Edge review 1/13

[gizmodog]

Just got home today from a very very different Celebrity cruise. First let me say, I am elite plus so I am not a newbie with celebrity, secondly I love cruising and even though this was not the cruising style I am use to I enjoyed myself just being on the ocean and enjoying the wind, weather and sounds of the sea.

now…..the ship is clean, the staff try, but whatever has happened to this cruise line in a year is hard to understand.

the buffet is drastically cut back in the evening, no pasta bar, but there is a stir fry area, there are breads and cheeses, dessert choices, fruit, salad bar and a station with food of the evening. That is it. Pizza is always available in the back, which I love. I ate twice in the buffet for dinner, had stir fry each night and ate pizza quite a bit for lunch or a snack.

Drinks were terrible the number of fru fru 

blended drinks I got, BBC, DIRTY MONKEY, MIAMI VICE, PINA COLADA, more than half of them were undrinkable. Not blended enough, not smooth and creamy, no drinks were ever made the same which makes me wonder if the bartenders were ever trained. The number of servers in the pool area was not able to keep up with the number of people at the pool.

now the biggie, the main dining rooms. There was never a steak on the menu for all 10 nights other than the always available sirloin. No filet, no rib eye, no prime rib. The beef choices were short ribs, beef bourginonne, which was like having stew, I like stew, but I do expect a little more on a cruise. There was lots of pork, lamb, a pasta choice each night, black cod in one of the restaurants, other than that not even much seafood. 
my big disappointment was the stale breadsticks (which I love and look forward to) and do I even want to mention the lobster? These lobster were so small they looked like they would be illegal to keep if caught. Mine was served upside down with the shell showing, the meat was tough and no melted butter was offered to sprinkle on the lobster. It was served with a pile of rice pilaf and broccoli. We never had enough butter at our table of 6. No coffee was ever offered after dinner, not once!  We were informed a charge of 16.99 plus 18% gratuity would be charged if we wanted another lobster….who would??? Desserts were for the most part good, the bananas foster tasted like old bananas that probably should have been thrown out so they used them for dessert, plus they were not nice sliced bananas they were one banana cut in fours, you were served two of those 4..

I really don’t know what else to say, did I go hungry? no. Did I enjoy my dinners? Not really, I’m very saddened as to what has happened to what was my favorite cruise line

We leave in a month for Antartica on the Infinity and I can say my usual excitement is just not there, I’m sure I will love the scenery and the thrill of being somewhere I’ve never been but 14 days of this food and service is not my idea of a celebrity cruise.

[RichYak]

Ok... well... how about the little chocolates at turn down? Any good?

[Treasure Hunter]

Just got off the Edge in a Celebrity suite and Luminae wasn’t any better than the MDR. You had to eat in Eden, Raw at 5 or the Roof Top Grill to get decent entree. The escargot, onion soup and Caesar salad were good and that’s it. The lobster was the size of my pinky. The prices go up and the food goes down. The debt must be enormous. 

[Cruisegirl6]

I also would be disappointed and going on the Beyond in March and agree disappointed with the menu, but lets remember, things are difficult to get, especially for a cruise line that serves thousands of people on each of their ships.  So, I think I be a bit understanding with the cutbacks, just happy I can go again as I  refuse to take the vax.  About the drinks, you can always ask them to mix them better and if they are weak, you can ask for another shot of liquor and put in in your drink.

 

We need to be understanding, we are living in tough times.  The good thing is that you got on that cruise and I am sure putting aside the food and drink issue you are glad you went.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Cruisegirl6

[RICCruisers]

2 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

I also would be disappointed and going on the Beyond in March and agree disappointed with the menu, but lets remember, things are difficult to get, especially for a cruise line that serves thousands of people on each of their ships.  So, I think I be a bit understanding with the cutbacks, just happy I can go again as I  refuse to take the vax.  About the drinks, you can always ask them to mix them better and if they are weak, you can ask for another shot of liquor and put in in your drink.

 

We need to be understanding, we are living in tough times.  The good thing is that you got on that cruise and I am sure putting aside the food and drink issue you are glad you went.

You have got to be kidding!!

 

Do you think Celebrity should be understanding that my portfolio took a big hit this past year and give me a break on their inflated prices??  
 

