NanaChar

I did a mock booking on the Xcel for 2026 for an deluxe porthole view veranda. It was over $1500 for the single. When hubby and I cruise, we rarely spend more than our OBC. We definitely don't spend thousands of dollars. What in the world is Celebrity thinking.

We booked an Alaskan cruise on 11/29. We looked today, the price is up about $2000 for each of us.

The best cruise we ever had was when we had our grandkids with us, 5 & 7. The Kid's Club was amazing and kept them busy during the day. And since there are so kids onboard Celebrity, they were treated like royalty. The crew went out of their way to serve the kids. For everyday dining, you don't need reservations in the Retreat. Come when you want. Other specialty restaurants cane be done on their website or thru their app. The Magic Carpet, you can purchase, but I don't think they give you a date until you are on the ship.

Is that "Need to Know" site only available when you are on-board?

There was rumors she was changing ships after this contract. Was that just speculation?

Because we wanted to have a certain dining time, we booked the the restaurants already. But we also booked the 3 night dining package to swap it out when we are on the ship. Has anyone done something like this? Is it allowed?

We still will have butlers, but it will be pool of butlers, not a dedicated butler.

I have so many bad feelings about this. First, letting go the butlers mid-contract. That does not help morale at all. Celebrity seemed to have better employee satisfaction rating than most mass-market lines. Every butler we has was great. Some were almost miraculous in anticipating our needs. I hope they have good compensation and find new positions quickly. Second, when we purchased the cruise, it was advertised and a personal butler. I know they can change, but shouldn't we be compensated for the change. Third, still paying the tip for a full-butler service. (We really shouldn't have been paying for the same in the past when our butlers were assigned many more cabins than the higher suites.) Now, we don't have that intuitive butler who knows our needs before we even know what we want. Please take the time to send e-mails and post on Celebrity's Facebook page. Make sure they hear our voices.

My gripe is that we paid dearly for The Retreat experience. If they take away the butlers, we were not getting what we paid for. I real doubt they would take away the Retreat and Luminae because they were built to accommodate the suite passengers. Those venues would be practically empty. But, I also didn’t think they would take away the butlers. The Retreat was a good value. Now, I’m not sure.

The price of our ‘24 cruise has more than doubled what we paid. The prices have soared. So we compared our ‘25 cruise to Silver Seas. It came out less and it came with free excursions and a door to door rate. We have jumped ship.

I just booked an excursion after you posted this. Since the ship is completely full, could the excursions you picked be full?

Since I think you might enjoy a glass or two of wine, what is your opinion of the included wine selection on SilverSeas. Is it a cut above Celebrity. Although Celebrity has nice wines, I'm getting a little bored with them.

Thank you. This is very helpful. I wonder how the Edge Class would stack up. Since, I think that you might have a say on the included wine selection, is Silver Seas a step up from Celebrity.

Celebrity does not have a separate spa or gym. It is the same for everyone. For Embarkment, at least in Ft Lauderdale has a separate entrance and a lounge you can wait at before going on-board. I'm not sure how I would feel about waiting in line with thousands of people trying to get on-board.

We have been Celebrity fans for years. We book The Retreat, which gives us the small ship feel since we have a dedicated lounge, restaurant and retreat area. The staff knows us by name when we walk in and within a few days, knows the drinks we want. But, with the Edge Class ships, the Retreat prices are comparable (maybe even more costly) than Silver Seas. Since we have never been on a smaller ship, are there drawbacks? The things I'm thinking that might be negatives is the entertainment and more sea movement.