Long review of our first Celebrity cruise - just back!

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review. Some great tips. However, how would you expect to have Celebrity tell passengers their children/babies could not go into restaurants at 8pm? I don't like screaming children when I'm eating, but I would think Celebrity would be in for a bashing should they tell passengers their children were not welcome in venues. Some people may have to travel with their children and not have anyone to watch them. Should they be restricted to eat early? I think not.:eek::eek::eek:

[NCHPcruiser]

Thank you for such a well thought out review. While issues like formal nights are not important to us (we have ample opportunity during the year for this and really don't want to pack and carry the additional luggage this would entail although we have on past cruises brought the gowns and tux) I respect your opinion and preferences and wish you had enjoyed a better experience with Celebrity. We did not have stellar service from our butler last September aboard the Reflection and I also had to complain about very slow bar service. I would encourage you to try a S-Class ship, although "dress code" issue would be no different. They really are wonderful ships!

[scanditaly]

Give it a try. We were on Reflection in Luminae in January and it was very hit or miss. The MD was like a used car salesman. All talk, no action, and would never leave us alone. He was OTT. He has since left the ship. The food was "trying too hard" and in most instances just OK. Never hot, but lukewarm. The only exception were the pastas that were absolutely delicious and piping hot upon delivery.

Yes, yes, yes. Pastas were terrific, albeit the reason for ordering them was that other menu items were not to my liking.

 

 

I suggest getting a few pastas for the table as an appetizer to share each night to try them out. I am a big fan of gourmet food and found myself ordering entrees off of the MDR menu most nights as the frilly entrees on the Luminae menu just were not great...always one too many ingredients that made it more weird than elegant or tasteful.

Again, yes, one single ingredient that would cross the line...........

 

Even down to the beef and lamb items...MDR entrees were better than Luminae. The room itself is very nice and I definietly prefer it to the hustle bustle of the MDR. They need to rethink the Luminae menu a bit. It's been over a year now. Might be time. That said, I would still prefer dining in Luminae over MDR or elswhere. Good luck

 

There was also a group of small children (Solstice) present, and I would ask the Maitre d' to please place us in the "quiet room." He understood.

 

Anyway, we quickly learned to request exactly what we wanted, and voila! It was created and served and eaten. Yes!

[Keith1010]

In the end the most important opinion is your very own. Thanks for taking the time to write and to share your thoughts.

 

Keith

[shot2bits]

Hi Princesspete, sorry you had a less than perfect experience. We have sailed celebrity, P&O and Thomson. I have to say that our experience is that celebrity were head and shoulders above the others. This coming cruise we have booked Thomson, for the itinerary. Which brings me to the point of this post; we are in Naples for a day and want to go over to Sorrento or maybe Capri. How hard or easy was getting the ferry. I am thinking about the high speed hydrofoil. Thanks in advance.

Edited June 30, 2016 by shot2bits

[robsmom]

Great review, thank you. I think Celebrity needs to re-think Luminae a bit. We really enjoyed it and thought it was better than the MDR. That said, it falls short of what they advertised and the potential for what it could be. If I were making the decision, I would make it more like a shore side restaurant. I would get rid of the rotating menu and just have a menu like the specialties have. To this I would add a couple of nightly specials for variety. I would have a dessert tray that maybe has a few favorites, bit changes night to night. As others have said, there were one or two nights that the menu was not appealing and we ordered off the main menu. On the flip side, there were some really wonderful items that I would have loved to order again. I realize that Kitchen space is an issue. Maybe they should have put Luminae in one of the specialty spaces and created a new specialty where Luminae is.

Edited June 30, 2016 by robsmom

[blizzardboy]

Agree with this statement

 

I don't think children should be banned no matter the time since some families are night owls and some are early risers, that family is paying a cruise fare also however any child that is crying needs to be removed by the parent(s) out of common courtesy. We have cruises with our children since they were infants and had both early and late dinner seating depending on the itinerary and how long the ship was in port. Any time a child was fussy one of us would take the child out of the area

 

We haven't sailed Celebrity yet and appreciate your thorough review

 

As a grandfather of a 21 month old, taking a child that age to a late dinner is pretty ridiculous. My little girl is ready for bath at 6:30 and bed by 7:00 as a rule. It was totally inconsiderate of the parents.

[robsmom]

As a grandfather of a 21 month old, taking a child that age to a late dinner is pretty ridiculous. My little girl is ready for bath at 6:30 and bed by 7:00 as a rule. It was totally inconsiderate of the parents.

