Things that you are happy Celebrity has introduced since you first started sailing.

[phoenix_dream]

Definitely the no smoking policy in cabins and balconies (and limited elsewhere).  Happy for the addition of Blu (and unlike some changes for suites, Blu and Luminae do not really take space away to any great amount - everyone had to eat somewhere anyway).  Also like the addition of Select Dining.  Love the Martini Bar.  Like the addition of drink packages, although at the end of the day they usually cost us more than buying individually.  We buy them for the convenience.  Internet of course, but then all cruise lines have it now and it wasn't a thing back in the 1990's when we first sailed Celebrity.  More balcony options - when we first sailed there were few or none.  That is probably the biggest benefit besides the no smoking.

 

Beyond that, I confess I am struggling.  But it is nice to look at the positive.

[phoenix_dream]

4 minutes ago, Mike981 said:

We just got back on Celebrity after many years away, so it's hard to answer the actual question.
But I can say, we loved seeing guests and staff who were genuinely happy to see each other and spend time together. I know this isn't new, but we sure enjoy it.

Not new to Celebrity, but definitely something we enjoy also.  We cruise often and there are several staff members we keep in touch with on Facebook and we love to meet them when sailing again.  Almost feels like coming home!  I think they also enjoy it as well - it is hard to be away from home for so many months at a time and so it's nice to see some friendly faces I think.

[Baron Barracuda]

50 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Sorry, but in what fantasy world are the prices on Celebrity being kept down???  Just sayin'

 

Agree.  Must be the same fantasy world where changes that benefit 8% of passengers but penalize 92% are considered positive.  

[Mike981]

17 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

A counter to the "what Celebrity has done away with", always fair to look at both.

 

1.  The perks, depending on the sailing, sometimes they actually are "free".  My 4 night Infinity cruise was $500 for Aqua, felt like the cruise was free.

Some kids just can't keep it positive.

[grandgeezer]

18 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

A counter to the "what Celebrity has done away with", always fair to look at both.

 

1.  The perks, depending on the sailing, sometimes they actually are "free".  My 4 night Infinity cruise was $500 for Aqua, felt like the cruise was free.

Since you said you paid $500, I'm assuming that include the taxes and fees. From what I could find that would be about $110 which brings you down to $390 for just the cruise portion. Gratuities are $60, that makes $330. So that would make $82.50 p.p. per day for Aqua Class and unlimited drinks. Sure, I'll buy that.

 

[Denny01]

Always funny to see how much grousing goes on when asked what you enjoy about something as wonderful as cruising.......

 

What I like that Celebrity introduced since I first cruised Celebrity?

 - M-Class, S-Class and now E-Class

 - love Elite + Goodies

 - Infinite Balcony

 -  T-spa pool on M-Class (best at sea pool anywhere)

 -  4 ‘main’ dining rooms on E-Class

 - luggage drop-off

 - carry off luggage

 - the buffet stations instead of those painful buffet lines

 

Heck, after listing the Class ships introduced since I started with Celebrity, I realized I’ve been cruising Celebrity since 1997 - a bit of time - and All the ships cruising now were introduced after that and All the ships sailing then are gone! Ha!! And so many positive changes. 

 

I do remind friends as they start to bemoan how our town has changed, that what brought them here was what they were looking for then and they don’t want anything changed, but things change as more people join us and ‘improvements’ added, but even more, we change as our interests and needs change. I’m cruising as much as possible until I can’t, and go home, sit on the porch and yell at kids to stay off my lawn......Or sit here on CruiseCritic and complain about how terrible everything is now and how wonderful it was ‘back then’. 

 

Den

[Stateroom_Sailor]

54 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

Since you said you paid $500, I'm assuming that include the taxes and fees. From what I could find that would be about $110 which brings you down to $390 for just the cruise portion. Gratuities are $60, that makes $330. So that would make $82.50 p.p. per day for Aqua Class and unlimited drinks. Sure, I'll buy that.

 

 

ASSUME all you want, but Halloween cruises can become incredibly cheap even before final payment.

