Moby Jones

Hi, does anyone have the email address for the CEO's office please? I'm sure I saw a screenshot of it yesterday, but can't find it today. 😕

We sail on Beyond on the 8th of January. I've just logged into the app and have found that within our 'Premium' package there are just four whites and three reds available within this package. Can anyone onboard or who has sailed in December confirm if this is correct? Or will there be additional bottles available that are currently not showing on the app? Thanks in advance.

It's the same with international wines. The Villa Maria private bin sauvignon blanc is one we're very familiar with. It is £8.50 ($10.80) per bottle here in the UK. So the Celebrity markup is over 650% there. That's very high when compared to hospitality industry averages. I could have used several other examples with similar mark ups too. And this is why I always ignore comments from people questioning why people take their own bottles onboard. The margin on one bottle of high end claret might just get you a short Bahamas cruise!

I know.

Perfectly normal based on our experience. This is not guaranteed, but if you have a good travel agent you can ask to change your assigned stat room. They will then call Celebrlty and ask if this is possible. There are no guarantees, but we have done this before. Once we even snagged 6145 onboard Millennium which is arguably one of the vest M class Sky Suites on the ship.

You're telling me it's $19 for a glass of Villa Maria savvy blanc now? I just bought a few bottles at £8.50 ($10.78) each. That's quite some mark up!

I'm going to make a prediction here. I think the change of scenery, a different vibe and overall different experience will have you hooked. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy the Ponant cruise and will drastically reduce the number of sailings you undertake with Celebrity. We've sailed a lot with Celebrity but then took two cruises in quick succession on Azamara and Atlas Ocean Voyagers with just 698 and 198 passengers respectively and no longer have any plans to book any additional Celebrity cruises for now once we've completed those already booked. I won't be in the least bit surprised if you feel similar. 🙂

You could well be correct. Gary Bembridge (Tips For Travellers - Youtube Channel) has a pretty good video reviewing Ponant if you've not watched it already. He was very positive about the line. Enjoy your cruise. Looking forward to reading your review.

UK TA's also let them down with bookings made onboard. You can book onboard to take advantage of additional OBC and then have your booking transferred to your TA. Our big box US based TA added $425 of OBC per cabin the last time we did this on top of the additional $300 OBC we received just for booking onboard. But UK TA's often baulk at this idea. So the last time we booked onboard the booking went to the US and not UK. The American players understand the importance of winning peoples business. The price didn't go down since May 2022 though. Unbelievably it's now up around 160% which is simply ridiculous.

I'm guessing there are very specific reasons for that kind of criticism. What happened on your cruise?

In your opinion. Which isn't unreasonable I'd add. But that's not how the real world works. Many brands price differently in different countries. In rare instances I've even found suites cheaper in the US whereas aqua class balconies were cheaper in the UK, on the VERY SAME SAILING. I'll let you ponder that and ask why?

They're not allowed too. In the same vain, not every US based TA is able to take bookings from UK clients. But the big box agents are. And when they block book rooms and have inventory to sell off they can be considerably cheaper than UK bookings. In fact that's when you get the very best deals. The subject has been done to death on here for anyone who wants to use the search facility.

I'll be following with interest. Ponant is a French cruise line with a large majority of French guests. Onboard English is very much a secondary language. Which will explain the lack of activity on Cruise Critic.

I'm in the UK. And be thankful you are too. You have the ability to book your cruises in either the UK or the US and can choose who to use depending on who is offering the best deal at the time. We've booked in the US when UK pricing was significantly lower the UK and vice versa. I wouldn't get hung up on one single flash sale. By all means contact Celebrity UK and express your displeasure. You never know what they may say to you. But investigate US bookings and learn to play the game would be my advise.

I think you need to take two steps back. My reference to aqua class which is their balcony cabin offering with private dining. It's a step well below the Celebrity suite experience. Not the Aqua sky suite. The point being made is Celebrity pricing can be ridiculous. Would you pay £600 pppn for a balcony room onboard Celebrity? I really wouldn't.

They have been since the introduction of Edge. I remember seeing Aqua Class rooms at £600 ($750) pppn in its first season in the Med. It’s just that more people are starting to realise this now.

