WonderMan3

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.

3 hours ago, bjahil47 said:

@jagoffeestated that upper suites did not have to pay for the upcharge items in MDR.  I was told otherwise.  

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.

9 minutes ago, bjahil47 said:

We are on Equinox in a RS next week.  I asked this question to executive office and was told anyone who orders upcharge items has to pay, does not matter what level Suite they are in.  

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.

20 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wondered where you went Wonderman!  Hope your cruising adventures continue to take you far and wide. I’ve missed your live reports. 

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...

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Yes agree.  The sargassum biomass can be used for fertilizer and fuel (burns cleanly), and perhaps other uses as well.  We need to turn an ongoing problem into an advantage.

There have been some warnings regarding the use of sargassum for fertilizer as there has been some evidence of metals dangerous to humans seeping into the vegetables grown in the fertilizer. More research is needed.

https://dcnanature.org/sargassum-fertilizer/

15 hours ago, neverlaysup said:

We booked the last and only suite available for a TransPac for May of '20 (cruise cancelled) and it was accessible. I didn't want it but it was literally the only suite left for sale on the ship. As my luck has been, 4 lift and shifts later, we have a standard S1 for this Septembers TransPac cruise. I have never been in an accessible suite but I would imagine the room is the same size with a handicapped accessible bathroom. If that is the case, most people that book accessible cabins need the room for a scooter but can live with the standard bathroom layout. This is probably why the suites are the LAST to sell and the standard size cabins are the first ones sold out because they are double the size.

I can only speak to my experience on M class but my Sky Suite was a larger room which is why I was originally glad we got it. The bathroom was a bit larger too but it had one of those roll-in showers which was a total disaster; water goes everywhere on the bathroom floor. We had to literally build a little ring barrier of towels to keep the floor from flooding. Would never want one of those cabins again.

This happens every few years but has been increasing in recurrence. As the effects of climate change worsen and sea temperatures rise the sargassum masses will likely increase in frequency. It could be devastating to Caribbean island (and Florida) economies down the road.

This is standard. It can also happen further out. I wound up in a handicapped accessible Sky Suite on Constellation when I booked a deal through Blue Chip Club and it was about 8 months out. I originally was put in a guarantee cabin but within a few days it confirmed into the accessible cabin. I believe Celebrity does reserve the right to move you to a comparable or higher level cabin that is not accessible if there is a passenger who needs it after you book.

I think someone got lost on the way to MSC cheerleader tryouts. 😂😂😂

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, here’s hoping Celebrity makes suite traveling an economically feasible option again at some point. I might be looking at Princess next even though their suite amenities are more limited as I cruised with them before and enjoyed the atmosphere, ship designs, service and the food was the next best to Celebrity that I’ve experienced plus they seem to go to some slightly different ports on some itineraries.

3 hours ago, prmssk said:

MSC is not publicly traded and is backed by a huge, very successful shipping company.  They are also aggressively looking to get a larger share of the North American market.  I don't think they are in quite the same situation as the other cruise lines.

 

I have not yet sailed MSC but have two upcoming cruises booked with them so I can't give you a first-hand information yet but there is a noticeable and significant upward trend in the reviews over the last few years.  Additionally, I've read quite a few reviews from people who tried MSC 3-5 years ago and sailed on them again recently who note the improvements.

There were plenty of positive reviews about Yacht Club before I booked (most of the negative reviews around the time I cruised were from people who traveled in a cabin outside of Yacht Club) which is why I was shocked when I got onboard and found it lacking in service and food. It wasn’t all bad of course but compared to Celebrity it was a far inferior product outside of the layout of the Yacht Club itself. I suppose with the stratospheric price increases of Celebrity’s suites MSC now becomes a relatively better value. I personally would rather cruise with NCL in The Haven over MSC if Celebrity isn’t an option. Food and service in The Haven were both better than Yacht Club.

Kind of odd though to be debating this with someone who has never even cruised with MSC before…

5 hours ago, binro01 said:

The product has changed a lot since 4 years ago. 

Seeing as decline in food quality since the pandemic has been a recurring complaint from pretty much every cruise line (based on posts I’ve seen here and other on forums for Celebrity, Royal, Princess, Holland and NCL) I’m going to have a massively raised eyebrow on that one. I think it’s not that the product has changed in 4 years it’s that customers’ expectations have, i.e. they have lowered.

Wow. Hope this thread is a wake up call to Celebrity. Seeing a lot of fellow suites cruisers here who feel like we do that the suite pricing has just gone beyond what they’re worth. I have to imagine there are a lot on non-CC cruisers feeling the same. Makes me wonder if Celebrity is playing games with their inventory and holding back suites cabins at times to make sailings appear to be in higher demand to get people nervous that something will sell out so they give in and book the high pricing? And then any suites they may get stuck with a few months out they start selling off through upgrades? There just seems to be a disconnect here between a number of people giving up on suites and them being full to capacity on every sailing (even when the rest of the ship is not).

