canderson

I'll toss our family hat into the no-IV ring as well, even though none of us has set foot into one. How can we tell that an IV wouldn't be something we'd enjoy? Because we have the option of our own pretend IV at any time. Space isn't an issue in the staterooms we book. We can sit in front of our open (or closed) stateroom door with a terrific view to the world outside, or we can go out onto the veranda, park ourselves in real loungers, and enjoy it that way. Unless the weather is inclement, we almost always prefer the latter, and especially on our annual 'chill out' TA cruises, tend to spend quite a lot of time there. Two of the most flexible suites in the X fleet in this regard are the Sunset Suites and Penthouses of the M class. There, you have sun or shade as you like due to the varying overhangs. Informed by how we typically use the resources our non-IV staterooms, this provides good information for making future stateroom decisions.

Does she mention her time working for (shudder) Park West before joining RCG? Seems to have disappeared from her LinkedIn page.

The RHS would be a total hoot aboard, but even that runs 90 minutes as do most of the 'shorter' stage productions these days.

Thoroughly agree that it's much nicer to have a good storyline behind the performance, and we'd certainly enjoy that more, but rare few musicals have been successfully condensed into a one hour format. It really means changing the way the line schedules entertainment, or coming up with some original content better suited to the time available, and that won't come cheap.

So you're saying it would make sense to you if Celebrity's next ship looked like the one in the Oasis photo, above? Makes no sense to me. Just brand it as a RCL ship. As you so correctly point out, everyone has different tastes. If RCG homogenizes their brands, they're not going to able to serve a very diverse collection of tastes with that business model.

I did. Invented it for a previous thread a few months ago when referencing Icon. Even for those that don't get the Mariana Trench allusion, the Six Flags alone gets the point across pretty well.

Probably meant "last year" vs. "in the past year".

If you have something against chocolate, we're done, Dawg! 😆

Apart from end-of-cruise surveys, we've never been contacted for comment, either. As to your final question, I suspect a lot of feedback has come from the folks in Miami who occupy these desks:

I'll be very interested to see if the question (with its several +1 sorts of comments all with a very large number of up-votes) regarding rules for pax and the corresponding rules of engagement by crew/staff/officers is answered. This question lands square in the middle of one of the touchiest subjects, and will undoubtedly prove to be the most difficult to answer honestly and directly. Let's see how the wordsmiths do with it. I don't find it at all surprising that it wasn't one that was answered quickly.

Apart, perhaps, from my own reference to the Icon of the Seas as "Six Flags over Mariana Trench", which was intended to be a humorous take on this ... ... I haven't seen anything here that looked particularly cynical.

Sorry - I missed that caveat when reading your post. (?)

While I'll agree that screw top closures are often not given their due for certain wines where significant aging is not desirable, that's certainly not the case for all wines. A really good screw cap provides for no oxidation apart from what transpires due to the air in the neck of the bottle. Cork, OTOH, isn't as forgiving of poor storage conditions, which is why wines that will benefit from the use of corks need to be 'cellared' properly. Both methods are superior for some, and potentially inferior for others. Each has its place and purpose. Fun facts.

When you replied to my first post, you wouldn't have had a chance to read my later one that says "One would think that a cruise line would see the benefit of putting their creative minds to the task of finding some new concepts that were related to the uniquely shipboard experience. Have they really run out of ideas?" If, in the future, there's little product differentiation, these novice cruisers, who won't be novices forever, will have more reason to reevaluate the value proposition of sea vs. resort vacations. The only reason cruise lines can compete at all is because their payroll is kept well below shoreside wages for any 'developed' country. The rest of their operational and logistics costs for operating a moving, floating resort will inevitably be higher.

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Yes, I'm sure they were right that cruising public was really looking forward to eating dinner aboard in a Pullman car. A vacation traveling in that fashion https://www.rockymountaineer.com is certainly an option if that's the experience one craves. One would think that a cruise line would see the benefit of putting their creative minds to the task of finding some new concepts that were related to the uniquely shipboard experience. Have they really run out of ideas?

Assuming the overall footprint isn't enlarged, they can make it as different as they want to make it through a repurposing of existing space aboard.

Also please note her use of the phrase "newly imagined spaces". This would further indicate that whatever this is about, it would originally be unique to the Xcel build since it indicates space must be set aside for these new activities.

Her answer, accurate or not, was in answer to a specific question about Xcel, and seemed to indicate that these seven new "experiences" were to be rolled out on Xcel. Guess we'll have to wait until the first marketing brochures arrive.

I've read and re-read Bethge's response to @johhnnyt's question asking about future features on Xcel. I can't say I'm at all encouraged by the response: "While we can’t reveal just yet the new features on Celebrity Xcel, we can tell you it will have 7 new experiences and will blur the lines between ship and shore like never before with newly imagined spaces. We look forward to sharing more later this year, stay tuned!" [emphasis mine] There's an assumption packed into that reply that blurring the lines between ship and shore is a positive direction for the Celebrity brand. While it remains to be seen in which areas this 'blur' will take place on this future Celebrity ship, we've all seen the results on Royal's latest offering, the Icon of the Seas (aka Six Flags over Mariana Trench) has brought a bit more of the land to the sea than the vast majority of Celebrity passengers would like in a cruise ship. Are Celebrity passengers really looking for "7 new experiences" that help us forget that we're shipboard and make the cruise feel more like we're taking a land vacation at a resort? I would think that to differentiate the experience and draw customers away from land vacations, one would create new and interesting, but uniquely water voyage / cruise / ship based experiences and activities that further differentiate the two. I'll withhold judgment until the actual features/experiences are announced, but the answer provided is vague enough now to promote an uncomfortable feeling with the direction of this new ship based upon recent build history at RCCL.

No, not a problem with that. It's wandering around with the bottle that may raise the question.

Check under "Activities" instead of "Entertainment" in the evenings. Each ship seems to have something a little different listed under the "Game Show" heading.

Ditto. Late 2022, Reflection was looking very good in public spaces and in the SS and RS cabins we occupied.

The amount you see in the upper right corner of your web based cruise planner is the amount per cabin, not per person. So if you see $250, it's not $500 for two people, it's $250 total. The app is another story. I've seen OBC as it appears in the planner split 50/50 between two pax in a cabin in the app (e.g., you might have $250 for the cabin, split $125/person in the app). It seems to depend upon the source of the OBC. The reasoning is a bit convoluted, but understand that each passenger has their own folio aboard ship, and expenditures against a person's Seapass card show up in that individual's own folio. So I guess the line tries to divvy up OBC between the accounts? It can be confusing at times.

Bring water you can hand carry/roll aboard, not as checked luggage. 1 bottle of wine per person in the cabin is also permitted. If you take it to a dining or other public venue, they may charge a $25 corkage fee. No charge if you open it and drink it in your cabin.