Onboard Eclipse Now. Big cutback in Classic Package Inclusions!

[cle-guy]

[quote name='20pluscruises']A LOT of children were sleeping on those crappy sofa beds on the Christmas cruise. As a matter of fact I beleive the child count was close to 1000. Not sure what you are trying to say?[/QUOTE]


What I'm trying to say is they aren't careering to the 3rd and 4th passenger with the bad sofa beds. I will say the trundles and pullmans are more comfy than sofa beds. I can attest the sofa beds in the suites are awful, having shared one with friends in January this year and last. We took mattress off the bed and put it on the floor.

Not all cabins with a sofa/loveseat looking sitting area fold out or are a trundle, especially in Concierge cabins. I learned this on one of the cabin crawls I have participated in.


What ship was that...must have been a nightmare.

Reflection's X's LARGEST capacity ship) CAPACITY is 3046 so if it was this ship kids, were 1/3 of overall guests?

If it were Constellation, capacity is 2170, so nearly HALF would have been kids.

What a nightmare for any ship let alone X which isn't geared to cater to kids.

[cle-guy]

[quote name='The_Big_M']Merely because:
1) it's the standard travel arrangement, and
2) it costs more to fit out every cabin for 3/4 when it's not required, and the line is not registered to carry that many.

As someone keeps saying, the line has a fiduciary duty to shareholders to not spend more money than it needs to. Fitting out all cabins as 3/4 when they can't accommodate that in total on the ship would be a waste of money. Therefore they fit out a reasonable amount with overflow capacity, given you can't predict which grade people will book.[/QUOTE]

Fully agree here.

My point was, if they were more family friendly and trying to [B][I]target[/I][/B] families, they'd have fewer individual cabins and more cabins that fit 3 and 4 more comfortably, but never would they have ALL Cabins for 3 and 4 for the reasons you state.

I wonder how Disney operates their ships....They even have double vanity areas in most (if not all?) cabins to cater to families. Wonder if they have in fact outfitted all cabins for 4 and just sell tell they have reached occupancy....?

[nomad098]

Simple really

A cabin costs $1499 per person to book for a couple

Same cabin for 4 $699 per person, how many couples will share to take advantage of this type of promotion compared to families

Kids do not generate the same type or size of income, a cheap soda package and some money in the arcade, kids club is complimentary with a small charge for late nights

Most of the exciting stuff on RCI are no good for young family's due to age and size restrictions

Celebrity has put one of it's top ships in direct competition with RCI, NCL and MSC family oriented ships on 7 day school holiday cruises this is a departure from the norm for Celebrity in the Med, doing this they need to compete at a similar level and this includes the drinks packages.

I think Celebrity are re-inventing themselves because they are to big to compete in the high end luxury market and to small to compete against the mass market lines and they are carving out a niche in the middle ground

Not all kids need all the whistles and bells to enjoy a family holiday:D

[NLH Arizona]

[quote name='jwm51'][quote name='JandKMom']

There is not a bar list/menu available before the cruise, as the options can change per ship or by itinerary.We can provide you with some sample starting pricing.

soda: $2.00 [COLOR=black]Corner store 4 cans/$2. Same can!:eek:[/COLOR]
bottled water: $3.50 [COLOR=black]$2.00/bottle. Same bottle![/COLOR]
premium coffee/tea: $4.50 [COLOR=black]8 oz jar instant (120 cups!!!) same price!!![/COLOR]
beer: $4.50 [COLOR=black]6 pk. same price as 1!!!:eek:[/COLOR]
wine/cocktails: $6.50

[COLOR=black]You talk about HIGHWAY ROBBERY![/COLOR]:mad:[/quote]

Obviously you can't just jump off the ship and go to a store when the ship is at ful sail, but you can do all your drinking off the ship and purchase your soda and water at ports and bring it back with you. No one is making you buy anything on the ship, it is there for your comfort, since you can't go to the local Seven Eleven, thus you are a captive audience and they can charge you whatever they feel like charging you, just like a hotel, amusement park, etc.

