Salt Lifer

I actually really enjoy tilapia for a quick, easy and cheap meal and eat it regularly. The issue is when I cruise I do not expect a "quick, easy, and CHEAP" meal in the MDR.

If the new trend is to hound you over where you eat, then the cruise experience will have been degraded to nothing more than a telemarketing call or those kiosks in the mall who hound you when you walk by. That said, I truly feel for the food services staff on the ships. They are probably reviewed/compensated by how many people eat in their venues and the reviews they get. They are probably suffering because of the boneheaded decisions of the Celebrity C-Suite.

THIS! One of the best cruises I have taken had a week of nothing but guest entertainers because the production performers all caught Covid and were out of commission. To me, the shows were so much better and varied than the big production shows.

Please don't give The Powers That Be any ideas!!!

But I think you are missing the point. You signed up expecting certain suite perks. Passengers in steerage signed up expecting other perks (free room service, quality food, etc.). Just because you paid more for your perk does not make it more worthwhile to be respected.

Exactly. I suspect that if the cost saving changes implemented were to eliminate the casino or change Luminea from a suite-perk to a specialty restaurant for all, many here would be screaming bloody murder and complaining they should have known this prior to final payment and that this wasn't they signed up for. For those who enjoy room service or going to the buffet for dinner or even having high quality meals in the MDR, this is equivalent.

This is interesting. Just checked the menus for Beyond in April and not noticing any significant changes except 1.) Tilapia seems to only be listed one one day now and 2.) Normandie (my favorite of the 4 MDR) is closed in days 6 and 7. WTH! No other MDR is closed for dinner any day. So now they are eliminating 25% of the included dining options plus destroying the OVC? I am reserving judgement and holding out hope that things will still change before April, but am not overly optimistic. Also, no prime rib or any beef on the main Celebrity Exclusives menu except for the "steak Diane" made from Sirloin. I will say that while the "exclusives" menu sounds cheap and unappealing, the reataurant-specific options sound pretty good still. Will keep watching to see if anything else gets updated. (ETA, in regards to #2, I realize that it is possible this is just a famous Celebrity IT glitch and may be due to Celebrity trying to pivot quickly behind the scenes.)

Do not underestimate the power of "whining on the internet." PR is important for any business, especially one whose product is an experience-based one. People choose cruises based on what other passengers are saying. Bad OR will hurt the company, which will lead to lost sales, which will hopefully lead to changes in policy. If Celebrity/RCI is smart they are monitoring this and working to right the ship before too much damage is done. And for those who think Celebrity doesn't read here, I beg to differ. I can almost guarantee they have an entire team whose sole purpose is to monitor social media, message boards, etc. All big corporations have such a department. Those who don't do not last long in this day and age.

It isn't *just* about the buffet. Simultaneously they have also reduced and cheapened the options in the MDR. So even those who may have tolerated changes in one venue with the belief that they would just get a quality meal in the other are out of luck. It is obvious many people chose Celebrity over other lines because of food. Serving some of the cheapest cuts of meat and fish daily in the MDR and eliminating many of the fan favorites just makes zero sense from a PR standpoint. There are so many other ways that costs could be cut in less noticable ways than to completely destroy the one element (the food experience) that used to set Celebrity apart. It is baffling to me. I am starting to agree with others that they may be in worse financial shape than we realized.

Is Royal considering selling Celebrity? Perhaps. But I have another thought. I used to work for the Home Office of a company that owned the majority of jewelry stores you see in malls. Many people don't realize that most of those mall chain stores are all owned by the same company and have the same shareholders. The different brands have their own management team, but at a certain level they all respond to the same C-Suite. Company leadership would frequently make really drastic changes to operating procedures for one division and not the others. This is done as a 'test before you invest' type of strategy with little regard for customers or employees impacted. It is all about the bottom line. I somewhat suspect Celebrity may be falling on the sword at Royal right now for a similar strategy. They may feel Celebrity has the most loyal passengers who will overlook this (they may have guessed wrong), or perhaps Celebrity was the least profitable division for them so they are using it to experiment. Regardless, I suspect they are throwing all the ***** at the wall with Celebrity to see what sticks. Whatever they can get away with without loosing too many customers or causing a PR uproar will be implemented across the fleet.

I don't have an issue with any cruise line charging for a second lobster tail, per se, but I do feel the price should be reasonable for what you get. Frankly, I would not object to there being a minimal charge for all second entrees but, again, it has to be reasonable. I am concerned this is a slippery slope and we will, infact, soon see a surcharge for certain menu items for the initial order (not seconds).

