Oh Where Oh Where Has Celebrity Gone?

[Cruisenouvelle]

Thank you for taking time to share your observations. It's been a few years since we've been on Millie, looks like things have changed (like all of Celebrity's ships and cruising in general!)

I hope your next cruise is everything you want it to be, and then some!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your cruise. Hope you find a line that provides the atmosphere you're looking for. And good luck finding a line that doesn't add the gratuities to your onboard account. They all do that. Be prepared and bring money if you want to tip extra.

 

I don't ever recall music in the MDR. Maybe we're too busy yakking with our tablemates at dinner. And I would be thrilled if there were only one hour of music by the pool--they are always WAY too loud.

 

Anyhow, best of luck to you in finding a cruiseline that meets your expectations.

[lddam]

We recently returned from an 11-day cruise on Mercury, and I must agree with much of what the OP has said about Celebrity having gone downhill in recent times. The food in the MDR ran the gammit from very good to inedible. Presentation was always done nicely and the plates were pleasing to the eye. However, just because food looks good doesn't translate to food tasting good. To my taste, I found the poultry entrees to be very good, but the beef usually overdone and tough. On one occasion, three of us ordered the veal shank, and all three were so tough it was nearly impossible to cut into the meat. We apologized to Sorona, our head waiter, and requested three replacements. Believe it or not, all three were of the same poor quality. Seems to me that the quality of food was much better in years past, and is just one more element of the overall product Celebrity offers that has suffered the pangs of "cost cutting."

 

There was a time that, when presented with two companies offering the same itinerary, my wife and I would choose Celebrity over the other line without hesitation. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. We believe that there is no such thing as a "bad" cruise...some are just "gooder" than others. Regretably, our last three cruises with Celebrity (Millie, Solstice, Mercury) have fallen short of making the "good" category.

[bikinibottom]

Thank you for posting your review and comments. Although I know sometimes people get flamed for complaining about something I enjoy reading ALL the feedback from returning cruisers - the good, the bad and the ugly.

We were on the Infinity in August and had a great cruise and loved it - BUT I do think the food was the worst we have had of our past cruises over the years (with X and with others) that being said I would still sail Celebrity again but I respect your decision to go elsewhere.

[judyfssw]

I have a question about the automatic tipping. In the past, we were able to charge our tips to our seapass and add additional tips for whoever we wanted. We were given an additional piece of paper to give to that person and they were able to see the amount on their account. Is this not true any longer? If so, I will be sure to bring extra cash with us when we cruise in June.

[Bridge Maven]

Thank you for posting your review and comments. Although I know sometimes people get flamed for complaining about something I enjoy reading ALL the feedback from returning cruisers - the good, the bad and the ugly.

We were on the Infinity in August and had a great cruise and loved it - BUT I do think the food was the worst we have had of our past cruises over the years (with X and with others) that being said I would still sail Celebrity again but I respect your decision to go elsewhere.

 

When you said the food on your most recent Celebrity cruise was the worst of all your cruises, did you mean it was not as good as the others but still good, or that the food was mediocre at best?

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

Sorry to hear the OP's comments. While I do not dispute them, Im sure we all agree the topic of food is extremely subjective. I'm sailing on Constellation tomorrow, and I will try my best to post occasional updates from the ship. We sailed on Constellation in March, and the food was as good as ever. Hopefully, we won't be disappointed.

[Toothfairy754]

I sailed the Infinity and I know for sure that on at least one formal night there was a string quartet playing in the MDR.

I also know that on out 16 night sailing we only sent one meal back to the dining room.(They were just starting to switch over to the new menus).

I will also say in X's defense it was my first cruise with them and it was SO superior from the other cruises I have taken I will be going back.

I am not saying everything was perfect...I was not overly impressed with the Oceanview grill. And we did have some issues with our Suite. However all in all it was a much better cruise than others I have taken.

I also enjoyed the spa treatment and massage that I received and did not fine the people to be pushy on selling their items.

[MKMC]

I agree about yhe food. Seems Celebrity is still feeling the after effects of losing Michel Roux and hiring Elizabeth Blau even though she is no longer with them. The cost cutting is so OBVIOUS.

Kathleen

[Gormley]

I still remember more than 20 years ago, we paid a lot more money for cruise than now. The cruise line can not make decent profit with low fare in the past 2 years. I still think we get value for our money when we cruise.

 

We know the MDR food is not as good as before, we go to specialty restaurant the first night, told them we will book dinner with them for the entire cruise, and the staff always discuss some new dish for us the next day.:)

 

We leave the auto tip in place, and leave additional tip for the staff at the specialty restaurant.

[pspercy]

How much is the specialty restaurant nowadays (Millennium) ?

