Awful State of Ocean View Cafe for dinner

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Reading some posts regarding cheerleaders,,here’s a question.

I sailed Silhouette last April from Southampton,,,first UK sailing after TA.

 

It was a shambles with lack of crew,shortages or absence of certain drinks like Guinness and Boddies and other failures,I introduced 6 friends with us,,they said never again Celebrity.

 

Now I have booked Silhouette in May from Southampton,exact same itinerary.same ship,same time.

 

Am I a Cheerleader,an Optimist or a Fool?

JC

 

 

 

I was on that same Silhouette sailing and did not find it a shambles .... at least not due to Celebrity's doing. One has to consider that the ship was basically a COVID infirmary  after the TA. A very large number of staff and crew had COVID and were not available. Even several performers (and eventually the CD) fell ill. Also, at that time there truly were supply issues in some areas, particularly alcohol. I also seem to recall the CD or captain saying it was the sailing with the highest capacity of pax so far since the re-start.  

 

I felt Celebrity still delivered a fair product. The ship was fun and buzzing in the evenings. And the food was fine -- nothing like the cuts that have happened recently. I ate well in the MDR and in Murano, at least.

 

Now, I have my doubts...

[jmfdr]

13 hours ago, kitty9 said:

We were loyal Celebrity cruisers with 34 cruises.  We wanted to try different lines, being the foodies we are, and went to Princess, HAL, and Oceania.  We fell in love with O because we felt they had the best food at sea. But no more. We just came back from a 22 day B2B and discovered how the cutbacks have negatively affected their food.  Like someone upthread said, the buffet was worse that what you find at Golden Corral, and that’s what we see on Oceania.  It was so disappointing that we thought about going back to X, but after reading this thread, it appears that our two favorite lines have been chewed up by the bean counters.  And I’m afraid this is just the beginning. NCL announced increased gratuities and have cut  the twice a day cabin cleaning to once.  Bet this will happen on other lines. 

Try Viking Ocean!

[ravenjls]

4 hours ago, Goldenknight said:

We sailed for the first time on Celebrity - -  the Solistice, Jan. 2nd departure.  Thank goodness it was only a five day cruise.  Most mediocre cruise ever, and we will stay with NCL .

Dining options were horrible for those of us in simple oceanview cabins.  Menu selections terrible and food was often cold.  Having the dinner buffet only open 20% was the worst.  Pizza and pasta.  If you think pizza is a reasonable dinner option every single night, then Celebrity is for you.  Pasta was rubbery, cold, inedible.  Soggy pizza great for teenagers.

As for the single main dining room, if you're travelling as a couple, you will be squeezed into two-tops with just INCHES away from the next table.  Totally off-putting, no we don't want to sit on the laps of the couple next to us.  Covid, anyone?  So, we ate the main dining room once, and then the 80% closed dinner buffet on the other nights.  YUCK.

Never again.

 

We will be on Solstice next week. Hopefully its a little better for us.  I do agree with some of what you said above when we were on the Infinity in October.  We were in Aqua class and ate in Blu every night.  1st night husband ordered prime rib.  Was asked how he wanted it cooked and he said medium. He was in bathroom when it arrived.  It was the saddest prime rib I have ever seen.  It was so thin you could only have it raw or well done!!!!  We just laugh about it now.  Same for the steaks.  Lucky for us we cruise for the itinerary! Food is less important.  We will be in a Sky Suite next week and will eat in Luminae.  I wonder if the steaks are any better in there?

[JeanieC,Aston]

17 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I was on that same Silhouette sailing and did not find it a shambles .... at least not due to Celebrity's doing. One has to consider that the ship was basically a COVID infirmary  after the TA. A very large number of staff and crew had COVID and were not available. Even several performers (and eventually the CD) fell ill. Also, at that time there truly were supply issues in some areas, particularly alcohol. I also seem to recall the CD or captain saying it was the sailing with the highest capacity of pax so far since the re-start.  

 

I felt Celebrity still delivered a fair product. The ship was fun and buzzing in the evenings. And the food was fine -- nothing like the cuts that have happened recently. I ate well in the MDR and in Murano, at least.

 

Now, I have my doubts...

