kwokpot

I was just on the Viva (Dec 6-13) and my ribeye from Cagney's was excellent. Cooked to MR, seasoned perfectly and with a great char. The sides were just OK, the creamed spinach was watery. Crab cake was excellent, the shrimp in the shrimp cocktail was jumbo but needed to be firmer. The OMG Cheesecake and chocolate layer cake were excellent. Filet from Onda was EXCELLENT. Cooked MR, and again excellent seasoning and char. Onda was hands down the best meal on the ship and probably one of the best if not THE BEST restaurant meal we ever had on a cruiseship out of 107 cruises.

No, I think it's Normandie.We were in Aquaclass on the Beyond and ate in the MDRs serval nights since my parents were traveling with us in a regular cabin.

It's not a steak.It's a ROAST. I HATE when Celebrity does this. They call certain meat entrees steaks which denotes a specific type of preparation. What they serve is an entirely different preparation. It's the same cut of beef but instead of the beef cut and cooked individually on both sides its cooked whole as a roast and THEN individually sliced. Same cut of beef but the preparation totally changes how the meat looks and tastes. A ribeye steak and a slice of prime rib is the same cut of beef but looks and tastes not remotely the same.

I specifically took this photo last year on the Beyond to show how ridiculously close front to back the 2 tables are. There's no one sitting in them now, but how is there room when they are occupied and the charis aren't necessarily smack up against the table?

It can vary with ship class and also dining room (The E-Class ships have four main dining rooms each with it's own decor). Sometimes it's not an issue, sometimes the tables are too close. Sometimes we will be assigned a four table which gives us plenty of room. I don't know if loyalty status has anything to do with that. In any case if we don't like the table location we will always ask to change tables regardless of which cruiseline we're sailing. Edit: I specifically took this picture to show how close the tables were front to back. This was on the Celebrity Beyond, which at the time of the photo was the flagship. It's in one of the four main dining rooms.

Rest of Cruise – Venues Penrose Atrium; Casino Out of all the venues on the ship the Penrose Atrium was probably where we spent the most time (followed by the gym but more of that later). It’s such a beautifully design space and I enjoyed that instead of one big, large square each deck was asymmetrically designed. The basic design principle (which is the same philosophy for the design of the Grand Plaza on Celebrity’s E-Class ships) was to evoke the grand plazas and town squares of Europe’s beloved cities of Rome, Venice, and Paris. It’s supposed to be a gathering space for people watching, entertainment, having drinks and snacks, and just relaxing. The way the spaces have various nooks and overlooks is meant to simulate the narrow streets of the old towns in Europe where you’ll witness sights and sounds from different vantage points. There are multiple places to sit and relax. Starbucks is a great resource (You can use their gift cards there!) and behind the Starbucks is some more private seating with giant windows providing great views. Penrose Bar on Deck 6 is a busy place since I’s the de facto casino bar. It’s also where a lot of the musical entertainment takes place. We enjoyed this space very much and prefer it to the designs of similar spaces on the Dawn, Jewel and Breakaway class ships (I never cared for the big video screens in the atrium on most of the other NCL ships. Very distracting. NO VIDEO SCREENS in the Penrose Atrium). I will agree with those who say that when there's entertainment going on the whole space can get noisy, but in all honesty that's also by design as other cruiselines have similar issues with the main atriums in their new builds. Virgin Voyages eschews this design philosophy by eliminating a large central atrium in favor of multiple smaller venues. But then people complain there's no wow factor without a big, multi-deck atrium. You can't please everyone. The casino on the Viva was a surprise. Maybe it was just our sailing, but it was seriously lacking in energy. It was never particularly busy. It looks nice and it is never smoky. Neither my husband nor I were particularly lucky in the casino. We actually spent very little time in the casino considering this was a fully comped casino cruise! Photos of the beautiful Penrose Atrium.

