What ship are you jumping to?

[Dolebludger]

Our next cruise is on Regent, 7 nights, embarking in San Juan and disembarking in Miami. We live in Colorado, and can get direct flights to these places out of Denver. As we aren’t in driving distance to any cruise port, this is about as good as it gets. But I agree that too many lux cruises have weird start and stop ports, and we avoid those. Many have Barbados as a start and/or stop port, and hotels and services there are reported to be scarce. So that’s the bad thing about many lux cruises. But once on the ship, the experience is the best.

[billc23]

1 hour ago, Dolebludger said:

Actually, all the negative info seems to be about the Retreat, and maybe about Aqua. I’ve not read or heard anything about major cuts and fare increases in the main part of the ships. In fact on the main part of the X ships, the fares look competitive with the other main stream lines. So if we were still ‘’mass market” cruisers, we wouldn’t be jumping ship from X. But we are now cruising lux and near lux, and really liked the Retreat as it used to be. But we don’t think we’d like it much now at the current prices. So we have jumped ship to Regent — actually back to Regent. We have two current bookings on that line and have taken one recently. 

Last year people were upset with changes to the non retreat areas. Room service, buffet changes and all that.

 

I am soon to be Zenith and will look into booking a SV cabin on the E class where my Z benefits  will be fully utilized. I have been disappointed with the E class Retreat compared to what sold me on the Retreat on the M and S class ships. My read is that those who really enjoyed the Retreat experience on the older ships are sometimes disappointed with the lack of attention on the E class ships. Certainly I have been but will give it another try in a week. I like the extra space in the suites and that may be a deal breaker for me sailing in a SV going forward. For the Retreat pricing the Lux lines seem to be nicer and a better value.

 

In 2022 I went to my favorite all inclusive in Cancun (Le Blanc) and it was not nearly as good food/service as pre Covid. $17,000 for a week in a 850 sq/ft room which is nearly double the pre Covid price. Very disappointing. 

 

Jumping to a different line is difficult in many ways...

 

[bigbenboys]

Last year we did one cruise. It was on Eclipse in the retreat. We did 2 land trips. One to Playacar, Mexico and Christmas in England. We have Apex booked out of England for the end of June in the retreat. Personally I dont like the E Class, but going to give E Class one last try. Only been in the retreat on the E Class. 

I am thinking about a river cruise in Europe or more land vacations.

We used to do 3 Celebrity cruises a year.

[billc23]

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

One can note flaws and have a good time simultaneously. Critical thinking doesn't negate enjoyment. Have fun!

Very true. For me it comes down to value. I have never had a cruise I have not enjoyed!

[doghog]

We've always slept around. Not loyal to any one cruise line. 

[billc23]

34 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

 Many have Barbados as a start and/or stop port, and hotels and services there are reported to be scarce. So that’s the bad thing about many lux cruises. But once on the ship, the experience is the best.

I'm giving sailing from Barbados a try. Next January MSC YC with grandkids followed by Silversea B2B (21 days) from Barbados. Silversea booking includes flights from Mia To Barbados, overnight hotel/resort, and the cruise ends in FLL - with included flights back to Boston. Then a limo service back to my home in NH. So the Barbados part isn't too bad. They will probably check us in to the ship at the hotel to advoid the crowds at the Barbados cruise terminal. Oh, this is cheaper than the same amount of time in the Retreat for the 4 weeks sailing from FLL with many repeat ports!

[billc23]

14 minutes ago, bigbenboys said:

Last year we did one cruise. It was on Eclipse in the retreat. We did 2 land trips. One to Playacar, Mexico and Christmas in England. We have Apex booked out of England for the end of June in the retreat. Personally I dont like the E Class, but going to give E Class one last try. Only been in the retreat on the E Class. 

I am thinking about a river cruise in Europe or more land vacations.

We used to do 3 Celebrity cruises a year.

Uniworld River Cruising is great. One of the best vacations we ever had. 

[sptrout]

4 hours ago, JDPCruisers said:

Thanks for that. Any cards for the concierges left in your cabin? If so, and only if you find a chance, mind posting their names? Wanting to see if they are anyone we have had in the past.

The names of the Concierges are: Pau, Rosanna, Simi, and Venita. Very helpful ladies. Sure beats going down to Guess Services.

 

[Lastdance]

4 hours ago, RichYak said:

One can note flaws and have a good time simultaneously. Critical thinking doesn't negate enjoyment. Have fun!

I agree, as it definitely is a choice to have one’s glass half-full or half-empty.  That being said, sometimes it is easier said than done🥰.

