Awful State of Ocean View Cafe for dinner

[Georgia_Peaches]

15 minutes ago, stringbean10 said:

Maybe I'm missing it - but the 'reduced' buffet did have 2 soups.  A turkey carving station - something 'ethnic' - the chop suey, a salad bar and a dessert station. 

Oh good to know!  I haven't been on Celebrity since 2019 so am relying on all the intel I can gather before our cruise on Solstice in March.  

[Cap_D]

7 minutes ago, Harrylinden said:

Can't be any worse than having bologna and cheap lunchmeat in the OVC for lunch instead of the good lunchmeat they used to have like turkey!! Who put's bologna on a buffet (Everyday)!

Exactly.  There's a huge reliance on bologna and similar lunch meats.

[Georgia_Peaches]

7 minutes ago, Harrylinden said:

Who put's bologna on a buffet (Everyday)!

Did you happen to notice if they had chicken or tuna salad on the lunch buffet?

[dcbiker97]

2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Did you happen to notice if they had chicken or tuna salad on the lunch buffet?

Tuna salad (and salmon salad) is almost always at the spa cafe. I have that and some of the Asian noodles as a lunch at least half the time on a cruise. 

[Harrylinden]

4 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Did you happen to notice if they had chicken or tuna salad on the lunch buffet?

Yes they did have chicken and tuna salad! It was good but I always like a good turkey sandwhich for lunch and was disappointed they only had it 1 day out of the 16 days we were on the Reflection for the Christmas/New Year cruise !

Edited January 16, 2023 by Harrylinden

[NutsAboutGolf]

13 minutes ago, flviking said:

Agree.  A real buffet can be found at Bellagio. And $100+ tickets to see Cirque.  Awesomeness.  But for us the flights, hotels, meals and shows can easily be double the price of a balcony.  Get less, pay less.  But those strip hotel rates have gone through the roof as well.

 

Vegas offers superior entertainment and food including the buffet (Bellagio buffet weekend dinner was recently $65 before tax and tip) but are very pricey on the strip.  Thanks to uber/lyft you can find affordable accommodations, food and show options off the strip.  All sorts of guides out there to show you how

[kwokpot]

22 minutes ago, flviking said:

Agree.  A real buffet can be found at Bellagio. And $100+ tickets to see Cirque.  Awesomeness.  But for us the flights, hotels, meals and shows can easily be double the price of a balcony.  Get less, pay less.  But those strip hotel rates have gone through the roof as well.

The Bacchanal buffet at Caesars Palace is far superior to Bellagio and considered the best in Vegas although at a higher price point. 

[C4HCG]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I was happy to see the video posted so that the Celebrity cheerleaders and naysayers could see the changes, they have been denying on other threads, posted by someone who was actually on a cruise before and after the changes. Not really surprised as this is what was expected when Celebrity let a bean counter run the company. Add in the huge increases in cabin costs and it gets even worse. Our Sky Suite that we booked last February on the Edge for the January 2024 NZ cruise has gone up 40% since we booked. If we were booking today, we would be looking at Oceania or Viking Ocean and not Celebrity. We did book two weeks ago an 18-day South America cruise for March 2025 on Oceania. We had planned on booking the Equinox for 14 nights, but we can do 18 nights with Oceania for the price of 14 nights on Equinox with 4 more port stops. I am one of the ones on CC who sent an email to Celebrity Corporate about our dissatisfaction with the changes in service and huge price increases, and how they were driving us Elite loyalty members to look elsewhere.  So far all I have heard back is crickets. 

I think to call those who post positively on this board, “Celebrity Cheerleaders” is a tad harsh, we are all entitled to opinions and to express them.

[Cap_D]

13 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

The Bacchanal buffet at Caesars Palace is far superior to Bellagio and considered the best in Vegas although at a higher price point. 

