BunnyLebowski

Sounds like we would be friends irl.

This is exactly the sort of content I come to CC for. Thank you for posting

Sounds fantastic, will definitely choose the suite breakfast option. Is it really even a vacation if you don’t drink mimosas for breakfast? If they serve eggs benedict too, I’ll be on cloud 9.

Thanks, this was exactly the info I was hoping for.

Hi! We’re longtime Celebrity cruisers who are looking forward to our first Princess sailing aboard the Ruby to the Panama Canal this February. We’re in a full suite and noticed that there is a suite breakfast option in Sabatini’s as well as in the reserve section of the MDR. Are there any differences in terms of the menu or inclusions? Also, any suggestions as to which days to book 2 nights of specialty dining on the 10 night voyage to maximize the best MDR menus would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!

This is exactly what I do. Usually I’m managing 2 cabins for the entire family. The kids invariably need the beds separated and everyone wants ice refilled daily. I write a note requesting these things and include $20. Then I’ll tip again at the end of the trip. No one has ever seemed even slightly offended lol

Thank you to everyone for your helpful replies! It’s so useful knowing the variety of ways that others handle this sort of thing. I ended up doing one envelope for the entire staff at CO plus an additional envelope for our favorite waiter, the one who spent the most time with us. We had such a good time on the Rotterdam. Our first time on HAL and it was our best cruise in years. Can’t wait to plan another one.

Aboard the Rotterdam in Norway now. It’s our first HAL cruise, we usually go on Celebrity. The number of passengers walking around in their robes was a big shock, but at this point I’m used to it. Is it a European thing or a HAL thing? I’ve never seen this on Celebrity.

I’m onboard the Rotterdam right now, last day is Saturday. How should I go about giving additional tips to the staff in Club Orange? There are at least 4 servers who attend to us plus the hostess and the maitre d’. Do they each need their own envelope or can I give it to one of them to share? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Note: we are being charged the daily gratuities, this is in addition to those. The Rotterdam is a gorgeous ship and we’re on a wonderful itinerary in Norway. Celebrity Elite, first time sailing on HAL won’t be my last.

I feel the same way about Evian! Have never liked it. But I liked the ship’s aluminum water bottles just fine.

This was our exact experience in March 2023 on the Reflection. This was the first time in 10 years we had trouble finding a decent glass onboard Celebrity. Moving forward, we’ll skip the beverage package and just buy wine by the bottle. Also plan on bringing a few good bottles aboard upon embarkation. It’s not a huge issue, but it’s important to manage expectations.

Will try to come back to post about our experience. Thanks for the feedback on your impressions of the food differences between the two lines. I booked 4 nights of dining in specialty restaurants and the other 3 nights plus breakfasts we’ll be in their Club Orange suite dining room. Looking at the menus it seems that there will probably be enough for us to choose from given our dietary needs. We are not huge salad eaters, but mostly eat beef, seafood, butter and veggies along with very few processed foods and no seed oils. Am hoping their steaks are okay and they can somewhat accommodate the seed oil allergy. But even if they can’t, I won’t feel like we got a bad value given the enormous savings compared to the 7 day celebrity Norway itinerary sailing the same week I almost booked instead. Am particularly looking forward to trying HAL’s pastries and desserts since the reports are that in addition to looking beautiful, they taste quite good.

Thanks for the heads up. Our issue with wine on Celebrity had to do with paying for the beverage package, and then not finding wines by the glass that were to our liking, even though we were willing to pay more if necessary. This has never been an issue in the past 10 years, and although we are knowledgeable about wine, we’re far from being wine snobs. I’m typically happy with a house Pinot Grigio at most restaurants, but even that was somehow consistently bad onboard. So moving forward we will skip the packages and instead just buy wines by the bottle that we know we will like as bringing a few bottles aboard with us. We aren’t heavy drinkers and prefer quality over quantity so it will hopefully work out. But given our five figure savings, paying for exactly the drinks we want should work out well in our favor lol. We’ll do the same the next time we sail on Celebrity too. It’s a shame because the beverage package was a lot of fun, but it no longer even comes close to being worth it for us anymore.

This is really the best way to sum it up. For the past 10 years I’ve been happy to pay a little more for Celebrity because it felt like a great value considering the food, drinks, decor and overall vibe. Have sailed 3 times with X since the restart. First “post pandemic” sailing in 2022 on the reflection was really fantastic, one of my favorite cruises ever. But our August 2022 Iceland/Greenland trip on the Summit was a real cluster in terms of staffing and service. The bar and dining staff just could not keep up and it was really chaotic. We of course still had a fantastic time even if we had to repeatedly eat dinner in the buffet for the first time ever if we wanted a stress free meal. Okay, no problem, we get that COVID is still a thing, we still had a great time. Then on our March 2023 sailing on the Reflection the staffing issues were improved, but the quality of the wine selection and the raw ingredients used to make the meals were noticeably worse than the same ship and itinerary just one year prior in 2022. I spoke with the food and beverage director onboard the ship and he agreed that it was indeed the case and blamed it on supply chain issues. Sorry, but that doesn’t ring true anymore, especially when all the changes result in lower costs to the cruise line. But fine. It in no way ruined our trip, but it’s there and we no longer feel like we’re getting a great value the same way we used to. So for the first time in 10 years we’re trying a new line. Taking Holland America Rotterdam to Norway this summer. I don’t know if the food/service/decor will be better or worse, but we have a Neptune Suite plus an inside booked across the hall for the kids. Compared to a similar itinerary on Celebrity in a Royal Suite we’re saving just under $18K. So that alone feels like a good value. All this to say I’m only in my mid 40s and have a ton of vacations ahead of me, god willing. We love our elite perks and used to only look at celebrity sailings when making plans to cruise. We traditionally sail in family suites (3+x) or the Penthouse (3x) depending on what’s available and have found tremendous value in both. But a few negative experiences now have us looking elsewhere to see if we can find something that suits us better. Celebrity can manage their product any way like, and more power to them. But I’m not a “loyal” customer anymore, and am really looking forward to trying something new. No hard feelings, no negativity, but my vacation time and dollars are valuable and it makes sense right now to be discerning.

You’re right I could have phrased my question better. What I’m really wondering is how closely does the stock of the onboard bars match the description on the menus, particularly within the past few months? Are there reports of bars being out of things like on other cruise lines, or do they generally have the wine you order in stock? Thanks.