MarkWiltonM

We will be on Apex in April and I've read on this board repeatedly that regardless of whether you have scheduled fixed-time dining or "Anytime" dining on your reservations it is now all open seating and you show up wherever (among the four main dining rooms) and whenever you want. I like the open seating concept. However, this morning, I received an email from Celebrity encouraging me to make main dining room reservations. (FYI, we have fixed early seating according to our reservation.) I went online and the only main dining rooms available for reservations were Normandie and Tuscan. I didn't make any reservations yet, but I'm wondering if Celebrity has been sending these email around for a while or it's a new strategy/policy. I'm also wondering if I should go ahead and book one or both of these, even though we do want to try Cypress and Cosmopolitan as well.

We also did not find Ember noisy and we enjoyed it more than any other specialty restaurant on Vista. It was also the only restaurant where they gave us a table for two despite having been forced into a "shared table" reservation.

Totally agree. We went on VV for the first time last October when we read about comparisons between Celebrity and Virgin Voyages. The fare for a veranda stateroom was reasonable considering the inclusions, and the food in the restaurants on Scarlet Lady was the best we've had on any cruise ship other than Crystal Serenity, but the ship's staterooms are awful (especially the tiny ugly bathrooms) and the exteriors spaces are truly dismal. It's a very uncomfortable ship. The buffet (that they don't call a buffet) is mediocre (except for the ramen) and the lack of variety gets very boring very quickly. We prefer Oceania, especially their new ship, Vista, over Celebrity, but we're still sailing Celebrity as well. VV was a one and done for us, despite the excellent restaurants (especially the Italian restaurant, Extra Virgin, and the "steakhouse," The Wake).

Not worth it.

On Vista last month, we also found the blue "nightlight" in the hallway outside the bathroom way too bright. Couldn't sleep with that on. However, the vanity mirror light in the bathroom is dimmable. We found that putting that on its lowest setting before bed was a perfect night light. We didn't need a light in the small hallway leading to the bathroom.

We had a great time in Ember on the Vista in December. it's the only specialty restaurant we enjoy and the only one we'll book when we are on Allura next year. We are on Marina later this year which doesn't have Ember but will have Aquamar Kitchen, which debuted on Vista and was also a highlight for us.

You do not need to wear a jacket in the Grand Dining Room or the specialty restaurants. You won't feel underdressed. Jackets are now the exception more than the rule.

Maybe it's just me, but I find CC's search function very difficult to use. I know this question has been asked and answered but I can't find it: If I'm in one of the four main dining rooms and want to order a dish that's offered in another main dining room that evening, can I do that?

Also, there are four A1 staterooms on Deck 12, in the front of the ship, and they do not have extended balconies.

We were just on Vista this month. If you look at the deck plans, you'll see A1 staterooms on Deck 9 have extended balconies (6 are in the front of the ship and 16 are aft). On Deck 10, some aft A1 staterooms have extended balconies but the midship A1 balconies are not extended. There are six A1 staterooms on Deck 11 and none have extended balconies.

I got the email from Celebrity while I was watching the webinar from the link provided here. Thanks!

I'm in the US and didn't get an email about the new PUP webinar. I did register and I'm watching it but I wonder if it was targeted just for people outside the US?

I feel like I could have written this myself. We were recently on Vista, and there seem to be many tables for four in the specialty restaurants, and, as usual, not enough tables for two. And, on Vista at least, there are few large tables for six or eight. When we shared a table for eight in Riviera's Jacques earlier this year, we found the experience to be fine if not our first choice. You can pretty much be as sociable as you like, or not, with a larger group. But with tables for four, it's like a blind date. It's more intense when you have only the other couple (usually a couple, or two friends traveling together) to chat with, and if you don't hit it off it's awkward. In both Polo and Toscana, we unfortunately did not hit it off with the people we were seated with. I won't say why, and I have no idea if there was any homophobia toward my husband and myself (certainly nothing overt), but we were just obviously living in different worlds--politically, socially, culturally, etc. We decided we will no longer visit any of Oceania's specialty restaurants in the future because we usually book a B3 veranda and can rarely get a table for two in the early hours when we like to dine. We don't find the food compelling in the specialty restaurants anyway, so it's not a hardship for us. What I don't understand is why Oceania doesn't make their specialty restaurant seating more modular. Two rectangular tables for two can easily become a four-top, and vice versa. But a round table for four (which is pervasive in Vista's specialty restaurants), cannot by divided so seating a party for two at a round four-top inevitably wastes two seats. Although some people say they enjoy or even prefer sharing their table, there is obviously more demand for two-tops than can be accommodated or it wouldn't be so difficult to book these in advance. By contrast, we were recently on Virgin Voyages, where you also must reserve tables for the (excellent) specialty restaurants, and which like Oceania are included in the fare, and we were able to get reservations for two at the times we prefer in all of the restaurants. The Virgin Voyages restaurants were always busy, but they had also figured out how to accommodate their customers' preferences. One final thing to note is that when we cruise on ships that charge for specialty restaurants, I have never, ever, had difficulty reserving a table for two. Obviously, if you're only going to pay up if you get the table you prefer, the cruise line is going to figure out how to accommodate you, just as restaurants on land wouldn't dream of requiring you to share a table at the risk of losing business. So Oceania's stubbornness on this issue is borderline insulting.

Whether or not this was shaded depended on the time of day and the direction of the sun. Not a sure thing. And there just a few loungers around Baristas. We found those also usually occupied if they were shady at the time we looked.

