Has the quality of food in the MDR changed on Celebrity??

[calicakes]

8 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Corporate said it was reducing costs and to reduce food waste...If they claimed it was ONLY to reduce waste, which is "greenwashing", what are they doing with the left over buffet food after breakfast and lunch (rhetorical)?

Give it to crew? 

[calicakes]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:04 AM, NutsAboutGolf said:

Now I'll be comparing X's pricing (aka overall value) to Virgin, RCL and MSC for the first time eve

Does Virgin fit your lifestyle?  My wife and I like to lay out at the pool on sea days.  Have you seen that pool?  Its the size of a postage stamp.  We're also not into sex parties, "adult" entertainment and the like.  The food does look good, but I can't get past the other issues.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Give it to crew? 

 

That would make logical sense to do that decades ago but that isn't the case for whatever reason.  While officers or staff (think entertainers) can dine in the buffet on the front end, the rest of the crew has their own mess hall

 

https://crew-center.com/cafe-365-crew-mess-celebrity-edge

[jules27556]

1 minute ago, calicakes said:

Does Virgin fit your lifestyle?  My wife and I like to lay out at the pool on sea days.  Have you seen that pool?  Its the size of a postage stamp.  We're also not into sex parties, "adult" entertainment and the like.  The food does look good, but I can't get past the other issues.  

This may be unfair, as I have not sailed Virgin.  Their "culture" simply wouldn't be a good fit.   I am looking forward to getting my X  FCC used in April and moving on....First stop Oceania.

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Does Virgin fit your lifestyle?  My wife and I like to lay out at the pool on sea days.  Have you seen that pool?  Its the size of a postage stamp.  We're also not into sex parties, "adult" entertainment and the like.  The food does look good, but I can't get past the other issues.  

 

VV's public "excuse" for such a small pool is you'll be going to ports with beaches so you don't need a huge pool.  We've met swingers even on X, while we're not interested and it makes us feel awkward after, we wouldn't blacklist an entire cruise line for it; we plan on eventually giving VV a shot

[calicakes]

13 minutes ago, jules27556 said:

This may be unfair, as I have not sailed Virgin.  Their "culture" simply wouldn't be a good fit.   I am looking forward to getting my X  FCC used in April and moving on....First stop Oceania.

I watched a few YT videos.  Of course I didn't see the "adult" content, I just heard about it. 

[jules27556]

2 minutes ago, calicakes said:

I watched a few YT videos.  Of course I didn't see the "adult" content, I just heard about it. 

 

2 minutes ago, calicakes said:

I watched a few YT videos.  Of course I didn't see the "adult" content, I just heard about it. 

Understood.  I too have heard the reports.  To which I simply say, no thank you, would not be a good fit.

[tfred]

1 hour ago, calicakes said:

Give it to crew? 

no one is going to work 18 hour days and eat reheated food.  They have a separate crew mess and it is its own cost center 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 minutes ago, tfred said:

no one is going to work 18 hour days and eat reheated food.  They have a separate crew mess and it is its own cost center 

The food is always cold in OVC so maybe it will finally heated 😁

 

[tfred]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

The food is always cold in OVC so maybe it will finally heated 😁

 

plenty of hot food there. 

[mcrcruiser]

11 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Just order two entrées😉

That is obviously  not what most people want to hear .The one entry should be good enough  ro dine on . If not   then what are we all spending our hard earned money on ?

[mcrcruiser]

Having read  all the posts on this topic & my own  prior  comments ,we have B2B   cruises ,then we are sailing  back on HAL from our local SanDiego port .Mind you they too have had changes in cutting the MDR & Lido food quality ;however ,their prices are considerable less than Xs pricing .   Unfortunately we no longer fly to take any cruise .Those days are long past   .If CCL was to bring out to the west coast Long Beach   port  one of their newest ships for a cruise longer than 7 days ,we would give it a try ;as we heard good things about their food  quality . RCL has a old ship out here in Los Angeles  ,San Pedro cruise terminal , the Navigator of the Seas . They need a newer ship & more itineraries ;as the itineraries that they now do are very old 

[NMTraveller]

 

13 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Unlike other lines, I do wish X had the upcharge option to order surf and turf in the MDR.  For non-suite guests, it's near impossible to book a specialty restaurant and get a reservation same day

I do wish they had the upcharge option also.

