Nemanoxer

Silence is or can be a marketing instrument. It´s like the LMR (last moment resistance) phenomenon in dating - the longer one party says no (even though she secretly wants the same thing), the more excited the interested party becomes and loses his mind more and more to get into the other person´s panties - excuse me, to get into the other party´s stateroom. At about any price.

Glad I´m only booked on 19th October. Everything should be fine by then and in best moods for the start of Sun´s first Caribbean tours. Still cannot wait.

I´d guess the marketing for it is quite expensive and needs to be paid for... https://www.princess.com/en-int/news/news-releases/2023/12/love-by-britto-first-artistically-inspired-dining-experience-celebrating-love-debuting-on-sun-princess

Wow, that´s my balcony next October, thanks. Am I even interested in the itinerary that I booked?

I am a cruise line's nightmare. All extras I book are shore excursions and alcohol free beverage packages. All other spare money goes into a nice stateroom category. I guess I will be banned one day 😉 However, really looking forward to all your reviews of extra fun investments.

The Cabana cabins (at least the one I booked on deck 12) in my understanding are nothing different from the balcony cabins except the Cabana exisiting between the balcony and the cabin space. So, I was surely expecting dividers.

I will only go on 19 Oct 2024, hope this thread stays alive til then. And I really hope someone will set up a list for simple minds like me to explain what my cabin category is allowed to do where in which part of the ship. For now, that sounds far more complicated than on Celebrity. But that might only be because I have never been on Princess before.

She is really, really... like... unpretty... Actually... However, I trust all those inner values to come will be satisfying once all of us are on board,

I really need someone to sneak into a Sphere Cabana cabin. Wanna see what to expect.

First time on Princess. Excited to see how they will do. That Cabana cabin shall be so much fun. I hope.

Upscale families exist, and they do not all go on the 5 star brands. Actually that eventuality could be a smart move. Who else focuses on "upscale families"? Celebrity? Not too much, I would say. It will be my first Princess cruise next year. As Celebrity just recently won me back, I am really curious what Sun Princess will be like compared to Celebrity Edge.

Can we please use the correct call sign? Are we talking about NCC1701 D or E?

Ship seems to amaze the blogger.

Wow, Conservatory Mini-suite that is on Iona. Sweet. I'll surely hang out in that Cabana part for quite some hours.

Also got a deck 11 cabana in the Sphere. Believe those shall be amazing. Really cannot wait to see animations or photos. Not sure about the noise level though. As far as I know there will be loud performances in the Sphere up to deck 8. It's all an experiment to leave Celebrity. We will see how it will go.

As I mentioned, I have to admit that I really am a demanding beast, and I know it. I started cruising on Equinox in 2012 with food and service never experienced before or after, not on land and not on sea. That was a cruise with 10 nights Carribean on deck 9 with a balcony cabin including solo surcharge in the high season for 1400 $... Same cruise on Edge would cost me somewhere between 3500-4000 $ today. That is why I really really want to get the most bang out of my buck. Others are less demanding and happy with less. If it works for them, it's fine for them.

Had some unexpected income early this year, otherwise X would not have seen me last week. Booking other lines for 2024 and 2025 results out of interest in their new ship classes and tempting new cabins (Sun Princess cabana cabin), more fascinating itineraries and excursions (TUI Cruises 14 days Asia) as well as personal preferences like real all inclusive (again TUI Cruises) and lower pricing (again TUI Cruises). TUI Cruises is Celebrity's sister brand for native German speakers. About the same thing but without anything like Edge Class and with real all inclusive. Also booked short trips within Europe on Cunard, they offer that cheap and often over here. Not a fancy cruise line at 52 years of age but a very relaxing one.

Just back from Edge. Yes, the prices are too high. Booked other cruise lines for 2024 + 2025 due to that. Yes, MDR food was mediocre most of the days. Yes, ambient music was way too loud about everywhere. Yes, the personal touch is gone in many ways. Yes, a bit of class is gone and replaced by action and activity. Yes, cruise director David Clark talks way, way, way too much. But apart from that... Everybody on that ship is working their asses off. Everybody is still greeting, may it no longer be with your personal name, but still greeting politely. As mentioned, MDRs have lost their charm and appeal in my opinion, but the food everywhere else on the ship was over average and kept me munching in any minute of boredom. Speaking of boredom, that hardly happened. There are loads of entertainment around the clock, everywhere on the ship. The ship is being cleaned and maintained like crazy. It looks like it was christened yesterday. You still get to find staff for a personal talk. They are more stressed out and busier as some years ago, but the guy at the gelato bar, for example, is more than happy to chat outside the Oceanview rush hours. Bartenders are fast and attentive as lightning. Even in the theater. Shore excursions can be somewhat weak sometimes, but Celebrity are only choosing the companies, not the guide of the day. If the guide sucks, that is your day´s bad luck. However, you are free to go and complain about guides. Refunds were granted proactively and without discussion. Most of guests still are well educated and understand how to behave themselves. The ship´s overall design elements are positively overwhelming. They still manage to make guests feel like they are part of their family while on board. The captain is always happy to chat a few words and not scared to have lunch alone between passengers in Oceanview. And the list goes on. So, yes - I was a complainer before this trip. My last cruise on Equinox was quite bad, especially food and service. And I hate that partial refurbishment, that ship deserves a full makeover. But after this trip, it´s only the pricing left to leave X alone for a few years. Apart from that - thanks Celebrity, this trip was about 80 % of what I had expected. And sadly, I always expect the very best.

Just disembarking Edge. Ambient music just about right and normal. For 2024 and 2025, we are taking a break from Celebrity and will try the new Princess ship class, HAL, Windstar and a German cruise line. Wanna find out after all if really no other cruise line in the price class can keep up with X.

I am on Edge right now. Having a good time mostly. However, I always did S-Class til now and have a feeling that Edge is much more of a loud party boat than let's say Equinox. Usually, this kind of overall musical enivironment is wired to Caribbean sea days in my memory. Not necessarily to the Mediterranean. What are your experiences about how Celebrity lets the music play?

Don´t know what kind of pollution LNG brings, it is not really a clean alternative as well. But it might not affect the ports as much when sitting there. But I do not know too much about that. Was just very, very disappointed when Edge was released. A ship sold to all of us as revolutionary and beginning of a new era. For Lutoff-Perlo´s account, yeah maybe... Glad I can switch to Sun Princess soon. She´s also not all emission free yet, but seemingly Princess are trying their best to take that issue a bit more serious.

I feel like there will be a lot of preparing to do before I go in February. Let alone all the vaccinations my physician wants to shoot into me before I go.

And then there was that older guy on Equinox in shorts and t-shirt one day who turned to me and said "I want to see one of those guys tryna keep me from entering that MDR, we´ll be in the news". Well, one possible perspective.

How about Edge these days? Are the using straws that survive frozen Coladas longer than three minutes? Otherwise, I might bring my armored glass ones.

Are they still using paper straws on Edge? Or was some alternative found that satisfies all perspectives?