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We just got off Equinox in CC. I was never able to get ahold of the concierge. Tried calling many times during working hours and they never answered . Calls went straight to a voice memo and I was unable to leave a message. I went to the desk and either no one was there or the line up was too long. I ended up at GR to handle the cake order for my husband and my spa issues. The lines were shorter and moved faster as there was always multiple people working GR. I wouldn’t book based on having your own Concierge or the afternoon canapes( sad and soggy). The extra points , slightly better cabin location and Helipad invite for Sailaway from Tortola made it worthwhile. We always book CC for these reasons especially if the difference is not outrageous.

Will any requests pre-cruise through Shore Side Concierge be deducted from OBC or will I have to pay with CC when placing the order eg requests for specific beverages. Thanks.

I use a US based TA. I would prefer to spend my dollars locally but all the TA I called in Ontario do not offer OBC. I now use a US based TA and he has given me great service and awesome OBC. My understanding is they kickback some of their commission to clients as OBC. (When I suggested that to an agent with one of the popular cruise sites, she flat out refused to consider it.) We have 3 more cruises booked with him and all with substantial OBC for all the cabins in each booking. While I’d prefer to support the local economy at the end of the day I work hard for my trips so whoever gives me the best deal is who I book with. Unfortunately I’m unable to give you details but do search online with various US based agencies and compare the deals out there. Good luck. I know it’s scary making the initial booking and hoping it all works out well.

I’ve enjoyed reading and appreciated the info gleaned from other trip reports so thought I’d post a quick report of our recent cruise. Its been 5 years since our last Celebrity Cruise. Embarkation in PE was a breeze. We had a 1230 pm time slot and there were no undue delays boarding, dropped off bags , went to muster and then lunch at Oceanview. Booked a CC on Deck 10. Cabin was refurbished but still looks dated although well maintained and kept spotless by our very personable steward. The ship in general appears dated but quite familiar and comfortable in a sense. Food: As expected OV was a zoo but we managed to find a booth for the entire family to sit in. Food in OV for breakfast and lunch was awesome. Sure there were days when it took a few minutes to find a table but even at the busiest of times it was rarely more than a few minutes when someone would bag a table big enough for all 8 of us. Food was tasty and many options. Salads , Mexican, Indian and Italian were always wonderful choices and delicious. Great Pizzas and Garlic Knots. Desserts looked great, but often just missed the mark. Soft, soggy churros. Chocolate and Caramel sauce that lacked the depth and richness of flavour that one would expect. Ice Creams and Sorbets were always on point. Dinner at OV was definitely scaled back but enough options for everyone and personally i thought it was substantial enough. Specialities: Murano, Tuscan Grille and Raw on 5 were all wonderful. We couldn’t get additional bookings that worked for us but I’d book Murano twice in future. MDR: service was really good. Food was hit and miss. More often a miss for us. Breads and dips were great every night and in every venue. Cold escargot, watery salads. Panzanella salad with no Foccacia croutons as listed. Steaks, fibrous and chewy , unless you paid for a better cut. A miniscule , canner sized ( 4 oz at best) lobster. Well cooked though. Desserts just ok. Kiddie pizza in MDR underbaked and doughy both times . Al Bacio - wonderful coffees and tartlets. Entertainment: Apart from the group Legacy( Motown Songs), I didn’t find the evening shows very interesting. Basically all singers performing. The magician was quite boring as well and the Broadway type shows meh! We really missed the numerous options on Royal as we feel the activities and entertainment was a bit more diverse. We did book an Alcove on the San Juan day and it was a great decision. Service was great and it was nice to have a base for the group to use during the day. Ive booked another for our SJ day on our Ascent cruise in Feb’24 as it worked really well this time. The only really negative aspect of the cruise was the Salon. I pre booked a package and after the service the stylist promptly insisted I had underpaid and need to pay an additional US$69 as I was undercharged online. I tried to explain that I had booked the right thing but the stylist became more animated and vocal and since my husbands assistant did the booking I let it go as I planned to confer with my husband once I returned to the cabin. The stylist was quite irate with me and felt I should pay more as in “your country this price would be for two services so why would we charge you the same for 3” I did inform the stylist that in my country I actually pay half the price for those services and just because I’m from North America , why should I pay more or tip more as per their expectations. After checking my bills and emails upon returning to the cabin and looking at the Spa Packages on the X App for my Ascent cruise , I screenshot the prices and went down to Guest Relations and asked them to look into it. The prices online proved that I was being upcharged in real time. Due to the agitation and irritation displayed towards me in the spa earlier, I was not comfortable dealing with the animosity personally. GR took over the issue and we were refunded the upcharge ,so we were pleased with that. Since I had 3 services, and they weren’t going to do a full refund , I was unsure what my reception was going to be at the next service. Needless to say I was met with annoyance and irritation from the stylist becos I complained and it was not a pleasant experience. I went with knowledge and copies of prices etc and this time I was firm but polite and refused to accept the explanation that I “ don’t understand how things work” This individual was rude and patronizing to me on both occasions in front of other patrons and staff, however I stood my ground and was not going to agree to an upcharge of another US$69 .Not much in light of paying thousands for a cruise but on principle I was not going to cave in to the sob story of “we only get paid in tips. We don’t earn any salary” I booked a package based on the Spas prices on the Celebrity App and now they wanted to charge me the US$69 for a service thats advertised as C$62 online. To clarify US69 equal about C$90. That’s quite a difference when talking about 3 visits. I did tip extra as I often do as the stylist did do a great job , but what I did not appreciate is the blatant attempt at an upcharge with no justification. I was happy that GR sorted the problem out but I won’t be using Spa or Salon services anymore as the whole experience was very anxiety provoking. Ports : the usual E Caribbean ports. We mainly did beach days by ourselves. Booked one excursion to St Johns through the ship. It was good. Beaches in ST J are gorgeous. Appreciate the cold towel service on retuning to the ship after a hot sticky land tour. Hope they never stop that. Overall the cruise was wonderful and crew were awesome. We’re unlikely to book S class again as we prefer the larger ships with updated decor and more to offer in terms of entertainment and dining options. Looking forward to Ascent in Feb’24 and will be researching Alaska for July ‘24 on either Royal or X. Happy cruising everyone.

