retired dude

4 minutes ago, captainannoyed! said:

I guess we just disagree about the food quality onboard.   I tend to prefer the filet over the strip, and that holds true on land or sea.

your right, as we don't eat strips either, we buy whole prime tenderloins and i hand cut them my self and cook them at 500 degrees to get the proper char and doneness....My mother was a fabulous chef and she taught me well...As the head chef on that recent cruise told me, most of the people on this cruise would not know a great meal if it hit them in the head...I thanked him for his honesty..He said it made his job a little bit easier. ..life is good...Like  said, the quality of the products is the problem with the mediocre \food on rccl ships now and it is nice  to have them finally admit it.

7 hours ago, captainannoyed! said:

I have to admit I’ve always found strip steaks to be hit or miss, anywhere.  I’m pretty much a filet mignon guy exclusively at this point.

according to the chef that i talked to on our most recent rccl cruise the grade of the strip steaks that they serve would be be select of even worse..He compared it to the cheap mexican beef that winn dixie now sells...the best chef in the world cannot make beef of that quality taste good....blame the food quality on the food and beverage managers at corp for buying sub-standard products for the ships...It is all about the mighty dollar.

we are booked on the "connie" this nov 24' and after sailing on her many times, we like the ship and her sailing out of our hometown----tampa is a real perk..Only down side after the dry dock was the fact that the balcony cabins on deck 7 &8 were barely touched in the process...We despise shower curtains and as we use the our balcony alot, they needed to be spruced up and that did not happen. In reading the thoughts of people that have sailed on her since the dry dock it seems that they upgraded the public areas and left many of the cabins as is...I guess if the ships are sailing at near capacity, corporate probably feels that they don't need to address the cabins...On a recent cruise on her the shower curtain in our cabin was filthy and had shrunk and allowed the water to flood our bathroom. I asked our great cabin attendant for a new curtain and it took her several hours to get one, but she got it done...She got a nice tip!!!!!. As far a entertainment, customer service, bar  and mdr service, it does not get any better...Food has gone downhill, but according to the food and beverage folks at corp that is not going to get any better..I guess that keeps us from gaining any weight while sailing with celebrity...bottom line, still better than ncl, carnival, rccl & princess,  and we will stay loyal customers of celebrity.

3 hours ago, hcat said:

you can always pick a diff ship..We are a NO until the in room TV system is turned on!  After that, we are a maybe...Port of Tampa would be the draw

we live in tampa so there are no other options with celebrity out of our home port and rccl out of tampa is the same 20 year old ships that also need attention....It is what it is, and we just returned from taking cruises out of miami and lauderdale...At lease least we are trying to be loyal customers, we just expect that if you raise the cruise prices by 30% that maybe just maybe a few upgrades to the cabins might be justified....We enjoy celebrity and have for over 25 years, we just want a decent return on our investment.....and yes i have discussed this with the parent company.  Like  i said if the ships are full there is no need to right some of the wrongs...It is the corporate way....just say'in

18 hours ago, hcat said:

I noticed  the TV looked small..and sat on a niche where I used to set my flowers..(no longer available.)

 

We are not glued to the TV on a cruise,  but this means no navigation  channel, no way to check daily account balance, no CD updates or repeats of the Podium or Capt's presentations..  No movies or TV shows or music..

 

Wonder when it will be restored?

for those of us that have sailed "connie" several times it appears that little or no improvements have been made to the balcony rooms that we always get..I guess if the ships are sailing full, no need to make improvements if the public is still going to accept the cabins in the same shape they have been for years....kind of  a slap in the face  for those of us that have supported celebrity for many years...

was praying for shower curtains to go overboard with DT.....guess we hoped for too much for our cabin on deck 7 this fall.....

