CruisingWalter

All the cruise lines give free and very reduced cruises from the Casino. Princess and Carnival are actually two of biggest casino play cruise lines. That's a wholly different discussion from the 'target market.' "Target Market" is all about the advertising and marketing, which is what I showed in the images. Casino offers are for clients who have already sailed and who gambled enough money the cruise line thought it was worth bringing them back. They give away a free $500 cabin and in return rake in $2000 or more from casino earnings. It's a 'win' for the cruise line. I guess if Celebrity is too 'low class' for you now, there's always Oceania, Regent, Seabourn and Viking to move up to.

Having sailed 8 different cruise lines, including Celebrity & Princess I'd say your observations are spot on. 1: The meals included are awesome, but you do get that 'extra level of attentiveness' at a specialty restaurant onboard other ships, especially Celebrity Princess and NCL. We love the VV style and it's a bit more casual, but that's a valid point. 2: Very frustrating for a lot of folks. Especially on their first cruise. You really do have to be ready to book your dinners at that 60 or 45 day mark depending on whether you're suite level or not. We have to tell our friends to be ready to go when the booking window opens. That being said you can usually change out your meals once you're onboard, but you have to go directly to the restaurant to make the changes. 3: Celebrity and Holland America have outstanding buffets with a lot of options and both are very good. The Galley works really well when it's quiet but completely breaks down when it's busy, such as morning on a port day. We understand they've added the 'flag system' from The Dock and we're going to try again in a few weeks to see if it's any better. Our first experience with The Galley at breakfast was not a good one. I would recommend The Wake or Razzle Dazzle for a better breakfast experience. VV needs to move the ordering system over to the app or tablets, ala Food Republic / Indulge Food Hall on NCL. Both MUCH better systems than The Galley currently. 4: Late night the Social Club should be open and the Ice Cream should be open for sure. I think the Dine and Dash probably serves most folks late night cravings, but yes you would think with a ship that encourages imbibing late into the evening, there would be something other than Dine and Dash into the evening. On the room service, it was excellent. Best room service of any cruise line we've done so far, especially in the way they deliver it. Again, you have a lot of valid points. We LOVE Aqua Class and Blu on Celebrity, but there is so much to love across all the cruise lines. My goal is to be up to 10 cruise lines by the end of 2023 and then add some river cruising in 2024. 🙂

As others have noted, right now it's just a 'match.' You get the Deep Blue Extras. I don't know that they've figured out quite what they want to do yet. The CEO is the former CEO of Disney Cruise Line where they've had a loyalty program since almost day one so you would think they would have come up with something by now. 🙂 Part of the problem could be that so much is included already, what else do you give to folks? It's possible they're waiting to fully roll out the program to coincide with the launch of Resilient Lady. It's kind of hard to have a full loyalty program when you only have two ships. They're walking the balance of wanting to keep a loyal fanbase while also introducing the brand to new cruisers. With only two ships, that's not a whole lot of options for folks. When four ships are running at the end of 2023 that will start to open up things. I really hope that opens up new home ports and new itineraries. Folks on the West Coast of the U.S. have been asking about a ship. Folks have been asking about Asia itineraries. Sending one of the ships through the Panama Canal for a 2 month West Coast season that includes Hawaii trips would be awesome. Or some Singapore based itineraries. Those are the kinds of opportunities that could open up once Brilliant Lady is in play. We may not see those new home ports in 2024, but possibly by 2025.

Sorry the app isn't accurate on your cruise. The app was quite good on our cruise as were the display screens throughout the ship. I'm not sure what the difficulty is in you grabbing a copy of the schedule in the morning at the Coffee Grounds. I did that a few times while waiting for my cappuccino.

