dogsdogs

The last two X cruises we have been on, our cabin stewards each had 22 rooms to service. Both did well by us, but 22 rooms is difficult to keep up with unless they are really on top of their game. Some just can't do it. I think Celebrity expects too much from these workers and the passengers are paying the price.

I'm sorry they stuffed 92 souls on the craft for your excursion. We did the Golden Eagle Catamaran excursion in St. Maarten through Celebrity once and they had funneled many pax from a Royal Caribbean ship on there too. There were 85 aboard plus the crew and you could only move in unison. They charge a lot for those excursions and they should limit the capacity.

We were on the Caribbean Princess in Sept./Oct. 2023 and the Reflection in December 2023. We enjoyed both cruises. We thought the dinners in the MDR were a little better on Princess, but they wouldn't give us a table for two unless we ate after 8:30 pm. There is no solarium. I missed it very much. As the previous poster mentioned, the casino is very smoky. The medallion system is great on Princess, our cabin was very nice, and we had no problems with it. IMO, their coffee offerings were a lot better at the International Cafe than El Bacio, but not the pastries--X wins there.

We were on the Reflection over Christmas and NYE 2023. We had anytime dining--we follow the music, so we don't want to make reservations. Every single night for 14 nights there were long lines in both the reservation line and the non-reservation line. We went to dinner at all different times too.

Thank you for your review. Would you share which tour you did with Karambole on Martinique? I looked at their website and they have a few to choose from.

I posted this on another thread as well. We were just on the Reflection on a B2B over Christmas and NYE. We waited until the second cruise to go to Next Cruise. The agent told us that as of 1/1/24, book later deposits are now non-refundable if not used. If we had done it during the first cruise it would have been refundable. We left without booking.

Just a heads up on booking a future cruise deposit on board. We are just off a B2B on Reflection over Christmas and NYE. On the second cruise, we visited the Next Cruise office and were told that as of 1/1/24, your deposit on a "book later" cruise is no longer refundable. We didn't know or we could have done it on the first leg of the B2B when it was refundable. We left without doing it.

We just got off a B2B on the Reflection over Christmas and NYE. We didn't attend any of these events, but there was a happy hour every night but the first on each cruise.

We asked, and at more than one bar. We asked on the Silhouette, Equinox and a B2B on the Eclipse. Not one snack was produced.

I don't know what ship you were on, but we have been on four X cruises this year and have yet to see a snack at the bar. We have started bringing our own.

We saw a lot of this on our Eclipse cruise last month. One woman was playing cards with her bare feet up on the table. Ewww. Thanks for your review.

We were on the Caribbean Princess in September. There is no free solarium, they wouldn't give us a table for two unless we went to the dining room very late, their classic drink package only includes wine they choose--you only get to decide on what varietal category, their buffet isn't nearly as nice as X. That said, our dinners were better on Princess. I know that is subjective, but the menus were more inspired and the cuts of meat we had were better too. More vegetable variety as well. We were in the casino about every night and it was tolerable until someone sat down next to you and lit up. I really like the non-smoking casino.

I bumped this topic because we are going to be on the Reflection soon with some OBC and we were going to try the technique mentioned on other posts, but then I read this on the Celebrity website. Does anyone have experience with this 5% transaction fee, and do you still have to wager a certain amount before you can cash out? "If you love games of chance played in the sophisticated but casual atmosphere of an onboard casino, you can use your credit to play the slots. Slots are available as soon as the ship enters international waters. If you’ve never played the slots before, complimentary lessons are available and are listed in each day’s Celebrity Today newsletter. To play using your onboard credit, simply insert your SeaPass® card into any slot machine, and select “onboard credit” as your preferred credit method. A 5% transaction fee will automatically be added to your SeaPass card, but that still leaves you plenty of credit to play, since the minimum bet on slots is a very reasonable $0.01. Any winnings are yours to keep. If you have any questions about using onboard credit in the casino, check with your Casino Host."

Shoutout to Kwokpot. Thanks for the photos--honestly, I haven't seen a lobster tail that big on an RCI or X ship in a very long time. They are mostly the size of a small thumb now.

Was on an overnight in Quebec City earlier this month and the casino and the shops were closed the entire time.