Deployment 2024-25 booking season begins

[shipfriend_max]

24 minutes ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

I wonder if they’re going to throw another Oasis Class ship on the 3/4 night itineraries. I just looked at Allure’s pricing and it seems they’ve been able to keep them fairly high. Maybe Oasis doing 3/4 nighters in Miami and Allure doing them in PC. That frees up Freedom, which we know already. 
 

We’re missing a Saturday ship in Miami as well. Symphony?

 

Where does Utopia go?

Utopia would be the ship for Miami Saturday than, I’d say, if this slot is still missing.

Allure does short routes I’m sure. I think all the ships scheduled for the Caribbean which are still missing will do short Caribbean cruises.

 

[barbeyg]

4 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

The suite price comparison are even more stark. Just can’t justify the Wonder or Icon suites vs Celebrity E-class. 
 

Frankly almost amy Oasis class suite price is nuts. We seem to be drifting more towards Celebrity . 

Us too.  And the food being a step up makes that an even easier choice.

[dada2199cc]

1 hour ago, barbeyg said:

Us too.  And the food being a step up makes that an even easier choice.

 

I've never done the math on RCCL versus Celebrity but I like this idea.  I'm only at 223 points with RCCL right now but will be 237 by end of 2022 and 360 by end of 2023 so switching now means starting over (with at least the tier match which is helpful).

 

I'm going to have to consider this, tho -- the Celebrity points system confuses me a bit but I'm sure I can make a spreadsheet to compare.

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

3 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

 

I've never done the math on RCCL versus Celebrity but I like this idea.  I'm only at 223 points with RCCL right now but will be 237 by end of 2022 and 360 by end of 2023 so switching now means starting over (with at least the tier match which is helpful).

 

I'm going to have to consider this, tho -- the Celebrity points system confuses me a bit but I'm sure I can make a spreadsheet to compare.

 

 

Thats the tough part. C&A SOLO 340+ points hard to beat rate I get from Royal compare to near zero Cruises on other Lines

[barbeyg]

1 minute ago, dada2199cc said:

 

I've never done the math on RCCL versus Celebrity but I like this idea.  I'm only at 223 points with RCCL right now but will be 237 by end of 2022 and 360 by end of 2023 so switching now means starting over (with at least the tier match which is helpful).

 

I'm going to have to consider this, tho -- the Celebrity points system confuses me a bit but I'm sure I can make a spreadsheet to compare.

That's what we did before sailing Celebrity for a crazy low price on a Sky Suite.  The points system is different, and you don't get the premium free drinks each day, like RCI, but we are going to be D+ after our next cruise with RCI, so we don't mind 'jumping ship' sometimes.  I just expected Celebrity Ascent (the newest) to be more expensive than RCI for 2024 releases since Celebrity is a more premium brand.  Shockingly, it wasn't and we both loved our cruise on Apex so....we booked Ascent for December 2024, in an infinite balcony cabin.  My husband is sad, but he will get over not having the "suite life" for one of the cruises in 2024.  lol

 

Here's a link that shows you the points structure.  The higher the category, the higher the points.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/

 

Now, the bennies aren't as good with Celebrity (still has the daily 2 hour happy hour), but the food and service are excellent.

[barbeyg]

2 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Thats the tough part. C&A SOLO 340+ points hard to beat rate I get from Royal compare to near zero Cruises on other Lines

Yeah, once you get to the C&A 340+, singles finally get some relief with RCI.  Not so much other brands.  

[dada2199cc]

Just now, ONECRUISER said:

Thats the tough part. C&A SOLO 340+ points hard to beat rate I get from Royal compare to near zero Cruises on other Lines

 

A *very* brief review of Celebrity's site shows that "The Retreat" cabin is actually about what I pay for JS on RCCL.  But we always do UDP specialty dining and the food is good enough for us -- so I need to figure out what that pricing is, too.

Ports/dates all seem similar but RCCL has the 8 night cruises that I love (Saturday=>Sunday) while Celebrity seems to have more 7 nights.  That extra night makes a big difference!  My goal is always to try to get to 80 nights at sea per year, around 50 with my partner and another 30 solo.

