markeb

Where in Westminster? The easy options could vary depending on how close you are to the Tube, how willing you are to wrestle your bags, and the day of the week. If you can make an easy transfer to the Elizabeth Line by Tube, that's probably the most economical and pretty fast (I'll report back in 10 days, but I'm not going to Westminster). Not sure about elevators or cross platform changes on that route, which is a key consideration. Beyond that, easiest is probably to get the hotel to call a car. Could be the most expensive, depending on who they use About the same level of ease, but probably less expensive is to book your own car service (I think we used Blackfriars on our last trip. There are plenty of others recommended on this board.) And there's always a London black cab. Their real draw back is they're on the meter if traffic is bad. If this is an 11:15 Sunday flight, probably not a big issue. If it's an 11:15 Monday flight, there could be (will be?) traffic, but hopefully most of it's into London. Taking a cab from Westminster to Paddington and the Heathrow Express to the airport is an option. Unless traffic is horrible from London to Heathrow, it's may take longer and be more expensive than just using a car service all the way. It depends... I personally like to be at Heathrow 3 hours (and sometimes a little more) before a US bound flight. That's what's recommended on Heathrow's web page. Airline status and/or First Class/Business Class can speed things a bit, but if you have those, the clubs are nice anyway.

They are. We’re old.

Please report back after you actually cruise.

Agree. I think Reflection is the perfect middle ground for a short cruise. We enjoyed our one Reflection cruise, but I wasn’t looking at the business case. I’d be hard pressed to put an E Class on a short cruise. And I don’t know that these will be party cruises. Just probably a younger dynamic.

Whatever.

I don’t think that makes business sense. Short cruises are typically younger cruisers and new to cruising or Celebrity (previous post in this thread). Reflection has more suites and is newer and more modern than the M Class. Get your new customers hooked on a new(er) ship and ideally a suite. M Class doesn’t do that.

Bingo. I just hit 60. I'm theoretically a Boomer, but in the transition from boomer to Gen X. I identify much more with X and bizarrely millennials than boomers. And boomers who don't remember how their parents felt about the Beatles are truly bizarre to me. I'm going to London next week, as much as anything to see Springsteen in Hyde Park. Three weeks ago I drug my wife to a Paramor show (which she was shocked to actually love!). I'm looking at YouTube tonight and wishing (although my back would be killing me) I could have been in Glastonbury last week to see the Foos. No interest in a piano bar. I'd much rather hear "All My Life" or even better "You Oughta Know" (uncensored version)! 40 year old millennials aren't kids. Many of them delayed starting a family, so they are older than people on this thread give them credit for, and may well have money to spend on cruises and are at a point where they likely have time to cruise. I'm retired Army and was a Lieutenant Colonel at 40! Millennials will age into Celebrity where boomers are going to age out. If you're a company with a long term view, you need to address your growing future market. Anyway, this was a thread about an island stop...

Just make sure it’s the same. I’ve never booked a hotel with Celebrity, so I don’t know. If it’s important to you, do you get stay credit, points, any elite benefits, etc.? Sometimes with third party bookings you lose those (Celebrity may be different.). For me, I have lifetime top tier status with Marriott. That’s typically room upgrades, lounge access, including breakfast and evening snacks and drinks. Early checkin and late checkout. Those all have value to me. They may not be relevant to you. If it’s essentially apples to apples (for you) and a better price, then it sounds good.

Someone pointed out later in that thread that RCG controls operations at CocoCay. They probably pay more government taxes and fees, but it's their operation, so they're probably not paying prevailing rates for docking operations, and likely aren't paying harbor fees or pilot fees. No idea what those are, but that probably offsets a lot of the difference. And, obviously, the drink and recreation revenue is theirs...

NO!!!!!!!!! That is not correct. So far, that menu is only for the Equinox. And it's apparently a trial. This has been addressed. Within the last few days. In a very long thread. If it's a 7 day or longer cruise, there will be a free lobster night. You can ALSO buy lobster, if you so desire, every night. Including buying an extra on the free night.

