hucifer

On 4/10/2024 at 8:58 PM, bgoff60 said:

Rent a modest car from the airport for the week and drive to Galveston.  We stayed at a B&B called Avenue O B&B.  Great place!!!  AND you get a 5 star breakfast the morning of your cruise, you get to park your car at their residence (in the back area) FOR FREE and, they shuttle you to the cruise port for free as well and pick you up when the cruise is over and take you to your car at their place.  They are about 5 minutes from the cruise port and is super fast to get there.    (They are also cruisers...)

Just booked Avenue O, based on your post. 😁

19 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

Drinks: I'm a cheap date but I was disappointed that there were only 2, non-light, beers available in the Classic Package: Heineken and Corona.  You needed a premium package to get an IPA or a Stella for instance. C'mon Celebrity, most beers aren't that expensive, please include some more in the classic package!!!

100%.

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Haha, yeah, sure. Go ahead and blame the bean counters.  That’s like blaming the knife after someone got cut instead of the person wielding the knife.

 

Contrary to what people think, Finance of its own does not spearhead the changes in corporate policy.  We are the tail of the dog.  We wag when the dog tells us when to wag and not the other way around.

 

The typical scenario is for Finance to produce a whole bunch of reports and then senior management/board of directors reviews it and says “Why is labor cost so high?” 

 

Then Finance will provide a more detailed breakdown of the ship’s operating cost by department type and then the CEO will say, we want to reduce costs related to cabin cleaning as it’s wasteful to clean it twice a day.  That's when they have to figure out what is the bare minimum number of cabin stewards needed for each ship.

 

Finance on its own has no clue about how long a cabin steward takes to clean any given cabin.  Operations must provide that info.  I’m sure they have it to the minute on what is the expected time for a worker to clean the cabin.  When they go through training to become one, all cabin attendants have to meet these criteria.

 

So Operations has to tell Finance that it takes 25 minutes (my hypothetical number from above. No idea how accurate it may be) to clean one cabin and on average, they think a person can clean a maximum of 25 cabins per a typical working day.  This number has to come from operations.  Your average bean counter sitting in the Miami corporate HQ has never cleaned a ship's cabin.  They know zip about that. 

 

Only when there’s enough data input from Operations will the Finance group calculate the wage savings in reducing the staff.  For example, assume in the old days of twice-a-day cleaning, each cabin steward could only clean 15 cabins (again my theoretical number).  In a ship like Odyssey with 4,200 people that’s 2,100 cabins or they need 140 cabin stewards on any given sailing to have full coverage to clean all the cabins 2 times a day.

 

If they reduce it to 25 cabins per attendant at one cleaning a day, they only need 84 cabin stewards (2,100 cabins divided by 25).  The difference is savings of 56 jobs at whatever average salary each person makes and annualize that for all the ships in the fleet is your cost savings. 

 

The bean counters calculate all these numbers in Miami for the CEO to approve but they don’t initiate it.  They are the tail that will wag when the dog wants the info and then Finance wags/calculates.  Finance is never the group that just sits around and says “Hey, let’s see how much money we can save if we fire 56 cabin attendants on the Odyssey?” 

 

That’s not how Corporate America's Finance operation works.  The directive and thought came from the senior management after looking at the various reports and wanted to cut every single line of expenses and then operations are the one that comes up with the idea on what headcounts are needed to safely operate the ship as Accounting has no idea how many people are needed to clean a ship.

 

But nobody ever blames management or Operations.  It’s always the bean counter’s fault for calculating the numbers…🤪

 

Well, thank you for a very detailed and thorough explanation in defense of bean counters. Basically, you just provide the info, not the solution. 

2 minutes ago, luvtoride said:

It seems like some of you long time cruisers are spoiled by the service levels in the old days.  I can’t even imagine what the room stewards would have to do with TWO room cleanup visits per day!?  We thought that the cabin service by our Attendant on this cruise was very good and as we expected.  We got everything we needed promptly and he was very nice always.  

Yeah, when you are initially served steak and champagne, then later a soy burger and a domestic beer, you can't help but miss the former. Some of the service been outstanding, despite the cutbacks, and others...yeah.

10 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

After the family got back, it was almost time to shower and get dressed for the formal night.

 

One major problem of not having the boys’ cabin cleaned was they had no clean bath towels.

The cabin attendants haven’t cleaned their cabin since we boarded on day 1.  After realizing the cabin steward was not going to come over anytime soon, I had to make a phone call from the desk phone to Housekeeping and requested 2 sets of fresh towels. 

