foodsvcmgr

Unfortunate and no real cost savings to HAL. Inconvenient for those of us that enjoyed it, particularly on older ships with less variety of lunch venues. With enough complaints they may reconsider. I hope this is not a precursor to charging for the privilege along the lines of Royal Caribbean’s “Key” program……

IF there would be any drop in fares, I would agree as mentioned here that it would be short 3-5 day itineraries, likely those on old Carnival “Fantasy” class ships. These cruises are drawing a more price sensitive clientele, say a young family looking to take their first cruise who might have a lot of debt, etc.

Don’t be trapped in Depression era thinking. For the employed or retired middle class and above, cruising and vacations in general are now an important part of their lifestyle and not necessarily the first thing to be deferred as in the past. Of course fares will drop in response to reduced demand if that occurs. I also don’t think those who are really struggling to make ends meet, pay bills, etc. are representative of typical cruisers.

Similar to Carnival eliminating top tier benefits on maiden voyage of Venezia last year due to the volume of members on the sailing.

I thought the idea was to blank out your brokerage account number, not your address. The cruise line has your address anyway and the stock credit would need it as an identifier.

Blackduck your jest made me recall Queen Victoria last August. Never had a seating issue in the Lido on a full cruise. I think the multitude of activities offered on Cunard plus a good sized dedicated Card Room mitigates the issue as others have mentioned.

Noordam was unique in this layout for many years. Perhaps now that the long removed lower deck libraries are being reinstated they might consider a coffee option to go along with it. In addition to the original library I remember another former venue from my first sailing on Zuiderdam in 2007 called the Windstar Cafe. I think they offered coffee IIRC.

Interesting that enforcement is not company wide as I observed these signs on both Liberty of the Seas and Celebrity Eclipse in the past 10 months.

I’m putting on my Kevlar as I type, but I for one rue the day open dining options began. IMO it has made the MDR experience worse for everyone, food quality, service issues, overpriced and under delivering specialty restaurants, the list goes on….. No need to argue, it’s just my personal belief.

Both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have discreet signs on buffet tables stating along the lines of “reserved for dining only during peak meal hours”. Seems to work mostly.

On Eclipse last month only 3-4 tuxes in evidence. I own a tux but only wear it when sailing Cunard. On their formal nights 90% or more men will be wearing one making it much more enjoyable IMO. I have no desire to stand out on other lines nor pack unnecessary clothing. As everyone says, do what YOU are comfortable doing is the best answer.

This is not just an HAL problem. Fortunately my lady at Holland America is pretty good. However my Celebrity PCC stopped all contact after Covid, if he left they never gave me a new one. The lady I’m assigned to at Cunard takes days to reply to emails. I assume these folks get some sort of commission so it seems odd they don’t have a greater sense of urgency if it impacts their paycheck.

It’s amazing to me that when booking E-class you are still offered to pick early, late, or select dining when everyone reports it is open seating only for the last year or more. I realize Celebrity IT is not good, but how hard would this be to update accurately?

When we were last aboard QV in August I felt that the overall condition was outstanding, one of the best in recent years.

I would find it very hard to believe that Cunard/Carnival would eliminate this historical perk, particularly if RCL and NCL retain theirs.

Last month on 14 day Eclipse cruise we got one full bag of laundry for $20 Select discount vs $59 full price. The offer was on a paper in our cabin listing Select benefits. You had to write “Select” on the total line when filling out the laundry itemized ticket, I didn’t get the impression this could be done in advance.

Last August in Southampton the Cunard agent quickly looked at the printed document. Interestingly Celebrity last month in Buenos Aires, despite promoting e-documents in your Apple wallet, was only interested in looking at a printed copy. Not sure if any line is fully ready for paperless just yet. Similar to the airlines that still hand you a paper boarding pass at the airport when checking bags even if you have it on your phone.

I hope the duo concept will be applied to all ships. We enjoyed it for many years pre-LC.

Apologies all, I spoke too soon but upon further study the changes I referenced appear in the new overview brochure but are NOT on the Cunard website which remains as originally researched!

There seem to be a few changes to ports overall, but not many. QA to Iceland in July ‘26 now returns via Greenock and Liverpool instead of Stornoway and Cobh. QE in March ‘26 has substituted Amber Cove for Grand Turk. Many thanks again John for your fine advance research!

Seems rather costly, no particular gain as far as your cabin and any scenic viewing from your balcony. Strictly the value you place on the dining upgrade.

Or investing either if +/- $1500 is a catastrophic loss…….

Glad you enjoyed it. We felt the same on Eclipse last month after being away from Celebrity since 2018. All the positives we remembered.

Understand that bots preprogrammed with certain algorithms control most of the price fluctuations, this doesn’t generally relate to individual investors buying or selling. Construed bad news that they react to may or may not actually affect the cruise industry directly. I’m happy to own 300 shares at these prices, not much downside, I’ll be patient to divest 200 when it gets back to $25-30 some day and continue to squeeze OBC from the last 100.

Having sailed Refection twice and CP once, I would pick Reflection. It’s a nicer and more contemporary ship and offers many more tangible amenities to suite passengers.