We just got off Vista and the chair hogs were terrible. We could not find a chaise in the shade on most days. Vista has created partitions for small-group chaise seating behind the first row of chaises closest to the pool. Those partitions are very attractive and many of those chaises in the partitions face toward the sea (looking out of floor-to-ceiling windows), which is very nice. However, although the design is wonderful it reduces the total number of chaises that have shade. At the same time that we were unable to get a chaise in the shade, there were always chaises available in the sun. Most of us of a certain age don't need to further damage our skin by baking in the sun. Not having adequate chaises in the shade is like not having adequate tables for two in the specialty restaurants. Oceania could have addressed these issues in the design of Vista but chose not to. We have never been unable to find a shady spot on R-class and O-class ships. (Otherwise, we love love love Vista and can't wait for our cruise on Allura in 2025, with Marina in the interim.)

We disembarked Vista on Monday (12/11/2023) and also did not see any mention in Currents of the end-of-cruise survey or on the interactive television menu. We were looking for it because we wanted to give kudos to a number of outstanding crew members. We did get the mid-cruise paper survey, which we completed and returned.

We loved Ember on Vista. Casual, unpretentious, simple menu, everything tasty, good service. Even the rolls they serve are good (compared to the bread baskets everywhere else). We ate once at Jacques, on Riviera. Having been to Paris numerous times and many contemporary French restaurants in NYC, Jacques' decor and food seemed very dated, like a 1980s restaurant in a suburban mall trying to do "French." (No offense to you if you like it, just my opinion.)

I have also been on Riviera and Sirena, in 2022 and 2023, and I agree those floors were not slippery. But the tiles in the Terrace Cafe and Waves on Vista were often damp (not just in one place but all over) in the evening and no one was attempting to dry them with, for example, a large dust mop. They did have yellow warning signs out. When the floors were dry, as they typically were during breakfast and lunch, they were not slippery. Why these were damp in the evening is a mystery to me, as is why they did not address the issue, because of the danger/liability.

We were on the same cruise as the OP. We agree that it's a beautiful ship, inside and out. We especially loved the fully covered exterior "terrace" of the Terrace Cafe, and the Aquamar Cafe serving delicious healthy food at breakfast and lunch. Food is so very subjective, but: We had yet another mediocre meal in Toscana (our first Toscana meal on Vista) and terrible service. The server insisted on taking our order before the couple we were with had had a chance to look at a wine menu. The server said he would "hold" our food order until the wine order was in. (I wondered why he couldn't just come back and, meanwhile, ask the sommelier to hustle on over?) Bread and olive oil showed up two seconds before our appetizers. We had great service in Polo but the food wasn't special. We don't eat a lot of red meat so it's not a good fit for us anyway, but the "firecracker" sauce on my halibut was flavorless (no acid, no salt, no heat despite the word "firecracker") and my side order of truffle fries was served cold, as were the haricots verts which were actually better in the main dining room. One person at our table got a tough lobster tail and the server immediately replaced it with one more to her liking, which was nice. We didn't go to Red Ginger. It bores us compared to the great Asian restaurants we frequent on land. Unlike many, we loved Ember: the decor, the casualness, the unpretentiousness, and the food, which was simple and well-prepared. it's nothing like Appleby's (I haven't been to an Appleby's in 25 years but I doubt it has gotten better). Ember reminded us of the restaurants on Virgin Voyages, which are much better than those on Oceania IMO (the restaurants on VV are the only things we like on those ships, unfortunately). We ate mostly at Terrace Cafe and we ate in the Grand Dining Room four or five nights (beautiful room and the food was okay--sometimes pretty good, mostly just okay "hotel food" but because we didn't expect much it was fine). The floors in Terrace Cafe and at Waves got very slippery when even slightly wet, which was the rule rather than the exception at dinner, for some reason. Be careful in there. Terrace, Waves, and Aquamar got very busy at lunch and service in Aquamar could be quite bad when that happened. Best to avoid the rush if possible. We were in a B3 veranda stateroom and it was fantastic, as was the service provided by our attendants. Very comfortable mattress in particular, and great lighting. Beautiful stateroom and bathroom.

Best wishes to you for a speedy recovery from your therapy.

I've always thought the sandwiches in the buffet on Celebrity were underwhelming. And I love sandwiches. On HAL, the buffet sandwiches are excellent, and pretty good on Oceania as well. I would love to see sandwiches in Cafe Al Bacio.

I did not book the Allura cruise when I was onboard, but maybe when I'm on Vista next week I can get the onboard discount per the post from @osandomir.

This is hugely disappointing. Now Marina will be a second-class vessel compared to Riviera. Perhaps for years. We may cancel our November 2024 cruise on Marina. We booked an alternative cruise on another line when the refit was originally canceled.

It's very disappointing they won't be refitting the bathrooms, and I am surprised they are comfortable with Marina being a second-class vessel to its sister ship, Riviera, for what will probably amount to years. We are scheduled to be on Marina in November 2024 but we booked an alternative cruise on another line just in case Marina wasn't going to be refurbished (at all). We will have to decide what we want to do. The only thing in favor of Marina at the moment is that our itinerary is taking us to Guadeloupe, one of the few islands we haven't visited in the Caribbean. But we've been to Martinique and I hear they are similar. Anyone care to weigh in on Guadeloupe?

I have read repeatedly on this board that there is no longer any fixed seating on Edge-class ships and you simply show up to whichever restaurant you want whenever you want (and may have to wait depending on demand). Is this no longer true? We have fixed seating scheduled on Apex and Beyond and I like the idea of requesting the same table and especially being able to order from any of the four menus (I assume they share a galley so, why not?), but I'd also like to visit the other restaurants at least once during the cruise.