In all honesty, the "where" probably is relevant. "Generally" the hotel deals, with or without transfers, aren't going to be a good deal. There are probably some exceptions were it's just hard to research things on your own. But if you go to the port of calls board there are very few places that cruise ships go where someone can't give you hotel and transfer advice. I think your other questions have been addressed.

Actual data! And I bet they have surveys, interviews, and focus group data as well... People on this board may not be in love with the changes, but this looks like a very well thought out strategic move on the part of Celebrity. The data above says 2/3 of cruisers on short cruises are new to cruising or new to Celebrity, statistically younger than on long cruises, and more likely to travel with families. In other words, the cruisers they need to grow in the future. And ideally not simply cannibalized from RCI. Celebrity becoming too much RCI doesn't help RCG. Reflection has the most suites of the S-Class. The shorter cruises are more likely to attract young professionals, probably with children. Celebrity offers something other than "water slides and zip lines". If you can get more of your first timers in a suite, they're going to be more likely to look at a suite for their next cruise. Or at a minimum they may be more likely to pay for a drink package. And they'll probably view CocoCay as a plus (surveys, focus groups, interviews...). I would expect the shorter cruises to also offer more opportunities for first day or one-time revenue (package upgrades, dining packages, photo packages, etc.) over longer cruises (twice as many first days). We'll see if it works. But it's something more than simply cutting costs and raising prices.

So do I. Who said anything about a double whopper? Ruth’s Chris has a burger (at the bar, admittedly, but their bar is several levels upscale from a cruise ship MDR). EDIT: Don’t care for Whoppers either. So do I was a bit unclear.

For September 16, the menu in the app ends with breakfast on Day 7. It’s a 6 day menu. Day 7 is the second sea day. Lobster would be that night (it is on this week’s cruise). It’s not there because the menu you’re seeing is last week’s 6 day cruise.

If people would look at the menus, there is a free lobster night on the current 9 day cruise. You can ALSO elect to purchase lobster any night. Including shorter cruises. Pretty sure the filet has been gone since the beginning of the year as well, and there have been numerous threads where people have actually expressed their willingness to pay for filet mignon in the MDR rather than going to a specialty restaurant. I'm just waiting for Thursday. What will happen if people actually on the ship actually like the double cheeseburger...

I guess that answers that! Probably summer of 2012, then. I do recall the terminal being under construction at the time. It was a very different terminal and club in 2015 and since.

I don't know the last time I flew United into anything other than T2... If you go to United.com, travel info, Airport and Aircraft info, you'll find info on United at Heathrow. The maps are T2. I'm pretty sure the entire Star Alliance goes out of T2 for connections and lounges.

The September 16 menu in the app is last week's 6 night menu. It's not your sailing. It ends with breakfast on the 7th day. The changes may or may not be there in September since this appears to be a test, but what you're seeing is a repeat from last week. Just like this week's menu ended early in the app until it finally changed on Saturday. Further out, the menus go to only dessert (my next cruise in November for sure), so that's certainly not representative of the actual menu onboard. The post above yours has the email address to write.

Never been to Le Havre so I can't help there. Brugges is Flemish, so Flemish stews. Carbonnade Flamande (beef stew) or Waterzooi (chicken or fish stew) are going to be big. Beef stew is delicious, and usually served with frites (as is almost everything in Belgium...). There are apparently a number of local breweries in Brugges but I'm much more familiar with the beers of Brussels. There is apparently a beer museum in Brugges (pretty sure there's one in Brussels as well). There are several styles of Belgian beer; many are very high alcohol! I could look up a couple of places in Brussels, but you're not going to be there! I'm a fan of the various darker, stronger beers such as Delirium, Duvel, and of course, Chimay, mostly the Dubbels. Lower alcohol I've always liked Leffe Brune. Not really a fan of Lambic beers, or fruited beers, but other than that, I don't know that I've ever had a bad beer in Belgium. I've also never had a Stella. Ever. Anywhere... Chocolates, of course. There are a lot of local chocolatiers on Google; I've not been to them. Buy Leonidas to take to friends in Nebraska. Skip Godiva, Neuhaus, etc. Of the shops I see on the map (there will be others, I'm sure) got to Mary Chocolates. Katelijnestraat 21. One of the best chocolatiers in Brussels with a shop in Brugges, and also holds a royal warrant in Belgium. Hopefully you have enough time in port to see Brugges and enjoy the food and beer!

