omarchs

Looking at the Entertainment Reveal I am struck about the number of times ribbon acrobat(s) was shown in the pictures: in the Theatre, in The Club and even in Eden. Isn't the whole Cirque thing becoming a little stale? The spaces seem to be exciting and lovely (especially the Theatre), but is it really just "lipstick on a pig", the same old, same old?

 

Also noted was no mention of a Celebrity Orchestra. Sure, it has devolved over the years to only six or seven members, but is still enjoyable, especially with the right CD/Music Director. Is that gone also?

 

For those who want a quiet cabaret environment, I believe you will have to settle for a guitarist-in-a-tree?

 

Thoughts?

I agree with how stale the acrobats are. Very talented, but so over used, I don’t care if we ever see them again.

Were recently on the MSC Seaside and there were acrobats every night! We kept saying they can’t possibly have acrobats again the next night and they did!

I don’t understand why cruise line executives are still convinced that this is the only sophisticated cutting edge entertainment people want to see.

Was hoping Celebrity might finally produce some very novel main shows with Edge. I fear they are going to once again recycle Cirque-type entertainment based upon the reveal, but I guess we can hope it may turn out better.

I did see John post the IMAX movies on the Vista for early August. They were Mission Impossible, Antman and Mama Mia. So it appears 3 rotate along with the standard imax documentaries.

You can just check the IMAX website to see what new releases are around your actual sailing date. Not many are released in IMAX. They seem to get releases very quickly on the boat. The MEG, Alpha and the Nun were the only August/early September releases when I checked recently.

Thanks to Lloyd and Vtcruising for the photos!

Love the look of the ship until this last shot at sea. The color outline of the MC and the white hull at its bottom just disrupts the whole flow of the ship imo.

We sailed on the Seaside in May and we felt it was the most casual across all the cruise lines we have been on.

Very few suits and dresses on elegant nights walking around the ship. Tons of shorts on other nights.

Can’t comment on MDR enforcement. We were in the Yacht Club and were shocked at some outfits on some nights including elegant nights. Saw one guy with a cutoff tee on elegant night and gym shorts on other nights. No concern to Maitre’d.

Thanks in advance, have to wait 3 weeks for our Havana cabin so look forward to your review.

Haven’t had time to call Celebrity so sent a quick email with of course no response about the price increase.

We just booked recently, so didn’t get around to booking at the old price. Could pay the extra,but choose not to. Already paying a substantial premium for this ship so these little changes will factor into whether that final payment gets paid.

I am sure there will be other price hikes, changes before the ship sails since every new ship on other lines has done the same.

In the end it won’t matter to Celebrity since they will sell our room in an instant since business is so good

Looks like they raised the prices of the dining packages at least for our voyage. The 3 night still shows from $109 on the first screen, but it ends up being $137 in your cart. Not much of a discount at this price. The 4 night is now $165.

Have sailed in the Haven multiple times, but I agree I wouldn’t want to pay the going rates now for the product.

We did just sail the MSC Seaside in May in the Yacht Club. We felt the cabin/yacht club spaces were far superior than ncl havens we have been in. Otherwise we felt the food/entertainment were tailored to the international rather than US tastes and we wouldn’t sail with them again until this changes.

They did have a different show each night, but they were basically the same show. A cirque knock off, singers up/down stairs then acrobats, repeat cycle again. Theater about same size as Breakaway class. 3 shows each night so technically a few thousand each night would miss the show if everyone wanted to go since there are over 5000 passengers with a 900 seat theater. They did get rid of the opera show after a few months that anyone in the US market could have told them doesn’t appeal to the masses.

They don’t have any secondary venues large enough for a comedy club so they would do them very late in the show lounge.

We were in the Yacht Club in May and they were frequently trying to fix the door at top sail pool from Aurea to YC. Staff said it was constantly breaking and not locking correctly.

Glad you had a great trip. Hope to experience it once it heads to NYC.

Just curious with the Haven sundeck. I know you said it was empty, but we they offering cabanas for a fee? Pictures make it look like one side of the sundeck have more elaborate cabanas than seen on the other ships due to the expanded space. Just assume they would charge extra for them.

Thanks!

I asked them on twitter and was told their last show is 7/14. Original cast is being replaced after that. Ncl has been holding auditions.

 

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Disappointing, but very much appreciate the information!

Does anyone know their last week on the ship?

I saw it mentioned somewhere they were off mid July. We are thinking of jumping on the July 15 trip and it would be a big selling point compared to the competing Lines if they were still onboard.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews!

They are charging for menu items in the Haven now?! Holy cow .... that's pretty ballsy.

Fully agree with the prices they are charging these days, but business is so good they will keep pushing the boundaries.

Next they will put the lobster tails that were included on the menu as a surcharge item. Last I had seen, they were supposed to add them back to the menu, but don’t see that happening now that they are adding surcharge items.

Thanks for the review. Hope to get back on the Escape this year.

When the quality of food dropped in the dinning room our interest for dressing for dinner dropped too.

 

 

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Perfectly stated!

The second night is also dubbed Norwegian night out where they invite people to dress up if they want and have more photographers around the ship. No obligation, but more people do dress up that night.

