goofysmom99

Yes, that's exactly right, Cruise till you drop. Some people are extremely repetitive while actually adding no personal experience and/or actual description to a discussion. But that's where the "ignore" button can be your friend (and mine).

I've actually been reading the X reviews every week since about March of this year. Even though I dined in Luminae, I was underwhelmed by several things on my Feb/Mar cruises, so wanted to see what others were saying. Ratings have trended steadily down, especially since August. I may write my first official review after my upcoming cruise in a few weeks. If it's better than expected, and my expectation are pretty low at this point, I'll happily give credit where credit is due. If, God forbid, it's worse, I might have to rejoin FB (quit 10 yrs ago) and post there, too.

I take at least one Transatlantic cruise every year, sometimes several more (my record was 5 in 13 months). I'm booked on Silhouette next November in C2, planning to dine in specialties each night to avoid the MDR but have been toying with upgrading to an accessible suite instead (can't do bathtubs). Last night in the wee hours, checked Oceania's TA offerings and lo and behold, a single penthouse suite showed as available for 2024 on Vista (new in 2023). Chewed on it all morning, comparing it to suites on X and other lines. That turned out to be more difficult than I expected because suites are pretty much booked up everywhere next year except on Celebrity; only Beyond TA is booked up. All other X ships have beaucoup suites available (Apex is wide open). I don't know if that's telling or not, but X certainly has a lot of inventory to fill. Then I studied the Vista PH video on youtube. Wow. And their sundeck definitely competes with E-class. The Vista PH suite is same price as an accessible sky suite on Silhouette, less than Apex! And it comes with a butler, among other things (definitely better cabin and room service 🤗). So called my agent a few minutes ago and booked the only remaining PH on the 2024 Vista TA. Deposit was only $250 (solo); BTW, Silhouette C2 deposit was $450 for which I plan to take the $100 change fee hit and move the balance to something in Feb 2025, preferably short. From a vantage point of experience, X seems to be trying to win a race to the bottom. Rather than the incessant slashing of their product and reputation, especially in suites and MDR, X really needs to step up their game if they're going to compete. I honestly think their current management is inept.

That explains a lot.

I've actually tried to eat the sirloin (or whatever anyone wishes to name it) I ordered medium rare, but it was too tough to cut/chew so waiter took it back. Reordered it rare to give it a fighting chance of being cut. Nope. BTW, the MDR just cannot do any degree of rare; whatever doneness I order comes out medium. Chicken is equally tough, dry, and stringy. That leaves the farm-raised salmon, since spaghetti, rigatoni, couscous cake, gnocchi, and pasta pomodoro are not gluten-free alternatives (three of those pastas are on tonight's menu - yum). I was diagnosed with celiac 16 years ago in and have had zero difficulty with X menus that entire time. No longer. Pasta is cheap, and so are the now-standard protein selections. Three pasta entrees for dinner is just not acceptable. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with the pitiful new menus for 16 nights next month, and for the first time ever, I'm dreading a cruise.

There is usually a QR code printed in the daily which you can scan to make comments, good or bad; I use it a lot for attaboys. Because it's being done electronically, the remarks will be seen in Miami as well as on board.

BTW, I listened to the entire interview and felt it was worth my time. It doesn't bode well for a consumer. I almost spit my coffee when he glossed over how Celebrity was known for it's good food. I thought the interviewer was good at trying to get him to define what makes Celebrity special in order to sell it. I didn't think he actually provided an answer. My TA is disembarking Equinox after 20 days tomorrow. I'll be interested to hear her first-hand opinion, as a TA, about how special X is.

The title of that interview is: Celebrity boss: ''There's an unhealthy obsession with cheap rather than quality' It's aimed at travel agents. My reply: Celebrity passenger: "There's an unhealthy obsession with cheap rather than quality." It's aimed at him.

Someone posted that the Murano menu would be tweaked (it is getting tired). I know Dover sole is expensive but it's also my favorite meal in Murano. I'm waiting for another X shoe to drop on that one; I'm really hoping it remains. No matter what they cut/change, corporate spin will be it's "improved." I'm sure X isn't done with whatever food cuts they think they can get away with so I keep a watchful eye for posts about all the food venues.

Could you please post photos of the actual paper menus? I'm anxious to see how many and what items are designated gluten free. Thanks in advance.

