SusieV Posted October 5, 2016 #1 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic since I'm on Summit next Saturday and recalling my first sailing on her in 2005, but it's got me thinking about the little touches that I miss that my partner won't even know existed since he's a new cruiser. What do you miss, that Celebrity used to offer and they no longer do? For me, it's mostly the little touches: -the harpist in the specialty restaurants -casual dining restaurant up near the buffet -florist onboard to buy corsages or boutonnieres for formal night -more live entertainment -better staffing in the MDR (more assistant waiters, more wine stewards) for better service -live poker tables -golf simulator I do like a lot of the new things on the ships like more specialty restaurants (although I miss the times when they would make offmenu things- it seems much more difficult to get them now than in previous years), the drink packages, and the larger ships with more venues, but I do miss some of those little touches. I wonder how much cutting back staff actually saved Celebrity since labour is so cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davekathy Posted October 5, 2016 #2 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Evening pillow chocolates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkjretired Posted October 5, 2016 #3 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) The old Chef in charge of dining on all the ships, Michel Roux and the MDR experience in the early 90s. The Service and Food every night in the MDR was better than that which you get in the Specialty Restaurants currently and it was all part of the fare. Would like to stress this was every night. Edited October 5, 2016 by dkjretired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karynanne Posted October 5, 2016 #4 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Our first Celebrity cruise was in 1999. I remember being escorted to our cabin. It was a special touch. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spearmint Posted October 5, 2016 #5 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) That's easy. I miss everyone in formal dress all over the ship on formal nights. I miss the harp player in different venus. Most of all, I miss the wonderful menu from Michel Roux. Since then, the Jacques Van Stadden menus were just OK. And after his time, whoever has taken over is a complete failure as far as I am concerned. For the JvS menus, I often chose the everyday menu in the dining room. Since his departure, I always (90+% of the time) had to choose the everyday menu. On our sixth Silhouette sailing in the fall of 2015, I had enough. I am Elite on Celebrity and with the exception of three trips on RCCL, all 24 of our cruises have been with Celebrity. The everyday menu quality on last year's Silhouette sailing was so bad that we decided to do a Princess Cruise on Regal in April 2026. That was hard for me, as I am one of those people who hate change. But. We are doing the same itinerary, back to back, on Regal again in November. The public spaces on Regal are so much more elegant than those of Solstice and her sisters. The food choice is better, the main theatre shows are better in both production and performers. And we don't have to dance at the bottom of a damned, crowded staircase below the elevator shaft, and on formal nights competing with the ubiquiious photographers. What do I miss now? I miss the perks of being Elite loyalty level. I actually came on the Celebrity boards today, to ask if anyone had noticed any improvement in Celebrity's offerings especially in the dining room, and your thread was the first one on the list, so here I am. I am looking forward to seeing the responses of our fellow cruise critic members. Bill Edited October 5, 2016 by spearmint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orator Posted October 5, 2016 #6 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Looking back usually makes things appear better than they actually were. I'd rather focus on the present and the future. We still have pillow chocolates. Never visited the florist. Can easily find my cabin without help. Much prefer the expansion of dining options; adding levels to Loyalty Program; Michael's Club and improved internet. I'm happy as long as they continue to employ outstanding staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaBag Posted October 5, 2016 #7 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Michel Roux Harpist in Sp dining. She also played for the fancy aft tea. Daily water in Aqua class Free Zumba classes Pkg of documents, luggage tags etc mailed to the house and doing the happy dance when we got them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickechambers1@aol.com Posted October 5, 2016 #8 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) Michel RouxHarpist in Sp dining. She also played for the fancy aft tea. Daily water in Aqua class Free Zumba classes Pkg of documents, luggage tags etc mailed to the house and doing the happy dance when we got them. Funny, I have totally forgotten that we used to get documents and luggage tags in the mail. I agree, it was exciting to get them for some reason...open it up, triple check everything and then put with the passports. I do miss that. ...and the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury. Edited October 5, 2016 by rickechambers1@aol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted October 5, 2016 #9 Share Posted October 5, 2016 All of the above: and Daily bottled water delivery in Aquaclass Real T pools.. Reggae island bands, Jimmy Buffet style guitarist Greater comraderie among guests Dru Pavlov.... very classy cd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoncom Posted October 5, 2016 #10 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Miss deck 12 of Century. The pale blue, green and salmon Eisenhower jackets of wait staff on Chandris days and early X And white glove service..My friend misses the nightly french served vegtables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLH Arizona Posted October 5, 2016 #11 Share Posted October 5, 2016 I miss the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury, as I loved those ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spearmint Posted October 5, 2016 #12 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) Yes! All of the above. I had forgotten so much, like Caribbean music on a Caribbean cruise, documents in the mail with the accompanying excitement, water and ice in the cabin at all times, the thalassotherapy pools (don't you wish that the M-class ships were still running on the main routes from the main terminals?). And normally,yes, looking back may make things seem better than they were. But not in this case. I cannot comment about other lines, but Celebrity is offering less than they used to ... in ambience and style (the reason that we chose them). But then, they had to compete to get the bodies on board, but