No more prime rib?

[rmalbers]

5 minutes ago, drevil0208 said:

Why do all of these threads about food on Celebrity end up being a place for people to recommend another cruise line?  It's almost like employees of those cruise lines sit here waiting to pounce!

I think it's X's pricing in general that's driving it,  more with X's suite pricing than regular cabins.  The suite pricing takes you into small ship cruising pricing and the food thing has caused people to think about it seriously. 

[drevil0208]

3 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

I think it's X's pricing in general that's driving it,  more with X's suite pricing than regular cabins.  The suite pricing takes you into small ship cruising pricing and the food thing has caused people to think about it seriously. 

Yea I guess because I have an inside cabin and am coming from NCL, hopefully Celebrity is still a bit of an improvement!

[NutsAboutGolf]

12 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

On the Reflection last year in Luminae we had the Rib Eye steak, and it was so tough our steak knife couldn't cut it. When we did cut a bite, we couldn't chew it. It was a running joke with suites passengers the rest of the cruise. Comments from being served old milk cows to vulcanized beef were heard many times.

 

More satire X marketing, this time from the spa:  "Sign up for our chiseled jawline treatment by ordering our ribeye"

[rmalbers]

22 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Oceania doesn't which is why we are trying them in 2025. Oceania FP is 90 days out.

I just looked at O cruise that is similar to my VO cruise, it's a little less but basically, the same ballpark price.  I just may have to try them, probably next year.  Seems like their ships, at least some of them, are slightly bigger than VO's. 

[terrydtx]

10 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

I just looked at O cruise that is similar to my VO cruise, it's a little less but basically, the same ballpark price.  I just may have to try them, probably next year.  Seems like their ships, at least some of them, are slightly bigger than VO's. 

The 3 newer ships are 1200 pax capacity. they Marina, Riveira and Vista, the Vista is being launched this spring.

[terrydtx]

24 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

Interesting, I did a quick search and it sounds like with Viking, if your TA is in 'good standing' the final payment lead time is somewhat negotiable.   I don't really have a big problem with it, in fact I sort of like having things paid for BUT the important part is to have travel insurance that covers the deposit, in case something happens!  Our TA does a 'variable' travel insurance plan/s for Viking cruisers that handles that issue.

The somewhat negotiable is 60 days less or 10 months out, still a no go.

[kirtihk]

1 hour ago, rmalbers said:

I've mentioned it in a couple of threads:  I did Viking cruise in the Great Lakes at the end of the summer on Octantis.  As I've said before, it was an eye opener after cruising on X almost exclusively.  It was a full ship, except a few rooms had solo travelers, which is less than 378 people.  It was only crowded on decks at sail away, Mackinac bridge and the locks, at all other times it was like I was the only one on the ship.   There was always a very nice, comfortable place to sit. One thing, I really don't consider the sit down restaurants as 'specialty restaurants', they sort of are but they seem more like small main dining rooms but that's ok.  The food was better than X for sure.  The beer selection was kind of strange but I got by.  The crew was a little older and very good at their jobs.  The only thing I didn't get to do was the submarine but very few people did (wind/weather).  I have an X cruise coming up in a couple of weeks and VO cruise at the end of the summer, we'll see how those two go.   They do demand payment early but don't a lot of the cruise companies that only have smaller ships, not sure?  The people that were on V exp. were a different demographic than on X, in several ways. 

No, not all luxury and small ships require full payment a year in advance: for example, Seaborn and Ponant are 3 months, and Regent is 4 months, and I think Windstar is 4 months and Silversea is 5 months.

 

What was strange about beer selection?  Also, isn't beer for extra to pay?  I read and heard that alcohol is only include during lunch and dinner, and it is only wine (no beer or hard liquor), any other time any alcohol is extra.

Edited January 18, 2023 by kirtihk

[drevil0208]

Celebrity app looks to be being updated for some ships for next week and now includes prime rib, beef wellington etc. in the MDR.  Hopefully this is the first sign of them backtracking on some of these changes.  

[kirtihk]

1 hour ago, drevil0208 said:

Why do all of these threads about food on Celebrity end up being a place for people to recommend another cruise line?  It's almost like employees of those cruise lines sit here waiting to pounce!

I don't think it's a recommendation but rather just a discussion and comparison, and why not?  If someone likes something, it doesn't mean that person is related to that something in any way.

[kirtihk]

5 minutes ago, drevil0208 said:

Celebrity app looks to be being updated for some ships for next week and now includes prime rib, beef wellington etc. in the MDR.  Hopefully this is the first sign of them backtracking on some of these changes.  

Previously frozen beef wellington is never good.

[NutsAboutGolf]

8 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Previously frozen beef wellington is never good.

All meats including specialty dining meats were frozen at one point

[kirtihk]

9 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

All meats including specialty dining meats were frozen at one point

Yes, true.   My point is some meats taste at least sort of OK after being frozen, but beef wellington is one of those that are definitely don't. 

Edited January 18, 2023 by kirtihk

[crusinpeg]

29 minutes ago, drevil0208 said:

Celebrity app looks to be being updated for some ships for next week and now includes prime rib, beef wellington etc. in the MDR.  Hopefully this is the first sign of them backtracking on some of these changes.  