I know it wasn’t all Celebrities fault,,but filling the ship to the max knowing they dint have the staff to service them was,,,,sailing from the UK with no Guinness and Boddingtons was Celebrities fault when there was no shortages on other ships sailing from Southampton.

I agree about COVID my wife and myself tested positive the dat after disembarking.

The shambles was getting a bleeper at 19:30 and actually sitting down to dinner at past 22:00.

But eh oh!! These things happen and that’s why I’m giving them another chance.

 

Btw,I’m not a one cruise line person,,,,last year I sailed Celebrity,FO x2 and P&O.

Up to now I’ve P&O,Celebrity,FO and Marella (ex Celebrity Mercury) booked,,,,so I can compare.

[terrydtx]

42 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

I think the next 6 months will be interesting. We will be deciding for ourselves once onboard and also get a preview with family that sail before us. Then we will see if we end up booking on a different line for 2025. Unless something goes off the rails we will be keeping our Galapagos cruise in 2024 which is a bucket list trip for us and doing it while relatively young, 50. Actually interested to see how it goes, I may get to watch the train wreck that you can't look away from or we will have a fantastic time. Our last trip with Disney it was really obvious it was time to move on so maybe that will happen here.

We have 2 cruises on Celebrity this year and 2 more in January 2024, on the Equinox, Apex and Edge. These 4 cruises will determine how much longer we will be loyal to the line. We found that the Retreat product fulfilled our wanting of something more premium, but if the product fails to deliver how they did in the past, we are gone. The outrageous pricing of suites in the future may be all we need to justify leaving. 

 

We are trying our first Oceania cruise in January 2025 and are looking at another O itinerary for summer 2024. We are also looking at Viking Ocean and Virgin Cruise Lines but so far have not found an itinerary that we would want to sail on with them.

[JeanieC,Aston]

2 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Do you think that applies here?

Maybe!! I’ve at times been called ‘mad’.😉

There is another saying “If at first you don’t succeed try try again”

 

Thats what I’m doing,,,,but only once.

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, dodger1964 said:

just order 3 or 4 plates of it!

I wonder if that will be an upcharge too?  Hopefully not in Luminae but who knows these days.

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, jmfdr said:

Try Viking Ocean!

That line keeps on coming up over and over.  I will have to take a look.

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, jmfdr said:

Try Viking Ocean!

No casino.  A deal breaker for my dw.

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, jmfdr said:

Try Viking Ocean!

No casino, no go for me..

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, jmfdr said:

Try Viking Ocean!

Looked at VO but their policy of full payment 12+ months out is a deal breaker for me. No way I give them $15K or more up front to hold for 12 or more months.

[NMTraveller]

You gamblers should go to Vegas...

 

No shortage of casinos.

 

World class buffets dining and shows.

Edited January 18, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Looked at VO but their policy of full payment 12+ months out is a deal breaker for me. No way I give them $15K or more up front to hold for 12 or more months.

Same here...we looked, got as far as a near down payment...until the other shoe dropped and the payment schedule said final was due a year before we sail.  I asked about it on the VO board and was told by their cheerleaders that I should like it or lump it...we chose to lump it and moved on.  No way I'm loaning free money...lots of people do, I guess...

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Same here...we looked, got as far as a near down payment...until the other shoe dropped and the payment schedule said final was due a year before we sail.  I asked about it on the VO board and was told by their cheerleaders that I should like it or lump it...we chose to lump it and moved on.  No way I'm loaning free money...lots of people do, I guess...

We had a cruise with VO booked for September this year, we canceled it last year when they would not budge from the 12-month full payment last August. We booked the Apex to replace the VO cruise. I got the same response from the VO board as you. When we booked originally VO said they may allow us to pay 6 months out as we got closer, but when we got to last August they demanded full payment. VO uses the prepayments to finance their new ship building with zero interest. I do not want to be their bank!! 

Edited January 18, 2023 by terrydtx

[Whinenowine]

19 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Looked at VO but their policy of full payment 12+ months out is a deal breaker for me. No way I give them $15K or more up front to hold for 12 or more months.

