kruzerci

Food greatly improved on Reflection last week. Some nights the menu wasn’t great but execution was spot on compared to Eclipse was night and day. 

3 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

On Radiance now..Samba is still alive and kicking.

 

 

Can you tell any major difference after drydock? Does she ship look any better? Cabins? Public spaces?

I would not do Constellation. Do a YouTube search of the cabins. Yuck. 
 

I think you would be very happy with Edge or Solstice class ships. 

10 hours ago, paulh84 said:

Celebrity is definitely trying hard to be the jack of all trades. They need to choose a direction and stick with it.  But every time they make a change the "loyalists", as they call themselves, don't agree with, they cause hysteria then Celebrity reverts. This is where the disconnect comes in between their marketing and what the actual product is on board. 

 

Their target market can be 40-55 year olds all day long. Where they fail is realizing that 40 year old me is a very different customer than my parents were at 40. But as long as they continue to pander the 65, 70, 80+ crowd they will have a tough time bringing in a new crop of repeat younger new customers. 

 

We're fine with it largely because we know what to expect but I'm curious how many of the recent new Celebrity customers actually come back.

Bingo!

Because we sailed in a balcony b2b on Eclipse in October for $499+taxes per week. No casino discount. They were struggling to give Solstice and then Eclipse sailings away

26 minutes ago, SkystheLimit said:

While we enjoyed our recent cruise on the Reflection, we agree about an identity crisis.  We definitely put that in our comments.  Music was SO loud everywhere and the selections were all over the place. The grand foyer really wasn't designed for games but it was used frequently for that.  Nor was it designed for a DJ playing music until midnight or later.  It reverberated all the way to the top decks. Service was still good and we were pleased with the food which we weren't expecting based on reviews a couple of months old. Just didn't feel right on the Reflection one of our favorite ships.

Completely agree. I’ve never heard volume on Celebrity like this. It was more like Royal. Maybe gearing up for the 3/4 day sailings.  

15 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Go sail on Viking.  Then you’ll thank god for Celebrity.  But I agree that the new music they play on board sucks.  Who thinks that Mozart and Beethoven is good music?  Bach all day man!  Baroque is where it’s at.  Stop that classical crap.

I don’t think it sucks, I like the product, I just find the branding and market position odd. Premium but not, young but not, old but not HAL, etc. 

First off, I love Celebrity, just an observation while on Reflection. 
 

I feel like the brand is in an identity crisis. They advertise to a younger demographic, play modern pop music, advertise a “relaxed luxury resort at sea” etc., but their primary client base is 50+, they are cutting corners and nickel and diming as you would never see at a luxury resort, and their programming onboard is definitely greater toward an older demographic. 
 

It’s very much an anomaly to me. It seems like the older people think Celebrity is going downhill, the young people think it’s too old, and the folks looking for a more upscale experience think it falls short.  Just interesting that they try to straddle so many things, but seems they don’t excel at any of them. Luckily we are younger but prefer a calm environment, good food, good shows, etc., so none of this really bothers us and we enjoy the product.

Was on Reflection last week. Silhouette is similar but far superior due to the renovation. Reflection is shabby in places (cabins, outdoor furniture, carpet) where Silhouette feels fresher. Food on Reflection was fantastic compared to our last few X cruises. 

2 hours ago, steveru621 said:

 

 

Refurbishments happen continuously.

Or, in Royal’s case the last couple years, don’t. 

3 hours ago, island lady said:

Serenade should have gone in for extensive dry dock before the WC put her out for 274 nights.  

So many things not working.  She is in need of some real care.  I hated to see her in that condition, since the Radiance ladies have always been my favorite class of ships. 

 

Still enjoyed my recent 63 nights on board just weeks ago, but was amazed at the lack of repair.  Will be back on again for another 62 nights this July to finish up the WC.  Will be interesting to see what else is not working then.  🤕

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m shocked they didn’t do major work before the WC. We sailed from Tampa in 2023 and it was really eye opening- we thought surely it would all be remediated and cleaned up before the WC. 