I love how the Celebrity die-hards, groupies if you will, are trying to defend Celebrity on this. I am sorry, but that food looked about as unappetizing as you can get. I have seen more appetizing food options (not to mention a bigger selection) at the local Golden Coral. I would have had difficulties finding enough to eat that night Cutting down the number of options is one thing but cutting quality is something else. If food waste and costs is an option then having a full pasta station and a carving station with multiple meat selections would be two smart options. This, combined with the new MDR menus that lack quality fish and meat cuts and little imagination, are really leading me to believe that Celebrity is trying to push passengers into paying extra for specialty dining. It is too late to cancel our upcoming cruise, but this certainly isn't what I paid thousands of dollars to experience. It is disappointing. We were about to book another X cruise but have now put those plans on hold while we research other options. I think most cruisers don't mind paying the price for a quality product, but we expect to get what we pay for.

My concern isn't that Celebrity seems to be cheapening it's product in an apparent attempt to save money, adding on charges for things that were previously free, etc. My concern is that they doing it in a way that impacts cruises taking place after final payment was due. That is bait and switch. It is a bad look for Celebrity.

We have a cruise coming up in a few months and have noticed the menu has changed and the offerings are less and not nearly as varied or unique. We cruise for the food, and this is especially why we choose Celebrity over other lines. Serving Tilapia on a formal night, no prime rib, etc. is not really acceptable for the amount we pay for the experience. We were about to book a cruise to Alaska but have decided to hold off until we see how much Celebrity has downgraded the cruising experience - especially the food - on our next sailing. I am reserving judgement until we experience it first hand, but from what I am reading it isn't making me excited to book anything new. Perhaps Celebrity feels if they turn the MDR experience into the equivalent of going to a chain restaurant that cruisers will fork over the extra money for the specialty restaurants?

...but a whole lot less fun!

Apples to oranges. I was referring to the elimination of the pre-selected dining times without informing the guests. So to use your analogy: You make a reservation at a restaurant a month from now at a fancy restaurant for a special occasion. You plan your day around this reservation - scheduling activities and such so you know you will still have time to arrive on time You show up and find they decided to cancel your reservation without telling you. The restaurant is full so you either now have to wait in line for 30-60 minutes or go elsewhere. Wouldn't you find this to be poor customer service and find it irritating? My issue is not that Celebrity choose to eliminate select dining times (if true), my issue is the lack of communication.

You are missing the point. People sign up for a select time to eat for a reason - be it habit or scheduling or health reasons. If you sign up for a time you expect to get to eat at such a time. You should not have to run around on Day 1 hoping you can get reservations scheduled for the week for the times you want (my experience is it is not as easy to get reservations at the times you want unless you book in advance) or have to wait in line and wait for a table. It would be very simple for Celebrity to email a notice in advance to all cruisers letting them know of this chance so they can make reservations if they desire. Simple courtesy.

Thank you. I find this extremely irritating that Celebrity has not informed booked passengers of this change. I am assuming most passengers do not read here, and in turn will be blindsided once on board.

It was discussed on this site a month or two ago and at that time at least one cruiser said they personally experienced it. Hoping it was perhaps limited to just that particular cruise if no one else has experienced it.

Have they officially done away with the early/late set dinner times in favor of anytime dining?

But you are assuming a scenario where you spend zero while on board. That is simply not realistic for the majority of cruisers. Most of us plan on spend some money, be it on an excursion, pictures, food/beverage, or even just a t-shirt. Yes, these items are "overpriced" but if you are going to spend the money it is better to spend non-refundable OBC than cash.

Not exactly free money; the government will take their cut. Meanwhile OBC from stocks is not taxed. If you use OBC for something you would have paid cash for anyway (say, an excursion or drinks) than that $100 OBC is actually worth more than $100 in dividends because you aren't getting taxed on those earning.

You obviously never watched The Titanic! But seriously, after hearing about the experience in the Concordia, I think I would always err on the side of caution if my gut told me something was not right, rather than and wait for an alarm. Better safe than sorry.

Can I ask, did you book a set time (early or late) and Celebrity just eliminated it and didn't tell you?

Interesting. We are booked on Beyond this coming April and have late seating reserved. We booked this cruise a year ago. We had three dining options - early, late, or select.