 

[Accessor]

Thank you for the honest review. This information is enough for me to finally cancel my upcoming Beyond cruise.

[Nachosdelux]

Thanks for the frank review.  The apologists here are entertaining, to say the least.  Prices are up yet quality, quantity, and service is down - not a recipe for success.  

 

Being in a bad financial state is no excuse.  Hopefully they can get their act together or they will lose a lot of customers, especially their long-time loyal cruisers who recognize the deterioration.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Nachosdelux

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

So, I think I be a bit understanding with the cutbacks

So basically what you’re saying is that we should all take the “pay more for less and like it” attitude. Naw, I get your point of view and like you, I’m happy to be sailing again… no doubt. But if the quality and service decline due to shortages of whatever, it seems counterintuitive to then turn around and raise prices on the overall experience. Unless the op and others like me who are looking forward to an upcoming sailing booked at rock bottom prices (and I didn’t), we are right to feel disappointed. 

[terrydtx]

As long as people continue to book cruises, prices will increase, service along with food will decline, and Celebrity will laugh all the way to the bank. This once great line is being destroyed by the bean counters. The longtime loyalists are being driven to look for better cruise line options.

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 hours ago, RichYak said:

Ok... well... how about the little chocolates at turn down? Any good?

Wait!!!  Stop the presses…the pillow chocolates haven’t been eliminated yet?  
 

Never mind, just read the fine print…they’re charging a premium plus 18% to put them there…. And double if you ask for more 🤣

[Georgia_Peaches]

Just now, terrydtx said:

The longtime loyalists are being driven to look for better cruise line options.

Honestly, I think their goal is to get rid of the long time loyalists. We cost them money in Captain’s club status perks and we have a before and after comparison of Celebrity days gone by. They want the newbies bc they have no frame of reference. 

[terrydtx]

31 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Honestly, I think their goal is to get rid of the long time loyalists. We cost them money in Captain’s club status perks and we have a before and after comparison of Celebrity days gone by. They want the newbies bc they have no frame of reference. 

I believe your conspiracy theory is correct. I am seeing more posts from first time Celebrity cruisers posting about how great their cruise was. They have no idea that the OVC was at one time a full service buffet, that drink packages were reasonably priced, and that the MDR's had plenty of good steaks, prime rib and multiple lobster tails.

Edited January 25, 2023 by terrydtx

[gizmodog]

I think sadly I agree with you. I really have been honest on the food, it was very disappointing as was the service most times. I do not believe for the price you pay for a cruise that a filet or prime rib can not be offered one night on a cruise. We did eat in rooftop grill and Eden, the food was very good as was the service but you had to pay to get a steak.  I also don’t understand the lack of seafood other then salmon.

 The rooms are still serviced twice a day, chocolates on the pillow, and celebrity cabins are still some of the best out there I do believe, we had an aft real balcony and my friends had an IV they need a handicapped room and no real balconies are offered to them other then a suite. I do hate that design on the new ships.

oh well, I’m on to the next one and hope for some food improvement on the Infinity.

I also agree with the poster that said as long as we keep accepting their  up charges and cuts they will continue to do it, what is the solution? You do need to hit them in their pocketbook I guess and sadly move elsewhere. 

 

 

 

 

[Sunset329]

We also were on the Edge last week. In October we cruised to Hawaii on the Sapphire Princess. Throughout the cruise we were comparing our Celebrity experience to our Princess experience. Celebrity came out on top for the ship, embarkation, disembarkation, buffet (except for evening buffet) and Eden for breakfast and lunch (compared to International Cafe on Princess). Princess came out on top for the evening dining room (we had the same table and same wait staff every day; the evening dinners were much better on Princess than on Celebrity), entertainment, Princess app and staff. We will continue to book cruises on both Celebrity and Princess. 

[NMTraveller]

Welcome to the new cost cutting version of Celebrity,  not the same as the old Celebrity.

Where there is no cut that is too deep.

[jalves]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Honestly, I think their goal is to get rid of the long time loyalists.

Not believing that any company would want to alienate their highest affinity group.  

[RichYak]

10 minutes ago, jalves said:

Not believing that any company would want to alienate their highest affinity group.  

Believe what you want, but affinity doesn't pay the bills. They want revenue. If their market research indicates that it will come from new cruisers, that's who they'll target.

