Jon and I were just on back to back cruises that took us from the end of 2022 into the beginning of 2023 and we experienced first hand the SHOCKING AND UNFORTUNATE changes FLEET WIDE ON CELEBRITY CRUISES. In this video we fill you in and give you as many details as we can on the unfortunate changes that are going to cost all of that love to cruise.
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39 Comments
Thank you so much for this information. I’m not sure if you can answer this question but we have a Celebrity cruise booked for July and the only thing included in our price so far is gratuities. Can we book the zero proof drink package at $30 each per day ( we only drink coffee and water for the most part) and also do you know how much it costs for wiifii? Our March celebrity cruise was booked for us by someone else and the gratuities, classic drink package, and wifi came as a bundle but for our July cruise we aren’t wanting to pay for drinks we won’t actually bother with, but we would like wifi. Appreciate any information you can offer. Thanks so much
Wow! I’m so shocked it seems like a money grab! I have the Beyond booked for November 😕
Thank you for sharing this. We have a cruise starting on the 28th and were planning to have dinner in the buffet at least one night. Unfortunately we're vegetarians and looks like dinner there is no longer an option. 😔
You guys look like a very nice couple who just want something to complain about all of the time. Room Service was never free as far as I no. QUIT STAYING IN YOUR ROOM, get out and enjoy the ship. We always book the retreat, room service is free with the retreat. You might want to think about Carnival, way cheaper but not sure about room service.
Now I must say that the whole big deal about the lobster tail is ridiculous sounding to me! How entitled are we that we think we should be able to eat two of those once – specialty items at the same setting? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of it being a special Delicacy? The reason lobster tails are so cheap right now by the way, is that lobsters are farmed on large farms in the Philippines, and other areas in Asia, where they feed the fish grain instead of algae, so it’s not very healthy and in addition, they have them in very crowded conditions, so they get infections and they solve that with antibiotics. Just like they do with cattle!
it just kind of makes me sick that Americans and other Westerners don’t have a little more dignity and respect for the food we eat, and for the creatures we eat.
I’ve never taken a huge cruise like that one, but I’m going in May on the Reflection. To me it seems like a generous number of options for the buffet. I have taken a much smaller cruise on the WindStar, which is a luxury cruise line and they don’t have these huge buffets. I was glad they didn’t have these huge buffets, because I appreciated the delicious food when it was available.
Do they really need to put out a full buffet for everyone all the time. I understand your shock at the big change but maybe it’s a positive thing in that people will enjoy the food more and not overeat. For me buffets are not very satisfying, ironically, because there are too many choices, and then I end up Eating a hodgepodge of everything instead of one nice meal. Those are my thoughts.
This makes me sad as I am bringing new cruisers with me on the millennium in February. I have talked up the differences of Cruising compared to land vacations and now feel like there may not be as much difference … oh well , hope for the best I guess 😢🙏
Thanks for sharing these changes! We did know most of these were happening and also understand why they are happening.
Celebrity is definitely not the only ones as most cruise lines are doing these changes to adjust. We also know that food waste is a large problem with buffets in general so although an abrupt change, we definitely support that change (especially for dinner when most people dine at their main dining room).
This all said, we completely feel for those who booked years in advance to have this rude awakening on their cruise. It’s safe to say, all cruisers should expect vast changes to cruising this year and know that the changes are necessary to ensure the cruise industry stays afloat Post-pandemic.
Though change is hard, some change is good. We hope this can relieve stress on the crew when it comes to the buffet and help financially preventing worse cut-backs from occurring. 🙏🏼
I can't believe the buffet. Unlike any other cruise I have ever been on (about 30 in 20 years). I did not know Celebrity was cutting food too like Royal. Our Royal cruise is in 2 weeks, Celebrity in June. It may end up staying In Vegas and going to the expensive buffets is a cheaper option if you like buffets. The one lobster tail never bothered me….I did not think they were great onboard. It does seem like a lot of changes all at once. Increasing the prices and decreasing quality and/or quantity at same same is a double whammy. The one thing that has always been the stalwart feature of cruising has been pay one price, get unlimited great food. The blooming add on pricing of nickel and diming has been a thorn in my side for a number of years, causing us to flee NCL for Royal. Much more of this and all inclusive land based resorts will really benefit, as well as just vacationing somewhere and paying piece by piece for all items.
We just got off the Eclipse starting 1/2/23.
The Oceanview had full pizza and pasta open with salad and desserts….they said they were wasting too much at dinner.
