Awful State of Ocean View Cafe for dinner

[cgolf1]

4 hours ago, JFontaine said:

Isn't that the problem in a nutshell?  I don't know what you paid, but the average Celebrity fare per night is about $200 per person.  Take out the hotel cost, fuel, entertainment, port charges, etc. and the amount of money that you paid for your three meals a day is in Outback territory, if not less. I get that Specialty restaurants costs you more, but a good steak in Ruth's Chris is $60, plus sides, salad, dessert, tip and tax. Nowhere near what you paid on Celebrity.   Bottom line - you didn't pay for quality,  even if Celebrity tried to sell you the illusion that you did. Of course, for those paying $1000 or more per person per night on Celebrity the equation is different.   But those cruisers already know that and they aren't on Celebrity for the food. 

Our last cruise on the Connie was all in about 140 per person per night and we had some of the best food we personally have had on a cruise ship. Way better than Disney. Thanks to promos we ended up with zero out of pocket costs except for some extra cash tips for the staff and bartenders. 
 

That said we aren’t foodies so our food opinions may not count for much. 
 

IMO Ruth Chris is overrated, give me a WI supper club steak:)

Edited January 19, 2023 by cgolf1

[morpheusofthesea]

On 1/17/2023 at 6:48 PM, mpdog42 said:

A $24,000 cabin doesn’t come with class.

Nor does a cabin with 2 lowers on the inside.

[NMTraveller]

6 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Celebrity does not owe anyone an explanation about what is going on. We should be able to figure it out for ourselves. After all, it’s all right there in that video…right.     

We would kind of like to know why they are bent on running their business into the ground.

 

When you change a Dillards into a Walmart you are not going to get the same price for your clothing.  The same for degrading the Celebrity product.  The fares that people are willing to pay for the degraded product will decline.

[Pinboy]

6 hours ago, AnnaNicole said:

My post was never about respect for a person due to their position.   Funny, you tried to make yours about it.

No disrespect-- I think you misinterpreted my comment :

All I'm saying is----

"I don't believe for one minute that a CEO, CFO or any other top 500 Fortune Company or any high level Executive in any Company has time for posting on CC during working hours about Gratuities, Buffets, Lounge Hogs, or Who the hell the Captain is on our cruise in 2025".

LOL---If people are at work doing what they are being paid for , what the hell are they doing posting " important stuff "(??) like this on CC ?  ( Gov't of Canada employees are exempt ).

 

 

[TheHawk1]

8 hours ago, terrydtx said:

The only thing Tilapia is good for is throwing it overboard for chum. My favorite local Mexican restaurant is known for fantastic fish tacos made with fresh grouper. Last fall they started using Tilapia and got destroyed on social media for the change. After a few weeks of poor publicity, they switched back to fresh grouper and added $2 to the cost and they are as good as before and selling as good as before.

We get it, for the 100th time... you hate Tilapia.  Geesh!

[TMLAalum]

2 hours ago, stringbean10 said:

Cruise ship fares tend to be a loss leader - especially at the lower categories.  They want you on the boat to spend your money.  Everyone seems to very impressed with themselves for spending  $3000.  Repeatedly calling X's offices - complaining and 'really showing them.'  How embarrassing.

Bless your heart!

[Shep_Proudfoot]

On 1/17/2023 at 1:04 PM, stringbean10 said:

For a publicly traded company shareholders are the REAL customers.  Corporations actually owe a fiduciary duty to their shareholders.  They are legally obligated to look out for shareholder. What are shareholder interests? Increasing profitability and share price. 

 

They do not care about most value for their customer's vacation dollar.  They have to find the pain points - to offer the least to make the most!  Capitalism baby! 

 

This may be it for you.  I bet it is not for many others - including the woman who pays $24k for her suite. I promise you they care more about making her happy than you.

 

The fact is she is subsidising your vacation.   All the people so upset about the buffet, yes they can lose your business.  Easily, if they keep the high dollar folks happy. 

 

The vibe of this just reeks of entitlement - which ??? It's like freaking out at Target.  Celebrity is not a super luxury brand or experience - it's nicer.  Like Target is nicer than Walmart.  It's still mass market. It is still a business. 

“Capitalism Baby!”

 

An obvious simp for a flawed economic system will never be someone whose opinion will be very interesting to most of us here. This isn’t an investment or economics forum, fortunately.

