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.

How accurate are the bar menus that Cruise News has so helpfully posted online? Do the bars actually stock the wines and liquors listed? On our last 2 Celebrity cruises, they were “out” of most of the higher priced wines by the glass, as well as some of the better gins and scotches. Am trying to figure out if I should buy a beverage package or just drinks individually. If the beverage menus are accurate, there’s more than enough for me to enjoy, but if not we may be disappointed. Thanks!

On our last Celebrity cruise, no we had a hard time finding a good wine by the glass at any price. I’m fairly laid back and usually am fine with just about anything except the most inexpensive swill, but still I didn’t enjoy a single glass of the pinot grigio I was offered all trip. Had to hit cellar masters every night before dinner where the sommelier would pour us something nice for an additional $10/glass upcharge on top our our drink package. It was a hassle, we couldn’t easily get a refill during dinner and it did not feel very “modern luxury”. If you’re knowledgeable about wine and fairly discerning, you’ll want to skip the beverage packages right now and just buy the bottles you’ll like. Sadly that’s where we are at this point, despite being able to find plenty of nice wines by the glass prior to 2023.

We had an identical experience on the Reflection in March 2022 vs March 2023. While still onboard in 2023, I replied to a note requesting feedback and basically said that the staff onboard were fantastic, but my only complaints were the quality of the raw ingredients used in the food (particularly the 1/4 inch thick everyday steak option lol), the loss of the nightly Indian station in the buffet at dinner as well as our inability to find an acceptable wine by the glass despite being happy to pay a bit more for that. None of this was an issue on the same ship in 2022. The next night at dinner, I was mortified when the hotel director and food and beverage manager came up to us and wanted to discuss/explain. I just wanted to share feedback, wasn’t looking for a whole explanation or any special treatment. They agreed with me that everything I noticed was true, something something supply chain, claimed they couldn’t source good wine anymore either for…reasons. They gave us a bottle of wine that costs about $20 retail, but was much better than what they were pouring otherwise. They also had the chef make us some butter chicken for dinner the next night at the MDR which was very nice. This was our second disappointing cruise with Celebrity in a row, also due to dining issues. Despite being elite with Celebrity and extremely loyal to their product up until now, we’re trying Holland America for the first time in August. Going into it with zero expectations. Was able to book a Neptune suite for less than half the price of a same-size Royal Suite on a comparable Celebrity sailing. No beverage package this time, we’ll just pay for the bottles of wine that we actually enjoy. With all the money we saved, we booked every speciality restaurant for one meal, and still have $18K left over for wine, internet and tips. We’ll see how the overall food quality stacks up to Celebrity. But even if it’s terrible at least I won’t feel like we’ve overpaid for the experience.

I searched for an answer to this, but didn’t find anything recent. My question is, if I book specialty dining prior to my cruise, would I be able to cancel the reservations once onboard if necessary and receive a refund and also when is the cancellation deadline? I assume we will keep the reservations, but it’s so hard to know what my spouse will feel like doing once onboard. This is our first cruise on Holland America. We’re elite on Celebrity but was unimpressed with the food and wine our last two sailings, so thought it might be fun to branch out a bit. We’re heading to Norway in August. Any additional recommendations for new mariners would also be appreciated. Thank you! edit to add that we’re on the Rotterdam in case that makes a difference.

Are Uber or Lyft available in Oslo?

This honestly comes across as a very strange, negative, off-putting question. Who cares what a bunch of strangers think? Your daughter wants to take this trip, why not be supportive of her? Part of the oddness of asking this is that OF COURSE people cruise with their children. Why else would cruise cabins so often be able to accommodate 4 people? Why in the world would the kids club not be staffed? It’s staffed no matter what. Why are her vacation plans so upsetting to you that you’re posting here? I can’t decide if you’re just trolling as an over the top controlling mom/meddling mother in law or not. Why would it matter if you think it’s a good idea or not? Lol

I’m on this sailing with my spouse and our two teenage boys and can comment on the non-suite staffing portion of this question. We are cc elite despite only taking a handful of cruises, due to our love of the M class penthouse suite. We’ve also sailed in aqua class and this is our third time in a corner FV with an inside across the hall. We’re in the select MDR on this sailing. All this as background of what we’ve experienced in the past. My partner actually prefers not sailing in a suite if we can’t book a PH, because then we can just blend into the crowd and no one is overly concerned that we’re enjoying ourselves (we always are!). Likewise I enjoy not dealing with a butler as we prefer our privacy to all the attention. The select MDR this sailing is a complete cluster f. It’s shockingly understaffed. There aren’t even enough staff for them to write on the table cards that identify your servers. Instead of names they just write 0 because they don’t have anyone. Then there’s the issue of an unusually large number of passengers who wish to eat at 5pm. Like soooo many people need to eat early and it completely messes up the dining staff. We waited an hour to be seated for dinner the second night, after arriving at 5:45pm. Don’t expect a sommelier, we’ve only dealt with bar servers, and they don’t have the bandwidth to be topping off glasses, but they are happy to do a heavy pour. They aren’t even handing out the wine menu. We’ve asked, but never seen one this trip. If you’re easygoing like us, carry a drink in with you, and are okay with whatever red or white wine they suggest after you tell them what you’re generally are looking for, you’ll be fine. If you must have a certain wine or you’ll be disappointed…well, you might be disappointed. Also I don’t believe there’s a waiter and an assistant waiter. More like one person doing their best. In other parts of the ship, there’s zero bar servers wandering around taking orders in the solarium pool, at the Oceanview cafe or in the bars themselves. Someone did take my order while I was sitting near the martini bar. We’ve seen quite a few staff in training, where they don’t seem to know what to do. Usually a more senior staff member will help them out. We’re grateful just to be here and are so thankful for all the hard work the staff performs. None of the above issues bothers us despite us knowing how attentive service can be in other circumstances. There’s so many places to eat and drink, we’re very satisfied. If we don’t get enough wine at dinner, we’ll grab a drink after, that sort of thing. Everyone is clearly doing their best and we’re not into making their hard job any more difficult. Every staff member has been truly excellent to deal with despite their obvious levels of overwork. We’re here for the scenery and to spend time together, so we’re very happy. But lots of people aren’t. Like there’s so much complaining happening over minor issues. Really letting the overworked staff member have it when something isn’t just right. Other passenger’s behavior is the only real disappointment we’ve experienced on this cruise.

Hi I’m on board right now with my 2 teens. I asked at the kids club and there are about 50 passengers under the age of 18, and 15 of them are teens. Agree, I also haven’t seen many kids on this trip. I don’t think you take your kids on a voyage like this unless they are exceptionally well behaved and can reliably entertain themselves.

We’re boarding August 19th and I’m happy to hear this is the protocol. We have an aft FV with an inside cabin across the hall for the teens. Have been anxious about one or both cabins being “upgraded” due to covid positive passengers staying on, but it seems like their plan is to move anyone who must stay aboard. I have to say, for selfish reasons I hope the B2B passengers do end up testing prior to turnaround (sorry!). Hadn’t thought about it until just now, but if the numbers are high it would be safer for those of us boarding on Friday. Loving your photos and commentary, Jim!

This is great info, thank you! I’m in my 40s and will be traveling with my spouse and our 17 and 19 year old sons. Was hoping to maybe do some late night dancing in the sky lounge, but sounds like we may not have the crowd for that! It’s all good, we’re just excited to be on the ship. I saw your internet speeds in another post. Are you able to access anything with those?