[kevinyork]

Irishayes.............the Molecular bar drinks are $15 (incl tip) and are included.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Edited May 16, 2014 by kevinyork

[cle-guy]

[quote name='ghstudio']Your really stretching with facts. Actually most of the aqua cabins have a sleeper sofa in them....celebrity limited the cabins to 2 people because of the size of Blu...but the sleeper sofas are still there. As far as I know, every mass market cruise line that offers normal size cabins that will accomodate more than 2 people use those "crappy sofa beds" although some use those "crappy" drop down beds. This isn't a plus or minus for celebrity...not even sure why you brought it into the conversation.[/QUOTE]

I just checked only the constellation deck plan, and NONE of the aqua cabins show a sofa bed at least on the deck plan, They have a sofa, but no trundle or bed, well as far as the icons designate. Cabins that sleep extra people have notations as to sleeper sofa or pullman on other cabin types. ON a canon crawl, it was noted by many it was a true sofa and not a fold out as it was quite a bit more comfortable to sit in. I have not actually stayed in an Aqua cabin though so have no intimate knowledge, but based on the published deck plans, there is no note of a fold out.

I brought it into the conversation to say that many cabin types are not designed to support families on X. Sure some do, but I think if one took time to count those cabins with 3rd and 4th capacity will find that they are fewer than those that have only double capacity. A quick look shows that M class have many sofa beds, and S class are fewer. Almost looks like S class have odd corners on every-other cabn that wont allow a full-sized sofa bed to fit. ON deck 11 as an example on Eclipse, only 7 cabins outside the 16 suites have sofa beds. Deck 10 and 9 fewer than half the cans have options for 3rd and 4th passengers.

[20pluscruises]

[quote name='cle-guy']What I'm trying to say is they aren't careering to the 3rd and 4th passenger with the bad sofa beds. I will say the trundles and pullmans are more comfy than sofa beds. I can attest the sofa beds in the suites are awful, having shared one with friends in January this year and last. We took mattress off the bed and put it on the floor.

Not all cabins with a sofa/loveseat looking sitting area fold out or are a trundle, especially in Concierge cabins. I learned this on one of the cabin crawls I have participated in.


What ship was that...must have been a nightmare.

Reflection's X's LARGEST capacity ship) CAPACITY is 3046 so if it was this ship kids, were 1/3 of overall guests?

If it were Constellation, capacity is 2170, so nearly HALF would have been kids.

What a nightmare for any ship let alone X which isn't geared to cater to kids.[/QUOTE]

Actually, i'm pretty sure it was both X ships Christmas 2013...both were out of Flordia. It didn't feel like I was on a Celebrity ship. The crying baby in Blu was not enjoyable. However, 90% of the children were well behaved. The other 10% were little hooligans and could have been on any ship...even one with less and than 100 children. It is what it is, been there done that, won't do it again.

[nomad098]

[quote name='cle-guy']Fully agree here.

My point was, if they were more family friendly and trying to [B][I]target[/I][/B] families, they'd have fewer individual cabins and more cabins that fit 3 and 4 more comfortably, but never would they have ALL Cabins for 3 and 4 for the reasons you state.

I wonder how Disney operates their ships....They even have double vanity areas in most (if not all?) cabins to cater to families. Wonder if they have in fact outfitted all cabins for 4 and just sell tell they have reached occupancy....?[/QUOTE]

They may not have set out to target families per se when the ships were commissioned but one of the buzz words in regards to cruising now is multi generational family holidays, ships and deals that appeals to all sectors

[cle-guy]

[quote name='nomad098']They may not have set out to target families per se when the ships were commissioned but one of the buzz words in regards to cruising now is multi generational family holidays, ships and deals that appeals to all sectors[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I've heard this and its a great way to find new travelers, and suck in a younger generation of folks doing aboard with grandma and grandpa.

I found it odd the the S class ships when built all had may cabins with an extra set of doors so they could be interconnected vie hat hallway entrance, not in the wall between them

Then when Reflection was built they took that feature off of it limiting the number of interconnected cabins. To me it would be awesome of every set of cabins had that arrangement allowing many more people to have the hard to come by connected cabins for larger groups traveling together.

[phoebecat]

Just received this in reply to my email asking for clarification as to What is included on Eclipse sailing out of Southampton on 7 September.

Here is the reply .....

Thank you for your email.

With our Classic beverage package, it will include: unlimited sodas (canned or fountain), juices (bottled or fresh squeezed), premium coffee's (latte' cappuccino's, espresso, etc.), non premium bottled water, beer up to $6.00 per serving & wine/cocktails/mixed drinks up to $8.00 per serving. Also, if a bottle of wine is purchased you will receive a 15% savings off the bottle. Should you order a beverage that costs more than the covered $6.00 or $8.00 amount, that drink would not be covered by the package a would be charged separately (and seperate gratuity charged) to your onboard expense account.

