Celebrity Now Charging for Eden Cafe "Premium" Sandwiches

[hcat]

3 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

Chair hogging belongings should be removed by the crew.  I don't see the value in charging passengers to ensure the crew enforces the policy by removing items from unattended chairs and doing their job.  There is already a charge for the enclave, although they are positioned away from the pool on most ships.  

thanks for pointing out there is already an option to pay for "reserved" pool seating ..which comes with shade, drinks and maybe lunch.

 

We are going to look into that on APEX. We will book it for a day or two depending on where this area  faces and whether it has a  busy public walk through like on EDGE.

[LouChamp]

4 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

Chair hogging belongings should be removed by the crew.  I don't see the value in charging passengers to ensure the crew enforces the policy by removing items from unattended chairs and doing their job.  There is already a charge for the enclave, although they are positioned away from the pool on most ships.  

Aloha. I totally agree with you but in my opinion respectfully the problem is there is no enforcement. As with most arenas in life nowadays it seems like anarchy abounds.  I never hogged a chair and generally go to the pool area after noonish so it does not affect me personally. My point is that the cruise lines are migrating towards ala carte for almost everything. That is the reality as they are so deep in debt. That is why my suggestion for another revenue stream has some validity. Decades ago it was the norm and I am not saying every deck chair and location needs to have a price tag rather a portion.  Just a thought and opinion. 

[Cruise a holic]

What next?  No food included in base price of cruise?  We are Elite Plus on Celebrity and will be DiamondPlus on Royal.  Perhaps our time for cruising might be over.  AI resorts are truly all inclusive.  Maybe time to consider.

[dazey]

Is Eden Cafe open on embarkment day for lunch?

[horseymike]

How much is a PBJ ?

[TeeRick]

21 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

We really enjoy the Eden Cafe for lunch. And, you know what, with these premium options and related charges I can still enjoy the Eden Cafe. By golly, I might even spend some OBC for those yum yums, prognostications and comic relief notwithstanding.      

 

Spif, yes I agree.  Nothing has been taken away at the Eden Cafe and it has been enhanced by the addition of a few items with a charge.  I can choose to buy them or not.  Simple.  Personally I would not choose to buy a lobster roll unless it is Maine/cold water lobster.  Not the usual Caribbean crawfish that the ship calls lobster and people seem to obsess over here on CC.   

 

I think the Spa Cafe does the same thing with some offerings at an extra charge.  Always has. 

 

If Celebrity offered really good made to order burgers at the Eden Cafe  (but keeping those lower quality free burgers by the pool), I would choose to buy one on occasion.  I would prefer that to the Prime Rib (roast beef) sandwich.

[Tyler414]

3 hours ago, dazey said:

Is Eden Cafe open on embarkment day for lunch?

No

[Pinboy]

20 hours ago, hcat said:

I am opposed to the present culture  of.. " if  I pay  I can skip the line,  have something better or  upgraded on cruises..  "    and in general.

"I am opposed to the present culture".

Totally agree, however in the " real world " it's been a part of doing business for " years ".

An example, I have noted several times on CC --- no reservation available in a restaurant ( on board or on land ) --- a few $$ makes it happen. 

I heard of a restaurant in Florida specializing in stone crabs ( not to be confused with " stoned " crabs on a cruise ship or some of the posts on CC ) where you better shake the Maitre'd's hand ( $$ ) or no seating for you --- The guy has blisters from all the hand shakes and never got Covid !!

 

 

 

[AlyssaJames]

Hah, and I thought Princess's upcharge 'specialty' desserts were ridiculous.

(Twelve bucks each.)

Edited September 27, 2023 by AlyssaJames

[conquesodor]

Can anyone confirm if the sandwiches that cost extra were previously available for free? My guess is that they were not and that this is similar to the new items that were added to the MDR menus that cost extra.

[hcat]

2 hours ago, Pinboy said:

"I am opposed to the present culture".

Totally agree, however in the " real world " it's been a part of doing business for " years ".

An example, I have noted several times on CC --- no reservation available in a restaurant ( on board or on land ) --- a few $$ makes it happen. 

I heard of a restaurant in Florida specializing in stone crabs ( not to be confused with " stoned " crabs on a cruise ship or some of the posts on CC ) where you better shake the Maitre'd's hand ( $$ ) or no seating for you --- The guy has blisters from all the hand shakes and never got Covid !!

 

 

 

How sad! 

but we never experienced that type of activity by X staff..

 

[hcat]

10 minutes ago, conquesodor said:

Can anyone confirm if the sandwiches that cost extra were previously available for free? My guess is that they were not and that this is similar to the new items that were added to the MDR menus that cost extra.

yes..seems they will be extra items.

  the space where they prepare the food,  take  and hand out orders is very tight.. staffing sometimes sporadic and even for salads slow.

 

Hope it wont become the newly discovered hot spot!  

Edited September 27, 2023 by hcat

[grandgeezer]

2 hours ago, Pinboy said:

"I am opposed to the present culture".

Totally agree, however in the " real world " it's been a part of doing business for " years ".

An example, I have noted several times on CC --- no reservation available in a restaurant ( on board or on land ) --- a few $$ makes it happen. 

I heard of a restaurant in Florida specializing in stone crabs ( not to be confused with " stoned " crabs on a cruise ship or some of the posts on CC ) where you better shake the Maitre'd's hand ( $$ ) or no seating for you --- The guy has blisters from all the hand shakes and never got Covid !!

