True or False? Comments Welcome.

[cgolf1]

6 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

You never realize how important having good food on a cruise is until you sail with a line where it isn’t good. (MSC and NCL I’m looking at you..) You can have a beautiful ship with solid staff but if the food isn’t good it will leave with you with a negative feeling. Now I come at this from sailing in suites. If you book a bargain basement rate in a basic inside or Oceanview cabin then maybe the quality of food doesn’t matter as much.

 

Interesting on the MSC as we were looking to book a cheap cruise for my 50th and they are an option. Also have to figure out how they handle food allergies too. There are likely many reasons that they are so cheap.

[mrgabriel]

7 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

You never realize how important having good food on a cruise is until you sail with a line where it isn’t good. (MSC and NCL I’m looking at you..) You can have a beautiful ship with solid staff but if the food isn’t good it will leave with you with a negative feeling. Now I come at this from sailing in suites. If you book a bargain basement rate in a basic inside or Oceanview cabin then maybe the quality of food doesn’t matter as much.

 

There are plenty of people who sail in inside cabins and enjoy fantastic food.

 

That's like saying that only people of a certain class stay in suites. Money doesn't buy elegance. 

[basenji56]

9 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

You never realize how important having good food on a cruise is until you sail with a line where it isn’t good. (MSC and NCL I’m looking at you..) You can have a beautiful ship with solid staff but if the food isn’t good it will leave with you with a negative feeling. Now I come at this from sailing in suites. If you book a bargain basement rate in a basic inside or Oceanview cabin then maybe the quality of food doesn’t matter as much.

It's all good as long as the ship stops in Nassau. 😉

 

[WonderMan3]

Just now, cgolf1 said:

 

Interesting on the MSC as we were looking to book a cheap cruise for my 50th and they are an option. Also have to figure out how they handle food allergies too. There are likely many reasons that they are so cheap.

Beautiful ships with great suite space, but poor quality food and service lacking. I honestly would rather sail in an Oceanview cabin on Celebrity than ever do a suite on MSC again.

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, mrgabriel said:

 

There are plenty of people who sail in inside cabins and enjoy fantastic food.

 

That's like saying that only people of a certain class stay in suites. Money doesn't buy elegance. 

I was referring to the cost. When you are paying a boatload of money for a suite then the food better be top notch. I took a cruise once on an agent rate for $25 a day. The food and service was terrible (it was an old NCL ship) but it didn’t hurt that much because the cruise was almost free. If I had paid full price for that cruise I would’ve been livid.

[basenji56]

3 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Beautiful ships with great suite space, but poor quality food and service lacking. I honestly would rather sail in an Oceanview cabin on Celebrity than ever do a suite on MSC again.

Thanks for sharing this observation.  I have heard that if you booked a suite in the MSC Yacht Club, it was a very good experience.  Apparently not..

[basenji56]

2 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

I was referring to the cost. When you are paying a boatload of money for a suite then the food better be top notch. I took a cruise once on an agent rate for $25 a day. The food and service was terrible (it was an old NCL ship) but it didn’t hurt that much because the cruise was almost free. If I had paid full price for that cruise I would’ve been livid.

Isn't that the truth.  It's all about your expectations for the price you paid.  

[WonderMan3]

Just now, basenji56 said:

Thanks for sharing this observation.  I have heard that if you booked a suite in the MSC Yacht Club, it was a very good experience.  Apparently not..

Some people seem to think it’s okay. The suite area itself was great, better than Celebrity’s Retreat, but food and service were just awful. 

[redjetz]

9 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Isn't that the truth.  It's all about your expectations for the price you paid.  

Which is exactly why there is so much griping about Celebrity’s cutbacks - they come even as the prices continue to rise. The value equation is off.

[basenji56]

1 minute ago, redjetz said:

Which is exactly why there is so much griping about Celebrity’s cutbacks - they come even as the prices continue to rise. The value equation is off.

Many people can handle one or the other (increased prices v. food and service cutbacks).  Doesn't appear to be a good idea to do both at the same time.  Personally, I find Celebrity's current production shows to be weak, but put up with it because of the rest of the experience.  

 

[George C]

40 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Some people seem to think it’s okay. The suite area itself was great, better than Celebrity’s Retreat, but food and service were just awful. 

Our yacht club vacation had great service and good food , my last celebrity retreat on beyond service and food wasn’t as good as previous cruises. I hopefully will book yacht club next year this year we have suites on celebrity and rccl.

[cruisin from florida]

Now that we are retired and cruising more, and longer (our next b2b will have us on the ship for 28 days) the food is actually less important. I can't eat rich food and drink like I'm in my 20s for that long. As long as they have some nice fresh salads and veggies, and a selection of well-prepared protein options, I'm good. BUT that doesn't mean they should skimp on the quality and selection for everyone else!!

Edited February 8, 2023 by cruisin from florida

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

Which ports?  

The ABCs. Along the same line of thought, there are an entire group of Caribbean sailings that I will never take--pretty much ALL Western Caribbean itineraries. I have zero interest in visiting Mexico or Jamaica.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

You can have a beautiful ship with solid staff but if the food isn’t good it will leave with you with a negative feeling.

I would have gone with "bad taste in your mouth" 😄

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, RichYak said:

The ABCs. Along the same line of thought, there are an entire group of Caribbean sailings that I will never take--pretty much ALL Western Caribbean itineraries. I have zero interest in visiting Mexico or Jamaica.