 

I do one third of the the cruises each year solo so that 340 solo goal is huge for me -- my original plan was Pinnacle by age 50 but C19 threw that in the gutter (I'll make Pinnacle before I turn 52, so close still!) but honestly I like the challenge of considering a different sister line.

 

This is an interesting challenge, indeed!

[dada2199cc]

4 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

That's what we did before sailing Celebrity for a crazy low price on a Sky Suite.  The points system is different, and you don't get the premium free drinks each day, like RCI, but we are going to be D+ after our next cruise with RCI, so we don't mind 'jumping ship' sometimes.  I just expected Celebrity Ascent (the newest) to be more expensive than RCI for 2024 releases since Celebrity is a more premium brand.  Shockingly, it wasn't and we both loved our cruise on Apex so....we booked Ascent for December 2024, in an infinite balcony cabin.  My husband is sad, but he will get over not having the "suite life" for one of the cruises in 2024.  lol

 

Here's a link that shows you the points structure.  The higher the category, the higher the points.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/

 

Now, the bennies aren't as good with Celebrity (still has the daily 2 hour happy hour), but the food and service are excellent.

 

Thanks!  I'm reviewing it now.

 

As I mentioned in my prior response here, I do cruise a lot -- 50 days with my partner, 30 days solo (as an annual goal) and I'm still in my 40s.  Perhaps I'll aim for 340 with RCCL and try a Celebrity cruise or two and see.

 

We do love the specialty restaurants on Royal (except for Wonderland on Symphony, yuck!), the 5x2 free drinks for C&A, the 8-night cruises that often are available out of MIA/FLL/TPA for that extra sneak day in (partner is barely 40 and she still has an office job with limited vacations).

 

Also: Starlink on RCCL.  If I can convince my partner to work from the ship on sea days (say, 2 sea days per trip), we can shove another 2 cruises a year in together, assuming Starlink is fast enough, and that's currently an RCCL exclusive.

[Biker19]

Just now, dada2199cc said:

If I can convince my partner to work from the ship on sea days (say, 2 sea days per trip), we can shove another 2 cruises a year in together, assuming Starlink is fast enough, and that's currently an RCCL exclusive.

The pre-Starlink service was good enough to work from the ship already, most of the time.

[dada2199cc]

Just now, Biker19 said:

The pre-Starlink service was good enough to work from the ship already, most of the time.

 

She has to VPN into the office and do WiFi calling -- much riskier on sea days for sure, but we're going to try it out on ships in 2023 and see!

 

 I'm also aware that stateroom location and distance from the access point can affect the speed more than the satellite portion!

[barbeyg]

3 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

 

Thanks!  I'm reviewing it now.

Also: Starlink on RCCL.  If I can convince my partner to work from the ship on sea days (say, 2 sea days per trip), we can shove another 2 cruises a year in together, assuming Starlink is fast enough, and that's currently an RCCL exclusive.

RCI is also putting Starlink on the Celebrity ships too.  We didn't have it on Apex, and a couple of days, I couldn't have worked remotely, if I wanted to.  But, yes, getting to that goal of 340 with RCI sounds like a wise choice.  And since y'all enjoy the specialty restaurants, Celebrity would be a real treat for you.  Luminae itself was much better than Coastal Kitchen, at least on Apex.

 

Looking forward to possibly working some from sea too.  I'm watching the reports on the RCI ships closely, since I have to VPN and Voom call as well.

[Biker19]

7 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

 I'm also aware that stateroom location and distance from the access point can affect the speed more than the satellite portion!

Be prepared to move or work with the cabin door propped open.

[dada2199cc]

Just now, barbeyg said:

RCI is also putting Starlink on the Celebrity ships too.  We didn't have it on Apex, and a couple of days, I couldn't have worked remotely, if I wanted to.  But, yes, getting to that goal of 340 with RCI sounds like a wise choice.  And since y'all enjoy the specialty restaurants, Celebrity would be a real treat for you.  Luminae itself was much better than Coastal Kitchen, at least on Apex.

 

Looking forward to possibly working some from sea too.  I'm watching the reports on the RCI ships closely, since I have to VPN and Voom call as well.

 

Yeah that's what I'll do -- finish my run to 340 on C&A (Thanksgiving 2023 I should just barely get there) 

and then start to consider what Celebrity can do for us.

