lexmiller

Yes, and he reported that there was definitely vaping in the casino on his cruise, but that the cruise immediately before his, the casino staff told him, had even more vapers. Very helpful to have him on the Equinox live now giving a thorough account of all aspects of the cruise, including the MDR menu.

We have found the production shows on the Edge Class ships to be EXCEPTIONAL! As in, wow! When I say entertainment, yes, the various guest acts can be catch as catch can, very subjective as to one's likes or dislikes - one person may love the comedy acts, one may love the xylo-synth guy (OMG, NOT ME!!!!!), one may love the Elton John homage guy etc etc. But the production casts throughout the fleet, those kids have talent - and the best casts have been channelled to the Edge Class ships, and with the new 3 story electronic wrap around stages oh man, really terrific. From our trip on the Beyond last fall, I even said, "I would get right back on this ship for the next cruise if only for the reason to see the production shows again."

Very cute! Love the personalized Halloween magnet - did you find that on Amazon? We were on the Eclipse recently, and a passenger in our hall had a white board outside his cabin, writing a quote of the day - always fun and enjoyable for all! We made a point of reading it every day, and several times we saw crew passing by and stopping to read it also. I think that magnets on your cabin door are good fun and allow for an expression of whimsy! Maybe those of us that like the magnets are also those that go all out for Christmas or other holidays!

Definitely! Across the fleet, people don't decorate on Celebrity with as much gusto as say Disney, but decorate some indeed do! We in fact just ordered a personalized cruise magnet for our door for our Apex B3B this fall - lots of great options on Amazon, more even than on Etsy we found! We were on the Beyond in a Sky Suite this past Halloween, and put several Halloween magnets on our door, and enjoyed walking the halls admiring others' decorations. As I said, not a LOT of people decorate, but a good number of people do. Have fun, why not??

Exactly, (though I think they have a teensy one) and their entertainment does not even remotely compare to Celebrity, particularly when you're talking about the theater in the Edge Class ships. The cruise lines in the luxury category are not as all-encompassing as what Celebrity has to offer. The best of both worlds we feel is any suite on an Edge Class Celebrity ship - it's a ship within a ship. We just have to make sure the casinos on Celebrity are smoking/vaping free. And that's the quandary - what if smoking/vaping, IS allowed permanently across the Celebrity fleet? Only cruise option is to move up to Luxury category - but as I said, the casinos are SMALL if they exist at all (husband loves to play cash game Poker, Texas Hold Em cash games at night and the poker tournaments during the day), and we love the Celebrity Life Activities and the amazing entertainment in the theater particularly on the Edge Class ships. SO, not sure we would care for Viking, heard lots of different opinions......so land tours for us from now out? We do love Uniworld for river cruises......but ocean cruising would no longer work for us, Celebrity WAS the perfect match for us until this ridiculous vaping issue! Indoor smoking/vaping has no place anywhere!

I got a call yesterday from Aurora Godfrey, who works directly with Laura Hodges Bethge. I sent an email to the Executive Office email, and I copied Hodges-Bethge on her email address, lhodges@rccl.com If you haven't emailed her directly, I urge you to do that, along with the executiveoffice@celebrity.com As others have reported, after sending my email, about two days later I got an email response with our B3B on Apex this fall quoted. I also had included our Captains Club numbers - just to make things a bit easier for them to find us. Aurora and I spoke for nearly 30 minutes. She used to be a Retreat Host before being promoted to the Executive Office. She was lovely, very genuine, personable - no surprise there. If what I conveyed will make any difference, who can say. She was typing throughout nearly the whole conversation, as she told me she wanted to quote me directly, though the conversation was also recorded. She assured me that what we are all saying matters, that she files a report with Laura every Friday, that this is a very hot topic and that they are closely monitoring all social platforms. We must continue to make our voices heard.

As Zenith, your opinion matters a lot - at least, I would hope so!! Have you been in touch with any other Zeniths about forming a united front? Theoretically, as the most loyal of passengers, your united voice should be impactful.