Yes. I have avoided itineraries specifically because they have Jamaica on it. Been there once and had some disturbing comments made to myself and my husband on an excursion and to another gay passenger on a separate excursion onboard. That was enough for us to decide to never set foot there again. I’m good with Mexico at this point too. No interest in going there again.

[RichYak]

13 minutes ago, George C said:

Our yacht club vacation had great service and good food

I've found that positive reviews of the service and food in YC outnumber the negative ones by a large factor. Like you, my cruise calendar is booked for 2023 but I just booked MSC YC for next March to try it out.

[grandgeezer]

54 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Thanks for sharing this observation.  I have heard that if you booked a suite in the MSC Yacht Club, it was a very good experience.  Apparently not..

We’ve done two, 14 day cruises, on MSC Seaside, in the Yacht Club Suite, and rate them as the two best cruises we ever took, #1 and #2 out of 48, not to bad, and it’s not even close. We had given up on all the other lines, and ships until we did these. We had almost all the perks as suites on Celebrity (no obc but we don’t see any value in it except for gratuities) but for $100 p.p. per day less. This was before the pandemic. Now the prices are about the same so we’ll pass on all of them. Decision based on value for the money, not price paid, an we see no value anywhere. 

[cruiseny4life]

3 hours ago, basenji56 said:

I chuckle when people say they cruise for the ports. Yes, if cruising in Europe.

 

But not the Caribbean. 
 

How many times can you go to Nassau,  Cozumel, or even St Thomas?

 

in the Caribbean, I cruise for the ship, the food and the entertainment. In that order. 

I guess you can chuckle at me...I'm relatively new to cruising. One way back in 2009. The next three all in 2022/23, with another coming up in March. There seem to be plenty of options in the Atlantic from NYC, Miami, and points in between. Perhaps after spending a few years cruising I'll be jaded as it sounds you are, but certainly itinerary must come into play when my husband and I choose a cruise. 

[C4HCG]

3 hours ago, basenji56 said:

I chuckle when people say they cruise for the ports. Yes, if cruising in Europe.

 

But not the Caribbean. 
 

How many times can you go to Nassau,  Cozumel, or even St Thomas?

 

in the Caribbean, I cruise for the ship, the food and the entertainment. In that order. 

And us Europeans could say the same in reverse. Many European ports to us are boring. And some European countries I wouldn’t visit for free 

[basenji56]

47 minutes ago, RichYak said:

The ABCs. Along the same line of thought, there are an entire group of Caribbean sailings that I will never take--pretty much ALL Western Caribbean itineraries. I have zero interest in visiting Mexico or Jamaica.

The ABCs are one of my exceptions too.  As well as Antiqua and some other islands in the West Indies.  But I concur with you about Jamaica, Mexico as well as the Bahamas.  I will still go there but the cruise line is the major reason that I sail.

 

 

[basenji56]

29 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I guess you can chuckle at me...I'm relatively new to cruising. One way back in 2009. The next three all in 2022/23, with another coming up in March. There seem to be plenty of options in the Atlantic from NYC, Miami, and points in between. Perhaps after spending a few years cruising I'll be jaded as it sounds you are, but certainly itinerary must come into play when my husband and I choose a cruise. 

If you cruise regularly, you will become very tired of Nassau....

[cgolf1]

2 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

I was referring to the cost. When you are paying a boatload of money for a suite then the food better be top notch. I took a cruise once on an agent rate for $25 a day. The food and service was terrible (it was an old NCL ship) but it didn’t hurt that much because the cruise was almost free. If I had paid full price for that cruise I would’ve been livid.

 

On one of the many threads this year I had the same thought. We sail insides because well were thrifty cruisers, but not because we have to. At the price we got on the Constellation 130 per person per night with beverage, tips, and OBC it doesn't get any cheaper, I am sure we would mentally let some things slide. I am sure if we payed close to 1K per night per person, we would likely be a lot pickier on food and other things even while saying that we were trying not to.

 

Somewhat related is we quit cruising Disney because the price went insane and on top of that they lessened the product offered, so here we are now on Celebrity and sometimes Royal.

Edited February 8, 2023 by cgolf1

[C-Dragons]

6 hours ago, davekathy said:

Thanks for the laugh. 😂I book all our cruises based on the itinerary. Not the menu. 

Same here. 😉

[WonderMan3]

4 hours ago, davekathy said:

This is the most ridiculous post on this thread. 🙄

Awww, how sweet! Have a wonderful day!

[mom says]

2 hours ago, basenji56 said:

If you cruise regularly, you will become very tired of Nassau....

You seemed to be obsessed with Nassau, and not in a good way. And you laugh at people who say they sail mainly for the itinerary. I'm not sure if you are being rudely dismissive of the possibility that this is true for some cruisers, or if it is solely a reflection of your own narrow choice in cruise destinations.

Have you ever considered that not all cruisers have spent most of their time in the Caribbean? That they actually cruise in and to  other parts of the world? Or has it occurred that some people may be relatively new to cruising, and may be visiting these places for the first time? Or (heaven forbid!) that some people actually like visiting those ports,  even after several visits?   I'm puzzled why you would think that these cruisers wouldn't know what their own priorities are. Surely you aren't implying that they are lying, for some inexplicable reason.