chrisn-au

I reckon the Butler thing will settle down. It is not a huge thing for me and if they do a sensible implementation of team it will not change my thinking of booking in the future (my opinion only and I get the frustration of those that use a butler and feel that this has been taken away ) however if it is true the cookie thing (and I don't eat cookies) might be the reason I don't book Celebrity (and my bank balance). If all inclusive is not all inclusive then I will actively look elsewhere

I'm very please I am not a Cookie eater. I would be thoroughly annoyed if I had paid $13 K for a cruise and I now need to pay for a cookie. +1. I will be astonished if these things are not walked back soon. It truly confuses me as to that the plan is. I have paid for an all inclusive trip (I get why specialty restaurants are treated differently), however if it is mostly all inclusive and I need to work out what is in / out I will choose another way to spend my money. - Allas wait and see

I would always recommend Eden for quiet drink. There are so many spots you can choose to be a part of it or get away

On the Beyond last year I used both my personal L2TP VPN to my home network and work Tailscale, both worked fine

Have just paid off the credit card for my sailing in September is a SS. I truly fear the day when it is not 75% off the second passenger. I feel that they have got themselves into a bit of a marketing mess with their pricing . The constant emails are just a reminder of this. It seems surprising to me if you are trying to position yourself in the upper premium/luxury end you would feel a need to spam as often as they do. Alas marketing is not my thing

Rarely do you see the words Australia and cheap used in the same sentence . In this case I think it may be a post covid thing - there is more thinking about international travel - I guess the telcos are getting on the bandwagon - regardless it is pretty sensible and makes life so much simpler (we did have a horrendous roaming issue 10 years or so ago in Hong Kong when it was $10 for 500 mb )

And that for me is the thing . We loved the retreat because it was simple and it was generally all inclusive (no speciality restaurant access for lowly ss guests) - it was a big selling point for me. I did not do a google sheet and add up the potential values - I did it because it was nice and easy . If it becomes complicated and I need to think about what is included or not I am less inclined to just accept it - would go back to a google sheet and probably not book the sky suite regardless very much first world problems - very excited by my upcoming Israel,Egypt, Turkey cruise in a SS. Will be interesting to see

I would concur We have only done a Med cruise in late September - it was quite weird looking back to last year have zero memories of any kids - I am sure there were some but were not obvious -(we explicitly left our 24 and 14 year old sons at home for this trip ) over all our experience was really positive - it was a nice laid back but sophisticated vibe (if that even makes sense) - we love it so much we are off to Greece in 5 weeks for a Israel , Egypt, Turkey cruise

I absolutely agree - my rule of thumb a sim is probably worth while if you are in a particular region for me than 15 days. Anything less than that keep it simple and use carrier roaming plans . In Australia the carriers over the last couple of years have started to develop reasonable plans. My carrier Optus has $AUD 5 per day for 5gb data and un limited calls /text . It is so much simpler to do than an eSIM . Having said all that we will be in Egypt for two days - there is no sensible roaming so I have got a eSIM for those two days as

Many thanks have booked it as we will have been travelling a week before we get on board. It will be interesting to see if it is also offered on board

That is great to know - honestly I am pleasantly surprised by this. No reason to ever leave a cruise with remain OBC

Well said - that certainly sums up my position nicely -

I have put on my flame retardant clothing - we have sailed in a SS once on the Beyond and have one planned on the Apex in September from Athens. I absolutely concur the communication on this has been atrocious - I guess it leaked , and am frustrated on kind of loosing a "paid" for perk, however on my first cruise I was left with what does the Butler do question and kept feeling there must be a more cost effective way to deliver the same services. Perhaps X have gone down the same thought path. For me it would be suicide for Celebrity to significantly cut suite services (even for us lowly SS guests) so I assume this is a tuning thing - time alone will tell, the great thing is we don't have to spend our money with a particular company.