I guess Celebrity isn't the only cruise line whose food quality is going downhill.

[kwokpot]

22 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg.

I find this extremely hard to believe and you're the first person to report this. If that happened to me I would have called over the Matre D' immediately and asked for a full explanation for this. 

[QuestionEverything]

10 hours ago, calicakes said:

Just back from an Oceania Insignia cruise( Bermuda).  The food was worse than our first O cruise in 2022.  Each night, they served the same overcooked steamed veggies( broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) and then on the last night, they shoved them all between noodles( no ricotta or cheese) and called it lasagna.  Inedible.  The pastries were amazing in 2022, this time much smaller and not as good.  The lobster was overcooked.  The eggs on the buffet were either powdered or liquid.  Oceania is supposed to be " The finest cuisine at sea".  We paid close to 6k for a week cruise that missed on stop in Bermuda because of wind.  We were docked in Hamilton for 3 nights.  I was looking forward to the food.   After this cruise, I cancelled the other O cruise we had booked.  

The downgrading is happening on all cruise lines, resorts etc, everywhere - and we All know why.

I did 17 days on Insignia in August (Iceland, Greenland).

100% agree with you, the food quality/variety was for sure downgraded from our last O voyage. I have reported same on the O board.

* Powered eggs in buffet 

* Pastries definately smaller and made with bread style, not flakey pastry 

* Horrible lunch/dinner in Horizons buffet - 1) chicken mole with small meat cubes of something with a dark brown paste (disgusting), chicken stir fry with broth and few veggies and no snow peas.

* I will say they had great power bowls full of amazing ingredients which I indulged 2x per day, wonderful

* Lobster very tough and small

* Steaks in all venues, smaller, thinner and tougher

* Desserts much more "processed" than before, no multi layer cakes and flaky fruit tarts

* I will say the dover sole, breads, most fish had the same quality

* Much more repetition of menu items than before (I always take 14+ long voyages)

Food cost cutting very evident but food variety/quality still well above the mass cruise lines.

Met many, many, Celebrity Refugees aboard (I am one) who indicated the O product is much better than the suite "class" on Celebrity, hence  they will not be returning to Celebrity.       

I am eliminating cruising as the mainstay of my travel experience and replacing cruising with customized land travel. I am interested in getting more in depth and meeting and eating with local appreciation. Finding cruising too "processed".

                                                                                                                

[calicakes]

5 hours ago, OysterD said:

 

Really?! We just got off Beyond last week, ate in Blu 6 nights and every night we ordered an extra starter and an extra main course for the table, we weren't charged anything. One night I asked for fries with my main course, it wasn't on the menu but they still brought me some out (I'd seen another table have some and thought good idea).

 

Also the food quality was excellent each and every night, no different to how it was in Blu a year earlier on Reflection. 

From what I have heard, edge class has better food than s or m class.

[KKB]

On 10/2/2023 at 1:18 PM, Stockjock said:

We've had several recent conversations about the drop-off in food quality, something I definitely noticed on our recent Mediterranean cruise on Infinity a few weeks ago.

I'm with a big Wall Street firm and I just spoke w/a client who returned a few days ago from a northeastern US/Canada cruise on Princess (Caribbean Princess).  These clients are very easygoing and are not the "fussy" types, so I'd consider them to be pretty easy to please.  I asked how things went and this was the response I received...

"Our Princess cruise was the worst vacation ever.  The ship was old.  The food was worse than horrible.  It's not that the taste was just bad night-after-night, but service was slow and the food was served cold every night.  I'm not talking about warm, I'm talking flat-out cold!  Everyone was sick and coughing.  We both caught covid.  They had people crammed together like a cattle car.  They nickel and dimed us for everything.  I'm not sure that we'll ever do a cruise again, but if we do, it definitely won't be with Princess!"

