Ma Bell

On 8/1/2019 at 6:39 PM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

I wouldn’t know. I have not cruised them yet - will be on POA in 2021. Probably the only time I will cruise NCL to be honest - only doing that one because Hawaii.

 

I was making the comment in general because (and we get the same thing on Disney forums) people seem to have this idea that just because something does not say “formal” they cannot wear formalwear.

Of course people can wear their formal clothing but if everyone else looks like they're going to McDonald's for dinner they might feel a little out of place.

I always enjoyed formal nights and have a closet full of formal wear but can appreciate that many don't care to go all the way to formal.  In my opinion it really has gone too far the other way. I think the problem could be easily solved to make everyone happy. Chic evenings should be no jeans, shorts, flip flops or tee shirts and maybe people could still be casual enough to suit their desires and the people who enjoy a more formal experience for a couple of evenings could wear their attire without looking out of place. It's a much more sensible compromise. You wanted people to be "chic" and then made sure that many would come to dinner looking anything but.

1 hour ago, Orator said:

It was quite some time ago. I asked the F&B Manager about the composition and he told me that it was lamb. He also said that it was probably not prepared correctly. 

The regular burgers in Luminae are beef, however they do have a lamb burger on one of the menus.

The burgers are usually very good but there was one cruise where the meat was very strange. It was like rubber. 

I don't know of anyone who isn't short points to move to the next level. It would be very unusual for someone to land on the perfectly even amount needed so don't feel like it's just you.😊

42 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

We've done many cruises over Halloween, and to tell the truth, I've never seen anyone “dressed up” (or down as you're referring to) in the dining room. Guests, as well as the staff, usually show up in the public areas after dinner in their “special attire”. Some of the best I’ve ever seen were the Officers on Reflection.

I have, even at my own table.

5 minutes ago, ChuckL said:

I have read the whole thread and know that opinion has been shared already, but some others continue the “fighting” and putting others down. I wasn’t trying to point fingers at you.

You quoted me so I would assume you were speaking about me.

3 minutes ago, ChuckL said:

I have read the whole thread and know that opinion has been shared already, but some others continue the “fighting” and putting others down.

I said the whole post, not the whole thread. I'm not putting anyone down or fighting...are you? I explained why I wouldn't do it and why some people don't care for it.

2 minutes ago, ChuckL said:

This has become (and has been for a long while), one of the most petty threads I have seen on CC. There is something called personal choice, and as long as it doesn’t violate any rules, which in this case it doesn’t according to Celebrity, then let those who don’t want to decorate leave the door alone, and those that enjoy doing so, go ahead and decorate the door. Stop the bickering and belittling of each other already and move on to other threads with the intent to share helpful information with each other. After all, I thought that was the intent of Cruise Critic since it’s inception.

Maybe you should read the whole post. As I said, people can do whatever they want. The person I was answering was wondering why it bothered some people. Personally, I couldn't care less but I wouldn't do it for the reasons I explained.

2 hours ago, starlake said:

 

Best answer ever. 🙂    I am not sure why somebody decorating their OWN door would be a bother to someone else

I didn't know we owned the doors. Can we take them with us when we go? Can we decorate our hotel doors, airplane seats, restaurant booths etc. Why don't we have fun decorating everywhere we go? People can do whatever they like but I assume that when someone books a hotel or ship part of the reason they do so is the because of the decor of the hotel or ship and they probably aren't interested in seeing mine.

50 minutes ago, davekathy said:

It's your time to shine, your way. Get glamours, get chic. Be sophisticated...

 

 

That's a real laugh now, isn't it?

The clowns will be obvious.😉

I'm truly amazed at how many people can't find their cabins by number.

11 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

For the Blue Chip Club, I had previously never sailed X or RCCL so I didn't have an X Players card or any play yet.  I'm still interested to know the exact rule to whether the pre-security line can be used if you use your MLife card as it seems very doubtful the staff at the pier even knows what a MLife card even looks like.  Interesting take on the Retreat/Michael's, I do know some piers have departure lounges where high tier passengers wait to be escorted onto the ship.  I'll also add that the waived cc fees were automatic so I didn't have to do anything.  No other hidden perks that I can think of.  

You were just lucky to run into someone who didn't have a clue.

Just enjoy yourself in whichever way makes you happy and don't worry about what everyone else is getting.

There are a lot of nice benefits to being Zenith but we are all individual human beings with different ideas about what's important. Whatever your desires, I hope you enjoy your cruising experience. If the day comes that I can't do that any more I'll move on and enjoy the memories.