Rest of Cruise – Food and Dining Palomar and Cagney’s Steakhouse Palomar is a Greek inspired Mediterranean restaurant that in my opinion is in an awkward location on deck 17 portside beyond the pool deck. We came from the forward elevators and had to walk across the pool deck and even though you can see the sign for the restaurant it wasn’t quite clear where the entrance was. We tried to walk through the outdoor seating area and instead had to backtrack and walk around and into one of corridors to access the main entrance. It’s location afforded an expanse of large window for great views. The overall décor hah a more casual vibe with a mild nautical theme. I went full seafood mode for dinner starting with the Thalassini Salad and the Dover Sole as my entrée. A glass of Sauvignon Blanc from the Penrose Bar was a good match for my food. My husband had the Greek salad and lamb chops as his meal. We shared Asparagus and Rice Pilaf as our sides. We topped off the meal with The Valrhona Dark Chocolate Mouse Cake for me and Chocolate sorbet for my husband. The whole meal was delicious. I loved the seafood salad and enjoyed the Dover Sole although it was a bit dry. My husband enjoyed his Greek salad and thought the Lamb chops were perfectly seasoned and grilled to his specifications. Photos to follow. As someone with an interest in modern architecture and design Cagney’s Steakhouse stood out for me as one of my favorite spaces on the ship. Most people will not know that the design inspiration for Cagney’s is the innovative and controversial designs of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Cagney’s on the Viva is an homage to his use of prefabricated concrete blocks to build inexpensive homes for the common person (It turned out to be the exact opposite). The column casings and coffered ceilings are NCL’s interpretation of Wright’s concrete building blocks. Wright also was a fan of using wood accents which you can see was also done here in Cagney’s. Even the lighting for the restaurant pays homage to Wright’s use of metal and circular shapes for furniture he designed for the Johnson Wax Building in Wisconsin. The chairs for the restaurant are in a shade of green that will be familiar to those who know mid-century modern design. It was such a delight to be in this space! Onto the food. Ribeye is our favorite cut of meat and Cagney’s didn’t disappoint. The steaks were perfectly seasoned, had a delicious char, and cooked to the requested medium rare. The side dishes were just OK with the creamed spinach being too watery. I started the meal with a shrimp cocktail and although the shrimps were very large they could have been a little bit firmer in texture. My husband’s Crab cake was very good though with very little filler and almost all crab meat! We ended with some gigantic and yummy desserts. The seven layer chocolate cake is perfect for chocolate lovers and the OMG Caramel Butterscotch Cheesecake was sinfully delicious. Although this wasn’t our best or perfect meal the main attraction, the ribeye steaks, were everything we were hoping for. Photos to follow are our meals at Palomar; photos of Cagney’s Restaurant; and our meals at Cagney’s.

Rest of Cruise – Food and Dining Local Bar & Grill; Indulge Food Hall; Surfside Café We had two meals at Local Bar & Grill, Local Grill to be exact. The reason for the clarification is that although the bar side serves the same food it only serves what would be considered starters or more generally bar-type food. If you wanted a more complete lunch you would have to go to the restaurant side. As indicated Local is divided into two sections. The bar and the restaurant. The bar also serves as the corridor to Indulge Food Hall. The bar is a nicely decorated space with the main design element being a huge, long bar that was always busy whenever we walked by. There’s a variety of seating styles with low easy chairs with a coffee table, a hightop counter area, the bar itself, and some hanging basket chairs which were always occupied. We enjoyed our lunch meals at Local restaurant, which has a casual vibe. One of our meals was outdoors in the shade and it was a comfortable experience. I had pork with rice and beans and my husband had fish and chips and both were tasty. Indulge Food Hall was our favorite lunchtime eatery and we ate there three times. It’s a tight space with various individual food stalls, some with counter seating space, some without. Otherwise there are tables and booths scattered among the food stalls. There’s also an outdoor seating area. We enjoyed the ability to order different types of food, like a buffet, but semi-service without the chaos. Employees will come over and ask if you want any beverages. There’s setups and napkins already on the tables. You order food by using a tablet that’s placed at each table. Once you choose what you want on the tablet and submit the order the food will be brought to you in no particular order. I enjoyed the Asian noodles, and the barbeque foods were very tasty, especially all the sides. It’s very easy to over order but the individual portions aren’t that huge, so we never wasted anything. Desserts are self service by going over to the Sweets Stall and getting the items yourself. Highly recommend Indulge! We ate three meals (Breakfast and 2 lunches) at the Surfside Café/buffet. It was our least favorite dining venue solely because of it’s design. I dislike the old-style cafeteria-style buffet setups where the food is laid out in long, continuous lines. I much prefer buffet layouts where the food stations are in smaller pods which can be accessed from all four sides rather than just from the front. This layout reduces the lines and makes getting food easier and quicker. This may not be a popular statement but I WILLOT line up at the start of a cafeteria style buffet if I ONLY want one food item that’s at the end of the line. It makes no sense and causes unnecessary crowds and lines. What I do is wait for a break in front of the food item I want, and if no one is getting that food item I will go right to it, get what I want, and leave. There is no logic for me to stand at the beginning of the line when the only thing I want is at the very end. We were never able to find an available table so all three times we ate at the buffet we sat at the long communal high top eating counters. They were always easier to find available space and the stools are comfortable albeit a bit awkward to get on and off. There was an employee directing people down the hall for seating at Food Republic but since there are no trays to carry food this isn’t a convenient solution to the seating issues. It was never an issue sharing the counters with others. As to the food quality it was hot and tasty. My husband enjoyed the hamburgers and hot dogs from Surfside Grill, which is further aft just beyond the main buffet area. In summary the buffet was always too busy to enjoy a meal there and we basically eat and ran from the area.

