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If you keep them closed while the window is open I would imagine that helps keep the cool air in the rest of the cabin? I'll give it a go later this year. Regarding the area at the front of the E class ships made into the Retreat deck, I'd guess than 95%+ of passengers wouldn't notice the reduced deck space up there compared to S class. The couple of times we went up to the top front deck on Reflection which had what seemed like acres of deck chairs, there was never anyone else there. Also think I saw the basketball court being used once. I would hazard a guess that having the Retreat deck using what is probably very under utilised space on S class ships actually creates more room on the main pool deck for everyone else as most suite passengers will be up there instead of around the main pool?

** In your opinion. Fact is most people are either indifferent towards the IV cabins or like them. To say they are a 'cut' is a bit odd as they would cost more to build than traditional balcony cabins. Equally silly is to say getting rid of the sky lounge is a 'cut'. Perhaps you miss that space, most people probably don't. And that started 11yrs ago when they made the sky lounge on Reflection smaller. And even with a smaller one, last September when I cruised on Reflection every time we walked in or past it it was practically empty. At night the DJ/entertainment crew would finish in the atrium and announce they were carrying the party on up in the sky lounge. We went 3 times and each time there were no more than a dozen people. Didn't bother again. Celebrity know exactly how many people use each space on every cruise. Do you think maybe they ran the numbers and realised that the sky lounge was a massively under utilised piece of prime space? From what I've seen I would say Eden is a far superior replacement to the sky lounge. 3 decks tall, much better views out. I thought we'd moved on from beef/lobster gate. Who knows why a particular cut of beef was temporarily absent. Maybe it was deliberate, maybe it was related to supply chain issues, who knows. Part of me cant help but think that already existing supply issues in the US for various items might have been exacerbated by 90% of all cruise ships being based in the Caribbean for the first time in years, but again, who knows. Could it have been managed better, maybe, probably. Was it an end of world scenario, absolutely not. But it doesn't seem to be an issue now.

Enough with the hyperbole. Firstly, the whole "CEO got axed", ok think whatever you like but don't state things like that as fact with zero evidence. It's just bizarre. If I was 65 I'd be wanting to retire too. Maybe just maybe it's as simple as that and no conspiracy theory is required? Have you any evidence to back up your wild claim that the majority of people will not sail E class after being on it once or is that solely your opinion based on your preferences? Do you think possibly after 4+ years of bookings on E class ships they might have a pretty good handle on how many repeat cruisers they have? Do you think if after probably half a million people have sailed on them and their internal metrics were showing they were getting no or very few repeat bookings, would they have ordered another 2 ships? Doubtful. I'll be on Beyond later this year with friends, we're fully aware the balconies are missing a few square inches of air space around the top of the sides but that doesn't matter one jot to us. Compared to Reflection last year we're much more interested in and looking forward to spending time in Eden, the far superior sunset bar, the larger and improved pool deck, additional restaurants, much improved theatre, rooftop garden (better use of space than the lawn) and overall decor from the 2020s not from the 2000s. I've got friends going on Edge this summer with their extended family. 5 or 6 cabins booked. They researched extensively and also didn't care one bit about the IV cabins and losing a few square inches of draft on the balconies. They were more interested in the extra space they get in the cabin by opening the bifold doors. If you dont want to sail Celebrity ever again because a few ships are missing a 3 inch gap at the top left and right of the balconies or because for a short period of time they didn't have your preferred cut of beef in a restaurant, fine. However, is it entirely necessary for you to fill this board with doom and gloom and wildly negative statements that bear little resemblance to reality?

That's odd. If they removed that LOCLXALLINC then that leaves no discount or promotion on the booking at all. But there's always a promotion or sale on. They still have the 75% off 2nd person fare which has been running since last autumn so they should add that (or rather, deduct it). If you try making a dummy booking on the Celebrity website now for the exact same cruise, what price does it come up with?

As I said, I've not sailed Virgin and was basing my opinion solely on marketing, review videos and the 5 or 6 part documentary following one of their ships. Yes there's a good chance that people who have sailed Virgin have different experiences but I'm just not sure it's something I'd want to try. Regards that documentary, I don't know how much input Virgin had into the final cut but I'm sure they would have been happy with how they were portrayed. Don't get me wrong, many aspects of the ship look great and maybe if I was 10yrs younger I might have been interested! Personally tho I'm not going to gravitate towards a ship which (as shown in the show) has an onboard tattoo parlour, offers IV drips to pump you full of vitamins and minerals if you've been drinking and partying too much and feel under the weather (the documentary was following several couples on their voyage and a few days in one of them decided they wanted to do the IV treatment after a few very late nights!) and when someone complained about not being able to sleep because the pool parties were going on until 3/4am the response from crew was basically well what do you expect lol. Again, I understand my opinion is mainly based on watching that TV show and reality might be slightly different, but if that's the image they want to portray and they want to style themselves as more of a party cruise line then I don't think it's for me. Give me 10 days of serenity on a Celebrity ship any day!