The Premium package will include: unlimited sodas (canned or fountain), juices (bottled or fresh squeezed), premium coffee's (latte' cappuccino's, espresso, etc.), specialty coffee's, premium bottled water, smoothies, energy drinks, vitamin water, then beer/wine/cocktails/mixed drinks all up to $13.00 per serving. Also, if a bottle of wine is purchased you will receive a 20% savings off the bottle. Should you order a beverage that costs more than the $13.00 covered amount, only the difference in price + 15% gratuity would be charged to your onboard expense account. For example, a $15.00 cocktail would cost you $2.00 + .30 cents gratuity would be charged.

When the Classic or Premium beverage package is purchased there is a 15% gratuity that is added at check out. The gratuity is charged off the package price, not per individual drink that is ordered. The exception to this is, if a drinks is not covered by the package.



Sincerely,



Sonja Emerson
Customer Service Representative





Hello!

[nomad098]

[quote name='phoebecat']


Sonja Emerson
Customer Service Representative

Hello![/QUOTE]

This person needs to read their own website then

CLASSIC ALCOHOLIC PACKAGE
Upgrade your cruise experience and pay one price to enjoy all of the benefits of our Classic Non-Alcoholic package featuring beers up to $7 per serving, wine by the glass up u[ to $10.50 per serving, and spirits and cocktails up to $9.50 per serving.

$56.35 per guest, per day.

LOL

Has anyone got a link to prices not including gratuity please

[neptuno]

According to two recent passengers on Eclipse, there is a $10.50 max on wine by the glass (w/15% gratuity, so $9.13+15%=$10.50).

[RDC1]

[quote name='cle-guy']Interesting observation. I can't imagine what other nighttime activities there may have been other than music, show and lounge.

I didn't start cruising until early 2013.....Can you expand on what other nighttime activities there were?[/QUOTE]

Basically Celebrity has shifted most other options to the daytime. A few years ago it would not have been unusual to have a comedy show at night in addition to the main show, they used to have game show type activities at night, including the traditional singing contests, trivia, etc. These activities may have used lounge space, but were not lounge focused., instead more passenger interactive type. These activities seem to either have been cut out or moved to daytime.

Now you have the main show, the lounges and really not much else after 6 pm. The S class layout seems to be lacking in venue for these other type activities so not sure where they would offer them, even if they decided to offer them.

Now this seems to fit in the type of passenger that they want to attract. Certainly there has seemed to be far more reaction to the reduction of drink choices on the plans then to the removal of other activities.

[RDC1]

[quote name='nomad098']Simple really

A cabin costs $1499 per person to book for a couple

Same cabin for 4 $699 per person, how many couples will share to take advantage of this type of promotion compared to families

Kids do not generate the same type or size of income, a cheap soda package and some money in the arcade, kids club is complimentary with a small charge for late nights

Most of the exciting stuff on RCI are no good for young family's due to age and size restrictions

Celebrity has put one of it's top ships in direct competition with RCI, NCL and MSC family oriented ships on 7 day school holiday cruises this is a departure from the norm for Celebrity in the Med, doing this they need to compete at a similar level and this includes the drinks packages.

I think Celebrity are re-inventing themselves because they are to big to compete in the high end luxury market and to small to compete against the mass market lines and they are carving out a niche in the middle ground

Not all kids need all the whistles and bells to enjoy a family holiday:D[/QUOTE]

Celebrity is still considered to be a mass market line in the same tier as Holland America, Princess (some also put Cunard in this same class).

A little above the tier with Carnival and RCI

But certainly not considered a luxury market brand such as Crystal, Regent, etc. Edited May 16, 2014 by RDC1

[20pluscruises]

[quote name='RDC1']Basically Celebrity has shifted most other options to the daytime. A few years ago it would not have been unusual to have a comedy show at night in addition to the main show, they used to have game show type activities at night, including the traditional singing contests, trivia, etc. These activities may have used lounge space, but were not lounge focused., instead more passenger interactive type. These activities seem to either have been cut out or moved to daytime.

Now you have the main show, the lounges and really not much else after 6 pm. The S class layout seems to be lacking in venue for these other type activities so not sure where they would offer them, even if they decided to offer them.