 

. . shrimp . . They were probably in the 20 count range

 

That's large bait size LOL

[Bridge Maven]

I think this is just another example of what happens when people take a Celebrity cruise with the expectation that its food in the main dining room will be significantly better than any other mass market cruise line, or is still as good as it was at an earlier point in time, based on reviews they have read. Glowing reviews have a tendency to create unrealistic expectations that invariably lead to disappointment.

[snorkler8]

I went on the Infinity (Alaska) Sept 2008 with my family...can't convince them to try another line for our Sept 2010 Alaska trip! They loved everything about the cruise. especially the midnight chocolate buffet and the "brunch" the morning we cruised Hubbard. I'm not thrilled with the itinerary but I'm stuck now...and not really complaining lol

[A Sixth?]

Sadly, it seems that Celebrity has relegated the M Class ships to their second class. All their attention seems to be focused on the Solstice Class. Also, I have always heard poor remarks on the cruises sailing from San Juan. Two years ago, I sailed on the Constellation and it was first class all the way. Last year I sailed on Solstice when she was brand new, and felt it was one of the best cruises I've had with Celebrity. So my advice might be to try one of the newer ships from a homeland port. That is where Celebrity seems to be focusing their best efforts.

 

 

Great :( We're about to try X for the first time (the Millennium out of San Juan) These sort of reviews make me wonder if we made the right choice. :mad:

[mardon]

We just returned from the Panama Canal cruise on the Infinity. I also ordered shrimp cocktail every night and found the shrimp to be small but most times I ordered a second appetizer. The portions were smaller than usual but with 2 appetizers, soup, salad, entree and dessert, I was happy. When I wasn't happy with the nightly offerings I ordered from the left side of the menu and loved the salmon dishes. We were 2nd seating and also Elite members. Because we were late seating we had many shows starting at 7 p.m. We went every evening to the Michael's Club and enjoyed our free drinks from 4-6 p.m., sat and chatted until 6:30 p.m. and then went to the show in the Celebrity Theatre. I found the time 4-6 p.m. great. Nobody on the Elite level was stopped from entering the Michaels Club as long as they were dressed appropriately (no bathing attire). Tips could have been taken off the Sea Pass acct the first two days of the cruise. After that they remained and you could only add to them. We have been on approx 20 Celebrity cruises and are very happy with this cruiseline. We now look forward to our Caribbean cruise on the Millenium in Feb. I have a problem with those that cruise and choose to eat every night in the specialty dining room and then don't want the tips added onto their sea pass acct.

[bigwalt0176]

We are also just off the October 26 Millennium. I would agree with the OP and others regarding the food. I would also like to add the lack of variety in the vegetables and the overabundance of beef short ribs in various forms in the MDR.

 

This was our third Celebrity cruise the first on Milli. The other two were on Conni in 2008 and 2003. These two ships are as different as night and day although they are as physically identical as ships can be.

 

I think the biggest difference between the two ships and what had a large impact on us was the attitude of the crew. I have two examples. The first being the morning buffet beverages. Juice was of terrible consistency and availability around the buffet area. OJ was not to be found on the first full day. Many other times juice dispensers would only provide water. This was fully due to a lack of attention by the staff.

 

The second and most disappointing was our stateroom staff's performance. We arrived at our stateroom at 2PM the day of embarkation after being told the room was ready. There were bags of dirty laundry in the room and the bathroom was not ready (no towels, etc). The attendant removed the laundry and informed us that he was still working on the room. When we returned at 5 PM the stateroom was still not ready and we were told it would be attended to immediately. Muster was at 6PM and dinner at 6:30 - we needed to shower and be ready. At 5:30 there was still no attendant. Another call when unanswered. I was about to go to customer relations since they were also not answering their phone when I found the attendant BSing two doors down in hall with some other staff. From there it only when downhill. We needed to constantly remind the attendant to provide fresh ice and water each time the room was serviced and beach towels we not provided the night before a shore day without having to track the attendant down.

 

We also noticed most other staff on the ship not to follow what I would consider to be common courtesies. On other cruises we had taken when a guest and staff were on an intersecting or crossing walking path, the staff would normally yield, smile and provide a greeting. The Milli was more like NYC traffic where the staff would try to beat out the guest sometimes almost causing a collision.

 

These were just a couple of things among many that left us a little bit disappointed with the cruise.

[CruisingChick]

BigWalt that's terrible your stateroom was not ready on time on embarkation day. Did you speak to the Chief Housekeeper or Hotel Director on the ship?

 

Also what stateroom did you stay in?

[juarez]

We have traveled with celebrity on 10 occasions and enjoyed the experience particulary the food.We sailed in sep/oct on the Infinity from Seattle ft lauderdale and the food was terrible.I agree with a prior posting that if you want decent food you will have to dine in the specialty resturant at a cost of $60. per night.I guess thats how Celebrity increases their revenue.For some dinning is not all that important.We will have to find another cruise line.

