randomcruise

I really liked the production shows in Eden and in the Theater, and heard that the Jazz production show in the Club was also good. The Eden shows start late and you need to get there at least 30 minutes early to get a good seat. Eden tended to clear out pretty quick after the end of a production show. I like playing the cash Texas Hold'em, which doesn't start until 9:30 pm. I played several nights until they closed the casino (again closing varied from 11:30 to about 1:00am) and the Grand Plaza was always pretty dead after by the time the Casino closed. The Club always seemed to have a dedicated late-night/early morning crowd after the casino closed, but I think that was the only venue that was still open.

I was on the Beyond in Feb., and the casino tended to shut down between 11:30 and 1:00 am and the Craft Social Bar next to the casino tended to shut down at the same time. The Club was always open after that.

I really hope that is the new norm every night on the Apex and all the other Celebrity ships.

We did the same, and got the same kind of call. Very polite, but also no indication that there was any real commitment to improve. I suspect that improvement will happen only if Celebrity experiences a decline in bookings, and based on the vast majority of posts here, I don't really expect that to happen.

Very sorry to hear that Celebrity continues to fall short on the Apex.

Some of the reports of improved dinner options in the OVC indicate Celebrity is listening to some complaints about the reduced service. I suspect it is from people who have recently cruised and provided feedback directly to Celebrity rather than from any of the posts here. If Celebrity were reviewing the vast majority of posts here, it could easily conclude that there is huge core of Celebrity supporters who will accept any, or almost any, reduction in service and who will also attack those who dare voice complaints about those reductions.

You can also order off of any of the other MDR menu’s even if you stay with the MDR you currently have reserved. I ordered of the Normandie menu when our group was in Cyprus.

Here is a good response that would satisfy: "I am very sorry that Celebrity fell so short by providing a ridiculously small lobster tail coupled with an unattractive blob of white rice and a single stalk of broccoli. It clearly isn't the kind of meal experience we here at Celebrity promoted and that you believed you were paying for when you entrusted us with your hard earned money. We will seek to do much better in the future and again apologize for taking your money and providing far less than what we promote."

Exactly my main issue with Celebrity's current cutbacks. I don't trust Celebrity to provide what is promoted and paid for in full because Celebrity proved in January of this year that they are willing to downgrade the experience in a way that many passengers find significant after they have taken full payment from the passengers.

Great! Hope this sticks and is applied to other ships

Not really contrary to the complaints about the lack of sufficient crab and lobster offerings in the MDR's since you didn't dine in any of the MDR's. Glad to hear that the Retreat venues and specialty restaurants provided you a such a great experience.

I was also on the Feb. 5th Beyond sailing with a group of 17. We had a 5:45 dinner seating every night in the MDR's with the hope of going to the 7:30 show, but we never came close to finishing dinner before 7:45. While we usually had less than 17 for dinner and always split into two tables, I suspect our group size impacted the time it took to complete the dinner each night and we always stayed for coffee/dessert. I suggest you attempt to get an earlier seating than 6:00 (which you should easily be able to do based on what I saw in the MDR's) if you want a more relaxed dinning experience and/or do not want to skip coffee/dessert and/or do not want to run to the theater to get a seat before the show. As kidz_rn pointed out, the theater filled really early on the Feb, 5th cruise which was a full ship of passengers.

Just got off the Beyond last week and didn't see Prime Rib or Ribeye any night in any of the MDR's. However, as someone mentioned earlier, the Normadie MDR does offer Beef Tenderloin En Croute (pretty similar to Beef Wellington) as one of their signature dishes. I had it twice and it was good both times.

Questions for Jason Liberty: Do you understand that some passengers see the recent Celebrity cutbacks as significantly downgrading the experience that Celebrity promoted and that the passengers paid for in full months ago as essentially a bait-and-switch scam that exposes a lack of integrity in the executive level decision making at Celebrity/RC Group? Do you understand that in the future many of those same passengers are going to be very reluctant to trust that Celebrity will actually provide the experience that Celebrity promotes and demands full payment for months before their cruise date?

FWIW, we were on the Beyond last week with a group of 17 people, many with unconnected reservations. The main "planner" from our party went to what I assume is a concierge desk in guest services but may simply be a desk in guest services dedicated to MDR reservations, and was able to secure 5:45 pm reservations for the group every night in the MDR's of her selection (rotated through all 4 MDR's and then returned to several for a second night). As you walk into guest services from the Martini Bar area, the desk was located to the right of the entrance to the elevator lobby. Based on our experience, I think you will easily be able to arrange a table for three each night in the MDR's at a time you prefer.

