After 31 Days on Eurodam we went to Celebrity Apex and almost instantly regretted it!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Celebrity is nice Holland is better.

[nooligans]

13 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Are you referring to Cafe al Bacio?  All the food in the cases there is free.

I am currently on the Apex. The food at the Cafe al Bacio is free, but right across the corridor there is a bakery that charges for each piece of pastry (croissants, cookies, etc.). There is also a sports pub that charges for food (for instance, $9 for french fries).

[Real NHDOC]

Ran into a couple last night onboard Apex who lamented having ordered two martinis in the martini bar and being handed a bill for $47. One of the other problems is they have prices for some drinks in the menu but others aren’t listed so you seem to pay whatever they feel is appropriate. I ordered a $10 glass of pinot gris from the menu in one bar and inexplicably was charged $11 for it. So you cannot even trust the menus. 

[Real NHDOC]

I also remembered that on the first day I asked our room steward for a pen and note pad (typically found in every HAL cabin upon embarking) so we could leave him a note if we needed anything and he told me “there are no pens and note pads are only given to guests staying in suites”. He said he would try and find me a pencil. I told him I would leave my notes in lipstick written on the mirror then. He found me a note pad and pen. 
 

They leave room service menus in the cabin but no pen to fill them out with?

 

And wine in the mini bar but no wine glasses?  
 

Who does this?

Edited March 5 by Real NHDOC

[daisy-mae]

10 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

They leave room service menus in the cabin but no pen to fill them out with?

 

 

How difficult would it be to simply pack some writing materials along with all of the other assorted paraphernalia in preparation for a cruise? It's not like a pen takes up valuable luggage space...

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, Real NHDOC said:

I also remembered that on the first day I asked our room steward for a pen and note pad (typically found in every HAL cabin upon embarking) so we could leave him a note if we needed anything and he told me “there are no pens and note pads are only given to guests staying in suites”. He said he would try and find me a pencil. I told him I would leave my notes in lipstick written on the mirror then. He found me a note pad and pen. 
 

They leave room service menus in the cabin but no pen to fill them out with?

 

And wine in the mini bar but no wine glasses?  
 

Who does this?

 

Good line, I love it! 🤣

[nooligans]

My memory was slightly off with respect to food charges on the Apex. Here’s some photos of the up-charges in the casual restaurants. 

[Real NHDOC]

2 hours ago, daisy-mae said:

How difficult would it be to simply pack some writing materials along with all of the other assorted paraphernalia in preparation for a cruise? It's not like a pen takes up valuable luggage space...

Literally cannot remember staying in any hotel or cruise ship cabin where a pen and pad wasn’t either left on the desk or made available. 
 

 

[Rockit]

We did try Celebrity last year after quite a few HAL cruises. We went from the Rotterdam to the Constellation. In all fairness I will not compare the ships as one is fairly new and the other is really showing it’s age.Things we liked on celebrity were the outside TV on the top deck, comfortable area to just chill. On this particular cruise / ship the entertainment was good.        The room stewards were very good as well as service on the Constellation throughout. As for the specialty restaurants, we liked The Blu for the atmosphere and service. The food was Ok but not the level of HAL. The specialty restaurant Tuscan Grill was a disappointment from the quality of food stand point (again compared to HAL) and the minuscule portion size for the price. The Cafe al bacio was very good, for us it was the highlight. The poolside grill for burgers etc. was sorely lacking in taste and overall quality, it cannot compare to the Dive in.  I realize that taste is subjective, however for us, HAL ticks all the boxes that more than suits our needs for the cruise vacation experience we like. 
Cheers,

Rockit

[Real NHDOC]

Imagine what would happen if HAL started charging for the food at the Dutch Cafe?  Mutiny!

 

Anyway our sentence aboard Apex ends on Saturday and we will join the Nieuw Statendam on Sunday for four weeks. Looking forward to being back on HAL. While HAL certainly has areas they can improve upon, our stay on Apex has made us appreciate HAL more than ever. 

[Riversedge]

We are 5* with HAL so obviously have sailed with them a bit.  About a year ago friends asked us to join them on Celebrity Apex for a 12 day Med cruise.  
 

At first the Apex totally wowed us.  There were so many areas to explore, beautiful spaces and many places to get food.  We loved it.  The ship seemed vibrant and alive although not a crazy wild atmosphere.  Average age was slightly less than HAL.  The entertainment was unbelievable. Things going on all over the ship.  It was a fairly port intensive cruise but on sea days there were always many things to do.   Their downfall was the quality of the food and the friendliness of the crew.  We weren’t expecting that.  They have few Indonesian or Phillipino crew members and we all know how much we love them on HAL.  We would sail this ship again.