[59impala]

6 minutes ago, Shep_Proudfoot said:

“Capitalism Baby!”

 

An obvious simp for a flawed economic system will never be someone whose opinion will be very interesting to most of us here. This isn’t an investment or economics forum, fortunately.

Yes, the whole free market relies on willing buyer, willing seller. 
Looking like Celebrity are running out of "willing buyers" with these cuts and downgrades to the cruise experience. Such a shame as they won't have a business soon. 
 

[islabahia]

It is SO easy to block users who add nothing of value to the discussion…blah blah blah.  

[Covepointcruiser]

Just looked at the live Eclipse sailing.   Doesn’t sound like the cu TA have had much impact on this sailing.    Sounds like the food offerings in the OV for dinner are more than adequate.    Luminae also seems to be offering great food.

[mpdog42]

7 hours ago, Debbra1024 said:

I have watched this topic closely. Initially I was very concerned, enough to email and speak with Celebrity. Yes they gave a company line including how many changes were suggestions from customers. When I stopped literally laughing, I made suggestions about transparency that may or may not have fallen on deaf ears. On the positive side, she was responsive and polite. 
I pondered longer and watched these threads become more negative and attack those with differing opinions. Not cool. Let me add a few of my insights and some from others more learned:

I was fortunate to take a Viking river cruise (yes, it is a smaller ship, yes it is on smaller bodies of water, yes smaller capacity, yes still relevant).  There was not an evening buffet. No one went hungry. There was not a ton of grumbling. After long port days would it have been nice to have a relaxed, shorts option, sure, but not a deal breaker. Speaking with a TA who only does Royal and Celebrity cruise’s herself, she was excited by the changes. Not what I expected. Her rationale:

1. Told a story of cruisers taking bags to the buffet and clearing out all the boxes of cereal and fruit. Their reasoning, they paid for a cruise that included food so they were entitled to take it all home

2. Shared watching people overload 4+ plates at the buffet and end up throwing away tons of food. 
3. As an insider, has seen the massive waste at the end of the night due to lower turn out at the buffet than expected. 
Food costs are high; socially responsible thinking regarding food waste is on the increase, thankfully; Covid caused changes in the way the world operates. 
Should Celebrity have been more transparent, of course. Should food quality be important, yes. Maybe by cutting waste they can focus on quality. Will Celebrity do some course corrections over time, we can hope. 
Overall, hoping for the best on my February 3rd cruise. I’m choosing to focus on the positives while being aware of the changes. Reality is perception, find a way to accept what you can’t change, make changes in future decisions if unhappy, find the positives in what you have. 
have a wonderful day 

Thanks so much for your thoughtful Post!!

Celebrity Marking Department

Miami Florida

[mpdog42]

5 hours ago, TopoChico said:

If I were shopping cruises, which I’m not right now, if I saw a ship advertising a hot,

super-crispy chicken wing bar open and available 24/7, a Jewish deli with mile high pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, and guys walking around with freshly-made warm chocolate chip cookies and milk (like Princess used to do,) I’d book immediately. Screw prime rib and lobster. 

I would just settle at this point, if Celebrity would just put in a Five Guys or a Popeye's for the OVC at night😜

[mpdog42]

2 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Yup....in a nutshell.  Small print is everything most of us decline to read...haha...too small to read.  The cruise lines have many disclaimers.  But PR is important despite that we seem to have no legal recourse (usually)...so it's in their best interest to make some kind of acknowledgement, not only in print, but also dealing with the actual problem...provide more choice in the OV, design healthy but upscale MDR items on the menu as far as budget will allow, and continue to provide what we PAY FOR in the Specialty restaurants. 

But if 100 people cruising in the next month file with the BBB after their cruise, Wounder what Celebrity would say then?

[Ipeeinthepools]

8 minutes ago, mpdog42 said:

But if 100 people cruising in the next month file with the BBB after their cruise, Wounder what Celebrity would say then?

 

Crickets

[kimmiec75]

4 hours ago, stringbean10 said:

So people here are complaining about their own personal food costs (not to mention fuel costs) rising dramatically over the last several months but are unable to connect the dots.   Simply amazing. 

 

Also - 

 

Cruise ship fares tend to be a loss leader - especially at the lower categories.  They want you on the boat to spend your money.  Everyone seems to very impressed with themselves for spending  $3000.  Repeatedly calling X's offices - complaining and 'really showing them.'  How embarrassing.

