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Concierge class doesn't get you much of anything on Celebrity. A welcome aboard lunch on the first day is about it. And a bottle of sparkling wine. You also earn more points per day in the loyalty program if that matters to you. Reserve on Princess gets you the separate section in the MDR on a daily basis with its expanded menu. You also get the free bottle. The amenities of Princess are a little more elevated, IMO. Most important to me would be a traditional balcony instead of the infinite veranda (window that opens) setup on Celebrity assuming you're really talking about a mini suite on Princess and not something else. Itinerary would also weigh heavily assuming similar price points (I would not pay more for Celebrity in Concierge unless it was a killer itinerary that I had to sail).

You just have to watch the promotions as there is no set cadence. You often see it advertised as 3rd/4th person sails free or for a reduced price when they happen. The last specific "kids sail free" promotion I remember was in 2019.

The answer as with so many things is "it depends." There is a minimum amount of time it takes for transactional data to flow between banks. That can take several days. The sending bank and the receiving bank also will have their own policies that determine how fast it makes it back to your card account. The same is true with cash deposits, too. On the front end, there is still a delay between the time you swipe your card and see the charge and when the company gets the cash for the transaction. Modern systems will give you credit with the customer on your account, but they don't really get the money immediately. Beyond that, the business undoubtedly has business rules surrounding who can issue refunds and how that process works. The refund may have to be processed in a few different systems to get out the door.

Twelve hours ago they weren't showing up. Probably just website maintenance.

"Exciting Deals" are cruise-only fares that are discounted. Those are not typically able to be combined with other promos. You should be able to book a cabin under a different fare on the same cruise but it would almost certainly cost more.

You'd need enough curtains to cover the width of the cabin. As you see in the photo, it doesn't really block out all the light so skeptical that it would be worth the trouble. Why they didn't just put a curtain partition in from the outset is a mystery to me. Several cruise lines do have that option in their rooms.

I generally agree with those who think tipping has gotten out of hand (everywhere), but you aren't buying a cruise for $6K. You are buying a cruise for $6K + the expectation that you will pay the tips at $X per person per day. It's not like they spring it on you after the fact. Plenty of blame for the corporations that do this, but, at the end of the day, the employees should not be the ones made to suffer. Choosing to book with the corporation means you agree to abide by their operations, which includes the daily gratuity scheme. The real way to protest would be to not book the cruise. Protesting by removing the grats means you are stiffing the employees.

This way you cannot complain when something doesn't meet expectations. "No, madame. The menu clearly says we serve Aragula, not arugula"

They should post them outside the restaurant, too. People often look at the menu to decide where they're going to eat.

OP mentions a priority lounge in the terminal. Was there ever a separate lounge for Elite and Elite+? I thought it was just priority lines for check-in (even pre-pandemic).

We're reversing the cuts we implemented...but if you're sailing between now and Thanksgiving (or sailed in the interim), t.s.

It doesn't matter until it does. As long as you know that you may end up waiting until your assigned time (or after, if there is some sort of delay), then all is well.

I'm not clicking on offsite links for anything so I didn't participate. CC has the ability to create polls. I only respond to those if they're set up to not show how specific people vote. None of that changes that the trend is to the negative on what customers are saying online. Online reviews do influence decisions, especially in younger generations. This is why X has started pushing more PR out there to try to stem the tide IMO.

If the ship was supposed to homeport in San Juan and now is going to be doing some charters from FLL, there will have to be some sort of repositioning cruises in the mix somewhere. Probably what they are trying to figure out. Could maybe involve maintenance dry dock, too, if it's about time.

I cannot imagine how much one cost versus the other, though. You can get a whole lot for the right price. Prices that I've seen quoted over the years have always seemed outrageous to me, especially for simple ceremonies.

If they weren't worried about bookings, then they wouldn't be doing this PR push. While it may be true that bookings in the short term are fine, what is the feedback they're getting after people sail? Not just from long-termers but from new cruisers? I cannot imagine that it is too positive. You don't brag about demand and then run the 3/4 person (kids) sail free promotion shortly thereafter if something they're seeing isn't spooking them.

The last time this happened in this part of the world, cruisers who booked in EU countries were given more options than those who did not when there was this type of significant change. Different countries, different rules. The admonishment that many are giving about the cruise line being able to do anything is not universally true depending on the consumer laws you book under. Not the first time this has been a topic on Cruise Critic.

Again, true for U.S. cruisers. May not be true if you're from another country that has different booking rules.

What happens when major changes like that occur can depend on where you're from and under what conditions you booked. Check with your TA to see what the options are. U.S. customers are bound by the "we can change any port at any time" rule.

Most of X's fleet have a single main dining room.

Celebrity does not offer that currently. You either buy a drink package, pay a la carte, or bring your own from somewhere else.

Once the minimum wage started rising in the U.S. during the pandemic, call center jobs that historically had paid a few dollars more per hour than other places had to start competing with a new reality. The available labor suddenly had more choices, and it became increasingly difficult to staff appropriately. I have had a couple of different friends whose companies wanted to (and were) using U.S.-based call centers but staffing became such an issue that it was causing the corporations real problems with providing reliable service. Just a bit of background to add to the mix and not offering opinions on right or wrong on the specific situation at X.

Food isn't that subjective, really. "I didn't starve" is a pretty low bar. From all of the reports posted over the past month or so, it's very clear that what they're serving today is lower quality than at any other time in their history. That they keep charging more and more for a lesser experience is what people are reacting negatively to.

It's not a B2B (same ship)....it's a side by side (different ships). You might ask on the Italy ports board. Call center agents are not going to know. I'd be somewhat surprised if there is enough coordination between Royal and X to handle this, but the ones with the experience doing it are going to be the workers at the ship and in that port.

There could be a certain type of people who book suites to lord it over others. Those people are boors. They could also be living well beyond their means to get there. You never know anyone else's story. The majority of suite passengers I've met are perfectly fine and don't look down their noses at anyone.