On 3/9/2024 at 5:17 PM, leaveitallbehind said:

Serenade was last refurbished in 2022, but I don't have details on what that included.  

It was dry docked for a technical drydock in 2022. It was NOT refurbished. It has not been refurbished in a decade. She’s very tired. Patched here and there but certainly outdated and overdue for an overhaul, as are most of the Vision and Radiance class ships. 

I’d wait for Utopia or Wonder to do the 3 nights. The cabins on Allure are old and kind of gross. It’s ok for 3 days but there’s a brand new ship coming to do these sailings later this year. 

Enchantment May-June 16 2024. 

Those days are long gone. You’ll find an occasional deal but they are rarely if ever great deals anymore. 

I don’t think people use them any more. Every moved over to F B groups mostly. 

3 hours ago, gavvy said:

From that redit post earlier it seems the tips are worked out like this - i think- don't flame me!

 

RCL guarantees a barman a pay packet per month, in this case it was $1400.

 

Every drink on the ship is given a tip value, it's the same for every drink regardless the cost, on Oasis it was said it was $1 for every drink punched into the system.

 

The server had to punch in $1400 drinks in a month to earn his $1400- once he had done this anything above was given to him at the same $1 a drink value.  if he did not punch in 1400 drinks RCL would make up his wages to $1400, there was some sort of statement as well that you could be taken off the ship if you were not serving enough drinks.

 

The server said he earned more in 7 months than he would earn in years back home.

 

It seems RCL is getting the servers for free - the tips are paying the wages in their entirety.

 

I have no ide where the tips over the $1 value go too. 

Adding to this- he explicitly stated they are paid the same ~$1 drink value on the D,D+,Pinnacle drinks.
 

Contrary to the tired misinformation spread everywhere on these forums insisting that people need to tip cash because they don’t get paid on those. 

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I would hope you did not book with American Queen Voyages river cruise as an alternative.   We had to pay early with them for our B2B this coming June as well...in full...at time of booking.   Now...they have filed chapter 11 ...doubt I will ever see our money  back again from that one.  

 

I am not so worried about Viking, they are quite a bit more solid.  We loved our 3 week cruise with them last year from Bucharest to Amsterdam.  Now have 5 more bookings with them.  Yes, early pay off...but they do it on purpose since they are so popular and are very small ships that book out early.  Not looking to get burned again, but we love the line.  

 

 

Did you file a credit card dispute?

Nobody here can answer that. Wonderland menus can change. You need to ask the staff onboard.

There’s countless posts about this recently. Expect worse food, only once a day room make up, and no more cruise compass- a lot more app focused. 

12 hours ago, Mikew0805 said:

I have bought one on Allure the last three weekend sailings. (Someone else kept wanting one, so I had to get them) These were all the actual Allure been there cups, not a Miami one. 

Weird must have run out

Michael Bayley is that you??

It would seem your only way to know how anybody may or may not react would to be experiencing the environment for yourself. Passengers and crew change weekly. While one person may have one experience another person’s experience may be vastly different.
 

It would unfortunately appear that somebody may be vigilantly looking for a certain reaction where there may or may not be one, which may increase the likelihood of an undesirable outcome. Hopefully that is not the case. 

Navigator did not have them when I was on last year. 
 

On Allure (which sails from Port Canaveral) last week they had them. They were Miami mugs 😭

2 hours ago, The Sunset Glow said:

We are D+ and have been sailing only Royal since our first cruise in 2000. We tried some other lines early on but settled with Royal as it fit our needs, preferences and price point the best. We have one more Royal cruise this year (booked when prcing was still very good) but that's it. This is the first time over a decade that we have not had multiple bookings in our planner. We will be looking at more higer-end/inclusive lines or land vacations going forward.

 

And this is not just because of the cost. Royal's pricing has gone way up but the food quality and service has been cut big time. The value for dollars is no longer there for us so we are moving on. This is not to say that we'll never be back - it would just have to be a better value than what they currently offer.

My sentiments exactly.