Changes that have occurred?

[SSFrance69]

5 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Which ship?  Type of cabin?  Here are a few things.  No more Welcome bubbly when you walk on the ship.  But you can find it in Cafe al Bacio.  The muster drill has been simplified.  No need to put on a life preserver and go outside.  This and many other things you can find by downloading the Celebrity app - which did not exist 6 years ago.  Wifi has been improved - but some still have issues with it.  You can pay for premium.  Specialty restaurant pricing has become much more expensive.  

They have complimentary welcome bubbly at Cafe al Bacio? Is this on all ships?

[govanguy]

16 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

And the wellington is gone

But, you can now have meatloaf in Blue

[phoenix_dream]

Just wanted to add my two cents to the comments (responding to mine, and no offense taken) that searching in Cruise Critic leaves something to be desired.  100% agree.  But on this particular topic it is easy to scroll back a couple pages and find tons of info related to changes.  For awhile there it even topped the dress code threads!

[manmachine]

On 4/22/2023 at 5:28 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

IMO the problem is the search function itself...very user unfriendly.  Type in a search term or topic and any and everything pops up as relevant even when it's not...just because it has a matching search word.  In contrast, if I am researching for something I go to Google and ask my question there.  I can usually find a link to a CC post that way and it is way more relevant than doing my search on the CC site itself.  Regardless, I agree that it just takes a little searching...on whatever vehicle one uses.

100%.  Cruise Critic Search sure ain’t Google.

[davekathy]

On 4/22/2023 at 2:52 PM, spearmint said:

It has been 6 years since my last cruise and I understand some changes have happened,

The CC no longer does the CC HH in the evening like it was before the shutdown. Drinks and snacks in one lounge from 5 to 7:PM. The current CC HH is from 5 to 7:PM (still excluding the first evening) at most bars (depending on the class of ship depends on what bars are excluded). No snacks but the same CC HH beverage menu. 

[TeeRick]

17 hours ago, SSFrance69 said:

They have complimentary welcome bubbly at Cafe al Bacio? Is this on all ships?

There have been quite a few posts here about it being available on a number of ships.  But I do not know if it is actually fleet wide.

[4Nathan]

13 hours ago, davekathy said:

The CC no longer does the CC HH in the evening like it was before the shutdown. Drinks and snacks in one lounge from 5 to 7:PM. The current CC HH is from 5 to 7:PM (still excluding the first evening) at most bars (depending on the class of ship depends on what bars are excluded). No snacks but the same CC HH beverage menu. 

 

13 hours ago, davekathy said:

The CC no longer does the CC HH in the evening like it was before the shutdown. Drinks and snacks in one lounge from 5 to 7:PM. The current CC HH is from 5 to 7:PM (still excluding the first evening) at most bars (depending on the class of ship depends on what bars are excluded). No snacks but the same CC HH beverage menu. 

With free drinks only being offered from 5-7, does this not make for extremely chaotic service at the bars? A recent thread stated there were 600+ Elites on their cruise.  That’s a lot of HH drinks! 

[cgolf1]

January and February were pretty brutal on here and then I think more people started sailing and found that while there are cuts they may not be quite as bad as was thought, or didn't impact them. I know they really didn't impact us all that much, other than I would have liked a few more options in the MDR at night.

 

That said, it sounds like the suite prices are up, doesn't impact us, but would change the value factor for many that cruise that level. Inside rooms, for now are still a really good value and still cheaper than what we used to pay for Disney cruises a decade ago.

Edited April 24, 2023 by cgolf1

[davekathy]

12 minutes ago, 4Nathan said:

 

With free drinks only being offered from 5-7, does this not make for extremely chaotic service at the bars? A recent thread stated there were 600+ Elites on their cruise.  That’s a lot of HH drinks! 

On our September Summit and March Apex cruises (not sure how many elite and above) the bars were always busy and I'm sure the current way the CC HH is done added to that. But we go for pre-dinner drinks at 4:45 and are gone NLT 5:45.  We thought our wait times were reasonable and refills offered when our glasses were near empty. We always get the CBP so we don't order from the limited CC HH beverage menu. 

