tfred

We have looked them too. An issue for some is that the embarkation ports are not “easy” to get to. It is very easy to fly to Miami or Fort Lauderdale for a one week vacation on a cruise . Not so easy to get to Barbados or Saint Martin without an extra stop or two.

There are hundreds of thousand potential cruise customers that are now land based resort users. Those people are spending upwards of $1k/night for a very similar experience to cruising and those locations are full. Price out any Marriott resort in Florida or the Caribbean with food and booze. They are not used to nor expecting a butler, unlimited prime rib and lobster tail, unlimited entrees or free drinks from 5-7 pm X is going to align land resort experience and pricing with cruise ship. They think they have a comparable product that they don’t have to give away or load up on a bunch of unexpected goodies for new customers. moan all you want about private butlers and prime rib as X will spend any money on attracting new high spending customers who are out there.

younger people - yes, but not necessarily with kids. Every hospitality business has to find new customers especially those that have money. CoCo Cay is a natural replacement for Nassau which has a low attendance rate for cruise ship pax

I think the attraction of all inclusive vacations (which include cruises, all inclusive resorts and destination resorts a la carte) is that there is no thinking. Everything is thought out and all you have to do is show up. This is especially true with adult families of 2,3 or 4 couples. No worry about when to eat breakfast, Are they coming with us? kind of questions. It is a different product but is a variation on the theme of "no thinking " on the part of the purchaser In all cases, all inclusive are going to be more expensive because they can be and people will pay for convenience. How much they pay and what is the value is also total price and are you satisfied at what you get A $4K vacation can be a great value as well as a $12k - just depends on your money and taste X thinks they can compete for the upper middle level crowd with a few splurges in there as well (for those who dont like Silversea nightlife or formality. )

True, but that requires a very flexible schedule. most working people can't take vacation at the last moment in a department

I did take a quick look at Sandals Jamaica and it is within spitting distance of an equivalent X cruise - food, booze (no hard liquor) tips etc. Everyone know DisneyWorld resort so that is easy for a consumer to understand. There are many hotel resorts that are not all inclusive but when you add in standard a la carte food and booze and resort fees it is expensive, That is the customer that X is looking for

the backdrop is that cruising has been an exceptional value especially when based against land resorts. All cruise line management says that day is over and that there should be parity. It will happen as the X experience is pretty good the NCL CEO stated the other day they are revising their occupancy slightly down (from 105% to 103.5%) since they are looking for "higher quality customers" . Everyone will define that quote in their own way but that would be avoiding pax that don't cruise unless they have unnecessary discounts, free drinks and finding ways to finesse cruise fares. I spent the weekend at the Marriott Key Largo last weekend - 2 nights. This property is a resort and is very similar to a cruise ship in every way. Multiple restaurants (no prime rib!), pools, activities. The rate for a standard room was close to $700 a night- and I am the highest lifetime tier with Marriott so if they would take care of anyone its me . Food/booze for the two of us was probably $250. Total was pretty close to $1900 for 2 nights. Extend that a few days and you would be in Retreat area prices - and there were people staying for the whole week. The people there were exactly who X wants to attract. 40-60 years old, looking for good food and service and will pay for it . The menus at the hotel were very close to what you would get now on an E class ship and no one was mumbling. Why would cruise lines continue with older business plans when resort hotels are raking in cash ? If they are going to do it the time is now

I worked in capital equipment sales for 40 years Software, hardware, support services changed all the time. Along the way I put in 2000+ nights in hotels and 2 million air miles so I know something about the receiving end of the hospitality business The "prime rib" comment is one that is constantly used here on CC. It seems to be the determinator of "good food" on board. Every time there is a food change (4 shrimp cocktail instead of 5) a handful of people fly off and start complaining instead of looking at the overall quality of the meal my guess is that the team concept will be absolutely the same experience for 99% of suite pax

So you would have rebooked just because of the butler change? AQ is very nice but it isn’t the whole Retreat experience. Companies don’t send alerts about every single change as it would cause confusion with purchases mostly over unused or trivial changes. “We are cutting the prime rib thinner” is not something that you will see in an e mail.

