What Do You Miss About Celebrity?

[SusieV]

Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic since I'm on Summit next Saturday and recalling my first sailing on her in 2005, but it's got me thinking about the little touches that I miss that my partner won't even know existed since he's a new cruiser.

 

What do you miss, that Celebrity used to offer and they no longer do?

 

For me, it's mostly the little touches:

 

-the harpist in the specialty restaurants

-casual dining restaurant up near the buffet

-florist onboard to buy corsages or boutonnieres for formal night

-more live entertainment

-better staffing in the MDR (more assistant waiters, more wine stewards) for better service

-live poker tables

-golf simulator

 

I do like a lot of the new things on the ships like more specialty restaurants (although I miss the times when they would make offmenu things- it seems much more difficult to get them now than in previous years), the drink packages, and the larger ships with more venues, but I do miss some of those little touches. I wonder how much cutting back staff actually saved Celebrity since labour is so cheap.

[davekathy]

Evening pillow chocolates.

[dkjretired]

The old Chef in charge of dining on all the ships, Michel Roux and the MDR experience in the early 90s. The Service and Food every night in the MDR was better than that which you get in the Specialty Restaurants currently and it was all part of the fare. Would like to stress this was every night.

Edited October 5, 2016 by dkjretired

[Karynanne]

Our first Celebrity cruise was in 1999. I remember being escorted to our cabin. It was a special touch.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[spearmint]

That's easy.

 

I miss everyone in formal dress all over the ship on formal nights.

 

I miss the harp player in different venus.

 

Most of all, I miss the wonderful menu from Michel Roux. Since then, the Jacques Van Stadden menus were just OK. And after his time, whoever has taken over is a complete failure as far as I am concerned. For the JvS menus, I often chose the everyday menu in the dining room. Since his departure, I always (90+% of the time) had to choose the everyday menu.

 

On our sixth Silhouette sailing in the fall of 2015, I had enough. I am Elite on Celebrity and with the exception of three trips on RCCL, all 24 of our cruises have been with Celebrity. The everyday menu quality on last year's Silhouette sailing was so bad that we decided to do a Princess Cruise on Regal in April 2026. That was hard for me, as I am one of those people who hate change. But. We are doing the same itinerary, back to back, on Regal again in November. The public spaces on Regal are so much more elegant than those of Solstice and her sisters. The food choice is better, the main theatre shows are better in both production and performers. And we don't have to dance at the bottom of a damned, crowded staircase below the elevator shaft, and on formal nights competing with the ubiquiious photographers.

 

What do I miss now? I miss the perks of being Elite loyalty level.

 

I actually came on the Celebrity boards today, to ask if anyone had noticed any improvement in Celebrity's offerings especially in the dining room, and your thread was the first one on the list, so here I am. I am looking forward to seeing the responses of our fellow cruise critic members.

 

Bill

Edited October 5, 2016 by spearmint

[Orator]

Looking back usually makes things appear better than they actually were. I'd rather focus on the present and the future. We still have pillow chocolates. Never visited the florist. Can easily find my cabin without help. Much prefer the expansion of dining options; adding levels to Loyalty Program; Michael's Club and improved internet. I'm happy as long as they continue to employ outstanding staff.

[TeaBag]

Michel Roux

Harpist in Sp dining. She also played for the fancy aft tea.

Daily water in Aqua class

Free Zumba classes

Pkg of documents, luggage tags etc mailed to the house and doing the happy dance when we got them.

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

Michel Roux

Harpist in Sp dining. She also played for the fancy aft tea.

Daily water in Aqua class

Free Zumba classes

Pkg of documents, luggage tags etc mailed to the house and doing the happy dance when we got them.

 

Funny, I have totally forgotten that we used to get documents and luggage tags in the mail. I agree, it was exciting to get them for some reason...open it up, triple check everything and then put with the passports. I do miss that.

...and the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury.

Edited October 5, 2016 by rickechambers1@aol.com

[hcat]

All of the above: and

 

Daily bottled water delivery in Aquaclass

Real T pools..

Reggae island bands, Jimmy Buffet style guitarist

Greater comraderie among guests

Dru Pavlov.... very classy cd

[zoncom]

Miss deck 12 of Century. The pale blue, green and salmon Eisenhower jackets of wait staff on Chandris days and early X And white glove service..My friend misses the nightly french served vegtables.

[NLH Arizona]

I miss the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury, as I loved those ships.

[spearmint]

Yes! All of the above. I had forgotten so much, like Caribbean music on a Caribbean cruise, documents in the mail with the accompanying excitement, water and ice in the cabin at all times, the thalassotherapy pools (don't you wish that the M-class ships were still running on the main routes from the main terminals?).

 

And normally,yes, looking back may make things seem better than they were.

 

But not in this case.