My wife and I were also on the Feb. 5-12 Beyond sailing as part of a group of 17 people. While we weren't always together as a group, of 17 we often were together in smaller numbers (4-13) and never experienced any issues with seating in any venues except for the late shows in the theater, which seemed to fill up very early compared to a cruise we did last year on the Apex that had a lot fewer passengers.

Interesting discussion about Suite perks. My wife was on the Edge this fall in an ocean view cabin and had the "pleasure" of an entitled Retreat passenger push ahead of her and several others waiting politely in line to place a drink order while letting her and the rest of plebs know that it was his right as a Retreat guest to move ahead of other in line at the pool bar. Glad that experience is far from the norm.

We had lots =f good food in the OVC last week on the Beyond, but my favorite was all of the Indian dishes the one time I tried them on the last full day of the cruise..

After returning last week from the Beyond, the strategy to eat dinner in the OVC to avoid a long dinner rings very true since we never came close to making the early (7:30 pm) theater show despite having a 5:45 seating and being on time or early every night in the MDR's. Going to the OVC for dinner would have allowed us to make the early theater show every night and then catch another show/entertainment at other venues like Eden, the Club, etc. Of course, one now will pay for that strategy by having significantly reduced offerings for dinner in the OVC. For me, I will sit through the long dinner in the MDR's for the better food and then attend the late theater show and sacrifice seeing a second show that night in Eden, the Club or other venues.

Or maybe Celebrity should step up and attempt to provide the experience they promote, which isn't a meal with one tiny lobster tail.

Last week on the Beyond was only my second cruise with Celebrity (the first being last year in January on the Apex). If what I experience with the drink servers in the MDR is how Celebrity has always performed, they should never have claimed they were any type of luxury venue. Cruised on Viking River last year and the service in the dining room was far superior, as was Royal Caribbean in 2017 and Disney a decade before. Last year on Apex we had a few instances of bad drink service in the MDR's, but nothing nearly as bas as this past week. I will say that several people at our table tried to order wine from the bar server because the sommeliers were consistently non-present, but they understood that the bar server wasn't the sommelier. Several times the waiter had to get some wine for one or more of our party just so that they could have a glass before the meal was completely finished. Any land based restaurant that provided that kind of service would be considered seriously subpar. Very sorry to hear that it may have always been the norm for Celebrity.

I also just got off the Beyond and my experience was a little different than yours. Every night in the MDR's we experienced short staffing issues with the drink servers and sommeliers, sometimes coupled with a clear lack of training. We had 5:45 seating every night and we never came close to making the 7:30 show because the service was so slow. Had one drink server tell my wife they were out of Diet Coke on the second night of the cruise rather than admit that she simply had forgotten to bring the drink after a very extended period of time. The Headwaiter straightened that out very quickly after a short discussion and was also able to provide a wine list 30-40 minutes after I had asked the sommelier for one. Noticed short staffing at a several of the lounges/bars where they clearly needed a couple of more bartenders/bar backs to handle the number of people asking for drinks. Still had a good time with family and friends. Food in the MDR and OVC was good, and the OVC drink servers were great on the back deck of the OVC. Entertainment was excellent and the ship is beautiful and provides many wonderful spaces to spend time.

I also appreciate the report of your cruise. We are also boarding the sold out Beyond cruise this Sunday and I will be interested to see if the service on the ship is adequate to handle a sold out cruise. We are with a group of 18 and several of us cruised together in January of last year on the Apex when it was at about 1/2 capacity. We experienced slow service and mixups a couple of nights in the MDR’s on that cruise despite the low capacity, but I wrote it off as the staff being out of practice due to the covid shutdowns. Really enjoyed the Apex, but suspect that enjoyment had a lot to do with the ship being at half capacity. None of the MDR’s were ever close to being full and there was absolutely no rush to finish a meal to free up a table, which was a good thing on the nights we experienced slow service and other mixups at dinner.

Are you equally bothered by all the posts that attack people who have posted negative reviews or comments about Celebrity’s recent cutbacks (for example calling people “entitled”)? From my reading/perspective, there are at least as many, maybe more, of those than attacks directed at positive comments. In my view the boards would be much better here without any of the ad hominem attacks on others (“cheerleaders” , “entitled”).

Yeah, it was a fluke. The menu's for today's Beyond sailing are now back to the reductions.