irishayes

And perhaps it's different on different ships? All I know is that when we went looking for food in the Ocean View cafe when we returned from Port, there was none. You may not agree with me, but I think this is unreasonable.

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Iris

They used to have "tea" type foods (scones, cookies, cheeses, crackers, etc. ) available between 3 and 4 ish.

(This was last year this time)

Are you saying those are gone too?

 

(They also had sushi at 5:30 but I know that's gone. :( )

We must have just missed that. I believe we went up looking for food a bit past 4pm. IMO, it makes NO sense to not have snacks out for those returning from port. Why don't they just leave the tea type foods out instead of having a period of time where there's nothing?

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No, you are wrong. There was no pizza, pasta or snacks in the Lido. The curtains were pulled over all the food, and no food was available for between 1 to 1.5 hours in the late afternoon. I realize now that I could.have gone to the.mast grille for a burger or ordered room service. However, I dont think one should need to work this hard to find something to eat on a cruise. Having NO food available in the buffet upon returning to the ship after a day in port is unreasonable.

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I'd vote for the second one.

I would have to say it's many small things that make the cruise feel different. True, there is no such as a bad cruise, but Celebrity just doesn't have the same WOW factor it had 5 years ago. It didn't feel any more luxurious than a carnival cruise, and that's a definite negative, IMO.

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Just because there are more positive reviews than negative doesn't mean the negative reviewers are wrong. Everybody has their own personal expectations of the experience they have and if it doesn't meet that they have every right to express it. My expectations are based on previous experiences and in my humble opinion, the experience is regressing. I don't care if I'm the only one that feels that way, I'm still going to voice it. If you don't agree, ignore it or block it, I'm not going away.

Exactly. My disappointment with my latest X Cruise was because of expectations That Celebrity themselves put in place on my prior cruises. Bit of a bait-and-switch if you ask me.

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May 2013 I asked the question, would you sail Celebrity just for the quality product. Of the 271 that voted way back then :eek: 86% said yes.

 

In the end, it is 12-15 % of the Cruise Critic members are 'critical' of the product.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1845752

However, I can see a vast difference from 2013 to 2017. I went on a Celebrity Med cruise in 2014 and saw no cost cutting or diminished "modern luxury" feel on that cruise. The one I just completed, is a very different story.

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It sounds so petty when I type it out...but our first cruise was with Celebrity and it felt completely pampering. This time, not so much. I felt like I was wearing the cloak of invisibility at the pool, wood waiters looking me in the eye and then turning away and ignoring me.

I remembered our favorite time of day was returning from the day in court, going up to the Sunset Bar and grabbing munchies and a drink and toasting our departure from that day's port. This time, we return from the port to find absolutely no food available at the buffet until 30 to 45 minutes after we had already sailed away. When they finally did put food out they had a lovely assortment of cheeses, but only packets of Zesta Saltine crackers to go with it.

We were instructed that we needed to be out of her cabin by 7 a.m. the last morning. Felt very rushed.

No more chocolate buffets. No more Grand Buffet on the last sea day.

Live band and party atmosphere at the pool instead of laid back atmosphere.

It just almost didn't seem like the same Cruise Line. It really was indistinguishable from the Carnival Cruise I took with my daughter last year.

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Would I enjoy HAL? Sailed Celebrity for the first time 5 years ago and I was smitten with "modern luxury."

I just returned from the exact same cruise I went on 5 years ago, and was so disappointed with how everything has changed. IMO, they are indistinguishable from the Carnival and NCL cruises I've also taken.

Sell me on HAL? Would I like it if I'm looking for the modern luxury that Celebrity used to be?

Haven't "lost their way" but rather decided to follow a different road. I've said this many times before; Their focus has shifted from "Loyalty" to high margin spenders. (which is another way of saying "Suite passengers"). Suite passengers appear from postings to be quite pleased while complaints about cutbacks have been coming largely from non Suite passengers. Celebrity is not alone on the high margin highway as other lines might be causing a traffic jam.

This. Exactly this.

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We went to Marriott Frenchmans Reef. Pass was $95, but you got a $50 drink voucher, so not too bad. The beach was gorgeous!

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I did have an egg crate. Didn't help...either that or I'm just getting old.

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Add I said in my original post, the Summit is still a beautiful ship. I know others have commented his she is showing her she, but honestly I didn't feel that at all. Everything was clean and beautiful. Stateroom was nice, not run down at all (other than those AWFUL mattresses. My hip has not yet recovered. Ouch!)

But absolutely no complaints about the state of the ship.

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Honestly, I don't understand how someone could be that hungry. Assuming you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, how are you starving (ravenous) in between the monstrous amount of food that is available? My husband and I usually skip lunch because we really are not that hungry and we want an "appetite" for dinner.

Really don't understand the judgment. I am just stating a fact: there was NO food in the Oceanview Cafe for a time period in the afternoon. This is something that blew my mind. NEVER experienced this on a cruise before.

Honestly, I don't understand how someone could be that hungry. Assuming you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, how are you starving (ravenous) in between the monstrous amount of food that is available? My husband and I usually skip lunch because we really are not that hungry and we want an "appetite" for dinner.

Obviously, you have never lived with diabetes and experienced low blood sugar.

