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Morning all, so I'm a bit late to the party here but figured with today being a sea day (it's day 7 already) I'd have a bit of time to put a few thoughts and pics together of the cruise so far. Also upgraded my Internet package yesterday so I can send photos and it's not quite as painfully slow! One of my favourite things on here is reading trip reviews and live from threads, so only fair that I contribute something, even if I'm a little behind. I'm traveling solo with two friends staying in the cabin next door. This is the second cruise we've done together after spending 11 nights on Reflection last year. As this is our first time on an E class ship, I'll be throwing a few comparisons to Reflection and pros and cons of both that we've encountered. We're staying in Aquaclass and have been/will be eating in Blu and specialty restaurants so won't be able to comment on any food in any of the MDR's. Just as a heads up, the food in Blu is just as good as it was last year, we've noticed no changes in menus or food quality. Itinerary: Day 1 - Civitavecchia, Italy Day 2 - Sea Day Day 3 - Kotor, Montenegro Day 4 - Dubrovnik, Croatia Day 5 - Corfu, Greece Day 6 - Katakolon, Greece Day 7 - Sea Day Day 8 - Messina, Sicily, Italy Day 9 - Naples, Italy Day 10 - Livorno, Italy Day 11 - Civitavecchia, Italy Ill try and update more through the day, if anyone has any questions about anything onboard feel free to chime in and I'll do my best to answer! A

Currently on Beyond, not sure what menus you had but out of 2 nights so far there has been 1 pasta dish, the duck ravioli which was delicious. Same number of items offered each night as a year ago on Reflection. Service has been good so far and its not noisy, no more than any other restaurant.

Think the bathrooms are the same with the exception of the shower...here is a pic I found online with an AQ shower, basically they have more jets.

Not sure if this fits your bill or not but I got this on Reflection last year at the Martini Bar, sadly I cant remember what the heck it was but remember it was delicious!

Internet access on a ship is a very different kettle of fish to any other product or service, they're not really comparable. Even though its 2023 I wouldn't expect an ideal Internet connection anywhere, anytime at sea. If it works well it's just a bonus. Ignoring the fact I just don't care about having great Internet access while on holiday anyway, I wouldn't blame any cruise line who charged me for Internet access and then only received a spotty connection. There are so many factors at play from how many people are on the ship, how many people are using the connection and for what purpose (one cruise you might have half the passengers barely using it and the other half just using it for basic browsing, while another cruise you might have a significant chunk of passengers trying to stream music or video...you can guess which of those 2 scenarios will result in slower speeds/spotty service), and then you have issues like where on the planet the ship is cruising and also, importantly, what the weather is like. Satellites don't like cloud and rain. Nothing can be done about that, it's just physics. You cannot expect Celebrity or any cruise line to try and price Internet service differently on every cruise taking into account all the factors that might affect service. Quite simply, it is what it is.

South America, more/slightly longer options around Scandinavia and Norway, more options around the far east, something around Africa maybe. Basically anything other than the endless cruises that just trundle around the Caribbean, of which I have no interest. Edit: Actually this is a good subject for a poll, anyone know how to create one?!

Looking forward to reading, your trip reports are always entertaining and interesting! Personally I wouldnt look at a Ponant cruise, I'd prefer a larger ship with more to do and at considerably lower prices! I think to me the only advantage would be getting to ports that are otherwise inaccessible to larger ships. However, I love sailing so I think for the prices Ponant charge I'd rather charter a small yacht with a captain and cruise around wherever we wanted. Possible next cruise for me, after the Beyond in a couple of weeks, might be around Norway. A standard cabin (204sq ft, kinda tiny) on Le Bellot for a 10 night Norway cruise next year is £1,000 per person per night. The 8 night Apex Norway cruise works out at £340 per person per night in AQ (243sq ft cabins). I do love reading about all travel experiences, not just on X, and I'm sure you'll love your cruise even if its completely different to what you're used to!

