tigervixxxen

I have made a lunch reservation onboard but it wasn’t busy at all, I don’t think it’s too critical but I think you can do it once on the ship. 

Pork Schnitzel which is mostly missing now. Hopefully it continues appearing on longer sailings. I do plan on making a list of the standout dishes on my upcoming sailing. 

I’ve heard of a discount given for doing a spa tour on embarkation day and also have been given a bounce back offer after getting a massage, talking like 20% off. 
 

As mentioned above there are specials most days of the cruise for those samplers around $150, there seems to be about 3 variations of them. (I’m not sure this is the freebie for the Persian Garden tour, I’d probably expect just a demonstration). 
 

In general there are port day discounts or same day or twilight deals. If you are willing to any of those I’ve also received a discount. 
 

I’d only book ahead if you want specific days and times but otherwise I’ve always waited and taken advantage of either the sampler or port day special. I tend to more the basic services though, I’m not sure if it works the same if you want one of those elaborate treatments. 

21 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

This ship seems to have the most food complaints

It’s the one that still has a few more selections on the menu too. I think it’s just because more people have sailed on it recently. 

1 hour ago, Baggy178 said:

 We are 😅👍

You’d have to go to the MDR though 😉

E class ships actually have no specified dining time since you can eat at any of the 4 MDR restaurants. It’s Celebrity’s dumb software that doesn’t recognize this difference. 

I don’t see anything on the list of obstructed cabins. 
 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Obstructed_Views/02_15_23_FLY_Obstructed_Cabins_SM.pdf

This is the third time is a charm Apex TA sailing they cancelled twice already. Wouldn’t shock me if this ship sails half full. 

If Virgin had a fall 2024 TA I’d probably book with them but they don’t. Hopefully an itinerary works for me in the future. I am intrigued by their offering. 

5 hours ago, canloan said:

We are currently on the 14 day Trans-Pacific Millennium sailing and I just went through and compared the various daily supper menus between your sailing and ours. For the most part, your menus do look like they have more variety of choice than ours do. As well, we have no offering of any "Sides".

It does look to me they had to bring some of the deleted items back for the longer itineraries, which is good. But yeah the Silhouette offers more. 

13 hours ago, Baggy178 said:

 

 

I dunno about mashed spuds but Yorkshire Pudding with every meal sounds absolutely champion to me.👍

Only if you are cruising on the Silhouette 

I’ve cruised on Carnival plenty but not in a couple years. The difference isn’t as extreme as some folks make it out to be. At the end of the day they both are mainstream cruise lines. 
 

What did OP hate so much about their cruise that it forced them to walk off the ship? Need more info there to help determine if Celebrity is a better option. 

That looks high to me but then I realized this is for four people. Maybe wait until a 40% off each guest sale however it does look like this cruise is selling well and only a couple oceanview rooms left, you might just need to book and hope to reprice later. 
 

also looks like the celebrity website is looking more and more like Royal’s. 

52 minutes ago, cruisinsusin said:

we were served the beef tournados on the Constellation in July (cooked to order and excellent)  so hoping they show up on the same B2B Solstice.

My grand hope is that the pork schnitzel is at least offered and it seems like it still makes an appearance on the 10+ night sailing menus. 
 

At this point which of the beef dishes are the best to order in MDR? I will always get the prime rib but otherwise which one is the best? Flank steak? The steak Dianne doesn’t seem to be too favorable at the moment. 

I never ordered a lot of beef from the MDR in the past because I know it’s prepared catering style in the galley, there is always going to be a range of food quality. What bothers me about the change is the removal of options, almost no appetizers, no difference in sides and I like mashed potatoes but come on, just no exploration in flavor. I’m seriously considering bringing my own seasonings and sauces, which would be ridiculous but how many nights can you have the same thing just it’s a different protein. 

1 hour ago, AlyssaJames said:

Re: "Food is so subjective", this is a bit of a cop-out.

If you don't like a particular seasoning or ingredient, or you only like your steak cooked one way, sure, that's a subjective preference.

Grading of beef is not subjective.

Quality and ripeness of produce is not subjective. 

Bulk store chocolate vs. culinary-grade chocolate like Callebaut or Valrhona is not subjective. (well, unless you'd rather taste sugar than chocolate, I guess.)

Just some examples. That phrase is a pet peeve of mine. 

What is subjective is how much the difference matters to people. 
 

To me what is not subjective is the fact that there has been a pretty noticeable change in the MDR menu and the disbelief at times that it has occurred is what I really don’t understand. 

We had an excursion in Porto but I do believe there was a shuttle provided that you could take. It is a little bit of a drive into the city so it probably wasn’t free. 
 