What hyperbole? Clip from the show. Guests (or 'Sailors' as Virgin refers to them) are met on board with a very energetic guy with a loud hailer giving high fives. I'm sure lots of people love that, but working a very busy and stressful job the last thing I want on my 2 weeks off is non stop in your face over the top madness. Having said that, I'm 40 and also not ready for HAL or Oceania or other similar lines when everyone is in bed by 10pm! I think Celebrity strikes the right balance and is just what I'm looking for. Full episode on YouTube incase the OP or anyone else is interested. Maybe take a watch and see if that kind of atmosphere is what you're looking for...

There has been a 5 or 6 episode documentary on TV here in the UK following the crew on a Virgin ship. From what I could tell, its very much a party atmosphere on their ships. Based solely on what I've seen from that show and watching other videos on Virgin, I think there's a better chance of you being annoyed by the non stop partying on Virgin than there is of you being annoyed by kids on a Celebrity ship. It's a very different atmosphere.

You're right, nuts. Guess I got used to the recent run of 5 point activities and just had in my mind it was another 5!

Good, keep them coming. I've got 6 months until next cruise and 25 points (20 after these points hit) short of Elite. Could do with a 5 pointer thing every month!

Is this a definite thing of the past for all sailings, and if so any idea when that happened? We ate at the rooftop grill on Reflection on the first night last September and 3 or 4 days later the Maitre'd saw us in the sunset bar and told us if we wanted to eat there again he would give us a good discount. We didn't take him up on the offer because we already had another specialty booked plus were quite enjoying eating in Blu anyway so not sure what the discount would have been.

I agree. I've actually often wondered why there aren't more 2 bedroom options not just on Celebrity but other cruise lines too, and not just at suite level. The size of two standard veranda cabins could easily be reconfigured at the design/construction phase into having one door, one bathroom (poss even two) and two separate bedrooms, there's plenty of room.

For the sake of fairness, I'm not sure your numbers paint a very accurate picture. The only 17 night transatlantic crossing I see end of 2024 is the 28th Nov Sky Princess sailing. The UK site states mini suites are 304-329sq ft and with the reserve collection (to get your separate club class entrance to the MDR) plus premium drinks etc it comes to £3955 per person. A sky suite on the 14 night Beyond TA would be £5354 per person but you get a lot more for that and a SS is 400sq ft (a CS is 500sq ft). Princess mini suites don't come with the extra facilities or perks like you get in a suite on Celebrity. There's no retreat deck, lounge, separate restaurant or butler service. Actually a Princess mini suite isn't much different to a regular veranda on X size wise and facilities wise. Let's be generous and compare it to an AQ cabin on that same Beyond sailing, bearing in mind AQ gives you access to a specialty restaurant every night which a Princess mini suite doesn't. AQ which comes with drinks wifi and tips is £2835pp on that Beyond TA in 2024, £1100pp cheaper than the Princess mini suite. A standard balcony on that Princess sailing is £1899pp (no drinks package etc) but the cabins are small (179sq ft inc balcony) and don't even have a sofa. Standard IV on Beyond (243sq ft) on that sailing is £1548pp. So let's compare apples to apples cos it's certainly not fair to compare a mini suite on Princess to a Celebrity Suite. Completely different products. And when we compare apples to apples ita obvious that Celebrity prices are very comparable to other cruiselines. I know for sure if it came down to £1548 for 14 nights on Beyond vs £1899 for 17 nights on Sky Princess it would be Beyond every time for me!

Try this: https://www.celebritycruises.com/gb which is a redirect from www.celebritycruises.co.uk

It's not just a Celebrity thing. Maybe people on other boards just aren't as fussed about only having one bar open on a port day so don't feel the need to speculate and talk about it for months on end?

The nerve! I'd never book another cruise with Celebrity if I were you. I've been told that Oceania, Seabourn and Silversea captains always line the ship up for sunset photos. Just in case any of their passengers are still awake at that time of the day. Joking aside tho, lovely to read your posts and makes a nice change. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

Are they screwing up though, or is food, as ever, subjective. Kwokpot just posted a review last night about the same sailing and said he had no complaints about food in the MDR and the food overall on the ship was good. The poster who just slated the MDR food in this thread last posted a review last year about the Apex and stated about eating in Luminae every night "I will say there’s not a lot on the menu that I’ll eat, but food is subjective." Also, your comment about AQ prices being through the roof, are you taking into account those prices including classic drinks, WiFi and tips by default? I've looked at countless cruises where the difference between concierge and AQ pretty much amounts to the fact that AQ is all included. A very quick look at Beyond sailings next Jan/Feb shows the difference between concierge and AQ ranges from $120-150pp extra per day. The difference between upgrading concierge to all included and the AQ price is about $65pp per day on several sailings I just checked. Is that through the roof pricing? Not really.