I wonder if these cruise lines aren't shooting themselves in the foot with the recently discussed cutbacks and such, both on Celebrity and apparently on Princess too?  FWIW, both the GF and I caught covid on our recent Celebrity cruise as well as on our last Celebrity cruise.  However, we've been on 3 MSC cruises and didn't catch covid.  Not sure if that's just bad luck or what.
 

Have these people cruised before?

 

Cruised the Caribbean Princess last summer...didn't find her old at all.

If your food is cold--send it back! Let the maitre de know. Sit somewhere else--it is VERY likely a server issue. If this happened 2 nights in a row, I would make a change, not accept it as so.

 

Cruises can be crowded in places on a full ship--NOTHING new here...

 

Being nickel & dimed to death--I continue to hear this but I don't notice it! We have sailed nearly every mainstream line. We got AI or buy drink & internet packages. We might buy some shore excursions ahead of time. These are expenses we factor in. But we buy virtually nothing else onboard & have felt little to no pressure to spend any more $ on the ship.

 

I have caught COVID on 2 cruises--last year (would have never known as I had virtually no symptoms; but I ALWAYS test when I get home as I have an elderly father) & last month. It's the nature of the beast these days. I've sailed 19 times since start up July 2021. Have NEVER noticed an abundance of coughing (surprisingly, imo) Catching COVID has NOTHING to do with what line you sail. You are in close quarters w/ a lot of people. I'm running at about 10% of the time with my numbers.

[Spif Barwunkel]

17 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

So glad you enjoyed the food.  What were your impressions of the ship?  Did you notice a few of her quirks?

Overall, we enjoyed the ship. Impressive central atrium area with a very popular bar on deck 5. Many large windows in some interior public spaces open the ship up to a bright, airy environment, more so than I have seen on other ships.

 

The dining room is very nice and typical of most MDR's that I have experienced. Same with the buffet. Not a fan of the theater, it is small and did not seem to go with the rest of the ship. Of course, after experiencing theaters on Celebrity Edge class ships and Carnival Mardi Gras it would be hard to find more impressive theaters at sea.

 

We are not lounge-around-the-pool people, so we are not drawn to those outside areas. The pool area did seem smaller than others I have seen. The Bridge of Sighs is not all that. Walking over plexiglass walkways, 16 decks up, did not take my breath away.

 

By quirks, if you mean the bowling alley/arcade, half of a '57 chevy, an old gas pump etc. on deck 7 aft, yes, we did notice. 

 

When it comes to total presentation, I am a fan of the Celebrity Edge class ships, and we are very much looking forward to the Ascent. We would cruise with MSC again but would not travel any significant distance to do so. Seascape will replace Seaside at Port Canaveral. We might give her a try since she will reside close by.  

 

 

[calicakes]

2 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

I did 17 days on Insignia in August (Iceland, Greenland).

100% agree with you, the food quality/variety was for sure downgraded from our last O voyage. I have reported same on the O board.

* Powered eggs in buffet 

* Pastries definately smaller and made with bread style, not flakey pastry 

* Horrible lunch/dinner in Horizons buffet - 1) chicken mole with small meat cubes of something with a dark brown paste (disgusting), chicken stir fry with broth and few veggies and no snow peas.

* I will say they had great power bowls full of amazing ingredients which I indulged 2x per day, wonderful

* Lobster very tough and small

* Steaks in all venues, smaller, thinner and tougher

* Desserts much more "processed" than before, no multi layer cakes and flaky fruit tarts

* I will say the dover sole, breads, most fish had the same quality

* Much more repetition of menu items than before (I always take 14+ long voyages)

Food cost cutting very evident but food variety/quality still well above the mass cruise lines.

Met many, many, Celebrity Refugees aboard (I am one) who indicated the O product is much better than the suite "class" on Celebrity, hence  they will not be returning to Celebrity.       

I am eliminating cruising as the mainstay of my travel experience and replacing cruising with customized land travel. I am interested in getting more in depth and meeting and eating with local appreciation. Finding cruising too "processed".

I can't thank you enough for agreeing with me.  I posted about the eggs in the Insignia FB group and the members there acted as if I stole their first born child.  The owner( Travel Agent) of the group even called me out as a liar.  

