Why we are leaving Celebrity Cruise Line after 25+ cruises

by | Aug 16, 2022 | Uncategorized

Hi all! Long time, no write. Two weeks from today you will be hearing a lot from me as we start our next major adventure—almost a month in Europe. But before I get into that, I thought I should do a post to conclude our Celebrity Millenium cruise as well as answer the big question I have been getting from friends who want to know why we are abandoning our cruise line of choice since 2004—Celebrity.

Actually, they kind of abandoned us. Back in 2004 when we sailed on Infinity through the Panama Canal, we fell in love with a certain kind of cruising and that kind of cruising isn’t there anymore. Truth be told, we aren’t that kind of cruiser now either but let’s just say we have grown apart. But even though we have changed, Celebrity has changed in so many ways that we find just sad.

We have sailed on every ship in the old (and now retired) C class, all but one of the S class and all but one of the M class. Our Millennium cruise last May was our final one with mainstream Celebrity and maybe our worst with them yet (We will return to the Galapagos on Flora in 2024) but that doesn’t really count. Here are the changes X has made that really bother us:

  • Celebrity has bought into the caste system that so many other cruise lines are now into. When the majority of the ship can’t even see forward of the ship (other than from the gym) on sail away, this is just wrong. Some have bought into it because they sail in a suite. Most of most cruisers won’t have one. If you have money to buy into the “suite” life then they treat you well, otherwise, you are cattle.
  • The ridiculous Infinite Verandas. Call them what they are: an outside cabin that you pay more for and the window opens. And when the window opens, the AC goes off. And they are noisy. And the Captain can do whatever he wants with them (leave them open, close them all). Every single long-time X cruiser who we know that has tried one has said they will never get one again. Don’t believe me? Check out this video: Click here!
  • Celebrity has basically killed their Captain’s Club loyalty program. We worked hard and were ultra-loyal to become Elite Plus cruisers with them and now with their new “all-inclusive” program, they have negated 90% of the benefits to their loyal customers. We used to get 240 minutes of WiFi for free—now everyone gets it for free. We used to get a cocktail party for Elites members but not anymore. Now everyone gets free drinks so why bother? We used to get a lot of things. What do we get now? A bag of laundry and priority tendering (not worth anything).
  • When they brought out the Edge class they started refurbing the M and S class but doing things that I just hate. First, they took the wonderful Martini Bar (long a feature on all X ships) and made it a HUGE, impersonal place that is not the intimate, conversation spot that it used to be. Then they enlarged the gym by extending it out over the bridge where there used to be an open area you could stand and look forward. They made everything beige. Our stateroom on Millennium was so beige, that it was sometimes hard to tell where the bed was—it just disappeared into a sea of beige?. I could go on about all the blah stuff they have done to ships we love but why bother? Suffice it to say, their designers all are big into calm and soothing.
  • Digital everything is horrid. It’s amazing to me that Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean because RCL has the best internet at sea. Celebrity’s is horrible. Streaming is a joke. There were people on our Millennium cruise who tried to do an e-Med COVID test to get out of Canada and the chances of doing that online were next to zero. Their television choices are a joke. Movies that said they were free weren’t. And yes, who watches TV on a cruise? People trying to avoid COVID, people are quarantined, and people are sick. But nothing. Eight blurry channels and movies that said they were free until you got to the final screen and then it said $14, for an old movie. Even the map that shows where the ship is or the webcam on the bow were blurry. How can you not get a clear webcam video? We can get a better one with our Ring doorbell.  Oh, and their app (compared to others we have sailed with) is pretty poor.
  • Food—this has long been one of X’s strong points but not anymore. First, they removed so many restaurants that we loved. On our Millennium cruise, we didn’t go to a specialty restaurant, even once. They were either boring or ugly. And don’t get me going about the stupid Petit Chef which is all about the show and not the food. X replaced an incredible restaurant (Qsine–where the food was interesting and amazing) with this cartoon version of a restaurant. They took away the United States Dining Room on Infinity years ago (as well as the other ship-named specialty restaurants on the M-class ships) where we had some of the best meals of our lives and they removed Murano (a kind of successor to the United States Dining Room).At the same time, the food in the other venues got worse as well. On our May cruise, we sailed in Aqua Class so we ate our breakfasts and dinners in Blu, the Aqua class dining room. How bad was it, here’s what I had to say in my ship’s review:“The food was horrid. I actually sent back three different dishes. I have NEVER done that before. It embarrassed the staff in Blu. But when the pasta tastes like rubber (I tried to cut it with a knife and it would NOT cut) or the fries are cold when they get to the table, what else is there to do?
    You have ceased to care about little things. For instance, the Daily had Cinco de Mayo all over the cover. In the past when we have been on board over that type of holiday, there would have been Mexican food maybe…but nothing but the everyday chips, cheese and refried beans at the buffet. Not even salsa. Speaking of the buffet…so much of the food was cold. The door next to the salad station was kept closed but the door across from the pizza station to the Sunset Bar was wide open. Result=cold pizza and warm salad. And try to get someone to take a drink order and return before you finish your lunch or dinner—good luck”. 

