Good news with Celebrity cruise. Report the changes

[bebe08]

Agree with the positives already posted.  Thanks for this thread 🙂

 

We were on the Connie last month and had a great cruise!  Positives for us:

- every meal in MDR was excellent and lots of choices

- they are experimenting with making the Elite coffee/breakfast a buffet which we really enjoyed

- no photographers in your face trying to get you to pose and buy pictures

 

We had an amazing cruise!! 

[downsmead]

14 minutes ago, bebe08 said:

Agree with the positives already posted.  Thanks for this thread 🙂

 

We were on the Connie last month and had a great cruise!  Positives for us:

- every meal in MDR was excellent and lots of choices

- they are experimenting with making the Elite coffee/breakfast a buffet which we really enjoyed

- no photographers in your face trying to get you to pose and buy pictures

 

We had an amazing cruise!! 

The Elite breakfast use to be a buffet! Can’t remember when or why (?Covid) it was changed to waiter service. 

[Tyler414]

Just got back from a 10 day'r on Beyond, we had a wonderful cruise, it was kinda make or break for me.  After a not so good one in January 2023 (beginning of the now reversed cutbacks)  Everything was great, Decoy was the wine of choice for me, with no upcharge (my local store has it on sale for $12 a bottle currently 😂)  Can't wait for the several planned Celebrity cruises in the near future. 🥂

[helen haywood]

43 minutes ago, downsmead said:

The Elite breakfast use to be a buffet! Can’t remember when or why (?Covid) it was changed to waiter service. 

It was changed to a plated/menu affair way before Covid.  The “explanation” at the time was the health department (or whatever) would not allow a buffet on a carpeted area.  On S Class where the Elite breakfast is served in Tuscan the buffet was set up specifically for that meal and taken down when it was over to revert back to the full tabled restaurant.  As there is tile at the entrance to Tuscan, no reason the buffet couldn’t have been shifted there…IMHO.

[Ken the cruiser]

We now have 2 "real" future cruises booked with Celebrity again, along with 12 others we have with other lines through early 2026!  🕺💃

 

For over a year, we have had two "placeholder" bookings with $100 refundable deposits we got on an Eclipse cruise last spring. We were finally able to use them to book two interesting itineraries in late 2025 AND most importantly with the cheaper NRD cruise fares! 

 

If we had not secured these two placeholders onboard last year, I doubt we would have ever gone on another Celebrity cruise, as we like to book them usually at least 18+ months out and paying that 20% surcharge for one with a refundable deposit was just way too painful.

[phoenix_dream]

20 hours ago, jelayne said:

All good stuff but a minor correction.  The cruise only fare for Zenith booking suites  is not being allowed on cruises that are paid in full. So those of us with paid cruises for April, May and most of June do not get our price adjusted. 

And while I am happy for any discount, the price difference is very minor compared with what the benefits actually cost, as well as what they charge for an AQ all included, which doesn't even have the premium options.  A nice discount and positive change, but IMHO to call it a cruise only fare is misleading.

[phoenix_dream]

21 hours ago, tomcruiser1234 said:

Things can be a little on the negative side for Celebrity. However i think they are starting to make some changes for the good. I think some of our complaints have started to hit home. 

 

We got Decoy wine back

Dedicated Butlers for the suites

Zenith now can do a cruise only fare for suites in fact they are offering it on cruises already booked and paid for 

We now can book a cruise to Cococay   If you haven’t tried, you will love it   We took grand kids. And got are own Cabana WOW. Expensive but it was great 

Officer are all over the ship talking to everybody

 

i know prices seemed to have almost doubled but what hasn’t 

 

oh well, if you know others   Please report the good suff

 

 

For many of us (I realize not all) the change to CocoCay is the exact opposite of positive, especially as it takes ships away from 7 or 7+ days sailing and adds tons of short cruises to attract an entirely different type of crowd, a continuation of the Royalization of Celebrity.  Not to mention the moving to Port Canaveral which is much less convenient for the majority of us who don't live close to that port.  

 

Glad they brought back Decoy into premium.  Now I wish they would do the same for several other wines retailing for under $20 which remain an upcharge like Conundrum and Cherry Pie.

 

Also happy about the return of butlers to suites.  That is indeed a biggie for many.