 

 

I am not defending the parents who did not remove the disruptive child, however this is an arbitrary time chosen by your family. At 21 months the average infant needs 11hrs of sleep. 7pm for bed means waking at 6am. Depending where you live and season of the year, this is often before sunset and/or sunset. Depending on the family schedule there is no reason a child can not sleep from 9pm to 8am or even 11 to 10 if it fits a regular schedule. With time zones changes thrown in, I think it is hard for Celebrity to restrict children to certain times. Thrown in that people book suites for the extra space, I think there will be children in Luminae. Celebrity needs to learn how to tactfully deal with the offenders.

[PrincessPete]

Thank you to everyone who has replied to my review. It has been a pleasure to read the comments and also most welcome that people have made their own reasoned comments where we do not agree – rather than slating my own comments! As I said at the beginning of my review it was never my suggestion that our views were right and any different views were wrong so many thanks to all.

 

Some of the responses raised a few points that I will comment further on:

 

“S” CLASS SHIPS

I am a bit of a ship “anorak” and go on as many ship visits as possible to widen my own knowledge and experience. I have twice visited an “S” class ship (Celebrity Eclipse) and would have to say I think they are far superior to the “M” class. We chose the Constellation (as with every cruise we go on) for the itinerary though, so “M” class it was.

I also appreciate that some people prefer the smaller “M” class size so we come straight back to where we started – personal choice and matter of opinion!!

 

DRESS CODE

I am very happy to “agree to disagree” about this as several people mentioned as I know it is a divisive matter which will split passengers right down the middle. We can simply make our choice in future whether to accept what we are not really happy with or go to another line, probably Cunard where we have indeed had numerous great cruises.

 

CRYING CHILD

Most responders seemed to agree that the position we faced was not acceptable. I really liked the way the Maître D’ had dealt with a similar situation as explained by Chemmo. Certainly such management skills were lacking in our case!

The point was also made that it was the parent’s fault which I can largely agree with – it seems to me almost as selfish as “sunbed hogging” the way the parents continued to sit there with the child.

I still feel that Celebrity could say such young children should not be allowed at that time of night but there we are.

 

MICHAEL’S CLUB

A couple of responders have mentioned this and it is perhaps a point I should have covered in my original review. Just to explain………………we did not use Michael’s Club at all simply because we preferred to relax on the balcony after a hectic day sightseeing and also watch the sailaways (nearly all at 6.00pm) with a drink on our own.

The sailaways were fantastic and, added to my wife needing some “rest” time before the evening (following her illness last year), we preferred our own space particularly as the balcony was so large and comfortable. Indeed the sailaways carried on for a good hour most nights with some amazing scenery.

After getting ready for dinner we then generally just had 30 minutes or so in a bar (hence the reference to the Rendezvous Lounge) although quite often we lingered on the balcony so much that it was time for dinner at 8.00 pm when we finally dragged ourselves away and got changed! Each to their own once again!

Moving on specifically to the point made about the Helipad party and Bridge Tour I must add that they were provided but we did not go to either. The helipad party was as we sailed away from Kotor in Montenegro where we had a very tiring (but wonderful day) and we just crashed out on the balcony and then sat entranced with the most magical sailaway past wonderful countryside.

I am sure the Helipad party was great and is certainly a nice touch made available for suite guests.

The same nice touch could be said for the Bridge Tour which in our case was then followed by a full luncheon with the Captain and Senior Officers (on a sea day). We again passed on that – for two reasons. Firstly I have done many Bridge visits previously, some extremely detailed and on a “private” basis so I was happy to miss it (my wife is not really interested in that). The main reason though is that we are not lunch eaters preferring just a tiny snack – dinner is our event of the day and we cannot eat anything significant at lunchtime.

I would add that I did go and see Megan the Concierge to explain our absence for which she was very grateful.

 

BUTLER

There were some adverse comments about other Butlers amongst the replies and I was rather surprised to read that we were not alone in our experiences. I would say again that that individually the issues were so small we could not be bothered to raise them. As someone said we, like them, always made our own bookings for speciality dining etc rather than asking the Butler or Concierge. Where he made mistakes eg: Cola instead of Diet Cola……some shirts laundered but not pressed……..I really had no heart to make an issue about it. They were so trivial on their own but the point I was making was that the sheer number of them showed his lack of professionalism or indeed attention to detail in his job – surely a key requirement for a Butler.