 

Waited 20 minutes.  Nothing. 

 

OK. This isn’t going so well.  I went outside the hallway and waited awhile to find one worker walking by and asked him for some towels and he opened the utility door down the hall and got us 2 sets. 

 

I thought about going down to Guest Services to request towels but they probably just told me to call guest services.

 

After the boys started taking their showers, housekeeping finally dropped off the 2 sets of towels I requested. 

 

Never thought I had to work so hard on a cruise ship to get fresh towels.  In the old days of 2 cabin cleanings daily, you had fresh towels everywhere you looked. Now you have to flag someone down in the hallway to get some…

Yeah, Royal's service isn't a fraction of what it used to be. I know the room stewards are working their rears off. I blame the bean counters (no offense) at Royal for this.

Your son is right; dessert looked like the product that comes out of a rear end. Was it tasty, at least?

16 hours ago, twonpcb said:

I am Diamond status in the RCI loyalty program.  This affords me a match as Elite in the Celebrity program.  While cruising on a RCI ship, my status affords me 4 alcoholic drinks throughout the day provided they are $14 or less.  I’m a little confused as to the offering Celebrity gives for their Elite status.  From what I read, there is essentially a “happy hour” where guests meet and eligible members are offered complimentary drinks.  Is this only during a certain time of the day?  Is it at a specific venue on the ship?  I’m so confused.  TIA

 

And do check out the list of "approved" drinks. It's very limited. The beer selections suck.

But if you find a good bartender...he'll hook you up. 😁

12 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

By then it was 3 o’clock and my old man memory got fuzzy at this point as I don’t recall why the family went back to the cabin first without me.  All I knew was by the time I made it back up to the room, the cabin attendant just started to clean one of the rooms at 3 PM.  

 

As I said in previous posts, she never asked if we preferred morning or evening room cleaning since she will clean our room whenever she gets to it. I have never had a cabin attendant clean the cabin at 3 PM. 

 

They typically do it early in the morning as I typically see them when we eat breakfast or get ready to get off the ship on port day or they are around when we go off to dinner and clean the cabins while we are out at night.

 

3 PM is normally their break time.  So either she was overwhelmed with too many cabins to clean with 125% capacity, which meant extra towels and more messy bathrooms to take care or she was too slow and couldn’t get to our cabins until later.

 

Whatever the case was, the rest of the family was camped out at the “other room” that she wasn’t cleaning as we have a connecting room so one cabin is the same as another.

 

I didn’t want to just sit in the cabin and wait for her to clean so I went for a walk by myself to check out the ship.

Remember the days when it was about the passenger and what was convenient for them? Now it's about whatever is convenient for the room stewart, no apologies given. 

Personally, I don't mind the once-a-day cleanings, but time options would be nice.

Agree on Carnival's burgers. Nothing at sea beats them.

Since I came here a little late, I meant to tell you that I completely agree with you about the first day of the cruise being the most special. There's nothing like the anticipation of stepping on the ship for the first time that vacation. Nothing beats the excitement.

As far as the uncle in prison...my son and I were on the Serenade last summer and we had a day at the CoCoCay waterpark. The only other ship docked there that day was the Allure. Uncle Prison would be waiting at the top of each slide. When we would get up to the top, the uncle would ask us "Allure passengers?" while holding up his camera. After telling him no, we were lowly Serenade scum, he would immediately turn to the next folks in line as if WE were the crazy aunt in the basement. 

Very informative. Thank you!

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

I especially enjoyed the Princess ship sailing off by playing the Love Boat Theme Song. 

As a child of the TV media growing up, I watched more episodes of Love Boat than I care to admit.  That theme song is forever embedded in my brain so whenever I hear that song via the ship horn, it stirs up old memories that tuck at the heart.

 

Love love LOVE that show. It's what made me obsessed with cruising when i was a wee lass. I couldn't wait to board a ship and play shuffleboard (which seemed to be the only activity they ever talked about).

11 hours ago, luvtoride said:

Any advice on avoiding listening to Wooden Hangers clank against each other as the ships movement causes to happen if you don’t have enough shirts to take up every hanger? 🤷‍♂️😂

Throw them overboard?

Edited to add: Any wagers on how many people are going to ask me if I'm being serious? 🙄

12 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Now here’s a question that’s like “What is the meaning of life?”  in significance– if RCI renamed the main shopping area to be Royal Esplanade instead of Royal Promenade, shouldn’t the café be renamed to Café Esplanade instead of Café Promenade? 

