Quest/Journey Dining

[Andy]

Hi Andy:

 

Has anyone found out if there is going to be a Butler and a Steward in each room or just the Butler. I know there was some speculation on this awhile back.

 

Hi Don !

 

From what I read, it was my impression that there would be a Butler and Cabin Attendant for each cabin. While this may not be fact, that was my understanding of what it would be. I am sure we will find out more about that within the next few months, when Journey gets closer her debut.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

I wanted to update 1 item that we have discussed here. Most of us have been wondering if there would be Formal Nights on Journey & Quest. While Celebrity is not willing to confirm this, I recieved an email today from a TA, saying there would not be any Formal Nights. One would think that Celebrity must have that somewhere in print, or a TA would not advertise it that way.

 

At any rate, it is another indication that there may not be Formal Nights. As I mentioned earlier, this is not confirmed, but I thought I would mention it.

 

Happy New Year !

[blackbird71]

 

I explained that as a solo traveller, open seating would be a no -no for myself, then there would be the cost of solo occupancy, as for a Butler in the lowest price cabins, .

 

As a solo traveler I LOVE open seating. On RSSC/Silverseas you "join a group" - table for 6 and on Seabourn they have "Hosted" tables with an officer/enterainer. All three lines you can eat alone if that what you want. But the other choice will place you at a table with pretty much different tablemates every night and the conversation with your different tablemates is a high point for me. I did a short 4 dayer on Silverseas so I do not know about them, but on RSSC and Seabourn you may be seated with the couple enterainers from the ship. And there is the nice part of no fixed dinning time. You go down when you are ready. Their is no gotta be there by 6:30 so I do not hold up the table service. Also because your tablemates change every night (for the most part) if you are seated with somebody you do not enjoy, you probably will not seat with them again...

 

And if you meet a couple or another passenger and want to have dinner with them, no problem, meet them before dinner in a bar or outside the restaurant.

 

All in all open seating is great for single travelers.

 

Yipes I forgot to say about "joining a group" when you go down for dinner you will go to a person that is seating people and they will ask you if you want to eat by yourself or "join a group". They form group tables with people showing up at the same time. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SEARCH for a table to sit at yourself.

[Baltic Express]

I expect that Celebrity will do open seating and Country Club Casual on their two R ships because they were scorned by Oceania and this Expedition subbrand appears to be payback. And with RCI's larger scale they can undercut and copy Oceania for a while and attempt to "eat" Oceania agian in the future or force them out of business.

 

It all makes sense except somehow Celebrity/RCI will have to come up with some way to improve their customer service if they want to even have a slim chance of competing with Oceania. Celebrity can mimic all they want but there is nothing like the real product when you compare it to a cheap knock-off.

 

Oceania will sell when the numbers are correct for them - that is natural for any small business. RCI will end up paying too much and RCI will then implement their large company mentality with cost cutting measures and run Oceania to the ground just as it has done with Celebrity over the last few years. RCI will have spent too much money to acquire three ships built in the late 90's early 00's and will eventually dump them just as they have Zenith and Horizon.

 

I wouldn't even consider the upper management of RCI in the same sentence as Bill Gates and Microsoft. One of them knows what they are doing and is very good at it and it is not RCI.

[Charles4515]

All in all open seating is great for single travelers.

 

Yipes I forgot to say about "joining a group" when you go down for dinner you will go to a person that is seating people and they will ask you if you want to eat by yourself or "join a group". They form group tables with people showing up at the same time. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SEARCH for a table to sit at yourself.

 

Glad I saw your post. If that is the way it works on the small lux cruiselines that is great. I went on one NCL Freestyle cruise solo and it did not work out that way. They did not form groups, possibly because they had eleven restaurants, and I did not want to do that kind of seating again if I go solo.

[Charles4515]

It all makes sense except somehow Celebrity/RCI will have to come up with some way to improve their customer service if they want to even have a slim chance of competing with Oceania. Celebrity can mimic all they want but there is nothing like the real product when you compare it to a cheap knock-off.

