New Celebrity Ships- Some info.

[halos]

[quote name='rjg41']This is what they are considering because, "This is what the people want."
[/QUOTE]

Good grief! What's WRONG with people????

[Ericknow32]

[quote name='Host Doug']Designing a new ship takes a [i]lot[/i] longer than one year. That is, if it is a new design of course. But for something like VOYAGER OF THE SEAS that was done from scratch, the design took years.[/QUOTE]

i got that stat from the making of voyager video. but i do balieve that it would take alot longer than a year to design

[rjg41]

[quote name='TWELVEOHONE']I just cannot see Celebrity going to open seating. [/QUOTE]

While I agree that I would prefer traditional dining, I guess you missed the earlier post shown below that they have already tried the "concept" plan I was told about, on European cruises. Do you think they could have been "test marketing"?

[quote name='jezzdogg']Some of the ships of Celebrity and also RCCL have tried different dining times...ala open seating (on one or two of the European cruises and some of the alternative cruises) First floor 6:30 second floor 7:30......First floor 8:30 second floor etc. From some of the cruises that have been on these cruises the reveiws were very favorable...........
[/QUOTE]

[Richard Stein]

Most of these new Celebrity ships have been dry docked for repairs to the Azipod operating system that has plagued these ships since constuction.

[dougnewmanatsea]

[quote name='Richard Stein']Most of these new Celebrity ships have been dry docked for repairs to the Azipod operating system that has plagued these ships since constuction.[/QUOTE]
I think all of them have been abruptly taken out of service at least once due to pod problems.

Also, just a note, the pods fitted to these ships are not Azipods. Azipod is only one of several brand names of propulsion pods (a joint venture between ABB, Aker Finnyards, and Fincantieri). The ones that have proved problematic on the M-class ships are Mermaid pods (a joint venture between Alstom and Rolls-Royce).

[Ericknow32]

how did celebrity's law suite over the pods work out.

[rjg41]

I just cannot see Celebrity going to open seating. This may shock some of you but it has not been all that successful on NCL.

 

Again we prefer traditional dining but in the interest of accuracy, in view of the claim above, we decided to see what the NCL cruisers think about NCL Freestyle.

 

We posted a question on NCL's board about how they liked Freestyle. The top response, "Like it a great deal", has received more than 80% of the votes with people disliking it in any way, less than 10%. Here is a link to the poll results. Remember they will likely have newer numbers since I posted this. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=625

[dougnewmanatsea]

how did celebrity's law suite over the pods work out.

I have not heard any news on this so I assume that it is still pending.

[Oppgaard]

We just did a cruise on NCL in October and did not care for the Freestyle Dining. We much prefer knowing where we are dining, who with and at what time. We also prefer getting to know our servers and them learning our preferences.

[Longboysfan]

I don't understand why some posters get so upset. Nobody said Celebrity will change dining settings or size ;) of current X ships...so if you like traditional dining or under 91 K tonage just keep sailing them.

 

Winner.

 

They would not change the current format on the other ships.

They would have to renovate them a bit.

[benjamins]

Winner.

 

They would not change the current format on the other ships.

They would have to renovate them a bit.

 

 

All ships should be renovated or at least refurbished every 7 or so years in service. I think even the wonderful Century could use a redesigned lido area, redesigned and upgraded library, freshed up theater, and a freshened up Rendezvous. Classic areas like the Grand restaurant, Crystal room, Michael's Club only need refurbished and reupholstered furnishings, not any redesign, IMO. I don't think the Galaxy or Mercury need any redesigns whatsoever, maybe the Mercury's library could be upgraded somewhat.

 

There's an argument to be made for consistency in a fleet. Every single ship should offer a version of the same thing, not one set of ships having traditional dining and the other open, one set of ships having announcements the others don't, one set of ships having casual dress the others formal. A cruise line going in too many directions is not a good thing, in the opinion of some of us. Yes the new ships will have more balconies and amenities, but the core product across the fleet should be the same. I'm not opposed to one restaurant with open seating or ethnic restaurants, but I'm opposed to it affecting the formal feel of the ship and the dress codes.

 

As for over 91000 tons, Celebrity is transferring a 48000 ton ship siib. So the ship needing replacement should be only somewhat bigger than 48,000 tons. I think up to around 60,000 tons is what many of us desire. Over 100000 tons ships no longer seem special or grand, just another addition of a set of ships that size.

 

Another thing I'd like to see is no more than 3 ships per class, especially if they follow the peas-in-a-pod route that most new ships follow. And I'd also like to see 5 years between classes of ships so some more significant developments can be made in ship design and cruise content before a new class is introduced.

 

Bottom line to me is if you want to alter Celebrity in a core way, you may not be that big a fan of the line and are really looking for what you think is the best of many lines in Celebrity.

[southt00]

I have been reading this thread with interest. As an avid cruiser, my husband and I would cruise Celebrity more if we had open-dining. We have cruised Princess, NCL, Celebrity, Disney, Radisson and Silversea. Hands down the fact that we can dine when we want with whomever we want wins our vote when it comes to picking out a cruise. We are on vacation and hate to operate on rigid schedules. We like to enjoy longer days in port without having to rush back for dinner. Or worse - we eat a mini-meal at 6:00 to tide us over until 8:30 dining. We have never had any issues on any of the ships when it came to open seating. Never had to wait and always enjoyed the service and meal. When we found a waiter we enjoyed, we often would ask to sit in their section. We got the best of both worlds. As for dress code, our last cruise was on the Celebrity Millie and we saw plenty of jeans and casual wear in the dining room on non-casual evenings so I wouldn't worry about the decline in dress code - it's already there. I applaud Celebrity for moving forward with the next generation in cruising. I applaud them for not trying to retrofit a cruise ship that is not designed to do this and building a better suited ship. Now if only I could get a wrap around promenade deck.....

