canderson

12 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

You are suggesting that Celebrity would fire a captain for making a decision on how to handle a situation on the ship they are assigned to? That's a very bold claim.

If a captain were to unilaterally decide to kick Park West out of their 'rented' space to make passengers happy, yes.  While the captain is the master of the ship, he/she still works at the pleasure of RCG.

Heaven knows what it would cost the company just for the broken contract and passenger fares, much less what Park West's famous lawyers would undoubtedly claim for compensatory damages due to lost sales.

Employees in any business that blow up large business deals made by corporate aren't going to go without consequences.

13 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

Who is "Miami"? - the Hotel Manager has no say in how spaces are used?  Then he is not a manager, only a coordinator.  

It's a publicly traded company with a huge corporate structure.  Do you think managers of WalMart stores get to say how their stores are laid out?  Every peg and inch of shelf space is already accounted for in Bentonville long before tomorrow's trucks show up.  Think again.

It's the manager's job to execute, not innovate.  Just how it is.

The only person outside of corporate offices who actually does have the authority to do what you're describing would be the captain, though afterward, he/she likely wouldn't be a Celebrity captain for very long.

27 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

Who gets to make the decision? 

Miami passes the edict down to the Hotel Manager.  Miami wrote the contract.  They're the only ones that could change this behavior in the future - if they even wanted to.

While we enjoy Celebrity for the most part, the presence of Park West cheapens the brand to our way of thinking.  You'll notice they're not out hawking high priced art to their 'special guests' on high priced cruise lines.

4 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Best one recently was the security guy called me by name before scanning my Xpress pass and boarding the ship.  Hadn't seen him in 18 months.

Uh huh.  Yup.  We know your type.  Well remembered by not a server at Al Bacio, but instead, by security! 😄  Whaja do?  Try to bring in one of them surge suppressor power strips, or ... 🤪😆🤣

M class.  Yes, you can float right off if you lay flat, as noted earlier.  I've found that if I pull back/up just a little and place a small folded towel under my head for comfort, my head and shoulders seem to keep me anchored in place.

26 minutes ago, RickT said:

Unfortunately you cannot check in using the webpage and I do not have a device compatible with the Android app.

Is web page check-in broken?  That's how we've normally done it.

16 minutes ago, TGfromTX said:

I tried to identify what you are referring to on the Millennium but I only found what look like soap bubble bath tubs.  Is that what you are referring to?

Also, can someone confirm if a thalassotherapy pool and a hydrotherapy pool is the same thing?  So far, I don't think anyone has identified any Celebrity ship currently operational that has a pool in the spa area.

I call them 'bubble beds' for lack a better description.  They're part of the Solarium t-pool on M class.  (Editing to add photo)  They're what you see on the far left/right of the pool here, where two people are on one of them on the right:

Picture super wide loungers, under water, made up of stainless steel tubing with compressed air being run through a zillion little holes in the tubing.  Depending upon the water depth, the velocity of the bubbles, and your anatomy, they might just float you right up off the tubing.

I'm just recalling something similar in the medium temperature pool at Glenwood Springs, but you had to put in a quarter in those to get the air started 😄

And I agree, not a ship in current fleet with a pool inside the spa area.  That ended with the ships that are now no longer in the X fleet.

13 minutes ago, Happy2Crews said:

How do you 'watch' for these?  Is there a place on the website?  Thanks. 

Just try that link about once a week to see what's there.

1 hour ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I could have sworn that the Mercury's thalassotherapy pool was in the spa. That was my first X cruise, and hitting that pool was a daily ritual. Sheer bliss!

Nope.  You're right.  Pool was between the saunas and changing areas.  I just recall it being readily accessible to all ... not like most of today's spa areas.

1 hour ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I could have sworn that the Mercury's thalassotherapy pool was in the spa. That was my first X cruise, and hitting that pool was a daily ritual. Sheer bliss!

Possible.  Century, Galaxy and Mercury were all the same "class" , but definitely not identical (especially after the crazy Century mods they did in 2006).

5 minutes ago, Hilaurennn said:

Thanks for your reccomendations! I will check them out. 

 

I forgot to specify but when I say vibe, I mean relaxed. We don't actually drink, or want to party, or want to be surrounded by younger people doing so which is what we liked about celebrity. Virgin voyages looks like hell to me from what I've seen! Lots of drinking,  partying etc which I get is some people vibes but not what we're looking for 🙂

Then definitely have a look at Silversea.  They have a wide range of itineraries.  Would recommend Muse class or Nova class ships.

@Obobru

Reading the recent posts, and am now horribly confused.  Were the cruises you describe in posts #58 and #65 two different Silhouette cruises?  #58 describes a tag team, and #65 describes a completely different elderly solo, replaced by another solo.

51 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Yep, just what we needed..

Not to mention, not very "ultimate".  There are a whole host of situations and options not mentioned in the original post. 

@Guindalf

You might want to look into the forms available from Guest Relations for tips and how these can be used (and how long it takes X to process them to a paycheck), and the question of using OBC for tips.  There's plenty more, but ...

No kids + vibe would seem to point toward Virgin Voyages.  All three of their ships are fairly new.  Probably one you should investigate.

We haven't sailed them.  Could be the difference in our demographic vs. yours.  We haven't felt the need to a tattoo parlor aboard (yet), even after a trip to the martini bar.  Note that their prices include tips, WiFi and dining.  The drinks and shorex are on you.