 

NAPLES/SORRENTO

Shot2bits asked about the ferry to Sorrento which I mentioned we had done (I see you come from lovely Dereham in Norfolk!). This was a VERY straightforward journey. The ferry to Sorrento went from the same port area as our ship docked and was a walk of maybe 100 yards. There are several ferries going from there but are well indicated – there were also direct ones to Capri as well as Sorrento.

The journey to Sorrento took 40 minutes and there were sailings at 0900 and 1100 (as well as later presumably) and we got a return at 1400 hours. I cannot remember the cost but it was maybe 20 or 25 Euros per person return – nothing outrageous. Very comfortable journeys and there in no time.

Incidentally one tip if you do go to Sorrento……the town is high up above the sea and a STEEP walk. However, there is a well signposted lift within a couple of hundred yards from the dock which takes you there in a few seconds for a euro or two return fare. A lifesaver!

 

So that is it and thank you again for all the responses to my review.

Kind regards.

Peter

[blizzardboy]

I am not defending the parents who did not remove the disruptive child, however this is an arbitrary time chosen by your family. At 21 months the average infant needs 11hrs of sleep. 7pm for bed means waking at 6am. Depending where you live and season of the year, this is often before sunset and/or sunset. Depending on the family schedule there is no reason a child can not sleep from 9pm to 8am or even 11 to 10 if it fits a regular schedule. With time zones changes thrown in, I think it is hard for Celebrity to restrict children to certain times. Thrown in that people book suites for the extra space, I think there will be children in Luminae. Celebrity needs to learn how to tactfully deal with the offenders.

 

Unless the mother is fortunate enough to stay at home or has a nanny, most parents these days are getting their kids ready to leave for day care starting at 6:00 to 6:30. My wife is a special education teacher with an advanced degree in counseling, and she would agree with your sleep-time-needed assessment, just not the much later bedtime for the afore-mentioned reason. I never allowed my kids to sit and cry through a dinner at the expense of other diners. If we had a problem, we took it to the lobby, outside, or wherever until peace was restored.

Edited June 30, 2016 by blizzardboy

[Taylor D]

Thanks for your Review. I am a bit worried now, my wife and I are leaving on the Constellation July 30 from Barcelona to Venice for our first Europe cruise. We have been on several cruises some better than others so I tend to over look things and enjoy my time away from work. I picked Celebrity after reading a lot of reviews so I will be hopping for the best.

[shot2bits]

Hi Peter, sorry to hijack your thread. Thanks for the info regarding the ferry from Naples, I think we will do it. Yes, ' lovely' Dereham in Norfolk.sounds like you know it. It certainly used to be lovely, but that's another story! Thanks again. Ron

[PrincessPete]

Hi Ron, I would love to send more details about Sorrento and the ferry etc (which would not really be relevant to this thread) - pardon my ignorance about the site but is there a way of contacting you by email or can you publish your email? Cheers Peter

Edited June 30, 2016 by PrincessPete

[BrendaJ]

Thanks for your thorough review.

 

I too enjoyed the more formal dress code, but my hubby and I just tend to dress up when we fee like it - we don't mind if we're in the minority.

 

Last year we sprung for a Royal Suite on the Summit and I admit our butler was not as attentive as I expected either. We too are low maintenance - we only asked him for one thing and he told us we could do it ourselves at any bar (switch out some beer in the fridge). We didn't ask for anything else, although in retrospect, it would have been nice to have cappuccinos delivered in the mornings; he just never offered and we were hesitant to add to his workload. We assumed he had some high maintenance people in another suite who demanded his attention. We tend to do things ourselves so it was no big deal. The concierge in Michaels Club really did go out of her way to make sure our trip was special.

 

We did really love Luminae; however, we have been on many Celebrity cruises and were a bit tired of the main dining room and Aqua class so it was a nice change. We liked it enough that we booked another suite for our next cruise, just so we could eat there again.

 

I hope you will give Celebrity another chance - the S-class ships are really lovely.

[chemmo]

Sincere thanks for returning with additional comments.

 

Sincere best wishes for your next cruise, whatever line you choose!

[shot2bits]

Hi Ron, I would love to send more details about Sorrento and the ferry etc (which would not really be relevant to this thread) - pardon my ignorance about the site but is there a way of contacting you by email or can you publish your email? Cheers Peter

 

 

Hi Pete , for obvious reasons I don't want to publish my email address on here! There is a 'ports of call' forum on here, perhaps you could post on there? There is a Capri/ Sorrento area on that forum.