in so doing are not that distinguishable from the others any more. Sad, but that seems to be the economic reality. Bill Edited October 5, 2016 by spearmint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggie.1008 Posted October 5, 2016 #13 Share Posted October 5, 2016 When they had a florist on board they would offer free classes. It was so fun. The MDR was so relaxing with great service. I no longer enjoy the MDR as waiters are too rushed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruzinram Posted October 5, 2016 #14 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) Being escorted to your cabin The harpist and or piano player in the MDR Michel Roux Edited October 5, 2016 by Cruzinram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ghstudio Posted October 5, 2016 #15 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) We miss enough that we just booked a Princess cruise this summer and are cancelling an asian celebrity cruise earlier in the year. Given the changes on Celebrity, it's time to see if Princess is a good alternative for family/friend cruises. We've already started to book on Oceania and other lines when we cruise alone and we just completed a 2 week river cruise (obviously not on Celebrity). Yes Celebrity, we have heard your message....we aren't important to you. We're happy to let those young wealthy folks, your current target audience, book the aqua cabins we would have booked. It's not one change...it's the sum total of the changes we've seen over the years. Probably the final nail was the change in the aqua class water policy. We haven't completely abandon Celebrity...we're just putting our toes in the water with HAL (given their new smoking policy) and Princess....and those are $10K toes. After our annual cruise with friends in December, it will be the first time in many years that we won't have a single Celebrity cruise booked. Oh, we're still cruising but those $'s are going elsewhere. I don't think we're alone..... Edited October 5, 2016 by ghstudio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasm8449 Posted October 5, 2016 #16 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Having staff carry your tray to a clean table at the buffet String quartet Smoother calmer service and fine dining in the MDR. Too frenzied now. More choice on room service breakfast menu Activities staff What I don't miss: Not having a choice of dining venues. (Though prices are too high) Coming back from ports between lunch and dinner with no place serving food...not even the buffet. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lvz2cruz Posted October 5, 2016 #17 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Funny, I have totally forgotten that we used to get documents and luggage tags in the mail. I agree, it was exciting to get them for some reason...open it up, triple check everything and then put with the passports. I do miss that. ...and the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury. and the Horizon and Zenith docking in Hamilton and St. Georges Bermuda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vedettes1 Posted October 5, 2016 #18 Share Posted October 5, 2016 They used to have Caribbean music in the Caribbean? What a concept!:rolleyes: Our first Celebrity Caribbean cruise was in 2014 and there was absolutely nothing Caribbean on the ship. Do they not understand how easy and cheap it would be to hire a band from the area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted October 5, 2016 #19 Share Posted October 5, 2016 When they had a florist on board they would offer free classes. It was so fun. The MDR was so relaxing with great service. I no longer enjoy the MDR as waiters are too rushed. If you enjoy the flowers, and classes. check out Cunard Queen Victoria...offering a great garden cruise which we are seriously considering...what a great idea! They also have an art and literary themed cruise too. Also forgot to mention the fancy baked breads and pastries at every meal.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted October 5, 2016 #20 Share Posted October 5, 2016 They used to have Caribbean music in the Caribbean? What a concept!:rolleyes: Our first Celebrity Caribbean cruise was in 2014 and there was absolutely nothing Caribbean on the ship. Do they not understand how easy and cheap it would be to hire a band from the area? They had great authentic island bands..our fav was Opus...stolen by another cruise line.??,.Also Flare...still enjoy the CD..now on our ipod. They then went to a solo steel drum player who could sing island songs...as budgets reduced so did live performers. A tape does not have to be paid much, fed or housed but does not do much to get a party started! The Party bands were also much better..Onyx was great. Now we get a good one every so often..same for the guitar players...acoustic and classical....Also great jazz groups.. Now at certain bars they play loud recorded stuff you have to scream over to be heard. The times they are a Changin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoppyandNana Posted October 6, 2016 #21 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Couple of things. Used to get peanuts in all the lounges. Now you get this mixture of strange looking and tasting things. Starting to see more "DJ" music in some areas where there used to be live music. Not in all cases but concerned this might be a trend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Texed Posted October 6, 2016 #22 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Michel Roux and the MDR experience in the early 90s. Mr. Don, I agree with you. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoppyandNana Posted October 6, 2016 #23 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Funny, I have totally forgotten that we used to get documents and luggage tags in the mail. I agree, it was exciting to get them for some reason...open it up, triple check everything and then put with the passports. I do miss that. ...and the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury. You can get luggage tags by mail if you request them. Documents of course are printed at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bphman Posted October 6, 2016 #24 Share Posted October 6, 2016 What I miss the most is the food under Michel Roux and the excellent job Apollo did managing food services. I used to get excited opening the cruise documents. It was almost like smelling a newly mimeographed test in school (showing my age). The harpist and piano while dining. Complete room service for all categories. The cosiness of the Horizon and Zenith. I DON'T miss how the Galaxy and Century vibrated in the aft cabins and MDR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasset Posted October 6, 2016 #25 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Harpist, string quartet, and, as late diners, the late show at 1030PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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