 

That question kept me awake the entire 8 nights of the cruise as I tossed and turned in my bed pondering why didn’t they change the name.

Great. Now I'LL have trouble falling asleep tonight.

Loving your review, Harry! Especially your OCD, bean counter sense of humor. 

My 16yo son and I did the Thrill Waterpark last July via Royal. I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but I probably spent a stupid amount of money for tickets.

I will say, we both are thrill-seekers, and we loved the slides. We spent all day on them. 

Keep in mind that, depending on how many ships are at port that day, will greatly impact the lines. If you're standing in long lines all day, it may not be worth it.

On 12/16/2023 at 9:20 PM, Cruise Gopher said:

Just book for two passengers. Take your friend George Glass who has something suddenly come up and doesn’t show up for the cruise. 

Love your double Brady reference 😄

6 hours ago, We_like_to_cruise said:

We spent eight days on the Equinox last month and were underwhelmed. 

 

As long time (Elite) Princess cruisers we decided to try Celebrity again after an absence of a few years.  Our most recent cruise was on the Island Princess, fairly similar in age and size to the Equinox.

 

We were pleased with our previous Celebrity cruises, especially the food and service.

 

But this cruise – not so much.

 

First, our balcony cabin – storage was a disaster.  Seriously - we had to climb onto the bed to store clothing in the only cabinet.  Whose bright idea was that???  Our cabin had no night tables but instead a couple of dingy damaged wooden triangular shelves on wheels.  We had to leave some items in the suitcase under the bed as there was nowhere to store them.

 

Gosh, we spent four months on the IP and had an accessible place for all of our belongings!

 

On the bright side our bathroom was refurbished and modern but storage was again at a premium.  Plenty of tiny little drawers that were not too useful.  We did enjoy the space capsule shower – no curtain! – with plenty of hot water although the water pressure could have been better.

 

The cabin had exactly two US plugs at the desk and none at all behind the bed. Our wonderful cabin steward Michael ran a very long extension cord all the way around the room to provide bedside electric access (CPAP).  The duct tape did not add to the room decor.  🙄  The bed was very comfy and our cabin was quiet.

 

Food of course is subjective but I think all would agree that if you wait over two hours for your dinner and it arrives cold then this is a problem.  The ice cream for dessert was half melted – obviously sitting around for some time.  We spoke with the head waiter and were eventually assigned to a new location with better service, but still had issues.

 

The menu was very repetitive.  DW loves escargot.  But this is the only cruise we have been on where it was a choice every single night.  The other starters were also basically the same every night and it did not take long to get bored with the lack of variety on even this shorter cruise.  The mains were ok, but nothing spectacular.  Certainly not worthy of the impression we had that Celebrity would wow us again with their meals.

 

We did have dinner at Le Petit Chef one evening and yes, it was gimmicky – but fun.  The food was not the main attraction, but it was better than the standard MDR fare.

 

Not impressed with the OVC food.  Yes, the area was large and there was plenty of seating.  But the stations were repetitive and gave the appearance there was more on offer than there actually was.  And we were spoiled at Princess by the constant appearance of the roving coffee servers happy to provide a refill.  Here it was every man for himself as we waited on line at the coffee urns.  (Don’t get me started on the morning one of the urns was not working when the OVC opened!)

 

Once, at breakfast, I attempted to add some walnuts to a bowl of oatmeal.  The walnut offering (in two locations) was literally dust with a sprinkling of tiny walnut pieces.  Seriously, it was the walnut dust you get at the very bottom of the container when you are at home and you would probably just discard it. I asked a server if I could get some real walnuts and a visit to the kitchen provided me with a nice helping of walnut halves.  So, why would you even serve your customers that walnut “dust”???  Truly pitiful.

 

Our only attempt at the sit down breakfast was not good.  We were seated and served coffee and offered pastries and then…nothing.  No waiter ever came to take our order.  Another couple later sat right next to us and within minutes a waiter took their order and then started to walk away.  I called out to him and politely informed him we had been sitting and waiting to order.  He said he was not our waiter - but would take the order anyway.  Our assigned waiter appeared after our food was served!

 

Our best meal was a four course luncheon on the last sea day.  Our booking was a special “warehouse club” discounted offering.  The featured Chef Sam Hazen luncheon was very very good and by far the best meal the entire week.  Pricing for this “Buyer’s Choice Cruise” was a great value and also included the classic drink package, internet, gratuities a welcome reception and a couple of chef run food demos.  We compared booking directly with X but the equivalent package was considerably more money.