One that has a new CEO who's goal is to bring Celebrity to the masses - no longer in the Premium category, but firmly placed in the Mass Market category - The "Royal Caribbean-izing" of Celebrity. Under her watch we have so far seen the bizarre "test" changes to the MDR menu, the 'customers be damned' cavalier redeployment of the Beyond with no fare protection and now this. I know your question was essentially rhetorical, but I wanted to take your opening to 'revent'! This is bad.

Email to Celebrity and to Laura Hodges Bethge sent. I don't know how the corporate command works, what was the chicken and the egg here - if the board decided that Celebrity needed to be cheapened or if the board said, hey Laura, make us some money and she figured that taking Celebrity out of the Premium cruise category and placing it firmly in the Mass Market cruise category was the way to go. I can hear the staff over at Regent cheering these decisions that have been made under Laura's watch - redeploying the Beyond within the booking window thereby upsetting thousands of X passengers mainly by not price protecting their cruises, the strange MDR 'test' changes on the Eclipse and now this.

This is a directive from the new CEO, I presume? WTH is going on??? Someone called this "The RoyalCaribbean-izing" of Celebrity, and I agree. Celebrity is supposed to be a better product. If we wanted to sail RCL, we would. But we don't. The MDR test menu on Equinox with the cheeseburgers and tilapia, I was like, ehhhhh, not happy but ok, ok, but this!? We would leave Celebrity for this. Smoking/vaping only outside in enforced designated areas was a big plus for Celebrity. Hopefully the outrage will be heard loud and clear. I am preparing my email to the executive office email which has been shared on this thread.

Sounds good to me, slainte!🍷🍷

Hi, Jelayne, yup lunch - for sure, understood - but the burning controversy is regarding DINNER - seems that reports are, from actual PAPER MENUS, on site, NOT just on the unreliable app - that burgers are now an official addition to the DINNER menu in the MDR.

Yes, and not meaning to prolong all of this agony, but, it says "lunch" on the top of this screen shot........

Well it does sound really delish, with the caramelized onions! Maybe some shaved truffles on the parm fries would be nice......still, I would love to see a Non-App paper menu confirmation of this......Thank you!

Oh wow! Did anyone post the actual paper menu, a copy of it? I would personally love to see the actual paper menu, a photo of course, "in the flesh" so to speak......very interesting indeed. We were on the Eclipse for two full months, got off at the end of May, but I understand this was effective June 1......thank you so much!

Thanks for starting this thread, seriously, though everyone else is joking - because it's causing a big kerfuffle on FB also......to my knowledge, the only spotting of a burger on the MDR menu at all was on the lunch menu on the app - but people were mistaking it for the dinner menu. And furthermore, we all know that the app is notoriously wrong when it comes to menus and dates of said menus. To my knowledge, there is no confirmation whatsoever that it is actually on the dinner menu in the MDR, but people are using this as one more reason to bash the brand, a favorite pass time for many. But if it really is on the MDR DINNER menu, if someone can actually prove it - then ya, that's actually pretty bad.

EXACTLY! The app (especially for menus and dates) is notoriously inaccurate! People have used the posted menus on the app for the various dining rooms to pick dates for specialty dining and have been woefully disappointed. We just spent two months on the Eclipse in Aqua Class thus in Blu - Australia, NZ, Polynesia, Hawaii, Vancouver. We got very friendly with the maitre'd which of course happens after 2 months. One evening, a couple was at her desk ahead of us, very angry about the menus that were on the app since they were inaccurate with what the REAL MENUS actually were in the flesh, how they had based a specialty dining reservation around it. I wanted to jump in and intervene and tell them, in a fellow passenger sort of way, "oh, bad move guys, never trust the app when it comes to menus and dates, trust me on this", but my husband held me back. The maitre'd was very nice to the couple, apologizing, saying things like "I will see what I can do, so sorry" etc. When it was our turn at her desk for our table, we chatted about how I wanted to jump in and tell this couple they should not trust the app, and she said to me that she so wishes I had told them, since as a passenger, I can say whatever I want, but that her job, and she was so funny with us, is to tow the party line, to apologize, grovel, eat dirt, etc - she told us frankly that the menus are rarely updated and the dates hardly ever match, that the app updating is not a co-ordinated process. I have also had the activities team on various of the ships in the fleet, tell me and other passengers to always go by the printed daily in the room the night before (except in cases where there is a weather event, moving something inside from the outside, but even then the app is not usually updated despite what "X" maintains). So yes, full agreement on your comment to check the app, sure, go ahead - unless you actually care about accuracy.

