dogsdogs

We just got off the same cruise on the Solstice (4/25/24) too.  We like sea days, so we didn't mind them, but something worth mentioning is that while the weather is great in Hawaii, it gets cold and windy on the way to Vancouver--so no pool days unless you are very lucky.  My husband went to a couple of the enrichment talks at 10:00 am on sea days and he liked them.  Our cruise was 11 nights, and as mentioned, with Honolulu, Hilo and Kona--all overnights. 

The last two X cruises we have been on, our cabin stewards each had 22 rooms to service.  Both did well by us, but 22 rooms is difficult to keep up with unless they are really on top of their game.  Some just can't do it.  I think Celebrity expects too much from these workers and the passengers are paying the price.  

I'm sorry they stuffed 92 souls on the craft for your excursion.  We did the Golden Eagle Catamaran excursion in St. Maarten through Celebrity once and they had funneled many pax from a Royal Caribbean ship on there too.  There were 85 aboard plus the crew and you could only move in unison.  They charge a lot for those excursions and they should limit the capacity.  

We were on the Caribbean Princess in Sept./Oct. 2023 and the Reflection in December 2023.  We enjoyed both cruises.  

We thought the dinners in the MDR were a little better on Princess, but they wouldn't give us a table for two unless we ate after 8:30 pm.  

There is no solarium.  I missed it very much.  

As the previous poster mentioned, the casino is very smoky.

The medallion system is great on Princess, our cabin was very nice, and we had no problems with it.

IMO, their coffee offerings were a lot better at the International Cafe than El Bacio, but not the pastries--X wins there.

We were on the Reflection over Christmas and NYE 2023.  We had anytime dining--we follow the music, so we don't want to make reservations.  Every single night for 14 nights there were long lines in both the reservation line and the non-reservation line.  We went to dinner at all different times too.

Thank you for your review.  Would you share which tour you did with Karambole on Martinique?  I looked at their website and they have a few to choose from.

I posted this on another thread as well. We were just on the Reflection on a B2B over Christmas and NYE.  We waited until the second cruise to go to Next Cruise.  The agent told us that as of 1/1/24, book later deposits are now non-refundable if not used.  If we had done it during the first cruise it would have been refundable.  We left without booking.

57 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

As long as you are not booking a suite, the $200 down and extra OBC is most likely the best way to go.  If you do not use your FCC, the money is refundable, but you most likely need to make sure that happens.  We have never had an issue either way, but do what is best for you.  I would not suggest becoming a shareholder either, at this point in time.  The stock is very high and you need to purchase 100 shares minimum.  This also gives you more OBC after you submit the required information.  Additionally, purchasing insurance without needing to worry about pre-existing conditions needs to just cover your downpayment, but you only have 15-21 days to do that after you book!  Maybe I am sharing more than you were asking, but also wanted to share important information just in case.

 

Happy Booking!

Just a heads up on booking a future cruise deposit on board.  We are just off a B2B on Reflection over Christmas and NYE.  On the second cruise, we visited the Next Cruise office and were told that as of 1/1/24, your deposit on a "book later" cruise is no longer refundable.  We didn't know or we could have done it on the first leg of the B2B when it was refundable.  We left without doing it.

2 hours ago, miched said:

There is no HH on embarkation day or the days that have the Captains Reception,  or Captain's Club party.   So that could be 3 days of your cruise without the HH.   They do serve the same HH drinks at those parties that last about 1 hour 

 

$100/day is a lot of drinking and if you have a lot of port days you may be drinking at those ports instead.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

We just got off a B2B on the Reflection over Christmas and NYE.  We didn't attend any of these events, but there was a happy hour every night but the first on each cruise.

2 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

We had to ask. 

We asked, and at more than one bar.  We asked on the Silhouette, Equinox and a B2B on the Eclipse.  Not one snack was produced.

1 hour ago, MISTER 67 said:

We’ve been on 5 Celebrity cruises since the post pandemic startup and all 5 have been just about exactly what you experienced, the gratuities keep rising and X is a dollar a day per person more than Princess and HAL who we also sail with. Yes, things were better before the pandemic and there have been changes like the room service charge but to tell the truth with 72 cruises on our resume we have never ordered from room service, don’t know why but we enjoy eating in the various restaurants around the ship. Celebrity is still giving us twice a day cabin service with mints on the pillows in the evenings, they also always have some kind of snack in the bars when you are having a cocktail, little things like that are a plus, we were on the Sky Princess last week and had a nice cruise but there were no snacks with cocktails and no mints on the pillows. 