 

I feel like they're listening.  But I also feel like they are "throwing us bones" so to speak to try to drive down all the (legitimate) complaints.  I'll give credit where it's warranted for the positive changes, but overall they still remain minor compared to what was taken away or changed, while prices doubled and remain so.

[bessinfl]

 

"The majority of us" don't live close to Port Canaveral? I'd say the majority of people in the U.S. DO live closer to Canaveral than to Fort Lauderdale or Miami, which are three or four hours farther south. And for those of us who live in Central Florida (myself included), a Celebrity ship going out of Canaveral would persuade me to cruise more often. Thanks, Celebrity! 

Edited March 30 by bessinfl
More accurate.

[Liao]

3 hours ago, bessinfl said:

 

"The majority of us" don't live close to Port Canaveral? I'd say the majority of people in the U.S. DO live closer to Canaveral than to Fort Lauderdale or Miami, which are three or four hours farther south. And for those of us who live in Central Florida (myself included), a Celebrity ship going out of Canaveral would persuade me to cruise more often. Thanks, Celebrity! 

I'd say the majority of people in the U.S. DO live closer to Canaveral than to Fort Lauderdale or Miami,  This is really irrelevant when the majority are flying in for their cruise, and in fact most are.

[bessinfl]

This is a silly thing for us to argue about, clearly. But it’s not irrelevant for those of us — and there are many of us, especially on the east coast — who drive to the port. 

[Liao]

1 minute ago, bessinfl said:

This is a silly thing for us to argue about, clearly. But it’s not irrelevant for those of us — and there are many of us, especially on the east coast — who drive to the port. 

who is arguing?

[bessinfl]

1 hour ago, Liao said:

who is arguing?

[Oceangoer2]

This thread started out with exploring "good thoughts"...👍  I'm finding more than a few 'alternate opinions'...LOL....lately in a few posts.  (Some say that's argument without reason).  Peace and Love.... it's Easter.  Some have no food or shelter.

Edited March 30 by Oceangoer2

[ghdool]

In Jan. 2024, I was on my 1st CC since covid. We have travelled on CC several times since 2010. We were recently on the Equinox, destinations Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao. We were so impressed. The staff in MDR and buffet, bend over backwards for you. In the MDR we had exceptional service and food was brought out hot. If we had any issue, there were managers milling about regularly. They seem to watch over the operations very closely on the floor and get right in there, if there is a problem. The food was great and the menus provided plenty of great choices. There were many nights when I couldn't make up my mind which main course I wanted because there were several items that sounded so good, I didn't want to miss them. The staff were so accommodating and were happy to give me some of 1 item and some of the other. We would give CC 5 stars out of 5 for just about everything.

 

Although we are accentuating the positive here, I would say that the bottled water, called True Life,  was awful. There is a taste in it, which I did not enjoy. Also on the Classic drink package, they only provided wines from Chile, only 1 choice of red, white, sparkling- we tried them all. Not great. Decoy that others mentioned on this thread must be on the premium package, right? The other issue for me was that I remember desserts on CC cruises prior to covid that were amazing. I did not enjoy the desserts on this last voyage and they were not like I remember them on previous cruises. They used to have the best cheesecake, with mounds of berries on the top. That doesn't exist anymore the cheese cake doesn't have the same texture and no berries at all, just a sauce. I also found chocolate based desserts really lacking on our cruise .A chocolate eclair didn't even taste like a chocolate eclair. I asked about why the desserts are not at the same level as before and I was told they are dealing with budgets. The only other problem I encountered was the lack of blueberries at the buffet and in MDR for breakfast.

 

None of these issues would be a deal breaker for us. We already have 3 more cruises booked on CC. We were recently on Oceania and considering it was double the price of CC, we found that it really went downhill. We were on 2 OC voyages prior to covid and remembered how impressed we were with the food. I really feel that CC is surpassing OC now, in my opinion. Pricewise, we have had good deals on our upcoming cruises. As someone else posted here, we got a group booking with our TA this week, with an all included package to the Italian Riviera and even fully refundable. This was similar to prices I used to get prior to covid. So that would be a huge plus for us. BTW we will not go back on OC- the menus, service, bad attitudes, lack of managers, etc were too much to deal with. Even the specialty restaurants were not like they used to be, except maybe in Polo.