 

One evening we stopped at a bar before dinner to get a drink.  I ordered a Jameson neat (Irish whiskey) and was curtly told by the bartender “We don’t serve that” as he walked away.  Turns out we were at the World Class Bar and being unfamiliar with the ship did not realize they specialized in exotic cocktails.  He could have educated me and offered a suggestion for a different bar that met my needs instead of being dismissive.  Or even offered a cocktail I might consider instead.  He was just plain rude.

 

Service by the bar staff was in general lackluster.  We sat for about 15 minutes in one bar area while three bartenders were at work.  No one ever came to take an order from us.  We sure missed the Princess medallions that worked flawlessly for us on our last voyages.

 

Ship layout seemed to concentrate on getting pax to sit around bars and drink.  No lounges with a small stage for activities.  We like to participate in fun activities before and after dinner but they were held in “Celebrity Central.”  This area had exactly 15 total chairs and there could be a hundred people participating – but standing around and blocking the walkway to the theater.  Very odd.

 

The “Grand Foyer” was humdrum and not a focal point for gathering.

 

Our healthy morning walks around the jogging path on Deck 14 were marred by the groups of smokers we had to walk by at the Mast Bar.  Is no one at Celebrity thinking when they put these ideas in place??? A smoking area adjacent to the jogging track?  At least the inside casino was no smoking.

 

The theater was lovely and we never had a problem getting a good seat.  We enjoyed the shows and the onboard talent was very good.

 

The ship seemed to be in a good shape and any minor maintenance issues did not affect us in the least.

 

Any interaction we had with guest services was prompt and courteous. 

 

Occasionally we had pre-dinner cocktails at the Ensemble Lounge after we made contact with a friendly bartender.  However this venue was dark, gloomy and claustrophobic.  As a matter of fact just about all of the lounges were interior with no outside view of the ocean and sky.  Puzzling design.

An exception was the Sky Lounge – a very large but underutilized space which infrequently held trivia contests. 

 

Pre-cruise we were inundated with “sale” offers for internet, upgraded bev packages, specialty dining, excursions, etc.  We are not ones to generally take ship sponsored excursions (prefer our own semi-private ones) but some of the offers were remarkably inexpensive.  Especially when we compared them with third party similar excursions.  As a result we did book a few.  Although we had been to most of the Caribbean ports numerous times, we did particularly enjoy our first visit to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.  The tour company did a wonderful job transporting us to the Virgin Gorda Baths and we had a lovely day there.  Highly recommended.

 

In conclusion, we give our voyage a grade B-  to  C+.  It was not the upscale experience we anticipated and just enough aggravations to make us reconsider future bookings with Celebrity.  We cancelled a 2024 Celebrity cruise on a sister Solstice class ship upon our return home. 

 

The majority of the thoughts in this review were forwarded to Celebrity in our post-cruise survey last month.  No reply from them yet, not sure if there will ever be one.

 

If you have any interest in reading about our 111 days on the Island Princess, click here:

 

 

 

 

Thank you for you review. Hubby and I were on her in September of this year, and to say I was underwhelmed is an understatement. Just a few observations from our 6-night cruise:

STORAGE: The only thing I will slightly disagree with you on is storage. I thought it was adequate...nothing like on the Beyond, but manageable for the two of us. We did use the overhead storage for additional items.

CABIN: The lack of outlets is common on these older ships, and could use a serious upgrade. Otherwise, I thought our balcony cabin was decent. Cabin steward introduced himself briefly on the first day, and then we never saw him again. We saw other stewards while walking down the hall that we greeted several times a day, but never saw ours. He must have been invisible, because our room did get serviced twice a day.

MDR: OMG, this was a huge fail. Our waiter and assistant waiter were horrible, and the food options were pathetic. The first night of the cruise, the waiter comes up and asks what I want to order. I said, "Do you want to offer any suggestions?" There was zero personal interaction with us during the cruise, and the food took forever to get to our table. One night I asked for coffee cream three times from both of them, but never received it. And you are right about the soups as starters and hardly anything that sounded particularly appetizing. As someone who loves ALL kinds of food, I'm not particularly difficult to please, but Celebrity really failed on this one. An interesting note is that a coworker went on the Equinox a few weeks after I did....this coworker is not a foodie in any sense of the word, and even he said the food was barely above cafeteria standards. He said, "They covered everything in gravy and sauces to disguise the lower quality of meat."

