Islander500

Actually, on our last X cruise in early January, the bread basket served before dinner in Blu was exactly the same each of the 10 nights. They did mention some unrecognizable flavorings on the breadsticks and very thin cracker-like bread (can't remember what it was called right now) but the other 2 offerings were the same & quite uninteresting each night. Gone are the days when you looked forward to different and yummy bread choices each evening. Mind you, I love bread, but these were wasted calories with the corn, peas, beets and other similar "dips" the consistency & likely taste of bottled baby food. 🥴

Maybe others have said this and I’ve missed it. I only eat at OVC for dinner when we are late returning from an excursion or on long cruises when we want a more casual, quick dinner some nights. It seems that X could reduce waste by closing stations, reassigning staff to MDR, and still provide much better options than shown in the OPs video for those who do eat dinner at OVC. Add a station to fresh grill chicken, fish (not tilapia), steaks & fresh veggies to order, rather than large trays of pre-cooked food. Nothing like a nice Ceasar salad with fresh grilled protein on top. To me it’s not about having 100’s of different choices at the OVC to serve just a few people, mostly going to waste, it’s about the quality of the choices. That video displaying the dinner options available should be embarrassing to X. I don’t blame cruisers who frequent the OVC for dinner for being upset.

I love visiting the old churches in town with lots of historical information. https://www.trubahamianfoodtours.com/bahamas-special-events-and-festivals/nassau-churches/ And the octagonal public library built as a prison in 1797; a short walk from the ship.

The choices were utterly ridiculous. Never heard of any of them.

That’s a very interesting premise. We went once to the Martini bar on Equinox last week, ordered from the waiter, and received the smallest glass, with the smallest olives I’d ever seen. The olives were inedible. We’d ordered Grey Goose with our premium package but I’m certain that’s not what we got. It was closer to 8pm than 7pm but your explanation makes sense. First time I didn’t finish a martini. EVER. Skipped that bar for rest of cruise unlike cruise on Edge last spring with wonderful martinis every night.

Well, this one was on me. My DH had booked flights by celebrity and they weren’t showing on the Celebrity website, just included in the final amount due. We received an updated booking invoice when we called that did include the reserved flights. Boy, that website could use improvement. 🥴 Thanks all!

Same thing happened to us. We were told it takes a few days for the included gratuities to be reversed out of the charge. The following week, it had been. We called and asked for an updated booking invoice statement with clarification that gratuities were included and received it.

I booked a cruise last July for Sept, 2023 and received my confirmation and balance due via email at that time. Tonight, I had just completed some port research and wanted to look at excursions available through Celebrity to make some bookings with my OBC. When I go to the Celebrity website to access my reservation, the amount owed showing today is $2,000+ more than on my invoice. I tried to call Celebrity but the wait time was 108 minutes. Curious if others are noting a similar problem. Are they having a massive computer fail causing this?

I was told it didn’t apply on my cruise because I was getting a FLorida resident rate. It’s one BS story after another.

Also, check the Roll Call section for your cruise. I’m traveling on the Sept 21 Summit cruise and expect others will post excursions where they need a few more people to sign up to complete the private tour. I often find other than ship tours that way.

Buy liquor, perfume or face creams/make-up in the shops.

I did it last week. Was immediately credited with the OBC I had used to book it pre-cruise.

Yes, on Equinox this week. But I found that Edge class ships don’t have much in the way of shopping opportunities. The only shop I saw there was small & expensive.

I have found that the drink menus on board right now (on Equinox, at least) have not been updated with new higher prices so may be worthwhile to wait until you’re on board to evaluate whether it’s worthwhile to upgrade to premium if drinks are still old prices on-board.

It seems that the more they reduce (resulting in no one going there), the better justification for eliminating that option completely.

We have sailed on both Reflection & Equinox in the last 5 years. Would pick either of them with no concerns. We are currently sailing on Equinox and I will say it’s noticeably the best hotel run operation I have ever experienced on any Celebrity ship. And I’ve sailed on most of them. Extraordinary service all around. Best staff in Blu, best staff in Oceanview, best cabin steward, great bartenders. Notably, I see that the Hotel Director Andrea Muegge is everywhere. She’s always looking around with a smile on her face, giving feedback to staff, interacting with guests, observing operations throughout the ship, available when you go ashore, at the theatre entrance when you go to the show. Early on, I happened to be looking around the ship and saw her training staff in some meeting rooms which I happened to pass. Last night, Pete the Cruise Director mentioned (in passing as part of his act) her constant focus on management training & customer service. Well, it’s working. Great job, Andrea!

