Cruising89143

After reading through the comments it is amazing how different RCI and X are in terms of how they operate their casino programs. We receive offers weekly from RCI plus they have a website. We cruised nine cruises last year with RCI. Seven were casino cruises and all in Junior Suites or higher. Once you make Prime which is 2500 points drinks are free in the casino and you do not have to be playing. We have set at the bar and had cocktails. Right now RCI has a much better program. X needs to tap into RCI and I’m surprised that they’re not since they’re all under the same umbrella.

I admit to not having dug into the RCL Investor site since the earnings call other than to see that the new Edge Class #5 is not listed as future new builds like the RCI Icon and Silverseas Nova class ships are but I wonder what the occupancy level was for RCG’s three main core lines? It seems that Celebrity seems to be struggling to fill ships where RCI is not. Not sure about Silverseas as I don’t really pay attention to them. I cruised on three RCI ships in October/early November. All three was sailing above 100% occupancy. On the other hand our Solstice cruise in December was somewhere between 16-1700 guests. A far cry from a full ship. I can’t help but wonder if X is dragging down RCG financially?

One area of the specialty dining that we loved on the Bliss was outside seating area. If the weather is nice it’s a great place to enjoy dinner.

Like everyone else, we bring on meds in case we get sick. The last six cruises, we packed NyQuil, DayQuil, Tylenol and covid test kits. We carry them on with no issues.

We have had Covid twice after avoiding it for over two years. The second time was back in late October/early May. We were in Miami for two cruises on RCI. Not exactly sure where we caught it but due to the timing we felt that we picked it up on the Symphony OTS. The ship was sold out. Over 6000 guests and it’s hard to skip the elevators when you need to travel from deck four casino to the Coastal Kitchen on deck 17. From what I recall, we stopped on just about every floor each time and each time people crammed onto a car. No sense of being careful anywhere on the ship by guests but the guests on this sailing is another story. We are fully vaccinated and boosted. We have decided to go about our business but we do try to take precautions. We keep a mask on us in case we need to put it on quickly like the elevators. Thankfully our Covid sickness was mild. We were on the Solstice in December for eight nights, did not mask up and we came home fine. I did find that after isolating and wearing a mask for so long that our immunity took a hit. Much easier to get sick. But in the end, life goes on and so does cruising and travel.

Haven’t read all of the other responses. We cruised in the Haven on the Bliss in October of 2019. The Bliss is a sister to the Joy. Joy was built for the Asian market but NCL did make some changes prior to entering the U.S market. As you’re aware the Haven is NCL’s ship within a ship concept and IMHO they do it very well. As long as we stayed in the Haven it was great. It was very nice and service was great. Loved the lounge and observation areas in the Haven. The food in the Haven restaurant was very good but the menu does not change. Loved the outdoor Haven restaurant as well. Once outside of the Haven it was very busy. Something I would expect on a mass market line like NCL and MSC who both offer very large ships. You don’t have that issue on Celebrity. But looking at cruise lines like NCL and RCI, NCL does suites much better but I give Celebrity the overall nod for the Retreat.

Not sure about changing from one coast to the other but we did switch from an Alaska cruise to a Pacific Coastal. Both were on the list. Very easy to do.

You’re not the one confused. 😉

Not to us but thanks for your comment.

Glad that you enjoyed it but I long for the former Qsine format. I miss that. We have zero interest in LPC.

Agree. We’re doing a PCC on the Solstice in the spring. Seven nights with an overnight in San Fran, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ensenada. There is a way around if changes need to be made.

Rest of original post clipped…… Nice review. We tried NCL’s Haven just prior to the pandemic and were also on the Bliss and in an aft corner Penthouse but down on deck nine. Huge balcony. The room layout was good but if we were to ever book the Haven again, I would want to be in the actual Haven area. As much as we loved the huge balcony it was not convenient to the Haven area. We loved the lounge and forward observation area but the pool area was always filled with kids running around. Our butler was lazy. She just seemed to be going through the motions. We only dined in the Haven restaurant once and the other six nights in specialty dining. Food was good but did not blow me away. You actually got a very good price. We paid about three grand more. For that price we would opt for the retreat on Celebrity but wanted to try the Haven. The Bliss is a beautiful ship but once outside of the Haven, it was a zoo. At least that was our expertise. Too many people. Thank for sharing.

The biggest issue with RCI’s casino is the smoke. It’s the only area inside the ship where RCI allows smokers and many non casino smokers use this area as a smoking space. It’s not uncommon to see a person sitting at a slot machine puffing away and not playing the machine. The crew simply ignores it. Last year the face masks actually came in handy. 🙂

About the cost of our cruise.

We’re on an upcoming cruise with an overnight in SF and the taxes, fees, etc. are not over $600.00. I would expect the taxes to be more due to having to use shoreside power.

Keep in mind that Urcomped has rules in place if you currently have a cruise booked or have cruised on a specific line within the last year. They ask this question when you go to claim an offer.

Agree. X has so much potential to increase revenue and guest play if they would just put in some effort. Night and day different experience from sister line RCI. I can’t believe that X doesn’t have a website dedicated for guests like RCI. Seems like they’re not even trying and they are tying up a good amount of real estate on the ship with their casinos. I found the casino very slow on our last cruise.

Add me to that list.

We had a conversation with the host on the Solstice in December. He stated that he was new and had turned down an offer from Carnival to take the Celebrity job. I found that statement odd and him useless. We did receive an offer for a future cruise but we had to call. We signed up three times for communication from BCC and have yet to receive anything. On the other hand, we receive offers at least weekly from RCI who is the sister line of X. The casino hosts on RCI have a desk on the casino floor with posted hours listed on the desk. RCI does an overall better job but you have to deal with smoking in the casino.

Back before the auto gratuities and we handed the gratuities to each crew member personally, it was very common on the last evening in the MDR for it to be much more empty than any other night. Some did not have the courage to face their waiter, asst. waiter or Maitre d’ as they had no intention of extending gratuities.

When in Rome…………..This Rome ( Celebrity cruise line) has a gratuities system in place.

The Navigator finally had the screen replaced a few months ago after being in bad shape since the first of last year and it did not require the ship to be dry docked. It could not be repaired. It was replaced while guests were aboard. Took a few days.

Agree with Jim. We were also on board the Solstice in December and after reading some rather negative comments about the ships condition prior, I was expecting to see a dump. It was far from it. The ship looks great. Very clean with a hard working crew. We’re back on in less than two months.

We leave the pre paid gratuities in place. We also give extra. For example, on our last cruise we tipped our server each day in Luminae or our specialty dining server in case we did not have them again. Same with bar tenders and bar waiters. At the end of the cruise we extended additional grats to our butler, sommelier, room steward, Luminae managers, etc. It’s a personal choice. Do what makes you happy.

I read that. I’m hoping that X communicates with us prior to the cruise on the best way to handle luggage, parking and check-in. From what I have gathered it will be best to drop luggage at pier #46 or 50 depending on where the tent is set up and then drive over and park near terminal 93 which we all used for our December Solstice cruise, catch the shuttle back to pier 50 and when we return back to L.A we can easily walk off with our luggage as our car will be there. It will be that or just leave our car parked at the hotel and use a taxi or Lyft to and from. We have a few months to figure it out. I know that this is out of Celebrity’s control but I am hoping for them to be proactive with this situation.