Moby Jones

We were onboard May 2022. We also had to move rooms due to very heavy vibrations keeping us awake. The Retreat management team handled this very well to their credit. We were not the only passengers that had to be moved. In fact when I called to report the issue I was immediately asked if we wanted to move rooms and staff were dispatched straight away. It all seemed a very polished and well rehearsed operation. But back then we were told it was due to mechanical issues that could only be fixed when she went in for her next dry dock which I believe she has since had?

I believe you Americans call these people 'cheerleaders'. In the UK we call them 'fan boys'. I ignore these people too. Maybe it's because I'm European. We tend to be objective and when writing reviews will cover both positive and negative aspects. We believe in free speech too, so if people are unhappy with changes that impact them then they should be allowed to speak out! Some people need to learn that if people don't voice their concerns directly to staff, via the post cruise survey and to a lesser extent on social media that things won't get better. I've got to add too that those who describe Celebrity these days as 'awesome' and claim everything is 'top notch' can't possibly have high expectations in life! There's always room for improvement. Though it's a mainstream line, so people also need realistic expectations too It's not Regent and it's not Silversea. Although when you compare current suite pricing, maybe it should be! But far more importantly, a cruise is what you make of it. It's who you are with and what you do which will make or break it. The OP should never forget that. Even with all of the cutbacks to service, you can still have a great time. So my advice to Claret And Blue is to make sure you tell your wait staff, maitre d', room attendant and shore excursions team exactly what YOU want and let them make it happen. If you're unhappy with anything, speak up and I'm sure you'll have the cruise you want. 🙂

Are people only allowed to ask questions that you approve of then? 🤣

I think it’s more a case of people having different expectations based on their own experiences and requirements. Not really luck.

I’m guessing there is no answer or solution to the lack of specialty dining onboard for all guests then.

Hello We recently sailed on AOV in Europe. We had quite high expectations due to the marketing campaign and expected a similar dining experience as found on Oceania or Azamara. Unfortunately our experience fell well short of those expectations. Whilst the crew were certainly friendly and hard working there were some very basic area of service missing. Not once did our waiter or waitress ever check if everything was ok with our meals. And there was no sommelier onboard. The wait staff had a very basic understanding of wine in general and many bottles on the wine menu were unavailable. The very small room service menu was also a disappointment due to it's lack of options. The outside grill simply does not work. We were only able to visit it once during our cruise. The problem being that the ridiculously small grill area can only accommodate a very small number of meals being prepared at one time. This is not made clear at the time of booking and to be brutally honest after reading your promotional material all members of our group felt a little bit hoodwinked. We met several other passengers onboard which were unable to experience the included specialty dining too. Whist we enjoyed the new and beautiful ship, the trip was sold as an epicurean adventure and the reality is, that the dining experience was closer to a mainstream cruise line rather than a small luxury ship experience that we expected. Do you have plans to up your game in this regard so you can compete with small luxury class lines? If so, what are they? And how do you plan on making the specialty grill restaurant more accessible to passengers? Thanks in advance.

It really isn't that high end. They're selling themselves as high end, but are not there yet!

Speaking as a fellow oenophile I think it's fair to say they are 100% not for you. On the first day we attended a wine tasting event. Half a dozen VERY poor quality wines were offered. Disappointingly the sommelier who oversaw this event never showed up at the dining room throughout the whole cruise! When I asked a waiter what I was being given during the tasting I was told "sparkling wine" and no further detail! 😀 Wine choices in the included fare are also very poor. With many of these being unavailable during our cruise. As was the 6 or so different German beers on the menu. They had also not been received during our cruise apparently. Wine is available by the bottle and to be fair the mark ups are not too horrendous as they can be with other cruise lines. But again, choice and quality was limited. Atlas needs to poach some seasoned food and beverage staff from upscale lines and have them sail as Atlas employees amongst the Mystic Cruises staff if they want to build a quality product. We do have time in our schedule for another cruise this year. And I did plan to consider Atlas after our sailing. And while there is a chance we'd sail with them to Antarctica, we'll be looking at Oceania if we sail in Europe again this year. They have them beaten on food, beverages and the whole dining experience quite comprehensively. If management are still reading, then please take this feedback constructively. You have a lot of potential but really do need to up your game in Europe. Your ships are beautiful, your itineraries well thought out and chef Rudy produced great food when it was hot! So I hope you do get there in the very near future. I truly do believe you have the potential to offer a great experience. 🙂

Well it appears that Atlas management follow these boards and a well known social media platform that contains many cruise groups as my comments were picked up within hours of my posts! They added water bottles to our room immediately! They do have potential. But you'll see from the list of points I made earlier that they need to work on the basics before they can be considered serious competition to more established luxury lines. One thing I did learn of interest is that Atlas do not own the ships. They are all owned by Mystic Cruises and the World Navigator and World Traveler are leased by Atlas. All of the staff work for Mystic Cruises whilst wearing an Atlas uniform aboard an Atlas branded ship. For balance, I liked the ship. It's small and those who suffer from motion sickness really do need to take their meds with them! But it's comfortable with a very good amount of public space. There's no queing for anything etc. Staff are friendly and polite and work hard to please. But if you're expecting a more formal luxury dining experience you will be disappointed. Also bear in mind that they advertise two specialty restaurants. Aft on 7 is billed as a steakhouse. The truth is it's actually just the poolside burger bar with a different menu on an evening. It can accommodate around 18 persons per night. The ship can hold 198 passengers so on a short cruise you'll realise that not everyone will get the opportunity to try it. The food was good. But not exceptional. And again, service was very informal. Alma, the Portuguese restaurant is really just a BBQ / grill set up temporarily outside next to the main dining room. Our booking was cancelled and rearranged. We were notified of the changed time after it had elapsed! Again this was down to poor management and communication. Again,I think they have potential but they need whipping into shape if they're to be considered a serious alternative to AZ or O for Med sailings.

