What would you like to see in a New Celebrity "X" class ?

[boscobeans]

Smaller freaking ships with longer Itineraries.

 

I agree.

 

How about ships with less than 1800 passengers, a true promenade deck, a few new itineraries, cabins that are designed with storage in mind and of different sizes, not all the same.

 

I like being on a ship not an imitation NY City or an amusement park. The newer X ships are fast approaching RCCL in the useless glitz and gizmo factor. I just hope X doesn't continue on in the same fashion or their next build will include one of those giant Skill Cranes so adrenaline starved cruisers can be dangled out thirteen stories over the water???

 

I don't need a multimillion dollar (and totally useless) two story wine display in the MDR, maybe instead a slight upgrade in the quality of the food would be better.

 

Done soap boxing.. Just some rambling thoughts with my past cruise experiences rolling around in my head..LOL

 

bosco

[C 2 C]

 

How about ships with less than 1800 passengers, a true promenade deck, a few new itineraries, cabins that are designed with storage in mind and of different sizes, not all the same.

 

Just some rambling thoughts with my past cruise experiences rolling around in my head..LOL

 

bosco

 

I just wish that the "design team" will actually include experienced cruisers who have to live with the choices they make.

[cdbaum]

Yes, I was joking, we are going to leave the kids there by themselves. Still joking, you can all breathe again. Neither AQ cabins or Blu exclude minors however. The only thing that prevents more children is the double occupancy rule for AQ. If I chose to book an AQ cabin with my 8 year old daughter she would be allowed (almost required) to eat in Blu. She would not be allowed to be a pain in the butt to anyone else in Blu but that is my rule not theirs and it applies to anywhere on the ship.

 

Since there is no minimum age listed for booking an AQ cabin to try and exclude a child from Blu would open X up to litigation. Plus you open up a whole new problem... You don't want kids in there, I don't want tall people, he doesn't want service animals, someone else doesn't want Druids. Now you are excluding people from booking a cabin type since Blu is the designated restaurant for AQ.

[SantaFeFan]

I don't need a multimillion dollar (and totally useless) two story wine display in the MDR,

 

Are you saying they need to get rid of the wine selections? The display is not the "multimillion dollar" cost, but the value of the wine itself. Even if they had the wine hidden away, it would still have the same "multimillion dollar" value. For those of us who enjoy a good wine with dinner, Celebrity's wine selection is certainly not "totally useless".

[upwarduk]

It may just be me, but I think this is quite inconsiderate. You want to get away from your kids for quiet, but have no problem subjecting strangers to your children that you expect to be noisy.

 

I couldn't agree more.

The advantage P&O have over Celebrity, they have adult only ships.

 

How about it Celebrity?

[Lois R]

You might want to check with Celebrity on the details of your dining plans. AquaClass might not be kid-free, but Blu is.

 

We were informed that the Blu restaurant will not accept minors even if they are occupying an AquaClass stateroom.

 

Please let me know if you learn that I am wrong about that.

 

You were told that children are not allowed to dine in Blu?

Not sure who gave you that "misinformation".....but it is definitely

incorrect.

[cdbaum]

I should have been more specific. Children in AQ (and Blu) can be any age but there is a minimum age of 12 if booked in a suite and choosing to dine in Blu.

[boscobeans]

Are you saying they need to get rid of the wine selections? The display is not the "multimillion dollar" cost, but the value of the wine itself. Even if they had the wine hidden away, it would still have the same "multimillion dollar" value. For those of us who enjoy a good wine with dinner, Celebrity's wine selection is certainly not "totally useless".

 

The key word is "display". I enjoy wine with my meals, however I see no reason for a two story display. The cost of the unit, the cost of upkeep and the space it occupies makes no sense when ships are nickel and diming us at every turn.

 

Granted it may only be a small amount of the total cost of a ship and its all around operational costs but it is an amount that serves no purpose. When tables are set so close to each other (due to the increasing number of passengers being jammed into the MDR) I would think every square foot would be better used.

