Jeremiah1212

With the current pricing there are several instances where it is going to be cheaper to book two cabins. Even if the 3/4 person are kids, two connecting cabins is 1000% the way to go.

Ascent has some new offerings. Updated menus in MDR, new Le Petite Chef shows, new tableside items at Fine Cut, updated menus at Craft Social, Cafe Al Bacio and the pool bar. Fleetwide, new wine lists, more updated cocktail menus, Murano will see some menu adjustments and they also emphasized additional training across the entire F&B program.

I suspect there will be multiple posts like this, but without context as to when and what you booked it really doesn't mean anything. As everyone knows the general rule still stands...the earlier you book the lower the price.

Just taking a quick look at pricing (US only) and everything on sale from today to end of deployment. Compared to last week, 89% of base Retreat prices did not change. The few that did go down are close in sailings so this number really doesn't represent anything significant. Aqua (cruise only) decreased by an average of $22pp/pn but some as high as $108/pp/pn and some as little as $2pp/pn. 59% of insides, 60% of OV, 57%, 58% of CC categories had no change since last week. Again these are base rates compared to last week so if you booked any other time, have a group rate, etc. these numbers don't mean a whole lot.

My guess is that cruise is on Exciting Deals.

The US offer will be 40% off every guest for refundable deposits, 30% off every guest for refundable instead of 75% off guest #2 - plus $200 savings for veranda and higher. The weekend of Oct 12-17 the $200 bonus savings will be replaced by $200 OBC. I can’t accurately compare base prices yet.

You both have valid points. I agree that the communication of roles and duties definitely need more clearly defined. This was sometimes valid pre-COVID too, so it's not totally unique or new. The lack of emptied trash cans, etc, like he mentioned, could have occurred in an inside. That's not a suite specific issue. His other gripes were mainly things not offered to Sky Suites, or were exceptions for some that became the expecation. The $8,000 price tag, I'm not sure why that was so prevalently mentioned. In 2023 terms that is far from a high priced cabin on a Med cruise. It was $8,000 not $80,000. I get that people want to agree with him because they want to hear the negativity and they want their opinions bolstered. Celebrity has certainly flubbed some things in the past few months, but to say this is a damning review of the product is a bit of a stretch. There isn't a whole lot of substance there.

The beet salad they serve on a small spoon? It's shocking me to that something so tiny can so incredibly disgusting. It takes like a mouthful of dirt. Generally we've never had a bad Luminae experience but depending on who your waiter/team is can have a marked difference. We've had that same waiter by coincidence on two cruises several months apart who on day 1 of the second cruise told me I would not be eating chicken most meals (since I also am not a fish or seafood eater - with some small exceptions).

If you booked a cruise only rate the only option is to purchase Premium. They no longer sell the Basic package. Once onboard you may see a few options available in smaller increments.

Highly doubt your bid would be accepted. AQ is limited to two people. Other than some rare instances for vip type people, you cannot keep your cabin but take the AQ benefits.

It's because that cruise is on Exciting Deals where rates are restricted to double occupancy. The single supplement is noted but it is currently 200% on all of those cruises. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/Exciting_Deals/CEL_Exciting_Deals.pdf

Most of the wines by the glass on the premium package are ultimately ~$20 retail bottles. If that's roughly the comparable price point there are very few champagnes out there that are going to fall within that range. My local Total Wine has 1 single sub $30 bottle available.

Wait until Wednesday. The All Included changes will benefit solos a bit. It also shifts to 40% off every guest rather than 75% off the second guest which may work in a solos favor as well.

I've done it both ways. Once by private vehicle for six people which I believe was around $400. Very expensive for the travel time involved but obviously the quickest and most luxurious. The second time we did the train and took a cab to the cable car station. I want to say there is also an orange bus that does the trip up to Taormina for only a few euros. I avoid ship tours at all costs and I'm not one to shy away from winging it a bit, but this one is very easy to DIY even though it may seem complicated at first.