You can start making your reservations 45 days out unless you're a rock star (suite guest) then you can start earlier. One thing to keep in mind with the dinners is that these are not 'rushed affairs' to get you in and out quickly. You're encouraged to take your time and linger over dinner. Our Test Kitchen dinner was 2 1/2 hours, our Wake dinner was over 2 hours and the like. So if you have an event or a show you'd like to get to, and it's less than 2 hours from the time of your dinner, let your servers know when you sit down. We did that in Extra Virgin which is typically a 4 course meal and they served it in three to speed up the dinner so we could make it to Duel Reality. As for what order and what to eat, first off, here's my full food review from Scarlet Lady: https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU There's also a full playlist of our cabin tour, review, secret show and more. Now for the first thing you should do when you board the ship is head to The Dock and enjoy some nice tapas and a cocktail to kick off your cruise right. 🙂 The tapas are so good. And be sure to check out the Grab and Go items as you walk out to the Dock and in The Galley. If I had to skip one it would be Pink Agave. Not a whole lot different than going to an elevated Mexican restaurant in your area, other than the 125+ Tequila and Mezcal available. It's really good, but I have no problems skipping that one. The Wake was fabulous for both brunch and dinner. Test Kitchen is a lot of fun and our meal was delicious, but know that you might be a little hungry about and hour or two later. We all shared a pizza after that evening show, and the pizza is divine. You could make that dinner one night if you wanted to. I enjoyed Gunbae much more than I thought I would and it was the perfect sail away restaurant. We didn't plan it that way, but it was the perfect place to be as the ship sailed out of Miami. We only did Razzle Dazzle for lunch and LOVED it so when we board again in two weeks we're doing dinner this time. Extra Virgin is another restaurant you could potentially skip if you have a really good Italian restaurant near you. It's a good Italian restaurant and I do enjoy it, but if you have good Italian near you it might be a letdown and there are better Italian restaurants on other cruise lines like Princess. I'd say for me the order of Must Do to Could Do would be (keep in mind these are all good places to eat) The Wake Test Kitchen Gunbae Pizza Place Razzle Dazzle Extra Virgin Pink Agave In The Galley the most ridiculously good thing I ate on our first visit was the French Toast Burger for breakfast from the Burger Bar. It was FILLING but oh so ridiculously good. The salad station is fabulous. The ramen was ok. The Scarlet Lady dessert in The Sweet Spot was divine, rich dark chocolate inside. We did not get a panini or a taco last trip, we we'll be trying those in a few weeks and then we have a full 8 night voyage in November on Valiant Lady. 🙂 Hope that's helpful. Enjoy your first VV Cruise!

Virgin Voyages for sure with all the inclusions. All Meals, WiFi, Soft Drinks, Gratuities and Exercise classes included in their cruise fares standard. Then you can pick up $300 bar tabs which VV will add more to, and you can use the Tab to buy drinks for anyone. Their cocktails are very reasonably priced too, no added gratuity. If the drink is $9, the drink is $9 on the bill. Then NCL with their "Free At Sea" package. A drinks package costs on average $153/pp for a 7 night cruise. That's about as cheap as it gets. Next would be Princess with the Princess Plus package. That covers your drinks, WiFi and Gratuities for $60/day and it includes drinks up to $15 ea. After WiFi and Gratuities your drinks are about $27/pp per day. Much more cost effective than RCCL. Celebrity has a similar package as Princess but it's $75/day and includes drinks up to $11. Not quite as good a deal as Princess.

Man that was ages ago. $65 - $99/day is the going price. RC is among the highest for drink packages, yet folks keep buying it. We will purchase the Refreshment Package since it includes the specialty coffees and pay ala carte for alcohol. HUGE savings over the drink package over a one week cruise. Well over $500 savings.

And exactly who is this target crowd that is unrefined? These folks from Celebrity's current marketing are all folks I would gladly cruise with. I'll probably even buy some of them a drink.

No, they don't do that. You can get the paper version at the Coffee Ground shop. It's part of not wasting unnecessary paper. Did you book any dinners prior to the cruise? We book ours when the window opens. That's the best way to ensure you get the dinners you want. Otherwise go standby or go much later in the evening. As for the exercise classes, as many have noted here, if you simply walk up to the one you want to participate in, there is often room for some extra people. Test Kitchen is an interesting dinner for sure. We really enjoyed our time there and then went and got a pizza after the show. It was honestly a perfect way to handle that meal. We're back on the ship in two weeks.

VV and MSC are the only two cruise lines that offer status match at this time. Other than Royal Caribbean and Celebrity offering reciprocal matching, but they are the same company.

