terrydtx

We looked at Regent and they were out of our price range too. But I am finding we can book on Oceania for about the same or less for a similar Celebrity itinerary in a SS.

Ours too for the same reasons.

I remember something about their newest ship launching this year has an area similar to the retreat.

Worst case is when you board you can change the reservation with the Eden manager,

We took a look at Princess suites but we just do not want to cruise on a ship with 4000+ passengers. They do have services close to the Retreat. Here is a link to them. Full suite (princess.com)

Have you tried canceling the original reservation and rebooking for just the two of you?

After Celebrity pulled out of the West Coast we book HAL in November for the California Coastal RT from San Diego on the newer Koingsdam. With all the cruise cancelations this month and redeployment of those ships to Florida ports it is evident where Celebrity is putting their emphasis for the future.

Did you book direct with Celebrity or a TA? I would contact either one and ask them to handle this for you. If your cousin cancels their cruise all of their connected other purchases should be canceled as well.

We had one fantastic butler on a previous cruise, and we have stayed in contact with him. I got an email over the weekend from him, he is now servicing only the higher suites and happy he kept his job. He did say that the passengers in sky suites currently on his ship are not happy and expressing many complaints with the Retreat Manager about the less service they are receiving from the Butler Team. I do not want to say which ship he is on so that he doesn't get into any trouble with Celebrity.

We only book Sky Suites with Celebrity, but with the high future pricing and loss of prior SS amenities we are looking more at Oceania as an alternative. We had looked earlier this year at booking the Equinox for a 2025 Santiago to Buenos Aires 14 day cruise. After doing comparisons we found an 18 day Oceanis cruise and booked a concierge class cabin on the Marina for $200pp less than the 14 night Equinox cruise in a SS. We really made a wise choice after the cancelation of all SA 2024-2025 Celebrity cruises earlier this month. After our Apex cruise next month and B2B January Edge cruise, I really believe we are done with Celebrity, and we will be Elite+ after the January cruises. We now are booking cruises for the itinerary not the loyalty status. We have 2 future cruises also booked on HAL both for the itinerary,

The app finally showed all 12 nights menu on our Apex Cruise next month around Aug 1st.

Isn't a Crow just one evolutionary step below a Vulture?

Celebrity is increasing their Florida Carribean cruise footprints by repositioning more ships to Florida home ports. So, maybe to keep in line with RC they should change their name to "Celebrity Carribean Cruise Lines". Recent RCG profit reports show the Caribbean cruises as being the most profitable.

I did see the Daniel Boulud entree, the horrible, IMO, Moroccan chicken is no longer showing in the app, only the starter and desert shows. Maybe Luminae is changing that,

We have been in a standard Sky Suite 3 times on deck 12 in S Class ships and never had any problems with noise from the above deck. Deck 12 is the only deck for Sky Suites except for the aft facing SS.

We did the Reflection cruise last August and the temps in Rome was over 100F when we arrived and it was really hot in the 90'sFin all the ports we visited. August is not only hot but the most crowded tourist month of the year in the places visited. I would 100% say April and May are the best times to go. I live in South Texas and we have had over 50, 100+ days this summer, but we have great AC and it was really hot walking around last year on the cruise.

it was described as Cod smothered in a Newberg sauce, might be fish sticks,😡

Make sure your butler team removes all items from the fridge first, or you might get charged for everything you take out the Retreat lounge items, lol

Depends on personal likes, I saw a Branzino entrée change to cod, I love Branzino and not a fan of cod except in fish and chips. At least no Tilapia or hamburgers at night.

The lunch menu shows on my app for sea days in Luminae on the Apex next month. My experience with the app is that it will not be accurate until you get within 30 days of departure. That has been the case for our Apex cruise too. I noticed several changes in the entrees for dinner in the app now as well.

What I figured would happen, how about the premium bottled water like Evian, do you have to get that as well from the Retreat lounge? Every one of our past Retreat cruises our fridge was kept filled with beer, wine and water by our butlers.

I think you will love HAL and whoever posted that youtube video may have had an axe to grind with HAL and should be taken with a grain of salt. We have never had a bad meal in any HAL MDR or buffets. We did a 14 night cruise last August on the Oosterdam and never heard or saw anything about food shortages. The only shortage I knew about was they ran out of Macallan 12 year old Scotch at $18 a shot, my favorite pre dinner drink. Last year I had to pay the full $18, this year I will only have to pay $7 with the HIA drink package.

In my last 3 HAL cruises I think the closest I got to 15 was 12, when it was hot, and we drank a lot of can water and a couple espressos. If I drank 15 martinis in one day I might fall overboard.

Spending time in New England spoiled me for lobster anywhere else, especially on a cruise ship. Next year we are doing a HAL cruise from Boston to Montreal and I know I can go ashore and get some of the best Lobster, scallops, clams, and oysters in the world.

I agree, it is nothing like the gelato I've had in Italy.