Do you remember? Celebrity Nostalgia

Zenith in Gibraltar April 2015:

Zenith in Gibraltar April 2015:

 

 

 

We saw "Zenith" last week in Barcelona also.

You guys are all a bunch of babes in the woods! I started cruising in 1982 on the then-12 year old Norwegian Southward, 16000 tons. A true rust bucket compared to ships of today. We paid $995 for a guarantee inside cabin that was miniscule. We had our 4 month old daughter with us. Let me tell you, it was like a Motel 6 compared to a cruise on an S class ship today.

 

I also sailed on the maiden voyage of the Galaxy, a gorgeous ship at the time. Many other cruises on just about every cruiseline from the Marco Polo (:eek:) to Crystal (:D).

 

There are just as many BAD things about the good ol' days as there are good things--for what we pay today, cruising is a huge bargain, especially in light of all the amenities and the luxurious surroundings.

 

I for one am thrilled that there are no more hokey Baked Alaska parades!!

CC,

I agree 100%! The crew was under tremendous stress, as they had to battle for everything. Our first Celebrity(1993) waiter (Andrew) on the Horizon could not move up because he was Pilipino. We ran into him several times on different ships, but it was after RCL took over Celebrity that he was able to move up to Asst' Maitre d. His wife also worked for Celebrity; eventually he moved over to Oceania. Last time I talked to him, he lived in a gated community in Manila and his kids went to private school. The good ole days are clouded by nostalgia!:rolleyes::)

Kel

PS -- my first cruise was in 1978 on the NCL Starward (expensive and mediocre compared to today's experience)

I do miss the "white glove" ambience of years ago. First cruise same table for 2 breakfast & dinner. Live music in dining room.

Count me among those that miss the steel band on Caribbean cruises and the late night finger sandwiches in the casino and around the ship and the live music at dinner in the MDR. I also miss the woderful fruit tarts although you can occasionally still find some sort of fruit tart...but quite a bit different than the old ones. More recently, I miss the old aqua spa cafe small plate choices....I have little good to say about the new one. Finally, I miss the waiters, someliers and bar folks who had the time to stop and talk. We loved the galaxy and century...very nice size ship that delivered what Celebrity is now trying to re-invent...modern luxury.

anyone remember "happy, happy" ?

 

And fashion shows on the pool deck?

Sailed on the Summit in 2002 and was hooked by X ever since,

The Happy Happy man was brilliant, always put a smile

on everyone's face

The Summit in its original Blue livery was a sight to see

The service was brilliant, Michaels was a cigar Bar and on a cruise

To Hawaii they had converted it into a piano bar and there

was a Piano Singer that had a wonderful voice he was from

Miami and had worked with some top entertainers.

I haven't been posting to Cruise Critic since we haven't taken a cruise since 2012, but finding this thread is bringing back some very fond memories. Funny that my husband and I were talking about Mark Preston (we got to meet him on our 2nd Century cruise) and his pic got posted here!

I do miss the old sailings to Bermuda. Sailing in and out of St. George was one of the most memorable experiences, wondering how we didn't scrape the paint off the sides. Being moored in the Dockyard on the Summit just wasn't quite the same. Speaking of the Dockyard, the Meridian was the only ship that moored there and not Hamilton and St. George. As she was first built as a transatlantic ship, she had a very deep draft that made it impossible for her to dock in anyplace other than the Dockyard.

Speaking of the Summit, I remember when she had that blue paint job. We were on her 4th sailing and I remember the culture shock when we spotted her awashed in blue and not the familiar white and blue.

I do miss the old days!

The midnight chocolate buffet!

I remember skeet shooting off of the top aft deck of the SS Norway in the early 1990's. An amazing experience.

The Norway couldn't hold a candle to today's ships with all of their bells and whistles, but had so much more charm.

I remember Sudi, the best bartender in the Martini lounge , first on the Millie and then on the Connie. He performed all of the tricks as in the movie " Cocktail" plus more. He retired to Bali snd starting a bartender school , many of his students who now serve on x ships.

Boom - Boom was our bartender at the martini bar on Mercury.

I just used this quote on another thread about forgetting or remembering a certain experience on a Celebrity cruise from ten to twenty years ago.

Do you have pictures or memorabilia from a Celebrity cruise in the 90's or just a picture of an event that will help us remember the old days... (Please, this is not meant to be another attack on Celebrity or "Modern Luxury" but a stroll down memory lane).

 

Here is a picture of the harpist who played in Murano..[/quote

 

On the " Modern Luxury refit thread " I mentioned that it would be nice to have a harpist playing instead of being greeted by a rap DJ and noisy drum banger upon boarding

 

I was trashed as being nursing material or worse yet in the Elysian fields...

 

to me this was modern luxury... elegant, classy accomplished harpists.....thanks for the memories!

This is a picture of a Century Murano experience with Dominique Gamba, who according to a recent post, has left Celebrity. For years Dominique was responsible for standards in the specialty restaurants in the Celebrity fleet.

 

He was the best....wish him well.

also miss Dru Pavlov..our cruise director for many cruises...classy but cool!

also miss the Happy Happy guy...who also was entertaining with "ask yourself why?"

