bonagrad

Right? It's a service business. If they don't care about the service they provide, the paying customer should call them out on it. Shutting up and taking it doesn't make any sense!

You seem to have a strange take on me, me, me. Maybe you're flush with lots of cash lying around. That's wonderful if you do, but for most that's not the case. I'm sorry if you think giving a multi billion dollar corporation thousands of dollars to hold onto with nothing in return for months is me, me, me. If X was smart, take all that money that they want up front, without offering anything for said money, for months, and invest it. Say I'm an airline. You book a first class ticket 6 months out. Then you show up and they've now replaced all their planes with puddle jumpers, all economy to save money. So now you have a 12 hour flight on a puddle jumper next to a screaming child at the same price as your first class ticket. Are you going to say, well that's just shrew business and applaud them? I'm going to guess no. Reducing a OVC by 80% overnight is extreme whether you think it is or not.

Exactly!

I have twice already and have spoken to two different women. Thinking about another.

It is and it isn't. Reduced waste equals reduced cost, which achieves the same result.

Fair points. No shocker on the pricing. They love charging a ridiculous amount when they launch ships. Of course people pay it, so they'll keep doing it. It'll settle down eventually and they still have a dozen options at no additional cost.

This isn't a parent telling a child that they can't take the car on Friday night. The parent doesn't have to justify that decision. But, I'm a paying consumer. Celebrity has my money, in full, three months before I get anything for that money. I gave them that money under the understanding that I would have a similar experience to the one I had in April. As it stands, that money that they have is not for the same experience. They sure as heck owe us an explanation. I'm the consumer, who paid them, not the other way around. Yes, there are a lot of possible reasons for the cutbacks, but these were extreme and as many of us have stated, there is a happy medium. There are ways to reduce waste without sacrificing variety or quality.

100% this!

Multi tasking! I'm doing about 10 things at any one time. Sometimes you need a few minutes away to stay sane!

Not a CFO, but I myself make global buying decisions for the biggest player in my industry, so I'm well aware of the pressures to cut cost. However I also have to balance the needs of our teams and make a case for why we may need to spend more in certain cases.

That sounds like a caller on sport talk radio! Joe from Schenectady you're on! Hey there, first time caller, long time listener!

Unfortunately, I think this is ship dependent. They are kind of ignoring the smaller, older ships, which of course are the ones that sail out of San Juan. I personally love sailing out of SJ. We were on Odyssey last year as the first half of our side-by-side with Apex. The food was great, in fact minus the 1,400 unattended kids, it was a great cruise. Followed up with an even better Apex cruise. We were pumped to book X again after it. Now, we were on Voyager to Canada/NE in September. Much different food experience. The food wasn't necessarily bad, but the variety was lacking and not as good as Odyssey.

Note what I just received from Royal regarding Icon of the Seas. Over a dozen complimentary options! Meanwhile their "Premium" brand offers 1 1/3 complimentary options!

I mean, I'm all for a Korean BBQ! Nobody every goes hungry there! The one on Virgin looks pretty good to me!

That is outrageous and really unacceptable behavior. I'm thinking about firing off another email to the exec email to warn them that they really need to pay attention to these threads and what's being discussed on social. They are tanking their rep among some of their most loyal customers. Do you mind if I share this as an example how this continues to get worse? If not, I totally understand.

Perfectly said!

You think all companies make smart decisions? I've personally witnessed "smart" people make really bad decisions. Believe me, I've been laid off twice, because really bad business decisions. Completely ignoring your paying customers is not a good decision, as you can see, there is a growing sentiment in terms of looking elsewhere. And to note, the travel industry as whole is a pretty poorly run industry from a business perspective. I know people that have worked with Celebrity in particular and was told they were a poorly run business.

You know, the more I think about this, they absolutely could have and should have sent an email out to anyone that had a final payment due within a month of the change. I'd have a much different outlook if I had been given the opportunity to decide whether or not to cancel. I'd still be disappointed in the actual changes, but the choice to accept those changes would have been entirely on us. They knew these changes were coming and instead of being upfront about them, they hid behind a rather late announcement about the RS fee. By the time we found out, they took the choice out of our hands.

That is weird!

Yep, we're in the same boat (pun not intended) for the 4/2 Reflection sailing.

I won't rehash what would make me happy! I've already stated it, it's not a lot, and would still reduce waste. So get off your high horse, because simple changes would suffice. I've been cruising for 18 years and have seen tons of changes that I don't complain about. If you reduce the one casual, included dining option by 80%, then yes, I'd like to be notified of that change. That has a direct affect on my cruise. I legit found about this, a day after making my final payment. So, sorry, If my displeasure is giving you angst. The other things that you mentioned are a far cry from reducing the options I have in terms of meals, you know, what we need to actually fuel our bodies.

So why chime in, mockingly, if it's inconsequential to you? I don't think a downgrade in food quantity and quality is a topic that's going away. Food is a major component of cruising or any vacation for that matter.

A lot of us are already booked and fully paid with other expenses like air and hotels already booked. Yes, we will look at other lines, but that doesn't change the fact that we're not getting what we paid for to begin with. The video in the original post shows that.

Clearly, 95% is off, based on this thread. There are quite a number of us that prefer the buffet over the MDR.

Honestly, we tried all-inclusives and didn't like them. There is still something about getting onboard, unpacking, and then not having anything to worry about. If you go to a random city, you have to navigate around the city, find places to eat, etc. Honestly, it's simply more work when we really just want to veg out!