OfTheSeasCruiser

Hi all, I'm new to Princess after many sailings with Royal and now Celebrity. I'm used to their sales that are usually just gimmicks that never really impact a cruise price by more than a couple hundred dollars. For them, if a cruise is popular, its going to be expensive; if they need to fill cabins, its going to cheap, and that's basically it. But Princess' prices and sales seem a bit more consistent. For example, I've been waiting for the 2025 Canada & New England sailings that were just released today. A balcony is listed at $1548 with no clear sale indicated. I referenced the same sailing in 2024, which is listed at $948, discounted down from a starting price of $1548. Is it safe to assume that the same discount will eventually make its way to the 2025 sailings? Based on the amount of cabins that are still available in 2024, I'm going to wait on booking 2025, but just curious if there is a rhyme of reason to when the price will come down?

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So does that mean even those with the Premium Package have to pay a difference to have a drink at the Martini Bar?

We went on our first Celebrity cruise last year after many with Royal. We have the Ascent booked for next year, and we are very much looking forward to it. We'll reevaluate after that cruise, but for now, I still view Celebrity as offering the experience we are looking for: more refined than Royal, better food drinks, and service (and based on the food reviews over on the RCI forum, that is still the case), and still at a good price point. For a 2025 cruise, we're actually seeing prices similar to or less than Royal from our TA. With that said, I am increasingly interested in Princess. It seems they've maintained a good level of service and food. They're adding some extra charges for some things, but if you go with one of their packages, most of it is included. I'll be in the market for a milestone celebration cruise come 2026. I'll probably go with Celebrity or Princess based on itinerary. Not ready to make the leap to the luxury lines.

When should I expect to see 2025 Canada & New England itineraries available to book?

After the recent redeployments, Summit's last cruise from San Juan is December 28, 2024-January 4, 2025 and her first one from Fort Lauderdale is February 25, 2025. Has anyone heard where Summit will be during that timeframe?

This change, from a financial standpoint, makes sense. And honestly, I'd rather them do this then cut things like pillow chocolates (pennies compared to the numbers you mention).

Fair enough. But I guess I understand how Royal evolved as brand into more of the "wow" and less of the "luxury". Celebrity was somewhere in the middle when we took our first cruise on them just about a year ago. Now it seems to just be quickly following the cuts that Royal already implemented. But the jump from Celebrity to Silversea is much steeper.

Will be interesting to see how long the "chocolates by request last". Would be nice if it actually did. I'd request them, but the family we travel with would not. We had ours every night, but they ended with about 12 left in the cabin after a 7 night cruise. Hope this isn't the beginning of the end of turndown service. Shame you have to look to the luxury lines for what used to be included, even on Royal. We'll have paid a pretty penny for our Ascent cruise coming up. I just don't know how a few dollars worth of chocolate is really saving them any money. I think I'd rather them raise every cruise fare by $10. Liberty is no Fain...

They decided they can make more money sailing from Port Canaveral.

Yup, this is all motivated by where they can make the most cash. Itineraries of 10+ nights really start to limit who can sail. But it'd be much harder to find someone who can't sail on a 7 nighter. I'm in the new younger demographics Celebrity is targeting, and we came over to X because of the more upscale feel, while still being relatively affordable, and the higher quality service and food/beverage programs. I just hope they find a balance between these shortened itineraries without becoming too much of a family line. We strayed from Royal because they became focused too much on waterslides, etc. I'm okay with Celebrity's shortened itineraries (we really can't go on anything more than 9 nights anyway), but I hope Celebrity doesn't start adding bumper cars and laser tag to their ships.

These are port bookings that give an indication of where ships may be deployed. Royal won’t officially release the sailings until around November or December of this year.

Any sign of Royal in Geiranger? MSC and NCL have published itineraries calling there during summer 2025, despite the restrictions.

Thanks! Didn’t realize the 25/26 thread was started.

Are there any New Zealand/South Pacific ports that are reporting port bookings for the 25/26 season? I know Sydney has them listed already.

I’m hoping Odyssey stays in Cape Liberty year round. Is it time for a 2025/26 Deployment thread?

CocoCay's pier only has room for 2 ships though, and many days through at least April 2025 already have 2 Royal ships scheduled. I don't know how X would be able to call there on a regular basis, unless they're going to tender in. On the other hand, the island's capacity is set to increase to 13,000 with the opening of an adults only beach in time for Icon (so January 2024).

Wording is weird - especially if it's not about CocoCay. Maybe it could be about the 2024 President's Cruise as that hasn't been announced yet and the current one is happening now.

The 3 & 4 night itineraries are not at all disappointing for many people.

Because the short cruise market is growing, millennials and younger people prefer shorter vacations, onboard spend on the 3/4 nighters is higher, and CocoCay is a cash cow.

Well, here we are 4 months later. Nothing available for booking past October 2024, and nothing for Brilliant after April 2024. I asked Virgin, and got a canned "stay tuned" response.

I thought NCL always used the Manhattan Cruise Terminal.

Service: Celebrity, but Royal not far behind Food: Celebrity Drinks/Bars: Celebrity Activities: Royal Entertainment: Royal If you're easily bored, I'd go with Royal. If you're looking for a bit more of a luxurious (but subdued) experience, I'd go with Celebrity. I have no direct experience with the Infinite Verandas yet, but looking forward to trying them.

Don't wait on an email from Celebrity. Sometimes their emails won't come for days after the sailings are released, or just never arrive at all.

It all comes down to $. Celebrity has decided they can make more money elsewhere.