Way back at the beginning of this thread I think I recommended the visitor Oyster card. We found ours, and will take them in a couple of weeks, but I'm honestly planning to just use my iPhone once I burn off whatever balance is on the card. TFL supports express transit pay, I have multiple cards that have no foreign transaction fees, and I know my phone will be handy versus having to dig out the Oyster. And I travelled all over Singapore this time last year using Apple Pay. I have I think three contactless Visa cards and a contactless AMEX that I'll carry on this trip. The wife will probably use the Oyster, and I'll have to check her balance before boarding the Elizabeth Line. From everything I've read and every YouTube video I've watched, TFL has made this way too simple. And London in 2019 made me fall in love with contactless... Next time this comes up, I'll not recommend a visitor card!

One interpretation from this calculation is that Celebrity was actually at least 3% underpriced compared to inflation. Would that extra 3% (or so) have potentially decreased cuts? Don't know. One challenge with cruises, especially among CC'ers, is they're frequently booked so far in advance. With a 100 year average rate of inflation around 3% and well established supply chains, you can sell those cruises adjusted for inflation assumptions and be OK. It takes $1,178.92 in May 2023 to have the same buying power as $1000 in January of 2020, almost an 18% increase. From January 2016 to May 2019 the increase was only 8% ($1080.94). That's a pretty massive difference in budget assumptions! And to answer your question, I really don't have a magic PPPD number. The last couple of years have been crazy for everything. Try flying or booking a hotel! I've been through an adult lifetime where inflation was mostly low so I have the same emotional reaction as everyone else when things jump like they have. Even though I can pretty easily adjust for inflation with an online calculator and see that it's often pretty close to what it "should" be.

Chianti Classico is probably on the premium package (ironically)... 🍷

The only real menus the app shows for Equinox main dining are for this week. Next week's menu's show the venues closed for days 7 and beyond; it's a 9 day cruise. For my cruise in November, there are only desserts. No appetizers or entrees. Blu and Luminae are there. I looked out of sheer boredom at half the fleet for this week; Equinox is the only ship with the upcharges. It's also on a 6 day cruise where lobster wouldn't normally be on the menu, and I really don't know about filet mignon. Oddly enough after all the gnashing of teeth a couple of months ago, prime rib was on the day one menu. No upcharge. This could be the beginning of a roll out of a major change. It could also be a really dumb marketing decision to "offer" upcharge items that normally wouldn't be on a 6 day cruise. There are no follow on menus to provide a hint one way or another (and may not be until the next group boards on the 24th). Either notion is crappy marketing. Not giving them a pass for that! Check the app on Saturday.

Yeah. Probably giving too much credit there and being kind. I keep forgetting it's Decoy they carry by the glass and want to think it's an actual Duckhorn labeled product. Decoy cab is $17.97 at Total Wine here in Virginia. Duckhorn (the better product) is $59.97 for the 2019 Napa and $119.99 for the '18 Howell Mountain. I was going to go $7-10, maybe as low as $5. Less than that for the classic package wines...

I remember they had gone back to 1 bottle per person (the OP's question), but I still find it an interesting decision. I'm sure there would be challenges screening those with drink packages from those without at boarding, but every bottle someone with a package brings on board is 4-5 glasses of wine Celebrity isn't giving away in the drink package. Although almost everything in the packages is probably $10-15 wholesale max (likely less), so it probably doesn't make much real difference. We usually end up flying, and I'm not flying with the type of wine I'd want to take on board, so we live with the available wines. There could be a long thread discussing wine on cruise ships that doesn't belong here, but I'm glad I'm not trying to plan the wine service onboard. Complicated by availability of better wines these days...