 

I did a live blog in the Oceania forum from our cruise in case anyone wants to read and see my photos.  

 

We're have 3 more Celebrity cruises booked.  Eclipse at the end of the month( I will live blog), Edge Great Barrier Reef in Feb 2024 and Beyond in September 2024( going to cancel that one).  I actually booked a 4 day Virgin cruise yesterday to take the place of the Beyond cruise.    Going to combine that with a week in Marco Island, FL. 

[gilboman]

On 10/2/2023 at 2:18 PM, Stockjock said:

We've had several recent conversations about the drop-off in food quality, something I definitely noticed on our recent Mediterranean cruise on Infinity a few weeks ago.

I'm with a big Wall Street firm and I just spoke w/a client who returned a few days ago from a northeastern US/Canada cruise on Princess (Caribbean Princess).  These clients are very easygoing and are not the "fussy" types, so I'd consider them to be pretty easy to please.  I asked how things went and this was the response I received...

"Our Princess cruise was the worst vacation ever.  The ship was old.  The food was worse than horrible.  It's not that the taste was just bad night-after-night, but service was slow and the food was served cold every night.  I'm not talking about warm, I'm talking flat-out cold!  Everyone was sick and coughing.  We both caught covid.  They had people crammed together like a cattle car.  They nickel and dimed us for everything.  I'm not sure that we'll ever do a cruise again, but if we do, it definitely won't be with Princess!"

I wonder if these cruise lines aren't shooting themselves in the foot with the recently discussed cutbacks and such, both on Celebrity and apparently on Princess too?  FWIW, both the GF and I caught covid on our recent Celebrity cruise as well as on our last Celebrity cruise.  However, we've been on 3 MSC cruises and didn't catch covid.  Not sure if that's just bad luck or what.

 

I was in Carribean princess in September and had a great time and found the food pretty consistent with my previous experience.

 

Yes the CB is older ship compared to royal class but it was in very good shape, MDR was good and buffet was similar to previous experience on similar class of ships

 

Huge scallops frequently on menu, only cost cutting noticed was they served Basa in MDR one night (buffet had red snapper luckily) but desserts were great and service especially in MDR was great. Buffet was hot and miss as servers stood around not getting drinks or clearing plates quickly sometimes but that was precovid as well

 

It was a good cruise and made me add princess back into my consideration after I basically switched to HAL (who I still think have better food) 

[C 2 C]

21 hours ago, Maya_C said:

 

We had the same good experience with food on the Zaandam in May. 

 

We were on Zaandam in May as well.  The MDR was great, the Lido a bit lacking.

[di T]

7 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

The downgrading is happening on all cruise lines, resorts etc, everywhere - and we All know why.

I did 17 days on Insignia in August (Iceland, Greenland).

100% agree with you, the food quality/variety was for sure downgraded from our last O voyage. I have reported same on the O board.

* Powered eggs in buffet 

* Pastries definately smaller and made with bread style, not flakey pastry 

* Horrible lunch/dinner in Horizons buffet - 1) chicken mole with small meat cubes of something with a dark brown paste (disgusting), chicken stir fry with broth and few veggies and no snow peas.

* I will say they had great power bowls full of amazing ingredients which I indulged 2x per day, wonderful

* Lobster very tough and small

* Steaks in all venues, smaller, thinner and tougher

* Desserts much more "processed" than before, no multi layer cakes and flaky fruit tarts

* I will say the dover sole, breads, most fish had the same quality

* Much more repetition of menu items than before (I always take 14+ long voyages)

Food cost cutting very evident but food variety/quality still well above the mass cruise lines.

Met many, many, Celebrity Refugees aboard (I am one) who indicated the O product is much better than the suite "class" on Celebrity, hence  they will not be returning to Celebrity.       

I am eliminating cruising as the mainstay of my travel experience and replacing cruising with customized land travel. I am interested in getting more in depth and meeting and eating with local appreciation. Finding cruising too "processed".