Rest of Cruise – Food and Dining Main Dining Restaurants; Hudson’s and Commodore Room; Belvedere and Metropolitan Bars We ate in both main dining rooms and Hudson’s is our favorite of the two. The Commodore Room is on deck 6 and while the décor is nice without the dramatic 270-degree deck 7 aft window views in Hudson’s it just can’t compare in environment. The large round windows in Commodore are a central design theme but they look out right below the lifeboats, so the views are obscured. The other dominating design elements are these polished chrome ‘cages’ that surround each of the columns in the room. The ceilings are lower than in Hudson’s, which again lends to a more enclosed and intimate setting. Belvedere Bar sits right outside of Commodore and is a beautiful place for predinner cocktails or to wait for your table. It’s cozy and intimate, mirroring the dining experience at Commodore. The Metropolitan would be the venue for predinner drinks if dining at Hudson’s. It’s a little further removed from the dining room itself and it’s a large and very popular place. The highlight of Metropolitan is the interactive video art installation along most of the wall in the walkway portion of the bar. It’s a video wall of butterflies with their wings open but if you wave your hand and/or touch the screen the butterflies respond by flapping their wings and flying. Very cool! The Humidor Cigar Lounge is located here. There’s entertainment and activities programming at Metropolitan. Metropolitan was always a busy venue on the ship. Photos below of Belvedere and Metropolitan bars.

I concur with all the points you have made. Within the span of a few months we will have or will be sailing on four different cruises lines; Just completed a cruise on the new NCL Viva (after a hiatus of 6 years); A Christmas cruise on Royal's Anthem of the Seas; A B2B on Celebrity's Ascent in January; And Carnival's Celebration in February. It will be a great way to compare and contrast the current state of the mainstream cruiselines. I still suspect Celebrity will remain our favorite cruiseline despite some drawbacks that are important to me (namely a more robust Spa thermal suite that includes a water feature and more non-heated lounging space).

That's not an issue.

Polo shirt or button shirt with dockers/chinos are fine for all nights at dinner on Celebrity including Chic Nights when jackets aren't required for men. By the book shorts are never allowed in any restaurant during dinner time. I phrase it that way since there will always be times when you see someone allowed in wearing shorts at dinner even though it's against the rules.

What I'm trying to say is the majority of comments, questions, and complaints on the Celebrity CC forum are regarding Retreat Class. Is that a statistical analysis, no but it's a generalization. Peruse the Celebrity forum and you'll see all sorts of questions and comments about Luminae, the Retreat Lounge, and even questions and comments about the highest level multi room suites, the ones costs tens of thousands of dollars. These discussions are almost unheard of on Carnival solely because Carnival's suite class has very, very few amenities as compared to Celebrity. On Carnival there's no special dining room or lounge and only on the Excel Class is there an exclusive sundeck. Many of the most well known CC Celebrity forum posters sail exclusively in Retreat Class, and post extensively and has a loyal reader following. Even Celebrity's Spa Class, Aquaclass, has more amenities than Carnival's Spa cabins.

It was shortly after all the brewhaha that Celebrity brought back all the choices for the dinner buffet. I was on the Apex in July and had dinner one night and all but two areas had food. Really couldn't have been any better.

Yes, since Celebrity went with a Chic Night I also notice more Carnival guests dressing up on Elegant Night. But I see why NCL guests trying Celebrity for the first time have wardrobe questions. It was a bit strange when I was in the Viva's beautiful steakhouse (the design motif was a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired mid century modern faux concrete architecture) and seeing guys wearing beach attire for an expensive steakhouse dinner ( a la carte pricing)

Just finished a cruise on NCL's flagship Viva and it's pretty amazing what guys wear to dinner. Only the French specialty restaurant has a dress code so guys literally wear flipflops, ratty T-shirts, and board shorts to dinner. Also floppy hats and cross body bags. Many of the guys looked like they just came off the beach. It's been 6 years since my last NCL cruise so it was eye opening when NCL guests are even more casual than Carnival cruisers. And since there's no dress up days that's how guys dress the whole cruise. Oh and both men and women put their bare feet up on the atrium coffee tables, chairs and couches. 😬

No, NO, NO, NO

Before the change to any bar the Elite HH was located in The Club on E-Class ships.