It's terrible. Really slow. Even for a cruise ship. Fortunately we're in port a lot so can use our phones.

Atlas does not offer the same level of service or dining as the cruise lines mentioned. I'm onboard now and in my opinion they have over sold themselves on their website and promotional material. I would not expect a luxury cruise line to :- Sail with a poor choice of beverages. Many items on the menu are not available. Deliver room service orders one hour after the booked time. This is currently annoying many guests onboard. We have witnessed multiple complaints being made about this at guest relations. There are serious issues booking the two specialty restaurants. There appears to be all kinds of communication problems between the various teams and passengers have had their reservations cancelled last minute. Not once has the maitre 'd visited us to introduce himself. This always happens on other luxury lines even on mainstream lines like Celebrity. They have no sommeliers in the restaurant and a very poor selection of wines are included. Though other bottles can be purchased separately. The wait staff are friendly people but a little too casual for a luxury line. No one has ever asked if everything is ok during a single meal. This is standard practise in restaurants all around the world. The food is good but not in the same league as Regent or Oceania. The deserts are poor quality with more than one member of our party commenting on how tasteless they are. Buffet food is lukewarm at best. Staff are not keeping hot food, hot. The selection of food is also smaller than more upscale lines. In short, it's a good line. But don't for one minute think the service, accommodations and dining are on par with a true luxury line like Regent or Silversea. And they're not on par with lines like Oceania and Azamara either. There are some nice touches like coffee machines and kettles in the room and the mini bar is included. Though the selections we made for the mini bar online before boarding have not been fulfilled due to a lack of inventory. Oh and there's no bottles of water for you to take off the ship unless you bring your own. They have refillable bottles in your room, but you're not allowed to take them off the ship. Management didn't think things through there very well.

According to the World Traveller cruise director, Bob, they will be released in July this year.

There is no dress code. I'm onboard now and people are having dinner in the main dining room wearing t-shirts, ball caps, shorts and denim jeans. It has to be the most casually dressed cruise line in existence. Very few people have made an effort to dress up.

Hello everyone, I'm just wondering if anyone who's been onboard recently could provide details of their experience. Specifically, how is the service and dining? I've seen the poor reviews after launch, but I believe the CEO was replaced with someone more competent and note that World Traveller appears to fare better than World Navigator which suggests the line is evolving positively. Does anyone know if internet is limited when sailing in Europe? Can you book shore excursions through their website? I can't find any way of doing this at present. Thanks in advance.

it will be the Travel Retail bottles (Quest and Lumina etc). These are all NAS expressions and really not the best bottles Macallan has to offer.

Can a large 3000 + passenger cruise ship really feel intimate?

I shut them down quickly and tell them I know how it all works. I then ask them how many complaints have I made. When they look puzzled and (usually) say "none". I ask them why they're worried then. I always mention staff by name who've been good in the post cruise survey as I know it genuinely helps. I've sailed on Celebrity and Azamara this year. No one on the latter mentioned the survey! Except the Maitre D in Prime C when I beckoned him over to say how pleased we were with the outstanding service we'd received from his team. He then told us we should feel free to mention it there. Which we were already planning to do.

E class make the S class ships look dated. The suite experience is better on E class as the ships were heavily designed around the whole Retreat experience. In my opinion E class suite bookings deliver the best that Celebrity has to offer and I have sailed in suites on M and S class. People tend to love or loathe the IV balcony rooms. Take a look on youtube at the videos and decide if they are for you or not. I personally dislike them greatly. The Martini bar and E class can be a bit rowdy and won't appeal to everyone. At the end of the day I book on price and itinerary like most other people do. But if there were an E and S class sailing I wanted to do with similar prices and costs I'd pick S class if in a verandah room and if booking a suite I'd pick E class.

Compared to the quality of dining and accommodations on our bookings on other more upscale lines I don't view $350 pppn as great value for money to be honest. But we booked our Beyond sailing a long time ago and had FCC's (Given after a poor experience on Reflection this year) to use. When I see suite pricing on AZ, O and Seabourn I do wonder how often we'll be sailing onboard X with their current suite pricing. The luxury lines have better itineraries and are better value for money IMHO.

It is. You've only got to look at the bottles behind the bar to see they are all Diageo brands.

Not all of them were no. I've joined the ship via a UK booking then booked onboard and had the new sailing booked sent to my US TA if they were offering a better deal. I suspect you have been misinformed. You can have your booking sent to any TA either side of the pond regardless. If I was told I couldn't I'd tell the future cruise sales staff to stick their booking. We also done exactly the same with Azamara. It has never been a problem. Though at the moment it seems much cheaper to book AZ in the UK.

This is incorrect. We have had numerous bookings made onboard transferred to our US based travel agent and we live in the UK. The US TA then adds additional OBC so it's the most lucrative way of booking when US prices beat UK pricing.

You can book return flights including baggage and fees etc for around £550 per person cattle class if you look hard enough. Although European sailings are a lot more interesting from a historical and cultural perspective compared to Caribbean islands.

No need. I very rarely visit casinos. But I'd be interested to know what the average win / losses are in the real world.

I think the reason many people are commenting is because the 2024 pricing puts Celebrity on a par with more upscale true luxury lines on a per person per night basis. But they don't deliver the same level of luxury. Not even close in some instances. But that's the great thing about cruising. We all have many choices to make. So if people think the current pricing is too high for the product being delivered we can just book another line. 🙂