In terms of my enjoyment of Celebrity cruises, it's the same Celebrity it's always been. Incredible staff, great food, great service and beautiful ships. I have absolutely zero issues with any changes they have been making in terms of food portions, what they serve, etc... EVERY cruise line has changed since the pandemic. They went 2 years with zero income while maintaining fleets of ships. So yes, food portions are going to change, the items they serve are going to change, but that's a business reality after bleeding out money for 2 years. It'll take a while for that to catch up, even with the record breaking bookings. So a 'smaller lobster tail' doesn't mean it's "patently wrong to say it's the same old Celebrity." Absolutely it is, times change, cruise lines change, that's a continual evolution. And this is the biggest evolution in the history of cruising, making a comeback after a 2 year shut down. Honestly what I see described by so many people as "Celebrity or (fill in the blank cruise line) going downhill" are minor. "Oh my god the lobster tails are smaller!" "Oh my god I have to pay for a second lobster tail!" "Oh my god there's only 15 items to choose from on the menu instead of 25!" "Oh my god they got rid of turndown service!" If the changes have a serious detriment to your enjoyment of (fill in the blank cruise line) then move on and find a 'better cruise line.'

6 to 10 I believe are the sizes of the table. We had six at our table. There were four of us and we were seated at a table for 6 with folks we had never met but became friends by the end of the meal. You're seated at random with folks unless you come in with a large party.

Dude - doesn't affect me or my enjoyment of Celebrity cruises. What affects you doesn't matter to others.

Don't own an iPad. Have no desire to stream to the in-room TV. Most cruise lines seem to be blocking guest access to the TV inputs.

Weird, I've never had a problem with it on any ships. In fact we had a hilarious use of a running tracker on a cruise where we 'ran' 35-40 miles because the system was tracking the movement of the ship, not us walking around the walking track. 🙂

The Buffet, at least on Sky Princess, had an Espresso station where they served Espresso, Cappuccinos, Lattes and Americanos. The MDR serves Espresso, Cappuccino, Lattes and more. All of those are paid options and all serve the same coffee beans. The drip coffee in the buffet might switch to Lavazza as well as they do on the Celebrity ships, but it's a much lower grade of coffee than what they use in the specialty shops.

We've been in the Club Class/Reserve Mini Suites in the past and they are absolutely worth the money just for the dining experience alone. We basically ate whatever the dining captain was preparing each evening. If you paid for the Club Class/Reserve there's no way I'd be eating in the standard MDR. Which by the way was outstanding on Sky Princess, but I'd still take the Club/Reserve level over that every time.

We had outstanding WiFi on Sky Princess during our sailing in February. So much so I did two TikTok Livestreams from the ship, had 5 video calls for work, 7 audio calls over WiFi for work. The only real issue was sometimes the browser would just be very slow to open pages, but as someone who works remotely, the Sky Princess was an amazing 'remote office.' Best WiFi of any ship so far we've sailed outside Scarlet Lady.

For the first time, I think ever on a cruise ship, two guests asked a pool attendant on the Sky Princess to remove some items that had been on lounge chairs for well over an hour. He obliged. We had the 'one dedicated chair hog' who came out each morning with his headphones on, pulled together a circle of about 7 or 8 chairs and then just sat there for hours watching the empty chairs. That is a very sad life indeed.

For Sun Princess they may be adding this feature. Not every feature is available in the same cabins across the fleet. Pretty much the same with all cruise lines. It's also possible the feature will be added across the fleet at the same time.

Drip coffee in the buffet and dining rooms is free on most all cruise lines. Specialty coffees like espresso, cappuccino,, latte's and such are always a charge.

The coffee will be throughout the ship. They only mention IC because that is the dedicated coffee house on the ship. On Sky Princess we had coffee machines at Princess Live, the buffet and other locations. The Lavazza coffee will be served at every location where fresh coffee is made.

Seems to be about 18-24 months at a time. They're going to have 4 ships at the end of this year so they'll be looking to add some different itineraries, possibly some different home ports for seasons. Such as Brilliant starting her season in San Juan. There have been folks on the west coast of the US asking for a ship. So it's possible they're looking at how best to deploy the 4 ships to add change to the fleet to add new itineraries, introduce new audiences to the ships and give fresh options to returning Sailors. The Miami routes are definitely starting to get old at this point, it would be nice to see that Miami ship start to rotate in some 9 or 10 night Southern Caribbean cruises vs. the continual 4 and 5 night loops.

The Bar Tab is for the cabin, both people have access to it. It will only show up in the lead sailor's account. But it applies to both people in the cabin. Any drinks your wife orders is charged back to the cabin, and that $600 will take care of the first $600 in paid drinks.

