Moby Jones

I agree. I usually take a couple of bottles of good wine onboard. When compared to the mark ups seen on cruise ships the $15 pales into insignificance.

I've sailed om both Celebrity Solstice and Azamara Pursuit. In rough weather you will notice the seas more aboard the 30,000 tonne Pursuit compared to the 122,000 tonne Solstice. But not much more. The Azamara R class ships are pretty stable despite their much smaller size compared to the Solstice class ship you have sailed on.

I think this thread should be stickied as a cautionary tale to others who believe they are more 'seasoned' than they really are. I'm in the UK also and book cruises through both UK and US TA's every year depending who is offering the most attractive deal at the time. I'm fully aware of the pros and cons of booking either side of the pond and know that there will always be a degree of risk. But what is key to me is that people should book at a price they are comfortable paying and be happy with it. If you can rebook and get an overall better deal, then great, go for it. But this is not a fault of Azamara. And I don't believe anyone has attacked the OP. They've just given him a reality check. The accusations of people attacking him are really just someone who didn't do sufficient homework venting their frustrations on others. Maybe Cruise Critic should produce a detailed article on the differences between bookings in differnet countries which can then be referenced in threads such as these?

You're quoting the wrong poster. Keep up!!! 😆

I see, so you failed to understand.

What has the OP said that makes you think Carnival is a viable option for them?

Some people always have concerns about ‘older’ ships from any line. But surely it’s more important to factor in price and itinerary to any decision. Why cruise on a more modern ship on an itinerary you don’t want to do?

Jim_Iain is giving you some pretty solid advise based on real observations. We started sailing on Celebrity in our mid to late thirties and were almost always the youngest people on the shop. On multiple trips we were asked "is this your first cruise?" by elderly ladies! Sadly that no longer happens!. Now in our late forties we still appear to be amongst the youngest on the ship when sailing longer itineraries. There are some in their thirties and forties but not very many at all in our experience. I've seen kids on every Celebrity cruise I've ever taken but there's not very many onboard. Most families look to sail on RCL, Carnival or NCL etc. What I would say is completely ignore all of the Celebrity marketing that features young models. At best it's disingenuous to suggest that that is their usual demographic. If you want to see how young the real crowd is on a Celebrity ship take a look at Youtube. You're bound to find videos from people who have taken the itineraries you are interested in. Have a look at the footage they take in the public areas of the ship and you'll see it really is an older crowd who sail on Celebrity. And I'm not trying to be controversial here but one big observation of mine has been that older people always insinuate that there are more younger people onboard than there really are. If you are wanting to meet and mingle with those in their thirties and forties I would say that Celebrity is a poor choice. Across the board I'd put the average age onboard to be around 60. I'd also say that entertainment is definitely not aimed at thirty to forty somethings in my experience. Check those videos on Youtube. 😉

It's $25. Though it's waived if you have either the classic or premium beverage package.

No not really. As you've realised the Retreat is for suite guests only. The only other 'private space' would be the spa deck. But it's not the same thing at all.

The M class used to have the Ocean Liners restaurants. Each one named after a famous ocean liner and they even had memorabilia from the individual ships. These restaurants had a touch of class about them and served the Murano menu as found on the S class fleet. They also had Qsine, although a little quirky it was a great place for a group of friends to dine and try a pretty extensive menu. In my opinion replacing 'Murano' with Tuscan was a big mistake. We've tried Tuscan on a number of ships and it's always been a disappointment. LPC is very much a one and done for us so dining options really are limited on these ships and their current offerings lack appeal. It really is time they were replaced with something new. The lack of quality options onboard really does put us off sailing on M class.

Dubai too is a really interesting place to visit. It's exceptionally clean and modern. Violent crime is extremely rare. The extreme wealth can be a little ostentatious but it's still worth a visit IMHO. However if you are an openly gay man as suggested in a previous post it would be best avoiding. Even checking into a room with a same sex partner could cause you very real issues. Sadly they are a few decades behind the civilised world in that respect. Even a man kissing his wife in public can end up with both in jail!

I visit the US regularly. Statistically I'm far more likely to be murdered there than pretty much anywhere in Europe or the Middle East. We have a land trip booked to Turkey in April. I have no reservations or fears about visiting there at all. We've been to Istanbul before and loved it. It's one of the most interesting cities in the world and never had any kind of issues whatsoever.....

No.

All casinos on Celebrity cruise ships are non smoking.

This was a pre inaugural cruise. It didn't look particularly busy onboard or in Nassau. I suspect the people we did see were press and TA's. I suspect the story will be very different when she docks there full of passengers! Incidentally I'm told that a week in an ordinary balcony will cost you $4200 on Icon! What did surprise and disappoint me though was the fact that she's fitted with some Infinite verandah's.

We were on the cruise previous to yours. Your experience matches our first couple of nights. Food was served luke warm and service was slow. We fed back to the Retreat manager and maitre 'd and thinks improved. At least the maitre 'd started visiting our table to check everything was ok nightly. The real issue on Beyond with Luminae is that they simply don't have enough staff to deliver quick service. As always the wait team looked rushed off their feet. We were also told that 70% of Luminae staff on our sailing were new to the ship which won't help. We did find the service from Alvin, Eko and Grayson to be good though Ask if you can sit in Alvins section. 🙂

We were onboard Beyond last week. We moored next to Icon in Nassau. This is a picture taken on the day from a drone. We also drove over to Atlantis. From the bridge you could see these two ships with an MSC and Carnival ship to the other side of Beyond. From that distance you could really appreciate just what a Behemoth Icon really is compared to more regular sized vessels. I know there are many wannabee snooty types that look down their noses at the RCL mega ships, but it really is a triumph of engineering. I wonder if future ships will ever exceed 300,000 tonnes?

I use both and for different lines. I have noticed the roll calls on the other popular social media site become a lot more popular in recent times though. They are also a lot more 'live' with onboard events sometimes being discussed immediately by many members. I've also seen a large number of TA's create social media groups relating to cruise lines and individual sailings. In my opinion this is not a good thing at all I've seen members banned as they posted negatively about a cruise line and the TA saw this as a threat to their business. This is why I prefer CC over FB. The discussion is a lot more balanced.

Different ships, you'd hope that different teams would get it right. And friends wanted to try it etc. Twice though we were not actually charged after giving feedback to the maitre 'd. And we certainly didn't ask for a freebie...

How so?

I will have to disagree. We were on Beyond two days ago. The food wasn't served hot and some had to be sent back. The menu is limited and the quality was not particularly good. The word outstanding means ' exceptionally good'. There's just no way the food in Luminae was 'exceptionally good' on our cruise.

No.

I'm wondering if you understand that loyalty programs are nothing but very carefully crafted marketing tools? All of the perks available to members of a loyalty program have to be paid for. They are all hidden in your cruise fare. The more perks offered the higher your cruise fare will be. Loyalty programs only continue to exist if they increase profits. Do you understand that you are being encouraged to book future cruises with Celebrity with an illusion of extra value that is in the real world increasing the cost you are paying in the first place? Many do not....

I like Murano a lot. But I wouldn't pay 55 cents to visit Tuscan. We've visited five times now and always left completely underwhelmed. It's time Celebrity replaced it IMHO.