Edited January 11 by Lastdance

[Tyler414]

I jumped from NCL to Celebrity Apex, Then I jumped to Celebrity Beyond, which I have three cruises booked, I'm then jumping to Celebrity Xcel in 2026.😄

[mac_tlc]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We will not be shifting to a single line like we did with Celebrity for 23 years.  Our first non-Celebrity was on Ponant - explorer type cruises with 125 is passengers... Totally no comparison possible.

 

While we have not taken yet We have booked 2 TA's on Cunard (in lieu of flying to UK) and over the weekend Booked an Oceania Cruise for 2025.   Stay tuned for a Live Side by Side by Side   Cunard - Oceania - Celebrity  in November 2025 (long time off so don't hold your breath).

 

 

 

Like you we have not dumped Celebrity but are looking around more. We have also booked two Oceania cruise since X started their series of changes. Deducing from your post and signature, we may be missing you by one voyage in November 2025. We are on the Oceania Vista TA departing Barcelona 11/19/225. After reading so many of your wonderful reviews, it would be great to to meet you and Iain. 
 

 

mac_tlc

Edited January 11 by mac_tlc

[Lastdance]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We will not be shifting to a single line like we did with Celebrity for 23 years.  Our first non-Celebrity was on Ponant - explorer type cruises with 125 is passengers... Totally no comparison possible.

 

While we have not taken yet We have booked 2 TA's on Cunard (in lieu of flying to UK) and over the weekend Booked an Oceania Cruise for 2025.   Stay tuned for a Live Side by Side by Side   Cunard - Oceania - Celebrity  in November 2025 (long time off so don't hold your breath).

 

 

 

Our Oceania cruise is a TA from Miami to Lisbon in 2025, as we want to rent a car and drive to Algarve. Just out of curiosity, what cabin/suite did you book, along with ship?  So for us, it was trying a smaller, but new ship, along with the itinerary.

[shavdog]

21 hours ago, billc23 said:

I'm giving sailing from Barbados a try. Next January MSC YC with grandkids followed by Silversea B2B (21 days) from Barbados. Silversea booking includes flights from Mia To Barbados, overnight hotel/resort, and the cruise ends in FLL - with included flights back to Boston. Then a limo service back to my home in NH. So the Barbados part isn't too bad. They will probably check us in to the ship at the hotel to advoid the crowds at the Barbados cruise terminal. Oh, this is cheaper than the same amount of time in the Retreat for the 4 weeks sailing from FLL with many repeat ports!

How was the pricing on Silversea vs Celebrity...if you don't mind....

[Whinenowine]

10 minutes ago, shavdog said:

How was the pricing on Silversea vs Celebrity...if you don't mind....

I've looked at Med and Caribbean cruises on both SS and X (and Regent) and for the most part they're very close on the surface.  But the inclusion of excursions, taxes and gratuities makes SS and Regent actually cheaper than a comparable Celebrity SS much of the time.  That just boggles my mind...

 

In fact elsewhere on the Celebrity boards I discussed the pricing of a Regent cruise I just booked (I know it's not SS but it's a very close comp).  7day Caribbean cruise on Regent's new Grandeur was below $600pp/pd for a larger room with a much larger balcony.  Similar cruise on an E-class X ship ranged from $640-680pp/pd.  HOWEVER the Regent price was inclusive of a pre-cruise hotel, all shore excursions, all gratuities, all taxes, specialty dining, etc etc.  When you adjust for that the X Sky Suite price jumps to roughly $800-850pp/pd.  

 

So I'm getting a bigger room/balcony and no upcharges for $3-3.5k less.  I'm giving up the big ship shows and vibe, but that's ok with me.

Edited January 12 by Whinenowine

[Purplsmurf]

The grass isn’t always greener. We recently went on a Princess cruise. It was just ok. Couldn’t wait to get back to Celebrity.

[Ken the cruiser]

For us it's all about being able to book unique 3-5 week itineraries with a refundable deposit that visit cool places, such as Antarctica, Longyearbyen, Africa, and Easter Island. We're also done with Caribbean cruises for the foreseeable future as we did a bunch of those when cruising started back up. Unfortunately, except for the Galapagos and possibly a transoceanic B2B cruise in an E-class aft-facing cabin, Celebrity falls to a distant 5th behind Princess (in a RC mini-suite or higher), NCL (Club Balcony or aft-facing balcony), HAL (aft-facing balcony), and on occasion Crystal (regular veranda), when we just want to be totally wowed on a cruise!

