Honolulu Blue

This made my day too. Thanks! 👍 I'll be on the Summit in 5 weeks. It's a shortie where I could do without the Net, but maybe if it's actually good, it might be worth hooking up for a day or two.

Same as above for me - except that I never bought the slot play or chips because they were never offered to me. The poker and BJ tourneys were offered, but I checked this morning and they no longer are. I'm on the Summit February 25. It's a charter, in case that matters.

This topic has mostly played itself out, it seems, but I still come here hoping to find posts of value, such as... "I'm on/recently disembarked from (XXX) and ate at the OVC. This is what I found..." "The fish fingers/pizza/whatever in the OVC on (XXX) is really good, the best I've ever had!" "I talked to someone from LLP's office/random corporate VP, and this is how they spun these changes/what they hope to accomplish by doing this/when they plan to make these changes final fleetwide" "I talked to (random officer in charge of the food in the OVC) on (XXX), and this is how they spun these changes..." "Looky what I found in the OVC - fresh from the MDR - PORK AND BEANS!!!!" 🤮 Other than these categories, it's just noise to me at this point.

Noted. I'm happy for you. 👍 TEC still includes a drink package for its passengers, even the ones in the cheapest cabins. But that's on Royal Caribbean, so I don't know how much of the good stuff it includes. For the UDC, of course, drink packages are extra, and likely to be popular. 🍺🍷🍹

My last hotel experience longer than overnight was at an AI a bit over a year ago. That had once daily service. But I've certainly heard of service cuts by hotels during the pandemic and that some are being kept as we transition away from it. See above. Also, I tend to hang out in my cabin more when I'm cruising than I stay in my room on land.

Thanks for sharing this. It sounds that, unlike Carnival, there's no choice of morning or evening service; they'll get to it when they get to it. I admit that I'm not thrilled about this, but it's not too much different than my land hotel experiences.

My perspective is a little different. Yes, MSC did quite a number on Costa. But the Corporation also has Princess, HAL, and P&O UK to pick up the pieces in the region. I don't fully understand what Carnival is doing with Costa these days, but they've lost a ton of market share in Europe and mostly lost the Chinese market, so "temporarily" lending their ships to Carnival (who can use the capacity) makes a little sense and who knows? It might actually work. China might eventually open back up fully, but things are going slow there now. Costa placed the biggest bet in the region of Carnival Corp.'s brands. They may get back there yet.

From Brand Ambassador John Heald's post today: Many of you wrote yesterday asking about the news that we would add Starlink Internet services to our ships and for more news on this. The timeline and specific rollout across the CCL fleet has not been finalised. We are excited about the prospects for this agreement but I have no further details just yet.

Somehow I missed this one when it was first posted. Thanks OP. I've told most of my OVC story in the other threads on this topic. But in response to the specific poll question, I've done four Celebrity cruises - two 7 nights and two 5 nights. I ate dinners in the OVC all nights except one on each where I went with room service. I haven't dined in the MDR or any of the specialty dining options on Celebrity. I assume they have better food there. My next cruise on Celebrity is in 5 weeks and will be for 5 days. I don't anticipate using any of the specialty dining options and really don't want to head to the MDR. But we'll see.

Cruise ship stops are canceled often enough that you really don't want to book solely because of a particular stop on the itinerary. As for reasons, I've mostly been given e-mails from the cruise line about them when cancellations have happened to me. If you booked through a travel agent, they might have received it instead - in which case they would know and be on the hook for telling you. But sometimes the cruise lines never disclose why they're changing or canceling their stops. They don't have to.

I found another listing of music festivals, which also happened to include some themed cruises. TEC was listed. Here's the article: Classic Rock Music Festivals and Cruises (ultimateclassicrock.com) . This is more confirmation that these music themed cruises can offer really good value without most of the mess and hassle of festivals on land. That said, I'm really tempted by day 1 of the M3 Rock Fest in Maryland in May. Styx and Quiet Riot are favorites of mine, and there's just enough support there to make spending a day there a pretty good experience. Don't be surprised if I take a flyer on this.

Thank you for taking the time to detail your observations. I'm impressed that you got to talk to the F&B director and the head chef. It's not my nature to ask for such. Anyway, my comments on your comments: More confirmation that they want people out of the OVC for dinner. Disappointing, but helpful to know they feel this way. They're concerned about costs, which isn't a surprise They're also concerned about waste in the OVC, also not surprising I agree with you and disagree with Ivan. I don't want to be served dinner every day, even on a cruise.

I've sailed on ships that got in as much as an hour early, so it does happen - but not often enough to count on. Less often, we've stayed in port past the expected all aboard time. Again, don't rely on this happening on your particular cruise.

Thanks for sharing. Obviously good news, but the devil is in the details. We'll see what happens when Princess gets their ships outfitted with the latest and greatest. I doubt it will be ready by April on the Ruby, but we'll see.