 

Oceania will sell when the numbers are correct for them - that is natural for any small business. RCI will end up paying too much and RCI will then implement their large company mentality with cost cutting measures and run Oceania to the ground just as it has done with Celebrity over the last few years. RCI will have spent too much money to acquire three ships built in the late 90's early 00's and will eventually dump them just as they have Zenith and Horizon.

 

I wouldn't even consider the upper management of RCI in the same sentence as Bill Gates and Microsoft. One of them knows what they are doing and is very good at it and it is not RCI.

 

Yes, Microsoft has copying down to a science and they spend a lot of money to do it. RCI does seem to be bean counters so their chances of success are a lot slimmer. I would not bet on their success in mimicking Oceania successfully. Or ending up with Oceania. Just like their merger that failed with Princess. If Oceania is decides to sell, or is forced to sell they could very well end up with one of RCI's competitors.

[XatSea]

RCI will then implement their large company mentality with cost cutting measures and run Oceania to the ground just as it has done with Celebrity over the last few years. RCI will have spent too much money to acquire three ships built in the late 90's early 00's and will eventually dump them just as they have Zenith and Horizon.

 

"For a company that has been run into the ground" Celebrity seems to be doing quite well. RCI has transferred two ships from Pullmantur cruises

http://www.pullmanturcruises.com/

and has ordered three new ships Solstice, Equinox, and ????.

Horizon is still with RCI's Island Cruises and Zenith will be with Pullmantur as the picture in the link shows.

 

I have sailed with Princess and HAL and still prefer Celebrity's product, even though none of them are as good as they were several years ago... but then neither am I.

[blackbird71]

Glad I saw your post. If that is the way it works on the small lux cruiselines that is great. I went on one NCL Freestyle cruise solo and it did not work out that way. They did not form groups, possibly because they had eleven restaurants, and I did not want to do that kind of seating again if I go solo.

 

Right, I am assuming Celebrity will not go NCL. From the seating count of the restaurants they look to have enough seats to do it like RSSC/SS/SB. Passenger count puts these ships in line with RSSC Mariner/Voyager ships and I have done the Mariner. Like the Journey class the Mariner has four restaurants. On the Mariner the largest restaurant has more seats than the main on the Journey, it's second largest is smaller than the Journeys.

 

On the Mariner like the Oceanic R-ships the two smallest restaurants are reservations only and I would bet Celebrity does the same. Maybe the smallest will be extra $$$.

 

Another good point is on all three lines RSSC/SS/SB there is never a wait to be seated like on NCL/Princess. I would expect the same for these two ships.

 

On the Mariner you can enter the main restaurant from both ends of the ship. Both have a "seating person". The seating person has a computer screen in front of them and when you tell her your selection (group or alone) she looks at the screen and marks your place and tells the escort person to take you to table XXX. Very quick and easy...

[Charles4515]

On the Mariner you can enter the main restaurant from both ends of the ship. Both have a "seating person". The seating person has a computer screen in front of them and when you tell her your selection (group or alone) she looks at the screen and marks your place and tells the escort person to take you to table XXX. Very quick and easy...

 

Sounds great. I am in the mood to do something better than the mass market lines. Was worried about going solo with open seating.

[Charles4515]

"For a company that has been run into the ground" Celebrity seems to be doing quite well. RCI has transferred two ships from Pullmantur cruises

http://www.pullmanturcruises.com/

and has ordered three new ships Solstice, Equinox, and ????.

Horizon is still with RCI's Island Cruises and Zenith will be with Pullmantur as the picture in the link shows.

 

I have sailed with Princess and HAL and still prefer Celebrity's product, even though none of them are as good as they were several years ago... but then neither am I.

 

While I don't agree with the other person that Celebrity has been run into the ground, I would say they have been letting it run down. I have noticed frayed and worn furnishings on my last few Celebrity cruises. Also they waited too long to order those three new ships. They should have had the third one coming into service this year not the first one coming out in 2008! Those two ships from Pullmantour were from a hasty purchase of that company. And those ships are not new. All in all Celebrity has stood still while the competition has progressed.