For another take on the food, here’s what my brother said about the food we ate in Blu on the Millennium cruise in his post-cruise evaluation:

“While the service was outstanding, the food in Blu was poor or boring; if Blu were a restaurant in our city and we went there for dinner we would never dine there again. When we were on Holland America their “Orange” dining had bold and spicy selections that were remarkable. Holland’s breakfast selections were better and more extensive. Some notable food failures in Blu: veal scallopini that was so rubbery it was difficult to chew, pasta undercooked that it was sent back, and salsa that was only chopped tomatoes. The bread spreads offered with butter at dinner in the 3-bay tray were usually ground carrot, corn and peas. The carrots, corn and peas were BABY FOOD. Nothing was added to them; just BORING. The beet had some taste, but the carrot, corn and pea were just YUCK. On past cruises, there were other more tasteful options, e.g., olive tapenade. The dinner bread was just ok; on past cruises, there were more options in the bread basket, e.g., brown bread, and olive bread. The bottled wine selections were mostly “out”.  The wine menu on the Celebrity app noted too many wines that the ship did not have.”  

All of this just makes me sad. If we have to pay extra to get a suite we may as well take that money and move up to a better line like Viking Ocean (where we are going) or Oceania (we will try them in 2023). With Viking for the same price as a suite on X, we get a ship where everyone is treated equally except for just a few unnoticeable perks you get for being in a suite.

So that’s where we are on Celebrity. We still plan on doing one more cruise but on Flora to the Galapagos in 2024. But we won’t sail on one of their big ocean ships again unless someone offers us a free cruise. After more than 25 cruises, we will kind of miss them. But not enough to put up with all this. We just want the old Celebrity back…but we know that’s not going to happen. If you are new to Celebrity, we wish you well but just know you really missed their glory years.

Stick with me here on the blog. I will be back with a preview of our upcoming Viking Cruise in the next week. Then (I hope) there will be almost an entire month of travel to report on.

It’s not called quitting if you quit while you’re ahead. It’s about being aware and being strategic enough to know that you got to get out of the pool at some point. You got to put your clothes back on and dry off. —Nipsey Hussle

Told you I would be back

by | Jul 4, 2022 | Photography

But I bet you didn’t think it would be this fast.

The day after we were in Astoria we stopped in a very exotic city as far we were concerned—Seattle ?. This day was going to the most boring one for us. We had booked a food tour of Pike Place Market with Show Me Seattle with my brother and sister-in-law. Kathleen and I had done this tour with Savor Seattle before they were bought by this company so we knew what to expect.

Our big task for this day was to leave the ship, get in an Uber, cross Lake Washington to Bellevue and sign our escrow papers to buy our new home. Kathleen was also tired out with her arm in a heavy splint, so I guided Steve, Jamie, and a few other folks from our Cruise Critic Roll Call up to the Pike Place Market and introduced them to our tour guide. I even went along to the first stop on the tour, Ellenos Yogurt (the world’s most excellent yogurt).

Then I hot-footed it back to the pier where Kathleen met me; we grabbed an Uber and raced through the city, crossed the lake and signed the papers (BTW: we LOVE this house. One of the best decisions we have ever made) that made our new house our home. Then back to the ship and by that time, it was almost time for dinner. I don’t have pics from Seattle because I didn’t take my camera off the ship. I have taken thousands of Seattle photos, so I am sure you will excuse me if I didn’t. Here are some of my Seattle pics, so you won’t think I have left you wanting. Don’t forget; these pics look much better if you click on one and watch them as a slide show on a computer or a tablet.

Back with Victoria soon.

The bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle.  —from the theme song to the 1960’s television show, “Here Comes the Brides.”

The story of Astoria—yes, I might finish…eventually

by | Jul 4, 2022 | Photography

I have been putting this post off for a while. I have known since we got home from our Pacific Coastal cruise in mid-May that I needed to finish my Pacific Coastal story. Here’s a quick synopsis for those who have forgotten where we are. We took Celebrity Millenium from San Diego to Santa Barbara, Catalina, and San Francisco (where Kathleen broke her elbow), and that’s where we left off.