It's called TAJ, and it's quite nice! You cannot book in advance from home, you must book whilst on board. But don't panic, there is no need at all to rush the guy selling dining packages/making specialty reservations when you board, the TAJ dinners were to our knowledge and observation, never sold out. We just spent two months on the Eclipse (4 cruises in total) and TAJ was held once every cruise and if memory recalls, twice on the 18 night Sydney to Honolulu cruise. I didn't save my receipt for the upcharge, but the fee was commensurate with the standard specialty restaurant dinner fee. And to be clear, it's a straight fee, not a la carte pricing like Sushi on 5 normally is. Forget all about Sushi on 5 for TAJ - Sushi on 5 is merely the space in which the TAJ dinner is held. Food was excellent, nothing at all like what is served in the buffet which we find to be way too salty and blah. The spice level for us was perfect - not mild but also not too hot - the spice level complemented the food instead of drowning it out - but I'm sure if you prefer something all consuming, you can definitely ask for the spice to be super high! Look at the menu, but know in advance - you are getting ALLLL OF IT! Yes, the entire menu is served to your table family style. So for instance, if you are a group of 2, portions that are for two people are on the serving plates, if your group is a group of 6, enough for 6 - you get the picture. But nonetheless, there is a LOT of food - at least, we sure felt that way. We are careful eaters portion wise, so we paced ourselves, never actually finishing any one single dish as we knew more was coming. ENJOY, highly recommend!

In 2022, we spent 86 nights on board a whole lot of Celebrity ships. 2023, we will have a total of 87 nights on board Celebrity. But the best part of this post is your #8!! "No escalators for nights where you got laid" OMG, that's hysterical!

Remember though, the "good old days", before the rebranding to "Retreat", the canape cart, the tall trolley that each butler would bring around to your cabin around 4pm? Have to say, that was a big treat for my daughter and myself! Though now, through an updated lens, it was of course a bit of a waste, but opening our cabin door and seeing our butler there with his smiling face and this high trolley of delights from which we could choose - happy memories.

That's unfortunate, as we were on Eclipse from March 26 through the end of May. We love Spanish reds. We insist upon them. Maybe because we are very specific and know exactly what we want. Never go by the wine list, it is useless and out of date. Our sommeliers - both in Aqua and in the MDR and in Murano - were incredibly helpful and always had excellent Spanish reds for us - and we were on the Classic package and never went above it. We were very happy cruisers.

Hi there, call me dim-witted and slow to catch on, no problem, I accept your judgment! And you might see that I believe my post was the third in the thread, before the true funny stuff got rolling. But that's ok, my apologies and I hope to do better moving forward.

Hi, again Jim - So first you are on a 7 day cruise - no test, self or otherwise, to board that cruise is my presumption. And to board the TA which is a B2B - walk me through that though I think you already have mentioned this so forgive me for asking you to repeat - if you were only on the TA, you could present a self-test, correct? But because the TA just happens to be the backside of another cruise, you have to submit to a monitored test, performed upon you by the crew? Is that correct? It's the monitored bit that is problematic......

HI, Jim, so the very interesting thing about the Eclipse cruises now down under, is that NO RETESTING is occurring - you are sentenced to your term and you are released "to the minute" exactly 5 days after your sentence was imposed if Aussie ports, or 7 days after your sentence was imposed if NZ ports - NO further testing at all. (which makes total sense in a scientific way, but well, what can I say, I am merely the messenger). Passengers have reported that for instance, they are supposed to be set loose on whatever day, but not until 3pm because that's the precise time they were found positive, so if that day of release is a port day, they still have to sit around their cabin dawdling until exactly 3pm, missing that day in port. However if their cabin mate were to test positive say on day 3 of their partner's original 5 day sentence, then their positions are reversed - the original person gets released after 5 (or 7) days, but now their partner is the one who is in captivity.