xxpinksaltxx

Hey everyone, We will be on the Beyond in May, and an onboard excursion "Galley to Table: Tour and Lunch" has become available. The description reads very much like the 'Heartbeat of the Operation' which on previous cruises was free, and contains no information about where the lunch is. Has anyone done this onboard activity? It is AUD$90 per person (about US$60).

I think we waited 6-7 days a few weeks ago. Our dates ended up being sold out, so we booked a mystery hotel on priceline for a similar price.

Spot on, I first sailed Celebrity when I was 21 (14 years ago). We weren't their target audience, infact we were some of the youngest on the transatlantic. Over the years, the marketing has changed. I think I prefer the 'old' Celebrity. We looked at Virgin Voyages, as I believe we are the target audience (30's, double income, no kids), but honestly the ships look average, the decor tacky, and the entertainment is simply not our cup of tea.

We cancelled off the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise for May this year on the Edge. Itinerary changed, and now its only stopping Hilo and Kona. Wasn't worth it for a 10 day cruise, especially when travelling from Australia.

We took a risk and decided to book on Priceline. Very happy, that we received SpringHill Suites in Dania Beach. Paid AU$220 for the mystery hotel, and to book on Expedia it is AU$550. We figured it was worth the risk for only a 14 hour stay, free breakfast too, can't go wrong.

We are looking for early May, and also on a late flight in. Normally we stay in Plantation, but can't believe the prices for FLL area hotels for our dates. I know the Aussie dollar is weak, but AU $350 for a budget hotel in Plantation is alot. Today I've noticed both Hyatt House and Hyatt Place Dania Beach seem to be offering a decent price for our dates AU$280 (USD $184). It also comes with free airport shuttle and breakfast.

Have you stayed at the Hyatt, booked through Valuetrips before? I'm unfamiliar with the site (Aussie), but we just looked at prices for our dates on Expedia and couldn't believe how expensive they are (AU$350 for 1 night in Plantation). Just looked at Valuetrips and we can book for US$119 for our dates, which is great value, but wasn't sure if the site was 'safe'.

On the Eclipse in March, we had one day where there was the chocolate fountain, and a nicer selection of desserts, meats and cheese. Definately no ice sculptures. It didn't compare to the brunch they use to do in the MDR. I didn't see afternoon tea (and we use to go everyday - unless onshore) where there use to be scones, finger sandwiches, quiche and sushi (oh the days)! I think this might have been phased out as well. Or maybe some ships are just offering scones.

We were on the Eclipse in March (hadn't cruised since 2018, but had been on Celebrity several times before this). I felt the quality of the food in the MDR wasn't to the same standard as before, everything was edible, but nothing was a wow. The guests sitting next to us, seemed to have a problem with their meal every night, from flavourless soup, to tough steak. We went to both Tuscan and Le Petit, and couldn't fault the food, but we didn't receive any discounts. So paying AUD $100 each extra (that's converted to our local currency) adds a huge expense. The buffet, I thought it was much better than previously. Ever changing variety, food always fresh, great presentation, and the desserts we actually edible (ok, I'm a bit picky on the desserts as a pastry chef 🤣)but I've read many people say they don't bother with the desserts on Celebrity.

Yes from the Australian site the CocoCay cruises are more expensive. Beyond 7 nights (Nassau, St Thomas, St John's) Concierge class AUD $1476 Beyond 6 nights (CocoCay, George Town, Bimini) Concierge Class AUD $1510 Of course much cheaper options on the Reflection for CocoCay

😬Oh my, I wrongly assumed they just hadn't posted the Beyond summer schedule for 2024. I hope they can at least price match you onto the Ascent (think Edge is doing Alaska, and Apex mostly Northern Europe from Southampton). That's such a huge itinerary change.

Sailings are available to book on the Australian site, with Beyond and Reflection there for the summer season. May is full of 3/4 day cruises (on Reflection) with longer cruises available on Beyond.