They've not been removed, if you want them (not sure why you would, they're a bit naff) ask and you can still get them. They just don't arrive for everyone every day by default. I remember being rather underwhelmed and leaving most of them on my first cruise on Reflection in 2012, I wouldn't say they've gotten any better or worse since then lol.

Either its a glitch (more than likely) or they're trying to encourage Brits on that sailing instead of Americans, because on the UK site the Sky Suite on that sailing is £8501pp (about $10500) and the iconic Suite £34,899pp (about $44,000) - still an insane price but only half as insane as the $100k price on the US site! Also the same 12 night itin a couple weeks earlier on the US site is less than half those prices, that particular one on May 27 for some reason has completely mad pricing on the US site at the moment, has to be an error!

I guess that's just semantics. If prices are 'reflective', it's not going to mean they'll go up as a result of gratuities not being included, if they weren't going to change at all then why mention it. The strict definition of 'reflective' would indicate the prices would go down by the amount (or thereabouts) of the gratuities, but as I said, and as you pointed out, it'll be hard to quantify either way because prices change all the time anyway.

For suites (plus X did say prices would decrease by the gratuities no longer included...whether they will or not is hard to say). For the other 90% of cruisers there is zero difference.

Exactly, and without the hysteria, speculation and incorrect assumptions. Just the facts. Which in reality don't amount to many changes.

Yeah I think that's an American thing - prices quoted on the Celebrity UK site always include any taxes fees and port charges in the initial quoted price. The price you see on the first page is the final price you'll pay (unless you add AI, grats etc on along the way).

Looking at that 13 night Silhouette cruise, whether its just a glitch with their website (it's Celebrity, so a good chance!), if you try and book a suite the only one available is a Horizon suite which works out at £660pppn. It's about 50% larger than the Oceania PH suite which comes in at £530pppn, which I agree if it was down to those two suites for those prices then maybe the Oceania would tip the balance maybe. But who knows what sky suites were selling for when they were available, might have been more comparable. But then I'm not sure I'd like such a smaller ship. Good to have choices though!

I do agree that prices for Retreat/suite cabins on X have gotten pretty high recently, but if they're selling at those prices then hard to blame Celebrity for charging what they are. However, looking at the 23 night Oceania cruise you highlighted, (I wish I could take that much time off work in one go, but sadly I cant), if you price a standard cabin and compare that to X then X is much more favourable. The cheapest balcony cabin on that Oceania sailing is £407 (flights not included in that) per person per night. If you compare that to the Silhouette 13 night Scandinavian cruise next May then AQ works out at £309pppn with AI still included at this point for that price. A standard balcony cabin is £161pppn and with AI it's £229pppn. So for a standard veranda cabin with drinks included Oceania is £407 while X is £229pppn. That's a big difference.

How far off is your cruise? I'm on Beyond in 3 weeks so thought I'd just check the menu in Blu, and it's...odd lol. I thought it might be relatively accurate by now but day 5 is showing 11 appetisers and day 8 lists 12! Every other night lists 6 apps which seems more realistic. Although the current Beyond sailing has the same menus, also showing 12 appetisers for day 8, which surely can't be right. I think they might have left the menu loading to interns, I noticed a few glaring spelling mistakes on some of the MDR menus... like "schrimp" with a c thrown in for good measure, "ribsvv", "cesar salad" plus items repeated. Think I might just wait till I'm onboard to see what's for dinner!

I wondered if the Caribbean would be different, the logistics would be very hard to sort out. I've not looked at cruises around there though, I've little to no interest in hopping between fairly samey islands on a cruise. I don't think the YC would interest me tbh. I get that it's a little oasis amongst the hustle and bustle and madness of the rest of the ship, but I wouldn't want to be thinking ugh, here goes, every time I set foot out of the YC. And if you never set foot out of the YC then what's the point in the rest of the ship, might as well sail on a smaller one or different cruise line altogether. I know lots of people love it but don't think it would be for me. Next few cruises are on X, we'll see what happens after that. Maybe if Virgin start some longer cruises that might be an option. Don't hear much in the way of comparisons on here with P&O, might look into that a bit more.

