Quality

Celebrity has raised both their cruise prices & the tip costs .

 

What is your opinion about the quality of food & the quality of service . Do you think that the quality has equally gone up as both prices have gone up ?

We started cruising in 2012. While I've seen some increased costs, I've been able to book with prices not a whole lot more than what we paid in 2012. I believe there are fewer waiters and bar staff, but not a lot.

 

The food - a little bit in the MDR. Charges in the specialties are much higher and I'm not sure deserved.

Celebrity has raised both their cruise prices & the tip costs .

 

What is your opinion about the quality of food & the quality of service . Do you think that the quality has equally gone up as both prices have gone up ?

 

Your question may open a can of opinionated worms! My guess is that you may get assorted opinions and experiences. My experience is that cruises cost less today than they did 20-25 years ago, and offer more.

 

Details may have changed a bit, for example Celebrity waiters used to present the meals under silver domes with white glove service. No longer. And there are no longer those grand buffets, of which most of the food went to waste anyway.

 

Other details have been improved upon and even perfected. Some of food has gone down in quality and most has improved, such as the quality of the lobster and certain cuts of steak. Six of one and half dozen of the other.

 

All in all, cruising is still the best bang for our buck. Particularly with the quality of Celebrity.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Cruisen'Susan

Quality compared to what? Other mass market cruise lines now or Celebrity 10 years ago?

 

My opinion is Celebrity offers quality in food, service, and ships compared to other mass market lines. They all are trimming and changing to meet the mass market changing tastes.

 

Compared to 10 years ago, maybe not but the cruising population has changed what they want in that time. Not so much interested in formal dining and service. Casual and fast paced seems to be the most popular along with low prices vs. quality.

 

If you want up scale and high quality, you may have to look past the mass market lines and pay those prices.

Thanks for your opinions .

 

Having cruise Celebrity over 15 years ,we see a general decline in food quality . We had assistant waiters serving wine vs stewards ;as a example of cutting staff & service .Ass't waiters serving wine takes away from their other duties & service .

 

Where there have been improvements are in the cabin design & space on solstice class ships . :D

 

Adding cabins on M class ships by solticising them has added passenger loads .Additionally by taking away space in the MDR for a all suite restaurant also imo detracts .

 

There remains a problem of the chair hogs at the pools & Celebrity still does not handle this problem effectively:o .A big complaint from those who sail Celebrity often .Yes ,this also happens on the other cruise lines

 

Above all it depends on what a person perceives as their description ofmodern luxury. New cruisers can not discern ;while the more experienced cruisers with Celebrity see the differences in service & quality:eek:

Edited May 26, 2015 by mcrcruiser

Thanks for your opinions .

 

Having cruise Celebrity over 15 years ,we see a general decline in food quality . We had assistant waiters serving wine vs stewards ;as a example of cutting staff & service .Ass't waiters serving wine takes away from their other duties & service .

 

Where there have been improvements are in the cabin design & space on solstice class ships . :D

 

Adding cabins on M class ships by solticising them has added passenger loads .Additionally by taking away space in the MDR for a all suite restaurant also imo detracts .

 

There remains a problem of the chair hogs at the pools & Celebrity still does not handle this problem effectively:o .A big complaint from those who sail Celebrity often .Yes ,this also happens on the other cruise lines

 

Above all it depends on what a person perceives as their description ofmodern luxury. New cruisers can not discern ;while the more experienced cruisers with Celebrity see the differences in service & quality:eek:

 

To the OP, it sounds like you just answered your own question!

Celebrity has consistently been rated tops for food in the industry.

 

We have done 8 Celebrity cruises from 2011 until 2015 and have not see a decline in service or food quality. On the other hand, we have not seen an increase.

 

Celebrity is our preferred cruiseline, but we do cruise on NCL when the itinerary and price are better. NCL has very good and lower cost specialty restaurants.

Celebrity has consistently been rated tops for food in the industry.

 

We have done 8 Celebrity cruises from 2011 until 2015 and have not see a decline in service or food quality. On the other hand, we have not seen an increase.

 

Celebrity is our preferred cruiseline, but we do cruise on NCL when the itinerary and price are better. NCL has very good and lower cost specialty restaurants.

