ak1004

Maybe one of the reasons is that unlike Celebrity, Cunard and other mass market lines, everyone is treated equally once outside your cabin. There are no dedicated areas or separate restaurants for suites on lines like Oceania, Seabourn and Silversea.

This was exactly our experience. One thing that we found much better on Crystal was entertainment and activities. Service was comparable to O, food slightly better on O. If you remove all the hype from Crystal cheerleaders and look at some objective reviews, you are left with small cabins on a 25 years old ships that even after extensive refurbishment still have a lot of maintenance issues. But they charge 50-60% more than O for this. Some people are willing to pay those prices, but please don't tell us that they are more luxury than O, especially when comparing to the new ships like Vista.

If you paid for a regular balcony, why would you get concierge benefits? This wouldn't make sense to me.

This was on SS (not that SS customer base is much younger than O). But yes, you are right about health benefits, maybe many people are just not aware?

Well, one of the posters mentioned "luxury "yes" even if they have to make a special purchase ashore to make it happen" Shouldn't be too difficult to buy a few pomegranates in the next port.. Or even few bottles of pomegranate juice if they are not willing to make a freshly squeezed one. So yes, to me it didn't feel much different from "premium" lines.

Trust me, if I'm served food from Oceania and Celebrity, I will know the difference even if blindfolded. We had friends with us on our last O cruise who sailed exclusively on Celebrity for over 20 years, they noticed the difference from day 1.

We have been on two SS cruises and asked for pomegranate juice. I don't think this is too much to ask - on both cruises the answer was "no, we don't have it". Asked for cherry jubilee on SS and O - got it on both lines. So the answer is - it depends.

Haha.. good luck with that, especially with the newest Celebrity ships.. Many times when you account for all inclusions and compare apples to apples (cabin size, refundable deposit etc), Celebrity actually becomes more expensive.

I don't doubt comments by others, and I don't doubt that this was your experience. I just pointed out that our was completely different in most aspects. The comments I picked were in the UGLY category, this is why I picked them. Excursions prices are higher, but not higher than other lines (I just happened to look at SB excursions recently and was shocked by the prices). We typically prefer to book our own tours. But the fact that OP posted this so called review and didn't bother to come back speaks volume.

Well, my experience on the Regatta was completely different. While I prefer the newer ships, we had a great cruise. Hard to believe that things changed so dramatically in 1.5 years. But then again, different people look at different things. I would never mention that a singer has "distinctive European accent", but that's just me.. "Shower size frighting"? Yea.. 5 minutes of Google search would avoid UGLY surprises.

Yes, I noticed that too. Takes all the credibility of this so called review.

No, not Nova. But the process should be the same for all ships.

Haha!! No, one prior (May 6th)

I had exactly the same experience about our cruise on Riviera last May. And then read some reviews after we came back, and wondered if we were on the same cruise..

Personally I can appreciate the incrementally elevated level of service and willing to pay for it (to some degree). But the question is - is this really the case? We sailed on old Crystal, SS, O and Azamara, and I cannot honestly say that the level of service was that different. Yes, it was nice to have a butler on SS - but SB doesn't have butlers. does it make SB less luxury than SS? Maybe someone who cruises extensively (like 3-4 months a year) and sails say 3-4 weeks on SS and then a few weeks later 3-4 weeks on O can really feel those nuances. We sail around 3 cruises a year, each one around 10-12 nights, and truly enjoy all of them - maybe it's just not frequent enough to truly compare them and see the difference? But to me, when I see the current prices of SS and Crystal, I just don't see the value.

The problem with airlines is that the only two choices are to accept higher prices or not to fly. Of course it's different with cruising, but don't forget that everything is more expensive now. I checked a few hotels in Europe that we booked pre Covid, prices are now 50-70% higher. Same for restaurants and pretty much everything. So while in theory you have many choices, practically this is not the case.

Just sent an email to our TA. We sail before you, so will tell you 😁

Do you do it in advance or while on board? If in advance, is it possible to do it online or you have to contact the TA to put a request?

Everything is our opinions and our priorities and preferences. If someone mentions that a line doesn't have enough premium wines and it's unacceptable, and their opinion. I couldn't care less because I don't drink. Same for premium sparkling water. Does it have a major effect on my sailings? No. I will manage. But I think it's matter of principle. Same as a line calling itself all inclusive but charging extra for 2 out of 8 restaurants, "premium" internet etc. Are those things a deal breaker to me? No, but they are part of the overall experience. Anyway, we will be sailing on the Spirit soon, and unless the prices change, this will be probably our last SS cruise for a while. Just cannot justify those prices for what you get. Lack of premium sparkling water is just a symptom.

It's not about sparkly. It's about the taste. Not having premium sparkling water on a luxury line is unacceptable and speaks volume.

Agree, but this is directly related to the service. Also, if they have clear instructions and guidelines from the corporate that dictate cutbacks, sometimes the best crew cannot save the day. Also, age and condition of the ship. Crystal fans will always point out to the crew, but just read some of the reviews. The best crew will have a hard time to resolve some of the issues on a 25 years old ship.

Exactly. On our recent cruise on the Dawn it took them forever to get Perrier or Pellegrino, and around mid cruise our butler informed us that they ran out of both, and also most diet drinks. For some people having good wine is a big issue. For others it’s sparkling water.

Agree 100% with your assessment of entertainment and activities. Except for those areas, what is not the same as 5 years ago?

And yet the future cruise office was always packed with long lines. The only crowded place on the whole ship. Btw this was not the case on our recent SS cruise..

Completely agree. Looks like 99% of the whiners are on CC. We rarely met unhappy guests on board O.