goofysmom99

I don't think it's back-pedaling Zeniths at all and will be attending the HHs, for sure. I do hope they're held in the Sky Lounges (S-class or M-class) again. They were perfectly timed for sunsets on my annual westbound TAs (sort of Teahouse of the August Moon thing).

When the lounge was the only place for the Elite HH drinks (pre tickets), cards were checked to be sure someone was Elite or above. The only cruises I've ever traveled with someone without status were back in 2009, 2011, and 2014. My guests were allowed to accompany me to everything I was invited to = HH, Elite breakfast, ship tour, helipad, etc. Their cards were only checked the first visit to each location, too (I was impressed they remembered).

The few times I had a roommate, I was always able to have her accompany me to the happy hour. Just let the captains club concierge know (or whatever they're called) who checks everyone's card at the door. Once past the door, no one checks cards for the happy hours beverage orders, unless you order something not on the HH drink menu.

Usually 30-50 nights/yr (70 was max) and in the past, always on X. Have 40 nights booked for 2024, about half on X. For 2025, 27 nights booked so far, none with X.

Yes, you can see them, they can see you. And the lighting from the elevators was annoying at night.

Since your cabin has been assigned and there are others still vacant, go ahead and call to request a switch to another. It works best if you tell them which cabin you'd prefer and be quick because move-ups are opening soon. I won't cruise in either 8121/5 again (balcony isn't very private).

OP, thank you for your very detailed review, especially the food pix! Viking isn't on my current radar but Oceania is, having recently booked Vista for next year. I'm definitely looking forward to better food than on Celebrity these days. And bookmarking your review for future reference. Thanks again.

Not a shoe repair, but I ripped out a hem while getting ready for dinner. My butler had it repaired and back to me within the hour.

I've been following the daily MDR menu's on current Connie cruises for several weeks. Wow, they certainly haven't gotten to the part about better menus yet. Tonight's (Thursday) entree offerings are: Sauteed Tilapia Filet; Oven-Roasted Turkey; Butternut Farrotto (farrotto is a type of wheat); Gnocchi; Pasta Pomodoro; Grilled Chicken Breast; and Grilled NY Sirloin. Other than the regular chicken and sirloin (no salmon tonight), the only actual gluten-free menu option is tilapia?? Boy, do I ever hope the Connie gets all their swell tilapia, wheat, and pasta, pasta, pasta (thinking hamburger, hamburger, hamburger) reserves used up by November. Mmmm.... Earlier, someone suggested that perhaps X is trying to drive people to OVC for dinner. Significantly lower prep and staffing expense = another hidden service cut. I think there is probably some truth to that.

I vividly remember being served this same meat chunk in Luminae on Summit. My waiter immediately noticed I didn't like it, removed it, and brought something else, although have no recollection of what that was.

I'm hopeful for dining improvements and soon but don't have much trust left in X. The cynic in me suspects future bookings targets could be off and/or cancelations are up from the "old guard" of regulars. Management obviously recognizes they've gone a step too far and is acknowledging the negative feedback both to them (surveys) and about them (social media). As in, "Uh oh, we need to back up and return a few things (but as few as possible) that our pax have taken for granted for years; that should make them feel good about us again." Sending the A-Team to the Equinox is good PR, right up there with tossing a bone (Retreat access) to Zeniths, but is still just PR, costing X nothing. I personally couldn't care less about Retreat access but do care about food quality and selection for ALL venues. If you haven't seen the painfully anemic regular room service menu, take a look. No more concierge class breakfast options; no egg choices, just scrambled from that awful frozen liquid egg stuff. The rest of the regular RS menu has been gutted, too. However, since RS costs $12 now, its decline has largely gone unnoticed. We'll see how things go on my upcoming 16-night cruise. At best, I'm cautiously hopeful for MDR but not so gullible I don't already have a Plan B = 8 specialty dinners. Also bringing along a pen to write-in RS requests (remember when there were pens in a regular cabin?) as well as notes to F&B Mgr or HD if/when necessary. X's slash and burn management this year has caused me to seriously doubt their sincerity. Reminds me of the old military adage about the chain of command, "they only time they're not lying is when they're lips aren't moving." I'll believe it when dinner is served.

I do hope X is listening and backpedalling. I still have one cruise on X remaining this year and four in 2024. Two are set in stone (Feb/Mar, Luminae), one is a distinct maybe (Spring TA, specialties & OVC), and one is now officially a no-go (Fall TA). The last one has a sizeable deposit that I'm reluctant to lose but equally reluctant to move to something in 2025. To move it to 2025, things need to radically improve with the MDR food quality/choices. I've already booked a Fall 2024 TA on Oceania Vista (new in 2023) to try new and different (to me) dining options. BTW, a PH w/butler on the Vista is ~$1K cheaper and three nights longer than a SS on Apex TA. The best suite upgrades over SS on X for me are the true dining table and chairs in the suite and also on the balcony, plus the large bathroom, great shower, and NO bathtub! I've also booked Regent for Fall 2025; pretty good earlybird discount. If I really love next year's Vista experience, I can cancel Regent. Both Regent & Oceania have refundable deposits (less $100/$150 admin fee). X's deposit penalty really irks me; I don't want a FCC. If I had one wish for X, other than improving their food, it would be to design sky suites on future builds 50-50 showers/bathtubs so I'd have no need for an accessible cabin and could choose a location. As it stands now, I don't care for the locations of X's accessible sky suites on any class ship.

I'm also following the current daily MDR menu on Constellation and so far, no changes. I am encouraged by the positive reports about OVC offerings so even if the changes don't arrive by my sailing in three weeks, I'll survive splitting my evening meals between Tuscan and OVC.

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.