[Basketball wife]

8 hours ago, helen haywood said:

“The Elite breakfast use to be a buffet! Can’t remember when or why (?Covid) it was changed to waiter service.”

 

Before Covid, we were on a B2B on the Summit. On one of the sailings,  breakfast was buffet style and on the second, it was table service. The explanation given was that the service style was determined by how many Elite cruisers there were on the sailing.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

6 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

  Not to mention the moving to Port Canaveral which is much less convenient for the majority of us who don't live close to that port.  

 

I understand this reasoning if you are flying to a Port Carnival 

Flying to Miami or FLL , from the port to airport is a short cab ride no planing need 

PC port to Orlando airport is a hour away , a plan is need 

 

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

Let me see if I understand this correctly.  Celebrity made a lot of cutbacks and reductions in service and the passengers complained.  So now they re-instated half of the changes and now everyone is happy.  Doesn't make sense to me.

[helen haywood]

2 hours ago, Basketball wife said:

The explanation given was that the service style was determined by how many Elite cruisers there were on the sailing.

I think the point I was making was the “explanation” changes frequently…😉

[Georgia_Peaches]

5 hours ago, bessinfl said:

This is a silly thing for us to argue about, clearly. But it’s not irrelevant for those of us — and there are many of us, especially on the east coast — who drive to the port. 

We drive from ATL to Canaveral but fly from ATL to FLL or Mia. We’d rather drive tho. 

[mcatmcat]

17 hours ago, tbmrt said:

Haven't cruised Celebrity in many years.  I seem to remember that you could not go into the corridor your cabin was in to leave your luggage until they announced cabins were ready.  So go directly to leave your carry on luggage in cabin even though it may not be ready?

I remember my first x cruise 2 years ago i was the only one with a carry on at the ocen view.

I was wondering why people without carry on are only the one having lunch lol

[billc23]

The food ingredients have improved. The beef and fish are better than they were a few months ago.

[bebe08]

23 hours ago, downsmead said:

The Elite breakfast use to be a buffet! Can’t remember when or why (?Covid) it was changed to waiter service. 

This was only our 3rd cruise as Elite.  First 2 were waiter service.  On our recent Connie cruise it started off as waiter service and switched to buffet half way through.  We chatted with the manager and she said the previous cruise had so many Elite and up they needed a buffet to make it work.  They got positive feedback and are trying it again. Not sure whether this will stick and be implemented fleetwide. 

[Nashna]

Our last two Celebrity cruises in January 23 we felt the line had gone downhill.  We then booked Oceania, Azamara and Viking.  I occasionally come back to this site to see if things have changed.  It appears that they have.  Two questions...is prime rib back on the menu?  Is lobster a surcharge?  Are chair hogs still and issue or is Celebrity doing anything about them?  We enjoyed the entertainment on Celebrity and miss that on other ships.  We would love to go back if things are better...especially the menus.

  

[patty1955]

18 minutes ago, Nashna said:

Our last two Celebrity cruises in January 23 we felt the line had gone downhill.  We then booked Oceania, Azamara and Viking.  I occasionally come back to this site to see if things have changed.  It appears that they have.  Two questions...is prime rib back on the menu?  Is lobster a surcharge?  Are chair hogs still and issue or is Celebrity doing anything about them?  We enjoyed the entertainment on Celebrity and miss that on other ships.  We would love to go back if things are better...especially the menus.

  

We sailed a couple of weeks ago. Prime rib was on the menu. They've never charged for lobster, just for a second lobster. I don't care for lobster, so I order one in addition to my dinner so my husband can have a second one.

[Nashna]

9 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

We sailed a couple of weeks ago. Prime rib was on the menu. They've never charged for lobster, just for a second lobster. I don't care for lobster, so I order one in addition to my dinner so my husband can have a second one.

Good to hear that it's back on the menu.  We were very disappointed in the quality of the meat as well as the thin steaks.  We were on the Edge and Apex for a total of 19 days.  The menu was set for 7-days and didn't vary.  We just sailed on the Vista and really missed the lively Celebrity vibe.    That is why I've been hoping that things improved since 2023.