[Nachosdelux]

This is why children should be eaten, and not heard.

 

Or something like that.

[El Crucero]

It does mean though that for us Celebrity may not be a line to choose as plenty of their competitors (notably Princess) still have a limited number of formal nights. And, of course, so do Cunard.

 

On our last Princess cruise 8 months ago, there was one "formal night." Almost everyone in the MDR ignored it. I did not see one tuxedo that night. I wore coat and tie and I felt over-dressed. What I did see that 'formal night" was one man in bib overalls and lots of baseball caps worn backwards.

 

Dress codes on most cruise lines are changing for the better or worse depending on your viewpoint.

[BunnyLebowski]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review of your cruise! Itinerary sounds great.

 

Sorry your trip was not everything you could have hoped. Am wondering if some member of the "crying baby" party was staying in the penthouse suite. That would explain the staff reluctance for confrontation. Eating in another venue certainly makes sense in that circumstance, but it's unfortunate you had to do so.

 

It's probably a good idea for you to cruise on a different line in the future if formal dress is important to you. X certainly seems to be trending towards a more "club casual" atmosphere. Welcome to us, (30's-40's age couple with school age children) but obviously not to many others such as yourselves.

 

Sounds as though you have many more cruises ahead of you. Enjoy!

[keithm]

My wife and I returned a few days ago from our first Celebrity cruise – on the Constellation from Venice to Koper, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Naples, Sicily, Ravenna and back to Venice. Before the cruise we had a wonderful 4 days at the Locanda Vivaldi Hotel in Venice (review shortly to be placed on Trip Advisor). Here is our cruise review – may I please say at the outset that this, of course, is only our view and where we are critical I am not suggesting we are right and others with a different view are wrong – just that it is as we saw it!!

 

BACKGROUND

We have been on dozens of cruises on various lines since our first in 1984 but mainly on Princess and Cunard plus in earlier years P&O.

Due to my wife having a serious illness last year we had to cancel a couple of cruises so we splurged out this time on a Royal Suite, 6133 on Penthouse Deck.

 

EMBARKATION

Embarkation (and disembarkation) were extremely smooth. Indeed I would add that the whole holiday was very well organised by Celebrity – the transfers in Venice from airport to Hotel to ship to airport and everything else worked like clockwork.

 

SHIP

The Constellation took a little while to grow on us but did so during the course of the cruise. We did not like the piped music that was evident in most venues and in certain areas was excessively loud. I did not speak to one person who thought the volume was acceptable and was left with the feeling that it was mainly for the crew’s benefit not the passengers.

The bar service was a bit hit and miss for several days and was exceptionally poor in the Rendezvous Lounge on deck 4. The waiter service was very slow and many people gave up and simply walked to the bar to get service. Discussion with the Food and Beverage Manager led to a significant improvement in service in the second half of the cruise but it should not really have been necessary to do so.

We found there to be plenty of space throughout the ship even on sea days although in the evenings the lovely but small Martini Bar was just too busy and noisy for our taste – it was certainly a very popular venue though.

We did not like the fact that every restaurant on the ship closed for breakfast at 0830 on port days and 0900 on sea days – that really does seem a little early. We did have breakfast in the cabin on a few occasions and also in the Ocean View Buffet which we found to be extremely good (more later).

 

DRESS CODE AND EVENING CHIC

This is really our main issue with Celebrity and we did not like the dress code at all. We had 3 Evening Chic nights where, at an estimate, 35% of men wore tuxedos or jacket and tie – the rest were in the same casual wear worn on the remaining 9 nights.

On smart casual nights maybe 5% of men wore jacket and tie and the rest were casual and, of course, were complying with the Celebrity dress code.

My wife and I privately called the dress codes “Shabby Chic” and “Scruffy Casual” and without a word of a lie we spoke to several like-minded people who had used the same phrases.

Referring to my point at the start of the review (“this is just our opinion” etc) - for us, cruises are still special and part of the enjoyment is dressing up in the evening and everyone looking smart. Indeed we lost count of the number of people EVERY night who praised the way we were dressed – often while looking scruffy themselves. I found that most odd!

In conclusion on this section I must stress that our beef is with Celebrity NOT with our fellow passengers who obviously dressed as they wished and were complying with the official code.