 

Just like the deep drawers in the staterooms which really are not designed well for storing clothing, the shallow closets that keep the doors from closing without twisting your garment hangars or the storage area over the head of the beds??? Poor design and utilization of space on the new ships along with expenses of building and maintenance of silly glitz like the wine tower make little sense to me.

 

I know these features are important to some but since this thread is about people's thoughts on new ships I just mentioned a few that are important as well as not important to me.

 

OMO

 

bosco

[C 2 C]

I should have been more specific. Children in AQ (and Blu) can be any age but there is a minimum age of 12 if booked in a suite and choosing to dine in Blu.

 

We have seen younger children in Blu.

[Xport]

You were told that children are not allowed to dine in Blu? Not sure who gave you that "misinformation".....but it is definitely incorrect.

 

With more than a few AquaClass sailings under my belt, you are correct that children traveling in AquaClass staterooms have never--from the outset--been precluded from dining in Blu...

 

I think some of the chatter here may relate to a past practice--I don't think it's in effect any longer [though I saw it enforced in times past]--in which children under 12 [following the policy that is seemingly still in effect for Murano/ M-Class counterpart restaurants] who were traveling in suites were prohibited from dining in Blu [dinner only; not breakfast] regardless of space availability for the family... At the time, such policy seemed arbitrary and difficult to defend; I think it's gone...

[cdbaum]

There is no minimum age to dine in Blu. UNLESS you are in a suite in which case it is 12. But we all know that rules can be bent also.

 

Of course my child is perfect (many of you have met her, keep quiet) it's the rest of them that are a problem. They also allow her in the elite happy hour depending on the CC host/hostess so stay away from there too.

[SantaFeFan]

The key word is "display". I enjoy wine with my meals, however I see no reason for a two story display. The cost of the unit, the cost of upkeep and the space it occupies makes no sense when ships are nickel and diming us at every turn.

 

Umm, another "nickle and diming" conspiracy theorist. :(

 

As far as I can tell, nothing has been taken away, but more things are now offered, some of them extra fare. How is that considered "nickle and diming" when you still have everything included that you used to have in the base fare? :confused:

 

Or is the sky always falling at your house? :rolleyes:

[Karen@Steve]

Bring back the Thalassotherapy pools from the M-Class ship. One of the best features of those ships IMHO.

[boscobeans]

Umm, another "nickle and diming" conspiracy theorist. :(

 

As far as I can tell, nothing has been taken away, but more things are now offered, some of them extra fare. How is that considered "nickle and diming" when you still have everything included that you used to have in the base fare? :confused:

 

Or is the sky always falling at your house? :rolleyes:

 

With our 14th Celebrity cruise coming up (on the Equinox) and having only been cruising since 2001 with a good number of cruises on other lines under our belts since then I can only speak from my experience.

 

"As far as I can tell, nothing has been taken away, but more things are now offered, some of them extra fare."

 

Food in the MDR has gone down a bit over the past 12 years. Not enough to spoil any one of our cruises, but just a opinion on my part.

 

As the quality of the food went down the "specialty" restaurants and other added cost dining venues grew in number. The first we did was the "Olympic" and at the time there was a large emphasis on the ambiance and one on one (Butterfly) service along with food preparation at the table. Since then we have been to many others and always have enjoyed them but I see movement, however slow and in small increments where Celebrity seems to moving towards more emphasis on the quality of "specialty" dining and less on the quality of the MDR.

 

Having to ask for a water pitcher in our room is no hassle but we had to on our last cruise on the Silhouette.

 

Although we have really never had a complaint with our butlers, room stewards or dining staff we have seen that their work load as to the number of passengers they serve has increased. The difference in their service is slight however it is noticeable.

 

"you still have everything included that you used to have in the base fare?"

 

Maybe, but as I have noticed the service and quality in the MDR has gone down some.

The staterooms are smaller and their design especially for cruises over 12 days or so allow less storage.

Areas on the Silhouette right outside the MDR crowded with photographers or other throughways blocked with activities blocking the flow of traffic.