Our next stop was Astoria, Oregon. This was the only stop we had booked a ship’s tour—Shot in Astoria. We (Kathleen and I) had just been in Astoria last summer with the kids and grandkids, so this tour sounded interesting. It was a tour of all the spots in Astoria where they had shot popular films.

You may not know this, but in the mid-eighties, Astoria was a primary filming site for Hollywood movies. The biggest to be filmed there were Kindergarten Cop, The Goonies, parts of Twilight, Point Break and one of the Free Willy movies. So we drove around in a big old bus and saw the sights of the films (the only one I could remember anything from was the hotel in Kindergarten Cop. I will take a lot of abuse for this, but I have never seen The Goonies. Not my kind of movie.

Suffice it to say that the tour was pretty good, the bus was comfortable, and we got to stop at the Astoria Column, where you have great views. Afterward, we hit the Fort George Brewery for lunch, which was outstanding. Then back to the ship, and I was off on a photo walk. My best stuff from Astoria is below. Don’t forget, these pics look much better if you click on one and watch them as a slide show, either on a computer or a tablet.

 

I promise (really, I mean it because we are finally settled in) to finish this trip soon. Really.

It’s not a tumor!” —Arnold Schwarzenegger as Kimble in Kindergarten Cop

San Francisco, Day 2

by | Jun 9, 2022 | Photography

When last we spoke, I was writing my last post while Kathleen was having surgery on her elbow that she hurt on our first day in San Francisco. Today (four days later), I am starting this while she is in for her post-op check. She is doing better. The first day was fine, the block wore off, the pain kicked in on day two, and now things seem better. I hope whatever they do to her today doesn’t make her regress.

But back to our second day in the Bay area. Not much happened for us because Kathleen (with her arm in an ugly splint) slept most of the day. But I got up before dawn to take pics from the ship (all of them are in the gallery below), and then after getting her up, bathed and off to breakfast and then back to the stateroom for another nap, I went out to walk the Embarcadero in the opposite way we went yesterday. I wanted to walk from the ship at Pier 27 to whatever they call the ballpark where the San Francisco Giants play.

It was a beautiful, windy day, and I think I enjoyed my walk as much as Kathleen enjoyed her nap ?. I shot a bunch of pics (again, see the gallery) and then headed back to the ship as we sailed at 4:30 in the afternoon to head out for another sea day and then a visit to Astoria, Oregon.

One of the best things about sailing into or out of San Francisco is sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge, and this time (on a clear afternoon), I was on the top deck as we sailed out to sea. There are lots of photos from that in the gallery as well.

That about does it for San Francisco. We had a decent time, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have preferred that Kathleen not fall and that we do not have to spend more than six hours in an ER. But that’s what happened.

Below is my photo gallery from day two in San Francisco. The first few are from an early sunrise shoot from around the ship’s upper decks.

The second group is from my mid-day Photowalk.

The last few are from our sail out, which took us under the amazing Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco is really fun and liberal, and it’s my kind of politics. It’s like being Jewish in front of Jewish people.  —Elaine Boosler

Life is certainly interesting

by | Jun 3, 2022 | Food Experiences, Photography

As I write this, I am sitting in the waiting area for Proliance Surgeons as Kathleen is getting her elbow repaired. We are now fully moved into our new home (except for about 20 boxes we still need to empty), have sold our old one (escrow closes on the 16th), and things are indeed…”interesting.”

When Kathleen asked me what I was going to do while she was getting cut (surgery takes 90 minutes, but she is in pre-op for 2 hours and then post-op for two hours), I said it was about time I finished up the Pacific Coastal cruise report, so here we go.

San Francisco—I used to like this town.

Ok, I still do like this town, but I am also kind of ticked at the city. This is the city where Kathleen found a nice lip on a sidewalk and took the fall that led to the surgery she is having now. But you already knew that, so here’s what we did that day.

Our ship was in port for two days. I had hoped to get up early and be on deck when we sailed under the Golden Gate, but we were already docked when I woke up and looked outside at 4:30 am. I guess I could have taken pics of us coming in but they all would have been black scenics.

The ship was docked at Pier 27, about halfway between the Ferry Building and Fisherman’s Wharf, right on the Embarcadero. After breakfast, the four of us set off on a walk towards Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39 and Boudin’s Sourdough Bakery. Lots of photos on the way you can see in the gallery below. We stopped for coffee at Boudin’s, and then Kathleen and I headed back to the ship via Uber while Jamie and Steve went exploring.

