January cruisers please report on changes - true and false

[randomcruise]

6 hours ago, LGW59 said:

So if you make a reservation at a nice restaurant, say for a month from now, for a special celebration and you really loved the menu you saw on their website.  In the interim, the cost of lobster, filet or a particualr wine is more expensive or perhaps not available when you sit down to dine, should they have notified everybody that made an advance reservation?

If I prepaid for the meals, you bet I expect they should not only notify me, but offer a complete refund before I arrive at the "nice restaurant". 

[LGW59]

10 minutes ago, randomcruise said:

If I prepaid for the meals, you bet I expect they should not only notify me, but offer a complete refund before I arrive at the "nice restaurant". 

 but I don't think a restaurant has a T&C we signed and agreed to prior to making said reservation

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

We are not talking about a few people and a few reservations.  We are talking about thousands of people impacted by their changes.  It would be nice to get some kind of notification about them.  They certainly find a way to send out countless emails when they add some kind of benefit or have good news. I still think people wouldn't be happy, and in fact some people may even cancel cruises based on these changes, which I think is one of the reasons they want to slip them in quietly.

 

I can understand your point and being upset with no advance notice and agree that Celebrity and other Cruise Lines could have handled the changes better.   I'm sure that the Marketing Department had many discussions on how to minimize the customer response.   They have however been updating their FAQ's on the main celebrity site.     I would believe they felt that instead of drawing attention to 100% of their customers they chose to make the changes and update the information in that way.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about some of the changes.   Out of reading all the outrage of the changes in menus -  I personally feel they were in need of change.   I've been looking at the new menus that Royal released this week  for the MDR and can honestly say I don't see much difference... maybe fewer anytime items.     While we sail is suites we usually rely upon the MDR Menus as they offer about 3x the number of choices as Luminae.  

 

Personally I will see how things have changed on my next cruise and make my decisions on future cruises based on both Celebrity's offering and my new desire to finally straying from Celebrity after 22 years.

 

 

[SkystheLimit]

4 hours ago, mtnlvr53 said:

Houston we have a problem--no Club sandwich on that menu!

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, SkystheLimit said:

Houston we have a problem--no Club sandwich on that menu!

 

 

My sentiments exactly.  Not paying a fee for anything on that menu.

[yoshi]

We just got off of the Solstice yesterday and although we did notice fewer dining room choices and no double lobster tails 😞 , really, the MDR food was still very good. Is it as good as 20 years ago? No, the lobster lemon was tiny and not wrapped in netting (not to mention the lobster is smaller) and formal night the waiters were not dressed in white gloves like the good old days. However, our waiter, Charlie still gave us excellent service and was welcoming and had a good sense of humor. We had a wonderful trip and were well fed.

One change that was very disappointing to me was that there were no Enrichment Guest Speakers, I always looked forward to attending those lectures on sea days. 

[hcat]

We will not order rm service. Have done it once or twice  per cruise for bkfst but not at that price( plus tip?)!  

 

The.charge for delivery of usually cold food  and  often incomplete orders is just not worth it..  There will be more folks carrying  and spilling food and coffee  in the elevs... 

[Mimiya11]

14 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

We are not talking about a few people and a few reservations.  We are talking about thousands of people impacted by their changes.  It would be nice to get some kind of notification about them.  They certainly find a way to send out countless emails when they add some kind of benefit or have good news. 

Excellent point.  If it was not for CC, I, for one, would have never known about all these changes. 

We are inundated daily with Celebrity emails, none of which have informed us about changes to room service, beverage packages, etc on our upcoming cruise.   And even worse, as many of have us have experienced, contacting Celebrity customer service or Captain's Club gets us inconsistent or incorrect information. 

But....in the end, we look forward to our upcoming cruises.   

[beijing]

Currently on the Silouhette

Lobster surcharge at 18.99 plus 20% tip

Was on the Infinity in Sept and this additional charge was not in place.

[sasset]

1 minute ago, beijing said:

Currently on the Silouhette

Lobster surcharge at 18.99 plus 20% tip

Was on the Infinity in Sept and this additional charge was not in place.

