JLS07

I doubt you will have a problem other than Eden. and in fact I have always seen the servers working the buffet line the first day or two trying to get bookings and giving discounts. Those discounts could be more than the discount for 3 nights dinning. If I recall - and this is last I checked probably in 2019 - they were offering $10-$20 off per person depending on which night and which restaurant at the start of the cruise. I don't know what happens on RC but on Celebrity the servers of the speciality restaurants walk around at the buffet trying to find customers and offering deals to dine at their restaurant. The discount you currently have with the 3 night deal ($10 off at Le Petit and $15 off at Fine Cut) is probably pretty similar to what you can get onboard.

It really is personal preference. If you are not a fan of seafood then probably Fine Cuts. I liked Eden more, but the crab cakes and lobster casserole were amazing, but probably won't move you to like it more.

One thing I would add: The four MDR differ in ambiance only. You can order any item from any MDR. Get the Normandie Tenderloin in Tuscan for example. One you aren't putting on your list is Sushi on 5. I think this is the second best restaurant (after Eden) on Apex (if you like sushi). We love to hit this for lunch on port days when we come back to the ship early.

I would book Eden directly as it will fill up. I might even just do 2 nights at Eden instead of the 3 night package (since you can't use the package for Eden due to lack of reservations on the ship).

My personal preference: Take any slanted over non-slated. Take mid ship slated over aft or bow (less rocking) Take rear facing over forward facing (less wind) Take non-connected over connected (the line in the deck plan shows connection) So on deck 11 my personal order would be: 1245/1120/1243/1122 >>>> 1229/1231/1106/1108 >>> 1247/1249/1124/1126 >> 1075/1077/1044/1046 >>> 1401/1194 >>>>>>>> every other non-slated balcony

As would I if I meet these people on a ship. Sadly this is not how the drunk guys who were bragging about getting free cruises because of their gambling looked - at all. I define the target market as the one getting free cruises not really the models they hire for photo shoots.

As the original poster for this thread, this was not the intention of the thread. I don't care that they charge for another lobster tail (in all my cruises I might have had two one time), nor do I care that prime rib was taken from the menu (it actually was on the last night's menu a couple weeks back). What I do care is two things: 1) there are some cuts that decrease the elegance to me such as removing the cloth towels in the bathroom, and not having larger Evian level water bottles available (hate the metal bottles, and the smaller Panna ones are just too small), not having better cuts of meat available in the MDR (NY Strip). These are minor issues but a direction I don't like. 2) the clear decision to target a kind of crowd that isn't as refined when compared to Celebrity pre-pandemic. Someone pointed out that the Edge class targets these individuals and I think they are correct. The kind of behavior I have witnessed in the last two cruises is simply lower class than before. Fall down drunks, cursing, inappropriate clothing, etc. We never saw this kind of behavior before and I do think that Celebrity is specifically targeting a different kind of traveler with the Edge class ships than they had before. And from a demographics, continuing the business model, it makes sense. The previous target market is significantly older, probably travels less and likely spends less (less excursions, less drinking, etc). While we were not in the age group of that demographic, the kind of cruise that they were interested in fit into our desires too. Celebrity was great for families that wanted a higher elegance, some activities for kids (kids club) without 1,000 screaming kids onboard, some night life options without the focus being get fall down drunk, all the while not breaking the budget cruise. I am not sure that this is what they will be moving forward. I am also not sure that a cruise like that exists at all anymore though.

Well, the example you listed is about that a typical sea day is for me and the non-alcoholic package plus paying per drink is cheaper. You are about 14 drinks behind on a 7 day cruise from break even.

Where is the lie in his statement? it is about $25 a day for non-alcoholic drinks and $100+ for alcohol. So you have to have 5 drinks a day to cover the difference in pricing. That is a lot.

I feel this 100% I am torn between: E-Class: Absolute perfect art around the ship - just breathtaking Better food choices in MDR and specialty dinning (Eden and Le Voyage >> Murano and Tuscan) S-Class: Balcony More outward facing areas (Sky Lounge) That center area with views all the way up through the sky light Lawn area on the top (nothing better than sitting with a drink and feet in grass on a sea day) If they could fix the food issues I would probably only do S class going forward. In the last 2 E class cruises, other than lobster, I have ordered 1 thing from the MDR signature menu verse the exclusives in the various MDR.