That afternoon we had scheduled another food tour with Local Tastes of the City Tours. We had chosen to do their North Beach/Little Italy tour. They also do a Chinatown tour, but we went that way since I love Italian food more than Asian. We took an Uber up from the ship to meet our guide smack dab in the middle of Little Italy. We four were part of a group of 14 who would take the tour, which started with us eating a cannoli on the street corner where we met up. They were delicious, but I sure would have liked to see the places where they came from. Our guide just brought them along with her from Stella Pastry about half a block away.

Then it was off to cross the street to Cavalli Cafe, where we tried Italian sodas (definitely the weakest link on this tour), but they did have a nice restroom. This was also one of the few stops where we got to go into someplace and sit down. The rest of the tour involved our guide (who was very good) going into the store/restaurant and bringing the food out to us to eat on the street. While all the food we had was excellent, this got a little annoying after a while—eating on a sidewalk with people walking by. But as I said before, life is certainly interesting.

After Italian sodas, we went on to a fun little Sicilian delicatessen about a block away to try arancini (rice balls full of meat and cheese). The food was fine, but the real attraction here was the owner, who came out on the street and pretty much put on a comedy show. As you can see from the photo, he is a pretty animated Sicilian who truly loves his store. A few days later, I have to say that we had arancini in Victoria, BC, which was a lot better.

I should also note that none of these places were more than about two blocks from another, so this was not a long tour by any stretch. As we walked, our guide Isabella told us all about the history of the neighborhoods we were walking through. She was genuinely well-versed in her San Francisco lore.

Our next stop was our favorite on the tour, San Francisco’s oldest Italian market, Molinari’s. Inside this place was AMAZING! If we had a place like this near home, I might ask for a job or spend a lot of money there regularly. I have some great photos of the inside of these places in the gallery below. BTW: This place had the best sandwiches I may ever have eaten. Don’t ask me why, but I think it’s because everything was just perfect, from the bread to the cold cuts and veggies inside. It was so good it would almost be worth a trip back to the city to eat there.

After we left Molinari’s, we walked a bit, and I climbed a high set of stairs to take pics with a few others from the tour (see the gallery), and we were headed to Z Cioccolato to get some of their amazing fudge. But sadly, we never got there. About 25 feet to the right of this photo is where Kathleen fell and broke her elbow. From there, we hailed an Uber and drove quickly back to the ship. We had hoped that she wasn’t hurt too badly, but by the time we got down to the ship, it was evident that we needed to get to a doctor or an ER.

At this point, I need to point out that we did have a little bit of good luck because the ship was in San Francisco overnight. If that had not been the case, and seeing that it was already after 3:00 pm, we would have been in real trouble as the ship would have sailed at 4:30 pm, leaving us behind to fly home on our own. That’s what happens with ships. That would have given us some real problems for so many reasons.

After we got back to the ship and dropped Steve and Jamie off, we grabbed another Uber and had them take us to the nearest Kaiser hospital (our HMO). It wasn’t too far away, but when you are driving bumpy streets with a broken elbow, it seems like 100 miles. We had high hopes that we would be out of there within a couple of hours and make it back for dinner. Unfortunately, that was not to be. We were in the ER for more than six hours from start to finish. And they were so crowded they wouldn’t let me in the building (not even a waiting room) due to COVID restrictions for the first three hours. I got so stand outside in the cold wind. This was not one of my most fun experiences.

Kathleen left with a fully wrapped arm in a splint (that had to be kept DRY), and we got back to the ship about 9:30. My brother had arranged for a wheelchair to get her back on board, and by that time, she needed it. So we got a very late room service dinner and went to bed.

One other thing I want to mention before I drop in the photos. The folks at Local Tastes Tours were awesome when this all happened. Our guide (after making sure we were doing OK) ran to the chocolate store and grabbed fudge for all of us to enjoy later. Then that evening, I got an e-mail from the tour company owner asking how Kathleen was and sending us a certificate for a free tour for four the next time we are in San Francisco. Of course, he did not need to do that, but this is the sign of a great company, and then our guide Isabella sent me a separate e-mail asking how she was doing. They were just wonderful. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Don’t forget, these pics look much better if you click on one and watch them as a slide show, either on a computer or a tablet.

That was about it for day one in the city by the bay. As if that wasn’t enough. As I am finishing this, we are back home after Kathleen’s surgery, and she is OK and doing well. Her elbow just needed some repairs but not a complete replacement. Thank heaven (or whoever) for that.

Nothing important has ever come out of San Francisco, Rice-a-Roni aside.
—Michael O’Donoghue