 

That is interesting about the NCL specialty restaurants . We just get the feeling that Xs Specialty restauramt prices are not worth the money .When they were first introduced ,we used them & thought it was good value . Now ,imo they are over priced when you add in the meal that you gave up to dine in one of those restaurants:eek:

 

We have a 21 night cruise SD to Sydney Oct 3rd on HAL's Noordam .We have sailed HAL in the past ;but ,not for some time ;as we too like Celebrity .It will be interesting for us to make comparisons between the 2 lines Celebrity does not do this route from SD ;as of now;)

To the OP' date=' it sounds like you just answered your own question![/quote']

 

Not trying to answer my own question ,just giving added thoughts & did want independent answers from others, to see if they could add other information .;)

Celebrity has consistently been rated tops for food in the industry.

 

We have done 8 Celebrity cruises from 2011 until 2015 and have not see a decline in service or food quality. On the other hand, we have not seen an increase.

 

Celebrity is our preferred cruiseline, but we do cruise on NCL when the itinerary and price are better. NCL has very good and lower cost specialty restaurants.

 

This was our first Celebrity cruise, and we tried the French restaurant on board the Summit last week.

 

It was double the price of the NCL French restaurant, and we thought NCL was much better than Celebrity for half the price.

 

However, we really enjoyed the MDR and buffet on Celebrity more than on NCL.

This was our first Celebrity cruise, and we tried the French restaurant on board the Summit last week.

 

It was double the price of the NCL French restaurant, and we thought NCL was much better than Celebrity for half the price.

 

However, we really enjoyed the MDR and buffet on Celebrity more than on NCL.

 

Dina yes We have heard that the MDR & buffet on Celebrity is generally better that NCL .What is interesting however is your comment about the NCL specialty restaurant cost being half of Celebrity specialty cost .We have decided that we won't eat in those specialty restaurants any longer .

 

What is interesting is that in a 2 year period the Bistro on 5 has doubled it's price from $5 to $10 per pax .Yes ,they have increased their menu selections ;however ,we must always add in the missed cost of regular dining because all of us pay for that as well .:eek:

We have done 17 Celebrity cruises in the last nine years. On our last three, we have seen a decline in service and food. The service is do to headcount cutback. The food, we feel, is due to cheaper materials.

Thanks for your opinions .

 

Having cruise Celebrity over 15 years ,we see a general decline in food quality . We had assistant waiters serving wine vs stewards ;as a example of cutting staff & service .Ass't waiters serving wine takes away from their other duties & service .

 

Where there have been improvements are in the cabin design & space on solstice class ships . :D

 

Adding cabins on M class ships by solticising them has added passenger loads .Additionally by taking away space in the MDR for a all suite restaurant also imo detracts .

 

There remains a problem of the chair hogs at the pools & Celebrity still does not handle this problem effectively:o .A big complaint from those who sail Celebrity often .Yes ,this also happens on the other cruise lines

 

Above all it depends on what a person perceives as their description ofmodern luxury. New cruisers can not discern ;while the more experienced cruisers with Celebrity see the differences in service & quality:eek:

 

We have never had a waiter pour our wine:confused: We have always been taken very good care of by the sommelier's:) We are still perfectly happy with the food in the MDR and very rarely go to a Specialty Rest.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Christine Frances

We have done 17 Celebrity cruises in the last nine years. On our last three, we have seen a decline in service and food. The service is do to headcount cutback. The food, we feel, is due to cheaper materials.

 

Interesting about your comment as we also agree ;). Imo Celebrity's relatively new "Modern Luxury " marketing theme is not what we got in the way of higher quality food & service :o. Higher Cruise & tipping prices in themselves is not Modern Luxury . Contrary by not improving food quality & service , Modern Luxury is a misguided statement:eek:

I agree about Celebrity pricing, I do love their ships and the service, tips have gone up, for a cruise Jan2015 I paid 4400.00 a 1A balcony classic drink package, $200 shipboard credit, for the same cruise Jan 2016, 6600.00 cc class, classic drink package and prepaid tips, 500 shipboard credit. So nothing is included, drink package etc, it is included in the price of the cruise.....that is a big jump.

They have the highest price specialty restaurants in the industry and the alcoholic drinks are more expensive then other cruise lines, if paid for. I am elite on Celebrity but have chosen to jump to Princess as Celebrity food no longer intices me to cruise their line. Will I cruise Celebrity again, most certainly, if pricing is right. As it is right now though I will cruise the Australia cruise that I booked over a year ago with them, with good pricing, after that, unless the pricing comes down I will look elsewhere.