 

$549 each, $1,250 after taxes and tips, minus $400 OBC + $200ish TA credit.  We negotiated Aqua on the hump, around $650 pp, by volunteering to drop a 2nd perk.

 

I think we got a good deal, not quite sure how this is being negative.

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by Stateroom_Sailor

[florisdekort]

Edge.  It’s awesome. 

[Ken the cruiser]

9 hours ago, Despegue said:

The suite perks and reduction in choices for Steerage are the single reason why we changed to HAL.

NO class environment during my holidays thank you!

This is true. On HAL cruises pretty much everyone is treated like steerage, unless you’re of course booked in a Neptune or Pinnacle suite. But even then you really don’t get all that much, even though they usually cost more than a sky suite on similar itineraries. 

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

ASSUME all you want, but Halloween cruises can become incredibly cheap even before final payment.

 

$549 each, $1,250 after taxes and tips, minus $400 OBC + $200ish TA credit.  We negotiated Aqua on the hump, around $650 pp, by volunteering to drop a 2nd perk.

 

I think we got a good deal, not quite sure how this is being negative.

 

 

1 hour ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

ASSUME all you want, but Halloween cruises can become incredibly cheap even before final payment.

 

$549 each, $1,250 after taxes and tips, minus $400 OBC + $200ish TA credit.  We negotiated Aqua on the hump, around $650 pp, by volunteering to drop a 2nd perk.

 

I think we got a good deal, not quite sure how this is being negative.

 

 

On 5/3/2019 at 5:25 PM, Pickels said:

What about the person who cleans your bathroom and cleans up your cabin and serves you dinner.

 

You said, on your original post you paid $500, now you say you paid $1250, that’s believable. The $400 obc is questionable as it’s over 30% of the cruise. If you got it from Celebrity you had to spend it so that doesn’t affect price paid. The other $200 obc, if from a travel agent could be taken home so, if you did, that can be subtracted. That’s called creative accounting.

I now all about Halloween deals, we’ve done it four times the last time being last year. We did seven days, on RCL Allure of the Seas, in a Grand Suite, for $1250 p.p. That included all taxes and fees, with a subtraction of $150 p.p. For obc from the travel agency that we did take home. It didn’t include anything for the $200 obc from RCL as we had to spend it, dinner for two in Chops, or internet for two, also from RCL. No assumptions need as I spelled everything out. 

 

 

 Hom, if you did that count.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

47 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

The $400 obc is questionable as it’s over 30% of the cruise. If you got it from Celebrity you had to spend it so that doesn’t affect price paid.

 

We paid $549 for the cruise fare pp, I was incorrect quoting $500.

 

What would my motive be to lie about the OBC?  You can look up the next cruise program (which used to apply forward), and how much of that $300 perk applies to a 4 night cruise.

 

Doesn't matter if you deduct the OBC or not.  We got free excursions and tips none the less.  Hardly a ripoff.

[Shadow9612]

14 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Since we started sailing the biggest positive for us is Luminae when we sail suites.  Also technology has improved greatly and WiFi has gone from awful previously to pretty good now on most ships (excellent on Edge).  The technology improvement allows WiFi Calling and free texting so communication to our friends and family has gone from very expensive (remember $7 per min phone calls?) to very easy and inexpensive.  More and better channels on stateroom TVs and direct reviewing of your account instead of waiting at guest services.  Elimination of wasted printed photos and introduction of e-photos instead.  Another positive (for us anyway) is Formal changed to Chic nights.  Muster drills inside without lugging life jackets instead of standing in rows on the crowded life boat deck. Much more variety in the buffet with international foods and vegetarian dishes.  Elimination of smoking from balconies and from the casino.  I could go on but will leave that to others.

Excellent list @TeeRick.  

[Luvcrusn]

The biggest positive for us is no indoor smoking, and second is the increased availability of tables for two in the dining venues followed by the removal of the pesky shower curtains with the launch of the S-class ships. The beverage packages make it easy to assess the final cost of our cruises and the WIFI has been added and improved from back in the day when it was first non-existent, and later insufferably wonky and slow. We love the replacement of Formal nights with Evening Chic nights.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

8 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Some kids just can't keep it positive.