Isn't the Internet wonderful? There's only a few traces of the old story and its headline. Big Brother would be so pleased! 😁

Good news - Carnival Corporation has joined the Starlink bandwagon. Here's the official press release https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-expands-next-generation-wi-fi-connectivity . Carnival and AIDA ships will be hooked up first, followed by other Carnival Corp. ships. Since no one is paying attention, let's see how likely my upcoming cruises will have the newest and greatest satellite service: February, Celebrity Summit - very unlikely March, Navigator OTS - unlikely April, Ruby Princess - unlikely November, Carnival Magic - probable

Princess is cheaper - especially with status. I think this announcement is great, but the devil is in the details. I don't think any of us outsiders know yet. Here's the official Carnival Corporation press release: https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-expands-next-generation-wi-fi-connectivity

This is true. But to be fair to them, they've been busy cruising on other ships and only have limited time to scope out the deeper news stories. And this story has been buried pretty deep - nothing on the primary cruise news sites and no press releases (yet) from Celebrity. I think eventually they'll catch up. There was one person who in the other thread said that a customer service rep told them that the OVC and RS changes were meant to push more people into the MDR. Third hand info, but the conclusion seems plausible. You'd think Celebrity would want more people to dine in the OVC - the labor costs are lower (especially once they got rid of most of the serving crew), the food costs are probably lower, and there would be less waste if people actually used it. But TPTB at Celebrity - maybe even going to Jason and the rest at the very top of RCG - have decided that this was a move they needed to make fleetwide, posthaste. Who am I to argue with highly experienced executives? All I can do is let my feelings know where and when I can.

When I first saw that article, I thought about the villains in those superhero/secret agent movies. They all want WORLD DOMINATION! Usually followed by an evil laugh. 😈 I don't think MSC is evil, BTW. But they've got a ways to go to dominate the North American market. They currently have five big assets - 1) low prices, 2) an owner with deep pockets, 3) pretty ships, 4) their willingness to status match, and 5) the Yacht Club. That's not nothing, but if they want to catch Carnival or Royal, they really need about 10 more big ships homeported in NA - including more on the East Coast, more in the Gulf, and they need to establish a foothold in California and Alaska. They're at least 10 years away, IMHO, unless they whip out the checkbook and buy up an established cruise line or two. The thing about the megalomaniacs in the movies is that they almost always end up defeated before they reach their goals. We'll see what happens to MSC. It should be interesting to watch.

According to the article that announced this change (thanks NCL PR staff! 😛) at Norwegian Cruise Line Trimming Stateroom Cleaning, Cutting Crew Roles - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News, the following NCL ships have or will receive the change first: Epic (Jan. 8), Sky (Jan. 13), Jewel (Jan. 14), Sun and Breakaway (Jan. 15). So we should be receiving more reports on the effects of this soon.

According to Cruise Industry News at Norwegian Cruise Line Trimming Stateroom Cleaning, Cutting Crew Roles - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News , it's a real thing. The first ships were scheduled to be affected last week and this. If it's happened, there should be feedback elsewhere decrying this change. Maybe those who weren't in the know didn't know what to expect? Or maybe it was already baked in? I wouldn't expect a press release on this, but passengers might have received a memo. Certainly, the cabin stewards (whatever they're titled these days) have to clue in the passengers on the affected ships.

In the earlier post on this topic (now locked and buried several pages deep), several people reported contacting head honcho LLP's office and receiving replies (phone calls) from her staff. There was some acknowledgement of what they were up to, but little defense. They did appreciate the feedback and said things could change. Maybe soon we'll see some notes about more current communications.

Who'd want to buy a cruise line these days? Royal successfully sold Azamara a while ago, and there have been rumors that Seabourn will be sold/given to the Saudis. But those are smaller fish than X. All the big publicly held cruise lines are leveraged to the hilt and have no money available for acquisitions. Maybe MSC wants to make a play? They're privately held and mostly a sideline for their shipping division. Does Viking want to go downscale? How about Sir Richard? Does he want throw more good money after bad? And there's always the odd mogul with more money (or stock) than sense. I shouldn't be surprised at anything anymore, especially with what has happened in the past three years, but I have to say a sale of X would surprise me.

The prices for specialty restaurants that are showing for me on the app for my next cruise on the Summit in February: Le Petit Chef - $70.80 Tuscan Grille (dinner) - $64.90 Tuscan Grille (seafood lunch) - $35 Tuscan Grille (Tuscan lunch) - $40 Sushi on Five - a la carte I'm not certain if these prices include the 18% gratuity.

Perhaps I should have narrowed the range to between 2017 (my first Celebrity cruise) and 2022. I'm fully aware that things change over time. One of the frustrating things about this change (to me) is that it changed SO much, SO quickly, with SO LITTLE official notice. But of course I'm not demanding OBC over this. It does affect (somewhat) the choices I make about what cruise lines I sail on. If I were looking for cruises to sail on, I would be looking a little less hard at Celebrity, and a little harder at... everyone else. This is my choice, which may or may not be suitable for everyone else. P.S. Funny thing about the oldest ship... my last cruise with Celebrity was on their oldest current ship (the Millennium) in November. I liked the buffet then and said so. I also liked the rest of the ship and its crew. I haven't had a chance to sail on any of Celebrity newer ships - and with their current pricing and current state of their buffet, probably never will. Unless it's one that one of my charters chooses.