 

What I usually do (years in advance of sailing announcements, even) is plot out how to maximize "us time" on board cruises with her limited 23 vacation days and 10 holidays, and then aim to maximize "me time" since I love cruising solo lone-wolf style.  RCCL's calendar consistently lets us get to maximize days with those awesome 8 night Saturday=>Sunday cruises.

 

Plus we've been accumulating MyVegas points so that's 2 "free" short cruises a year between us and we're each just barely Prime so we each get 2 more "free" cruises a year from Club Royale.  So there's a lot of confusing math, lol.

Appreciate all your help -- I'm definitely going to do some calendar/cost/comp comparisons!

[dada2199cc]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Be prepared to move or work with the cabin door propped open.

 

I pretty much do this anyway.  I like humidity.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

 

I pretty much do this anyway.  I like humidity.

I meant the door to the hallway (to get a better wifi signal) - I hope it's not much more humid there.

[dada2199cc]

Just now, Biker19 said:

I meant the door to the hallway (to get a better wifi signal) - I hope it's not much more humid there.

 

Ohh haha.  Duh.

Yeah that's not an issue.

 

I also have a nice repeater I use that's battery operated, so I sometimes just stick it magnetically to the outside of the door to boost the signal.  Works great and actually speeds up internet speeds a bit because it uses my own DNS server and filters a bunch of nonsense sites/ads/etc.

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, dada2199cc said:

I also have a nice repeater I use that's battery operated, so I sometimes just stick it magnetically to the outside of the door to boost the signal. 

That's genius, if a bit brave that someone doesn't walk off with it.

[dada2199cc]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

That's genius, if a bit brave that someone doesn't walk off with it.

 

Airtag stuck on it, too.  So far, so good, tho.  I'm not excessively worried, I adopted this "it's just stuff" mentality half a decade ago and apply it to almost everything that is "just stuff" haha.

 

The airtag is there for ME because I forget stuff on flights all the time.

 

If you're computery, those little repeaters are really amazing.  Even on slow in-flight WiFi, stuff just pops up quick.

Edited December 15, 2022 by dada2199cc

[toad455]

So do the longer Caribbean cruises get announced later? Only longer cruises I see currently are the two 12-day cruises for the Vision out of Baltimore in January 2025.

[ONECRUISER]

5 minutes ago, toad455 said:

So do the longer Caribbean cruises get announced later? Only longer cruises I see currently are the two 12-day cruises for the Vision out of Baltimore in January 2025.

Yes, Seasonal usually smaller Vision and Radiance class doing 10+ niters, these are yet to come. Few Repos and PC I'm hoping also

[FionaMG]

Just spotted a couple of TAs on Adventure. Is she due a dry dock? Looks like she's coming over to Europe in October 2024 and returning a couple of weeks later.

 

 

Although once again let down by poor geography. The so-called "Transatlantic Azores" doesn't go to the Azores but, rather, to Madeira, which is a completely different archipelago. 🙄

[ONECRUISER]

16 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Just spotted a couple of TAs on Adventure. Is she due a dry dock? Looks like she's coming over to Europe in October 2024 and returning a couple of weeks later.

 

 

Although once again let down by poor geography. The so-called "Transatlantic Azores" doesn't go to the Azores but, rather, to Madeira, which is a completely different archipelago. 🙄

Well at age this Ship DD is due every couple yrs so probably. Nice Catch!

[FionaMG]

5 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Well at age this Ship DD is due every couple yrs so probably. Nice Catch!

 

I think they must just have added them. Total number jumped from 608 to 612 so I went hunting. Can't find the other two extras though. 😂

[ONECRUISER]

2 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

I think they must just have added them. Total number jumped from 608 to 612 so I went hunting. Can't find the other two extras though. 😂

Was just looking at that when you posted Adventure TA's. I usually have a running total before they start posting for Total all, then Totals for my Ships and Dates. Thanks

[toad455]

2 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Yes, Seasonal usually smaller Vision and Radiance class doing 10+ niters, these are yet to come. Few Repos and PC I'm hoping also

 

Looking for the January cruises out of Bayonne mostly. Curious if we're finally getting a different ship or if they might go back to the 12-day cruises w/Barbados.