We had something similar happen on a cruise (without the butt flying back in). Security came to our room and went onto the balcony with me and had me point to about where it was. They started marking the cabins they thought it could be from. We watched from the balcony as they went from one balcony to another checking. After 2 or 3 they found the person (we could hear them talking) by seeing leftover butts, etc. Never smelled smoke again. Guest services is nice and polite and tries to please everyone. Security makes people follow the rules and doesn't care one bit about their enjoyment or happiness. In short - call security with issues, not guest services.

AC for Blu is worth it SV is worth it if you spend a lot of time in your room on the balcony. (only real benefit of that room).

Let me be clear - we enjoyed our cruise overall. The E Class ships are absolute works of art. Beautiful from front to back. Still prefer a real balcony, but the IV has grown on me. Love the different feel of the various dinning rooms. On previous cruises I simply wouldn't see the kinds of crowds that I have seen on Celebrity in 2022/2023. I never saw someone so drunk they were falling down (happened right outside of Cyprus near the plates on the wall), I never saw men walking through level 4, 5, 6 without shirts, never saw women wearing shorts so short that their butts hung out the back, never had a couple with a child come onto the elevator slurring about forgetting their martini and how he had to go back to get them and bring them to the room. Because of cruising with kids, we have generally always cruised the main holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas break and Spring break). So while I agree that these weeks will gather a different crowd than most weeks and longer cruises, this change is specific to this time or this style of ship not the timing of the cruise - that has been constant. The idea that it is the E class is interesting and one I hadn't considered. I can definitely see that being a factor, which is sad because I do like this class more than the M and S. As I said I have two cruises this summer in Europe already booked, so that will give a good base to compare with.

Maybe this is just the new normal for cruising. https://cruiseradio.net/cruise-magician-attack-bad-behavior-cruise/

I disagree for a couple reasons: 1) bluntly most of the people that stood out would be those that hate the “woke” crowd. Case in point the man wearing the shirt that said “F Joe and Hunter” on it. I mean I don’t like them but I also don’t like that shirt. Celebrity shouldn’t have allowed a shirt like that to be worn around the ship (the F part not the Biden part). 2) celebrity can easily do 3 things and change the crowd quickly. 1) increase prices by 20-25% and bring back quality food in the MDR and buffet. 2) limit smoking to one location. Most of the time I can’t even go to the sunset bar due to the smell. 3) enforce clothing requirements. Case in point. There was a gentleman in front of us at a MDR that had pressed golf shorts and a nice polo tucked in with a belt. Very presentable for non-chic night. He was turned away for his clothing. Fine - shorts aren’t welcome. However, a mid aged woman walked out at the same time with daisy ducks barely covering her butt and a spaghetti top that let you see a lot more than you should. My wife walked to the hostess and said “How is that okay? Her attire bothers me a lot more.” The reply “We only have a dress code for men. Women can wear what they want.” If you do those three things then the quality of the customers change quickly.

I have written and rewritten this post several times. I know this is likely going to upset some people, and I am sorry for that. Just for some perspective, I am mid to late 40’s, been sailing Celebrity for 12ish years, have a 16- and 10-year-old that have been on every cruise they could have gone on (10 or so for my daughter and 8 for my son). I have only ever sailed Celebrity (other than one Carnival to Havana). As the title says, I think Celebrity is at a crossroads for which direction they should go. We have always loved the elegance and higher class on Celebrity, but the last two cruises (both Apex and post covid) have seen a significant decrease across the board. To me, celebrity is currently trying too hard to fit into too many categories, be it the older crowd that doesn’t want kids around (you should see the nasty comments on our spring break cruise’s Facebook page), the family crowd, or the party crowd (never seen as many drunks on all my celebrity trips combined as I have the last two). We have simply encountered a quality of people that we had never seen before on celebrity. We encountered: Multiple people passed out on St. Patrick’s Day by the pool (yes passed out - we were watching them start taking shots at breakfast), Eating as much fried this or that as physically possible all while barely able to stand, people who absolutely reeked of cigarettes everywhere, nasty rude people who snapped back at anyone around them (one lady snapped at me when I offer her a seat on a particularly rough sea day). We have two more cruises already booked and paid for over the summer. I will use those as one more chance to determine if Celebrity is still what we want to continue travel on. If you have considered moving from Celebrity due to the drop in quality, which lines did you consider as a replacement?

Are there only 3 signature items each night? thank you

I haven’t been on celebrity in almost a year. I went on the app to see the menus and noticed that the celebrity signature dishes are limited to three choices? Is this correct?