I'm not sure about Caribbean cruises but in the Med at least, one of the many things that put me off picking an MSC cruise is pretty much every port on any given route is an embarkation/debarkation port. For example, if the cruise you book is 7nt RT from Barcelona and day 2 on your itinerary is Marseille, that will be day 1 for some people on the ship - they will have booked a 7nt RT from Marseille. There will be people starting and finishing their 7nt cruises on almost every day of your cruise. To me that would feel a bit too much like being on a ferry and just add to the generally chaotic feeling I get the impression the ships feel like!

I assume that's because you get the gold medal? Lol The definition of a cutback is something that has been reduced, taken away, eliminated. On the (ridiculous to even still be discussing this) cookie front, nothing was reduced, taken away or eliminated. The old product is still available for free, no change there. There is a new product that does have a fee. That is not cutting back.

What? There isn't a cutback. There is an additional, different product that people can purchase if they so choose. It's really that simple.

There was one photo, don't know when it was taken and that's it. Plenty of people have said there are still free cookies available and X have emailed/messaged several people to say there will still be free cookies available. Can we please please stop the fake uproar now?! 15 pages of moaning for no reason just beggars belief.

I'm glad you read this thread then and found the truth about cookiegate, and I hope you enjoy your cruise in a few weeks, which I'm sure you will do 🙂 However, this is EXACTLY the problem with this board at the moment! Any positive news is completely lost amongst the horde of negative posts from a few repetitive moaners. The whole cookie nonsense is the perfect example. It's been pointed out several times on the 15+ page thread of moaning about cookies that: a. it is currently just one ship b. It is a trial c. The free cookies ARE STILL AVAILABLE d. There is the option on this one ship to purchase a different type of cookie, warm and larger, for $2. e. The sky is not falling in However, the several times this has been pointed out (several emails and messages from X HQ now have been posted with explanations of the above) it gets lost or ignored and people just continue moaning about it. It's insane! Very positive and interesting to read trip reports get lost and attract little attention, but the tiniest thing which might affect a handful of people ends up with a moanfest often reaching dozens of pages long. We sail in a few weeks and I should be coming on here to get excited about it, reading reviews and comments from people onboard. Sadly, whenever I open this tab on my browser at the moment I have to tell myself to ignore the majority of doom and gloom nonsense and remember that some people in life are only happy when they're complaining.

It seems to have gotten lost in the 14 pages of, ahem, waffle, but a poster a couple of pages back had an email from X confirming that the free cookies at Al Bacio would be remaining. Only change is the option to purchase a larger and warm cookie if you like.

1. I won't miss the canapés. They are always a bit meh anyway plus tend to be delivered afternoon and sit around for hours. Double meh. 2. I won't miss the chocolates. Normal routine is get back to cabin late in evening/gone midnight, change, clean teeth then spot chocolate on pillow. Nope, not eating that now, I'll just put it on the counter over there and have it tomorrow. End of cruise rolls round and I find a dozen or so chocolates in a pile, put them in bag, forget, get home and pull melted chocolate out of bag! 3. With cruises going on sale 18+ months in advance, management can't really decide to make a small change but think oh, we can't stop the chocolates on pillows just yet because some people have booked cruises through 2025 and its not fair, pop it in the diary for 2026! They also can't grandfather changes like that in, can't expect room stewards to have lists of when people booked cabins to know whether to deliver them canapés or chocolates. I'm sure some people will miss the chocolates and canapés, I get that, but I'd rather they brought back the various carafes of infused tea they used to bring around if I'm being honest. Or make the canapés actually worth bothering with!

But has he confirmed there are no longer any free cookies at Al Bacio? That's the only thing that matters really.