Another line where you will find some newer ships that might get you visual appeal and probably no kids would be Silversea's two new ships, Nova and Ray.  That said, the 'vibe' there may be a bit lower key than you're hoping for.  It depends upon what takes your fancy for activities and entertainment while at sea. 

4 hours ago, hcat said:

The Solarium pools are supposed to be kept warm.. with a few jets..ususlly not!  No true T pools anymore on X

 

we prefer the thermal suite  on S Class ships but there is not a  pool in the  area

Indeed.  None of X's ships have had a therapy pool in the 'spa' area, and they haven't had a good one in public space (Solarium) since the old Century class ships.  The in-pool jets actually had some velocity back then.  And I used to love to stand under those pipes and let the water pound down on my neck and shoulders.  It was like standing under a fire hose.  Cheapest Swedish massage ever! 

The M class 'bubble beds' are kind of relaxing - if you roll up a small towel to put under your head and keep up a bit on the 'bed' so you don't float away.

1 minute ago, JackE said:

We just hit Elite and need to purchase WiFi and drink package. Do we get a discount on the sale price, or the regular price? Should we book directly with Celebrity? Thanks in advance! 

Compare your Elite discount to the discount offered in your online planner.  Take the better of the two.  They cannot be combined.

That last post is how we used to get endless dress code threads.  The wonderful world of 'You do you'.

Frankly, beside the fact that I'm asked NOT to do it (sounds familiar), and beside the fact that it seems not to be enforced (sounds familiar, though in the case, the porters don't work for Celebrity), I'd consider it a real discourtesy to both my fellow passengers and the security staff to go ahead and do it anyway. 

But that's just 'me doing me'.

19 minutes ago, janetz said:

Using the porters is fine.

We always hand over canned seltzer 

Have done it on 12 plus cruises.

There is NO rule in writing against giving it to the luggage porters, none 

If there was they would not take it. If there was, it would also not get to our cabin 

Never an issue.

 

Happy cruising 😊

See post above.

Even if Celebrity didn't post this, it would be a bad practice that should give one pause for the reasons already given.

13 minutes ago, janetz said:

You can put a cabin tag on it and give it to the luggage porters 😊

Please read post #5.   There's a reason that Celebrity asks passengers to hand carry, not check their beverages.  As the walls on plastic bottles gets thinner and thinner, it becomes more important than ever. 

On top of that, running liquids through their checked bag system just makes more work for security since they now have to open and inspect for contraband alcohol. 

Yes, you can do it, especially in checked luggage.  By the time they've unstacked and x-rayed your bags aboard and realized there is a potential issue, the damage, if any, has already been done.  Please don't.

1 hour ago, phoenix_dream said:

The reason is simple IMHO. Longer cruises are 95% older cruisers. I've been on many.  Despite their claiming otherwise,  they don't want us older cruisers. We don't spend as much on shore excursions ( been there; done that), picture packages, the most expensive restaurants etc.. They want the 30-50 year olds, preferably the ones with money.  Unless management or marketing strategy changes we are out of luck. Lately we just do many b2bs, but those aren't as nice as they often repeat ports, offer less port variety,  and of course have the turnaround day hassle which isn't that bad but it does lessen the enjoyment 

95% of longer cruises are certainly older cruisers during Sept-May when school is in session.  But longer summer cruises (when you can still find one) still seem to have the typical Celebrity mix of demographics.  I guess there will always be trans-oceanic voyages for us, but as noted earlier, even those are getting shorter and shorter on the Atlantic side.

If you look at the stats, we (the old farts) are still the ones with most of the money.

One thing Celebrity does still seem to do (intentionally) is create B2B or B3B opportunities where there's no port overlap.  For example, if one wanted to do Caribbean, there's often a ship doing alternating E W E W etc so that a B2B never has any repeats apart from turn day.  And non-repeat B2B options in Europe are quite common.

That said, if Celebrity keeps going in the 'weekend special' direction or starts to shorten their TAs any further, we'll be on Silversea again.  I'm sure RCG will be happy with that choice, but we won't be helping the current X president's numbers any.

If you bring up Silversea's entire 2025 schedule, and ask to refine the list by length of cruise, here's what THEIR itineraries look like!

and if narrowing it down to Caribbean (not a focus area for Silversea, but

the subject of the thread) you get this from a MUCH smaller Caribbean fleet:

1 hour ago, imescaping said:

We asked about a trade, they said we can’t without penalty. Oh well, 3 nights it will be an adventure. 

A request to swap between cabins on the same class, if one is available, isn't normally known to incur any penalty.

How did you come by this cabin?

4 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

What is HH???

Happy Hour.

Specifically, Elite Happy Hour.

6 minutes ago, imescaping said:

The deck plan has the square, (and only the square)  single sofa bed. It makes no mention of bed type for the 4th berth) 

That's going to be cozy, for reasons noted in pic above.  I'd see if you can trade for one that includes an upper berth along with a sofa bed.

9 minutes ago, doghog said:

So??????

So why a difference seemingly noted between the condition of Summit and Millennium, or is there one?

Will be on Constellation again this Fall.  Looked good after the 2021 extended dry dock, and got an additional refresh in April 2024.  Will be interested to see how she's holding up.