PETITE CHEF: We did PC on the Beyond, and honestly, it was my favorite meal of the cruise. That one had a tomato tarte thing for a starter and short ribs for the main entree. And the dessert! So good! On the Equinox, we wanted a different meal, so we chose another show. That food was seafood and it was fine, but nothing worth paying extra for. The dessert was a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream that was too icy and had little flavor. I couldn't believe they served it.

MURANO: This was one of the highlights of our cruise. A must-do, IMO. We split the Chateaubriand. Holy crap, that entire meal was amazing.

SUSHI ON FIVE: We ate here on our last night because the MDR was so disappointing. Excellent!

OVC: Standard buffet fare, nothing that enticed me, except for the Indian food. The iced tea had the strangest taste all cruise long. I will say that their red velvet cake was AMAZING.

BAR SERVICE: Not impressed. As Elite, I only took advantage of the free Happy Hour once or twice. Mostly because of the ridiculous restrictions they put on what you can drink. On Beyond, I found a bartender or two who would allow me drinks off of the list. We happily kept slipping them tips throughout the cruise.
 

CREW: I prepay gratuities and bring extra money for exceptional service, especially for the waitstaff and cabin steward. This time I kept all of the tip money I brought. That was a first for me. I couldn't believe how meh the service was.

ACTIVITIES: This was a huge complaint of mine, as well-attended events were crammed into the Celebrity Central area where there was no room for anyone. Really dumb planning. I love silent discos, but the one we attended played music that you couldn't really dance to. The silent disco on the Beyond was much better.

SHIP: The ship itself was in good condition. My favorite place to park myself was in the Sky Lounge, where I could soak up some sun through the windows and look out over the ocean.

This may not be a valid side-by-side comparison, but I was also on Royal's Serenade of the Seas in July. That ship is 6 years older than the Equinox. She was in GREAT condition, the crew was amazing, the food in both the MDR and buffet were much better, and the ship had better flow. Just a gorgeous class of ship. Given a choice, I would choose Serenade over Equinox any day.

On 11/14/2023 at 10:42 AM, Rewind said:

That is where our trip ends.  Feel free to ask questions - I think I have to find a thread about hard scoop ice cream now as there was a question there.

 

Thank you for your review, I found it very helpful.
We'll be on the Harmony next September. Did they have any silent discos? If so, do you know how many?

On 9/2/2023 at 2:42 PM, odysee said:

We were turned off last year on Beyond as well :

- extremely loud music and speakers in Theatre, music and entertainment places with decibels way too high 

- annoying pulsating music EVERYWHERE, even where one just likes to sit quietly gazing at sea or with a book

I had the same complaint on Beyond. During the theater performances, the ladies would screech so loudly that I would plug my ears.

14 hours ago, basenji56 said:

I would pay to see the Royal Broadway shows (except Cats). 

Totally agree! I found Oasis-class entertainment to be exceptional. Even Cats was amazing (production, choreography, talent), but the lack of plot is what drives everyone (including me) away.

Like you, I am Diamond on Royal and finally decided to try Celebrity after all this time. Hubby and I boarded the Beyond earlier this year for the first time.

While I very much enjoyed the ship and the older crowd, the cruise was right when Celebrity started the cutbacks. I was expecting better food than Royal, and I was greatly disappointed. Dining room service was sub-par, imo. Entertainment, while good, could not hold a candle to the Oasis-class entertainment (except for Cats 😝)
 

That said, it didn't stop me from booking two more Celebrity cruises, as there was a lot to love about it as well. I still travel on Royal with my son, but prefer Celebrity with my husband.

Hands down, the BEST meal I've ever had on a cruise ship was the Chateaubriand at 150 Central Park. It is for two people, though. My son and I STILL talk about it to this day, and it's been about five years.

Also, the duck confit appetizer is freaking amazing.

I love this restaurant so much, I wish they were on every RC ship.

21 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I don’t at home, and I am not lowering my standards on vacation. 

That's how I feel about half and half in my coffee!

Our favorites were Eden and Le Petit Chef.

On 6/20/2023 at 11:29 PM, dlh015 said:

I find it a tad depressing that some folks need to judge a little light-hearted fun...but I'll get over it...lol...

 

Maybe I should put up a different pic than my little travel gnome...(maybe a flamingo?? Oh, no, those are also verboten I guess...)

 

My goodness... 

Next they'll be complaining about shorts in the dining room 😉

I don't downgrade to milk in my coffee at home, I certainly wouldn't expect to on vacation. Am I forced to bring my own cream packets now?

55 minutes ago, cw2go said:

Hey there 👋 

Howdy, Patty! 😄