Salt Lifer

I find this whole thread so interesting. Last year, when those of us who book "regular" cabins were complaining about the cuts made to services we had already paid for (and in many cases, cuts made after final payment was due), we were told to basically suck it up by the Celebrity loyalists who tended to be Suite-level guests. Despite expecting free room service, a certain level of quality and selection for our MDR options, etc., we were told that Celebrity has the right to make these changes and this was a "first world problem" and so forth. At the time many who were upset warned that those who saw us as whiners would sing a different tune when the same bait and switch tactics happened with suites. And here we are. Bottom line, I feel those who booked expecting a certain level of service should get it - regardless of the stateroom level. No one should feel bad for expecting the product they prepaid for. Celebrity making these changes after a cruiser's final payment is especially a bad look. It may not be illegal, but it certainly is a good way to lose loyal guests. Once trust is gone it is hard for a company to earn it back. I don't know who manages Celebrity's PR, but they are terrible at their job. So much of the bad press over the past year could have been avoided by simply rolling out changes in a timeframe that was fair to the customer (i.e. announced at least three months prior to implementing so that the customer can have the option to change or cancel their reservation if they don't agree with the changes) and ensuring the customer was properly educated on any and all changes - you shouldn't have to be a member of Cruise Critic to get a heads up that there are significant changes that will impact your cruise experience! Celebrity still has a lot of good going for it, but they will have to work hard to regain trust and prove their value going forward.

Guess the laws of attraction weren't strong enough for that half if the group to get to the ship in time. I believe the proper term this group's would use is that those folks were not "in the vortex". Lol. Still, a cruise with only 300 people (even if half are AH) sounds like a really awesome experience.

I have never heard of Abraham-Hicks and have now fallen down that rabbit hole. All I can say is... Wow. You could perhaps have some excellent people watching opportunities on this cruise! All in all, I would probably rather sail with them than with a big corporate group.

I used to work at the Home Office for several brands of Mall and stand-alone jewelry stores. The whole experience has sworn me off of buying most jewelry from chains stores. Fun fact, did you know that the majority of jewelry stores in the U.S. are actually owned by the same company? I can tell you that jewelry mark-up is insane (think 90% or more in some cases!). That bracelet you paid $400 for might only have a 'cost' of $20 or less. And the sales team is paid very little but risks losing their jobs if they don't hit sales quotas that are always considered a "reach". This is why jewelry sales feel so "used car-like" with a lot of pressure too make the sale, and trying to get the real price feels like a big game). I don't know how Effy is structured, but my suspicion is that they operate very similarly. If you look around the cruise ports you'll find there are also more chains then you realize, as well. My advice is that if you must buy jewelry, buy it from an independent (non-chain) shop - and ideally one in your own community - so at least the majority of the profit stays local.

I am cautiously optimistic about these changes. Do I think we will be completely satisfied by them? Nope... but if they improve upon the most recent cut acks it will at least be a step in the right direction. For what they are charging for cruise fare I think they discovered that chicken, tilapia, and pasta every night is not considered a good value for the money. They are obviously getting a lot of push back from cruisers and, more importantly, a reduction in bookings. Many loyal Celebrity cruisers have started looking elsewhere and are finding that either a.) they can get the same low-quality food options with other cruise lines for a lot less money or b.) they can pay just a little bit more and upgrade cruise lines to one with better quality. That leaves Celebrity in "no man's land" and it is good to see they are trying to fix this.

I found her disingenuous in her Q and A. Honestly, she sort of made me regret having recently booked a cruise with X. But I will hold off full judgement until I experience the cruise first hand - there is still a few months to fix things. If the menus are as pitiful as the samples I have seen it will certainly be our last with the line.

We purposely didn't book a future cruise during our last cruise in April because we were so disappointed with the food choices and quality. And we made that well known on our post cruise survey. And yet things seem to have gone from bad to worse. Fast forward, and we just booked a cruise for Ascent for next April. The only reason we booked is because friends will be on that ship and we wanted to see them. I am hoping with a new ship and rumored changes that six months from now the food situation will be at least slightly improved from what it is today. But have to admit I am not excited about this cruise at the moment and it will likely be our last with Celebrity if the food options are not at least better than what they are currently offering. If they are trying to push customers towards specialty dining, then fine. But two things have to happen: 1.) The cost of the overall cruise needs to come down to reflect the very basic cafeteria style food that is included for free, and 2.) The added cost of the specialty restaurants has to make sense, especially considering they have already charged substantially for included dining.

This makes sense. Lots of food tastes different overseas (like bread, for example). But in my experience on the Beyond, we sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale so I expected U.S. fed beef!

Not really an option when you have young kids at home, but it would free up the budget if one didn't have to purchase it!

Two years ago I had it on Apex and it was truly one of the best meals I ever had. Ordered it again last year on Beyond and it was inedible. The meat quality was terrible and the taste was not even describable. Bear in mind, I enjoy good food but I am not overly picky... I will almost always eat what I am given without complaint and usually eat it all. I left over half this dish untouched it was so bad. I am not sure what quality of meat they used, but I question if it was even beef. I heard similar complaints about this dish and other beef dishes from other passengers, so I suspect in their attempts at beefing up profit they sourced very cheap cuts of meat.

I would love a small piano bar type of lounge, that could double as a quiet reading/games space during the day. And if it could be somewhere with forward views that would be a bonus. My only true complaint about the E-class ships is that there is no where for those of us in steerage to enjoy forward facing views.