Not too much of a surprise. All lines seem to be doing the same, but I agree that it is sad that Celebrity is following suit! Celebrity is supposed to be above the rest, but now I’m not so sure.
Was the ship at full capacity on that sailing, or not. You did not say? Maybe that’s why the Buffet was not full of stations?
As a rebuttal – we also did the same exact Back to Back as you – we were one of the 40 people that did the Back to Back – you told us during the layover in Eden that you both are Comped All of your Cruises because of your gambling and you also have 68 future cruises already Booked and Comped as well have the Highest "Membership" available with multiple cruise lines – you make it sound as If there is only Ocean View Cafe for Dinner choices – there are 10 restaurants on Apex – 5 of which are already included with your SeaPass(either a 6:30pm
or8:30pm seating) yes, the other 5 you will pay add'l for that reservation – you had to pay $12 for room service!?!……… – I'm sure the Whole Cruise Industry had an increase in alacart fees for 2023! – we THOROUGHLY enjoyed our Celebrity Cruise on Apex Even Though we paid Full Price!WOW!! This summers cruise with Celebrity may be our last. Back to Norwegian or Royale then I suppose.
It appears the attendance for the buffet dinner is light – with the price of food and to reduce waste I am fine with the buffet cutbacks. Regarding the lobster – the lobster isn’t that great. I love lobster but losing multiples is not a big loss.
We will be going on Celebrity for the first time in February. I'm curious how many people actually dine in the buffets for dinner? With so many restaurants and specialty restaurant choices, I think they cut back to avoid all the waste without so much traffic in the buffets. Unfortunately cutbacks are happening on all the cruise lines.
Thank you so much for this information! And you did a really great job explaining everything. And I totally agree with you, I can understand the need to make changes but the lack of notice is really unacceptable. That dinner is a real shame. It looks like the midnight buffet/late night snack offering. Curious, how busy was the buffet at dinner on each of these cruises? I am guessing it was a lot less crowded on the January departure.
dang now after watching this I am going on apex in Feb and really sad about these cuts was going to be my 1st celebrity cruise but if all these cuts look like really cheapen the brand.
yeah the drink packages have gone wild on royal in 2020 it was 400 pp now it is over 1200 pp for a 7 day
Time to protest with your wallet! No more celebrity for us.
EVER
Thanks for the heads up. I am curious…. With the cut backs at the buffer, was it more difficult to get decent reservations at the various main dining restaurants? We are sailing on the Beyond in a few weeks with Select dining, so we are now concerned that it may be harder to get a decent seating for 6 people every night.
Also, do you know if they still only charge the difference in price if you order a drink that exceeds the price limit of the classic package?
Thanks
Sending health and healing to Jon. <3
Could you please let us know about the ice cream bar?
Hi Jon and Joyce, it's always good to see you. Thanks for the updates that went into effect recently. I am concerned about these changes and even more concerned about future changes that RCI is going to implement fleetwide for both Royal & Celebrity. Our last cruise was on the Beyond, where we ran into you on the Retreat sun deck. We were on our first Celebrity Cruise as it seemed Royal was focusing more on families and children, while Celebrity was still focusing on the adults. We cruise twice each year and place more emphasis on the ship and what the ship has to offer over the actual destinations as we have been to nearly every stop in the caribbean. Sadly, raising the costs and reducing the amenities or services on the cruise is only going to force us to look elsewhere for our two vacations each year. And have you noticed the cost of the cruises? They have really gone up in price as well. Another reason for us to perhaps look elsewhere. I think Royal Caribbean owes a transparent explanation regarding these drastic changes, and as a shareholder of the company, I plan on letting them know my frustration about these and future changes.
this is not good at all.
yep, celebrity said nothing to us about it.
Thanks to videos and other online complaints, my TA was able to go get Celebrity to give us a small amount of OBC for the week. We, as a group, primarily eat in the buffet and our cruise leaves on the Apex on the 28th. As a group, we're so mad. This is our first, and potentially last, Celebrity cruise. What nonsense. Thank you for posting this.
That buffet is unacceptable. It looks like a very cheap Vegas Casino that has run out of food. We are scheduled to go on Aqua Class on the Equinox next summer. I hope that Blu Restaurant is not cut back either.
That is kind of expected. Prices are up or services cut everywhere. It should be temporary though. On your full cruise, we’re you waiting in lines all the time because of the crowds or were they short staffed for a full cruise? I hope you still had a good time.
