oceanbear

Today was the end of the 14-day cruise and I wanted to add my comments to this excellent review. I concur with the OP’s comments on the ports and excursions; however, IMO, the onboard “food” experience for us that are not in suites is significantly different that those described by the OP. We found the  Oceanview buffet to be disappointing. While the Indian dishes were consistently good, and there were a “few othe”r really good items, it was usually a case of searching for items that were better than just mediocre. The one notable exception was the last Lunch buffet. It was like the buffets of old! It had great variety beautiful presentations and all very good! The four main dining rooms offered decent food and there were a few dishes that were dependably tasty e.g. slow roasted lamb, oxtail and short ribs. The tiny lobster tail served one night was tasty as well. The only specialty restaurants we tried were Raw on 5 and the Fine Cut Steakhouse. Raw on 5 was very good, especially the oysters, but they were unavailable during a 2^nd visit on day 7! The real standout was the steakhouse where our party of 4 found everything to be delicious. We never had breakfast, so I can’t comment on that. Overall, there was plenty to eat, but the dining experience was not the “Celebrity” experience it once was.

On 3/30/2024 at 2:03 PM, depplep said:

Do not like Lavazza to put it politely.  Bumming hard on that since we're doing Celebrity in July. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this review. I appreciate the facts and history and the pictures are stunning. Thank you so much.

I noticed all the whiskies from Macallan and Glenfiddich as well some higher end Bourbons are no longer on the Premium Beverage Package! 😞 The cuts continue!!!

Thank you All!

What do most people in the upper suites do with partially comsumed bottles of liquor at the end of the cruise?

On 12/23/2022 at 3:53 AM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Both Pepsi and coke can shove it, 😁

I like the store label stuff better , not as  sweet compared to the Major over price stuff 😁

""Mexican Coke" is even more expensive, but worth it! It 's made with sugar vs corn syrup and tastes like Coke used to taste!

My wife and I took our first luxury cruise on Mercury in 1998. Since then we have sailed on Celebrity 13 more times. Over the years we have observed a definite change in the Celebrity cruise experience. One positive being less smoking, but mostly negative. Food quality is not as good as once was in the main dining room. Minor extras have also been trimmed away. I even remember on the first few cruises, disposable razors and little tubes of shave cream were free to passengers in the spa area dressing room. Celebrity has chipped away at many of the things that made them special in order to reduce costs and increase profits, then increased the price without returning the items or service it previously deleted. Yes, prices have increased for everything on shore too. Even a casual breakfast or lunch has increased significantly. My wife and I joke that "30" is the new "20"(dollars that is), but as another posters have said; it's not just the cost, it's getting value. Celebrity used to offer a true "premium" cruise experience. Old timers, like myself, yearn for those halcyon days of the past, but I'm afraid they will never return to Celebrity. Even the Captains Club awards do not offer enough to guarantee loyalty, especially after reaching "Elite Plus", as "Zenith" is out of reach for all but the most prolific cruisers. The silver lining is that it has made us look for alternative travel options, and luckily there are many available.

We are going on the Pacific Costal cruise in 2 weeks. Does anyone remember what nights are the Formal nights? Thanks in advance for your help!

Formal nights: Santa Barbara & Monterey!

We just got off the Century this weekend. The pool was a little chilly, not cold, but certainly not warm... almost no one was in it most of the week, Catalina and Ensenada I did see a few more folks in it, but not for long... just a quick dip to cool off. The hot tubs however were quite popular.

 

The TV in our room was a flat panel, but there was no where on it to hook up any other input device. Also be forewarned, there was only 1 accessible US voltage plug in the entire room... if you have the round european style connection and devices that can take 220v, there are two of those, one out in the open and one behind the beds/dressers.

There were 2 110V outlets in our Concierge Cabin, One by the desk and the other, not easy to see, on the side of in the middle shelf above the fridge.

Four of us booked a "north shore" van tour of P.E.I. with "Horizon Tours". "Gus", The owner/operator puts together a great tour of the central area of P.E.I. He took us around in a private van stopping at some interesting places. As we are here after the end of the "resort season", we had very light traffic and the stops we made were quiet and, except for the "Green Gables" house, completely empty of tourists. Our first stop was a potato and pumpkin farm, then we drove to a mussel growing site and processing plant and fishing pier. Next we visited a goat soap factory, followed by a stop at the "red cliffs" on the north shore. Along the way we saw some great scenery and even spotted two wild foxes, a silver fox and a red fox. Unfortunately, they disappeared before we could get our cameras out. Our final stop was a visit to the "Ann of Green Gables" house before returning to town past some beautiful foliage. The tour lasted four hours, but Gus will make the tour as long as you want ,and charges $50 per hour for the van which will hold up to 6 passengers. We wanted to have lunch at "Flex" for mussels but it is now closed and boarded up. So we had a tasty lunch at "Claddagh Pub". I can heartily recommend this excursion option to anyone wanting a good overview of the island.