meechee341

Same here.  I was able to cancel and re-book my June 2020 shore excursions for a much lower price.  There was no advertising for this sale.  X does offer some great prices on their excursions compared to other lines. 

6 minutes ago, dolittle said:

So on the first day you went to the Maitre d to tell him you want your hot food HOT and your cold food COLD . You forgot to tell him to keep the water wet .

LOL!  I think this dude would be better off swimming to his next destination instead of taking a cruise ship.  I'm seriously surprised this guy got off that ship without shoe marks from the crew all over his backside!

On 10/16/2019 at 11:06 AM, zltm089 said:

I was just about to post a similar thread.

 

My boarding time is 2pm, but I think we have to be there 90 mins beforehand.

 

I want to board as early as possible, but don't think they will allow us to do so and more likely will miss breakfast. 

 

We have a concierge balcony room, so will the "main" restaurants be open for us for lunch? Or will it be buffet only?

You don't have to board at 2 pm.  That time is just a suggestion.  I typically board by 10 am.  I prefer boarding early just in case something goes wrong.  You can show up earlier if you choose and X will allow you to board.

I was on the Equinox last year sailing in a suite.  In short, yes the crew DOES talk about passengers.  Our butler was fantastic and at times he'd chat for a bit whenever he'd drop in to check on us.  He let me know that the crew does mention to one another which passengers are "difficult" and "demanding" and which ones are "friendly" and "easy going".  When we hadn't shown up to Luminae for a meal within the first 3 days of an 11 night cruise, our butler let us know that those in charge were concerned about where we were eating.  I honestly thought he was joking, but he wasn't.  One night we noticed that a show we wanted to see overlapped over dinner.  We told him it wasn't a problem and that we'd just pop up to the buffet to get our dinner.  He told us that we should NOT go to the buffet.  If one of his bosses saw us up there, they'd question HIM as to why we were eating there.  That revelation threw me for a loop.  He said that if we wanted dinner after the show to call him and he'd bring us whatever we wanted.  I did not want to get him into any trouble, so we made sure to go to Luminae the next night for dinner.  While there the entire crew who waited on us was spectacular.  They were so nice and excited that we finally showed up.  One of our waiters let us know that he and our butler had been friends for a long time.  He told us that our butler had told him that we were very nice and friendly people.  The entire Luminae crew took great care of us.  They would stop by our table often during dinner for a quick chat.  If we ordered something that they didn't think was special enough, they'd change our order to something better that we did indeed love.  They were amazing!  I will say this, if you are a difficult and demanding passenger, they will know it!  They do talk, they keep notes and the crew will be forewarned on how best to "manage" you.  ALWAYS seek to be friendly.  It will make for a better trip for everyone involved!  Everyone got high scores on their reviews because they were wonderful to us.  I was happy to be very detailed about the exact ways they went above and beyond. 

I  see this coming....Take away the existing perk and then offer a new package of movie watching for an extra charge.  I believe this will be along very soon. We won't pay for indiv movies or a media package...perhaps worth it to some  We will just go without for a week to 10 days.

I think this poster was right on the money.  I'll bet that like the drinks packages, Celebrity and Royal will soon offer movie/tv packages to people.  The problem is that ALL the cruise lines (and other forms of travel as well) are moving in this direction.  More and more things are being removed or provided for an additional charge.  It's getting harder and harder to keep loving X.  I always travel with my Microsoft Pro tablet, so it'd be interesting to see if people with computers can cast or use an HDMI cable to hook up their computers.

I wonder if they are cutting free in room movies from Royal's ships.  It's beginning to look like Royal is moving far ahead of Celebrity with offering lots to do on their larger ships, perks similar to what Celebrity offers, with many more on board amenities.  It may be time to go back to Royal.