What's are the changes on board as a suite guest - no full time butler? They won't care. X has figured out that the room butler is mostly a food runner with occasional convos in the hallway. I would think that most of the "can you change an excursion or get a dinner Rez for me" is easier done in The Retreat lounge for immediate feedback.

On this forum? Probably. Unfortunately they isn’t a good representation of any average cruise pax. The number of active posters is really quite low in relation to actually on board.

It is a strange question.

Very few people will take the time to read your comment with this typeface

that is probably correct. It isnt what feedback they are getting shoreside any stoppage onboard is due to non-vapers complaining and a decrease in revenue onboard this cruise

X isn’t doing this for a demographic, they are doing for gambling revenue. They believe that gambling, smoking/vaping (and drinking) go hand in hand When smokers stand up from the table to go smoke they don’t come back quickly enough and X loses that revenue.

In general 1/3 of the ship stays on board at any port so you won’t be alone. Pretty common for pax to use the ship as the destination especially in the Caribbean and not disembark

Join the club. Every frequent "flyer" program - hotel, airline, cruise ship - has been gutted. I have high lifetime status with Marriott and it really isn't worth that much for stays. The only thing you get anymore is quicker conflict resolution. Few upgrades or special anything and very hard to use miles except at excessive rates. we like Blu as well but the price difference between veranda and AQ is enough to go specialty every night. We like The Retreat as it is less hectic with the included amenities

the vaping decision is really ruled by the casino revenue. X knows the PPD spend on other Royal Group ships and isn't equal to that evidently. They probably know what everyone is doing as well with smoking/vaping and feel X is leaving money on the table - literally The spa and photo are run by concessionaires - maybe the casino as well. In any case there is a guarantee per week for those first two and it is really quite high. At one time the photo quarantee was equal to a set amount or 70% of the weekly take. Made it hard for them to make money my previous comment on suites was just a comment and not a warning to X. Suites aren't cheap and I can actually get that price with equal to service on SS or Seabourn. As a matter of fact we are taking a 10 SS Italy cruise for less than a 10 day X cruise next summer. We dont need all the hoopla at night with a busy port schedule. Caribbean is a different story as we enjoy the big ship activities there but that is our January vacation since we live in Florida The vaping is a big no go for us as it allows it all over the ship one way or the other. X can't stop people from wearing shorts and baseball caps in the MDR because of concern over customer complaints "its my vacation and I will do what I want". Do you really think they will corral pax back into the casino when they are standing in the doorway with a vape ?

I got a call from celebrity after I sent an e mail to executive office. I expressed our displeasure with the vape concept. I also said since we book suites I can find a different cruise line that curtails smoking for that kind of money

This is the reason. The casino is the number one revenue on the ship.

They are still looking at the data. Don’t get too happy yet

and they will keep everyone who wants to tell her how to "fix" Celebrity at arms length

no, X won't become RC 2. X needs to replenish the 35-55 group on the ships now with internet using, drinks by the pool, spa using pax - unlike some on the ships now. X doesnt want cruise only pax - they dont make any/enough profit. CoCo is just a new stop that they can use in what is a fairly been there/done that port selection. The Caribbean ports are getting very similar to most people as they try to accommodate 3000 pax ships There isn't much local flavor compared to 20 years ago what the RC Group should do a better job in is aligning their brands into moving pax up as they look for other options. Most people wouldn't know that Silversea is part of the group.

didn't say you did but there is no shortage of posters reporting stories of "at these prices for a suite, make me whatever I want" or "go to the MDR and bring me that menu" when presented with the Luminae menu. Luminae can be reasonably accommodating but within reason for "selective" eaters

Luminae food is “inventive “ by design and may not be for you with these types of questions. That said the everyday menu and kids menu is available. They can prepare some things for you but it isn’t an unlimited Cheesecake Factory selection. Tell them what you actually want to eat and they can get close. They would be better at dietary restrictions low salt,gluten free , vegetarian menus.