                                                                                                                

Wow this is so what we found! Booked O because we thought the food especially would be so good, but we were also a bit disappointed and I must say the ship was too small.Looked forward to be back on Celebrity at half the price but  oh my food was really poor, we eat well at home and like to holiday in the Med here we can eat fresh well cooked food and stay there for a fraction of the cruise cost! So moving forward think we might just cruise a third of the time and just enjoy our land holls the other 10 weeks of the year.

[QuestionEverything]

7 minutes ago, di T said:

Wow this is so what we found! Booked O because we thought the food especially would be so good, but we were also a bit disappointed and I must say the ship was too small.Looked forward to be back on Celebrity at half the price but  oh my food was really poor, we eat well at home and like to holiday in the Med here we can eat fresh well cooked food and stay there for a fraction of the cruise cost! So moving forward think we might just cruise a third of the time and just enjoy our land holls the other 10 weeks of the year.

There is definately a trend of downgrading on all cruise lines, resorts, restaurant chains, despite what cheerleaders post.

O is excellent though and no class segregation which is a main reason I will not patronize Celebrity.

Try the larger O vessels, they are amazing.

My 17 day O cruise was far less expensive than a Celebrity 1 week in suite, yet another reason I will not patronize Celebrity.

It truly takes much work to determine the best product bundle for each consumer.

Another factor is O, and all the premium lines, are destination focused with amazing itineraries, not so much the mass lines.

The food choice, selection, quality is still amazing on O, not as much as before unfortunately.

Happy sailing! 

[di T]

1 minute ago, QuestionEverything said:

There is definately a trend of downgrading on all cruise lines, resorts, restaurant chains, despite what cheerleaders post.

O is excellent though and no class segregation which is a main reason I will not patronize Celebrity.

Try the larger O vessels, they are amazing.

My 17 day O cruise was far less expensive than a Celebrity 1 week in suite, yet another reason I will not patronize Celebrity.

It truly takes much work to determine the best product bundle for each consumer.

Another factor is O, and all the premium lines, are destination focused with amazing itineraries, not so much the mass lines.

The food choice, selection, quality is still amazing on O, not as much as before unfortunately.

Happy sailing! 

The class thing is definitely something I do not like! I’m looking at the larger ships in the premium and up lines, Happy sailing to you too! Next one for us just a month away.

[Maya_C]

1 hour ago, C 2 C said:

We were on Zaandam in May as well.  The MDR was great, the Lido a bit lacking.

 

I agree that the Lido on that smaller HAL ship left something to be desired. However, I was pleased not to worry about passengers grabbing food and putting it back. With few exceptions, everything was served from behind the counter. 

[Boatharbour]

On 10/4/2023 at 7:35 AM, Maya_C said:

I'll go with HAL for future cruises unless Celebrity's MDR menus change for the better. 

 

We’re trying HAL for the first time because of all the changes. I’ve just started following the HAL forum and noticed a number of posts from many other ex Celebrity passengers. 

[Stumptowngal]

22 minutes ago, QuestionEverything said:

There is definately a trend of downgrading on all cruise lines, resorts, restaurant chains, despite what cheerleaders post.

O is excellent though and no class segregation which is a main reason I will not patronize Celebrity.

Try the larger O vessels, they are amazing.

My 17 day O cruise was far less expensive than a Celebrity 1 week in suite, yet another reason I will not patronize Celebrity.

It truly takes much work to determine the best product bundle for each consumer.

Another factor is O, and all the premium lines, are destination focused with amazing itineraries, not so much the mass lines.

The food choice, selection, quality is still amazing on O, not as much as before unfortunately.

Happy sailing! 

The sentence was bolded by me.  O may be excellent; but to say it has no class segregation is a misleading statement.  While there may be no separate outdoor deck area or private dining area for suites as there is on some Celebrity ships, O does have a suites-only Executive Lounge and Concierge Level Veranda Staterooms private Concierge Lounge.  Also, upper level O suites and staterooms are entitled to more nights of dining in the specialty restaurants.  