We have never had a waiter pour our wine:confused: We have always been taken very good care of by the sommelier's:) We are still perfectly happy with the food in the MDR and very rarely go to a Specialty Rest.

 

As lately as a west coast cruise on Century ,we had a assistant waiter repeatedly serve the wine . Because of that the service at the table decreased from the normal level of service ,that Celebrity had prided themselves . We asked the assistant Maitre'D & he said it was managements decision about assistant waiter serving the wine :o

 

Things do change & not always for the best for the customer:eek:

As lately as a west coast cruise on Century ,we had a assistant waiter repeatedly serve the wine . Because of that the service at the table decreased from the normal level of service ,that Celebrity had prided themselves . We asked the assistant Maitre'D & he said it was managements decision about assistant waiter serving the wine :o

 

Things do change & not always for the best for the customer:eek:

On our recent Bermuda cruise in Blu we saw the sommelier leave the wine bottle on our table and the assistant waiter refilled our glasses. There was only one sommelier for the entire restaurant and he was running around the room carrying as many as 6 bottles in his hands at once serving tables. For one meal we had eaten appetizer and soup and were waiting for entre before the sommelier got to us to order wine. That was quite a slip from our past experience in Blu.

i agree that overall the quality of service in the MDR has gone down. When we first started cruising on X you never had to wait to have your water glass filled or the dirty plate removed. However on the last 3 cruise on different ships this was not the case in one case we waited over 15 minutes to have the dirty plates removed. They have cut the wait staff down and given them more responsibilities. Not the wait staffs fault. A person can only do so much in such a short time. As for the food I don't think the quality has improved and if anything it has declined some. I remember when every even in the MDR they present a tray with the deserts offered. I really liked seeing my choices.

Celebrity has consistently been rated tops for food in the industry.

 

We have done 8 Celebrity cruises from 2011 until 2015 and have not see a decline in service or food quality. On the other hand, we have not seen an increase.

 

Celebrity is our preferred cruiseline, but we do cruise on NCL when the itinerary and price are better. NCL has very good and lower cost specialty restaurants.

 

Where is the top rating coming from in the food area?

We have done 6 Celebrity cruises in the past 2 years and have seen a big decline in food quality, service and food in general. Really don't like the increases in tips, Specialty Restaurants, and all the other increases. Celebrity is much higher in these areas than the other cruise lines. Yes, we do cruise the other cruise lines, too.

My experience is that cruises cost less today than they did 20-25 years ago' date=' and offer more.

 

All in all, cruising is still the best bang for our buck. Particularly with the quality of Celebrity.[/quote']

 

Yup!

Where is the top rating coming from in the food area?

We have done 6 Celebrity cruises in the past 2 years and have seen a big decline in food quality, service and food in general. Really don't like the increases in tips, Specialty Restaurants, and all the other increases. Celebrity is much higher in these areas than the other cruise lines. Yes, we do cruise the other cruise lines, too.

 

Yes we agree with your comments . Unfortunately the corporate leadership is turning Celebrity away from what made this cruise line shine above it's competitors :o

 

Even though we have elite + perks what is most important to us is the quality of service & that the food presentation & quality is maintained on a high standard .Because of the decline in service & food presentation & quality we decided to use HAL on our next cruise which is a 21 day cruise to Australia ;)

 

We have cruised with HAL in the past & found them to be on a par with the past Celebrity;)

Where is the top rating coming from in the food area?

We have done 6 Celebrity cruises in the past 2 years and have seen a big decline in food quality, service and food in general. Really don't like the increases in tips, Specialty Restaurants, and all the other increases. Celebrity is much higher in these areas than the other cruise lines. Yes, we do cruise the other cruise lines, too.

I saw this on Travel and Leisure

 

http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/best-cruise-ship-food/5

 

Celebrity ranked fifth behind Carnival (fourth).

I saw this on Travel and Leisure

 

http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/best-cruise-ship-food/5

 

Celebrity ranked fifth behind Carnival (fourth).

 

The date on this article is 2009. I would think things might have changed in the last six years.

Dated: August 19, 2009:confused:

sorry.