And trust me, there was demand for food when returning from port. Several people were in the Oceanview cafe looking for food for sailaway from the port. When we took the same cruise 5 years ago, I remember them putting out chips and guacamole, cheese and crackers, and other snacks that went well with a drink on the Sunset Bar deck. Now there's nothing. Just another cutback.

I back you up on this. Late afternoon and late night, there is nothing. Once, back from a nighttime excursion in Bermuda, we came back very hungry. The ONLY thing available and about to be shut down was the pizza. I can not understand how anyone can rave about the pizza. It wasn't even as good as grocery store frozen. Certainly nothing even resembling pizza parlor pizza. We tasted it and discarded it went back to our cabin and ordered room service. Great turkey club and fries.

To be honest, I never even thought about room service. It is weird to me that I have to do that on a cruise in order to eat. I guess gone are the days when you could eat 20 times a day if you were fast enough . . .

The reason it was disappointing to me is because I remember how Celebrity cruising was a few years ago, and I very much saw the difference on this cruise.

You are misquoting what I said. I said for a certain time., for about an hour between when we return from the port and until 5:30, there was no food available in the Ocean View cafe. People who returned from ports are usually hungry and they should have food out for us. I never stated that I was starving on the entire cruise, just that one time. Where there was no food to be found. And I am not exaggerating, there was no food in the Ocean View cafe.

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Thank you for sharing. :):):) I was going to book the Summit again, and this is very good to hear. Just read another quick review of someone stating she was "RAVENOUS" and was afraid there wasn't any food on the ship.:confused:

Yes, that was me. There was literally NO food available upon return from port until 5:30, after sailaway. NOTHING available in the Oceanview cafe until after 5:30. I've never experienced anything like this on any cruise. I suppose I could have gone to Al Bacio for something sweet, but I was looking for some protein as I was experiencing some low blood sugar issues.

I've never had an experience on any cruise line where there was literally NO food available in the buffet for a time period, and this was completely different from our last sailing on Summit.

We found the lack of snacks in the Oceanview cafe after a day at port a little strange. We ended up going to Cafe Al Bacio for a coffee and a treat... problem solved.

 

We also noticed the lack of 'chair service' around the pool and counted 3 servers for the entire area. We mostly went up to the bar and ordered there which wasn't a problem for us. We saw a few people who tipped for every drink delivered. They didn't seem to have any problem getting drinks when they wanted them.

We actually had waiters around the pool make eye contact with us and then look away and walk past. One waiter took my order and walked away before my daughter could tell him what she wanted. I realize this waiter may be an anomaly and possibly having a bad day, but in general, the service was not up to the standards we've been accustomed to with Celebrity.

I agree with the. comments on The Summit. We have also just got home from the cruise . It did not feel like the luxury cruise we had on The Silouette 2 years ago. The food in the main dining room was not up to the same standard. We went into the buffet restaurant a couple of times and there was a great choice but the food was lukewarm at best.

 

The crew were friendly and the shows great but I too will be trying a different cruise line next time .

Hi Barbara! It was nice to meet you and Jim. Hope you had (have?) a great trip home.

Can I get a detailed statement AFTER leaving the ship? Neglected to get a statement before we disembarked. When u checked the night before, we still had about $20 credit, and my brain was not engaged when we got off the ship the morning we returned.

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My daughter and I just returned from a 7 day Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan.

First of all, the Summit is still a beautiful ship. I was first on it 5 years ago on this exact itinerary.

That said, when I compare that cruise to the current one (as well as our Celebrity Mediterranean cruise 2 years ago), I can definitely see the changes in Celebrity and found them disappointing.

I found the cruise pretty much indistiguishable from either the NCL or the Carnival cruises I've taken in the past few years. Do not see the modern luxury any more.

My main two complaints were the lack of service in the pool area and bars. After the second day of going to different bars and trying to get a drink, I asked my daughter if I had on the cloak of invisibility. Waiters ignore you at the pool, as well. I can only guess that they are short staffed and too busy to give you great service.

The second complaint is the lack of food at times. When we first went on this cruise 5 years ago, I remember getting back on the ship after a day in port and being able to grab a plate of great munchies to bring out on the Sunset Bar and watch sailaway. Now there was about a hour (between 4-5:30) where there was NO food in the Oceanview cafe at all. Sometimes they would have pizza but most of the time you could see the food on the tables, but the screens were pulled down over it so you couldn't get to anything. Many times when we get back on the ship after a day in port, we are RAVENOUS. When they put the food out at 5:30 (well after sailaway) there was a good variety of food. However, I would like to suggest to them that if they are going to have a variety of cheeses, we would really like to have something other that individual packets of saltines to put the cheese on.

Not quite sure if I will stick with Celebrity at this point, or try something else next time.

Was just there on Thursday. There is a small beach left. Many people crowded onto it, but yes there is still a beach there.

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Just off the Summit today. 7:45.

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Will I be able to pick up rum cakes at the airport? They have them on my ship, but would rather purchase at the airport if possible

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Our daysail for tomorrow was just canceled due to rough seas so we are scrambling to find something else to do. Any resorts where we could get a day pass (preferably with a swim up bar, says DD)?

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