Dr65

After 20 Celebrity cruises we have graduated to Azamara. Celebrity has lost their Mojo for us…totally inferior product since we started on the Zenith in 1994. Our last cruise to Japan on the Millennium was so poor we will never go back. MDR was overcrowded,rushed and food was cafeteria quality. The buffet, on excursion mornings, had almost no seating and tables were very slow to be cleaned. Quality of the buffet was college dorm like. Ship was poorly refurbished and looked like Ikea had a sale. We did notice the Edge class ships had MUCH BETTER food and entertainment..it seems like Celebrity is putting all their $ and effort into the Edge ships and neglecting their older ships. We like Azamara because attention to detail was superb..food very good,staff was extremely attentive and accommodating,ship(even though 25 YO) was impeccably clean. Yes, the bathrooms are TINY but the peaceful and relaxing vibe make up for some of the small ship shortcomings. Celebrity has changed so much and made so many cuts to their original product it felt like a bargain basement cruise.

We did the Sept 30 Millenium Japan cruise and in hindsight(20/20) we wished we had done a land vacation instead of the cruise. A lot of the ports were large industrial ports and points of interest were some times an hour or 2 metro stops away. I think not going to Hiroshima or Nagasaki was a deal killer(my fault-I knew this before hand). The shore excursions offered by Celebrity were awful and not nearly worth the exorbitant cost. I highly recommend if you do this cruise to get private guides as much as possible. My recommendation for doing Japan by land: 5 days in Tokyo(beyond fascinating!!), 3 days in Kyoto, fast train to Hiroshima or Nagasaki fly back to Tokyo.( my 2 cents)…all of the above is just my opinion and others will disagree.

I have to agree with the downturn in quality of food in general on Celebrity. Just off Japan cruise on Millenium and concur MDR was just fair at best. The Celebrity magic of old ( 20 cruises starting with Horizon in ‘94) is completely gone. Ship was very clean and crew was superb but we have done our last Celebrity cruise. Lines were too long, very hard to find seats in the buffet, and no comedian! Ocean cafe had the ambiance of a college dorm and quality wasn’t much better. MDR was crowded, slow and waiters were overwhelmed. Saving grace was Cafe il Bacio which had FAR better desserts than any other venue. The Celebrity shore excursions were underwhelming at best and not nearly worth the $. We recently cruised Azamara and will stick to the smaller ships(price is comparable without all the Celebrity nickel and dime games). RIP Celebrity

We just did a week long port intensive cruise in Italy(early May) on the Onward and loved it! Different port every day and food/service were (in our minds) way above the recent Celebrity product.( almost 20 cruises-lost count). We started out on the Horizon/ Zenith/Galaxy/ Mercury and have done M, S and E class. We have 2 future cruises booked on Celebrity but noticed the quality of everything slipping badly. We feel that all the $ and best staff has gone into the E class product and the older ships are Junior Varsity. The Azamara cost was equal to Celebrity’s ever increasing price. The Onward is old/lacks many entertainment venues but was impeccably clean and I would go back in a heartbeat…

Hi: 1st time Japan cruiser looking into opinions on this cruise. It starts in Tokyo goes to Kyushu, Fukuoka, Busan South Korea,Kanazawa, Akita and back to Tokyo. Is this a good itinerary to see Japan? Thanks for any help, DrB

I’m thinking about an Edge cruise in August but as we all know airfare has become very expensive. I find fares on the FBC website and then call them and they say those fares have not been updated and then proceed to give me a Premium Economy fare double what I can get through the airline! Huh? I ask to speak to a supevisor(on hold for 1/2 hour then(of course) hung up on. I wanted to check air before booking the cruise because air from LAX to Rome is as much(or more) than the cruise. So, are these fares on the FBC website a fantasy? Anyone have similar issues? Thanks, Gary