TeeRick

No we never have cruised Oceania. But considering it now. Our last cruise this year was Celebrity Equinox in the Retreat (CS suite). We have been doing more land vacations and it has been great for us. We are waiting to see what the Celebrity Retreat Product actually becomes before we book it again. That in itself is a huge change for us as we have sailed in The Retreat exclusively a few times a year. Now trying Silversea. Thinking about MSC YC and HAL. Possibly Viking but dw loves a casino.

I hear that Celebrity Crew Members and Butlers have started a Go* Fund* Me page.🤑

Welcome to the Retreat No More Club.☺️ We are trying Silversea too.

Chemmo I mostly agree. But I think they do have knowledge of cruising. And they are doing just about anything to generate more income and reduce debt. We and they are now all paying the piper together. Damn virus!

Maybe to some extent but RCG corporation subsidiaries like Celebrity contribute their own debt too. All the E-Class ships recently built and launched, including the upcoming Ascent. No need to look at RCCL new builds as separate.

RCG still carries huge loans and debt.

You make good points. To at least try to be objective a bit, we need to constantly remind ourselves that they are part of a large for-profit corporation that had to take on literally $billions of debt to survive. Now interest rates are skyrocketing, which is a big part of this debt picture. A number of people here were worried about them going out of business and not cruising anymore. These CC members could not wait to cruise again under any circumstances. It is no surprise that the cruise industry is going for every revenue grab they can think of. Some options are lazy (as you point out) and in fact the solution is to find untapped sources of new revenue. Not charging for what was included before. On top of that, as we all know (but tend to dismiss for cruise lines for whatever reason), inflation has hit all of us very hard worldwide. Anything I try to buy from a 2-3 years ago has gone up 50-100% overall for many items. So cabin prices on ships had to rise as well.

Thank You @DingoMom for giving us the first real feedback about the butler and retreat changes and new structure. Much appreciated. It beats hundreds of posts and pages of speculation and assumptions.

But what if I have a complaint about the complainer who dislikes people complaining about complaints?

We had a CS on Edge and actually loved the rocking chair. We did not find it hideous.

Look at the bright side. They could still charge $2 for a cold cookie. They just stopped the charge for the warm one that makes you feel like a kid again.

We loved the chicken sausages! Gone?

They do this already. Any show that the cruise director /staff run that is audience participation. Lots of them every cruise. Sort of like Reality TV. Game shows. Low production costs.

The last couple of years we have shifted from cruising in the winter to renting beach houses. A months rent is less than a Celebrity cruise in a suite for a week. Even with dining out.

She is retired so probably has her feet up on one now enjoying all these comments!

Thanks for your comments. I know it is your opinion, but how did you personally conclude that Celebrity still has the best overall product of the mainstream lines? Based on what criteria? Or cabin category? Ship? Price PP? I used to agree with you and sailed Celebrity near exclusively (we are E+) but we are now booking other lines. As our valued poster @terrydtx has stated elsewhere, my blinders are off too.

Or the IV. Or the Hoppenization. Footstools. Or kids (in general). All former feast topics.😀

Well no need to cancel over cookiegate anymore. It ended. But I agree there are an awful lot of comments on these boards like: "that is the last straw! I plan to not sail Celebrity anymore after my next 5 booked cruises are completed sometime in 2026." LOL.

In a suite.

Don't forget to put a pack of chocolate chip cookies in there! And maybe some pillow chocolates.

Now that is something I might pay for!

Its a cruise. Treat yourself to the chocolate covered oreos.

Yes that is the other side of the shoe. They did not say that in the comments you just posted from them. Eliminating cookies - bah humbug.

Hi Den. Where have you been? I have missed your intelligent comments here!

I will still pack my Chips Ahoy. Maybe I can warm them onboard in a microwave and feel like a kid again!