kearney

We now have sailed Celebrity for the past 5 years or so..almost exclusively. We never had an issue with children on Royal.. but our Celebrity trips have had very few children...even a 2 week Easter cruise one year had perhaps 100..but like the other sailings all well behaved and hardly noticed. Try going to Sky Lounge as the ship pulls out of various ports.. great views out of the front of the ship... and in the late afternoon a nice quiet place to relax with a drink... Also.. Tuscan grill around sunset is a nice place to go for dinner.

What I meant was..that they don't really care if it upsets anyone... they know that they can get it $.. and if they lose a few tourists..no matter... Back in the day tourism was about 90% of the economy..last I heard it was closer to 10%

Was this in addition to whatever port fees Bermuda charges? I had not heard this..but having traveled to Bermuda a number of times..it does not surprise me. Now that they are a global financial center (after Hong Kong went back to the Chinese)..tourism is not of top priority.

I wondered the same thing. I know recall discussions before Covid about banning cruise ships... now this would seem to have the opposite effect...more passengers getting off the ship...but perhaps impact of Covid closures is resulting in encouraging passengers to get off the ship... will have to look into this more. We have never experienced closed bars there in the past... service is usually reduced during port hours..but always open. Update..my memory may be off..only banning I can find related to Covid..but I thought I had read that there was some frustration with cruise lines... but can not find that...maybe only Key West.

Nice summary. We like booking Tuscan grill the first night... and if timing is right... try booking around sunset.. ideally leaving port. And if that is full... try when leaving another port...again around sunset... Really nice experience. But for the full service experience.. Murano with the lobster served tableside...is wonderful..but no view. Lots of nice quiet specialty restaurant choices on S class ships... Alas I think the experience on E class is a bit more like eating at the mall in the food court.. noisy

We don't sail in suites..so I can't address changes there ... but most of the revolution was a color change and new furniture in the public spaces. Equinox only had a partial update because the dry dock in the Bahamas had a situation where a crane fell onto Oasis of the Seas..and that shut down the area... Equinox had to go to Europe for the update..which took time and I suspect some materials were in the Bahamas. As a result some of the structural changes...like taking some of the Sky Lounge for suites (yeah) did not take place and not all of the cosmetic changes were made. I believe Reflection was supposed to be updated in 2020.. and well we know what happened there. Basically they were moving from the warm color scheme built around earth tones..to the cooler gray and blues of Edge. Now... if I recall ...Silhoutte..which did go through the changes..still had the warmer maroon and cream colors in the bathrooms.. with the cooler gray blue in the cabins... To be honest the walls remained a cream color...which kinda looks dirty next to gray..but that may be just me.

Alas they did not have one available for comparison with a water view for the time period... but it would be a bit cheaper....not a lot based on past experience..

DH has mobility issues...so what I like about cruising..is that they take you from place to place. Our first cruise was of the Hawaiian Islands back in '91. It was great not having to pack and head to the airport to head to see another island. And with DH mobility ..we just get to the ship and from there.. he can relax. I am not surprised at extra charges..but since we don't use room service, and have seldom been to the OV after 5.. the changes may make MDR more crowded..but other than that.. limited impact.

I was curious about land vacation vs a cruise... so I tried cost comparison for a 6 day cruise in June vs a 6 day stay on Hilton Head overlooking Harbortown marina. Selected a mid priced veranda vs a one bedroom condo with a view. The cost of accommodations including various fees and taxes was $1750...vs the cruise of $2860 (including gratuities)... but when I factored in meals... (I used Ihop menu for breakfast..Appleby's sandwich prices for lunch...and a nice local restaurant for dinner... meals per day with 20% tip was about $225 for two.. In total the 6 day HHI trip was a tad more expensive than the cruise and you could always drop a meal or cook in the condo..to reduce costs... but using a sample of one... cruise still better value..with entertainment and change of scenery ..Of course I am looking a prime veranda vs a condo...not sure how a suite would compare to a house on the ocean.. but for my money it is still a value. What I don't like the dramatic switch from Always Included (which was a misnomer to begin with)...to a number of additional charges... when you get used to not having to look at the bill on a daily basis..it is annoying to have to keep checking to make sure no unplanned extras popup. Out of curiosity.. I checked Costco travel for package to Grand Cayman..one of the stops on the June cruise I used for cost purposes... since you have to fly there.. the package they had with air fromATL and transfers ..exceeded $5,000..before considering meals.... So while not a full analysis.. cruising still seems like the better deal

Reflection has an additional deck of cabins...so when closer to capacity.. Reflection is a bit more crowded. The Sky Lounge view is impacted by them taking some of the view to make suites. Some of the interior areas like the apple store is now inside cabins... both are nice ships... I really like the Sky Lounge and prefer the wide open views on Equinox.