[cheeseheads4ever]

Yes I’ve never been able to get the search feature on Cruise Critic to work. It brings up everything with the word you type in.  Not even pertaining to the topic you are looking for.

Like you type equinox martini bar. Will bring up every topic with equinox in the topic.

I gave up years ago with this search.

[4Nathan]

13 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Yes I’ve never been able to get the search feature on Cruise Critic to work. It brings up everything with the word you type in.  Not even pertaining to the topic you are looking for.

Like you type equinox martini bar. Will bring up every topic with equinox in the topic.

I gave up years ago with this search.

Once your search results appear, you can refine the filters.  By clicking on Apex AND martini AND bar, you get 195 results instead of 96K.  Good luck!

Didn't find what you were looking for? Try searching for:

• The phrase "Apex martini bar"
•  
• Apex AND martini AND bar
•  
• Newest results first
•  
• Apex martini bar in content titles only

[4Nathan]

55 minutes ago, davekathy said:

On our September Summit and March Apex cruises (not sure how many elite and above) the bars were always busy and I'm sure the current way the CC HH is done added to that. But we go for pre-dinner drinks at 4:45 and are gone NLT 5:45.  We thought our wait times were reasonable and refills offered when our glasses were near empty. We always get the CBP so we don't order from the limited CC HH beverage menu. 

Thank you! After years of cruising with RCI, we are looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise on Apex next March. Our Diamond status will allow us  to enjoy the Elite HH.  Are there any bars on Apex that you find “quieter” for HH?

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, 4Nathan said:

Thank you! After years of cruising with RCI, we are looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise on Apex next March. Our Diamond status will allow us  to enjoy the Elite HH.  Are there any bars on Apex that you find “quieter” for HH?

The Eden deck 5. Out of the main stream of traffic flow. Martini bar was the most popular. Unlike RC CAS  you can not get your Celebrity CC HH drinks in the dining venues. 

[spearmint]

I  had forgotten that I was Elite status and some of you members here reminded me.   If my memory serves me correctly, the Celebrity Cruises happy hour occurred up in the fully windowed lounge on the top(?) deck., and we had to show our card at the door for proof of eligibility.  Servers continually wandered around with trays of drinks and/or munchies, I think from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 

  Am I interpreting comments here to mean that the "event" now takes  place at one or more bars around the ship? If so, are other shipmates also in the bar?  How does that work?  My two traveling companions would not be welcome with the "old" method.

 

Thanks for the heads up, people! 🙂

 

Bill

[cruiserchuck]

29 minutes ago, spearmint said:

Am I interpreting comments here to mean that the "event" now takes  place at one or more bars around the ship? If so, are other shipmates also in the bar?  How does that work?  My two traveling companions would not be welcome with the "old" method.

 

Yes, the elite happy hour event is now at most bars on the ship.  Between 5:00 pm and 7:0 pm, you show your room card to the bartender and you can get a drink.  There was some confusion on my recent Solstice cruise about what beers were included.  I never saw a listing of the included drinks at any of the bars. 

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, spearmint said:

I  had forgotten that I was Elite status and some of you members here reminded me.   If my memory serves me correctly, the Celebrity Cruises happy hour occurred up in the fully windowed lounge on the top(?) deck., and we had to show our card at the door for proof of eligibility.  Servers continually wandered around with trays of drinks and/or munchies, I think from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 

  Am I interpreting comments here to mean that the "event" now takes  place at one or more bars around the ship? If so, are other shipmates also in the bar?  How does that work?  My two traveling companions would not be welcome with the "old" method.

 

Thanks for the heads up, people! 🙂

 

Bill

The CC HH is no longer an organized event in Sky Lounge from 5 to 7 with drinks and snacks. The CC still calls it the CC HH but you can go to most bars between 5 to 7 and order your drinks from the CC limited beverage menu. No snacks, no CC concierge. Just show the server at the bar you want a drink at your SeaPass card and tell the server you'd like the CC beverage menu to order your drinks from. 

[spearmint]

cruiserchuck and davekathy:

That is so encouraging; I can have Elite status and still have my friends with me (should they choose) at that time.  My wife and I always went to CC HH and we were always on our own so we did not really care.   Now that I am on my own, with two ladies who are not CC members, I am pleased.  Otherwise, I would maybe be giving up my status.