It does mean though that for us Celebrity may not be a line to choose as plenty of their competitors (notably Princess) still have a limited number of formal nights. And, of course, so do Cunard.

It cuts no ice with us saying “wear what you want and ignore everyone else” as frankly we do not want to sit in a bar looking (in our opinion) smart and sitting next to someone looking as though they have dragged through a hedge backwards!

(Please note I am not trying to start another dress code thread but needed to explain our thoughts as a key factor in our decision whether to cruise with Celebrity again)

 

LUMINAE

The Luminae suite restaurant was a disappointment to us and also had a MAJOR issue which we feel needs urgently addressing by Celebrity.

We dined in there for the first two nights and were a little underwhelmed – the service and ambience were excellent but we were surprised to see just a choice of 4 starters and 4 main courses. The food was perfectly fine.

BUT…..on the second night we were eating at 8.00pm and on the adjacent table were a family group including an 18 month or so old child who bawled their eyes out for the whole meal.

We had already decided that Luminae was not for us but thought we would go in on the third night of the cruise as that was the first Evening Chic night so we could see if a really special menu was on offer. The answer was NO plus the family and (crying again) child were there but not sitting so close to us. I would add that the food itself that evening was excellent but still with a limited choice (at no time were we asked if we wanted to look at the menus from any other restaurants to supplement the choice available in Luminae).

So that was it with Luminae. A couple of days later the (extremely pleasant) Maître D’ saw us in a nearby bar and asked if everything was alright and where we had eaten and we had a lengthy conversation about the above points (which we had already drawn to his deputy’s attention.

He said he had received a lot of complaints about having to sit alongside a crying child for the evening but he said his hands were tied – Celebrity does not have a policy of children of that age not being allowed in the main restaurants at that time of night.

The Concierge in Michael’s Club also said she had received numerous complaints and was bringing the matter to the attention of Head Office urgently.

All I can say is that in 30 plus cruises we have never experienced babies of that age being allowed in the dining rooms at that time of night. We have children and grandchildren but would never have dreamt of taking them in to a restaurant at that hour when they were 18 months old.

We are again not trying to start a thread on the subject but I feel that any reasonable analysis would show that children of that age should not be present in a restaurant at that time of night. Breakfast and lunches – not a problem……………..8.00 in the evening is a problem, certainly for us and indeed the many others who complained.

I realise that as with everything some people may disagree – I would ask them if they REALLY want to be sitting within 2 yards of a screaming baby for their whole meal at 8.00 in the evening?

 

OCEAN LINERS RESTAURANT

As a result of our dissatisfaction with Luminae we decided to try Ocean Liners restaurant and WOW! We rediscovered cruising food and service that was the norm 30 years ago – a wonderful restaurant with loads of space between the tables, superb service and as for the food! I can only say WOW again. Tableside flambéed Dover sole, lobsters, chateaubriand – all superb. About a dozen starters and a dozen main courses to choose from plus you can order off menu to a limited extent with advance notice.

Now the downside……..the supplement is $50 per person per night although I have to say that one of the perks included in the Royal Suite was unlimited speciality dining so it did not cost us anything other than a hefty tip at the end for the superb service.

We ate there on 8 evenings and it was reasonably full every night (but please do not think our “perk” denied anyone else the opportunity to eat there as it was never completely full.)

Without exception everyone we spoke to who had been there said it was wonderful.

The Ocean Liners restaurant stands very good comparison with the Queens Grill on the QM2 (and is a much nicer restaurant inside) – we found the food, service, space and general ambience to be even better although in the Queens Grill on Cunard you can moreorless order anything you like. I must add that the Queens Grill is brilliant so when I say we thought Ocean Liners was better it is all degrees of excellence not a criticism of the Queens Grill.

We did eat one night in the other speciality restaurant Tuscan Grille so we could review that as well - $45 supplement. Excellent food and service but a rather out of the way restaurant on deck 11 (can only be reached from one set of lifts other than walking outside) and very cramped with tables extremely close to each other and a lot of bench seating. It was way behind Ocean Liners for us where, incidentally, every person had an individual chair with arms not a bench seat.

We did not eat in the main restaurant so can not comment on that although from a personal point of view I would have found it rather uncomfortable as none of the chairs have arms.