 

Most cruise lines do have some aspect of privilege tied to the level of accommodation you reserve. For example, Viking may seem to have no “class segregation” as some people define it once on board.  However the class difference, or as I think “pay” difference comes before boarding. Those who reserve the highest cost staterooms have the first chance at reserving excursions and specialty dining.  And then the timing to reserve goes to the next level down and so on.  I’ve read complaints by some Viking patrons in the lowest cost staterooms of having the “included” Viking excursions all full by the time they have online access to reserve. 

 

Paying more be it on cruises, sporting events or whatever, typically is associated with increased perks.  Fortunately, there are many choices so that the way the perks play out can align with one’s preferences.  

[TheMichael]

OMG One person had a HORRIBLE time, therefore cruise line is AWFUL! 

 

Also, I'm all ears as to how Princess would prevent wheezing/coughing people from getting on the ship.

 

I cruised on Princess this year, the ship was NEW and the food was GREAT. Service was prompt and the food was always an appropriate temperature. The ship was at capacity, but we expected the ship to be at capacity. We used the Plus package because we drink just a few drinks a day, plus a few espressos, so it saved us money.

 

We didn't catch Covid, Because we wore masks in areas that were crowded for extended periods, moved away from people we could hear coughing or sneezing, and avoided big lines. But it's a big ship and passengers with symptoms don't want to cancel their vacations or even wear masks, and other passengers are kind of in denial that it's going around again, so it stands to reason someone's going to catch it. 

 

 

[calicakes]

25 minutes ago, Stumptowngal said:

O does have a suites-only Executive Lounge and Concierge Level Veranda Staterooms private Concierge Lounge.  Also, upper level O suites and staterooms are entitled to more nights of dining in the specialty restaurants

Hmmm, we were in a Concierge class veranda, but had no lounge.  I don't think there was one available on Insignia.  On our first O cruise( Feb 2022), we had a suite.  We dined in specialty every night.  Of course there were only 338 ppl on the ship( Marina)

[Stumptowngal]

25 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Hmmm, we were in a Concierge class veranda, but had no lounge.  I don't think there was one available on Insignia.  On our first O cruise( Feb 2022), we had a suite.  We dined in specialty every night.  Of course there were only 338 ppl on the ship( Marina)

Thank you for pointing that out. I should have clarified that on the newer Oceania Vista there is a private Concierge Lounge on Deck 9 as there will be on the Oceania Allura. As far as specialty dining, the Oceania website defines how many speciality restaurant reservations a person is entitled to depending on their category of accommodation. Of course with a less than full ship as you experienced or as cancellations may arise, the opportunity to dine in a specialty restaurant expands. I was just trying to point out how different perks are outlined by a cruise company depending on the category of stateroom reserved.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

When it comes to total presentation, I am a fan of the Celebrity Edge class ships, and we are very much looking forward to the Ascent.

Couldn’t agree more. There’s just something very calming and familiar about Celebrity ships. Thank you for sharing your impressions!

[StellaTN]

We were on the fourth sailing of NCL Viva in the Med in Sept and we were completely shocked at how wonderful the food was. 9 night cruise and we had main dining 2 nights, specialty 4 nights (you get 2 certificates for free w booking and we pre-bought two additional), Mexican one night and tapas one night, both also with fees. Every meal was wonderful.  Their new (free) indulge food hall with food-truck like ordering is a game-changer. No need for a buffet and people germ-ing up everything touching and coughing on the food. 
 

On Celebrity Beyond & Apex, we liked Le Voyage and Eden, but there was no where near the variety. Everything is steak and seafood over and over again, and it’s almost like they are intentionally avoiding any ethnic foods. Viva is the same size ship as beyond but has 9 specialty restaurants! This is the way. 
 

