsdaddy said:

I've gone from being very excited about this cruise to being rather ticked off from reading this string.  Can someone please post some more current MDR menus?

I'm sailing on Millennium in March and there are a lot of M-class menu items that I can recall that are no longer on the app. Appetizers like beef spring rolls, tuna poke, caprese salad, beef carpaccio... all gone. Mostly just soups and salads now. Entrees like grilled snapper, prime rib, braised short ribs, beef wellington... also gone. I hope the menus are still being updated, because only the high quality choices seem to be missing.

 

I'll be in the Retreat but I was looking forward to occasionally cherry picking these high quality MDR items for various courses while dining in Luminae like I've done in the past.

[Bo1953]

17 minutes ago, ambrtonj said:

We also have an upcoming cruise scheduled for the end of January and when I first read about service being eliminated I was indeed disappointed. We will choose to visit Oceanview occasionally in the evening. I was relieved to learn that the choices were limited but not eliminated. There have been times that I have wondered around and didn't really see anything that appealed to me, but ended up just grabbing a salad. Didn't leave hungry then, probably wont when we visit the next time in the evening. 

 

I had thought that I would just pay the 10+ grats for getting room service and see if I could get it delivered to the Oceanview. I should be really easy to spot, the guy with his wife holding her head down in shame while is ginning from ear to ear. Since I'm fairly twisted it would be worth twice the price just to see if it could/would be done...

^^^^ - this I would do for sure....

 

Maybe on my next sailing I will pull it off...

 

bon voyage

[Jjg34219]

We are booked on Connie for our first X cruise in March. We sure hope OVC is still a good dinner option cause on our last cruise (Viking) we really enjoyed just picking out what we wanted. Looking at the MDR dinner menus on the app, there has been a significant change in menu choices than what I looked at 2 months ago…very lil beef for sure. We sure hope we have made the right choice!

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

^^^^ - this I would do for sure....

 

Maybe on my next sailing I will pull it off...

 

bon voyage

show up at entrance to diningroom and ask for meals to go . Then jump elevator to 12 and head out under the stars!

[Dancing Shoes]

I am pretty sure there will enough choices to choose from.  Think of all the buffet food that doesn't get eaten.  Yikes.  Feed the fish???

[D C]

15 minutes ago, Dancing Shoes said:

I am pretty sure there will enough choices to choose from.  Think of all the buffet food that doesn't get eaten.  Yikes.  Feed the fish???

No. Feed the crew.  It makes that stop before becoming fish food. 

 

And "enough" is different than "desirable".  Nobody is starving on a cruise, so nothing at all would be 'enough'. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by D C

[D C]

23 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

show up at entrance to diningroom and ask for meals to go . Then jump elevator to 12 and head out under the stars!

Actually not a bad idea! 

[prmssk]

6 hours ago, dilbertsdaddy said:

First time poster, and first time Celebrity Cruiser.

 

I have an Alaska cruise on Millennium in July. 

 

I had not planned on eating dinner at the buffet but thought it might be a good option if we get back late from shore days.  However, what concerns me about the posts is about the menu in the MDR.  I've not read all of them and in true blog fashion it's hard to decipher, but from what I can ascertain they are limiting buffet choices AND reducing MDR menu?  Is this the reason all the menus (that sounded awesome) from my cruise were deleted from the app a week or so ago?  The sample that someone posted did not contain anything I would want while the choices that were previously on the app had me thinking I would choose from 2-3 really nice options.  I don't eat fish but my wife does, and the menus that were on the app had some nice sounding fish entrees.....Tilapia!  What?

 

I am a world traveler but have only done a few cruises, so I'm somewhat of a kettle in this regard.  What I do know is you can usually get away with reducing service or raising prices, but NOT BOTH at the same time!.  Delta and Marriott for example,  which are my preferred and on both I am top elite, have me more than disgruntled at the moment.

 

I've gone from being very excited about this cruise to being rather ticked off from reading this string.  Can someone please post some more current MDR menus?

 

The MDR menus posted recently (at least the ones I saw) were for an Edge class ship and were incomplete as they left off the page with each dining room's specific options.  These menus are not applicable to the Millennium.  I haven't seen any confirmed changes to the M class MDR menus.  If you want to see current menus, go to your app, click Select a Different Cruise and then at the bottom browse to your ship and one of the most current sailings.

[NMTraveller]

21 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

ExecutiveOffice@celebrity.com

I sent an e-mail but I did not receive a reply back.

 

Perhaps they are either getting tired of all of the negative feedback or overwhelmed?

Or perhaps it was a futile effort on my part?

 

I did tell them that I would not book another cruise with them until I got all of their cutbacks and fee increases sorted out.

[NMTraveller]

6 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Like this?

You do realize that this is freshwater bass gear and not saltwater gear right? 🙂

[NMTraveller]

8 hours ago, dodger1964 said:

maybe some passengers can volunteer to catch fish from off the back of the ship?

We could use the tilapia and lower cuts of beef for chum.

[NMTraveller]

5 hours ago, ambrtonj said:

I had thought that I would just pay the 10+ grats for getting room service and see if I could get it delivered to the Oceanview. I should be really easy to spot, the guy with his wife holding her head down in shame while is ginning from ear to ear. Since I'm fairly twisted it would be worth twice the price just to see if it could/would be done...

If you did that people would be asking you where you got the good food from?

 

My plan was to order room service and have it delivered to the Sky Lounge.

[NMTraveller]

22 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

ExecutiveOffice@celebrity.com

'lLutoff-Perlo@celebritycruises.com'

[lola2013]

28 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

'lLutoff-Perlo@celebritycruises.com'

I used that email address today, stated my case, included my phone number in my signature line and received a call within a few hours.  Nothing will change by the time I sail next month, but the person I spoke with acknowledged that feedback is important; and nothing is set in stone as far as these changes to the OVC being permanent.  

[NMTraveller]

9 hours ago, lola2013 said:

I used that email address today, stated my case, included my phone number in my signature line and received a call within a few hours.  Nothing will change by the time I sail next month, but the person I spoke with acknowledged that feedback is important; and nothing is set in stone as far as these changes to the OVC being permanent.  

The decision may not be permanent,  but they do plan their menus and the purchase of items on their menus months in advance.

[terrydtx]

17 hours ago, RichYak said:

Mostly just soups and salads now. Entrees like grilled snapper, prime rib, braised short ribs, beef wellington... also gone. I hope the menus are still being updated, because only the high quality choices seem to be missing.

But apparently pork and beans are being substituted for the missing menu items. How do you make P & B gourmet?

[terrydtx]

12 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

You do realize that this is freshwater bass gear and not saltwater gear right? 🙂

Leave it to Celebrity to supply the wrong gear.