3 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Yeah, I thought maybe that was the case.  As I was posting I was mixed up in my mind, thinking I was on the Royal board.  Sorry.  But these friends of ours that I mentioned.... they'd still want to go to any lounge or event, even if they were given a drink package, because they want people to see them there and know they are "special", LOL.  On the one cruise we did with them, we went to a loyalty event at something like 10am.  We never would have dragged ourselves up and out for some free, cheap sparkling wine and snacks but they more or less insisted.  They got there super early so they could sit front and center during the little program when the most loyal cruisers are/were announced to walk up and get their free bottle of cheap champagne.   The whole time before it started they kept looking around and commenting on the size of the crowd....they clearly wanted to make sure the room was filling up and enough people would be there to hear their name called.  When the wife walked up to get the champs, you would think from her reaction that she'd just been crowned queen of the world, LOL

Are you sure you are a friend?

18 hours ago, hcat said:

Great choice of cabins...dining on EDGE is excellent!

Looking forward to trying Edge with the granddaughters and my daughter-in-law. It's a graduation trip and should be wonderful.

It's a shame they have to go back to try to mitigate some of the problems with the design but at least they're trying. Having the majority of the cabins be Infinite Verandas is a tough one. It's difficult for me to imagine what they were thinking with that design. Also the lack of thought about the upper deck open spaces for dining and relaxing with out any covering or sheltering those areas is perplexing.

10 hours ago, wpgcycler said:

You know, I've mulled this over for a couple hours now and I'm no closer to appreciating how one draws a correlation among jeans, cuisine and liquor. To suggest that people who love martinis but hate ties and little black dresses will somehow be happy with Cracker Barrel quality "cuisine" is beyond preposterous. But then what do I care? 🙄

Did anyone but you mention jeans and Cracker Barrel quality cuisine? I certainly don't care what someone who can't ever seem to comment on a subject with making it a personal insult thinks either. 

I'm wounded to the core. LOL

5 minutes ago, cynbar said:

 

This is so true. I was in church recently, and it amazed me what most people were wearing ------ anything goes these days, few people seem to feel they should dress nicely to show respect. The nicer restaurants around here are a lot more casual in dress than they used to be, for better or worse. The world has changed, at least in respect to expected attire! But I don't really agree that Celebrity has declined because of this, it seems to me more of a business decision to cut back where they can while still filling their ships. 

It's definitely a business decision but it's easier to make if you have customers that don't care if you cut back.

Sherry, I’m not talking about Luminae. It should be good for the price. I was on Eclipse in April and the food was better than our last Reflection cruise in October. There have been lots of changes on the MDR menus on recent years and many of their more expensive entrees have been downgraded and eliminated. 

With the advent of drink packages it’s not easy to get a glass of better wines any more. They just don’t seem to be available.

You’ve been around for a long time so I ‘m sure you understand what I’m saying in my comment. I could give lots of examples but serves no purpose.

As far as Edge, I’ll be trying it next May with my granddaughters in an aft Sky Suite and Sunset Veranda. The Edge is another case of should be good for the price they’re asking. I can see a lot of nice things about her but let’s face it they also made a lot of bad decisions with the design of the ship.

I’ve been a huge Celebrity supporter for many years but I’m not blind to recent blunders.

1 hour ago, citronella said:

 

If not Formal Nights, then what ? 

 

 

If you follow that reasoning through, then the luxury all-inclusive lines most attract a pile of lushes.

Apples and Oranges. There's a lot more to luxury than free drinks.

1 hour ago, C-Dragons said:

Personally, I think that X changed their guidelines for dressing to match the younger affluent age group that they are courting who don’t particularly care for dressing up for anything. We’ve had a different experience however regarding the quality of the food, it's been excellent.

I will agree that many guests are interested in pursuing as many drinks as they can get, but imo, nothing’s changed, it's always been that way. 😉

Luminae, which I believe is your usual dining room,  has been from very good to inconsistent depending on the cruise and what they prepare in the other restaurants is OK but you can't really seriously tell me the quality of the ingredients is as good or plentiful as it used to be. The little extra touches are gone. The one area that is better is the buffet.

Have you seen many of those younger affluent people on your cruises? They must be hiding. The younger affluent people where we live actually do look nice when they dine in an upscale restaurant and I'm not talking about formal wear.

1 minute ago, citronella said:

 

If the food quality declines with lack of Formal Nights, then you’d  see it across all cruise lines, including the luxury lines.

 

It's way beyond the lack of Formal Nights.

Celebrity responded to their passenger’s desire to wear whatever they like with food to match. Anyone who doesn’t understand that the decline in the quality of food has something to do with the “I don’t care” attitude of the passengers might want to give that a thought. Why should they provide the special “little things” to people who don’t care what anyone does?

It seems the major concern for most people on Celebrity today is how many drinks they can get. That’s fine if that’s what everyone wants but don’t be surprised when the rest isn’t as good as it used to be. Guess what, the quality of the drinks isn’t as good as it used to be either, but who cares?

2 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

Most cruise lines, if you check in before boarding begins, you will sit there till they are ready. Then yes, from the priority lounge you will be notified to board first.

That's why it's called priority check-in.

48 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

Higher priority checking in, I do not think that has anything to do with boarding. Once you check in you just go walk on the ship.

Many times people have checked in before the ship is ready for boarding.