Ask on the Regent and Cunard boards and you'll receive a lot more answers than on the X board.

It's natural progression. A lot of new Celebrity cruisers arrive from RCL looking for a more upscale experience. Then in the course of time many feel it's time to look for something more upscale than Celebrity. Recent management appointments starting with LLP have probably accelerated that process.

I've found Luminae to be inconsistent. Last year we had back to backs on Apex and the service was superb. Our head waiter took the time to go through the menu offerings nightly and make his recommendations with explanations as to why some were worth trying and others less so. He offered to serve meals from the MDR and Blu which according to some on here is not allowed. In reality it depends on your team on the day. He also advised we could ask for dishes not on the menu if we gave them a days notice. All in all it was a superb service. A few weeks later we were onboard Reflection. The maitre d' appeared largely disinterested in her diners. The wait team were inexperienced and gave us conflicting information with what we'd received on Apex and the food including dishes we'd eaten on Apex were simply not as good. During a candid conversation with the Retreat manager we discussed the differences between Apex and Reflection. To me it was really just a random chat but I went into detail on where the Apex team was beating them. We then received FCC vouchers which we neither expected or asked for. They obviously knew all was not well.... I still very much enjoy the table side service in Murano as well as the theatre and ambiance. Eden has a much more modern feel but I think I'd still pick the former. Just.

Decor I can understand but you'll find food wise it all comes from the same suppliers and many dishes in the buffet and the MDR's (including Blu and Luminae for their respective passengers) are the same. The only real difference is the specialty restaurants. M class ships have a pretty crappy selection of these, but Murano on S class can give E class specialty restaurants a run for their money easily. Eden is nice though and has a great location.

I think it's fair to say that Azamara are aimed at passengers more focussed on the destination. They spend more time in port, do more overnights and visit ports that large ships like those owned by Celebrity just can't visit. And they offer longer itineraries etc. They attract an older, well heeled and well travelled crowd whereas Celebrity cruisers would typically be more interested in the ship as a destination when compared to Azamara pax.

The word 'premium' is subjective and really just used as a marketing tool by TA's. In my world, I see lines like Carnival, RCL, NCL and MSC as family friendly 'resort style' mainstream cruise lines. Celebrity could be described as a 'premium mainstream line' in a category including HAL, Virgin and Princess. It goes without saying that individuals will have their own preferences amongst these lines. Azamara, Oceania and similar offer a more upscale experience and more exclusivity due to the smaller sizes. Then you have true luxury cruise lines like Regent, Silversea and Crystal offering an experience Celebrity can't compete with, which is why RCL group own Silversea... It's simply moronic to refer to Celebrity as a luxury line. It's a good mainstream line. I'd add that I found Lisa Lutof-Perlo's 'modern luxury' marketing campaign very patronising. Celebrity moved away from its Chandris roots and moved more towards Royal Caribbean under her stewardship. I fear it will continue on that path under the new CEO.

I'm not sure they'll be able to emulate it very well. The Azamara ships have a lot more space up top per passenger and their white nights don't feel overcrowded. Celebrity ships wouldn't have the space to pull it off in the same way. They wouldn't have space for tables so that everyone can dine with all of the officers cooking for starters.

May 2022 we booked an S2 onboard Beyond for next January on an 11 night sailing. It cost £2900 per person and came with $1100 OBC from the cruise line and $425 from our US based TA and all perks. Today, an S1 on exactly the same sailing is £7640 per person with $800 OBC . I'm really struggling to understand how it's increased almost 165% in 15 months. To put this into context a 7 night all inclusive holiday in the 5* Raffles Resort, The Palm Jumeriah in Dubai including flights for the three of us cost just £3600 for all of us in their club class rooms this moth. It's becoming very difficult to justify Celebrity suite pricing these days when you consider other lines and land based holidays offer a lot more luxury for the money. The food, service and accommodations in Dubai buried that found on a Celebrity ship too.

We recently sailed on Atlas Ocean Voyages. Their ships are under 10,000 tonnes. You certainly felt the sea!