Opus...great Island band

I just used this quote on another thread about forgetting or remembering a certain experience on a Celebrity cruise from ten to twenty years ago.

Do you have pictures or memorabilia from a Celebrity cruise in the 90's or just a picture of an event that will help us remember the old days... (Please, this is not meant to be another attack on Celebrity or "Modern Luxury" but a stroll down memory lane).

 

Here is a picture of the harpist who played in Murano..[/quote

 

On the " Modern Luxury refit thread " I mentioned that it would be nice to have a harpist playing instead of being greeted by a rap DJ and noisy drum banger upon boarding

 

I was trashed as being nursing material or worse yet in the Elysian fields...

 

to me this was modern luxury... elegant, classy accomplished harpists.....thanks for the memories!

 

I'm a RN....what exactly is "nursing material?" Must be a high standard, as I know many failed out from my program,lol

Ah look what I dug up - wonderful topic- still good to go. LOL

4 minutes ago, Germancruiser said:

Ah look what I dug up - wonderful topic- still good to go. LOL

Wow what a great thread 😃. 

I certainly don’t go as far back as some of these folk but it all does sound dreamy 😍

It’s also fun to see some of the names of posters.

I agree dkjretired- this topic is to good to let go. LOL! I still miss Old Lang Syne- maybe a bit sugary for nowadays- but still- such a nice touch at the end of the journey- when all good things had come to an end!

On our 1st Celebrity Cruise (Mercury 1998) upon boarding we we escorted directly to our cabin by a white gloved attendant. Thought that was so fancy. 

On 5/3/2015 at 4:55 PM, hcat said:

~Cruisenut~ said:

I just used this quote on another thread about forgetting or remembering a certain experience on a Celebrity cruise from ten to twenty years ago.

Do you have pictures or memorabilia from a Celebrity cruise in the 90's or just a picture of an event that will help us remember the old days... (Please, this is not meant to be another attack on Celebrity or "Modern Luxury" but a stroll down memory lane).

 

Here is a picture of the harpist who played in Murano..[/quote

 

On the " Modern Luxury refit thread " I mentioned that it would be nice to have a harpist playing instead of being greeted by a rap DJ and noisy drum banger upon boarding

 

I was trashed as being nursing material or worse yet in the Elysian fields...

 

to me this was modern luxury... elegant, classy accomplished harpists.....thanks for the memories!

Well hcat, if you are nursing material, then I'm well around the bend.  I spend a lot of time practising one of these things!  I loved listening to the harpists on board and I actually sent some music to the last one.

We, too started out with Meridian in an "outside" cabin with no window and right by the waterline!  There were only 2 cabins in that area and we were next to a couple who fought night and day.  I often wonder what happened to them.

I so loved the Swans (choux pastry) floating in their pool of chocolate. and the veggies served in potato baskets.  Yep, I loved how young I was too!!

I miss the ice sculpture demos by the pool and the sorbet being served with the chilled towels. (They resurrected the iced towels in December of Silhouette, it was the first time I saw them by the pool in several years.) Also miss the live dinner music in the dining rooms and the white glove service....and the 5 course meals instead of the current 3.

Although this thread is 5 years old, I’m happy to report Mark Preston is still going strong. He was on Crystal Serenity over the Holidays this past December. He’s still a terrific entertainer and we enjoyed his two shows on that cruise very much.

Oh my, the good old days of cruising.  Our first cruise was on the “Seabreeze” 1994, then we moved over to the Galaxy, Mercury, Constellation and Century in the late 90's.

7 hours ago, BEAV said:

Although this thread is 5 years old, I’m happy to report Mark Preston is still going strong. He was on Crystal Serenity over the Holidays this past December. He’s still a terrific entertainer and we enjoyed his two shows on that cruise very much.

 

 

Little story about Mark Preston, he did double duty for Celebrity in a unique way. Horizon and Zenith used to go to Bermuda from NYC weekly, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. He would go out on the Sunday ship and do his show. He would then switch over to the Saturday ship and return to NYC. 

On the Solstice 2013, before the LLP cost cutting:

* Cafe B sandwiches - talking shrimp salad, smoked salmon, a bit of caviar. Fabulous tasting and presentation with glass of chard - right upon entering the ship. Sat and waited till 1 for our room. An experience I will never forget - Gone

* Sorbet by the pool around 3 - staff serving 3 flavour choices - Gone

* Cafe B real lemon tarts, with quality pastry shell topped with a bittersweet chocolate square, truly OGM. It was real lemon filling, not process. Some version of this is still around I think, but the quality of that item is a shadow of the original - Gone

* Pain au chocolate - talking real laminated multi layered butter pastry, not the commercial version now - Gone

Newer customers of Celebrity have no idea how far this cruise line has fallen in quality, ambiance, guest inclusiveness.

Celebrity used to be the highest level of the mass lines, with a real gap between Celebrity and Princess/HAL.

That gap is virtually gone, Celebrity has been RCL treated and now is just different from the other mass lines.

But then all cruise lines are cost cutting and in the great race to the bottom.