@WildWanderers seems like it would work out great for you then. Im happy with the original price I paid and with the huge OBC from O and another great amount from TA as well . Im waiting for Allura prices to be released and may very well still be fine with O but for now am not inclined to make any changes to our current booking. I just prefer to be in charge of my own air and excursions at this point.

Checked our Vista Athens- Istanbul July 2024. PH3 increased by C$ 3668 for the cabin. We won’t be changing as we don’t drink alcohol, will use some ship excursions to use up some OBC but in general prefer private. We also use miles to travel and their up charges for Biz pp each way from YYZ is quite substantial. As long as it’s not mandatory to change to Simply More we will still sail O as I’m looking forward to trying out the line.

Congrats. Will be following along. We will be boarding in 16 days so I’m looking forward to your observations especially re: food in MDR. Enjoy.

Thank you for taking the time. Loved your review and made some notes for our Edge class trip. Was there a specific Excursion you had an issue with? Could you now book a cruise on Ascent and report back, as I’d like to see a detailed review before we sail lol? 😀😀.

Thank you for taking the time to write a review.

Looks delicious. Thank You.

Would anyone have copies of these dinners? Thank You.

Thank you. I also noticed I could not book Raw on 5 for lunch only for dinners. Is this new? On our Eq in July we are booked for lunch. Thanks.

I’m booking Specialty Dining and noticed there’s no LGB listed. I was hoping to do this on Day 1 for lunch. Anyone have an idea? Thank you.

Hi 4-2-N-8 , im trying to access your EV review on Beyond that you posted awhile back. Considering an Upgrade Bid On Ascent to EV and would like to read your review again. could you post a link pls.

Deposit : over C$1200 Price of cruise to get RD was C$2523 more per cabin. No mention of penalty of $100 pp to make any changes to another sailing but I’ve sent TA and email to clarify. He just said deposit was NR.

We just booked an Aqua Sky Suite today on Ascent. TA advised me that Deposit of 10% was Non Refundable. In would've preferred a Sky Suite but none available. I’m fine if this new policy frees up suites in a sense to this who are serious about a particular cruise as I would be quite annoyed if closer to sail date a bunch of SS open up. RD quote was over $2000. It’s a family reunion cruise so unless something go major comes up , we’re unlikely to cancel.

Thank you for the input. We were considering booking Le Voyage and Eden. 3rd Option Rooftop Grill if Blu is not possible. Will try to get book Blu one night and liked some items in the Cyprus menu so had shortlisted that MDR . I’ll look at Luminae menus and plan around that. We thought with breakfast daily and lunch most days at Luminae, dinners could be a bit boring in the same space I am factoring in the cost of Retreat and then additional Specialty Dining in addition, but do have a healthy OBC budget so that helps. Thanks all, getting excited for a new experience.

Hi, we’re looking at The Retreat on Ascent. 7 nights. 3 Sea Days. We’ve never been on E class and never in Retreat on any ship. CC is highest we’ve booked as we’ve always had our kids with us and needed 3 cabins. This time it’s just the two of us so we’re ready to splurge a bit. The ship is really the destination for this trip as we’ve done all the Caribbean ports before so unlikely to do many excursions. We will probably book an Aqua Sky Suite as I’m not sure about the Magic Carpet suites and Sky Suites are not available. Do people still book speciality and if so which would you recommend? Would we get bored with Luminae for 6 nights? Will try Blu one night, and one of the MDR one night just for a change. Thanks for any advice.

Thanks for the advice. Looking at Dec 2024 / Jan 2025. Have 2 Oceania Cruises (Feb 24, July 24 ) booked next year so trying to plan for late 24, early 2025. Will look out for a review from you in Dec 23. Safe Travels.

Would love to do Galapagos on Flora but neither DH or I are good swimmers and would not do any of the swimming tours so would it still be worth going? TY.

Do keep us posted. Wishing you a quick recovery. Take Care.

Soo sorry this has happened to y’all. Hope he recovers completely and that you remind well. Did you consider moving cabins or was that not an option? Curious is the cabin being cleaned?

It is now on the Cdn site,but neither of our Vista cruises🤷‍♀️. Thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

Thanks for the info. I cannot see it on the O site but I’ll keep checking. I’m assuming it won’t be for any Vista bookings though or do you think that’s a possibility? TY.

Just stumbled upon your review. Thank you for taking the time to post.