 

BUTLER

 

I am afraid our Butler, who I will not name in this review, was quite poor – we have had several Butlers over the years and he was way below the standard of previous ones. We are VERY low maintenance and we love speaking to the crew and finding out about their lives etc so the issue was not from our end.

He made several minor mistakes with breakfasts, drinks, laundry and other requests – nothing to make a complaint about but he really was not very professional.

On embarkation day we boarded at 1200 and he did not visit our cabin until nearly 1900 hours and did not know our names – that may be the norm on Celebrity but it is not our experience on other lines.

On the last evening of the cruise (which would be the normal time to say farewell) he was in the corridor on his mobile phone and just gave us a cursory wave.

After one of his several failures to comply with a request he contacted the Concierge himself to advise her (not that we did) and she wrote a letter of apology and supplied two bottles of wine. We did not actually use them but the thought was very nice. Unfortunately the Butler was just not really up to it in our opinion.

I was also more than slightly miffed to receive an envelope from him inviting a further gratuity after the normal level had been prepaid! Needless to say it was left unfilled!

 

BUFFET

Although I touched briefly above on the Ocean View buffet dining I must comment in further detail that we thought it was extremely good. Even on sea days there always seemed to be a table available and the food/variety was at an excellent level. We were most impressed with the organisation and the whole facility.

 

ROYAL SUITE

We loved the Royal Suite and the space it gave us – the balcony was massive and as we are big balcony users that was a huge bonus for us with two full sunbeds plus table and four chairs plus a Jacuzzi. The lounge area was a lovely place to relax although strangely we found the bedroom rather cramped as indeed was the wardrobe space adjacent to the bedroom. We did feel that had a little space being taken from the lounge area then the bedroom and particularly the wardrobe would have been more accessible. There was also a huge amount of storage space in the lounge area.

The included laundry and pressing was most welcome with the dirty clothes from the days in Venice before the cruise (and plenty of cruise clothes needing pressing after 5 days in a suitcase) and although we had heard that the complimentary laundry/pressing for Royal Suites had been reduced to twice per cruise we were not charged for any of the rather large amount we had done.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainment is, of course, subjective but we found it to be excellent. The production shows were well put together and there was an always changing number of guest artistes of whom we liked many. The Cruise Director Martin, a young very tall Belgium guy, was a great bundle of fun. The seven piece orchestra were absolutely brilliant especially the horn section led by Mark on the trombone. We had a long chat with him and learnt that they only have one run through with each guest artist before accompanying them live – when watching the acts though you would think they had played together for years which showed what superb musicians they all are.

 

PORTS

The ports were amazing. We particularly loved Koper in Slovenia (great tour to a lovely coastal town called Pirin and on to a quaint hillside village called Padna where the locals provided wonderful delicacies for us) and Sorrento where we went on a public ferry from Naples. We did four ship tours which were well organised and enjoyable.

 

TWO BIG GRIPES THAT CELEBRITY SHOULD DEAL WITH

One is the issue of babies in the restaurants in the evening.

The second concerns the selfishness of some passengers that could easily be addressed by Celebrity. We attended the show virtually every evening in the Theatre for the 1030pm performance. On EVERY night people were still ambling in at 1100 and talking while they were sitting down (and often during the show). I really do think that conduct was unacceptable and although it is the fault of the selfish passengers not Celebrity, I do feel that Celebrity should close the doors, if not the moment the show starts (which would be preferable) but within a couple of minutes so that anyone “just” late could be admitted but not those who come in towards the end of the show.

 

SUMMARY

We had a lovely cruise and would consider returning to Celebrity but it is not over likely. For us the dress code IS a deal breaker (however stupid that might seem to some people) and when added to the issues in Luminae, the early closure of restaurants for breakfast, the poor Butler and a few other matters we probably feel that other lines more suit our cruising wishes. I must stress though that there were good points, especially the wonderful Ocean Liners restaurant and overall the service and friendliness of staff were top notch.

 

I do hope this will be accepted as a balanced and reasoned review of our thoughts.

Good review. Like you, I dislike the downward style in dress. Seems the "Onslows" of the world are taking over. The Queens Grill was the best we've ever had at sea. Luminae is still new, so it may take time. The Grills have pleased for decades! I do suggest you try the Eclipse on one of their Caribbean trips(usually 14 days)the pax seem much more worldly & style conscious than on the smaller Celebrity ships. This is likely due to the 14 days, which are longer than most lines. Most pax we found were retired. WE have not as yet experienced the "Chic" night(we will this coming Jan.)As to the baby crying, I've never seen it as bad as you had it. Sorry if it offends, but I would have politely(but firmly)have asked they take the child out in respect to the other pax. Seeing as they did not, it's probable they could care less about the other diners & their ruined dinner! Nice people! Our butler, Lily was top drawer on the QM2. We loved her. We haven't done suite class on Celebrity, so have no one to compare.