Now this seems to fit in the type of passenger that they want to attract. Certainly there has seemed to be far more reaction to the reduction of drink choices on the plans then to the removal of other activities.Sounds like a win win to me. [/QUOTE]

Interesting... now why know why it takes so long to get bar service. No where else to go other than the bars...maybe they should bring back the night time activities to help cut cost of the alcohol consumption. Edited May 16, 2014 by 20pluscruises

[RDC1]

[quote name='MisterBill99']This is an interesting idea, but can you give an example of previous evening activities that did not involve drinking? (I see that cle-guy asked the same question earlier.)

On our last cruise on Silhouette in February they had a number of parties in the Grand Foyer. While clearly there are bars in the areas around that, it was not a captive audience like when they hold it in an actual bar/lounge area.[/QUOTE]

I answered a couple of posts earlier. Most of the music for the lounges is from the Atrium area that they mostly face. I would consider the dance parties to be just an expansion of the music for the lounges. Clearly it is in the middle of the seating area for two lounges. Even if an event was held entirely in one lounge you are not held captive since you do not have to drink to sit there. All of the seating around the dance parties is in the two surrounding lounges.

It is not a matter of being "captive", it is instead a matter of focus.

[Celebrity Cruises]

Hi all,

After we made recent adjustments to our beverage package, as part of our continual review process, some guests expressed disappointment that their usual drink choice would not be available. With the help of your feedback we've now updated the classic drinks package to increase the choices we offer and our guests can now enjoy over 150 different wines, beers, spirits, and a selection of non-alcoholic choices.

[Oxo]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hi all,

After we made recent adjustments to our beverage package, as part of our continual review process, some guests expressed disappointment that their usual drink choice would not be available. With the help of your feedback we've now updated the classic drinks package to increase the choices we offer and our guests can now enjoy over 150 different wines, beers, spirits, and a selection of non-alcoholic choices.[/QUOTE]

Thank you! Where can we see the list/changes?
I also have the Classic Package on our next two Celebrity cruises which are in Sept and Nov 2014. Edited May 16, 2014 by Oxo

[vulcan1971]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hi all,

After we made recent adjustments to our beverage package, as part of our continual review process, some guests expressed disappointment that their usual drink choice would not be available. With the help of your feedback we've now updated the classic drinks package to increase the choices we offer and our guests can now enjoy over 150 different wines, beers, spirits, and a selection of non-alcoholic choices.[/quote]

Celebrity....

Thank you for taking time to address this issue that has been burning up many cruise threads in recent days. However, the question posed by Oxo in post #271 was a natural and expected question that we are all interested in knowing. Many people, such as myself, have a beverage package for a future cruise and want to know how these "changes" are going to effect our vacation.

You would have been well served in either attaching it here or supplying a link to the Celebrity site where it can be viewed. Not providing the information in a "tangible" form to view/read is almost as bad as not answering any questions in the forum... just my opinion.

[Celebrity Cruises]

[quote name='vulcan1971']Celebrity....

Thank you for taking time to address this issue that has been burning up many cruise threads in recent days. However, the question posed by Oxo in post #271 was a natural and expected question that we are all interested in knowing. Many people, such as myself, have a beverage package for a future cruise and want to know how these "changes" are going to effect our vacation.

You would have been well served in either attaching it here or supplying a link to the Celebrity site where it can be viewed. Not providing the information in a "tangible" form to view/read is almost as bad as not answering any questions in the forum... just my opinion.[/QUOTE]

Hello there,

We're currently working on a list. Not sure if we will have it available today, but it is on our list of things to provide as soon as we're able to.

[SWORRUB1]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hello there,

We're currently working on a list. Not sure if we will have it available today, but it is on our list of things to provide as soon as we're able to.[/quote]


This is just what is needed!

[sheeng]

Unbelievable!!!

[vulcan1971]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hello there,

We're currently working on a list. Not sure if we will have it available today, but it is on our list of things to provide as soon as we're able to.[/quote]

Thank you... very much appreciated! :)

[mr bluetoon]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hello there,

We're currently working on a list. Not sure if we will have it available today, but it is on our list of things to provide as soon as we're able to.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. Just make sure Jack Daniels is at the top please:)

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

[Broch]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hello there,

We're currently working on a list. Not sure if we will have it available today, but it is on our list of things to provide as soon as we're able to.[/QUOTE]

Thanks anyway for coming forward with something which is better than ignoring the problem. Only thing is a lot of people will be pacing waiting for the big announcement. From a personal point, I hope it will be sooner rather than later as I leave home on Tuesday night for our pending cruise