I don't know what ship you were on, but we have been on four X cruises this year and have yet to see a snack at the bar.  We have started bringing our own.

1 hour ago, horseymike said:

The ship was pretty full , there were always plenty of people around, yet it did not feel overcrowded most of the time.The S class ships have many public areas where you can avoid crowds.

OVC. At certain times was packed - noon on a sea day. 
Yet there were some folks who tied up tables playing cards as other people struggled to find a place to sit down and eat. This was not an ongoing occurrence, but it did happen.

The line at Cafe Al Baccio on the morning of debarkation was extremely long, one girl behind the counter, major blunder by X.

We saw a lot of this on our Eclipse cruise last month.  One woman was playing cards with her bare feet up on the table.  Ewww.  Thanks for your review.

We were on the Caribbean Princess in September.  There is no free solarium,  they wouldn't give us a table for two unless we went to the dining room very late, their classic drink package only includes wine  they choose--you only get to decide on what varietal category, their buffet isn't nearly as nice as X.  That said, our dinners were better on Princess.  I know that is subjective, but the menus were more inspired and the cuts of meat we had were better too.  More vegetable variety as well.  We were in the casino about every night and it was tolerable until someone sat down next to you and lit up.  I really like the non-smoking casino.

I bumped this topic because we are going to be on the Reflection soon with some OBC and we were going to try the technique mentioned on other posts, but then I read this on the Celebrity website.  Does anyone have experience with this 5% transaction fee, and do you still have to wager a certain amount before you can cash out?

"If you love games of chance played in the sophisticated but casual atmosphere of an onboard casino, you can use your credit to play the slots.

Slots are available as soon as the ship enters international waters. If you’ve never played the slots before, complimentary lessons are available and are listed in each day’s Celebrity Today newsletter.

To play using your onboard credit, simply insert your SeaPass® card into any slot machine, and select “onboard credit” as your preferred credit method. A 5% transaction fee will automatically be added to your SeaPass card, but that still leaves you plenty of credit to play, since the minimum bet on slots is a very reasonable $0.01. Any winnings are yours to keep.

If you have any questions about using onboard credit in the casino, check with your Casino Host."

Shoutout to Kwokpot.  Thanks for the photos--honestly, I haven't seen a lobster tail that big on an RCI or X ship in a very long time.  They are mostly the size of a small thumb now.

Was on an overnight in Quebec City earlier this month and the casino and the shops were closed the entire time.

Was on the Caribbean from 8/30 to 9/9.  The hairdryer in my cabin was the old Sunbeam type that is hardwired.  If your hair is very thick, it won't do the trick.

We are just off the Caribbean Princess and I wanted to mention something that you aren't addressing in this thread.  We were on the Majestic in 2022 with the Plus 40 package and we had a choice of all kinds of nice wine.  When we got on the Caribbean Princess (8/30/23) we discovered that the only choice on wine was the varietal.  We didn't want to pay another $200 for the Premier package.  We really aren't that picky, but the chardonnay wasn't good (IMO) and we might have paid the up charge per glass, but those offerings weren't that good either.  It was really a night and day experience from the Majestic.  Perhaps it was addressed in another thread, but I missed it.

I am so sorry to hear this about the dance music.  We are going to be on that ship this month and we so look forward to the music.  We live in a small town that is a live music desert.  We have been on several different ships this year and we noticed that there seemed to be much better attendance at the trivia games, etc., than there was to the dance music.  Too bad!

I thought the pax capacity on the Silhouette was just short of 2900.  I wonder how they packed in another 500 people?  We were on the Silhouette in March of this year. That sailing was about 2700 pax and we felt like the ship was fairly crowded and that was with good weather.  I can only imagine your experience with that many.  Thanks for your review.  

I really like the Allure--was on it three times last year--but I never saw one towel that WASN'T prison-grade.  They really could do better!  Thanks for your review.

Thanks for your input--I am thinking about switching to the World Wine Tour instead of the pairing.

The elite tasting has been on the last sea day of the cruise on the last three X cruises I have been on.  It was at 11:00am each time in the dining room.  The only notice you get is a Captain's Club listing of activities in your cabin when you board.  They like for you to RSVP too, but they seem to always have room if you forget.

1 hour ago, awhfy said:

That one is good & well worth it, the other isn’t that great

Which one?

I am no wine expert--I just thought it would be a nice activity.  I did it on a Holland America cruise once, but it was small bite appetizers with wine in the Pinnacle Grill.  It was more expensive than this one and that was quite a few years ago.  X also offers another tasting called "The World Wine Tour".  I wonder how that one compares?

Thanks for the advice and the picture too.  It looks nice.