As others have noted, this is the "Limitless" cruise sponsored by J-Lo and her Limitless brand. We're on the cruise right before this one and were advised we have to be off by 10 not 11 like usual. Basically they're going to be loading in some additional things for the actual event and of course, they have to be able to escort J-Lo onto the ship without a mass of people around. Hence the late boarding for your cruise. I believe she's either going to speak or perform one song out by the pool prior to sail-away and then she'll be gone. The rest of the week is full of female business leaders as the focus of the cruise events is female business empowerment. The guest list is quite impressive from an article that came out today: Andrea Sullivan, chief marketing officer at VaynerX: As CMO of VaynerX, Sullivan is responsible for the organization’s brand and building its community of business leaders and culture icons. Creator of marketing for the Now, she’s personally responsible for the popular series featuring prolific speakers and drawing a global audience of 100,000 per month. Beatriz Acevedo, CEO and co-founder SUMA Wealth: A leading inspirational voice and Latina entrepreneur, Acevedo is dedicated to creating opportunities for the voices of diverse youth, with efforts to authentically influence and positively depict Latinos in society.. Carrie Byalick, president of Spartina Industries: From being one of the entertainment industry’s most sought-after media and publicity strategists to creator of her own talent management firm, Byalick now works with Late Show legend Stephen Colbert as president of his production company, Spartina Industries. Catherine Balsam-Schwaber, founder and CEO at Kindra: Balsam-Schwaber is a life-long advocate for women’s health and launched Kindra to break down the stigma around menopause. Empowering women through midlife, Kindra is an innovative self-care company for women in menopause that uses science-backed formulas, education, and community-building initiatives. Lissette “Chiky BomBom” Eduardo, co-host, hoyDía: After conquering the hearts of the U.S. Hispanic audiences with her participation on Telemundo’s first season of Top Chef VIP, and known for her famous TikTok videos in which she shares inspiring messages, the renowned Dominican influencer joined the network’s morning show Hoy Día as co-host. CJ Frogozo, communications and marketing executive, fitness instructor: Frogozo is focused on transformational policy change and communications strategies, disrupting norms to fight for social and economic justice, women's and gender issues, and consumer product transparency. Jill Lindsey, CEO of Jill Lindsey: Entrepreneur and podcast host, Lindsey believes in positive business growth through partnering with small business owners, all while mentoring many of her vendors. Jill Stoneberg, senior director of social impact and sustainability at Virgin Voyages: Dedicated to bringing to life Virgin Voyages’ mission to “Create An Epic Sea Change For All,” Stoneberg oversees brand initiatives to bring positive change to Virgin’s Sailors, ocean, communities, Crew and partners, with a focus on decarbonization and community relations. Katie Rosen Kitchens, co-founder of FabFitFun: Co-leading the evolution of this female-focused media brand since 2013, from writing about lifestyle products to getting them into people’s hands, Kitchens curates fresh and exciting brands for FabFitFun’s members and oversees all brand partnerships and product development. Natalie Kuhn, co-CEO of The Class: As the first employee of The Class, Kuhn helped grow the business and its method from its inception in 2013 to what it is today—a global digital wellness company whose mindful movement practices are experienced in-person, in New York and Los Angeles, and digitally in 71 countries across the globe. Nathalie Walton, CEO of Expectful: As a new mother, Walton experienced the failure of the U.S. healthcare system to nurture the mental and emotional wellbeing of pregnant and new mothers, so she joined Expectful to help solve this problem. Rei Chou, founder of Rei of Light, The Feast: Chou is a healer, advisor, confidante and coach to the world’s most visionary creatives and leaders. Stacy London, CEO, State of Menopause: Host of TLC’s hit show “What Not to Wear,” London is now an outspoken entrepreneur about women's health and longevity. Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies: A purpose-driven leader, keynote speaker, and author, McPherson focuses on ESG and corporate social impact communications. Sylvia Benito, chief investment officer, ASK Family Office: A rare blend of spirit-dweller and financier, Benito is an indigenously trained shaman and chief investment officer overseeing a billion-dollar portfolio. Sailors will also be treated to enhanced entertainment experiences featuring female talent and Latina artists. Bella Dose, a bilingual group Rolling Stone recently named among the top 10 Latin acts to make it big in 2023, will perform along with VTech, a DJ known for her Vegas residencies and sharing the decks with the likes of David Guetta, Avicii, Zedd and Diplo. Keeping the voyage light and playful with their comedy acts are Gina Brillon, who has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, America’s Got Talent and Chelsea Lately, along with Aida Rodriguez, a Latina comedian, writer and actress, who’s recent comedy special “Fighting Words” is streaming on HBO Max.