In general I find this type of info is basically a secret, I guess to get people to buy an excursion. But this is a very big blind spot for all the content creators and info aggregators is that port information when it comes to cruising is severely lacking.

We spent 11 nights in Blu on Equinox over the holidays. We didn’t find the food any better than the MDR in general, sure a couple dishes were (a couple of the salads with chicken or salmon were standouts for me and the lobster they serve in the cream sauce) but it was nice to choose between their menu plus the MDR menu. We had no issue doing this btw, waiters were happy to do it but they also waited for us to inquire about it. I believe the difference is in the E class ships the kitchens are not close together but on Solstice this should also be no problem. 
 

Our overall thoughts on Aqua was having more amenities was nice but nothing was actually “better” per se. I didn’t book any specialty restaurants because I thought I wouldn’t want to miss Blu, I was dead wrong about that. We even ate in the buffet one night instead. A lot of folks love Blu and it is a beautiful restaurant but is it better food, not in my opinion. Also the puréed veggies they served every night with the bread was strange. Not that it was a problem or anything but it gets pretty funny after 10 nights of having puréed carrots or beets on the table. 

I can confirm the Equinox has the extra shower heads that are at body height position, which I think are the special ones. As far as service, I thought it was fine in Blu. Nothing noteworthy either way other than they brought the wrong dish once or twice but it was efficient enough. 

I’ll be on the Solstice soon, hide a duck for me 😉

5 hours ago, ColoradoMom!! said:

Can I hide a "beat a dead horse" question in here - if someone would clarify a poorly worded FAQ straight off the Celebrity web site :

 

 

Are gratuities included in the Celebrity Cruises Drink Package cost?

No, a 20% service charge will be added to all drink page prices at checkout. Package prices may reflect an additional tax for certain ports or itineraries.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SO....

I read this two ways. I have the classic package.  If I ask for a glass of wine that is $9, yes, I need to pay a gratuity which is 20% of $9.00 - basically $1.80 because per the FAQ, gratuities are not included in the package cost.  OR is it no - your resulting charge is $0 since the glass of wine is fully covered under my package, and 20% of $0 charge is $0 gratuity ????

Obviously this is my first cruise with Celebrity coming up.  TIA

If you have the classic package and drink only items included you will never pay an extra cent because gratuity is already included with the package ($9 glass of wine is no charge). As pointed out if you go over the package you pay the difference plus gratuity on the difference ($17 martini, you pay $7 plus $1.40 = $8.40). It also means if you buy a drink package outside of All Included you will pay the 20% gratuity on top of the rate you pay for the package ($60 or whatever they charge for it plus $12 gratuity per day = $72 per day). 

21 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

On our September cruise last year it was also at hurricane time.  They re-ordered our ports.  We had to skip two ports due to hurricane damage, and we added overnights in Quebec City and Portland.  Surprisingly (to me) the seas were some of the calmest I've ever experienced in 20+ years of cruising.

That’s my experience too. On a cruise to Bermuda when there was a hurricane in the Bahamas the seas were the calmest I’ve ever seen, it’s like the storm sucks all the energy in the ocean and everything else is incredibly calm. 

The latest changes were mid August if you want a true reflection of the current offerings. 

Weather plays a big part no doubt but in general open waters are not rough seas, it’s getting close to the shoreline that makes for rocky waters. The first sea day leaving a large land mass and last sea day approaching one have been the roughest non weather related seas I have experienced. 

14 hours ago, dazey said:

We usually take the cab from port to Ft. Lauderdale airport.  Quick, inexpensive.  Have used shuttle a few times - fine if you have lots to time to get your flight.

 

We have a return flight from port in December and leaving from Miami.  Thinking of using ship's shuttle as flight does not leave until 1:30.  Assuming taxi would be more expensive.  Anyone have an idea which is better?

On our last cruise we sailed from Ft. Lauderdale but had a flight out of Miami to go home. We took the Celebrity shuttle for a 12:30 flight and was fine. We had to wait on the bus about 45 minutes for it to get full as there was only one bus departing to the Miami airport. We left about 9:45 and got to the airport before 10:30 and was perfect timing for our flight. 

4 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

It is not just Silhouette.  Celebrity updated their menus in mid August and most options seem to be downgrades.  I am on Millie next month and the menu shows mashed potatoes every night with at least half of the entrees.  Not sure if the app menu used to show other side options but I see nothing as far as individual sides.

 

Individual sides is only something Silhouette does, they (still) have a slightly expanded MDR menu. 
 

it’s true that everyone’s experience and interpretation of those experiences will be different. But it’s a fact that the menu has recently changed and not everyone is fully aware to the extent of it.