Agree 100%.  As between Caesars, Bellagio, and Wynn, each may have a certain appeal based on certain dishes, dessert preferences, etc.  Caesars does seem to be  a notch or more better in most categories.  As recently as a few weeks ago, Caesars quality and selection were as good as pre-pandemic, and had many of the same cooks and servers that are pros.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Cap_D

[bEwAbG]

As an aside, you can say Facebook as much as you want and can even link to relevant info there.  The prohibition is on soliciting people to join a roll call hosted on FB or other such sites. 

[Chardonnay Char]

8 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

If one can't get by with the dinner buffet that X now provides - out of necessity - shame on you. If one can get by with the current buffet but feels the need to complain, shame on you more. Plenty of food, plenty of choices, even for the gobblers onboard. The video showed me how well X is doing in continuing to provide a very satisfactory casual evening meal. 

 

Of course, many will say, I understand that times are tough, and business is rough, but gimme, gimme, gimme anyway. I'm here to eat, drink and be merry, at Celebrity's expense not mine. How dare you to raise prices and levy cutbacks in the name of profitability. Oh, and by the way, I need to know every- thing about your business plan, when and how it will be implemented. Gimme, gimme, gimme.  With gluttony comes waste, lots of waste. That's okay, it is at X's expense not mine.  

When people are paying several hundred a day for a cruise, nobody should have to "get by" -- especially on a cruise line that built its reputation on having the best food.  

[drowelf]

3 hours ago, flviking said:

We are on Infinity in less than two weeks.  One important part of the YouTube video was the changes from December to January.  We had great cruises in 2022.  We will soon find out how the experience and our perception of value changes with the January 2023 changes.

We too are on the Infinity in less that two weeks. Once we experience what is actually going on in the OVC and MDR, we will be sure to let the appropriate folks at Celebrity know our thoughts. My DW already has a hard enough time in both the MDR and the buffet dealing with the over abundant use of bell peppers in a variety of dishes. We often don't really want to spend 2+ hours in the MDR for dinner. Some nights we are just not up to getting cleaned up and dressed, especially after a long port day.  

 

On the app, it still shows Prime Rib for the embarkation night dinner. We will have to see if that sticks. 

[Guest TopoChico]

1 hour ago, stringbean10 said:

Yes I did.  "Buffets in general are disgusting" I proclaimed for all the land to hear! 🤣.

 

And you are right, I think I'll leave all the handwringing over a lack of hotdogs alone.  Y'all have fun!

 

Because that’s what this is about. Hot dogs. 

Other people are smart to ignore your ridiculous comments.  I will now too. 

[Guest TopoChico]

10 minutes ago, drowelf said:

We too are on the Infinity in less that two weeks. Once we experience what is actually going on in the OVC and MDR, we will be sure to let the appropriate folks at Celebrity know our thoughts. My DW already has a hard enough time in both the MDR and the buffet dealing with the over abundant use of bell peppers in a variety of dishes. We often don't really want to spend 2+ hours in the MDR for dinner. Some nights we are just not up to getting cleaned up and dressed, especially after a long port day.  

 

On the app, it still shows Prime Rib for the embarkation night dinner. We will have to see if that sticks. 

We did have Prime Rib on the first night and it was delicious! 

[jean87510]

2 hours ago, stringbean10 said:

Yes, it sounds like you would be happier with a dive intensive land vacation.   You would get more time diving and spend more time in the area. 

I think you are missing the point and have been for several pages.  

[bonagrad]

3 hours ago, stringbean10 said:

I bet Celebrity's legal team disagrees  - I bet the current offerings are vastly different then when I first sailed Celebrity in the 90s.  Should I be up in arms and demanding OBC because it is different now?  Things change - some for the better some for the worse.  Would you rather sail on Celebrity's oldest ship with a December 15th buffet or a brand new ship with a reduced buffet?  There isn't infinite money - they have to make choices.  The nice thing is - you get to make those choices too! 

 

Come on!  There is a huge difference between what it was in the 90s and now vs. the last week of December 2022 and the first week of 2023.  Anyone that booked in the last year book with the understanding that we'd have the OVC we've come to know.  Celebrity is a $3B company and Royal is a $10B company.  I understand that the last couple years have been rough, but cutting back to be the worst dinner buffet at sea isn't going to earn them any repeat business, especially from those of us that didn't pay for lesser quality when we made our final payments.