 

On HAL, we love the crew and food is somewhat better than it was on the Apex.  I get tired of the monotony of the menus but that’s probably because we usually sail on long cruises.   As many will agree, HAL needs to improve on their entertainment.  The music walk is fun but blasts your eardrums apart.  How many times can you see Origins Story and BBC snakes and such.  A movie in the World Stage does not take the place of live entertainment.  We’ve seen comedians with the same jokes as 4 years previously.  Mostly we are unhappy with daily sea days activities.  Coloring for adults?  Making pictures from doodles?  Pickle ball (ok if you can play on your knees) Bridge, Mahjong,   There might be a fun coffee talk or port presentation.  But otherwise it’s ways for HAL to make money on casino, foot analysis, spa extras, trivia, jewelry presentations. My biggest wish is that HAL would up their entertainment game. 
 

But still we continue to sail with Holland for their itineraries and wonderful crew.  And most of the times no kids. And of course the free laundry.  There’s also a comfort factor that grows as we get older.  But I would also sail the Apex again in a heartbeat.  

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Real NHDOC said:

Literally cannot remember staying in any hotel or cruise ship cabin where a pen and pad wasn’t either left on the desk or made available. 
 

 

 

Okay, this is verging into the realm of sensationalism. Complaints about cost of food and drinks, fine. Service, fine. 

 

But...who amongst us makes a decision about a cruise that costs thousands of dollars based on whether or not there is a pen and notepad in the cabin???

 

Does anyone really travel without a pen of some kind?

 

(And perhaps I am thinking of another line, but I believe that on Westerdam last year, we only had a small pencil in cabin. I despise writing with a pencil, but I didn't complain about it. There were far more serious deficiencies on that cruse...)

 

[d9704011]

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

we only had a small pencil in cabin.

And I bet there wasn't an eraser.

[jlawrence01]

2 hours ago, nooligans said:

My memory was slightly off with respect to food charges on the Apex. Here’s some photos of the up-charges in the casual restaurants. 

 

 

The problem that I have with some of the prices of "non included" food on cruise ships is that the cost of the food is full retail despite the fact that you will not be eating the "included" meal that you paid for.  I have no problem paying $15 for a lobster with my meal or paying $25 extra for a meal that is significantly better than the MDR selections.  Those prices are very expensive.

 

For example, on a recent cruise, Norwegian was charging $72 for their Brazilian steakhouse on a cruise out of San Juan.  I could go out less than a mile away at Texas de Brazil and get the same meal for $56.  Why would I pay that much more?

 

Yes, I am a budget cruiser but when you travel 10-13 weeks a year ...

 

===================

 

The Dive-In is quite excellent and I have never had a bad bite there.  Celebrity's version involved precooked hamburgers and cheeseburgers and the staff on board could not properly cook a french fry on three separate occasions.

 

====================

The worst part of the HAL entertainment is the replacement of enrichment talks by outside people with the entertainment director reading off a teleprompter a pre-done presentation.  It is like a college professor using a powerpoint and reading off of it.

 

The best enrichment I have seen was on the Regal Princess where the guest presenter told us everything there was to do at each port INCLUDING INDEPENDENT tours and INDEPENDENT shops that were "must sees."

 

 

 

[OlsSalt]

2 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

Literally cannot remember staying in any hotel or cruise ship cabin where a pen and pad wasn’t either left on the desk or made available. 
 

 

 

Zero-waste policies have cut into most "freebies" in hotels and cruise ships. 

[ChinaShrek]

18 hours ago, drivfour said:

 

Hollands entertainment is both pathetic and sparse. Alot of Hollands operations seems to border on laziness

Even though they do functions daily there is a lack of consistency in execution. This extends to food, beverage, getting people on an off the ship etc.

I have been on many HAL cruises and I do not find any of the staff lazy. Getting on and off the ship? Security works hard scanning my room card.

[Real NHDOC]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Okay, this is verging into the realm of sensationalism. Complaints about cost of food and drinks, fine. Service, fine. 

 

But...who amongst us makes a decision about a cruise that costs thousands of dollars based on whether or not there is a pen and notepad in the cabin???

 

 

 

My point was that this was just another example of how Celebrity’s service is lacking. I find the best way to communicate with the cabin stewards is to leave a note in the cabin. We were surprised that there wasn’t any paper or pen in the room, or even readily available after asking for one.
 

I don’t travel with a pen, no. And I don’t take them with me at the end of the cruise but do like to have one available.  I never said I wouldn’t choose Celebrity because there wasn’t a pen in the cabin. I just thought others would find it funny that only if you pay for a suite are you deemed worthy of a note pad and even then, you don’t get a pen to write on it. 