1 hour ago, Lady Chew said:

We've taken many cruises, most of them long (as in, 3 weeks or more), on four different cruise lines.  We try not to fall in the "been there, done that" camp but we do get excited & love to talk about our cruises when the conversation goes in that direction.  We are very experienced cruisers, we love to share our stories & tips and hear others' stories & tips

 

We hate hearing people say they've been to Port Whatever so many times they want the cruise line to change the itinerary.  We can always find something new to do in a port, no matter how often we've been there, and we have developed certain traditions for different ports.  And there are always people on the ship who have never been there and are looking forward to their first time.  There have been changes on all of the lines over the years we've been cruising, we don't like all of them, but we don't lose sleep over any of them.  Life is too short!

 

Most of our longer cruises have been on Holland America.  We just took our first (and probably only, but never say never) World Cruise this year.  Most of the people on that cruise were repeat world cruisers.  3 times, 5 times, 10 times, 15 (not kidding) times.  The sense of entitlement that most of those folks had was incredible.  "MY seat in the theater, MY table for trivia, MY bartender, MY place in line, MY this, MY that, MY MY MY MY MY"   We did meet some wonderful folks and overall had a wonderful time, but listening to all of the MYs every day was a major bummer. 

 

It's almost as bad on their shorter cruises.  Much worse on HAL than X or Royal.  

I agree!  You hear people on these posts talk about the new Kelly Hoppen (I hope that's her name) design choices as if she was designing a room in THEIR home.  Some of these people forget that they don't own a single X ship (and can't afford a private yacht!).

22 hours ago, mom says said:

Let me guess- you'd rather see country and western or jugglers? And where do you get the idea that "most" people, this "vast majority" don't enjoy ballet? I can't say I've ever been to a ballet performance that wasn't very, very well attended. Surely if your opinion held any merit, there would have been a veritable sea of empty seats. 

 

Providing something for every taste shouldn't have to mean shooting for the lowest common denominator. The classics still hold appeal to many - they're classic for a reason.

Well said!  

8 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

We are really looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise in November. The numerous complaints about the updates really gets old and its usually the same people over and over again, some who have cruised with Celebrity several times.

On Royal we avoid the suite and Diamond lounges due to the constant complainers as well as the one uppers.

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Enjoy your cruise PhoenixCruiser!  Celebrity is a great cruise line and I really enjoy their ships.  More than that, I think you'll LOVE the friendly staff and crew.  Just remember to be kind to the staff.  They work so hard to make your vacation as wonderful as possible.  Be sure to fill out the corporate comment card and note the names of outstanding employees who made your cruise great.  Don't let the complainers who can't seem to find something wonderful in anything bring you down.  You'll see them on these message boards (the SAME people) all the time complaining about how they hate all the new design choices.   No cruise ship, hotel, restaurant or any other mass market product can meet the needs (or decorating tastes) of every single person.  No everything won't be perfect, but I think Celebrity works harder to provide a better vacation than some cruise lines.  So enjoy your cruise for me!  I'm like a gleeful, giggly kid at Christmas every time I'm blessed just to be ON the ship.  I'm looking forward to my next Celebrity cruise in 2020!

I think a big problem is when you run into people who have cruised for a long time on a particular line like Celebrity and always moan and gripe about the "good ole' days".  All you hear is how much better X was in the past and how things have changed for the worse.  They claim to be "happy cruisers", yet can't seem to find any pleasure or benefits in today's cruise ships.  That attitude is such a turn off.  Yes things change, but that doesn't mean that you still can't have fun and enjoy a cruise vacation.  I'm excited about each cruise and I enjoy talking to others who feel the same!

5 hours ago, lolane1 said:

 

Just got off the summit.  According to the captain, this was not a maintenance issue.  They  were pvc pipes. 

 

We saw rooms with mattresses, furniture and carpets outside.  I could be wrong but maybe the interior rooms around the midship elevators on deck 9.  I wondered where the heck did all those people go?  Big fans were in place drying out the rooms.  I wasn't aware that it seeped down to the lower floors but it stands to reason as one gentleman said he had 3 inches of water in his room.  

Thanks for posting this.  Hopefully this post will quiet the people who want to blame the new KH designs instead of seeing this as just being an unfortunate accident.  I think Celebrity (and Royal Caribbean) go above and beyond to keep their ships properly maintained, but things do happen.  Prayers for everyone who had to deal with this unfortunate situation.