Cruising89143

The longest X cruise for us was a thirteen night Med cruise. Luckily the itinerary was port heavy. We just returned from eight nights on the Solstice and while we really enjoyed our cruise, we were happy to be going home when it was over. For us cruise food gets old quickly and the entertainment on the Solstice wasn’t that great to begin with so I could not imagine seeing it again the following week. For us it’s about seven to eight night max unless it’s an itinerary that has a lot of port days to places new to us.

NCL has now made it official. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/12/norwegian-cruise-line-trimming-stateroom-cleaning-cutting-crew-roles/

Eight nights on the Solstice in a Celebrity suite was $600.00 less than seven nights in a GS on the Symphony taken four weeks apart. In addition to Luminae and Michael’s Club the CS on X also included gratuities, Starlink, $600.00 OBC and the (PDP) Premium Drink Package included in the price. When we price out both, Celebrity is always very close or better than RCI price wise.

Just off of the Solstice with no dedicated retreat since the ship has not been revolutionized and while CK on the Symphony was very good, Luminae was much better in overall quality and service. I do think that the suite lounge on the SYM was better than Michael’s Club which is not an issue on the new Edge class. I just think that X does the suites area better.

Bottom line….It’s your responsibility to remember the final payment date. Celebrity has never sent me a reminder for my final payment.

Thanks for your comments. Our opinion……….We were on the Symphony last month. This was our seventh cruise on an Oasis class and our last. It was crowded at every turn. While embarkation was great, debarkation was not. Too many felt that they did not have to queue. Crew was no help. One hour and twenty minutes from our stateroom to a taxi. Entertainment was a five out of ten. Coastal Kitchen was good but I grew tired of the daily reminders about the survey. Happened at CP150 and Izumi also. That needs to stop. Was on the Freedom the cruise prior. Just marginally better. Still enjoy RCI but the two cruises out of “Miami” left a lot to be desired and I will leave it at that.

To put this back on track, if you feel good about the price then go for it. That’s a great price for Opus One if correct.

I remember this room. Used it twice when cruising out of Terminal G in Miami on the Reflection. That terminal is soon to be leveled and a new terminal will go up to accommodate an ICON class ship.

Same exact situation on our 12/03 Solstice sailing.

Personally we liked the Haven. We were in a Haven suite on the Bliss a few years ago. Of course this will be different than the new Prima class so I’m not sure how that will be set up. We enjoyed more of the “ship within a ship” feel. Service was outstanding. My only complaint is that the Haven menu in the Haven dining room did not change the entire cruise. Due to that we dined in a lot of the specialty dining restaurants. If we were not in the Haven I seriously doubt that we would have enjoyed the cruise. The ship itself was huge and did not handle crowds well. Especially the open upper decks. Too many areas where one has to pay to use the deck space. Thankfully the Haven took care of that. Outside of the Haven the service was not as good as Celebrity. So in the end we enjoyed the Haven but the rest of the NCL product was not as good as Celebrity. If you plan to spend most of your time in the Haven area then I suggest trying it. I have watched a few videos on the Prima and it looks like they tied to move upscale in certain areas but also tried to cram a lot into a smaller space. It doesn’t look like a ship we would try. Good luck on your decision.

This! I lost count on our recent Solstice cruise. The waiter in Luminae, our butler, several bartenders and the list goes on and on. This is clearly coming from somewhere higher in the management chain. I feel sorry for the crew having to do this. If Celebrity really wants the truth then they need to allow for honest feedback without making the crew pay for it.

Showgirls is much better than the Ballroom show. Agree about the ice skating show. We were on both the Freedom and Symphony last month and the ice show 1977 on the SYM was not good at all. As a matter of fact other than the Aqua Theater show ‘Hiro”, the rest of the entertainment was not that great.

We tried both the blueberry and carrot muffins last week on the Solstice. Both were not only smaller but they had zero taste. I counted one blueberry in the entire muffin. Add to that the smaller martini glasses. Even at the martini bar it was a mixed bag on glass sizes. Disappointing but I guess this is their answer to controlling rising costs.

Actually what you described is the Quantum class. Oasis doesn’t have Seaplex /bumper cars or the Ripcord. 🙂

LOL…After our cruise last month on the Symphony, I will let you have the Oasis class ships. 🙂🙂

Star class does but you have to go up to the few top suites for Star Class and I have looked at the prices. I will not pay those prices for the RCI product. You can go on much better lines for the same or less.

We cruised on the Symphony last month. The GS that we booked was $7800.00 for a seven night cruise. The only thing included was internet, suite lounge and Coastal Kitchen. Just off the Solstice. Eight nights in a CS. Included a butler, gratuities, Premium drink package, internet, retreat amenities ( non revolutionized ship) and $600.00 OBC. The cost on X was $600.00 less than RCI without adding the missing items such as OBC, drink package, etc. We decided that RCI can keep their Oasis class. Entertainment was a disappointment. Technical issues caused delays or cancellations. 6000+ guests made for a packed ship. Solstice was a breathe of fresh air.

I usually check RCI when booking and by the time that I add the OBC, gratuities and internet cost that comes with our X stateroom, RCI is much more expensive. That means putting up with more annoying kids.

We love Venice and Rome but both need more than a one day stop on a ship. Same with Barcelona. IMHO it’s going to take more than one or two trips to Europe so I suggest pick an area and concentrate on that area to fully enjoy it. Make plans to go back in the future. If time permits plan to spend a few days both pre and post cruise in the above cities. We do love the Greek Isles. It’s a hard decision to make. Good luck.

Never say never. Celebrity has now removed Zenith from the retreat. No access to the lounge or Luminae and there are far less Zenith. Celebrity seems to be focusing heavily towards suite guests.

With RCG’s HUGE debt that they’re currently carrying, I don’t see any X ships being revolutionized within the next few years. Right now there are a couple of older Voyager class ships in the RCI fleet getting some much needed love next year. I also think that the two remaining Millie class ships would jump to the front of the X line if they do. We just left the Solstice yesterday and based upon a few comments here on CC and FB I was expecting to board a ship in very bad shape. It was far from it. She has been very well maintained. Yes, if you look hard you can find little things here and there that could be considered needing attention but she’s in better shape than some newer ships that we have cruised. We cruised in a CS and the bed was extremely comfortable as was the entire room. Service was outstanding. It’s nice to have a ship with the older balcony furniture and not the dreaded KH uncomfortable IKEA ‘stuff”. If anyone has a cruise coming up on this ship, you have nothing to worry about IMHO.

I suggest not missing this show. She was outstanding. https://www.heathersullivan.com We only went to two shows last week. The one last night was bad. Very disjointed. It was supposedly based on Amadeus. Very talented cast and I was embarrassed that they had to perform it.

One of the easiest debarkations ever. We were on the elevator down from deck eleven at 7:00 AM. As soon as we hit deck five we were in line to leave the ship. In our car by 7:20 and pulled into our garage at 9:15. Unfortunately we saw about ten accidents on the interstate this morning. One major. People refuse to slow down in the rain. Glad to be home but it was a great cruise.

Well it’s almost over. We just finished dinner at Tuscan. Our third time here this week. Very good. Luminae did not disappoint. Thank you Pande. The ship looks great which surprised me as I had read so many comments about the condition of this ship. She looks great. The crew worked extremely hard at making sure that we had a great time. They’re amazing. For anyone booked on this ship, please feel at ease that it will be a great experience. Jim, I hope that you and Iain have a great second week and thank you for this great thread. Safe travels to all of our fellow guests on your trip home.

Makes two of us. I had to turn on the TV this morning to get the ships time.