This is an interesting question and I'll answer it as honestly as I can. Celebrity has always had an excellent suites level cabins and when it was rebranded as Retreat Class they added some more amenities for those sailing in a suite cabin ( As with every cruiseline there have been some changes and cutbacks to the suites amenities which have loyal Celebrity clients up in arms, but that's another thread of discussion!). Because of this there are many, many more people that sail in a suite cabin than the rest of the mainstream cruiselines. If you peruse the Celebrity forum here on CC you'd think every single Celebrity customer sails in a suite. The majority of the questions and discussions revolve around sailing in a suite. Because of this and the older average age of a Celebrity cruiser you will notice a lot more people complaining about how much better it used to be and how things have gotten so bad (it hasn't). As I previously stated people who cruise Carnival are there to have fun, and the general attitude (I'm generalizing here) of a Carnival cruiser is to have a fun cruise and a fun time. So yes you may find more fuddy duddy passengers complaining about everything under the sun and having a sour demeanor. What I say to that is you do you own thing and don't like those negative Nancy's affect your enjoyment of your cruise.

EVERYTHING on the Reflection will be far superior to the Horizon. I've been on both ships. The rooms are no comparison. Despite the Reflection not having a recent update the rooms will be far more luxurious than the Horizon, especially the bathroom. The buffet is no comparison either with vastly more choices and superior quantity. Carnival doesn't have lox at their buffet in the mornings but Celebrity does. That's just one small example. The shows are better and the ship is modern and upscale with real artwork throughout the ship. There's a real lawn with grass on the top decks. A great indoor pool that's adults only which the Horizon lacks. I could go on and on. The only major differences where Carnival is better is the waterparks, slides, and other doodads for kids and the young at heart. Additionally Carnival has separate venues for Comedy shows, piano bar, and main theater whereas Celebrity will utilize the main theater for all shows and alternate the types of nightly entertainment. So if you're a fan of nightly comedy shows which I know many Carnival cruisers are, you'll be a bit disappointed that there won't be nightly comedy shows. Lastly Celebrity doesn't consider themselves the 'Fun ships'. In other words on Celebrity there isn't a constant push from employees and passengers to always have FUN. So the general energy is different on a Celebrity cruise. It's more laid back both in the ways the employees interact with the guests and the guests themselves. Some people think a Celebrity cruise is boring. You'll never see the same participation on a Celebrity ship for their deck parties as on a Carnival cruise. As long as you go into it knowing the cruise style is different on Celebrity you'll have an amazing time!

Thank you. We really did try to eat at Indulge on day one but it just wasn't meant it be. Having said that we loved Indulge and ate there multiple times. I'll write up about that shorty.

Embarkation Day continued - Dinner at Onda By Scarpetta One of the reasons that I had lined up for service when I first boarded was to switch a specialty restaurant reservation from Le Bistro to Onda. To my surprise as I was waiting on line to speak to someone to make the change I logged onto the NCL App and was able to make the change myself even before reaching someone to help me. I was also surprised to see that there was a spot available that night at the prime dining time of 7:30pm so I took it. The best decision of the whole cruise. Onda was by far the best meal we had on the ship. The dining room is wildly modern and could double as a set for a sci-fi movie restaurant from the future. Service was impeccable. We had used one of our Sapphire dining certificates that came with a bottle of wine. I chose a Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages and it was a good match for my entree. Following suggestions made here on CC I chose the Filet Mignon (my husband chose the Salmon) as my entree. But before that we shared the Burrata and Fritto Misto, then followed by the Pappardelle Bolognese and the Market Salad. Yes, we ate all that BEFORE our entrees! With so much food we skipped ordering extra side dishes (our entrees already had accompaniments). My filet was cooked perfectly to medium rare and was properly seasoned with a nice char. My husband enjoys his salmon cooked the way he requested. Although we wer full we just had to order dessert. Both the Butterscotch Budino and tiramisu were excellent.I have to say the whole experience rivaled any land-based high end restaurant. Every dish we ordered was well prepared and there wasn't anything that disappointed. Do not miss dining at Onda!

Just to be clear the photos is from NCL's website. I actually forgot to take my own photos!