Hopefully Equinox is one of them though no updates yet and we leave in 3 days

[drowelf]

33 minutes ago, drevil0208 said:

Celebrity app looks to be being updated for some ships for next week and now includes prime rib, beef wellington etc. in the MDR.  Hopefully this is the first sign of them backtracking on some of these changes.  

Prime Rib, Lamb Chops, etc. never disappeared from the menu on the app for our upcoming cruise *(28th) on the Infinity. No Beef Wellington, but the menu only goes out to Day 7. Day 8 and beyond show the MDR as closed. 

[miguelmia]

7 minutes ago, crusinpeg said:

Hopefully Equinox is one of them though no updates yet and we leave in 3 days

 

Same for Reflection in 4 days. Tried reloading/refreshing a couple times but nothing yet...

[rmalbers]

49 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

What was strange about beer selection?  Also, isn't beer for extra to pay?  I read and heard that alcohol is only include during lunch and dinner, and it is only wine (no beer or hard liquor), any other time any alcohol is extra.

I had a drink package so I had anytime drinks.  The beer list had several Northern Europe beers and wasn't large,  I guess it's probably what most people would expect on a Norwegian cruise line but I didn't know.  They were out of a couple of beers I would have like to have tried.  I think there was one IPA maybe.  I drank mostly lager style beers from Europe.

Edited January 18, 2023 by rmalbers

[terrydtx]

35 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

All meats including specialty dining meats were frozen at one point

Including the "Fresh Fish" 

[kirtihk]

34 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Including the "Fresh Fish" 

Yes On Celebrity and similar others.  However, on Ponant and Paul Gauguin it is actually really fresh and tastes so good!  They buy multiple different fish from locals (in the morning right from the ocean in the local market) and prepare different styles each day.

Edited January 18, 2023 by kirtihk

[kirtihk]

38 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

I had a drink package so I had anytime drinks.  The beer list had several Northern Europe beers and wasn't large,  I guess it's probably what most people would expect on a Norwegian cruise line but I didn't know.  They were out of a couple of beers I would have like to have tried.  I think there was one IPA maybe.  I drank mostly lager style beers from Europe.

How much is a drink package?  I expect it to be not too expensive, because it's like an upgrade from "wines at lunch and dinner".  We are planning to book our first Viking cruise; that's why I ask all these detail-oriented questions.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Yes On Celebrity and similar others.  However, on Ponant and Paul Gauguin it is actually really fresh and tastes so good!  They buy multiple different fish from locals (right from the ocean in the local market) and prepare different styles each day.

My sister was on Viking ocean last year and they had live cold water  lobsters they keep alive onboard.

[terrydtx]

Just now, kirtihk said:

How much is a drink package?  I expect it to be not too expensive, because it's like an upgrade from "wines at lunch and dinner".  We are planning to book our first Viking cruise; that's why I ask all these detail-oriented questions.

We canceled a VO cruise last year when Russia invaded the Ukraine, it was a 10-day cruise and the Silver Spirits drink package we purchased was $175pp total for the 10 days or $17.50pp per day, a far cry from Celebrity's $109pp per day. I heard VO raised it this year to $25pp per day, still a huge bargain. The drinks package had a huge selection of wines by the glass beyond the house wines offered in the included beer and wine with meals.

[kirtihk]

6 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We canceled a VO cruise last year when Russia invaded the Ukraine, it was a 10-day cruise and the Silver Spirits drink package we purchased was $175pp total for the 10 days or $17.50pp per day, a far cry from Celebrity's $109pp per day. I heard VO raised it this year to $25pp per day, still a huge bargain. The drinks package had a huge selection of wines by the glass beyond the house wines offered in the included beer and wine with meals.

Thank you.  I just surprised they don't include a "classic" package (their price is high enough to justify it) like all other luxury cruise lines do.  Do you know whether you may but it just for 1 person in a cabin if the cabin is booked for 2?

Edited January 18, 2023 by kirtihk

[rmalbers]

54 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

How much is a drink package?  I expect it to be not too expensive, because it's like an upgrade from "wines at lunch and dinner".  We are planning to book our first Viking cruise; that's why I ask all these detail-oriented questions.

Looks like: Silver Spirits Beverage Package (7) 139.00 

That's for 7 cruise nights PP

This was booked Aug 12, 2022 for the cruise Aug 30, 2022

Oh, here's another tip: The insurance offered by Viking is not the normal 'insurance' so that's one thing to research.

Edited January 18, 2023 by rmalbers

[rmalbers]

1 hour ago, kirtihk said:

How much is a drink package?  I expect it to be not too expensive, because it's like an upgrade from "wines at lunch and dinner".  We are planning to book our first Viking cruise; that's why I ask all these detail-oriented questions.

Another option is that Viking let's you BYOB,  booze/wine/etc. so you have that going on also.  If you have port stops you can buy more stuff at each stop and avoid the drink package.  I assume at least some people do that. 

[kirtihk]

45 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

Another option is that Viking let's you BYOB,  booze/wine/etc. so you have that going on also.  If you have port stops you can buy more stuff at each stop and avoid the drink package.  I assume at least some people do that. 

Interesting.  Including hard liquor? Unlimited number of bottles? No corkage fees?