WonderMan3

Omnipresent… And the point is that based on Nassau’s small population (even when tourists are factored in) the number of murders is of more concern compared to a place like Chicago which has far more people so it was an erroneous comparison regardless how omnipresent guns may be in the U.S.

Okay. In 2023, that was 4.5 million people. Now factor in all the tourists visiting Chicago yearly which was around 49 million people in 2022. Moving on…

Oh yes. Have encountered Jamaican crew members who have been lovely. Here in Provincetown where I live we have a growing Jamaican population, more of whom each year stay year-round instead of just the summer season, and they are great folks. The culture on the island though is just not a safe space for LGBTQ folks so I choose not visit.

Labadee is a weird exception. It has a secured perimeter with armed guards. The only locals allowed in are pre-approved by the island management. If it was deemed unsafe Royal would pull out of there.

You have to decide what feels comfortable for you. I won’t do Mexico ports anymore except for Cozumel as I don’t feel safe; so I will choose itineraries that don’t include them. I visited Jamaica one time in 2003 on my first cruise before I knew their history of homophobia. My now husband and I and a couple other passengers on different excursions all encountered veiled homophobic comments. We will never set foot on that island again as a result and I have always chosen itineraries that do not include Jamaica since then. I won’t go off on my own on certain islands like St. Lucia. These warnings are there to help you make an informed travel decision.

Yes, but New Providence Island where Nassau is located has 296,000 people versus Chicago which has 2.7 million. Not the same thing at all…

Wow. Never thought you guys would bail on Celebrity. We are doing our first Oceania next year too although in a Penthouse on Vista. The overwhelming number of positive reviews, including from former Celebrity cruisers, in addition to the significant price savings versus Celebrity finally convinced us.

Have been reading lots of reviews of Oceania in recent months from cruisers who have shifted over from other cruise lines. This one is probably the most negative leaning against Oceania so I consider it an outlier. I used to read negative reports about Celebrity cruises when I had just been on the same ship and had a completely different positive experience. Always good to see how people experience different ships though.

Yes, I booked an Owner's Suite on Star for 14 nights. It may have just been a computer glitch of some sort though as opposed to the inventory restriction you are describing. I just could not get a booking to confirm for 2 either by picking a cabin myself or letting Princess do it. It kept kicking it out forcing me to restart the booking again. When I selected 3 people, then it sailed through the booking to the passenger page and from there I backed the pages up and changed it from 3 to 2 and it moved forward and I was able to complete the booking.

So weird. I could not get a 2026 suite booking on the Star to take by putting in 2 pax; it kept kicking me out and saying cabin no longer available. I decided to put in 3 pax and it went all the way through to the passenger screen with no issues, then I backed up pages and changed it to 2 pax and could then move forward and complete the reservation for 2 and select a cabin.

I'm having a problem booking cabins period. Whether I choose a cabin that is showing available or I select "Princess chooses a cabin" when I move forward to the passenger info screen it flashes a box saying cabin no longer available and kicks me out of the booking. I assume the system is overloaded today.

They couldn’t get down to Florida or the Bahamas because the storm was in the way. Going north before the storm arrived was the only option other than sitting in NYC for a couple days and waiting for the storm to pass. That may not have given enough time to sail to any port though. Not sure what people really expected them to do here.

Speaks to a growing dissatisfaction by longtime Celebrity cruisers though. Hope Celebrity is paying attention to this. But do they even care?

We just booked Oceania Vista for Sep 2025. It will be our first Oceania cruise and first cruise since Jan 2019. We had to cancel a few Celebrity cruises the past few years due to Covid concerns and had some booked for earlier this year that we had to let go as we just couldn't rationalize the cost when reading about all the cutbacks. As you said we were able to get 10 nights in an Oceania Penthouse and when I checked a 10 night European cruise on one of the Edge class ships around the same dates it was almost double the price. So unfortunately Celebrity seems to be off the table for us into the near future and possibly forever.

How would that be communicated to them in advance? Celebrity has a shore side concierge for Retreat guests that reach out to you prior to sailing to confirm any special requests, does Oceania have something similar?

Took the leap and booked our first Oceania cruise today. Doing an 11 night Spain/Portugal/Morocco cruise in Sep 2025 on Vista. We had been loyal Celebrity suite cruisers from 2013 to 2019. Since Covid we have been reluctant to go back to Celebrity due to massive price increases and removal of included features. Had been reading reports here on CC of a number of Celebrity cruisers switching to Oceania so decided to give them a try. We have booked a Penthouse on Deck 7 aft in the larger balcony section. I had a few questions though: *I saw information here that said we can upgrade our included beverage package (which is just the beer/wine at lunch and dinner) to a premium beverage package for around $39 a day. I don't see the option to upgrade within my reservation though, just to purchase a full package. Is this something I have to wait to do onboard? *What do the butlers do for you? *Is all food onboard truly included or are there extras somewhere like upgraded cuts of meat or a charge for a second entree? *I saw a video on YouTube that said that in the suites you can have any food delivered to your cabin from any of the restaurants. Is this true? Are there limits or restrictions? *I read that even the premium beverage package has a $$ limit. What is that limit amount or where can I see menus showing beverage prices onboard? *Is there a source somewhere for menus for the main dining room and the specialty restaurants on Vista? *Do they offer any flavored waters onboard specifically any Vitamin Zero water? *I see that reservations are needed for the specialty restaurants but what about the Main Dining Room? I did not see us assigned a specific dining time so I assume we can dine at whatever time we want? If we want to have a table for two how do we go about requesting that or is it just first come first served? Thanks in advance for any help.

So what are you paying for versus the other specialty restaurants?

I was on the Edge maiden voyage (the first one, as there were two, one western and one eastern Caribbean) and we got some special gifts in our cabin, the CEO was onboard for a couple days and they did a special show one night where she spoke.

August in the Mediterranean is not a place you want to be. My first Med cruise was end of August and it was 100 degrees in both Dubrovnik and Athens. A fellow passenger passed out from the heat on one of our excursions. I would never cruise at that time ever again.

And I was telling you what I was told on my prior cruises. So this is not a new thing for upper suite guests to have pay for up charge items. Some people seem to have been able to get out of paying the fees but there are always going to be anecdotal exceptions. That doesn’t change what Celebrity’s policy is.

Yes. This has always been the case. Even when staying in Royal and Penthouse if we wanted an up charge item at places like Tuscan we would have to pay the fee. Or special event meals like the Indian dinners or poolside grill you had to pay the fee.

Thank you! Been keeping busy with road trips and other land-based travel. Hopefully a cruise will be in our future again someday. It might be with Oceania next though.

Thank you for posting this. Haven't been keeping up with this board for a few months and it's good to see all these changes listed. It reaffirms our decision not to have any Celebrity cruises booked at this time and now seeing this I'm guessing possibly ever again. So sad. It was a great run.

I'm pretty sure the Mast Grill and buffet burgers have always been frozen first. I honestly wouldn't expect otherwise. Now a burger from Luminae or Rooftop Grill is a different story... That being said, a frozen burger does not necessarily have to be a bad burger. I grill Bubba burgers at home every summer and they're great. Obviously a fresh burger would be better but they die pretty quickly in the refrigerator if you don't use them right up. All the various burgers I've had at Mast Grill I would classify as average to great. Don't recall ever having one that was inedible.

I think when they have these family hours in the solarium then the main pools should become adults only for the same hours...