SRQbeachgirl

Wait...what??? I'm a Celebrity newbie and this is the first I've heard of this. Do you mean I can get free drinks while playing the slots? 😲 🤞

Wow, if this is Celebrity's idea of a cut-back buffet, count me in! 🤤

We have one of these slanted balcony cabins booked (two weeks from today - squeee!) but on the forward edge of the bump out, so hoping we get some nice breeze.

We are in a concierge class on our 1/22 Reflection cruise (our first with X!) because I wanted a specific cabin - slanted extended balcony on the forward edge of the bump-out. The extra benefits are just a bonus, some of which we'll use and some we won't (pillow menu and sparkling wine - yes, please!).

Would a phone call from the Executive Office be enough confirmation? I sent an email last night to Ms. Lutoff-Perlo expressing my displeasure at some of the changes being sprung with no notice and that as a brand new Celebrity customer this was leaving a bad first impression. Surprisingly, I got a phone call today from her office (one of her assistants, but she gave me her name, title, and direct phone number, followed up by an email from the Executive Office). The gist of the phone call was that yes, the items being offered in the OVC are being cut back fleetwide for a variety of reasons including cost, waste, and staffing. The sample menu that was shared in an earlier post is indeed representative of those changes according to the assistant. I was asked to please call her back after our 1/22 Reflection cruise to follow up with my impression of the selections offered. She indicated they are eager to feedback from first-time Celebrity cruisers who are moving up from other lines, which I found quite interesting.

Carnival definitely has a good thing going with the included dining venues like Guy's Burgers, Pig & Anchor, Blue Iguana, and Shaq's Big Chicken. The specialty restaurants on the Mardi Gras (like Rudi's Seafood and Emeril's Bistro) are excellent. Carnival seriously upped their game with these newest ships - they have a completely different vibe from traditional Carnival.

We'll be on that cruise!

I definitely will! And I've never seen any on Carnival (though I did see a man assault his wife on RCI but I never hear them getting dragged through the mud).

The thing is though, while some people will look to move up from Celebrity, others will move up to Celebrity. The Carnival board has several posts about cruisers moving up from Carnival to Celebrity. DH and I are some of those cruisers, about to take our first Celebrity cruise after years on Carnival. These discussions are taking place across the whole CC forum board as all the lines look for ways to recover from the shutdown and debt burdens. As long as most cruisers don't give up cruising altogether and new customers start cruising, there might not be any noticeable impact to any particular cruise company, but instead just be a realignment of passengers and their preferred lines. Maybe someday we'll look back and refer to it as The Great Reshuffling.

Ours was July and I should have known better. February will probably be much different. The lack of breeze will still apply but the lower temperature should help a lot.

^^This. Like finoky above we thought the buffet at dinnertime was awful, but unlike them our dinner at the steakhouse was excellent. Interestingly, this was the first cruise that we didn't eat in the MDR even once. Instead we went to the steakhouse, Rudi's, Teppanyaki, Cucina del Capitano (twice), Guy's P&A, and the buffet. Ironically, it was also the first time we had ever gone to any specialty restaurants on a cruise. We had a lot of OBC, so we went all in.

We were in an aft-facing extended balcony on the Mardi Gras, deck 10. The size of the balcony was fantastic and we loved the view. What we didn't like was the complete lack of breeze, zero shade, and oppressive heat. It was impossible to sit on the balcony during the day without feeling like we were going to burst into flames.

Even with stellar internet I wouldn't pay for a cruise and then work during it. I pay for cruises to get away from work, not bring it with me. I do work from home occasionally, but at least I have a view and can lounge by the pool with my laptop - for free (or at least I can once my pool cage gets rebuilt from the hurricane damage).

Yep, my employer actually wants me to show up for work most days! How am I supposed to take full advantage of all these ports with such unreasonable expectations?!?

This is exactly why we booked a Celebrity cruise (18 days!). We love Carnival, but after Hurricane Ian and dealing with chaos at work and home since, we don't need "fun," we need total relaxation.