Basic wifi is pretty awful though. It’s not just about posting, which is not a priority. You can’t download newspapers or most anything else if you want to look up something about the places you’re visiting. I miss that. We upgraded for the final 2 sea days with our Captains Club discount (35%) but had OBC to spend & a Zoom meeting scheduled. The premium is significantly better, but honestly, they should be ashamed to charge as much as they do for the Basic Wifi.

I have made reservations for other Captains Club members on-board (they were not onboard) & they received the same benefits as though they had been on-board. They do charge your credit card but you can then get reimbursed directly by your friends.

We did not. The smaller sail is up but they are mostly motoring. It was fine both sitting up front or under the roofed area. No one got sick. Lunch was plentiful and actually quite tasty. They served salad, rice and peas, mac & cheese, fish and and a very tasty jerk chicken. Non-alcoholic drinks included juices, sodas and water. After the snorkel/swim stops, they served a tasty rum punch on the return trip. We were on the Carnaval (local company) blue catamaran & were in the 2nd group. It was not the first cat (different company name) which was larger & seemed crowded from what I saw. Maybe someone who went on that cat will also write a review? Hope you enjoy. It was a great excursion!

We did this Celebrity tour today and absolutely loved it. The first boat seemed to be bigger and definitely had more people (and seemed more crowded) so we were lucky to get there at the stated meeting time (instead of early) and ended up assigned to the 2nd, smaller boat. Our catamaran was from Carnival Charters. There were around 48 of us on it but it was quite spacious and wasn’t crowded at all. You had an opportunity to change locations to sit in different spots after the stops, whether on the front deck, on the trampolines, in seats under roof or in the back facing the rear. The crew was friendly and Noella, our guide, was terrific. Although snorkeling equipment is available for rent (note that it’s not included) the few people who snorkeled seemed to bring their own masks. I would not say this was a snorkeling-oriented trip. It was more of a costal cruise with stops to hike or swim. We booked in advance so got a great discount. It’s actually one of the best, if not the best, ship excursion we’ve ever done. We usually book mostly private excursions but this one is a great way to use your OBC. Thanks for your review, @njsweetie

We are on Equinox right now. I used to love the fresh made stir fry at Oceanview at lunchtime. Both times I’ve been there at lunch, only prepared foods are available. Next time, I will ask but the ingredients are not set out. 🤷🏻‍♀️ In Blu, we have been told by multiple wait staff that they will get whatever we want from MDR menu (without being asked). Forgot to mention, charge for room service is showing on X app on board as follows. “Room service is available to guests 24 hours a day, with the exception of the first day when room service is available at 5 pm, and the final evening at 1 am. All orders placed between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am have a service charge of $ 4.95 per delivery.” On issue of more expensive premium vs classic drink packages. the drink menus (and prices) on-board do not appear to have been changed for awhile. So not sure whether upgraded and significantly more expensive drink packages make sense while drink prices on-board have not been increased commensurately. 🙄

Just did the Pile et Face Tour today. You will not ever spend a day touring on any Caribbean island with a tour company owner & guide (also a teacher educated in France) who will better inform & educate you with insight & understanding of her island’s culture & history. Cristelle is a gem! We will be back and will book any available tour with her. Her van was comfortable, and the snacks/drinks at each stop were the perfect accompaniment to learning about Martinique’s food without having to stop for a full meal allowing more time to tour. Fabulous day!

What a funny, not funny story! Good for you! I always cringe when i hear people being so rude to the staff. And scratching my head as to what "demands" that guy was making.

That’s great to know. We plan to be there in January and had decided to go in spite of what we’d read on some of the websites offering tours (that the chairs were gone). Maybe it was old info from covid times? Thanks!

Thanks for your review @Spif Barwunkel "With the exception of Martinique (private excursion) all bookings were ship's tours, and all were very satisfactory." Would you tell us more about the ship tours you did? We have OBC and trying to pick one of the ship tours to do. 👩‍🦰