 

 

 

This is the way it used to be in Las Vegas many years ago. Everybody was seated by the Maitre’d or equivalent. You got in line extra early to get a good seat. The more you gave, the better seat you got. We have friends that went there a lot and said $20 or so, would get you center stage, pretty close to the front, this was in the mid 1970s though.

[hcat]

32 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

This is the way it used to be in Las Vegas many years ago. Everybody was seated by the Maitre’d or equivalent. You got in line extra early to get a good seat. The more you gave, the better seat you got. We have friends that went there a lot and said $20 or so, would get you center stage, pretty close to the front, this was in the mid 1970s though.

glad we never went there..j

[Tyler414]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

This is the way it used to be in Las Vegas many years ago. Everybody was seated by the Maitre’d or equivalent. You got in line extra early to get a good seat. The more you gave, the better seat you got. We have friends that went there a lot and said $20 or so, would get you center stage, pretty close to the front, this was in the mid 1970s though.

We’re now talking about Vegas from 50 years ago. 🤦‍♂️

[RICCruisers]

One of the biggest changes we observed in the Eden Cafe on our last cruise on Edge was the significant degradation of the brownies and chocolate chip cookies. They went from luscious desserts to more like store bought variety not worth the calories.  It’s very sad to see the lower quality of many food items that we have enjoyed over the years of cruising on Celebrity while prices of cabins keep going up. New cruisers don’t see this since they never experienced the higher quality products that were served in the past. If this is working for Celebrity’s bottom line it will continue. My hope is that it doesn’t work and their race to the bottom ends soon. A business can only cut expenses so much before it finally catches up with them. 

[Captain-John]

They can only cut so deep, and then there won't be a business left to 'save.'

 

Whack another $50 bucks onto the cruise fare and nobody would notice or care. But little moves like this are noticed and generally creates a negative sentiment bigger than the incremental cruise fare. It's all about the messaging. I'm not looking forward to my first X cruise in all honesty.

 

Sure, my eventual opinion will be based on my actual experience but the sum total of all the 'little' changes I've read about on these boards is really bad PR.

 

 

[ISABELLA]

On 9/25/2023 at 8:06 PM, hcat said:

As I posted  elsewhere...GREED,

Hope this nice little cafe is not morphed into an extra cost venue..

And after that the Aquaspa cafe.....

On S class food in Aqua cafe is nothing to write home about. Not what it used to be when first was opened.

[ISABELLA]

I am sure more charges will come, as long people are paying and not avoiding it. It will take a bit of time, but people will get used it and will stop complaining. Just like it happens around in different aspects of life. First it was strange to accept, then it became - whatever, and them it will feel like norm.

Just an observation.

[drakes2]

On 9/25/2023 at 8:22 PM, miched said:

Up charge for window seats in the dining rooms

It wouldn't surprise me. I was on an RCI cruise in August with my Grandson and the tables by the windows during break fast and lunch were reserved for Suite and above guests. 

[lostchild]

2 hours ago, Tyler414 said:

We’re now talking about Vegas from 50 years ago. 🤦‍♂️

It is the same now for Vegas room upgrade.  It's called the $20 trick.  Except now you probably need to do the $100 trick because of inflation!   You just fold it twice and put it under the credit card to hand over at check in.   Ask if there is any free room upgrade available.  If they have it and you take the upgrade, the bill disappears into the receptionist pocket.  If there is none, it just gets returned to you with your credit card.  It is not going to get you a penthouse suite, but usually a higher floor strip view room with resort fee waived is possible.   A 3 nights resort fee alone is about $100.  

[weregoingcruising]

Get ready for the  ALL INCLUDED PLUS OPTION. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by weregoingcruising
spelling

[Sandy1975]

On 9/25/2023 at 9:09 PM, jelayne said:

We have been on all 3 E class ships, total 7 cruises and there was no prime rib sandwich in the Eden  Cafe.  Maybe it was a recent addition?

Yes, my husband had it in April and was not good. He couldn't finish it. 

[Cruise till you drop]

Do they still serve those breakfast sandwiches in Eden Cafe and are they still free ?

[miched]

1 hour ago, lostchild said:

It is the same now for Vegas room upgrade.  It's called the $20 trick.  Except now you probably need to do the $100 trick because of inflation!   You just fold it twice and put it under the credit card to hand over at check in.   Ask if there is any free room upgrade available.  If they have it and you take the upgrade, the bill disappears into the receptionist pocket.  If there is none, it just gets returned to you with your credit card.  It is not going to get you a penthouse suite, but usually a higher floor strip view room with resort fee waived is possible.   A 3 nights resort fee alone is about $100.  

That is an old urban legend.   We traveled to Vegas many times and use to read that on the forums.  We would get upgrades by just asking.  Usually it was a room with a different view or on a higher floor.  I use to read the same on this forum.  On the first day of the cruise go to the guest relation desk and slip the clerk a $20, $50 etc and ask for an upgrade.  Another is give a BT a good TIP and get premium drunks when you have the classic package.  
 

I also worked as a dealer in a Detroit Casino.   The dealers aren’t card mechanics.   We just deal cards and make payoffs.   We were taught every way to cheat.   The reason for that was don’t try anything as we know all of the tricks and also to know what to look for to catch cheaters.   There are so many cameras looking at everyone and everything.   There is a supervisor that is watching and a pit boss that is watching.  Plus I counted 17 cameras that were around the pit and table.  The same goes for the registration desk.  Today at most casinos you check in at a Kiosk that prints out your room card.  
 

If anyone was  caught cheating they were prosecuted.  

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