kwokpot

This is something that can be fixed on the spot. I'm not sure why you have to 'wait'. There's nothing to research,tell them that's not what you booked and you want it rectified right then and there. Escalate to a supervisor if needed. You need to be more insistent on what you want them to do.

TBH I don't see why it's necessary even in cold weather itineraries. There are plenty of cruiselines, namely NCL, where I don't think ANY of their current fleet has an indoor swimming pool that's available to standard cabin passengers. Same thing with Carnival's newest ships. Even Royal's Oasis, Voyager, and Freedom Class ships don't have any all weather pools(Later Oasis class ships have enclosed the adults only solarium hot tubs/wading pools. And of course Celebrity themselves previously didn't have family hours. So if the corporate's family geared cruiseline have ships with every imaginable doodad for families and kids but no indoor pool I don't see why a family hour is needed on their Celebrity line.

Also Carnival.

Yes, correct, there's free drinks while actively playing in casino on Celebrity. Actively playing means having your card in a slot machine with money in the machine and/or playing at a table game (BJ, poker, roulette}. Must be ordered from a roving server. With regard to the welcome champagne it is no longer offered as you enter the ship but from what people have said here on CC it's being offered at Cafe Al Bacio during embarkation. I haven't sought it out myself so I can't vouch for this.

$1,200 exactly and up.

FYI that isn't how it's done and I would have raised holy hell. All cruiseline bars service tap water with or without ice.

No this isn't a new benefit. If you are Elite+ status or higher you get complimentary premium Coffee and teas throughout the day every day of your cruise. It's available at all ship venues that serve espresso based coffee drinks and venues that serve the Arte of Tea premium tea selections. This benefit doesn't include ANY bottled water of any kind or sodas/flavored seltzers;however, those beverages can be obtained, in unopened bottles and cans, at the daily Captain's Club Happy Hour from 5-7pm as long as you're at Elite or higher status.

I beg to differ. If you've attained a high enough status and the cruiseline's loyalty club is robust enough to give meaningful benefits, the chances of you staying with that cruiseline vs going to another cruiseline where you don't have any status and thus no additional benefits is very high. That's the whole point of ANY loyalty program. Look at how hotel and airline loyalty programs work. Customer retention and stickiness is the name of the game. https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/loyalty-programs/#:~:text=Loyalty programs entice customers to,CLV increases%2C so does revenue.&text=Loyalty programs focus on customer,acquire new customers as well.

I'll repeat my question; why do you think that's the case? Without crunching the numbers and doing an analysis of the cost benefits of each component of the various loyalty programs it's impossible to predict what is and isn't more profitable vs having the best Loyalty program for customer retention. How 'sticky' are cruise passengers and to what extent does a loyalty program further customer retention? The most recent changes seem to indicate the REVERSE of what you're saying, since the enhancements to the loyalty programs seem at face value to be beneficial to the customer and all about customer retention and expansion within the RCC, to create further 'stickiness' to the Corporation's brands.

Have you done the analytics to confirm your hypothesis? BTW I was a Business Analyst for a bank before retiring, so it's always about the math. I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that if Celebrity, with regard to loyalty drinks benefit, went with the Royal program that it would be less profitable.

Going to Cococay and adding more 3-4 nights cruises. The Solarium having permanent family hours.

The toiletries are different in CC with standard IV cabins using unbranded toiletries made for Celebrity and CC cabins having Bigalow products.

If Celebrity went will a voucher system there wouldn't be a limited drink list but instead a dollar value to each voucher,say $15, which can be used for all beverages sold on the ship. Any beverage whos' cost is higher than the limit one would be charged the difference plus gratuities on the differential. That's how it works on Royal and why there are many people that prefer that system since it allows one to get a better drink. On Royal you can get a frozen Pina Colada with your drink voucher while that's not an included drink on Celebrity's HH drink list. So quality vs quantity.

Just to be clear while there's no BAR in the Retreat Lounge on the Edge drinks are ordered and served TO YOU by the roving waiters. Whatsmore the bars on the other E-Class ships is more of a service bar since there's no seating around the bar, so while you could conceivably stand and lean there and converse I'm not sure why you would do that when there's seating merely 5 feet away.

It would be helpful to know what cruiseline you've been sailing so people can give you comparisons and additional thoughts. As others have said, the Edge Class of ships, expecially the Ascent and Beyond, would seem to fit more to what you're looking for. Other cruselines with similar ship within a ship area would be NCL's Haven Class and MSC's Yacht Club. You should look into those lines as well, the dates you're interested in, and see what ships are available and compare and contrast all three lines. But regarding Celebrity. I would choose the Ascent, Beyond, Apex, Edge in that order.