 

I cannot comment about other lines, but Celebrity is offering less than they used to ... in ambience and style (the reason that we chose them). But then, they had to compete to get the bodies on board, but in so doing are not that distinguishable from the others any more. Sad, but that seems to be the economic reality.

 

Bill

Edited October 5, 2016 by spearmint

[maggie.1008]

When they had a florist on board they would offer free classes. It was so fun. The MDR was so relaxing with great service. I no longer enjoy the MDR as waiters are too rushed.

[Cruzinram]

Being escorted to your cabin

The harpist and or piano player in the MDR

Michel Roux

Edited October 5, 2016 by Cruzinram

[ghstudio]

We miss enough that we just booked a Princess cruise this summer and are cancelling an asian celebrity cruise earlier in the year. Given the changes on Celebrity, it's time to see if Princess is a good alternative for family/friend cruises. We've already started to book on Oceania and other lines when we cruise alone and we just completed a 2 week river cruise (obviously not on Celebrity). Yes Celebrity, we have heard your message....we aren't important to you. We're happy to let those young wealthy folks, your current target audience, book the aqua cabins we would have booked.

 

It's not one change...it's the sum total of the changes we've seen over the years. Probably the final nail was the change in the aqua class water policy.

 

We haven't completely abandon Celebrity...we're just putting our toes in the water with HAL (given their new smoking policy) and Princess....and those are $10K toes.

 

After our annual cruise with friends in December, it will be the first time in many years that we won't have a single Celebrity cruise booked. Oh, we're still cruising but those $'s are going elsewhere.

 

I don't think we're alone.....

Edited October 5, 2016 by ghstudio

[jasm8449]

Having staff carry your tray to a clean table at the buffet

 

String quartet

 

Smoother calmer service and fine dining in the MDR. Too frenzied now.

 

More choice on room service breakfast menu

 

Activities staff

 

What I don't miss:

 

Not having a choice of dining venues. (Though prices are too high)

 

Coming back from ports between lunch and dinner with no place serving food...not even the buffet.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[lvz2cruz]

Funny, I have totally forgotten that we used to get documents and luggage tags in the mail. I agree, it was exciting to get them for some reason...open it up, triple check everything and then put with the passports. I do miss that.

...and the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury.

 

and the Horizon and Zenith docking in Hamilton and St. Georges Bermuda.

[vedettes1]

They used to have Caribbean music in the Caribbean? What a concept!:rolleyes: Our first Celebrity Caribbean cruise was in 2014 and there was absolutely nothing Caribbean on the ship. Do they not understand how easy and cheap it would be to hire a band from the area?

[hcat]

When they had a florist on board they would offer free classes. It was so fun. The MDR was so relaxing with great service. I no longer enjoy the MDR as waiters are too rushed.

 

If you enjoy the flowers, and classes. check out Cunard Queen Victoria...offering a great garden cruise which we are seriously considering...what a great idea! They also have an art and literary themed cruise too.

 

Also forgot to mention the fancy baked breads and pastries at every meal....

[hcat]

They used to have Caribbean music in the Caribbean? What a concept!:rolleyes: Our first Celebrity Caribbean cruise was in 2014 and there was absolutely nothing Caribbean on the ship. Do they not understand how easy and cheap it would be to hire a band from the area?

 

They had great authentic island bands..our fav was Opus...stolen by another cruise line.??,.Also Flare...still enjoy the CD..now on our ipod. They then went to a solo steel drum player who could sing island songs...as budgets reduced so did live performers. A tape does not have to be paid much, fed or housed but does not do much to get a party started!

 

The Party bands were also much better..Onyx was great. Now we get a good one every so often..same for the guitar players...acoustic and classical....Also great jazz groups..

 

Now at certain bars they play loud recorded stuff you have to scream over to be heard. The times they are a Changin!

[PoppyandNana]

Couple of things. Used to get peanuts in all the lounges. Now you get this mixture of strange looking and tasting things.

 

Starting to see more "DJ" music in some areas where there used to be live music. Not in all cases but concerned this might be a trend.

[Texed]

Michel Roux and the MDR experience in the early 90s.

 

Mr. Don,

 

I agree with you. :)

[PoppyandNana]

Funny, I have totally forgotten that we used to get documents and luggage tags in the mail. I agree, it was exciting to get them for some reason...open it up, triple check everything and then put with the passports. I do miss that.

...and the Century, Galaxy, and Mercury.

 

You can get luggage tags by mail if you request them. Documents of course are printed at home.

[bphman]

What I miss the most is the food under Michel Roux and the excellent job Apollo did managing food services.

 

I used to get excited opening the cruise documents. It was almost like smelling a newly mimeographed test in school (showing my age).

 

The harpist and piano while dining.

 

Complete room service for all categories.

 

The cosiness of the Horizon and Zenith.

 

I DON'T miss how the Galaxy and Century vibrated in the aft cabins and MDR.

[sasset]

Harpist, string quartet, and, as late diners, the late show at 1030PM.