my wife and I were on this cruise..great ship but the food for us was a not-so-great ....We ate  breakfast and lunch in the buffet and dinner in the mdr..After 10 cruises on celebrity we just thought that the good quality has gone downhill on this ship..Service was great and we too thought that the entertainment was excellent. Paulette Ivory was amazing and we gifted her the next day and thanked her...She is an amazing talent.. We loved the band arjam that played alot in the foyer lounge ...Best cover band in our 30 years of cruising. Looking forward to sailing out of tampa in the future as the 15 hours that it took on delta getting home to clearwater  from lauderdale was a bit much.....no fault of celebrity, just poor timing on our part trying to fly during the infamous "yutes" ritual of spring break. Wont make that mistake again. life is good and so was the reflection.

just got off of the reflection sunday the 7th. Beautiful ship, great entertainment, great cabin, great bar service, food not so good in the oceanview cafe or the main dining room...Oh well, you can't have everything...After 30 cruises with rccl and celebrity, we expected better, buy it is what it is. wish everyone a great cruise.....B&B in florida

On 3/13/2024 at 4:42 PM, KYTess said:

Hi retired dude, Check out the Avila Beach Hotel on Curacao. We reserved day passes for $10 pp. It includes beach & pool access with chairs/umbrellas. It will be our first time visiting but have read good things about it here on CC. We’re thinking of exploring Bonaire on e bikes. So looking forward to this cruise and will be cheering on Big Blue while I wait! 

JC needs to go, oh well, we wont need to watch any of the games while onboard. ..more time for enjoying the entertainment and adult beverages....looking forward to next week.

11 hours ago, bandp407 said:

DH & I were on the Reflection both end of November & early February. Arjam was the house band on both sailings. We truly enjoyed them. The live music for us is very important as well. They play a good mix of dance music. The lead singer is Belinda . She is very upbeat. Camila is on the drums and does a few songs-very good voice. Nice people too!  
 

The other band was C’Est’Si Bon- they were good as well. Music, like food , is sometimes subjective. For us, both bands kept the party going. Our only opportunity to dance is when we cruise. 
 

enjoy the cruise! 

thanks much

14 minutes ago, jayoldschool said:

I got off of Reflection on Saturday. Band was decent, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see them like I do for most pool/lobby bands. Singer was not great. She was a decent sax player, however. The Time Machine duo was good, and the solo guitarist was great. Orchestra band was very good.

how about the band that played in the lobby/club...recently it was a band named arjam. they sounded good on the youtube promo video. Also an act named cestibon....thanks for any info. We too sail on her in a couple of weeks and entertainment is why we cruise. 

On 3/16/2024 at 11:59 AM, sun bum said:

If you would wear jeans to a 5 star restaurant at home, by all means ,wear them. Personally I would not. to each their own

wish jeff ruby would open a place down here in fla. and no we would not wear jeans to it...Come to think of it we dont wear jeans at all, it's too hot most of the year.

On 3/4/2024 at 7:27 PM, KYTess said:

Breakfast is available every morning in MDR. 

tess: did you and you other half find any good beach bargains on either curacao or bonaire for the cruise on the 30th.???I am sure caught up in the sec tourney that i have not even researched it...We go to manchebo beach in aruba but in the past we have done an island tour on bonaire and curacao but have not done any beaches....thanks in advance for your thoughts....go big blue. B&B in fla, by way of  ky.

20 hours ago, KYTess said:

Breakfast is available every morning in MDR. 

looking forward to the 3-30 sailing ....go big blue

On 2/20/2024 at 1:36 PM, Cruisegoer said:

Sailed her 2/4/24-2/9/24 found the ship to be in great condition. Very clean and well kept with no terrible signs of rust.  There were a few chairs in Studio B that were broken as they were fold-downs and they kept going down to the point you could slide off of it.  Sadly the cupholders in the main show lounge serve no purpose as the glasses used now will not fit in them.