Terry--I'd tend to agree, especially these days when you can earn 4%+ on that money.  I'm also a bit wary of the long time horizon given the financial straights many of the cruise lines are in these days.  While it's through no fault of their own, in a (hypothetical!!) worse case scenario I'd rather not become a senior unsecured creditor of a bankrupt entity. Much better visibility of this 3months out than 12+months out.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Terry--I'd tend to agree, especially these days when you can earn 4%+ on that money.  I'm also a bit wary of the long time horizon given the financial straights many of the cruise lines are in these days.  While it's through no fault of their own, in a (hypothetical!!) worse case scenario I'd rather not become a senior unsecured creditor of a bankrupt entity. Much better visibility of this 3months out than 12+months out.

We have some friends who had booked a Crystal cruise prior to them becoming insolvent in 2020 and they lost thousands of dollars.

[NMTraveller]

14 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Terry--I'd tend to agree, especially these days when you can earn 4%+ on that money. 

4% that is lost with 6.2% inflation ...

[Spurs Fans]

Our cruise in August was picked because of the destinations (Greenland and Iceland).  Hopefully, food issues are resolved, but being married to a doctor who takes care of Covid patients on a daily basis, I realize how serious a covid infection can be.  We are own a new era of travel (at least as long as Covid is around) and cruise lines have suffered and need to survive.  Remember, that what one cruise line may do may put better food on the table at the risk of a higher infection rate.  

 

I trust Celebrity to work with their medical experts to determine what is the best and, more importantly, safest balance between service and safety. Anyone who cruises these days should realize that you are placing yourself in a covid incubator, weigh the risks, do your best to protect yourself and others on the cruise (common sense things like frequent hand washing, hand sanitizing, sanitizing your room as best as possible, masks if in a crowded situation and, of course, vaccinations.  

[Whinenowine]

7 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

4% that is lost with 6.2% inflation ...

Haha....indeed!  But I'd rather lose 2.2% than 6.2%!

[drevil0208]

Can we keep this topic to discussions about the Oceanview Cafe and people's experiences opinions on it?  Seems like this is turning into a thread comparing and discussing other cruise lines which is very off topic.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, ravenjls said:

We will be on Solstice next week. Hopefully its a little better for us.  I do agree with some of what you said above when we were on the Infinity in October.  We were in Aqua class and ate in Blu every night.  1st night husband ordered prime rib.  Was asked how he wanted it cooked and he said medium. He was in bathroom when it arrived.  It was the saddest prime rib I have ever seen.  It was so thin you could only have it raw or well done!!!!  We just laugh about it now.  Same for the steaks.  Lucky for us we cruise for the itinerary! Food is less important.  We will be in a Sky Suite next week and will eat in Luminae.  I wonder if the steaks are any better in there?

 

This doesn't change the disappointment, just a FYI...Generally speaking, prime rib is where the entire standing rib roast is cooked and then sliced (fully cooked)

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 minute ago, drevil0208 said:

Can we keep this topic to discussions about the Oceanview Cafe and people's experiences opinions on it?  Seems like this is turning into a thread comparing and discussing other cruise lines which is very off topic.  

 

Perhaps the more overall posts the more X will take this seriously...Problem is, this post will be buried a few pages back in a half hour

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, drevil0208 said:

Can we keep this topic to discussions about the Oceanview Cafe and people's experiences opinions on it?  Seems like this is turning into a thread comparing and discussing other cruise lines which is very off topic.  

Well if the OVC is really that bad, and others chime in with comparison to other lines on recent cruises, perhaps that will prompt them to do further research on what is out there.  If it causes them to re-think cruising with Celebrity, then perhaps the powers that be will take notice.  I know it has caused me to look at Oceania and to book a cruise on them this spring.

[paulh84]

The humorous thing about this buffet rage is that if someone asked this group a month ago, 95% would say you have never have dinner in the buffet and never plan to.

 

I guess knowing there are 50 entree options upstairs waiting for you just in case you get extra hungry provides some sort of peace of mind 🤨

 

 

[bonagrad]

23 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

The humorous thing about this buffet rage is that if someone asked this group a month ago, 95% would say you have never have dinner in the buffet and never plan to.

 

I guess knowing there are 50 entree options upstairs waiting for you just in case you get extra hungry provides some sort of peace of mind 🤨

 

 

Clearly, 95% is off, based on this thread.  There are quite a number of us that prefer the buffet over the MDR.