TheHawk1

Don't get me wrong, I like the product that Celebrity offers, even though my experience is limited to a couple cruises, with a couple more to follow in the next 18 months. And agree there is a vocal crowd on this forum that want cruising to remain in a time warp of how "grand" it used to be. But I still get the sense that Celebrity markets itself as more upscale and therefore attracts customers who believe that and therefore want to enforce that impression.

This is an example of what bothers me about Celebrity. Having been on more Royal cruises than Celebrity, I can say Royal is more of a "live and let live" type of experience, without being at the low bar of a Carnival cruise where virtually anything goes...I have no first hand knowledge there, just what I read or see on Youtube 🙂 While Celebrity has an upscale feel, with better service and food than other cruise lines, the downside to that is a higher percentage of fellow passengers who are pretentious snobs. They are quietly, or not so quietly, judging you about are you wearing the right clothes in the dining room, are you using the right fork, are you sniffing your wine glass before drinking, etc. That's an experience I tend to avoid on land, so certainly don't appreciate it when paying for a vacation at sea.

You use only your third post ever to complain about free speech on a public forum? Guess you missed the fact it's called Cruise Critic?

What’s this idea you have that Royal is moderately priced? Anything from an ocean balcony cabin and up has increased significantly post Covid. I’m okay to pay those prices, but not necessarily if it looks like one big theme park.

Absolutely. If I were ever to sail on it, I would avoid the Surfside "family" neighborhood at all costs and stick to the few adult only areas. Much of the design screams kids running amok at an amusement park, rather than upscale cruising. But I guess that's their target demographic these days.

You make some valid points, so I will wait to see what the finished product looks like. Besides, there are enough people on here excited about all the kiddie amenities so Royal has made that market segment happy apparently.

El Loco Fresh isn't really a restaurant. It's a self-serve eatery and the seating is all outside. It's also only open for breakfast and lunch, but the food is quite good, IMO.

When Oasis and Allure first debuted, there wasn't a water slide in sight. Or the giant purple monstrosity that showed up on Harmony. Or when Royal ditched their association with Universal, so we didn't have to endure Shrek character parades anymore. So yes, I had hoped there was going to be more of a balance of activities for young and old. But I can't help that you're confused.

I've actually been on all five Oasis class ships and usually have no problems finding areas where you can avoid all the rugrats onboard. I'm reserving judgement on the Icon until I actually see it, but the previews don't have me as excited as I had hoped. It is also a shame that Royal appears to want to take on Disney for the "family" market, at the expense of their other loyal, older customers... you know, the ones with all the money!

How about "largest waterpark at sea"... I'm sure the screams will be heard from one end of the ship to the other. How about what looks like a reduced size for the Solarium, one of the few adult only areas? Doesn't give me a lot of confidence in being able to find any peaceful areas to chill out.

Not major focus, but singular focus on kids, if all the leaked plans are true. As much as I like Royal and especially Oasis class, this will have a lot of us seriously looking at more Celebrity Edge class cruises in the future.

Sorry, but I don't see the distinction... if men can wear a kilt or women can wear a mini-skirt, then why can't men wear shorts? In each of these cases, someone is showing more or less leg/calf, yet some people have decided to draw an arbitrary line and say men wearing regular dress shorts is not permitted? No wonder people are ignoring the cruise line's "dress code" and the ship's staff are embarrassed to try and enforce it, when it's that capricious. And yes, I hate myself for continuing to read this silly thread.

This is disappointing. I put a deposit on a Reflection cruise for next September because the itinerary looked better than the Edge sailings. But with no real refresh/updates being performed, I'm thinking this ship will be looking a little worse for wear by then and not worth the price Celebrity is charging. May have to re-think and wait to see what is announced for the 2024 European season instead.

If you had read one of my earlier posts on this (ridiculously) long thread, you would have seen that's not what I'm advocating for. I don't believe ripped tshirts, flip flops or bathing suits belong in a dining room in the evening. There should be some minimum standards to keep the place from looking like a fast food joint. That being said, it's this obsession with men wearing shorts that I can't agree with. Apart from churches in Europe, I don't know too many places that restrict men from wearing dress shorts as appropriate attire, particularly in warm climates. But for some reason, people on these Boards seem to equate the dress code rules of a Celebrity MDR as on par with those of the Vatican. They're the ones who need to relax.

I see the Fashion Police are busy on Celebrity. Don't you folks have anything better to do on your vacation than worry about what other people are wearing?

And were they struck by lightning? Sent to the gallows for bad behaviour? I thought not. Life carried on as usual.

Very few people on this thread are saying cruise lines should tolerate “bad behaviour”, especially when it impacts someone else’s vacation, ie chair hogs, kids in hot tubs, etc. What I don’t understand is how some people are making the leap to equate that with someone sitting beside them at dinner wearing jeans or, heaven forbid, shorts!

Or people should change their expectations? Celebrity is a mass market cruise line still masquerading as something more upscale. If they want to stay in business and attract more passengers, they will need to appeal to a broader market, particularly young people who are used to everything being casual these days. If people still want stuffy dress codes as part of their cruise experience, perhaps they should be the ones to look elsewhere?

The seating area of El Loco Fresh on Wonder has been expanded from what's available on Symphony, which is great for having lunch. It is one of the better self-serve restaurants on board. The bar right beside it, Cantina Fresca, has the best frozen margaritas. Too bad this isn't available on Symphony.

Sorry, but this is just something foodies say to others who they consider to be less sophisticated. For example, there are lots of appetizers in Luminae where the description is either carpaccio or tartare. No matter how they try and dress it up, I’m not expanding my palette to eat anything raw. I sympathize with the OP, in that I’ve also perused the Luminae menu in advance of my upcoming first Retreat sailing on Edge and there are more dishes on the MDR menu that I would probably enjoy instead. I’m hoping the suite restaurant experience doesn’t turn out to be a disappointment.

Compared to the airplane you take to get your cruise, a paper pamphlet in your cabin every evening is hardly bad for the environment. I'd prefer they continue the paper format.

I was talking passengers only, not crew.

One other change I saw on Wonder which was not a positive. On other Oasis ships, the Library contained a couple of internet connected PC's, which passengers could use free of charge. They were very useful if you wanted to check on your flight home or your email, for those who don't have onboard internet. On Wonder, these have been removed and the Library is just a game room, nothing more. One more example of Royal taking away a free perk and pushing passengers into purchasing something for a fee, in this case their Voom service.

Just got off two weeks ago and was told by crew member that there were only 5,000 on board, which is approx 1,000 less than it can carry. It carries more passengers than other Oasis class ships. Pool area and restaurants seemed very busy with just this number of passengers, so would hate to see it at full capacity, which it was most of the summer from what I heard.

Oh please, all of this paper is completely recyclable. This is not saving the planet, only saving cruise lines money.