Thank you for sharing this information. We have a July cruise booked on Summit in Aqua. I've heard elsewhere that as part of the cut backs, you can no longer order from the main dining menu in Blu. Is that true? I'm looking forward to dining in Blu, but there are some menu items from the MDR that would be nice to have as options (if they are still on the MDR menu) that I've enjoyed on previous cruises. In March we are going to try Oceana for the first time. No cutbacks there that I've heard of. I'm expecting it to be more like Celebrity when I started sailing with them back in the good old Michel Roux days.
Not sure that you would go hungry on any ship.
I’m a travel advisor and was on the same cruise as you all on Apex 1/7/23. I have sailed with Celebrity so many times and can honestly say these changes aren’t going to stop me from cruising with them in the future. We had a great time on the Apex. The staff were so friendly and the ship is beautiful! I still love the brand and will continue to promote it to my clients. I will, however, make sure to provide the few updates as stated if they have cruised with Celebrity in the past.
A good TA can access exclusive group rates on select cabin categories that include the classic drinks, basic WiFi and gratuity, which can help offset some of price increases. The drink package prices you stated were only for those who paid the cruise-only rate. Those who get the all-included package don’t have to pay the extra unless they upgrade to premium drinks or premium WiFi. We upgraded our classic drink package to premium and it was $20/pp per day plus the 20%.
I had a group of 16 people with me on this cruise and we were actually featured in most of your buffet video. It was honestly my large group and maybe another 20-30 people in the buffet at the time. I understand why they cut back on the buffet. It would have been a waste to have all the food out for such a small crowd. It was a shock at first with the lack of food selection, but over the course of the cruise it made sense given there weren’t many people dining in the buffet each night. The selection was still decent and most people were at the main dining restaurants which were fabulous!
I tell my clients pack your patience and stay flexible. Travel is not the same as it was pre-COVID. I do agree that Celebrity should’ve given a heads up to those who were booked after the beginning of the year. It is what it is unfortunately. Thank you for posting the info. I know this video has been posted in multiple social media groups to spread the word. Safe travels!
That Is what the buffet would look like at 10 pm or later…ugh!
Thank you for letting us know. I always like to eat in the buffet for dinner because I am on vacation and I don’t want to dress for dinner. I guess I have no choice now
Yes it is sad and unfortunately happening across most cruise lines. Despite the changes we still love Celebrity. We just want to inform others of the changes to be aware and prepared.
As for the extra captains club points for going green, it is my understanding that you will receive 1 extra night of points per cabin type. ie; balcony is 5 points per night so you’d get an extra 5 points regardless of the length of cruise. I hope this helps. And we hope you’ll love the Beyond as much as we did.
Thanks for watching and commenting 😊
I was on the same Apex cruise that departed on December 30th and I had already noticed some subtle changes even at that point. For example, just about all the bars and restaurants were understaffed, given the fact that the cruise was booked to capacity. In addition, the martini bar was serving martinis in glasses that were half the size of the glasses I have encountered on all of the other Celebrity cruises I have taken. I asked one bartender why that was and he said that they had accidentally broken a bunch of them and had to resort to the smaller ones. I asked another bartender and his answer was that they couldn't find the larger ones. My conclusion was that "Fewer bartenders and smaller glasses equals less alcohol served and money saved at the expense of the customers."
I happened to stay in a suite and even the Retreat lounge was understaffed. There was one bartender there who also doubled as the server and the hors d'oeuvres attendant. Service in Luminae was embarrassingly slow on some nights, and service in the casino (where drinks are supposed to be complimentary if you're gambling) was horrific.
For as many times as I've cruised with Celebrity in the past, I think I'll take a break for awhile. Maybe just land-only trips are in order for the next couple of years, at least until after they recoup some of their Covid losses and become competitive once again.
The food on our October was grim at best. We were planning on using the ocean view cafe more in the evenings as the selection was always superb. Not now! Won’t be booking any more with Celebrity I’m afraid. Oceania cruises for me going forward.
Thanks for the info. Will be very helpful.
Oh my… don't go on NCL because there, you'll be on for a lottttt of deceptions… Anyway, I hate eating in my stateroom and I hate buffet so this is not affecting me at all
The buffet are ALWAYS empty for dinner…
Before you know it, Room service will soon only be offered for Royal & PH suites. The empty buffet for dinner is very bad. The main selections were so disappointing. This is truly sad.
I just want to say how much a truly appreciate your videos! Thank you, thank you, thank you!