WonderMan3

You never realize how important having good food on a cruise is until you sail with a line where it isn’t good. (MSC and NCL I’m looking at you..) You can have a beautiful ship with solid staff but if the food isn’t good it will leave with you with a negative feeling. Now I come at this from sailing in suites. If you book a bargain basement rate in a basic inside or Oceanview cabin then maybe the quality of food doesn’t matter as much.

The cruise policy for noro virus or flu positive cases onboard has always been to quarantine in your cabin so why would a Covid positive case be treated any differently?

Same. Read too many stories from people here about catching Covid onboard and quarantining and it just blowing a hole in their whole very expensive vacation. Probably half the people we know who have cruised since Covid have gotten it while onboard or it showed up right after getting home. My husband and I have traveled multiple times since summer 2021 on land vacations and have had a great time and have still managed to avoid Covid. We’re up with the latest boosters and mask up indoors where there are people around and on public transportation like airplanes, avoid large groups, and almost always do outside dining or take out. The very few times we have dined indoors they have mostly been in dining rooms with few patrons. It does require a bit of maneuvering but I haven’t even had a cold since Sep 2019 and that’s been pretty nice.

Prices will be relatively the same. I've found that a lot of these "sales" (with all the cruise lines, not just Celebrity) are a lot of smoke and mirrors. They have an insanely priced rack/brochure rate that they generally are never selling at until they have a big "sale" and then take the 50% or 75% off or whatever it is off of the rack rate and it winds up being almost the same as the prices were before the "sale". Sometimes I've seen the prices actually be higher than they were prior to the "sale".

Nice to see them switch it up after years. I still miss the crab benedict they had for the first year or so though.

Because they can get away with it. As long as people pay it they will continue to raise prices.

"3 times higher"? Last time I cruised a year before Covid specialties I think were around $45-50. So you're saying they are now all at $135-150 per person?

Yup, definitely more detached. Although part of it is the level of English that much of the staff understands. It's far less than the staff on the American-owned cruise lines which can sometimes create barriers in asking questions and getting clear answers.

Usually like to do 1 night for dinner at the buffet but sometimes it winds up being more if we just aren't keen on the Luminae menu on a particular night, or if we want a quick meal or are tired from a long excursion day. Celebrity has always had the best buffet of any cruise line that we've been on (with Royal a close second) so we've always enjoyed eating there. These cutbacks are very disappointing.

I normally don't book specialties in advance since I stay in suites and getting a reservation isn't usually a problem onboard. I did do it with Edge because it was a new ship at the time and I worried about specialties filling up. When I got onboard I had to go to the Retreat Concierge to have the Elite discount applied. Even with her taking that action one of the restaurants still failed to apply it and when I went back to the Concierge to get it fixed at the end of the cruise she was livid and gave a talking to over the phone to the restaurant manager. This is a very common problem which Celebrity needs to fix.

"Luxury" is in the eye of the beholder. I've had some fantastic meals at cheap greasy diners and some awful meals at expensive 5 star restaurants. I mean lobster was considered a low-end food up until about 150 years ago even though it tastes the same now and then.

That does not appear to be true. They generally do not spend time at the bottom of the sea and while they might eat anything that's only when they don't have an active food source available. It sounds like they are mainly vegetarians. https://aquaponicsadvisor.com/are-tilapia-fish-bottom-feeders/

Sounds like a shrimp...

Another regular poster here recently made similar comments and specified a lack of beef dishes including the standard filet mignon which was always a first night dish in Luminae. When I checked the app for current menus though I saw multiple beef dishes including the filet and the menus did not appear to be much different from what I recall seeing posted here the past few years. Perhaps some specific cruises have had menu rotations changed or ran into supply chain issues that resulted in some substitutions? Overall though I think this appears to be a false alarm.

I think the difference with those other cities is they are not by the sea and thus have never had a cruise port (and yes, before someone jumps in to correct me, I am aware Civitavecchia is technically in Rome, in the "metropolitan area"). Venice is on the sea and has had an active cruise port for many years. So this change has been very confusing and unexpected for many, especially those who may not actively follow sites like this one where changes are regularly reported.

I wish they’d stop titling this Venice (Ravenna). It’s a 2hr 15 min drive each way. That’s like having your actual port be Philadelphia and calling it Washington, DC. I understand that the port was originally Venice and they had to move it because of the cruise ship restrictions but it’s very deceptive.

So many of these types of crimes on cruise ships wind up never getting prosecuted so this was a refreshing change. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/minnesota-man-indicted-sexual-assault-cruise-ship?fbclid=IwAR3Kfujo1TYqLy9kSKwDn9XrgdC__IsGpEpysMSweXXPopSa4oWmk_iTQPk

Likely they are hoping most people won't order more than one so they use less alcohol in the long run.

Can someone advise what the reductions to the Premium Beverage Package are (if any)? I have seen references to things being removed from the package in a few different threads but I can't seem to find a thread that focuses on changes to the package through the search function.

I wrote Mexico off as a cruise stop years ago. The only one I would feel comfortable visiting at this point is Cozumel and maybe walk around the port in Costa Maya. Have done multiple visits to both locations in past cruises and had some wonderful experiences to see nice beaches and ancient ruins like Chichen Itza. Had always wanted to see some of the western towns like Puerto Vallarta but if I don't get there at this point I'm good with that.

But that is countered by this language which says the limit is $17 and someone posted above that large martinis are $18: "Premium Package This versatile drinks package lets you start your morning with fresh squeezed orange juice and a premium coffee, enjoy a frozen cocktail by the pool, and then a glass of wine with dinner. Enjoy all the spirits listed in our Classic Package, plus drinks up to $17. Wines by the bottle are discounted by 20%. $109 per person per day*"

I’m pretty sure they still have a larger sized martini but they are priced just above the limit for the packages so you’d have to pay the difference. Easier to just order two consecutive smaller martinis. I think they made this change a couple years ago.

Don’t you guys usually stay in upper suites that include the two bottles of alcohol?

Wow. Slim pickings there. Such a shame.

The lunch buffet was not in question it was the dinner buffet.