 

So. A definite change.  And a good thing, as well.  🙂

 

Bill

[NMTraveller]

On 4/24/2023 at 7:28 AM, cgolf1 said:

January and February were pretty brutal on here and then I think more people started sailing and found that while there are cuts they may not be quite as bad as was thought, or didn't impact them. I know they really didn't impact us all that much, other than I would have liked a few more options in the MDR at night.

 

That said, it sounds like the suite prices are up, doesn't impact us, but would change the value factor for many that cruise that level. Inside rooms, for now are still a really good value and still cheaper than what we used to pay for Disney cruises a decade ago.

Actually the pictures of the OVC in January and February were totally pathetic.  And then Celebrity rolled back about 80% of the changes after numerous complaints.

[cgolf1]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

Actually the pictures of the OVC in January and February were totally pathetic.  And then Celebrity rolled back about 80% of the changes after numerous complaints.

 

They might have now, but on our PC cruise the buffet was useless at night and no prime rib either. I also felt that the lunch buffet was repetitive and not as many choices as we saw in the past, even post pandemic. My review thread covered it post cruise. I made do at meals, but definitely felt more limited in choices. Thankfully with the exception of 1 or 2 dishes everything tasted really good. It just wasn't what we had seen on the Constellation the year before.

 

I still think if we sailed in suites instead of insides we would have been more disappointed, but overall we had a great trip and the changes didn't impact us that much at all, other than changing our 2025 cruise from and E class to an S class ship. The E class wasn't as good for us the second time around for a variety of reasons.

 

I guess it's good things are changing, but didn't help out a lot of us that sailed in that window. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by cgolf1

[DesertRat46]

Currently on the Silhouette and agree the changes/cuts that we notice most is the fee for room service food and the higher prices in Tuscan Grill, etc.

The breakfast/lunch buffet is OK, but at lunch, in particular, they seem to repeat the same menu day-after-day. Looked at dinner offering once, kinda sparse, but even a picky eater, such as yours truly,  could find a meal.

[Loracpin2]

The changes started when Celebrity became part of RCI in 1997 and not all were for the better!!!!! 

 

I disticntly recall when we were on Med cruise on the Celebrity Galaxy and found out a dinner that RCI had just required Celebrity. We were travelling with our closest friends and were seated with 2 other couples.  When the Maitre'd shared the news with us, we all looked at each other and said....."this can't be good"!!! 

[miched]

Kelly ruined the cabins with her designs.  
 

Doesn’t have the bourbon selections like they use to have in the premium package.  They use to have Blanton, Bookers, Knob Creek, Bakers, and  Basil Hayden.  The best now is Woodford and maybe Double Oak. 
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[NutsAboutGolf]

We have a new CEO, let's see what happens if anything after she's settled in.  Most prefer to make their presence known under their rein vs status quo.  Personally, I'm hoping for better complimentary food as my chief complaints are baked desserts, chicken dishes, classic sirloin and the entire Mast Grill.  I'd also recommend more entertainment including GOLF swing simulators (I understand they once had them and not popular but that was old technology)

[jagoffee]

On 4/24/2023 at 9:17 AM, 4Nathan said:

 

With free drinks only being offered from 5-7, does this not make for extremely chaotic service at the bars? A recent thread stated there were 600+ Elites on their cruise.  That’s a lot of HH drinks! 

Yes, the bars that offer the drinks from the HH menu are crowded between 5-7 PM.

 

It has been been a long time since one had to go to the Sky Lounge and/or the Michael’s Club to get free drinks.  It started with the drink coupons on Elite heavy cruises.  Maybe 10 years ago?

Edited April 26, 2023 by jagoffee

[jagoffee]

48 minutes ago, miched said:

Kelly ruined the cabins with her designs.  
 

Doesn’t have the bourbon selections like they use to have in the premium package.  They use to have Blanton, Bookers, Knob Creek, Bakers, and  Basil Hayden.  The best now is Woodford and maybe Double Oak. 
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Buffalo trace on the first restart Apex TA.