Gibsongirl

We were really excited about returning to Celebrity after several years on other lines.  We had fond memories of fine dining, interesting onboard activities and overall a luxury vacation.  Talk about  disappointned!  What used to be an upscale cruise line is no longer.  The food is usually overcooked and dry and often lukewarm.  Crappy green goop on the escargot instead of a garlic/shallot butter, the creme brulee is a cornstarch pudding not an egg custard.  It all tastes like cafeteria food and not individually prepared fine dining.  The buffet is even worse.  Nearly all desserts are geletin based crud.  They even stick the stuff inside layer cakes.

The cabin heat couldn't be controlled.  We like it cool at night and warm during the day.  Had engineering down 4 or 5 times in 13 days and finally gave up and just sweated.

Some of the entertainment was good, but other than the regular staff musicians the only entertainment is the theatre.  There is no secondary venue with good acts.  No cruise day activities that appealed.

The staff soldier on, trying their best in the midst of all the service and amenity cuts and penny pinching measures.   It feels like a bare bones cruise.  If we ever take Celebrity again - which we definitely don't plan to do - we would not be surprised if they handed us oars as we boarded and told us to row!

After the April Hong Kong to Shanghai cruise on the Millenium (see other review) we took the ship from Tokyo to Vancouver.  Some improvements on the Trans-Pacific route.   Cabin ventilation wasn't a problem since we took a balcony cabin and had the door open most of the time - didn't have to sweat all the way across the Pacific.  Since there were a lot of sea days the onboard activities improved a bit - there was more variety each day.  The entertainment improved with a good classical component - a young violinist and Brooks Aaron.  Standing room only concerts and standing ovations.  People were starved for good entertainment and thank goodness we were given this.  It was the highlight of the cruise. 

The food continued to disappoint in its lukewarm, limp, overcooked, underspiced, mass produced way.

All the same cuts in amenities as discussed in my other review which give Celebrity a bare bones feel now instead of a luxury line.