I find it embarrassing that you spent $24,000 for one cruise and call the ship a "boat". It's a ship! 

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Pinboy said:

No disrespect-- I think you misinterpreted my comment :

All I'm saying is----

"I don't believe for one minute that a CEO, CFO or any other top 500 Fortune Company or any high level Executive in any Company has time for posting on CC during working hours about Gratuities, Buffets, Lounge Hogs, or Who the hell the Captain is on our cruise in 2025".

LOL---If people are at work doing what they are being paid for , what the hell are they doing posting " important stuff "(??) like this on CC ?  ( Gov't of Canada employees are exempt ).

 

 

Mostly true, as I would like to know what my choices will be for dinner on Tuesday, May 16 and if Mustaffa will be my room steward again, he was amazing.  Oh BTW if you see him, please tell him Mr Wood says hello and I hope he loves the magnet I left for him that I picked up in Corsica.

[LGW59]

25 minutes ago, mpdog42 said:

But if 100 people cruising in the next month file with the BBB after their cruise, Wounder what Celebrity would say then?

You can stop woundering...I'll do it

[Ken the cruiser]

I still think it’s fascinating. We’ve been on 11 Celebrity cruises since August 2021 encompassing 96 days on 5 different ships (Edge, Apex, Constellation, Reflection and Summit) in either a Sky Suite, Sunset Veranda or aft-facing Aqua cabin, posting to a Live From thread on each of those, and never realized other passengers were having such a rotten time! I guess being antisocial does have its advantages as we sure had a great time on all of those cruises.

 

But, as many folks have noted on this thread, there have been some changes recently enacted, so it will definitely be interesting to see how they will apply on our upcoming 30-day B3B on the Eclipse in an Aqua cabin starting in mid April. My guess is we’ll still have a lot of fun on that cruise as well! 😁

[Oville]

I don’t think anyone is going to starve.  Thank you BermudaBound2014 for the pix.

[RichYak]

Celebrity Cruises. You Won't Starve℠

[MamaFej]

1 minute ago, RichYak said:

Celebrity Cruises. You Won't Starve℠

But if you do, it will be luxuriously.

[talljules1]

I have to say, I don't really care WHY X are doing this. What I do care about is getting less than promised when I booked. And I care about and object to being charged more and more for less and less. Degrade the experience, and it means that the value of cruising (for me at least) with this line disappears. We now sail in the Retreat on Celebrity. Their prices are on the up and up, and have reached the point where they now intersect with other premium/luxury lines. If X are not going to offer the level of service we've come to expect, then it will be time to jump ship and go elsewhere.

 

Yes, I get that the Ts&Cs mean that X can make changes. These changes are going too far. If the food on board is less pleasant than what I can make at home, then it's not worth it for me.

[Guest TopoChico]

9 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Celebrity Cruises. You Won't Starve℠

This is the funniest and most appropriate comment in the 854 on this thread. The best!!!!!

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, 59impala said:

Yes, the whole free market relies on willing buyer, willing seller. 
Looking like Celebrity are running out of "willing buyers" with these cuts and downgrades to the cruise experience. Such a shame as they won't have a business soon. 
 

What suggests to you that Celebrity is running out of willing buyers?  Cruises I looked at recently were mostly booked.

I believe Celebrity will made modifications to OV, but not making the changes would guarantee their demise.

Suggest those that are feeling they would not receive what they paid for should either cancel or make the next cruise with X their last.

FWIW the premium lines have raised their prices as well.  Welcome to 2023 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Arizona Wildcat

[Goldenknight]

I agree with most of the other posters here that this thread is devolved.  When I first posted, it was a factual description of our recent (Jan. 2) Celebrity cruise.  I provided factual details of what we experienced.  

 

Now, it seems, a few posters' only intent is to demean or mock other posters.  I never did eat stringy beans. 

It's silly and non-productive.  My advice: don't feed the trolls under the bridge.  

 

Meanwhile, we all have the ability to talk with our wallets.  I've had six absolutely delightful NCL cruises, and two more NCL cruises booked for this year.  I won't be giving Celebrity a second chance.  Whatever other posters do, it's your choice, not the trolls who spout unsubstantiated, misinterpreted "stuff."

 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Goldenknight