terrydtx

This is good to know, we sail on the Equinox in June with our granddaughter in a Sky Suite and she is extremely lactose intolerant. We hope since we will dine in Luminae that they will be better equipped to handle her issues with Lactose. She is 12 years old, and it took special testing by the Mayo Clinic to diagnose the severity of her lactose intolerance. The great people at Mayo told us hers was one of the worst cases that had seen in years. She is extremely good about letting people know when eating out about her issues.

Our Oosterdam cruise was a 14 night one and the 7 night MDR menu repeated for the second 7 nights, so I think we used the Lido more the second 7 nights for more variety.

HAL's Lido buffet is as good or more so than their MDR. At least it was on the Oosterdam last year from Venice. It had a fresh cooked to order fish, not Tilapia, station with a selection of Mediterranean fish, a Cooked to order pasta an Asian food station and an Indian food station. It also had a carving station every night. We found it to be delicious and a nice alternative to the MDR on nights we were too tired from long tours, to deal with a sit-down dinner in the MDR. We also enjoyed one night at the Canaletto as it was included in our cruise package.

with a wicker basket and a flute

We were on the Oosterdam last August for 14 nights from Venice. No charge for second entrees, appetizers or dessert. However many things have changed in the MDR post Covid with more MDR upcharges. We had no true surf and turf on Gala nights, a sirloin steak with 3 grilled shrimp was what they called S&T. A traditional surf and turf, 3oz lobster and 5oz fillet was only available for a $30pp up charge on Gala nights. On other nights the lobster tail was available without the beef for $10 and shrimp cocktail were $8.50 every night. None of this bothered us as I have never had any lobster tail on a cruise ship worth an extra $1 much less $10 or $30. My understanding was the Indian menu was available any night just have to ask for it, never did order from them, however.

Totally discussing and how can anyone continue to dine in the MDR with these changes. I looked at the MDR entrees in the app for our June Equinox cruise and I did not find any pork and beans. However, several nights the fish entrees are Tilapia and Cobia both trash cheap farm raised fish. Also saw roasted turkey and several baked chicken breast dishes and way too much paste. None of these I consider gourmet or fine dining fare. Good thing we will be in Luminae for our meals.

I am glad our next 4 cruises are in the Retreat so we do have Luminae which we can dine in every night. After those 4 cruises we will be reevaluating our continued loyalty to Celebrity. We already have one Oceania cruise booked and looking another on either O or Viking Ocean.

And they can tap the added methane gas from the pork and beans for more propulsion.

That is what HAL did on their older ships, the Italian Canaletto specialty restaurant was added to space in their Lido buffets..

I hope you are joking about the pork and beans, 😡 Like I said yesterday the OV and MDR is becoming more like Golden Corral and or Denny's every day. For example, I am seeing more and more Tilapia on Celebrity menus; this is one of the worst and cheapest trash fish you can buy which is why the OV and MDR is putting it on the menu. Another cheap trash fish is Copia which is about the same quality and cost as Tilapia. One of my favorite Mexican restaurants here in San Antonio use to serve awesome fish tacos with excellent quality fresh Grouper, when they switched to Tilapia, I stopped dinning there.

It looks like only the WC ones for 2025 have been released as of now.

Apparently, it is not only the OV that is cutting back on menu items, this menu was also posted on another thread from a current passenger on the Apex about how Celebrity has gone from 5 entrees and starters to only 3 options on the Celebrity Signatures list. This is why we only cruise in suites with Celebrity for Luminae, nothing on that menu is gourmet and more like you can get at Denny's or Golden Corral. Oven Roasted Turkey and Tilapia is a joke, right? Tilapia is the cheapest farm raised fish you can buy, read about how some country's farm raise and what they feed Tilapia, I would starve to death before I eat this trash fish. Turkey is less than$1 a pound so no wonder they serve it, again this is Denny's type entrees. I won't even discuss what they call starters, again this is nothing more than Dinner Food fare.