[dodger1964]

We are sailing on Edge Feb 24...We are also elite plus, and haven't sailed X for 4 years...We have never eaten in the MDR (always in room with delivered MDR food, or in buffet).  Not looking forward to the dinners on the cruise!  I would rather just have a hamburger and fries than spend 2 hours in a loud (and very crowded) MDR...I guess we will see what happens!  I envision trying the buffet and if that is as sad as it currently sounds, we will just have big lunch!

[jelayne]

36 minutes ago, dodger1964 said:

We are sailing on Edge Feb 24...We are also elite plus, and haven't sailed X for 4 years...We have never eaten in the MDR (always in room with delivered MDR food, or in buffet).  Not looking forward to the dinners on the cruise!  I would rather just have a hamburger and fries than spend 2 hours in a loud (and very crowded) MDR...I guess we will see what happens!  I envision trying the buffet and if that is as sad as it currently sounds, we will just have big lunch!

You may want to give the MDR a chance 1 night.  On the Edge it isn’t 1 large 2 level space.  There are 4 smaller MDRs so not nearly as noisy and doesn’t feel like a huge banquets hall.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, gizmodog said:

I also agree with the poster that said as long as we keep accepting their up charges and cuts they will continue to do it, what is the solution? You do need to hit them in their pocketbook I guess and sadly move elsewhere. 

In 2019 we decided to move up from booking Aqua Class to the Retreat Sky Suites, because we wanted to have a more premium experience without paying what more premium cruise lines wanted. Celebrity delivered that premium experience in the Retreat, but now they are raising future SS prices so high, we can book those more premium lines and save a few dollars. We booked our first Oceania cruise for 2025 and are looking at a couple other for 2024. 

[kebrown]

Regarding steaks in the main dining room, it is true that Celebrity is no longer offering filet or ribeye steaks on the menus in the main dining rooms.  Within the last year, we have taken 3 Celebrity cruises, including a 14 night transatlantic cruise on the Apex, and there was not filet or ribeye steak offered on any of the menus in the main dining rooms.  I believe that is criminal for Celebrity not to offer a filet or ribeye steak at least one night in the main dining room at the prices they are charging.

[Arubamoose]

Last year we did the Apex in February.  We were SO BLOWN AWAY by our total experience on that ship we booked B2B on the Edge coming up in three weeks.  

 

I am really praying that I am not regretting that decision.  

 

I can understand some cuts are needed to be made to reach some sort of profitability in the near future.  But Celebrity has been the cruise line known for their cuisine going back to the days of Michel Roux.  I betcha Daniel Boulud is not happy with his name being associated with the stuff that they are serving now.

 

At the time we were forced to book AI because that was all that was available.  As Elite, the price difference is tremendous for the value that I will get from AI.  Would rather have booked non inclusive.  But we really enjoyed the Apex.  The meals were great - heck there was even a meat orgy in the buffet one night.

 

Will I enjoy the cruise and ship?  Most likely - it's our annual get outta winter getaway.  Anywhere warm is desirable.  Will I be disappointed compared to our experience on the Apex?  Probably.  

 

I was planning on booking at least three more future trips while on board but I don't think that will happen.  May even consider cancelling our already booked future cruises.  

 

 

[gizmodog]

Honestly I’m done writing anything negative after this last comment but it is all so fresh in my mind right now.

as elite or above there has always been a private disembarkation room, there had been coffee and danish available for those of us in there waiting on departure. Well you can probably guess….nada, nothing, I can’t tell you how many people were asking if there was coffee or tea, the response was always “no, no coffee”.

I am sure that the suite experience is probably still wonderful but for the rest of the cruisers it is a big change. Not a good one either.

[cruisinsusin]

"as elite or above there has always been a private disembarkation room"

 

wonder if this is an issue specific to Edge - we did not see this on recent Silhouette cruise

[Accessor]

3 hours ago, cruisinsusin said:

"as elite or above there has always been a private disembarkation room"

 

wonder if this is an issue specific to Edge - we did not see this on recent Silhouette cruise

 

"there had been coffee and danish available for those of us in there waiting on departure. Well you can probably guess….nada, nothing,"

 

They were saying the elite disembarkation room was empty of any coffee or food. They didn't say no room existed. Just more penny pinching or someone didn't perform their job correctly that was responsible for it to be stocked.