[*Miss G*]

We were in a mini-suite on a Princess cruise and there was no pen or paper in the room.  I went down to Guest Services and they gave me what I required.  (Didn’t even occur to me to ask our wonderful room steward.)  I spend a lot of time in hotels (currently in one now) and there has always been a pen and paper provided.

 

Also, thanks to @nooligans for the Social Bar menu.  All I have to say is … wow.  (Actually, I had more to say but changed my mind.)

[ORTravelGal]

We are booked on HAL for a transatlantic in April. Prior to booking I seriously considered Celebrity’s Apex ship but after doing a fair amount of research between the Apex & Rotterdam, I chose HAL. I found lots of poor reviews about the infinite veranda and, ultimately, HAL won out. 
 

I’ve never really doubted our decision to choose HAL for the TA (although the trip hasn’t even happened yet) but this thread confirms for me that we made the right decision.

 

Thank you to OP for your feedback. Hopefully the rest of your “sentence” goes by quickly. 

[LoveRoughSeas]

Have to chime in.  Stop penny pinching!!  You are on vacation - and what else is money for.  I am not rich but book almost always book a suite and buy the drink package.  I love Hal!  Their service and music cannot be beat.   and Celebrity!  I was on the old Infinity last November cruising around Spain and it was wonderful.  Beautiful old, elegant ship.  Michaels Club and the Luminae restaurant were amazing - the service extraordinary!   Felt like I was royalty. And the regular buffet was as good if not better than Hal.  I love old time cruising without all the bells and whistles of the new ships.  Please enjoy cruising - stop complaining!!!

 

[ski ww]

19 hours ago, nooligans said:

My memory was slightly off with respect to food charges on the Apex. Here’s some photos of the up-charges in the casual restaurants. 

All of that is free in the Lido on HAL, why would I want to pay extra?

[FLCruiser97]

So sad to hear this about Celebrity. At one point, this was my favorite cruise line. Back in the day, the Milly had the best specialty restaurant on the sea. The Olympic dining room was truly special. I have not sailed X since 2022 but, I do know that from friends that have sailed recently on X the service/food has deteriorated somewhat. I am sailing on HAL next month. I haven't sailed HAL for many, many years but am looking forward to something new. 

[CNSJ]

Sorry, but that price list, including $11.00 for a turkey sandwich (plus 2.20 gratuity) at the "Craft Beer" joint, makes me think twice.  I think HAL has the right balance on these things, soupy for drinks, but things like food Grand Dutch Cafe, NY Pizza & Deli, and Dive In are included. 

 

As other have stated, and I agree, priorities are simple when choosing a cruise line:  

1. SAFETY

2. SERVICE

3. FOOD

4. ITINERARIES

5. STATEROOMS

6. WATERSLIDES (NOT HAVING ANY!)

 

I saw today pricing for mid-Jan 2025 on ICON of the SEAs for balcony cabins on a 7 day cruise in/out of Miami, with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and there CoCo Cay island.  Cheapest balcony over $3,200 a person.  Thats  $1000+ a day after taxes, fees, and gratuities - before drinks and other options.   

 

Pick your own term:  C R A Z Y , N U T S, ???

 

 

 

 

 

[FLCruiser97]

5 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

I saw today pricing for mid-Jan 2025 on ICON of the SEAs for balcony cabins on a 7 day cruise in/out of Miami, with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and there CoCo Cay island.  Cheapest balcony over $3,200 a person.  Thats  $1000+ a day after taxes, fees, and gratuities - before drinks and other options.   

 

Pick your own term:  C R A Z Y , N U T S, ???

 

 

That's just too much for RCCL ships. Now, maybe on an upscale cruise line, maybe but not RCCL.

[jlawrence01]

27 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

 

I saw today pricing for mid-Jan 2025 on ICON of the SEAs for balcony cabins on a 7 day cruise in/out of Miami, with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and there CoCo Cay island.  Cheapest balcony over $3,200 a person.  Thats  $1000+ a day after taxes, fees, and gratuities - before drinks and other options.   

 

Pick your own term:  C R A Z Y , N U T S, ???

 

 

 

 

27 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

 

 

I was looking at Icon of the Seas for early December 2024 and their inside cabins for a 7 Day Caribbean was $2700 pp out of Miami.  A 7 day Caribbean cruise in a suite on Windstar Star Pride would be $2200 pp for the same week.

 

Give Royal Caribbean credit for their marketing ability and all the the cruise influencers that they are compensating.