I've been sailing Celebrity since 2012 (at just 21 - we were the youngest couple on the transatlantic), the time of brunch in the MDR, ice-sculptures, free room service, tubs of cotton swaps in the bathroom. This for me, is what broke the camels back. Last sailing was March this year, just as they rolled out the 'no lobster on sailings under 6 nights', limited dinner options in the buffet and charge for room service. For us, Celebrity isn't what it use to be. Food is a huge part of why we select Celebrity (as a chef), but also because smaller lines like Azamara are out of our budget. Often we are still seen as some of the youngest couples onboard, as millennials without children. We might be young, but we don't want to dine on cheeseburgers in the MDR, and fork out money for an upcharge at every meal, whether that be in the MDR or speciality restaurant. We have a cruise booked for May 2024, Honolulu to Vancouver, AUD $3260 PP with no inclusions for 10 nights. Almost AUD $6500, for no drinks, no wifi and now sub standard options in the MDR.

I find it odd that it's removed from the main dining room, but still on the room service menu. As a chef myself, if you are stating "cutting food wastage" as the reason, you have a better chance of cutting wastage by having the product available in multiple areas, vs just one (assuming it is all located in one central kitchen). They would have ample data to show what they sell on average per day, and should have good control over what they require, alongside this, the lifespan after defrosting (if defrosted correctly in the fridge) would be a minimum 3 days. Or possibly room service has become so quiet after the additional service fee, that they can get away with only having several portions defrosted a day.

Took both these screenshots during the 'sale'. I regularly check the prices, as we rely heavily on the exchange rate from USD to AUD. I know the AUD isn't strong, but I'm sure nobody is paying $230 per person, per day, for the classic package 🤣🤣. What a rort of a sale.

Pleased to announce that Eddy is back in action, and that we have "two cruise directors for the price of one" 🤣

This morning we had a leisurely morning and only hoped off for a walk to the CBD. We used the local scooters (similar to beam) to scoot around for a little. Back onboard for lunch, today's theme is Italian. This afternoon we hope to watch the sail away from the grass up top, and then we will go to Le Petit Chef for dinner. I haven't seen any offers in the daily for speciality restaurants, though the staff are very good at recognising the guests. I overheard them offering some good deals to guests at breakfast who haven't been to the speciality restaurants. Tonight's show will be ' Rock City', we plan to head to the 7pm seating, with our dinner at 8:15pm.

I hope Eddy is ok. I haven't seen any photos on his instagram for this cruise.

We have Dominic Crosby - I haven't seen Eddy at all, but I assume he is lurking in the background.

To put into context, the animals at the sanctuary are only their if they are injured or can not return to the wild. One of the wildlife keepers on our Celebrity Excursion, holding a wombat, who is 9 months old. Tasmania Devils (male) both are blind in one eye. My partner feeding the kangaroos (these kangaroos were already at the sanctuary when the owner bought it. They are now too humanised to be released into the wild. Fred arrived as part of a will, he is 109 years old.

Docked In Hobart overnight Desserts at the oceanview for American themed buffet unfortunately the afternoon delights on day 3, didn't live up to day 2.

Day 3, we have arrived in Hobart for our overnight stay. Wow it is 🥶. We had no plans other than to go to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. This was a ship based tour, thankfully we got a good discount for Cyber Monday sales. We docked at 9am, and we were able to get off around 9:40am. We walked to the Farmers Markets (about 1km away), bought some beautiful berries (although customs said we could take them onboard, the ship wouldn't allow us) and stopped to buy some locally made chocolates. By this stage it was 11:30am and we were frozen. We headed back onboard for lunch at the oceanview. Today's theme "American". There were doubts, all American style desserts, fried chicken, mac and cheese etc. We decided to stay onboard for our excursion, which was departing at 5:15pm. As an Australian, we did enjoy the Sanctuary, it is a rescue, and you are able to feed the kangaroos, touch the wombat, and get very close to the Tassie Devils. All the overseas guests definitely seemed extremely happy and excited. Our tour finished at 9pm, and we were back onboard at 9:30pm. This is where the new change to room service charges got me. We were well aware of the US12 charge, and I'm happy to pay it, if it's worth it. We called at 9:40pm and there was a 40 minute wait (knowing that we had missed all other dinner options). Our food arrived at 10:30pm and unfortunately it was all stone cold. It was late, and we were starving (having eaten at 12pm), but I certainly wouldn't pay US12 for something that use to be free, to arrive completely cold. We didn't complain, but it also put us off ordering any room service again.

