Are Celebrity ships sailing at full capacity now?

[NMTraveller]

99.9%

 

I cannot book a single cabin on my next cruise ...

 

I tried to do a mock booking to see what my chances were for a Move Up bid.  Nada...

Edited October 21, 2023 by NMTraveller

[kywildcatfanone]

To expound on my comment on overcrowding on Equinox.   Yes, sea days will be more crowded by default, but I would suggest they have too many loungers setup and they are literally butted tight to each other and you have people moving them out into the walking paths to get some space between them. Seems they could put out a few less chairs overall.

To compound that problem the OVC not opening for lunch till noon ensures that it will get overwhelmed with traffic.  Made the mistake of waiting till 12:15 to eat the first sea day and walked around for 20 minutes looking for a table.  Learned you have to go on there about 11:45 to get a table or wait till after 1.  

The ship is nice overall, but it seems the grass lawn space is wasted.  Wish the walking track was up there.  Seems to be little used space.  They have signs up asking people to stay off it.  While unique, it seems to me like wasted space.  Would be better to me to have an adults only outdoor pool in that space.  Just my 2 cents worth.

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I think we need to keep in mind that many of these bookings might be from FCC during the shutdown.  Or is that timing past? Will be interesting to see what next year's capacities look like with so much bad publicity about MDR food, taking away dedicated butlers for sky suites, and on and on. Couple that with the reinstitution of student loan payments, as well as credit card debt shock from so much overspending and we'll see what happens. I know I have fewer Celebrity cruises booked for next year than I usually would. 

I think (not sure) that most of the FCC has been spent in the past year or two by those holding it.  I do not think that is driving all of the new bookings and high occupancy.  Clearly a lot of people still think that Celebrity and cruising in general represents an enjoyable vacation value.  So Celebrity is charging high prices and cutting services and quality, and it seems to be working for them.  No reason at all for them to change this strategy.

[NMTraveller]

22 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I think (not sure) that most of the FCC has been spent in the past year or two by those holding it.  I do not think that is driving all of the new bookings and high occupancy.  Clearly a lot of people still think that Celebrity and cruising in general represents an enjoyable vacation value.  So Celebrity is charging high prices and cutting services and quality, and it seems to be working for them.  No reason at all for them to change this strategy.

I disagree with this.

 

I compare the old Celebrity fans with Apple fans who would get up in the early morning to wait in a long line to purchase an IPhone.  The Celebrity fans would just automatically book their next Celebrity cruise while onboard.  I was one of them.  If Apple discontinued making a top tier product, eventually people would find out that they are overpriced and why pay a premium for an average product?  The same for Celebrity.  Especially for Celebrity where cruises are booked years in advance.

 

What distinguished Celebrity from their competitors?  It was their food and excellence in service.  They did it better than their competitors...

Edited October 21, 2023 by NMTraveller

[Jeremiah1212]

11 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I think we need to keep in mind that many of these bookings might be from FCC during the shutdown.  Or is that timing past?

 

They aren't. Even a year ago 95% of bookings were new vs. FCC redemptions. Last quarter they had $5.6 billion in deposits with $0.4 billion of that being unused FCC. That 0.4 billion figure has remained flat the past several quarters indicating a decent piece of that may go unused. 

 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance/royal-caribbeans-q3-beats-robust-demand-company-launches-trifecta-program

[The Fun Researcher]

3 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

To expound on my comment on overcrowding on Equinox.   Yes, sea days will be more crowded by default, but I would suggest they have too many loungers setup and they are literally butted tight to each other and you have people moving them out into the walking paths to get some space between them. Seems they could put out a few less chairs overall.

To compound that problem the OVC not opening for lunch till noon ensures that it will get overwhelmed with traffic.  Made the mistake of waiting till 12:15 to eat the first sea day and walked around for 20 minutes looking for a table.  Learned you have to go on there about 11:45 to get a table or wait till after 1.  

The ship is nice overall, but it seems the grass lawn space is wasted.  Wish the walking track was up there.  Seems to be little used space.  They have signs up asking people to stay off it.  While unique, it seems to me like wasted space.  Would be better to me to have an adults only outdoor pool in that space.  Just my 2 cents worth.

