Comments On Recent X Cruise by Experienced Cruisers

[catspaw1]

4 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

 

The food in the MDR on HAL has been consistently better although X had better service overall.

 

You can always get a seat at the HAL buffet as it is right sizes   On the Solstice, it was very difficult to get a seat unless you got their when it opened.  The X buffet had more variety but there were a lot of misses, especially at dinner 

 

Timing between dinner and shows was bad on Celebrity.  If you have early dining, you will NOT make the early show.  Going to the late show is tough when the port stop is at 0630 in Alaska.

 

The naturalists are much more geared to Alaska on HAL and they visit Glacier Bay.

 

In general, you get longer port stops on HAL.

 

Personally, I will return to Alaska next year as part of a 29 day cruise from Seattle  to Singapore on the Discovery Princess.   I would only sail to Alaska on HAL, Princess, or Cunard in the future.

JLAWRENCE ( sorry for the caps but my cell keeps autocorrecting) thanks for the compassion on the 2 lines. We sailed HAL to AK 30 years ago, loved it & the reason for our return. We loved Glacier  Bay & knew Celebrity didn't go there. Also HAL& Princess have been going to AK for so long they get priority berthing at the ports which is a big deal. We were on the Eclipse in July & I agree that it was difficult to find a space to sit in the ocean view.  But we found the  MDR food was mostly pretty good with a few misses only.

[TommyD3]

Been sailing Celebrity over 30 years, 165+ cruises. We always get to the buffet lunch on port days before they open. Do sit down for breakfast and sea day lunch. The MDR menu is terrible. So many items removed - like the Beef Tournados and Rack of Lamb. We now sail in AQ because they still have Filet Mignon and Rack of Lamb in Blu !!!

[jlawrence01]

2 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Like I say, it's been more than a few years. When is the late show? We just don't do 5 pm meals unless it's a restaurant we really want to go to and that's all that's available. My memory is that early seating equated to late show, but if it's now 5 and 7:30 either they've changed it or my memory is wrong.

 

We've not done fixed seating on Celebrity. On Royal, there was a parade from the theater to the dining room after the early show. 7 pm show 8 pm dinner. That's how Celebrity seems to be set up as well.

 

We brought home the Celebrity Todays from our June Summit cruise, but looks like we recycled the actual schedule. I remember a time (maybe Royal?) where the schedule specifically equated the late theater show with "our guests with early dining". 

 

My schedule this week:

Dinner at 5:30

Show at 7:30

Music walk at 8:30 pm

Late night buffet at 11 pm

 

 

[publicpersona]

23 hours ago, dabear said:

had to be requested including, umbrella, laundry bag & order forms, pen, paper, card holder, elite events list, ice bucket, etc.

 

At least there were the binoculars. But seriously, if having to request those items (especially the ones that are only available upon request) resulted in a memorable problem with your cruise, you probably should go into your next one with lower expectations.

 

I understand your frustration and we've had some disappointments on recent X cruises as well. One day, we were out on excursion from before 8 AM and didn't return until about 6 PM, and the morning room cleanup had not been done (and no, the DND sign wasn't out). The explanation was that our stateroom attendant was sick, and the substitute "couldn't get her key to work on the door." I don't fault either stateroom attendant, but I do fault their management who should be seeing to it that someone being out isn't an issue. And the "couldn't get the door open with their key"? Really? The crew had no way to enter the stateroom until the passengers returned?

 

And nearly the same thing happened two days later, but morning cleanup was completed around mid-afternoon.

[realnice46]

15 hours ago, gold1953 said:

 pen, paper, card holder, ice buckets are no longer a thing in cabins. . You can request ice

I know it’s a small issue but it as a nice touch. Even Hampton Inn and Hyatt Place provide those items. The cruise lines in general just keep charging more and providing less, but week booking cruises. I just make sure to bring those items minus ice bucket.

[realnice46]

On 9/11/2024 at 5:49 PM, dabear said:

We've been on 25 cruises with about 15 of them on Celebrity, the most recent one before our 8/28/24 Silhouette cruise was in December, 2022. Many of our comments have been well said before on CC, but we wish to state our experience (recognizing some comments are subjective). 

The ship was in fine condition, entertainment was very good and most of the ship's employees were friendly & competent. Unfortunately our cabin steward (V-1 prime veranda) was not very good. Many items were not in our room and had to be requested including, umbrella, laundry bag & order forms, pen, paper, card holder, elite events list, ice bucket, etc. We found the food in the buffet good, specialty restaurants very good,  but  the main dining room food was of lessor quality & quantity than in the past. No nibbles in the bars to munch on. Prices for specialty dining, drinks, etc were overpriced, especially when adding tax & tip when you already are paying for food & drink not used included in your fare. We did not take a drink package this time as my dw is now barely drinking & I can't justify $140-$180/day for a few drinks, beside our HH benefit. A lot more promotions and some "nickle & diming" . Overall, a good, but not great cruise. 

We only have a few drinks for an entire cruise so we too can’t justify the package. I wish they included a package that includes just Wi-Fi and tips.

[Liao]

15 hours ago, gold1953 said:

 pen, paper, card holder, ice buckets are no longer a thing in cabins. . You can request ice

pen, paper, card holder,  I am curious when this stopped?  My last cruise in Dec. 2023 they were there and I needed and asked for additional paper and my room steward supplied it.

[Sarah_e_p]

On 9/13/2024 at 2:44 AM, Liao said:

pen, paper, card holder,  I am curious when this stopped?  My last cruise in Dec. 2023 they were there and I needed and asked for additional paper and my room steward supplied it.

was on Apex a couple of weeks ago and all of these items plus an ice bucket were in my room. 
 

Edited Saturday at 06:13 PM by Sarah_e_p