Haha yes as others have suggested, the basic wifi package (despite being starlink) has been difficult to use. Alas, yesterday we arrived in Hobart and back to my regular cellular service. Day 2 was a sea day. As always there was plenty to do onboard. The standard trivia, movies, arts and crafts, relaxing by the pool, a few cocktails. I was expecting to have Eddy as our cruise director, however I believe he might be working in the background training our new cruise director (I heard from other passengers that he had, had a promotion). I don't want to be too harsh, as he is learning the ropes, and we have previously had the amazing Sue Denning. The food onboard has been excellent. Today we went on a galley tour - as always it was very popular, but I always enjoy walking through the kitchen. Onboard they make everything except the gluten free bread and sugar free icecream - for such a large operation this is truly exceptional. We headed up for an early lunch at oceanview, today's theme UK. They had a variety of savoury pies, cottage pies, Yorkshire pudding, roasts etc. A beautiful display of desserts and pastries. After my last cruise, I stopped eating the desserts on board (they were terrible) however I am pleased to say they have improved. I wouldn't say they are amazing (but again, I might be biased since this is my career). We took part in three consecutive game shows this afternoon, always a bit of fun, before getting ready for the only Evening Chic night onboard. As mentioned we have concierage class (only because the price difference was $50 each from our 1A). We started strong on the afternoon delights, and I was shocked considering the reports I've seen on CC (alas day 3 was note the same standard) Tonight was our first night in the MDR. I was happy with my starter, but think I made the wrong choice on mains. Shrimp scampi - unfortunately quite flavourless. My partner ordered the sirloin, and again was very happy with the steak, but the couple next to us seemed to be having trouble with a very tough steak. Service was very slow, and took 1 hour 10 mins for starter and main (we arrived at 6:15pm). Plenty of sommeliers available, but seemed as though there was only one staff member running for other bar drinks. Tonight's show was Caberat Broadway. The Eclipse singers onboard have been exceptional.

Eclipse has the starlink internet, though the basic package is not fast enough to upload photos, so I'll upload more in a day or two. We headed to the concierge lunch in the MDR. As others have suggested, the lunch isn't anything special, but it does certainly get you away for the crowds in the oceanview. The food was good, but not a stand out, we noticed the whipped butters were no more and now replaced with lurpak (maybe this was only at lunch, we will have dinner at the MDR tomorrow). Our sailing is 100% capacity, and it certainly feels that way. All of the staff have been fantastic, and it doesn't feel like there are any staff shortages. There is certainly a very large drinking culture on this cruise, and a much younger demographic (I'd say average age is between 40 and 60). The bartenders are extremely generous with their pours, and a few pinacoladas was enough for me. The bars have been busy along with Cafe Al Bacio. We watched sail away from our balcony which was beautiful, fantastic weather (I can't wait to upload some photos). We headed to dinner at Tuscan Grill at 8pm, our waiter Augus from Indonesia was fabulous. Friendly, prompt, funny, it was a great dinner. There was no shortage of food, infact Augus wanted us to order, starters, salad, soup, pasta, main and dessert. We settled on the pork belly, calamari, burrata salad, filet mignon and a half serve of lobster rigatoni, oh and tiramisu. My partner loved the pork belly, but I felt the filet mignon was the stand out, ordered medium rare, it was excellently cooked, very tender, we both commented it was the best steak we had had in a long time. I've had the lobster rigatoni many times before, and I'm not sure why i keep ordering it - it's not bad, but it doesn't stand out, very rich with very little lobster. Tomorrow is a sea day, we hope to relax and enjoy some of the activities onboard. Today we already booked our next cruise, Honolulu to Vancouver in May 2024. For those wondering about the buffet at night, there is definitely a reduced selection. Several stations not opened but I did notice the grill station and stirfry station had made an appearance (there was also pizza, pasta, salad, basic American fare, dessert and a mixed selection of hot items). There was also no afternoon tea or sushi - though I think these things may have been cut a few years back now. One thing I did miss was the cheese and antipasto selection, we went to the buffet to get some cheese for sailaway, but unfortunately only Swiss cheese and beef Bologna.

We are staying in a concierge cabin on deck 10 - the first cabin just off the angle. The balcony is larger than standard, but not the largest balcony on the angle I've had before. Noticeable changes onboard include the daily delectable delights and the sparkling wine are now on request. We also received the concierage card holder, along with the upgraded amenities. There is also a small mini bar of snacks in the room (at charge) which I don't recall seeing on previous sailings.