Everyone booked gets cancelled. The ‘partial charter’ that gets mentioned here is not a thing. A charter is the full ship. Anything else is a group. Disappointing for sure, but this is very uncommon especially within a year from the sail date and since the sailing was relatively full. Someone paid a huge amount of money for this. They are paying for the ship + meeting revenue goals for the ship + canceled guest compensation.

That's not totally accurate. If a Sky Suite moves to a Celebrity Suite, an Aqua takes the Sky Suite, a Veranda takes the Aqua, and an Inside takes the Veranda, that's four cabin shifting due to one move. It really only takes a few cabins shifting to set off a domino effect of other moves. All of those cabins would have been previously sold and unavailable.

This would be a quick way to sour some Silversea customers IMO. You have to stay 100 nights onboard to their base discount. Between your second sailing and the 100 night mark you only get a 5% discount on select cruises. These passengers have spent a lot to get that 5-10% discount. A free scoop of gelato and a free bag of laundry doesn't really equate to a 5% discount on a $30k cruise. Another thing to consider is the growth of the loyalty programs in general. Royal's top tier status have grown by 30% this year. That is a huge number with status. Celebrity has also significantly inflated status levels with the PUP program. Months and months ago they mentioned something to the effect of 70k people participating in PUP activites. The more status becomes diluted the more trimmed back the programs will get.

She never really mentioned outright combination of the programs. She alluded to 'threading the brands together" beyond the status matches currently available today. They are holding strong that it's two brands with two identities. Adding Silversea into that equation adds even more complication since their loyalty program is vastly different than RCI or Celebrity. Even though there isn't a whole lot of attrition from Celebrity to Silversea, giving mid-level+ Captain's Club members the same benefits as Silversea VS members would definitely cause some unhappiness.

It's a full ship charter so it's not just your group of individuals. The next steps and comp have been released to who you booked with. It is strange to do this so late but it also explains the extremely high prices on this itinerary that some people thought were a mistake. Assuming they had some delay in getting the charter buttoned up and sent prices way up to discourage bookings.

Probably right before the end of the year. But I would suspect this year may be slightly impacted by how soon Edge class #5 is ready to go on sale since it should be ready sometime in Q4 2025 (assuming they put #5 into the Caribbean for an inaugural season). Last year fall 2024/winter 2025 was released mid-December.

Adding some sort of reciprocity with Silversea will be challenging. The catalyst of their program being mostly a small monetary discounts versus freebie perks that Celebrity offers. You have to surpass 100 days onboard to get the 5% discount and OBC really isn't an incentive like it is on Celebrity. I imagine it would really irk some SS customers who have spent significantly more if someone who has mid-level Celebrity status with zero Silversea nights was getting near the same loyalty benefit they were.

This argument is tired. I'll be really blunt. People seem to miss this point. Celebrity has 4, soon to be 5, additional ships to fill since 2018. The people that started sailing 25-35 years ago don't have that much time left. You don't see many 90 and 100 year olds cruising. Someone has to fill the cabins, and then some, and that takes tapping some new customers.

They are not $60 pppd on average. These figures are actually a little low and calculated per person minus tax and fees on cruise only rates (excluding AQ and Retreat). Of all the itineraries including Perfect Day, the average Inside is $99, Oceanview $128, Veranda $151, CC $171, Aqua $255 and Retreat $477. Interior cabins are only 10% of S and E class cabins. Oceanview cabins are 5% on S class and 10% on E class.

My first hand experience suggests that the typical customer is absolutely nothing like this vocal group of <30 CC posters. Listen to her comments about trying to ride the line between familiarity and trying new things. There's this little faction of a group that drops a nuke with any change. If you want a real pulse of what is going on and what is working, the only real source of truth is here https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search-and-access.

I also recall people posting things that are factually incorrect as I myself witnessed first hand things like the Magic Carpet never moved on XYZ sailing despite having video if it in fact, moving, or they didn't host a Chef's Table when I was there, or such and such venue was never ever open, when again, I was there.... but if you believe everything you read on here good luck!