[bigwalt0176]

CruisingChick,

 

I did not take it up with the Chief Housekeeper or Hotel Director. I always like to deal with a situation like this with the person providing the service to get a resolution rather that escalating it before they are given a chance. Perhaps in this case, I should have taken it to the next level.

 

Stateroom was 7172.

[sullivanJ]

I have cruised with Princess, RC, Carnival, & Celebrity. I have never had a bad cruise! The only 1 I thought could be better was the one I took on Carnival. But I believe in that case I got what I paid for.

 

I guess I am just not that picky about food. I do think the specialty restaurants are "special" but I have always enjoyed the MDR option also. I don't usually order the beef since I have no idea how they could make that many beef dishes at one time & they not be tough. (just common sense) I actually think smaller shrimp have better flavor than the larger ones so no problem there.

 

I do respect the poor review because I hope the cruise companies try to make improvements when someone is seeing service slip. (just keeping them honest)

I don't ususally let these reviews sway my decision making much because as others have said - 2 people can come off the same cruise with 2 totally different opinions.

Things just are not going to be perfect for a whole week (or however long one is on a cruise)

 

I am going to be on the Solstice 1/17. Can't wait!

 

Happy cruising

Jackie

[SeetheSea]

We were also on the 10/26 Millennium cruise. We had a wonderful cruise, but did experience a couple of the same disappointments as the OP.

 

First, the positive:

 

It was a very international mix of passengers (which we like), - very friendly people, and most everyone seemed to be having a good time. We heard very few chronic complainers. We had a lot of fun and made some great new friends.

 

On the second day we were upgraded from an inside cabin to balcony! It happened that our inside cabin was directly across from one of the suites, and they wanted our cabin for their kids. Lucky us!

 

We were invited to dine with the captain (a first for us). Although I doubt we would do it again (very formal affair), it was very nicely done and we appreciated the invitation.

 

We thought the lounge entertainment and shows were very good, - very much better than we have experienced on most of our previous Celebrity sailings. Unfortunately for those about to sail the Millennium, we heard that the singers and dancers ended their contract and would be debarking with us, so the level of some of the entertainment may not be the same.

 

The not-so-positive:

 

Quality of food and inconsistent service in MDR -

Dining was a hit-or-miss thing.

We changed tables about halfway through the cruise (to dine with our new friends). The waiter at the first table was great, - service was top-notch. The waiter at the second table was terrible, - he couldn’t get anything right.

As to the food, we had some dishes that were very good, and some that we were not at all happy with. The biggest issue for us and our dining companions was the quality of the cuts of meat. Although we did have a very good filet mignon one night, our table also experienced sirloins and veal that were too tough to eat. We did express our dissatisfaction on our comment card and we intend to also write Celebrity about this. We are not picky eaters, but a decent steak is a reasonable expectation.

 

Timing of Captain’s Club events -

Shirley and Les replied to OP (in part):

Tell me again why you have a voice into when Celebrity offers a free drink.

That seems a little harsh, and I’m not sure how the number of cruises the OP has done has anything to do with expressing their opinion, but this was our 18th Celebrity cruise so MAYBE you will deem our opinion worthy of some consideration.

We were disappointed in the timing of all of the Captain’s Club events. These events were all held in the morning or early afternoon. We have always enjoyed and very much looked forward to the pre-dinner Senior Officer’s cocktail party for Elite/Select members and the pre-show Captain’s Club event. On this cruise the Captain’s Club event was at 1:00pm, and the Officer’s party was at 11:15am. Cocktail parties in the middle of the day just don’t work for many people on a caribbean vacation. Of course, that may be exactly why they did that timing.

We did manage to make it to the 4-6pm Elite social-hour a couple of times, but that timing really doesn’t work well for 2nd seating diners like us. All of the 2nd seating Elite members that we talked to on this cruise felt somewhat slighted by this timing.

As a side note to this, when this new Elite member 4-6 event was first announced, I wrote to Celebrity/Dan Hanrahan questioning how this was of any benefit to 2nd seating members. Surprisingly, a continuing dialog started that appeared to actually be with Dan Hanrahan himself and not an assistant (but you never know). At any rate, the explanation offered was that they did not want the event to interfere with Michael’s Club’s regular daily business. That seemed like a reasonable explanation at the time, but on this cruise the event was held in Cosmos, and there was no competing business in that lounge. So why couldn’t that event go a little later to accommodate the 2nd seating Elite members? I sincerely hope Celebrity will rethink and tweak the timing of these events.