My only expectation was to be able to finally book Aqua class, cruise-only, for a reasonable amount more than Concierge (escape MDR menus). On the one and only cruise I actually would like to do this, the daily upcharge from C2 to A2 is $256/day. That's serious profit structure. And like so many others, I'm looking and booking elsewhere....and it breaks my heart.

I checked one of my booked cruises (C2) for which I'm paying $2292 cruise only solo. An A2 solo is a whopping $5610 cruise only. So dining in Blu sans AI is a $3318 upcharge. 😮 Holy cow that's ambitious! Definitely sticking with specialty restaurants for 13 nights for ~$500 pp. $3.3K to dine in Blu, just wow. BTW, on two other cruises, daily upcharge for AQ cabin was around/less than $100/day solo. Specialties are cheaper than that so no changes here.

You could book something lesser than a sky suite and dine in specialty restaurants the entire cruise. Luminae certainly isn't worth the $6500 difference between a my $2100 (solo) concierge cabin (great location) and $8600 sky suite on one of my S-class cruises next year. Thirteen nights in a specialty sets me me back just under $500 including tip; so about $1k for a couple. I mean, you really have to like Luminae for that amount of money.

After listening to IV portion of the script, I think IV cabins are the main reason the MDR menu selection and quality on E-class ships are better (not great but better). S/M-class and E-class options are not the same. Seriously, if they tried foist the S/M-class menus onto E-class, the IV would an even tougher sell. Could be why food was avoided altogether. You want a bit better MDR food? Sail in an IV. Or accept the current (dreadful) MDR menus and quality in order to have a real balcony. Tough choice. I suppose there's always Plan C, book elsewhere. I'm still trying to like X, though. Big sigh.

Subscribe to the Captain's Club Power Up Points thread = it's our very own Paul Revere source if/when anything newsworthy (and not so newsworthy) occurs. 😉

I emailed my TA today, a Zenith who is currently on 2nd leg of Equinox B3B, "what do you think of the menus and the food?" Her reply: "Terrible. The buffet isn't good either. I just filled out the survey from last cruise and it wasn't good." I'll be speaking with her about a booking after she gets home in 10 days. BTW, she always books a regular veranda cabin so she'll have endured 3 weeks of the new MDR "cuisine." I'm sure she'll have a lot to tell.

My first cruise was in 1993 on Zenith. I'd been a Food Service Officer in the Air Force many years earlier and was absolutely amazed at how they could mass-produce such outstanding cuisine. Expressed my admiration to the F&B Mgr who then took me on a very detailed tour of the kitchen(s) and the food stores. Still remember that awesome cuisine. Murano now isn't quite as good as the MDR was back then.

I'm glad I listened to this one. Much better than some of the earlier ones. I'm waiting for Part 2 = a focus group of "most loyal" customers that addresses the appalling downgrade in MDR food. Deflecting that issue as subjective doesn't cut it for a menu that frequently has two entrees/night based on pasta (OVC "cuisine" in MDR). Yup, definitely waiting for the food installment.

I have but I don't think anyone cares. I look at this reinstatement of lounge access as an attempt by X to get something, anything out onto social media that has a positive spin. They've done a remarkable job generating negative publicity, even compared to other lines' cut backs. Cutting the MDR food so severely on a line whose hallmark was its food reputation is dumb, dumber, dumbest. So isn't it just swell zeniths get lounge access (and it doesn't cost X a dime).

Nope. It's going to take better food, especially in MDR.

As I think about this, the only increase would be from the additional zeniths who aren't already traveling in suites. On my last TA, there were only four that I know of.

While I appreciate its reinstatement, I've never been one to hang out at MC/Retreat when booked in a suite and that won't be changing. Always have other favorite bars on the different ships. But I can safely say the furniture in the Summit's Retreat is horrid (not one chair with arms except the concierges'); even though it's old, MC furniture is much more comfortable. Also, there's no need to go to just the Retreat for beverage supply for your suite; you can get water/sodas from any bar. My next cruise is on M-class where I have an aft cabin, waaay aft MC is way forward = definitely not gonna happen.

Just google "how do I create a bookmark for my iphone," then follow the steps..

See post #653.

Celebrity may not be paying attention to these boards, but Virgin certainly is. Good marketing.