On 4/14/2023 at 1:35 PM, binro01 said:

The food in the YC restaurant is quite good. On par with Luminae, now if you go to a MSC specialty restaurant, they are not on par with Celebrity's specialty restaurants. Like I said, the whole ship experience on MSC does not compare with Celebrity.

100% disagree with this. Took two MSC cruises pretty much back to back in 2019 and the Yacht Club restaurant food was mediocre at best. Celebrity MDR was better. MSC’s specialties were better and while not quite as good as Celebrity’s specialties were a welcome option after the disappointing Yacht Club food.

5 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Seems like she has the title of President.

If it’s only that and not President and CEO like Lutoff-Perlo then it’s essentially a downgraded position which means Royal will be taking more control. Reading between the lines that means things at Celebrity are not going how Royal wants and they are increasing control to exert more influence. This would also mean it was not LLP’s choice to leave her position.

What I have to wonder is what do they feel is not working with Celebrity the way they want? Are they concerned by the increasing level of customer dissatisfaction which has been mainly in response to cutbacks? Or is it solely about the bottom line and they just still don’t have enough money and plan on further increasing prices and making more cutbacks? The cynic in me immediately jumps to the latter…

The press release says that Laura Hodges Bethge will take over as Celebrity's President but does not mention the CEO title or did I miss something?

I love how Celebrity offers 50% off to MGM Players, free cruises to folks who have maybe ever dropped $2 in the casino (according to people who posted here last summer) but to me as an established Blue Chip Player who was last at Sapphire status as of my last 2019 cruise and am also CC Elite Plus I was merely offered a 10% discount when I called in January. Was told because I had not cruised within the past year my status was totally reset and I'd have to start from scratch. I kindly told them I would definitely be doing that...with another cruise line. (BTW, I'm also Platinum status with MGM - earned from actual MGM play last year - which I'm sure their records could pull up since I tier matched from Celebrity to MGM back before Covid)

On 3/20/2023 at 5:18 PM, cangelmd said:

?what is their other “transoceanic” cruises? Indian Ocean? What about Arctic and Antarctica?

There used to be those cruises that repositioned between Asia and Europe that visited destinations like India and areas in the Middle East. Maybe those would fall in that category? Not sure if any of those have come back since Covid?

While I liked the fact that the Penthouses on Edge class gained a second bedroom versus S and M class it's totally undercut by the awful balcony. The smallest yet of any Penthouse and with that massive overhang that prevents any sun ever getting on the balcony. Because of that I would never book either this or the Royal Suite; big design fails.

2 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

I'm not into arrogant and high maintenance, no matter how pretty you are. 

Well, sometimes it's about getting back what you give. I didn't find the people arrogant, high maintenance, rude or whatever other words people here have been using to deride them. For people to paintbrush an entire island as unpleasant because the particular people they encountered didn't smile at them or didn't accept US dollars is a bit absurd. I mean I got ripped off at a shady casino once in Antigua. I wouldn't tell people to avoid the island or say everyone there is a crook though. I would just caution people to avoid particular establishments like that as there are plenty of very nice things to see on Antigua. Making wide generalizations like this about a whole island is not cool.

I thought threads identifying specific cruise members on board were no longer allowed here beyond someone sharing the officers info from the Dailies (if they even do that anymore)?

34 minutes ago, baggal said:

Almost every, if not all, Caribbean cruises on HAL stop at Half Moon Cay.  Not every Celebrity ship stops at Labadee.  Yes, Celebrity had practically the same itinerary that I did a few weeks on HAL with the exception of a private beach stop which made for 4 at sea days on Celebrity vs 3 on HAL.  And I'm pretty sure that Cococay is a Princess property.

Princess Cays is their private island.

8 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

Well, that was an 11-day cruise.  We've been on longer Celebrity cruises out of Florida that have gone to Aruba, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and Puerta Plata (along with Martinique, Barbados, and St. Thomas, but those are hardly anything rare for a southern Caribbean cruise).  Other itineraries hit Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, and maybe some other spots, but those also are 11+ nighters.

 

By the way, Martinique can keep itself.  The only thing I find attractive about Martinique these days is the view from the ship.

That's an odd take. Martinique rarely shows up on Celebrity itineraries but I was lucky to visit it on Summit back in 2019. It was one of the most interesting islands I have been to in the Caribbean, and was in much better shape than some of the other islands they regularly go to. It had a number of beautiful areas and I would love to go back to see more.

Now they do tend to have issues with workers striking which I believe is why cruise ships don't visit there as often as other islands (they day we were there striking taxis blocked the cruise area preventing tour buses from getting in/out; luckily we had a private guide who managed to schmooze her way out of the blockade).