Edited January 16, 2023 by bonagrad

[drowelf]

11 minutes ago, TopoChico said:

We did have Prime Rib on the first night and it was delicious! 

and that was when? 

[jean87510]

2 hours ago, TopoChico said:

That video was extremely sad. That’s what we and many others looked forward to.  We also don’t do the shows or the trivia or any of the activities. We go for the ports and the food. 
I believe this is a giant misstep that they will be quickly correcting.  We were on Royal in April and it was almost as bad.
 

 

This set up would not have gone over well on my recent Voyager cruise out of San Juan in December.  The Buffet was absolutely mobbed at all hours while open.  Looked like seagulls at the beach.

The thing about cruises is I love the port intensive and going to a different island every day.  I'm so tired after a day of walking, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking that I really have no energy to dress up, do my hair, and sit in a restaurant for an hour or 2 where I'm fighting to stay awake at 7pm.  I just want to grab and go.  I don't give a crap about food experiences.  And I remember meeting a lot of the different officers in the buffet at night on different ships who were quite friendly.  That one video was so depressing.

[bonagrad]

7 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

This set up would not have gone over well on my recent Voyager cruise out of San Juan in December.  The Buffet was absolutely mobbed at all hours while open.  Looked like seagulls at the beach.

The thing about cruises is I love the port intensive and going to a different island every day.  I'm so tired after a day of walking, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking that I really have no energy to dress up, do my hair, and sit in a restaurant for an hour or 2 where I'm fighting to stay awake at 7pm.  I just want to grab and go.  I don't give a crap about food experiences.  And I remember meeting a lot of the different officers in the buffet at night on different ships who were quite friendly.  That one video was so depressing.

We had the same experience on our Canada/NE Voyager cruise in September.

[Georgia_Peaches]

8 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

I don't give a crap about food experiences.

While it sounds as though you certainly maximize your time in port, regarding food...it's my opinion that most cruisers do give a crap about their food experience as it's part of the draw (or used to be) of cruising.  I remember when preparing for my first cruise back in 1992, some friends of mine talked extensively about the food, how great it was, so much of it, midnight buffets, unlimited room service...you name it!  That was on Carnival Fantasy...a honeymoon cruise..and the food did not disappoint.

[ISABELLA]

Very disappointing to read about all these  negative changes at Celebrity. Doesn't looks like a luxury line anymore, nor ever was. But enjoyed X product. We had such a great cruise last March. Food was great. I used to enjoy good food at MDR and Murano, also OVC for lunch. Now we will have to wait to see how many more negative reviews will come out after all these changes, before we book another cruise with X. Celebrity might over doing it.  Prices are up, quality is down = customer loss. Not complicated math.

[Mounanian]

I'm on the reflection right now and for day 2 dinner tonight (chic) it was dead. Half of the OVC was closed and selection was minimal. I wish there had at least been Indian. Ate chicken, rice and grilled veg 😑

 

Would have gone to main but no reservations available 

[pilot]

On the Apex. Went up to the buffet after dinner in the dining room. We are docked in San Juan and have a late departure. Not sure if it was one off, but there were a lot more stations open tonight. There was a carving station and the grill was open for cook to order small steaks, chicken and fish. A big improvement over the first night 

 

We eat in the dining rooms and the food and service has been very good. Portions are good size.

 

So far very happy with our first week B2B. 

[retird]

Update::   On Equinox tonight ,in OVC , all stations except grilling station were open and well stocked including carving station.    The OVC had lots of diners from 6:00 pm all the way up to 8:30 .   They had a separate creme brulee station with two attendants preparing them for the guests.    Not sure if this is a one off or the start of something good

[Wakepatrol]

Does this mean , I will be  able to enjoy a half empty ship on my next cruise?

Edited January 17, 2023 by Wakepatrol