Omarchs,

Are you going to do a review.?

 

I'd be interested in your feedback of the YC.

Yes, I hope to do a review in the next few days.

We were on the same sailing and I agree with Jennie. We had an amazing cruise and the YC crew is just fabulous. We also spent some time in other areas of the ship and found it to be well-run and lively. Enjoy your cruise!!

This just illustrates the problem with MSC. We were also on the May 5th voyage in the YC and we didn’t have a superb cruise and we spoke to many different passengers who weren’t happy campers also.

Dining room service is widely inconsistent. The menu appeals to some but not others. The pool grill lunch menu is too fancy for some, not at all for others. Some people like the New Age music all day around the pool, others hate it. Piano,violin music at night, same story. Give them credit for 7 shows, but they were all cirque variants with a song, acrobat, repeat.

Americans still continue to be a small percentage of the passengers and despite MSC claiming they know the American tastes, they don’t hit this mark for many which is why you are seeing the conflicting reviews.

We felt the product was still geared towards an international market and our personal preference is to go back to the other lines out of the US that provide a different product. Just our opinion and happy that others have enjoyed the product. Some lines end up fitting your likes/dislikes better than others and you will need to go with an open mind and judge by yourselves.

Sailing on a beautiful and elegant ship it shouldn't be too much to ask that people make an effort when eating in the restaurants. Unfortunately there is a disregard of the dress code and people are following others in their casual approach, people are therefore conside ring it acep table to go to dinner in shors, beach wear etc. Sadly MSC are not enforcing it consistently. It's only an issue on the ships sailing from Miami so you do have to wonder if they are trying to pander to the NCL/Carnival customers they've attracted and obviously want to keep to build their market share in the Caribbean.

If they were attempting to pander, it isn’t working. Vast majority of passengers on our sailing last week were not Americans. There was general disregard from all passengers on the dress code.

Just off the Seaside yesterday. We were in the yacht club, but I wouldn’t think the enforcement or lack of would be different in the main dining rooms.

We commented this was the most casual ship/line we had ever been on. Tees/shorts were in large supply on casual nights. Most guys made an attempt on the elegant nights with long sleeve shirts/pants,but still saw some shorts/tees. Very few jackets/fancy dresses. Saw the same at the shows/around the ship. We didn’t need any of the dressier clothes we brought. I wouldn’t stress about the posted dress codes.

The plexiglass you’re seeing is the half-height wall barrier around the open atrium (green area). Smoking is in the red area.

 

 

Fully enclosed red area...

 

Thanks! Can’t imagine that the smoking crowd will be happy squeezed into just that small section.

Wonder how quickly the walls will come down and smoking will be allowed in the whole casino when Casino profits are low compared to the other ships.

 

Wow...

 

Thanks for the photos! It doesn't appear that the plexiglass on the casino floor in the 2nd photo goes floor to ceiling so maybe the casino isn't as walled in as some of us had hoped and there will still be smoke going up this mini atrium.

i remember seeing a few postings/pictures of the mini bar contents on the Seaside.

I believe I have seen gin, vodka and whiskey (looked like scotch).

Anyone have experience asking for other liquor selections? Don’t want to seem greedy, but would love to see Rum or tequila in there on a Caribbean cruise.

Thanks for all the info! Assuming that the smoking area could restrict the available shade options if you want avoid the smoke. I thought I saw somewhere that the starboard pool deck side allowed smoking.

Do they allow smoking at the dining tables on the starboard side?

How far was the streetcar stop to getting into jazz fest? Glad you said something about the shuttle. Celebrity told me they run continuously the whole day

 

Thanks. Rita

Hopefully Celebrity listened to feedback and is providing more shuttles.

Last year Celebrity didn’t run their transfer directly to the fairgrounds.

All the Celebrity-only shuttle did last year was take you from the pier down to the Natchez dock where the festival buses were. You boarded a separate jazz fest bus run by a bus company and this was also included in your excursion price.

You can also easily take the streetcar down to Natchez and buy your bus company trip separately without the ship excursion.

The bus company shuttle piece does run all day between Natchez and the fairgrounds. The mini Celebrity add on shuttle piece didn’t run all day. You needed to either walk or take the streetcar back from Natchez or the Sheraton if you didn’t mesh with Celebrity’s shuttle. As as mentioned the Jazzy passes are cheap and fill the void for any transportation gaps you may have although you can’t use the streetcars to get out to the festival.

One of the major complaints was that celebrity didn’t do any special entertainment linked to the jazz fest. It was just like any Normal cruise that just happened to be in New Orleans.

You could come/go 24 hours a day while docked. There were plenty of shows in town at various venues at night so those are your nightly options unless Celebrity listens to feedback and brings on some special entertainment.

We did try the ship shuttle one day, but if I remember correctly it was limited in timing. It may have had a few departures in the morning, but there was only one at the end of the day. The Celebrity piece just took you from the pier to where General boarding was for the buses. You could easily take the streetcar to the same place and buy a festival tix separately. Celebrity just ran one shuttle from the bus arrival spot at the end of the day. We always came back a little early and just took the streetcar back to the pier.