 

You're a trooper, making it this far.

 

To make matters worse, we had a family reunion in GA, so it only cost an additional $100 each in airfare to get to Ft Lauderdale, where we stayed at a Sheraton with points.

 

Short and sweet, we had a great cruise at an unbelievable value, enthusiastic Halloween party the last night.  No reason why anyone can't do the same.

[deliver42]

Some people are never satisfied. if you look hard enough, you can always find something not the way you want. As has been said before, a cruise is what you make it. If you go on with a positive attitude, you will enjoy it, but if all you think of is negative, then you will not.

[TeeRick]

On 5/4/2019 at 5:11 AM, grayjay said:

That's the sweet suite life! But I'm afraid that's something for those being able to book suites and I'm happy for you to enjoy the perks. On the other hand I sorely miss the spaces taken away from loyal customers  like Michael's Club , Crow's nest, Sun decks. So I'm afraid to say that even though it's a great idea to have a thread about the positive new things introduced it's much more difficult to find anything compared to the things taken away.

The OP started a positive thread. If you prefer to focus on some of the things that were taken away there are hundreds of other threads for bemoaning those things.   

[TeeRick]

22 hours ago, Despegue said:

The suite perks and reduction in choices for Steerage are the single reason why we changed to HAL.

NO class environment during my holidays thank you!

This is intended to be a positive thread listing the Celebrity changes that people have enjoyed.  Perhaps that would be easier for you to do on the HAL board.  I'm sure that nobody complains there.

[chemmo]

13 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

The OP started a positive thread. If you prefer to focus on some of the things that were taken away there are hundreds of other threads for bemoaning those things.   

 

Well said!

 

Our glass is more than half full on any cruise we are lucky enough to be well enough to access and enjoy!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

20 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Some kids just can't keep it positive.

 

I believe I may have misunderstood the context, and though you were criticizing my example.  Yes, this thread was meant to focus on the positives, we have another thread for the negatives, not sure why some are having a tough time with it.  Each of us can decide for ourselves what value to place one what has been added and subtracted.  Sometimes it is too easy to forget, which is why I think both sides are valid.

[andyfriend80]

Evening Chic (to be fair it was brought in just before our first cruise with Celebrity).  Love getting changed for dinner but have no interest in wearing tux/suit etc - I'm on holiday!

[bkbarrym]

47 minutes ago, andyfriend80 said:

Evening Chic (to be fair it was brought in just before our first cruise with Celebrity).  Love getting changed for dinner but have no interest in wearing tux/suit etc - I'm on holiday!

With checked bag weight limitations on flights I like that I no longer need to pack a suit and dress shoes.

[Quo Vadis?]

Zenith level perks

 

[Mike981]

2 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

I believe I may have misunderstood the context, and though you were criticizing my example.  Yes, this thread was meant to focus on the positives, we have another thread for the negatives, not sure why some are having a tough time with it.  Each of us can decide for ourselves what value to place one what has been added and subtracted.  Sometimes it is too easy to forget, which is why I think both sides are valid.

 

Nope, I was trying to point out that the whole reason for this thread was to stick to the positives and I'm thankful for it.

Years ago I stayed at a brand new Sandals (Whitehouse) that wasn't ready. I booked because of the great price and knew, there would be some issues. But, there were A LOT (think backed up sewer lines). We were comped a comparable room at any Sandals resort in the next year and made the best of it. Really had a great time. We saw some who were very upset and would gather with others with the same mindset and just complain all day. It is a big place, so it was easy to avoid them.

A positive attitude is a lot like diet and exercise. It's a pain in the arse to do, but the benefits are immeasurable.

[Cruise it or lose it]

On 5/4/2019 at 9:43 AM, Stateroom_Sailor said:

Where did suite guests eat before Luminae?  I remember seeing Blu on our 2014 cruise, but don't remember the others.

I paid to eat in Blu or specialty.  And than there was the main dining room. Could never understand why you had to pay to eat in Blu.

 

[johno1234]

New to Celeb, but I noticed they are dealing with chair hogs.