[keithm]

I would agree that X may not be for you as one of the very few who still clamor for formal nights....Celebrity listened to their customers and the vast majority do not feel the need to bring formal clothing nor feel the need to judge those who have went "thru the hedge backward" but to those of you who still do there are lines for you ....be careful though, cruise lines all seem to change with the times and follow suit on other lines innovations, Princess will probably follow suit (or should I say follow casual) soon then you will only be left with Cunard....

As long as you casual types don't try to ruin it for us formal types & cruise Cunard, then it's fine by me!

[keithm]

Thank you for your review. Some great tips. However, how would you expect to have Celebrity tell passengers their children/babies could not go into restaurants at 8pm? I don't like screaming children when I'm eating, but I would think Celebrity would be in for a bashing should they tell passengers their children were not welcome in venues. Some people may have to travel with their children and not have anyone to watch them. Should they be restricted to eat early? I think not.:eek::eek::eek:

Many land side rest. are restricting young children & it's about damn time! Hey, if you want a screaming child next to you to ruin a great evening, fine. Not for me & many others. Take the screaming child out side in respect of the other diners.My parents took us to 5 star rest. frequently as little children. Never once did we have to be removed. We behaved! A 21 month old is just too young! We started at about 3 & were fine. The parents of the screamer should be ashamed of themselves. But I'm sure they could care less.

[SheriffJoe]

Good review. Like you, I dislike the downward style in dress. Seems the "Onslows" of the world are taking over. The Queens Grill was the best we've ever had at sea. Luminae is still new, so it may take time. The Grills have pleased for decades! I do suggest you try the Eclipse on one of their Caribbean trips(usually 14 days)the pax seem much more worldly & style conscious than on the smaller Celebrity ships. This is likely due to the 14 days, which are longer than most lines. Most pax we found were retired. WE have not as yet experienced the "Chic" night(we will this coming Jan.)As to the baby crying, I've never seen it as bad as you had it. Sorry if it offends, but I would have politely(but firmly)have asked they take the child out in respect to the other pax. Seeing as they did not, it's probable they could care less about the other diners & their ruined dinner! Nice people! Our butler, Lily was top drawer on the QM2. We loved her. We haven't done suite class on Celebrity, so have no one to compare.

 

LMAO....this has to be one of the most ludicrous statements EVER on CC, "worldly" you are? "style conscious"???? I would put my "worldliness" against 98% of the US population and "style" has nothing to do with a dress code, I have seen some of the most ridiculous "tuxes" on cruise lines formal night that were about as far from stylish as anything, ill fitting, rented and wanna be formal just isn't stylish.....on the other hand smart casual is some of the most "stylish" clothing sold these days, not all but a lot...it really comes down to the person......some can look like a buffoon in a tux, same for smart casual....it all really doesn't matter to me but I do love to laugh at you "style warriors" .....I am HAPPY to report though since you have not done the chic night yet that you will not be happy as you wont find more than 5 to 10% dressed formally, even on your "worldly pax" 14 day carrib cruise!:D Our last 2 X cruises actually had about twice as many jeans wearers as even suit wearers much less tuxes....yet I still managed to suffer though dinner somehow with those dreaded jeans all around, my "Dockers" were aghast having to share the MDR with those lowly jeans but together we managed to put down dinner, a few glasses of vino, an aperitif or 2 and a cappuccino with dessert.....OH THE HORROR!

[SeaHunt]

As long as you casual types don't try to ruin it for us formal types & cruise Cunard, then it's fine by me!

 

This comment made me remember reading cpc3639's post over on the Cunard board today :rolleyes:

 

Just come off QV and passengers constantly ignored dress code and I never saw anyone turned away from dining room or theatre - even on formal evenings!

[keithm]

This comment made me remember reading cpc3639's post over on the Cunard board today :rolleyes:

Wasn't on the ship so I can't comment on how accurate the poster was. You always have a few who challenge any dress code on any line. As a whole, Cunard is "normally" noted for enforcing their codes. The Victoria was more slack than the QM2.