“Ambush” style of new charges!

[D. B.]

On 1/7/2023 at 2:48 PM, AnnaNicole said:

Off the top of my head....

 

- Great quality food. Lots of courses and choices.   Cheese cart.  The food in the MDR was top notch.  

 

- Great service in MDR - waiters/waitresses and assistants were phenomenal.   Personality plus.   They really made your trip feel special.   Never acted hurried or rushed.   Expert service level.   Old MDR is like the current specialty restaurant experience.

 

- Very personal stateroom service.   Towel animals.  Chocolates.   Many times (without asking), cookies were left in the room for our young daughter.

 

A quick list off the top of my head of things that used to be included:

 

-Welcome champagne

-Great drink service (free) in the theatre during seating

-Midnight buffets

-Ice sculptures

-towel animals

-wonderful afternoon tea 

-dining staff farewell and baked alaska

-cheese cart

-quality entertainment (Cirque du soleil)

-cappuccino and brioche delivered to stateroom

-sailaway BBQ

 

 

Honestly, it was the attention to detail that made cruising so enjoyable.   Outstanding and friendly service.   We aren't big eaters nor do we drink a lot, but we thoroughly enjoyed all the offerings.  The quality of the food, service, and offerings has changed a lot from our early days.  We are sad to see the decline in personalized service.   We have been on many, many cruises and may give it a rest after our upcoming trip.   

 

  

 

 

 

 

I miss All the things on your List except the Midnight Buffets! We would go and Look but were still too full from Dinner to do more than that........

 Loved the Parade in the MDR of the wait staff singing "It's a Small Word" while waying a napkin and all the guests singing along and clapping......

 Your list brings back great memories!

[Chardonnay Char]

I always considered midnight buffets leftovers from dinner.

 

[NMTraveller]

On 1/11/2023 at 9:37 AM, LMaxwell said:

NEW DINING CHARGES COMING SOON - YOU HEARD HERE FIRST.  DETAILS DROPPED RIGHT BEFORE X WILL. 

Oh goodie.  Is it a corkage fee 🙂  Sorry could not resist.  🙂

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by NMTraveller

[AnnaNicole]

17 hours ago, D. B. said:

I miss All the things on your List except the Midnight Buffets! We would go and Look but were still too full from Dinner to do more than that........

 Loved the Parade in the MDR of the wait staff singing "It's a Small Word" while waying a napkin and all the guests singing along and clapping......

 Your list brings back great memories!

I am not a big eater so I skipped the midnight buffet, but they were a treat to look at.

 

Cruising was just so different back then.  I miss it.

[jagoffee]

8 hours ago, AnnaNicole said:

I am not a big eater so I skipped the midnight buffet, but they were a treat to look at.

 

Cruising was just so different back then.  I miss it.

Not us.  We so disliked fixed dining and the lack of balconies.
 

 

On our honeymoon in 1980 we had early fixed dining.  We were assigned a 7:30 AM breakfast time, which was never used.

[AnnaNicole]

22 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Not us.  We so disliked fixed dining and the lack of balconies.
 

 

On our honeymoon in 1980 we had early fixed dining.  We were assigned a 7:30 AM breakfast time, which was never used.

Balconies are great.  We always get a balcony.   But I do miss the promenade deck.  

 

I never had a fixed breakfast time so I cannot comment on that.   I would order room service if I was assigned a 7:30am breakfast time.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 1/11/2023 at 10:37 AM, LMaxwell said:

NEW DINING CHARGES COMING SOON - YOU HEARD HERE FIRST.  DETAILS DROPPED RIGHT BEFORE X WILL. 

Also love posts where rumors are started.

 

CC has deteriorated into a gripe fest.  

 

Two things are true - the old time posters do not like change (me included).  And things are not likely to return to the way they were.

 

 

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

On 1/5/2023 at 11:00 AM, cruisingator2 said:

I wonder how popular the retreat/suites will be once all of the FCC’s are used up? I suspect that was one reason why they were so popular. I looked at a few sailings in the retreat for 2023 and I refuse to pay those prices. Especially after experiencing the X retreat product last month on the Solstice. 

Agree, it wasn’t the best experience on the Equinox either this last October. We paid a little over $8000. for a CS/10 NT. cruise then, and now it is running around $18,500. for our Dec 2023 Beyond cruise. It’s Insane! The old Solstice ship for Alaska 2024 is crazy expensive also. How long will people continue to be loyal to Celebrity and continue to pay these prices with all the downgrades?

[rj59]

The same thing happened with airlines, going with basic economy and creating enough pain for you to pay more for less--on a flight today I shivered and remembered when I could get a blanket. When I was told a few days ago it would cost me $10 to get a creme brûlée delivered to my room after I skipped the MDR for sushi, I sat down in the MDR and said "I just want 3 helpings of creme brûlée". They also included a really nice tote bag for the beach towel left in my room, and said I'd have to pay for a taken towel, but didn't say anything about the tote bag, so it went home for me and they can get the free advertising from it when I'm shopping. There is choice, fortunately, between cruise lines, but also in different kinds of travel--the idea of going to an all-inclusive resort in Cabo instead of a cruise is tempting, or better yet, just renting an AirBnB by a San Diego beach. Older people are also deciding that it's more pleasant to sit at home to watch movies, and I think there's a danger that people will decide it's just not worth going on a cruise, or to Disney, or to places like Vegas (just sitting in its airport today for 3 hours horrified me). That's especially true for a solo cruiser like me with limited income, since low fares and waiving single supplements have been common, and I'm not sure significantly higher prices and cutbacks and degradation of the experience are enough to keep me coming back in the future, especially since they're making an obvious attempt to reduce astronomical debt and gain profitability and price share through the wallets and patience of cruisers.