 

RCI does best being RCI. I think they do a great job with the Voyager and Ultra-Voyager class ships and that market segment. Very innovative there. But with Celebrity they have not done as well as they could have. If they had a more hands off approach to the brand like Carnival does with HAL and their other brands I think things would have been better at Celebrity.

[blackbird71]

RCI does best being RCI. I think they do a great job with the Voyager and Ultra-Voyager class ships and that market segment. Very innovative there. But with Celebrity they have not done as well as they could have. If they had a more hands off approach to the brand like Carnival does with HAL and their other brands I think things would have been better at Celebrity.

 

A good example with Carnival is Seabourn. Like RCI ,Carnival is in love with the MEGA ships. Seabourn just annouced their two new ships. While Carnival could have pressed them into the 50,000 ton 700 passenger ships like RSSC Mariner/Voyage, Seabourn picked a 30,000 ton ship more like the Silver Whisper/Shadow.

 

Then there is Bedding :D Of the majors I ?believe? HAL was the first with the new super bedding and now most of the other lines are falling into line with it.

[XatSea]

I would say they have been letting it run down. I have noticed frayed and worn furnishings on my last few Celebrity cruises. Also they waited too long to order those three new ships.

 

Yup. Ditto. Yup.

 

I wonder if financing new ships for both RCI and Celebrity was a problem. Galaxy is a prime example of a ship that has slipped into shoddy territory and there is still no date set for an upgrade, The bedding has been replaced but the rest cries out for maintenance.

Mercury's bedding is also run down and a report from Connie states a similar condition.

Celebrity's emphasis on training has led to the condition of good meals served well by an excellent staff in some inconsistent "hotels" on the water.

I believe however that conditions will change for the better and a more consistent cruiseline will be the result.

[Andy]

they waited too long to order those three new ships. They should have had the third one coming into service this year not the first one coming out in 2008! Those two ships from Pullmantour were from a hasty purchase of that company. And those ships are not new. All in all Celebrity has stood still while the competition has progressed.

 

 

Hi Charles !

 

I couldnt agree more. I have been vocal about this issue for quite some time. In the period prior to 2006, IMHO, Celebrity did a very poor job of planning for the future. In fairness to Celebrity, it could be Royal Caribbean's fault, as they likely have final say on what happens at Celebrity. Either way, it leaves them in an uncomfortable situation right now.

 

Yes, I give them credit for taking action in 2006, but they are VERY late to the party. Until recently, they have been standing still, while their competition has (or is) getting much bigger as we speak. For Celebrity to allow a 6 year gap for a Newbuild, is hard to understand. While I am very happy that we have 3 new ships to look forward to, they should have had them arriving in 2005, 2006, and 2007, not 2008, 2009, and 2010. They are at least 3 years too late in their planning, and possibly more.

 

If Celebrity had some new ships by now, the benefits would have been huge for them, as the Solstice class is missing out on a HUGE Bull Market in Cruising. While the chances are good that the Cruise industry should be even stronger over the next several years, that's too many missed years of excellent revenue and profits, as well as too many potential X passengers lost to the competition during a record breaking time in the Cruise history.

[Andy]

I wonder if financing new ships for both RCI and Celebrity was a problem.

 

Hi Xcellent !

 

I am very confident the answer to your question is no. RCI has been building ships as agressively as ever, and their balance sheet is in good shape. In addition, from what I have read, they never have any problems raising money for new ships for RCI.

 

What I really feel happened, is that RCI was too busy worrying about their own brand, that they didnt focus enough on making sure that Celebrity had a few new ships as well.

 

The good news is, RCI/Celebrity is taking care of it now.... but as I said on my last post, they are very late to the party.

[JORAY]

Two interesting answers for some questions that were asked from a Celebrity Rep

 

We are still developing the shore excursions but they will be very unusual and smaller groups. We should have the shore excursions in the next few weeks. (Sounds like getting off ship in the Antarctic may be in the cards :D )

 

Formal nights or all resort casual? -- Nights are Resort Casual and

Open Seating in the Main Dining room and Lido. Reservations for both Specialty Restaurants.

 

Ray