I often wonder if some people spend any time actually attempting to enjoy their vacation, or whether they board the ship with the intention (consciously or not) to let every inconvenience, grievance, and less-than-perfect circumstance get under their skin. I will categorically state that I am not a "cheerleader" for Carnival. I have commented on several posts that there were things about previous sailings, including our MG cruise in July, that I was disappointed with. In fact, our next cruise will be on Celebrity - our first venture away from Carnival in many years. BUT...I have never, ever been on any vacation that has been "perfect." I don't expect our upcoming Celebrity cruise to be perfect. I expect there will be something, at some point, that is inconvenient, annoying, unappetizing, in disrepair, etc. Experience tells me this will happen, since every single vacation we have ever taken has included assorted issues--from hotel maintenance, transportation problems, inferior customer service, inedible food, uncomfortable beds, closed venues...the list could go on and on. The old saying "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. Carnival is not a luxury line. It's not a premium line. It's not even considered the top tier of the mass-market lines. It is and always has been a best-bang-for-your-buck line, catering to those who are looking to pack as much food, entertainment and assorted fun into their vacation for as little moo-lah as possible. And Carnival has pretty consistently delivered that promised product, to the point the vast, vast majority of their customers are happy. For those few people who are so upset over things that they will stop cruising with Carnival if the company doesn't change, I daresay Carnival will choose to say "adios" rather than change their business model or practices. They are going to cater to the masses, just as they have always done. For those who have come to the point that this isn't good enough, there are all those other luxury and premium lines vying for your vacation dollars. After all, why would you continue paying for something you no longer enjoy?

Looking forward to following your review and getting so excited for our first Celebrity cruise on the Reflection on Jan 22!

The charge is showing on our Reflection sailing in three weeks (Jan. 22). Not a biggie, but it's an incentive to get what we want from the buffet and take it back to eat on our balcony.

1. Drop off our bags in the cabin. 2. Get check-in at muster station out of the way. 3. Grab lunch and find a shady table where we can see the other ships in port. 4. Walk around the ship and take photos. 5. Go back to cabin and unpack. 6. Enjoy sail-away from our balcony.

21 days until we board the Celebrity Reflection (our first time to try Celebrity)!

Guy's Burger Joint on Carnival serves a breakfast burger with a very decent griddled hash brown serving. Just ask for the hash browns minus the burger. 😆 You won't find these hash browns at the buffet on Carnival, though. Those are just the miniature fried hockey pucks.

It's a shame that's all many people think about Florida. We have incredible museums, art scenes, historic sites and districts, symphonies and theatre, wildlife and nature preserves...and the list goes on. Oh well, more opportunity for us Floridians to enjoy all of it. Right??? A bunch of the houses in our neighborhood are owned by Canadians. This place is empty in the summer. But at least we can eat at our favorite restaurants half the year without needing reservations!

It's apparently not always applied consistently. We sailed on the Mardi Gras in July (aft balcony) and our steward serviced our cabin twice daily. He never asked us if we preferred mornings or evening. Mornings was an overall cleaning and new towels. Evenings he tidied up, swapped out towels if needed, and left a towel animal.

Hi Neighbor! (We're in Sarasota County). We loved Rudi's and Fahrenheit 555. We had an aft balcony and if we sail MG again or her sister ships we will do one of the side "bump out" balconies instead, as the aft was just too hot with no breeze. Summer's Landing and the Patio (Deck 8 aft) is a great place to hang out and not as crowded as Lido if you want to find a less crowded (and noisy) area.

Yes, that is true. But I have been looking at cruises in the April - May 2023 timeframe and I'm really not seeing much saving on Carnival vs other lines for comparable ships and itineraries. We prefer the older ships, but the cost for Carnival vs RCI or Celebrity are about the same. Moral of the story: cruise pricing has gotten weird. 🤷‍♀️