Celebrity has fallen off their pedestal

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 7

Review summary

We love the Reflection and other Solstice class ships having sailed on them 8 times. Whenever friends or acquaintances ask about cruising we always tell them about the great Celebrity experience and the level of dining. It has always been the best at sea in our opinion of the four lines we have tried so far. Our last Celebrity sailing was just before the pandemic on Equinox in Jan 2020 and we were so looking forward being on Reflection. This time it was different. While the ship and the staff were great the culinary experience has fallen to a lower level. Being experienced cruisers we recognize that cruise lines are facing challenges post-pandemic and management is under pressure to improve profitability. We are disappointed that dining quality of experience seems to be a focus of cost cutting. Given that the cost of ingredients is a relatively small portion of total restaurant operational costs it seems odd that Celebrity would choose to cut corners there. How much do you really save dropping from a striploin steak to a sirloin tip when the quality difference is so obvious to the consumer. Why use 31-40 count shrimp in a shrimp cocktail instead of 21 count. Are there other ways to reduce MDR costs without impacting food quality? Why use staff-hours to scrape bread crumbs after the entre when the table linens are replaced after dessert anyway? Why do a full place setting only to have a number of pieces removed unused and go through the cost of cleaning. You could do a minimal setting and add what is required based on the guest order. We both enjoy cruising but my wife calls me “cruise crazy” since I am always looking at them and doing new bookings. This time however she was surprised to hear me say on day 5 that I was ready to go home and enjoy my own cooking. I looked at booking a future cruise while on board but was hesitant to make the commitment. I read all the cruise blogs so hopefully there will be encouraging posts and I get excited to book again

Embarkation

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