 

To the posters here that will say “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Be happy for whatever you get.”: We consider this loyalty program to be mutually beneficial to BOTH ourselves and the company. We’re doing our part with giving Celebrity our repeat cruise business. And yes, in return we do expect some sort of benefit(s), and these benefits should be offered at times that make the benefit available to all eligible members.

 

As stated earlier, we did have a wonderful time on this cruise, and these two issues will definitely not keep us from sailing with Celebrity, but we do sincerely hope they will address these issues in the near future, -especially the quality of the cuts of meat in the MDR. After all, Celebrity built it’s reputation on great food/service.

 

OK - flame away... I'm already sunburned

2/86 - Norway

11/90 - Royal Princess

5/93 - Royal Majesty

5/93(b2b) - Royal Majesty

10/93 - Crown Princess

10/93(b2b) - Crown Princess

10/94 - Ryndam

9/95 - Regal Princess

10/96 - Meridian

12/96 - Norway

5/97 - Century

7/97 - Norwegian Star

10/97 - Century

11/98 - Mercury

12/98 - Enchanted Capri

10/99 - Mercury

12/00 - Galaxy

10/01 - Summit

11/02 - Century

11/02(b2b) - Century

12/03 - Horizon

1/04 - Norwegian Sea

10/04 - Galaxy

10/04(b2b) - Galaxy

1/05 - Summit

10/05 - Rhapsody of the Seas

11/05 - Galaxy

11/06 - Grandeur of the Seas

12/06 - Westerdam

3/07 - Galaxy

10/07 - Empress of the Seas

3/08 - Galaxy

9/08 - Mariner of the Seas

9/08(b2b) - Mariner of the Seas

12/08 - Conquest

1/09 - Mercury

10/09 - Millennium

2/2010 - Voyager of the Seas

4/2010 - Radiance of the Seas

11/2010 - Serenade of the Seas

12/2010 (b2b) - Serenade of the Seas

12/2010 - Mercury

[Jade13]

We thought the food was pretty bad on Century in February 2008. The worst on any cruise line. But, we are going back on Century in April. We just have low expectations regarding the food.

 

I hope they still have the Sushi Bar at 5:00pm. I enjoyed going every day.

[jackdiamond]

We are experienced Celebrity cruisers, having first cruised the Century in 1998, in a SS and, thereafter on the M class, in the large balconies, and CC (C-1) when they became available. In a couple of weeks we will be on the Equinox in AQ. Our cruises have always been very pleasing. I find that most of the complaints heretofore expressed to be of the nitpicking variety, except possibly those relating to culinary problems. I trust that we will not be displeased, but from the many posts I have read vis-a-vis the cuisine in Blu, I doubt that we will displeased. Also, I trust that our culinary experiences on our 14 night cruise on the Constellation next year will also be delightful.

By the way, we will have no problem dressing for the cocktail hour, even though we have late seating. For those who take umbrage at the timing of this delightful perk, you might wish to avail yourselves of CSD, or even drift up to the sushi or pizza bar for awhile.

[Denny01]

I find it curious that whenever someone posts a negative review, many get very defensive of any disagreement and tag them as 'flamers'. When someone posts mainly a positive post and someone responds with a 'not in my opinion' and provide a negative response, we seem to think that is OK, not a flame.

 

Personally, that is what this website is for - voicing opinions. Yes, responses shouldn't be rude or get personal - address the issue, not the poster. But one of the problems is, those that post negative reviews seem to get the bit into their teeth and the review turns into a never-ending 'boy is this line bad!' with one bitch after another. I get numb reading them lined up to the horizon.

 

Initially, I found the OP's review useful, but then it started into the nitpicking, very subjective put-downs: complaining that a Bavarian themed event was inappropriate on a Caribbean cruise? And laughing at it and I'd assume those that took part in it? Please reconsider such comments - credibility is lost with these putdowns. Its too subjective and a bit sneering. I'm not a Bingo fan, but I don't sit and make comments about it.

 

And yes, voicing your opinion on the dining experience is very subjective, but its good to hear people's view - tough steaks is a common comment. But when the OP says they or their whole table couldn't find any entree to their liking, and describe the entire dining experience negatively, then I'm afraid that type of comment reflects more on the diners and not the dinners. Liked None? Such generalizations lose credibility so I look at the review in a different view, and usually drop it.

 

Denny

[Luckybee]

Well. I for one very much appreciated the review esp. regarding the food ! As I mentioned in another post dh and I are considering a cruise on X. We dont cruise alot (only 3x) and on our last cruise on Royal we loved the experience but didnt at all enjoy the main dining room. That said I must admit that we are pretty fussy about food quality. The review wont keep us from X but may alter our plans a bit. After the first night on Royal we just booked in the specialty dining room for the remainder of the cruise. Given the Op's post and many other comments now we know to simply book a whole lot of specialty dining reservations in advance which I find helpful in planning...so thank you :)