If pricing for all hotels and cruises is ridiculous, at what point does it become no longer ridiculous and just normal? If everybody thought the prices were ridiculous and didn't pay what was being asked, the hotels/cruise lines would have to reduce their prices. But that's not happening. Which suggests to me they aren't ridiculous. My 10 night Beyond sailing in Sept comes to roughly $670 per night for an AQ cabin. That's all included, everything. Food, drinks, entertainment. So where else could I go for a similar experience on land for same price? Sandals resorts are all inclusive, but out of their 17 resorts only 2 of them have any rooms for under $670/night at the same time in September. In most of the resorts the cheapest rooms are around $800-900/night. I previously posted that a 10 night stay in the Wynn in Vegas or a Hard Rock in Orlando are roughly the same price per night as the Beyond. However, once you add in 3 meals a day plus drinks for 2 people to those hotel stays then you're looking at the total cost being not far off double. Decent hotels in Miami, NYC, LA, SF all have similar per night costs. If I look at alternate cruises, a Princess 14 night September Med cruise in a balcony cabin with classic drink package equivalent (not quite an equal comparison with AQ but as close as you can get I think) works out at around $670 per night. About the same as the Beyond and i know which ship I'd rather be on. A 12 night HAL cruise in the med also works out at around $670 night. So X prices are decent compared to similar standard hotels, especially when you factor in food and drink prices, plus they're in line with other cruise lines. If the complaints about pricing are mainly to do with suite pricing, then it is what it is. Don't sail in a suite or don't sail at all. But whatever the prices are, many people are obviously happy to pay it or else they would come down. Also, suite pricing affects less than 10% of X passengers so not sure it's affecting many people tbh.

There are only a few sky suites left but a suite guarantee is $3500pp which isn't that unreasonable.

Can't blame them, if people are willing to pay those prices for one of the last 4 AQ cabins then fair enough I say. That sailing is almost completely sold out. Suites, inside and ocean view have no availability, AQ has 4 cabins, concierge has 3 left and then about 15 veranda cabins with maybe another 30 obstructed view cabins on deck 6.

That explains the discrepancy! You had originally said those prices were for the TA on the Silhouette, not the Apex. The Silhouettte TA in a RS is 7k per person cheaper.

My bad, typo. I quoted the eastbound in April 2024. It's 10k per person not 18k. Although the westbound in November is the same price. Not sure where your 18k is coming from?

That seemed rather dear so just checked and the 2024 westbound TA on Silhouette is $10,200 per person in a Royal Suite, so not that unreasonable compared to what you quoted. And if people are paying that then Celebrity obviously have the pricing right.

Just booked 10 nights on Beyond for later this year at pretty much same price as we paid for 11 nights on Reflection last year. Not all prices have risen dramatically. You'll find that cruising still represents excellent value I think. I priced 10 nights in a standard room in the Wynn in Vegas (stayed there many times) for the same 10 day period we'll be on Beyond and the Wynn came in slightly more expensive than the Beyond and that's for room only. We're getting 10 nights of food and drink plus entertainment for less money! The steakhouse there now charge $95 for a filet steak...and that's literally just the steak, if you want veg that'll be an extra $20. Found an invoice from a Hard Rock in Orlando I stayed in 5yrs ago, the same 5 nights this year are more than double what I paid back then and for this September are averaging $620 night per room. That is room only (a club room so snacks/drinks for happy hour are included) so compare that to the $670 or so I'm paying for an AQ cabin on Beyond which is all inclusive, there's no competition! A friend goes to a different Sandals resort every year, those prices have gone up 25-30% in the last 18 months. People can complain and say they're done with Celebrity because they've raised their prices but good luck finding something comparable elsewhere who still has 2019 prices!

This! It's also been 'Ending in <insert arbitrary countdown time>' for months. Yet when the countdown clock gets to zero, the next day the 'sale' is still on and the clock has just started up with a new plucked from the air time on it!

Also, have you paid to upgrade your current concierge booking to all included (classic drinks package, WiFi, tips)? Aqua, as far as I know, always has the all included package, so if indeed you've seen that for cheaper than concierge without the AI I'd jump on it if I was you (assuming there are no cancellation penalties etc for changing from concierge to aqua).