I have not done this analysis recently... so things might have changed..but a number of years ago.. I was considering a one week stay on Hilton Head with a water view condo... factoring in meals I realized that cruising was a more cost effective vacation... assuming driving to both destinations. Given the price increases I have seen at my local grocery store and local restaurants... I suspect this still holds true. People can talk about going elsewhere for their vacation dollars... you might try pricing both out... recognizing how many drinks you really have when you have an AI package...vs what you would be paying for at a land resort. Now camping is likely cheaper... assuming you are using a tent. Face it... inflation sucks..and while people talk about it being reduced to say 5%... the base prices generally don't go down.. unless demand hits various industries and then..look for even more cuts.

The cruise lines did not sail for well over a year..but had to keep ships moving incurring costs for limited crew, upkeep, some port charges etc. Then supply chain issues impacted supplies and quality of supplies (eg liquor) .. and higher energy costs (although some long term contracts may have helped)... and add to that recent increases in inflation due, in part, to the war in Ukraine ...make running a business difficult and impacting decisions on pricing and product features. I understand the balance they are trying to keep. Unfortunately these same issues impact my personal economics..but I can't raise revenue so I have to focus on the cost aspect.. and this means fewer cruises... and more likely to go with 'cruise only' fares and off season sailing... eg back to hurricane season... Sept-Oct cruises... which can be exciting...

Welcome to "shinkflation". I have noticed product quantities reduced while prices have increased as well..across a number of categories... And we will likely reduce number of cruises we take each year...given noticeably increased prices.

Sorry, I assumed you talking Celebrity..

You can tell if your room has been updated... the new color scheme is built around a blue gray color...vs older design was a Maroon and cream color scheme. Cabins not updated have new blue gray drapes, bedding and blue decorator pillows.. but carpet is still mainly maroon... the warn color scheme kinda clashes with the cooler blue gray scheme. But unless you really look for it... you might miss it. Also... I wonder if the refurbishment extended to bathrooms... because our Equinox bathroom still had the maroon cream tile scheme... not sure if the plan was to update that area or not. I vaguely remembered Silhouette still having the older scheme in the bathroom..but not sure

Frankly one of my fears in cruising..is being stuck in a cabin on deck 3 for more than a day. We were lucky.. and is some ways Covid improved our trip. How you ask...well...DH needs wheel chair assistance and when getting off the ship..while the crew does a good job of getting you to the terminal... We have had to wait up to an hour for a volunteer to take us down the elevator and through customs. By getting covid... we were taken off via crew elevator..straight off the ship on deck 3 and into a limo..which took us to our parking spot... best departure ever. Ironically..

Last Sep I got covid on the last day of our cruise... My husband tested negative..we were given a choice... I could go to deck 3 to isolate.. or we could stay together in our cabin on deck 6. Since we planned on driving 11 hours home the next day, we decided to stay together in our deck 6 cabin. Policies are fluid as the disease changes.. but that is what we experienced. Earlier comment that cruise lines 'don't want to know", I am not sure this is valid. CDC regulations changed which is one reason we don't see figures. Also, lets face it ..it is everywhere... and if you are concerned... Stay home.

I make any specialty reservations before boarding.... when not having a package... shows are first come first serve and I have never had an issue... really try to stay off the phone and internet while cruising.

I am wondering if your butler could read English... it is one thing to speak a second language and another to be fluid when it comes to reading and writing in that language...just a thought.

It might have been a coincidence ... I think it happened early in the cruise.. so perhaps everyone got one.. I just don't recall seeing this before...

Last Sep I got it on the last day of the cruise... felt a dry itchy throat at night...by 10 I started feeling like I was coming down with something...by noon Medical told me I was positive. We had somewhere between 44 and 54 onboard. DH tested negative..but we stayed together in our cabin... We had a guest relations person assigned to us... got our pass ports photographed for advanced customs clearance and we were escorted off the ship the next morning to an awaiting limo..which took us to our car at ParknGo. Celebrity handled this very well. The worst of the illness was the first 36 hours... then some congestion and tiredness. DN got it a few days later.. his symptoms were also mild.

Which makes me wonder... if you board later in the process... do you get your bags earlier... Last In First Out?

Last cruise, I forgot and accidentally tossed a tissue into the toilet .... later when we returned there was a note warning about throwing anything other than their TP... so did we have a plumbing issue while we were gone? If so.. I hope it wasn't my tissue... but I did not do that again.

I am trying to recall.. I looked into this once, years ago... Not sure they would send to the ship..perhaps to a hotel. You might call one of them to see.

I think if you set it to indoor walk you will get more accurate results...but personally I love walking the deck as we are pulling into a port..the resulting map is wild...looks like I was drunk. 🙂 First time I walked on the deck with my Apple Watch... I kidded DH that I must be setting a speed walking record...it kept going off telling me I had just done another mile...I think I did 14 miles in a 30 minute period