 

Edited January 12 by Ken the cruiser

[RedIguana]

Took my daughter on her first celebrity cruise last month. It was easily the worst culinary experience I have ever encountered on a cruise ship, including that one time I ended up on Carnival when we joined friends who were going. She has no desire to ever sail on Celebrity again. Just booked HAL for our annual father/daughter spring trip. I'll wait to book Celebrity again until after I see reports that they have their food quality problems sorted out.

[holidaylover10]

We have a Celebrity cruise booked for this year, but we have booked a Cunard Queen Anne cruise for 2025. We always default to Celebrity but think its time to mix it up a little.

[tfred]

2 hours ago, shavdog said:

How was the pricing on Silversea vs Celebrity...if you don't mind....

We priced a SilverSea 12 night Med against a 12 night X. SS was actually the sam eprice and then you add in included excursion for SS - it was an easy choice.

 

Also, SS is a small ship and can get into small ports   X ships are the big ports and generally those ports are 1-2 hours from the city that you want to actually want to visit

 

Caribbean is different. X sailings are easy to get to (FLL/MIA), while small ships have unusual homeports that are challenging to get to 

[billc23]

2 hours ago, shavdog said:

How was the pricing on Silversea vs Celebrity...if you don't mind....

It was actually less compared to Retreat pricing and that is not taking into account the inclusions. The Silversea website is very easy to navigate. Choose a cruise and scroll down to see the excursions etc. 

[billc23]

2 hours ago, Whinenowine said:

I've looked at Med and Caribbean cruises on both SS and X (and Regent) and for the most part they're very close on the surface.  But the inclusion of excursions, taxes and gratuities makes SS and Regent actually cheaper than a comparable Celebrity SS much of the time.  That just boggles my mind...

 

So I'm getting a bigger room/balcony and no upcharges for $3-3.5k less.  I'm giving up the big ship shows and vibe, but that's ok with me.

Eyeopening! 

[billc23]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

For us it's all about being able to book unique 3-5 week itineraries with a refundable deposit that visit cool places, such as Antarctica, Longyearbyen, Africa, and Easter Island. We're also done with Caribbean cruises for the foreseeable future as we did a bunch of those when cruising started back up. Unfortunately, except for the Galapagos and possibly a transoceanic B2B cruise in an E-class aft-facing cabin, Celebrity falls to a distant 5th behind Princess (in a RC mini-suite or higher), NCL (Club Balcony or aft-facing balcony), HAL (aft-facing balcony), and on occasion Crystal (regular veranda), when we just want to be totally wowed on a cruise!

 

Check out the Silversea website and you will find so many unique cruises. I also think that a SV on an E class ship looks like a good choice. The E class Retreat is missing much of the charm that sold me on the product. 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just now, billc23 said:

Check out the Silversea website and you will find so many unique cruises. I also think that a SV on an E class ship looks like a good choice. The E class Retreat is missing much of the charm that sold me on the product. 

Understand. We used to cruise with Oceania for a while who also offers some pretty cool itineraries. However, we got tired of the small ship atmosphere. We much prefer being able to get lost in a crowd of 2-3000 passengers like we're getting ready to do on a 30-day Antarctica/SA cruise on the Sapphire Princess in an aft-facing VS.

[billc23]

19 minutes ago, tfred said:

We priced a SilverSea 12 night Med against a 12 night X. SS was actually the sam eprice and then you add in included excursion for SS - it was an easy choice.

 

Also, SS is a small ship and can get into small ports   X ships are the big ports and generally those ports are 1-2 hours from the city that you want to actually want to visit

 

Caribbean is different. X sailings are easy to get to (FLL/MIA), while small ships have unusual homeports that are challenging to get to 

As I posted earlier, Silversea takes some of the pain out of embarking in Barbados: 

 

Silversea B2B (21 days) from Barbados. Silversea booking includes flights from Mia To Barbados, overnight hotel/resort, and the cruise ends in FLL - with included flights back to Boston. Then a limo service back to my home in NH. So the Barbados part isn't too bad. They will probably check us in to the ship at the hotel to avoid the crowds at the Barbados cruise terminal.

 

A problem could be they typically sail are an odd number of days and therefore not weekend to weekend sailings. Sort of a benefit if one is retired. If you have the time we (Silversea, not Schaefer) have the sailing...

 

[billc23]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Understand. We used to cruise with Oceania for a while who also offers some pretty cool itineraries. However, we got tired of the small ship atmosphere. We much prefer being able to get lost in a crowd of 2-3000 passengers like we're getting ready to do on a 30-day Antarctica/SA cruise on the Sapphire Princess in an aft-facing VS.

Sounds like a great trip! It has been a while but I always loved sailing Princess. I have been on several Alaska sailings and Princess was by far the best.