Embarkation Day continued - Cabin Our cabin was ready at 2:00pm and quite honestly i feel that's a bit late and later than other cruiselines. And that was only for two decks, the rest of the decks weren't ready yet! We had cabin# 5202, which is a large oceanview with round window. It was a great cabin and extremely spacious. I highly recommend this cabin category. The Prima Class cabins no longer have the interlocking designs which necessitates a narrowing portion of the cabin so the cabin isn't the same width the whole length of the cabin. Not so in the Prima class cabins. This creates a nice wide cabin with plenty of room to walk by the foot of the bed. There is tons of storage and in this class of cabin there's an additional dresser and two additional nightstands with an extra large couch. The way it's setup is like a junior suite with a living room area. There's a multitude of storage options and also outlets, both electrical and USB. The bedside lamps have USB ports on both nightstands. The bathroom is a nice size (I still have to give a shoutout to Celebrity's E-Class standard cabins as having the largest bathrooms) with plenty of storage, large shower with glass door, and soft closing toilet seat. The only thing missing was a nightlight setting for nighttime bathroom trips. I like the closets with two sections both with hanging rods, and two pull-out wire baskets which are perfect for smaller items like socks,underwear, swimsuits, gym apparel. There's also a third section without a door that has an additional hanging rod and a luggage rack/shelf, and another lower shelf. This spot was perfect for coats, sweaters, jackets on the hanging rod; backpacks and beach bags on the luggage rack; and shoes on the lower shelf. The beds were high enough off the ground where you could store your luggage, even larger bags, under the bed. The mattress was very comfortable if you like a firmer mattress, but it's definitely not a plush pillow type of mattress. The TV was on a wall mount that you can swivel and tilt towards the bed or have it flat against the wall if you're sitting on the couch. All in all the room was beautiful and I couldn't think of anything that it lacked. Certainly one of the nicest oceanview cabins we've ever stayed at. The location was also good being just a few cabins in from the Aft stairs and elevators.

Embarkation Day continued Our first order of business was for my husband to sign up to audition for Press Your Luck Live, to make show reservations, and to make a change to one of our previously reserved specialty dinners. Both was done in the Viva theater so we went to queue up. There's one queue line to start and once you enter the main theater there are different queues depending on what you need to have done. We split up to be more efficient. As I was waiting on line I logged into the NCL app and realized I was able to make the new dinner reservation myself using the app. The strange thing was all my previous dinner reservations for all seven nights wasn't showing up in my app, so I stayed on the queue to have that straightened out. Turns out that the reservations were there but under my husband's account since he is the primary cruiser. A quick update by the employee fixed that and my app updated immediately with all the dinner reservations. My husband was finishing up his contestant application. He had already made show reservations for the two shows which takes advanced reservations; Beetlejuice and Press your Luck. The show reservations also showed up immediately in the app. We then went to the CruiseNext deck to reserve the BTS (Behind the scenes) tour, wine tasting, and to receive our loyalty pins. In hindsight we should have done this first since I remember seeing no lines at the CruiseNext desk when we first entered the atrium but now there was a long line of people. Anyway we were able to get onto the BTS tour, wine tasting, and dinner with the officers. We also received our loyalty pins and the employee was nice enough to give the pins for all the previous tiers. The above tasks took about 50 minutes of our time. Based on recommendations here on CC we decided to go to Indulge Food Hall for lunch. Unfortunately at 12:35 Indulge was already packed with passengers and it was a bit chaotic. We circled around and around looking for a table, but nothing was available. There were seats at the counters of some of the offerings but we quickly realized that you can only order food from that eatery when you sit at their counter seats and can't get food from the other eateries. After circling Indulge over 5 times looking for seats we gave up and decided to go to Hudson's MDR for lunch. Hudson's turned out to be the everything Indulge wasn't. It wasn't busy, we were able to be seated right away, and it was a calm and serene atmosphere to have embarkation day lunch. We had a beautiful view of the downtown Miami skyline. This restaurant is remarkably beautiful. The panoramic windows provide beautiful views. The semicircle layout is unique for a ship dining room and allows for an intimate but not confining nor overwhelming feeling. The columns have unique design elements which incorporate a lighting feature and a handy shelf which is used to hold the menus. Very clever! The other lighting fixtures are these gold and crystal petals arranged in a flower like pattern. The chairs were tub style with lower backs in a light blue velvet material. They were comfortable and neither of us had any issues with the chairs at any of our meals. We enjoyed our lunch at Hudson's and would recommend this as the preferred embarkation place for lunch. Photo of Hudson's Dining Room (not taken at embarkation lunch).