Baggy178

Ninja Cruising™ dress code. Expandable waistline shorts, comfort fit t-shirt, and sandals/flip-flops/crocs by day. Same at night. OVC Chic Night - change of t-shirt from daytime. Job done 👍

In Ireland they can't make their minds up so they call it a striploin.😅 It also goes by the name of porterhouse.

A strip steak is exactly the same as a sirloin steak. It's the same piece of meat from the short loin area of the cow - in the USA you call it strip steak, everywhere else calls it sirloin. Again, exactly which high-end steaks do you regard to be missing from this mass catering menu ?

I'm still having a laugh and titter at the poster who described the sirloin steak on the new menu as a cheaper cut of meat. Where's the gold-covered 30-day aged Wagyu tomohawk steak personally grilled at their table by Salt Bae himself, I hear them demanding ....😅

This is not going to be a long skirmish. Six days is a stretch.

I've no doubt there are plenty of loyal cruisers on the lines you have booked with who are also transferring their allegiances for one reason or another, food included. Celebrity's job is to fill cabins and sell stuff at prices passengers wouldn't normally entertain on dry land. They seem to be doing a pretty good job of it without a return to the Golded Age of Cruising ( dec '22 re-mix ). People vote with their wallet and not from reading aggrieved complainants on CC.

We have eaten MDR but found the wait, the lack of privacy from adjoining tables and being stuck with the same company for nights on end edged us towards the buffet. Plus we've always found the food in cruise buffets to be excellent. And as we only ever travel with carry-on it saves lugging extra gear around when we continue travelling after our cruise. Mostly we like to drink then eat then sleep in that order and as the third generally follows the second fairly sharpish we like to eat late, Mediterranean-style where the buffet suits us. We notice relaxed informal dining has become much more popular. Tbh, we also think the idea that every meal served in the MDR is cooked to order hence the long wait to be unlikely. It's mass catering not fine dining.

Indeed. Just waiting for one of the many ' Celebrity don't care what their regular customers think ' posters to join the convesration ...😉

The whole point is someone like me, who has never sailed Celebrity before, thinks the menus look perfectly acceptable. Steaks, fish, pork, chicken, pasta are among the entrees most nights and there's a good variety of starters and desserts. And we don't even eat in MDRs. It's buffet all the way for us without having all that queuing up and waiting forever for food to contend with. I'd be quite happy with a menu like that in one of my local eateries - the bigger the menu the fewer things on it are made fresh - and in some ways it's better than the inn I'm looking at through my study window which has been serving food since the 17th century. You can bet their menu has changed a lot over the years ! In fact I wonder how many people new to cruising even bother looking at menus before they book - destination, price and value for money would appear to be the driving factors and in that sense cruise lines are reporting great post-pandemic numbers. It must be disquieting for people who have invested heavily in building up their loyalty levels who don't want to look elsewhere but that's just testimony to the great work of the guys and gals in marketing. They have you hooked.

" Yes, those menus look fine, but not fine compared to what they were mere months ago. " I don't get this. You're saying the menu is fine but not as fine as it was. I mean you can only eat one meal at a time and if there's always something fine to eat on the menu then it's doing its job. Cost-cutting in the shape of a smaller menu and increased fares was always inevitable after lockdown but I've just looked at the MDR menu for our next cruise and there's plenty of stuff on every day I'd happily chow down.

We only ever eat in the buffet but the new MDR menus look perfectly fine to us. We could happily find something different to eat off each menu. The lamb T-bone with duck fat roasted potatoes sounds great.

Perhaps it's just us down in Riff Raff Clas™ but those menus look perfectly fine to us. Varied with lots of choice. It's mass catering not fancy pants - what do you expect ?

Great news and well done Celebrity.👍

" I have to say the food and displays in Oceanview Cafe were impressive. However I do not want to go on a cruise holiday and serve myself! " It is quite remarkable how many posters on here go to the MDR every night and complain about the food while at the same time praising the OVC but holding their nose up at eating there. One of the golden rules of being a Ninja Cruiser™ is knowing the buffet is that best friend who never lets you down. The grub is hot, plentiful and generally very tasty. It's food without the faff. And the serving staff are great because they've often cooked the food as well so they're delighted when you praise them. Generally Mrs Baggy and I share wait duties. " Can I interest Madam in another helping of tempura-battered chicken wings with a crescent of deep-fried potatoes lightly drizzled with Heinz jus ? " Don't knock it till you've tried it !

To be honest most European women are happy to whip their stuff out at the drop of a hat and have been for about 50 years. Even though Mrs Baggy's have been heading south now for a while the old girl still enjoys getting them out for a bit of an airing when we head south. In fact most places usually have a nude beach tucked away over the rocks etc which can be a bit of a bind getting to when you're carrying a camping chair, a flask of tea and some sandwiches alongside your military-grade binoculars...

And don't forget the new Harry Potter film - Whole Tomato and the search for the Holy Grail ...

He paid 8 grand for a free bottle of water and a butler who is in fact a cleaner. Hats of to the Celebrity marketing guys who pulled off that stroke ...😅

Let me get this one straight. This fellow paid eight grand, his butler was in fact the bloke who cleans his room and he was overjoyed to get a free bottle of water every day ? This I gotta tell the boys in Riff Raff Class™ for the lolz.

If this Speciality restaurant is so special why not make an advanced booking for it. I presume not every table on every night is fully booked ? The point is paying to gain entrance to an onboard restaurant because you simply must eat in it that night when there are other dining options you've already paid for strikes some of us as preposterous. But as we always say, you moolah your move.

Probably a dumb question this as my wife says I'm very good at asking those but is there such a thing as a cruise one way from Kona to LA ? Trying to hook up with a TA flight from LA but without doing an overnight stop. Hawaiian Airlines do a morning flight but is so expensive ATM I'd rather spend the time and money on a ship as we're in no hurry. Thanks it advance. Just say your wife is right if you need to ... 😉

This is the sort of thing that Ninja Cruisers™ share jokes and stories about when we meet up. " Listen you'll never guess what. This fellow who had already paid for his meal in the MDR decided to switch up to a speciality restaurant to pay a second time then guess what he pays a third time just to get into the ' full 'restaurant. " Then leaves a generous tip to thank everyone for letting him pay three times for a meal "

Your moolah, your move. Personally I don't think any dining experience anywhere is worth paying out money just to get a table. I've got more self respect than that.

Does anyone really care THAT much which table they're seated at in a restaurant ? I can't say I've ever thought about it. And certainly not enough to pay for a different one. I'm there for the food and drink and good company not the view. Or is it more about being seen rather than seeing ?

Absolutely your right. But from what I notice it's a dying trend on cruise ships.

In a way you can see how this is playing out in changing fashions in cruising. Before, there was Riff-Raff Class™ in the cheap seats and expandable waistlines of buffet dining. Posh folk ate in the MDR. Now the MDR has been dumbed down and the posh folk will only dine in the Specialty Restaurants. New kids on the block Virgin have no buffets and every specialty restaurant is included for all without charge. They recognise the age profile of cruisers is getting younger and this is reflected in less interest in faux formality and more about relaxed dining. I haven't worn a shirt and tie in 20 years and I no longer posses a suit, jacket or formal trousers. And I'd never dine in any restaurant which insisted on any of these.