 

Happy sailing.

[benjamins]

I have been reading this thread with interest. As an avid cruiser, my husband and I would cruise Celebrity more if we had open-dining. We have cruised Princess, NCL, Celebrity, Disney, Radisson and Silversea. Hands down the fact that we can dine when we want with whomever we want wins our vote when it comes to picking out a cruise.

 

Now if only I could get a wrap around promenade deck.....

 

Happy sailing.

 

What goes into defining a cruise for you? For some of us, the chance in a what some of us feel is an overly casual culture, a cruise gives us an opportunity for affordable black-tie evenings. Hence, an option for those of us that want this in Celebrity or HAL and to some degree Cunard (when they feel like enforcing the dress codes). The aspect of assigned seating is some people like meeting others every night and enjoy the rapport with wait staff and tablemates. Sometimes it is the highlight of their cruise. Not everyone does, hence a choice in lines that have one or the other.

 

You mention the promenade deck. Definite cruise-specific feature.

 

What are the aspects of cruising that are specific and makes it unlike a land-based vacation? What will keep it this way (besides the obvious of a big vessel on the ocean, but these vessels are more and more resembling resorts)

[Richard Stein]

Per the 3/21/05 edition of Travel Weekly on page 51: At the annual Seatrade Cruise Shipping convention RCCL CEO Jack Williams told the crowd that “RCCL was finalizing plans for a new class of ship for Celebrity Cruise, code named the Challenger series. Were just wrapping it up” he said “We’re in the final stages, talking to a couple yards.” In other words we may hear something next month or early May.

[Ericknow32]

Per the 3/21/05 edition of Travel Weekly on page 51: At the annual Seatrade Cruise Shipping convention RCCL CEO Jack Williams told the crowd that “RCCL was finalizing plans for a new class of ship for Celebrity Cruise, code named the Challenger series. Were just wrapping it up” he said “We’re in the final stages, talking to a couple yards.” In other words we may hear something next month or early May.

on another thread somone claimed that Richard Fain said it is way to early to anounce any new builds.

[Richard Stein]

Jack Williams still is in charge until his retirement is official. This is his last big comference in front of his peers. By his statement he is showing that he is still in charge and wants credit for these new ships. Love or hate the new ships we will now associate Jack with them. HAL repeaters hated the Vista line when it came out. If the ship are 120,000 tons, I would expect no less from Captains club members. I believe they are waiting for bids from two ship yards and will make a decision in the next 4 to 6 weeks. We will now wait and see.

[Kathie44]

Prewelli--I shared your concerns about liking one ship as well as another. As you can see below, we started out with Explorer in 2002 and repeated with her the next year. Then our friends invited us to go with them on Summit to Alaska the same year and we wondered if we would like it as much as Explorer. We LOVED the Summit.

Then we did last year's winter cruise on Adventure, Explorer's sis. This year I wanted to take Brilliance to the Panama Canal, but besides being too expensive, it was almost full. So we booked Galaxy because the price was right and the Feb.3 sailing fit in with our time frame. Well, we REALLY loved the Galaxy!! It's smaller than any of the other ships we've sailed, but I didn't get queasy, the food was fabulous, the service was super.

This year I started out the cruise joining in more shipboard activities than usual and DH did more, too. The activities staff, with one exception, was outstanding. Unfortunately for future Galaxy cruisers, Neil (the Brit), has been transferred to Constellation starting next month. We are hoping he got a promotion because he was even funnier than the CD and should probably have that job himself.

In any case, the trivia and other games were a hoot and we met some great fellow pax. I played bridge quite often in the afternoons and was apprehensive because my last group fell apart 3 years ago and I hadn't played much since, but the bridge hostess and her DH put me at ease and the other players were nice, I settled in with 3 other women, who had also been worried about playing with strangers and we were "four peas in a pod". The music groups are great, especially Sustained, the A'Capella guys--WOW!!! The shows were absolutely the best we've seen.

The excursions we did were wonderful, too. All in all it was our best cruise yet and I wouldn't hesitate to sail Galaxy again. In fact, we are thinking about cruising her in the Mediterranean.

If it's Celebrity, you can't go wrong.

 

Explorer E. Carib. 1/12/02

Explorer W. Carib. 1/18/03

Summit Alaska cruise/tour 8/3/03

Adventure S. Carib. 2/8/04

Galaxy Panama Canal 2/3/05

[Prewelli]

Thank you Kathie for such a positive reply - it is so good to hearing people enjoying themselves instead of complaining! I am so looking forward to our cruise next February but sad because no-one has joined our thread. We have cruised lots of times but this year was the first time we met up with other people and sat with them at dinner and they were fantastic - we talk every day and are cruising next february with two of the and hope the others may join us.

 

Galaxy sounds fun - we cant wait and may try to pick up a late deal in the Med this summer - coming from UK it is not such a problem for us as the flights are relatively inexpensive!

 

Thank you again and happy cruising!

 

Prewelli