Good point regarding the closeness of the lounger.  The last time we were on the Equinox was in 2017 and I seem to remember the same thing. The area around the main pool is not that huge so I think they try to cram in as many loungers as they can, and it does make for difficulty getting in and out of them due to so many. 
 

There is no excuse for not opening the Buffet for lunch until noon. We ran into the same thing on the Royal Caribbean Quantum in Alaska this past July. To make it worse the earliy seating for dinner was 5 PM at the MDR, so by the time we got done with lunch, it might be 1pm and then you had to turn around and get to the main dining room at five.  No one was hungry for dinner yet.  It was absolutely ridiculous and I let them know in my survey.

[Redtravel]

We are elite +.  Our first cruise after covid lockdown was in June 2022 on Summit.  When we booked about 3 weeks before the cruise, we were told that the ship had limited capacity because of covid safety.  We made to think that there would be reduced capacity.  Ship was packed.  While there were signs everywhere telling people to distance, very few people did.  The worst was the packing in elevators. There were times when I got off an elevator when people were too close. Dining room was crowded. Table for 2 was a few inches away from the next table.  It was too close for comfort in any situation.  We wore masks.  We were in the minority. I was very uncomfortable.  Spouse got covid.  That was 2022.  If you sail now, don't count on reduced capacity. If a ship is not full, enjoy.

[SusieAV8R]

22 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I think we need to keep in mind that many of these bookings might be from FCC during the shutdown.  Or is that timing past? Will be interesting to see what next year's capacities look like with so much bad publicity about MDR food, taking away dedicated butlers for sky suites, and on and on. Couple that with the reinstitution of student loan payments, as well as credit card debt shock from so much overspending and we'll see what happens. I know I have fewer Celebrity cruises booked for next year than I usually would. 

I am not so certain that Covid shutdown didn't inspire a large percentage of  folks to "carpe diem" and be darned about "tomorrow".  In other words,  enjoy today because there may be no tomorrow.  I can't figure out any other explanation for the increase in cruise prices, personal debt, inflation, etc. and most lines are still sailing at full or near full capacity.

[KonaDave]

On 10/20/2023 at 6:37 AM, CruisinShips said:

My recent Eclipse sailing was sold out (or VERY close to it).  My upcoming February Apex cruise seems to only have a couple of cabins left.

We are on the Eclipse next week. Nothing on the planner yet for entertainment? What days and times were the production shows when you were on the ship?

[The Fun Researcher]

16 minutes ago, SusieAV8R said:

I am not so certain that Covid shutdown didn't inspire a large percentage of  folks to "carpe diem" and be darned about "tomorrow".  In other words,  enjoy today because there may be no tomorrow.  I can't figure out any other explanation for the increase in cruise prices, personal debt, inflation, etc. and most lines are still sailing at full or near full capacity.

I do think there is a lot to what you’re saying.  It did heighten the general awareness that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.  

[SusieAV8R]

3 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

I do think there is a lot to what you’re saying.  It did heighten the general awareness that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.  

And maybe reminded us that we are not immortal.  Well we knew that but Covid really opened a lot of folks' eyes.  (I have friends that pre-covid took one annual vacation and now are taking 3+)

[PTC DAWG]

I’m sort of shocked of people STILL worried about about getting “covid” ….YMMV

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, SusieAV8R said:

I am not so certain that Covid shutdown didn't inspire a large percentage of  folks to "carpe diem" and be darned about "tomorrow".  In other words,  enjoy today because there may be no tomorrow.  I can't figure out any other explanation for the increase in cruise prices, personal debt, inflation, etc. and most lines are still sailing at full or near full capacity.

Stimulus money invested in cryptocurrency. 

[The Fun Researcher]

46 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I’m sort of shocked of people STILL worried about about getting “covid” ….YMMV.

 I agree (except for the very few truly at risk anymore)
 

If you are referring to the last few posts, including mine, I think we’re referring to Covid past tense( at least I am) and the mental toll it took.  That includes the deaths, closures, lockdowns, supply chain stuff…. Kind of made me appreciate the “now”.