This is why we only cruise in suites with Celebrity for Luminae, nothing on that menu is gourmet and more like you can get at Denny's or Golden Corral. Oven Roasted Turkey and Tilapia is a joke, right? Tilapia is the cheapest farm raised fish you can buy, read about how some country's farm raise and what they feed Tilapia, I would starve to death before I eat this trash fish. Turkey is less than$1 a pound so no wonder they serve it, again this is Denny's type entree. I won't even discuss what they call starters, again this is nothing more than Diner Food fare.

To my knowledge Escargot and the shrimp cocktail have never been on the Luminae menu, they have to be ordered from the everyday classics MDR menu, which we always have done at least once or twice per cruise in Luminae. They are not advertised and have to be asked for with your Luminae waiter. On the Equinox last year, I ordered the Escargot in Luminae and the gentleman in the table next to mine asked how I got them when they were not on the menu and I explained why he needs to be on CC for the "insider" information, LOL.

What???? The turn down chocolate is gone???? That is the final straw, I am done with this cheapo line, LOL What happens when the OV is shut down?

I didn't think anyone saw me in those pink shorts, but they were nice and comfortable in Luminae on Chic night, LMAO.😂 The Luminae manage even wanted them because he asked me to remove the shorts, LOL My wife and I had a great cruise on the Reflection and then a not so good one following on the HAL Oosterdam, we both got Covid and spent last 5 days on the ship and then 3 days in Venice in isolation.

I agree but there have been some subtle changes. like the first night fillet steak is gone and replaced by a grilled sirloin steak and the 4oz fillet on the kid's menu is and subs with a sirloin steak. I guess X saves a few dollars with this change. Celebrity needs to change out their Luminae menus, they have been the same since pre covid except for the few subtle changes.

Now this is what I consider tacky on a cruise ship.

We have never ordered off the MDR menu for an entrée in Luminae, I have had the escargot and delicious Frech onion soup appetizers from the MDR menu on several occasions. We love the upscale food and service in Luminae which is a major reason why we book suites. BTW, the onion soup on Celebrity is the best we have ever had on any cruise line.

Don't forget the huge cost of completing their newest ship Vista for this year.

Quiet and laid back is what we prefer too. If I want to see a good production show I can go to a local venue and see really good ones. We like port intensive cruises for example our next O cruise booking will be 2024 or 25 Boston to Montreal for 11 days with 11 ports. Celebrity has in 2024, 11-day cruises from Boston round trip with only 5 ports. We are also waiting for Viking to release their 2024 and 2025 NE/Canada cruises to compare with O. We booked the 18-day Buenos Aires to Santiago cruise on Marina in 2025, in 2024 Celebrity has 14 night cruise with 4 less ports than the Marina, 2025 has not been released by X yet.

When we booked last week our 2025 Marina cruise, my TA asked her rep at Oceania about the refurbishment and what I said above in post #27 is what she was told and relayed to us. Anything already bought can be stored for later use, the biggest cost of refurbishment is the labor and ship's down time for the refurbishment. I went through the same thing with Celebrity when they canceled all of their "Revolutionizing" of their older fleet post pandemic, and no one knows if it will ever happen.

Not totally true, not a complete extra deck. Deck 12 on Reflection added more Sky Suites, A1 Aqua and C1 Concierge cabins than are on deck 12 on other S class ships and they only added 194 more passenger capacity than Equinox, 2852 vs 3046. We have sailed on both, and 194 more passengers is not enough to seem more crowded.

Oceania confirmed to us that the 2023 upgrade is canceled and might be in 2024 but not scheduled as of today. We are booked in January 2025 and hope it happens before then, but it is not a deal killer for us if not. It is surprising that Riviera got refurbed last year and she is newer than Marina. You would think the older ship would have been first.

If you upgrade to the premium Wi-Fi and use Wi-Fi calling on your cell phone it will not cost anything more than the upgrade. We did this on the Oosterdam last August and it worked well for us when at sea and much cheaper than the $16 per minute for ship to shore as 0106 pointed out above. I found the Wi-Fi calling worked much better for dialing out but not so good for people trying to call us on the ship. It worked much better for texting, and I told people trying to call us to text me and I would call them back. Put your cell phone on airplane mode then turn on Wi-Fi to keep from accidentally using Cellular at Sea, which costs about $2 or more per minute.