If I purchase the premium wifi now and it goes on sale later, do I have the option to cancel and re-book (like an excursion) or am I basically out of luck?

I think you are spot on with your IV into balcony prediction. I also believe they will charge a premium for these balcony rooms. These will primarily be located on positions on the ship that have the least amount of wind drag and won't impact fuel consumption too much (which is the real plus to cruise lines for using IVe). Since balconies have always come with a higher cost on cruises, adding these and charging more for them wouldn't be completely out of line. This will be a "test" to see how much more people are willing to pay for true balconies and this research will greatly determine the balance of IV vs balconies on the post-Edge class ships coming next.

Stop. Giving. Them. Ideas! These are all too realistic... you know the bean counters are reading your post and jotting these down. They will market them as "exclusives" and claim they have heard from their "most loyal customers" that they want the option to purchase these "upgrades."

Leaving on Beyond on Sunday. Flying in on Saturday... I hope. I had been feeling annoyed about the Sunday departure day (I am getting inpatient to go!!!) but am now very thankful for the extra day.

Your metabolism must be crazy good. I swear I have gained 10 lbs just looking at your pictures! Keep them coming! 🙂 Can't wait until next week when it is my turn on Beyond.

This discussion reminds me of a funny story. Decades ago I was on a cruise and among our table mates were a couple from New York. They were both police in officers and the wife had apparently sustained an injury in the line of duty which made it very difficult to move her neck without pain. Also at our table was my family and a couple from Australia who were a lot of fun. Anyway, we all got along great and became fast friends. Well, I and the Australian couple both took a ton of pictures to remember the cruise and the New York couple always did their best to avoid the camera. They never said not to take their picture but would decline group shots or would subtly turn their heads and look at something in a different direction if someone had a camera out. Now bear in mind, this was back in the days of good old film (not digital) and the only internet was the old dial up kind where you had to choose between using the phone or the internet. People used the internet to get into news groups and maybe send an email - social media didn't even exist. No one shared pictures online. It was truly the dark ages. 😉 Well, towards the end of the trip the New York couple accidentally let it slip that she was on workers comp (or something similar) due to her injury and apparently if it got out that they were able travel she would have been forced to return to work and apparently could have even been investigated for fraud due to the injury not being as bad as they let on. It suddenly made sense why they avoided the cameras at all costs! They would have lost their minds if they tried to pull that off today, where literally every moment is captured on live streams and social media by influencers and regular folks, alike!

Typically I won't eat pizza on a cruise. My philosophy is I pay a lot of money for the cruise food experience (I am a foodie) and no way will I waste calories on pizza when there are so many other choices! With that said, the pizza was so good on Apex last year that I had a slice of two nearly every day!!! My husband has celiacs and said the gluten free option was pretty good, too.

We sail on Beyond next week, so am looking forward to reading your review. And count me in as another who is interested if the luggage valet is offered.

I don't know how much luggage you travel with, but we travel relatively light. On our last cruise out of FLL we had a late flight (which ended up being considerably later thanks to the airline pushing our flight back 6 hours to after midnight... but that is another story). Anyway, what we did was do the Everglades excursion through the cruise line, then took an Uber to the Los Olas area. There are a few good attractions in the area. We went to the NSU Art Museum in Las Olas. They kindly kept our luggage behind the desk for us. They have a nice little cafe where we grabbed lunch and then spent a few hours looking around the museum. After that we Ubered back to the airport for what we thought was our 6pm flight (which ended up being a 12:30am flight... Grrr...). So we walked the airport for awhile, browsed in the shops, people watched, found a restaurant for dinner, and made friends with our fellow stranded passengers. There is a really nice hallway with artwork made by airport employees (I think between terminal 3 and 4) that is worth visiting.

I like kids. I even have my own! But there is no reason why "family hours" should be needed in the Solarium on a warm weather cruise. I would be sure to address this in your survey. Along those same lines, I am 100% in agreement in allowing family hours if the weather is cold or rainy.

Hey now, leave Neil Diamond out of this!

Ha! I am a true investor and these days DO get me down, regardless. No one is happy when the day's tally at close shows a negative. The only positive is it creates buying opportunities but there are only so many of those that I care to make.

ALL stocks appeared to take a hammering today. I don't think it was li.ited to just cruise stocks. I maid the mistake of checking my portfolio and wish I hadn't.

I really wish Celebrity and other cruise lines would keep it simple. They are starting to come off like used car salesmen (no offense to any used car salesmen reading this). Why not just publish the price for the cruise. As it gets closer to the cruise date offer discounts as needed to fill the ship. Also offer OBC for things such as loyalty, special sales (like Black Friday), and to entice last minute bookings to fill the ship. If you want a discounted cruise wait until close to the cruise to book and hope something is available, otherwise pay fair market value. Hey, that approach works well for Broadway shows! Add-ons should also be simple and not gimmicky. If you want wifi and drinks, you pay a fair price for it upfront. If you don't, you pay as you go. Tips for all should be included to ensure fairness for the staff. You shouldn't need a PhD in order to book a cruise and make sure you are getting what you want. I know they think these sales create a sense of urgency, but I think they may scare off as many people as they lure in. LLC, call me if you want more common sense advice to attract middle-aged, middle-class cruisers. 😉