 

And the pricing of specialty restaurants has gotten sky high.

[mcrcruiser]

19 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

 

I do wish they had the upcharge option also.

 

And the pricing of specialty restaurants has gotten sky high.

imo X is pricing themselves   out of the market ;as there are so many better deals in the cruise industry .Even on  RCL you can oder the  Chops steak  in the MDR at extra cost 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

10 hours ago, tfred said:

plenty of hot food there. 

On our last cruise because of a partner in quarantine , I could not eat in MDR for 5 days , so I pick up food in OVC, stir fry and grill was hot rest of the made dishes were cold 

[hopeless holiday booker]

9 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

imo X is pricing themselves   out of the market ;as there are so many better deals in the cruise industry .Even on  RCL you can oder the  Chops steak  in the MDR at extra cost 

You'd think that they were pricing themselves out of the market but I don't think they are.  Ships are going out pretty full.

[mcrcruiser]

15 minutes ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

You'd think that they were pricing themselves out of the market but I don't think they are.  Ships are going out pretty full.

[calicakes]

9 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

And the pricing of specialty restaurants has gotten sky high.

Both my spouse and I eat smaller portions( especially at dinner).  I can't justify paying that fee for the amount of food we consume. 

[mcrcruiser]

Just now, mcrcruiser said:

16 minutes ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

You'd think that they were pricing themselves out of the market but I don't think they are.  Ships are going out pretty full.

Yes because there are price & or perks deals . We booked B2B  on a Blue Chip Deal .would I pay the going list price? ,NEVER !!   .We are Elite+  & have sailed many times on Xs ships  before the pandemic  ,What we are reading now is not what we would have been reading pre pandemic .when this cruise line jacks up the cruise rates as high as they are & cuts back both quality  quantity of the dining experience ,they are headed in the wrong direction . RCL  will NEVER  make up their  debt load  with that attitude /bean counters

[mcrcruiser]

3 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Both my spouse and I eat smaller portions( especially at dinner).  I can't justify paying that fee for the amount of food we consume. 

Can't blame you . We now do not frequent  as we have in the past because we are much  older now with a  lower appetite level 

[TeeRick]

53 minutes ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

You'd think that they were pricing themselves out of the market but I don't think they are.  Ships are going out pretty full.

This is a true observation.  We have not (yet) seen them pricing themselves out of the market.  Maybe they are pricing themselves out of the market for some former customers.  But the new target customers on the newer ships seem to be there at the current elevated price points.  I know this is hard for us older frequent and loyal cruisers to accept sometimes.  We can walk away anytime.  But Celebrity will find our replacements.  In general I think they would prefer younger cruisers just starting out - vs. giving us long-time cruises the enhanced earned benefits (E, E+, Z).

[xraymomma]

It seems like quality may be ship dependent? We were on the Summit in March and had the most disappointing experience as far as food and dining. We ended up in the buffet for dinner more than once which is something we had never done on a Celebrity cruise. The food was bland, cold, dinner took hours, and the service was awful. We left several times without finishing, and not having gotten drinks we’d ordered. It was obviously a staffing issue and not due to the staff themselves, so I was very clear in my post cruise survey that my disappointment was directed at management for sailing at full capacity without adequate staff. We’ll be on the Apex in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to see the difference. 

[mcrcruiser]

Only a Matter of Time  .The clock is moving  toward lower  cruise bookings . It is a matter of economics  . Runaway inflation ,lower hourly raises , recession on the horizon  ie  .So where is all this cash coming from to book new cruises at higher rates & less food quality & less quantities in the future, regardless of ones age ? 

[rmalbers]

3 hours ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

You'd think that they were pricing themselves out of the market but I don't think they are.  Ships are going out pretty full.

Ya, but how much of that is FCC money?  Mine was and I've said on here I won't sail X again until RCG gets out of the financial mess they are in. VO is next for me this end of summer. 

[metla]

19 hours ago, calicakes said:

Does Virgin fit your lifestyle?  My wife and I like to lay out at the pool on sea days.  Have you seen that pool?  Its the size of a postage stamp.  We're also not into sex parties, "adult" entertainment and the like.  The food does look good, but I can't get past the other issues.  

VV is NOT a big orgy filled with sex parties.  It is all adults and the attitude is different than conventional lines.  It's not for everyone; it is DIFFERENT.  I think it is a GREAT product and will sail with them again.