Is this the Main Dining Room?

[beijing]

Yes

That is in main dining room

I have no issues if they limited to 2. But 1 tail just isn't enough of a meal for me.

Quite disappointed.

[Sunsibar]

On 1/7/2023 at 12:46 PM, mari10 said:

I would be interested to hear what the cutbacks are in the main dining room.  Someone on The Beyond now reported a reduced menu. 
Hope you enjoy your cruise & thank you !  

I would like to know if anyone has asked a staff member at the buffet for a specific item that used to be there (carvery station meat) and was told that the item simply would not be procured. 

[Bo1953]

Well, another option for items missing from the new 'offerings', that is if one can determine that the essential ingredients are aboard, special order your dish...

 

Barring that, as for the components and make it at the table... that would get someones attention if more individuals did that...

 

Complex recipes excepted... LOL

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

[Bo1953]

17 hours ago, beijing said:

Yes

That is in main dining room

I have no issues if they limited to 2. But 1 tail just isn't enough of a meal for me.

Quite disappointed.

You can have mine, for sure...

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

[jagoffee]

22 hours ago, beijing said:

Currently on the Silouhette

Lobster surcharge at 18.99 plus 20% tip

Was on the Infinity in Sept and this additional charge was not in place.

Is the Second lobster provided for the extra charge the same quality as the included first one?  Or is it a special cold water different type lobster?  

[Sunsibar]

9 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Well, another option for items missing from the new 'offerings', that is if one can determine that the essential ingredients are aboard, special order your dish...

 

Barring that, as for the components and make it at the table... that would get someones attention if more individuals did that...

 

Complex recipes excepted... LOL

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

Indeed!

[johhnnyt]

On 1/7/2023 at 11:03 AM, prmssk said:

See also post #467 in that same thread where a poster talked to someone at the corporate office who said no final decision had been made.  Because of the contradictions between the two, I don't think we have confirmed anything with regard to the dinner buffet.

I agree

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

9 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

You can have mine, for sure...

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

 

Ditto.

 

I tried it once when I was on a running cruise on HAL in Alaska and they had surf and turf. I figured that was the time to try it when I didn't have to shell out a small fortune for something I didn't know if I would like. Once our server finally remembered he needed to remove it from the shells and I tried it... Well, let's just say I saw why it used to be called the cockroach of the sea and fed to NOT the upper classes.

 

Lobster is not for me.

[chamima]

On 1/9/2023 at 2:02 PM, beijing said:

Currently on the Silouhette

Lobster surcharge at 18.99 plus 20% tip

Was on the Infinity in Sept and this additional charge was not in place.

 

 

Is this for the first one or the second?

We don't eat lobster so this doesn't affect us personally but that's highway robbery!

[MISTER 67]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:55 PM, gordylad said:

what was wrong with the way it was? don't change something that isn't broke.

It's all about what the bean counters are recommending to management.

[Dancing Shoes]

I am not so sure that Apex is not offering fixed dining times now.  I had a reason to speak with their customer service and asked if it was eliminated for my upcoming sailing.  I was told fixed is still being offered if available.  We shall see.  

[hcat]

On 1/9/2023 at 2:02 PM, beijing said:

Currently on the Silouhette

Lobster surcharge at 18.99 plus 20% tip

Was on the Infinity in Sept and this additional charge was not in place.

That's crazy ! The lobster served in Luminae  recently on Beyond was not close to being worth the price..it was tiny..yes tasty,  but a  mini for sure! I think they gave 2..  And an extra service chg makes no sense unless it was in a specialty venue.

[Cruisin4beaches]

Can I get 2 in Luminae without an up charge?

Or if I order the butter poached lobster from the Luminae menu and the regular lobster off the MDR menu (they're both available on the same night).

[BlerkOne]

No fixed dining times? Sheesh. Even Carnival still has traditional dining options.

[Laurab23]

2 hours ago, Cruisin4beaches said:

Can I get 2 in Luminae without an up charge?

Or if I order the butter poached lobster from the Luminae menu and the regular lobster off the MDR menu (they're both available on the same night).

I would like to know if we can do that.