 

Food was better than expected, Chops and Giovanni's were excellent and Johnny Rockets was fun too.  I heard the ice cream from the soft serve dispensers wasn't good but didn't try any myself. The Promenade Cafe is a life savor for late night eats but it gets BUSY.  Show's were not media productions as found on new ships, the true stars are the ship's singers and dancers the backdrops are meh.  Sadly I wasn't impressed with the comedian on our sailing or the piano player in the Schooner bar but that is a subjective opinion.

so called piano player in the schooner bar is some judy garland wanna be named perry grant....he is the worst entertainer that we have seen in 30 years of cruising. He should be working in a rehab center not taking up room in a nice lounge...My father was an opening act for frank sinatra in vegas and i hope that i know good entertainment when i see it and this is a pathetic excuse for a lounge act.....just sayin'

6 hours ago, Ashland said:

Tested "positive" Oh My !!

sold out ships tend to give you that gift that keeps on giving. We will mask up on the plane and pray that we get through the cruise healthy.  see you guys at the hotel thursday...B&B from fla by way of Ky.

glad my mom made me eat vegetables galore..life is good to get a wellness check every year and have the dr. tell you that eating right has it's benefits...but then i have to understand that todays kids are our future.....can't wait. 

54 minutes ago, island lady said:

Next stop...dessert and wine shop.  Bucky checking out the huge "wall of wine" and offering a sample at the bar. 😉   Some dessert wine paired with local decadent chocolate.  

 

Was a great time with good people.  🤗  

 

 

 

 

wc

in the words of ron white---"you can't fix stupid"

so glad that rccl will not repeat this cruise

we just got off of this sailing on the connie and the pizza was worse than red baron frozen..just sayin'

14 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

We booked the Connie for the same reasons as you. We are on Beyond for December 22 and then on Connie for March 11. It will be quite a difference from what we understand. We've been on Reflection twice and loved it and are looking forward to checking out these other two classes. With all the positive reviews of the Beyond, I hope we aren't disappointed with Connie. 

connie is usually more layback than beyond and far less "yutes" which we love..You just have to remember that the connie is 25 years old and in some areas she shows it, but overall it is  still our idea of classic cruising..We also sail alot on the rccl radiance class  ships out of tampa for the same reasons...No flying, and smaller more comfortable relaxing ships.. We just avoid any cruising in the summer, spring break, xmas, thanks giving and during hurricaine season....we are on the reflection next april and look forward to it a great deal ...life is good,we wish you well.

35 minutes ago, VintageCheap said:

Most of the time, what the industry calls a "Cruise Vacation" is called for.  I did a search for long cruises, 11/23, and then by price.  In my experience, the lines are pretty similar.  The frequent guest programs are useless, so once you get invited to the basic loyalty party, the rest of the perks are pretty boring.  The Constellation is a lovely ship, and we had fond memories of an amazing trip to the Med years ago.  

 

This 12 day run goes to some new countries and ports for us- Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica.    And requires only a short, cheap nonstop flight.  Is the right lunch or tour in a crowded, unwelcoming European port worth 4000 pounds of CO2 from jet fuel burned?  No. 

 

The recent negative reviews are a big draw for me.   And older, smaller ships are a plus.  Not a fan of lines, crowds or waiting.   Promenade decks, libraries, and some deck space are must haves.    Ships that have not been modernized - i.e. take out "useless" public spaces and add more cabins and extra charge features are more interesting to us. 

 

I see on Cruise Mapper the ship is docked.  We are in town, and have our luggage, passports and a shuttle reservation.  What can go wrong? 

all is good, we live close to the port and look forward to sailing on "connie" again today...1st time on her was 20 years ago and for many of the reasons that you stated, we like this size ship...Dont need water slides or other disney like features..just give me a ship that is comfortable and not huge..I know that the food will not be as good as in the past, but we will have a great cruise regardless.just blessed to be going....dress warm for sailaway the hi today is 60 and a northerly breeze....An adult beverage will help with the whole process......take care. 

On 11/18/2023 at 8:48 AM, georgiacat said:

I am considering a similar itinerary on the Constellation.  It will be our first Celebrity cruise.  How does the Aqua class compare with the usual verandah?

stick with the usual veranda. after 50 cruises we have found them to be suitable.

i was in the business years ago and the best watch for the wholesale $ is stuhrling...I have bought them in white gold, rose gold and yellow stainless for as low as $50 nib  and they are a very nice watch for that kind of $..Very dependable and the large 40-50 mm faces that most men want today....just sayin'