Improvements to Ocean View dinner service this week on the Edge

[AbbyCruiser45]

I hesitate even making this topic because I know people get heated about it, but I wanted to share some good news! My parents are on the Edge right now for a B2B. They did a Southern Caribbean 10 day leg last week and a few days ago started the 11 day Panama Canal portion of the trip. On the first portion of the trip, my mom said the buffet was similar to how it's been described here for the dinner service, just a lot of casseroles, pre-made dishes, etc. She also said that the MDR was much busier without the buffet absorbing maybe around 10-15% of guests per night. During this portion of the trip, they noticed the MDR was less busy despite the capacity on the ship being the same, so they went to Ocean View to investigate!

 

My mom shared that there were more stations open and she confirmed this with crew. An officer in Ocean View said they have added back more stations to the buffet and had every single station open last night. Additionally, they'll plan to have the full buffet open on the Panama Canal day and they are working towards having Ocean View fully back for dinner. The officer confirmed the grill station was open last night and my mom said the pasta station was open and there were fresh vegetables. I've included some pictures she sent me. She sent a video for more detail, but the quality was not good because of her internet (I did get it though, which would have been unheard of without Starlink!) 

 

So don't shoot the messenger and I am sorry if this is not happening on your ship currently, but it looks like things are on the way up! Likely after a month of Celebrity getting slammed by poor reviews. 

 

[jelayne]

Thanks for sharing your parents findings.  Hopefully Celebrity will find a happy medium with sufficient options at dinner and reduced waste.

[retired067]

Thanks for the update, glad to hear X listened 

[jdeer76]

This is good to hear.   Thank you for posting and for the pictures.   And please pass on my thanks to your parents

[RichYak]

This is great news! Thanks for sharing.

[newtocruiseinblue]

Yay!! Positive news!!! Love it! ❤️💝🥰

[ymncruise]

Yay! Thanks for the good news. I hope it continues!

[Ducky Deau]

I am on the following cruise, was worried about my purchased drink package.

I can't imagine anything derailing my fun. Just so happy to be kicking bak and  to be cruising again !

 

Duck

[Silkroad]

Thanks for sharing this great news, and many thanks to your mom for the update and the photos! I’m one of those who does sometimes prefer dinner in OVC, so I’m very happy to read your post.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Yeah!  I suspect a combination of comments and a steady addition of crew members is responsible. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

Great news. Here’s hoping this trajectory continues!

[Cruisegirl6]

Great news, I hope it is for all the ships, going on the Beyond march 19th.

[twincheryl]

On Apex last month, I spoke to the Oceanview manager who said they would like nothing more than to get back to normal, or close to that.  Hope all of our comments and emails have made a little bit of impact fleet wide.  We're on Summit in May, so we'll see!

[Elvis1209]

I'm on Silhouette next week.  I'll let you know how things are.

 

Elvis

[WonderMan3]

While I would love to think that all the uproar here and from cruisers contacting Celebrity directly resulted in this reversal, I suspect it may be more that the increased traffic to the MDR was too much for them. 

[Honolulu Blue]

6 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

While I would love to think that all the uproar here and from cruisers contacting Celebrity directly resulted in this reversal, I suspect it may be more that the increased traffic to the MDR was too much for them. 

First of all, @AbbyCruiser45, thank you for spreading the good news!  I hope this spreads fleetwide, but we'll have to see.

 

Second, part of the reason the OVC was cut back - according to conversations by others with certain executive-types - is because they WANTED TO DRIVE PEOPLE TO THE MDR!  🤣  Perhaps TPTB learned a lesson in being careful what they wish for?  One can only hope. 🙏

[randomcruise]

Great! Hope this sticks and is applied to other ships

[jelayne]

14 hours ago, Elvis1209 said:

I'm on Silhouette next week.  I'll let you know how things are.

 

Elvis

Please do, with pictures if you can.  Hoping some others boarding this weekend on other ships will report also.

[TeaBag]

Thank you for posting the good news.  We will not be on Celebrity again till 2024, so hopefully everything will be back to normal as it was pre COVID.

[cruisequeen4ever]

That’s very good news, and I hope it applies to all ships!

[C4HCG]

15 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

While I would love to think that all the uproar here and from cruisers contacting Celebrity directly resulted in this reversal, I suspect it may be more that the increased traffic to the MDR was too much for them. 

Does it really matter?

[C4HCG]

Let’s hope it gets the amount of customers using it to justify the decision. We love it, celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary there, a night we will never forget (my stupid husband had only packed shorts so we couldn’t go anywhere else 😄). But we love it and are taking our son and girlfriend with us on our next cruise and they love buffets.

[mayleeman]

@AbbyCruiser45 Nothing to fear when you make a post as helpful and comprehensive as yours is! It was especially useful that your "source" was reporting better news after experiencing the downside. (And it is wonderful for them that they are ending their cruise on the positive side.)

 

Hope they continue to enjoy it!!!

[dodger1964]

Great news. Hope it continues. We get on this ship on Friday. We had already decided that we are sticking with our normal cruise dinner tradition of NOT eating in the MDR.  We are elite plus on X and have never eaten in MDR. Based on recent internet chatter we had been considering changing plan, but just last night decided we wouldn’t starve with whatever the buffet had to offer.

 

thanks for posting!

 

 

[Ocdublin]

I’m wondering if your ship had a late port departure, I’ve notice they will then open the oceanview for late dinner since most people have been out on excursion.