 

The sky has never fallen on my house or on any cruise I have every taken but since this is a thread about our likes and dislikes I have only expressed my thoughts on a few dark clouds in the sky and they are just MY thoughts and they are in no way meant to insult or alter the opinions of anyone else.

 

bosco

[gblotter]

You might want to check with Celebrity on the details of your dining plans. AquaClass might not be kid-free, but Blu is.

 

We were informed that the Blu restaurant will not accept minors even if they are occupying an AquaClass stateroom.

 

Please let me know if you learn that I am wrong about that.

 

You are wrong about that.

 

I booked our August 2014 cruise while still aboard Millennium last week. The agent who did our booking told me about the "no minors in Blu" rule. Two different on-board agents actually conveyed the same information. They were obviously wrong. Miscommunication seems be the key characteristic of that ill-fated Millennium cruise - hahah.

 

I called Celebrity this morning and they confirmed that AquaClass minors can indeed dine in Blu when in the company of adults.

 

Sorry for spewing incorrect information.

[SantaFeFan]

With our 14th Celebrity cruise coming up (on the Equinox) and having only been cruising since 2001 with a good number of cruises on other lines under our belts since then I can only speak from my experience.

 

"As far as I can tell, nothing has been taken away, but more things are now offered, some of them extra fare."

 

Food in the MDR has gone down a bit over the past 12 years. Not enough to spoil any one of our cruises, but just a opinion on my part.

 

As the quality of the food went down the "specialty" restaurants and other added cost dining venues grew in number. The first we did was the "Olympic" and at the time there was a large emphasis on the ambiance and one on one (Butterfly) service along with food preparation at the table. Since then we have been to many others and always have enjoyed them but I see movement, however slow and in small increments where Celebrity seems to moving towards more emphasis on the quality of "specialty" dining and less on the quality of the MDR.

 

Having to ask for a water pitcher in our room is no hassle but we had to on our last cruise on the Silhouette.

 

Although we have really never had a complaint with our butlers, room stewards or dining staff we have seen that their work load as to the number of passengers they serve has increased. The difference in their service is slight however it is noticeable.

 

"you still have everything included that you used to have in the base fare?"

 

Maybe, but as I have noticed the service and quality in the MDR has gone down some.

The staterooms are smaller and their design especially for cruises over 12 days or so allow less storage.

Areas on the Silhouette right outside the MDR crowded with photographers or other throughways blocked with activities blocking the flow of traffic.

 

The sky has never fallen on my house or on any cruise I have every taken but since this is a thread about our likes and dislikes I have only expressed my thoughts on a few dark clouds in the sky and they are just MY thoughts and they are in no way meant to insult or alter the opinions of anyone else.

 

bosco

 

So many errors, so many exaggerations. I don't know where to start. :eek:

 

So I will just let you simmer in your discontent. :D

[celebrity]

Thallasotherapy Pool !!!!

Cheers!

 

Yes, yes and yes! :)

[boscobeans]

So I will just let you simmer in your discontent. :D

 

Simmer ? Nope. Just a few observations. Like I said I have never had a bad cruise and do not intend to. Life is too short to dwell on small things and the problems I noted, if you could call them problems, have been minor, but they are there.

 

You win!

 

bosco

[travellink]

I would like to see an adults only pool and hot tubs on the aft of the ship and an elevator bank aft also. I would also like to see the Sky lounge area returned to the same size and not smaller as on the Reflection, by maybe adding a level above for an all suite and /or penthouse inclusive type area.

[Hlitner]

OMG! Reading some of the posts had me laughing myself crazy to I realized that much of this thread describes Holland American (where we also cruise quite often).

 

Hank

[boscobeans]

OMG! Reading some of the posts had me laughing myself crazy to I realized that much of this thread describes Holland American (where we also cruise quite often).

 

Hank

 

We booked an SY (signature suite) on the Noordam, although not a suite as far as all the amenities of a true suite the concierge service proved to be wonderful and managed to make almost any arrangements we needed with no problem.

 

We liked it so much we booked onboard for a repeat cruise on the same cruise and ship.

 

bosco