I wouldn’t call our experience with main dining on celebrity BAD  (most recent sailing on Beyond was March 2023, next is March 2024) - but it all paled in comparison to our one NCL Viva cruise.  Though, it should be noted, our celebrity sailings have been averaging $500-$550/day in all-included fares, and NCL was around $700/day, also all-included. 
 

Just some food for thought.

You may now proceed to invalidate my opinions/experiences 🙂

[kirtihk]

On 10/4/2023 at 8:24 AM, QuestionEverything said:

The downgrading is happening on all cruise lines, resorts etc, everywhere - and we All know why.

 

All know why, but not all admit it stating that downgrading is due to greed, inflation, or whatever else.

 

Voyage, Voyage!

Edited October 5, 2023 by kirtihk

[champagne123]

On 10/2/2023 at 2:18 PM, Stockjock said:

We've had several recent conversations about the drop-off in food quality, something I definitely noticed on our recent Mediterranean cruise on Infinity a few weeks ago.

I'm with a big Wall Street firm and I just spoke w/a client who returned a few days ago from a northeastern US/Canada cruise on Princess (Caribbean Princess).  These clients are very easygoing and are not the "fussy" types, so I'd consider them to be pretty easy to please.  I asked how things went and this was the response I received...

"Our Princess cruise was the worst vacation ever.  The ship was old.  The food was worse than horrible.  It's not that the taste was just bad night-after-night, but service was slow and the food was served cold every night.  I'm not talking about warm, I'm talking flat-out cold!  Everyone was sick and coughing.  We both caught covid.  They had people crammed together like a cattle car.  They nickel and dimed us for everything.  I'm not sure that we'll ever do a cruise again, but if we do, it definitely won't be with Princess!"

I wonder if these cruise lines aren't shooting themselves in the foot with the recently discussed cutbacks and such, both on Celebrity and apparently on Princess too?  FWIW, both the GF and I caught covid on our recent Celebrity cruise as well as on our last Celebrity cruise.  However, we've been on 3 MSC cruises and didn't catch covid.  Not sure if that's just bad luck or what.

 

Are you Vaccinated? 

[Stockjock]

7 minutes ago, champagne123 said:

Are you Vaccinated? 

Yes, 2 jabs, a booster, and contracted covid twice.  In my view, the vaccination doesn't lessen the possibly of contracting covid, nor does it lessen the possibility of passing it along.  I do think it may reduce the severity of the illness, but even though I'm vaccinated, I think all that pressure to "stop the spread" via vaccines was nonsense.

In an odd sense, it may make it more likely to pass it to others if vaccinated, as you might feel pretty good and thus be unaware that you have covid (i.e. out and about instead of getting bedrest).

[calicakes]

7 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Yes, 2 jabs, a booster, and contracted covid twice.  In my view, the vaccination doesn't lessen the possibly of contracting covid, nor does it lessen the possibility of passing it along.  I do think it may reduce the severity of the illness, but even though I'm vaccinated, I think all that pressure to "stop the spread" via vaccines was nonsense.

In an odd sense, it may make it more likely to pass it to others if vaccinated, as you might feel pretty good and thus be unaware that you have covid (i.e. out and about instead of getting bedrest).

5 vaccines, knock wood. Never had covid. My wife got it the day after we returned from a cruise last year. I took care of her, still didn't get it.

[darren42]

On 10/3/2023 at 3:27 AM, Cruise till you drop said:

Yes you will be assured it’ll be hot and include the cooks and waiters spit 😂 

Spit is only warm so you would send it back again.

[Guest ldtr]

Have been on several different lines and quite a few different ships in 2022 and 2023. The following observations are pretty much across all of the main stream lines  including Celebrity, Princess, HAL.

 

Early in the restart food quality was down quite a bit due to supply chains having to be rebuilt, low staffing levels, crew training, etc.

 

More recently the food quality is returning more to what was provided in 2019 before the shutdown. Staffing levels are back up, supply chains are mostly back in place, crew training levels mostly back.

 

There are some menu changes, but in general things have improved since earlier in the restart.

 

That said food still is subjective to each individual.