Jeremiah1212

Wait until Wednesday. The All Included changes will benefit solos a bit. It also shifts to 40% off every guest rather than 75% off the second guest which may work in a solos favor as well.

I've done it both ways. Once by private vehicle for six people which I believe was around $400. Very expensive for the travel time involved but obviously the quickest and most luxurious. The second time we did the train and took a cab to the cable car station. I want to say there is also an orange bus that does the trip up to Taormina for only a few euros. I avoid ship tours at all costs and I'm not one to shy away from winging it a bit, but this one is very easy to DIY even though it may seem complicated at first.

Everyone booked gets cancelled. The ‘partial charter’ that gets mentioned here is not a thing. A charter is the full ship. Anything else is a group. Disappointing for sure, but this is very uncommon especially within a year from the sail date and since the sailing was relatively full. Someone paid a huge amount of money for this. They are paying for the ship + meeting revenue goals for the ship + canceled guest compensation.

That's not totally accurate. If a Sky Suite moves to a Celebrity Suite, an Aqua takes the Sky Suite, a Veranda takes the Aqua, and an Inside takes the Veranda, that's four cabin shifting due to one move. It really only takes a few cabins shifting to set off a domino effect of other moves. All of those cabins would have been previously sold and unavailable.

This would be a quick way to sour some Silversea customers IMO. You have to stay 100 nights onboard to their base discount. Between your second sailing and the 100 night mark you only get a 5% discount on select cruises. These passengers have spent a lot to get that 5-10% discount. A free scoop of gelato and a free bag of laundry doesn't really equate to a 5% discount on a $30k cruise. Another thing to consider is the growth of the loyalty programs in general. Royal's top tier status have grown by 30% this year. That is a huge number with status. Celebrity has also significantly inflated status levels with the PUP program. Months and months ago they mentioned something to the effect of 70k people participating in PUP activites. The more status becomes diluted the more trimmed back the programs will get.

She never really mentioned outright combination of the programs. She alluded to 'threading the brands together" beyond the status matches currently available today. They are holding strong that it's two brands with two identities. Adding Silversea into that equation adds even more complication since their loyalty program is vastly different than RCI or Celebrity. Even though there isn't a whole lot of attrition from Celebrity to Silversea, giving mid-level+ Captain's Club members the same benefits as Silversea VS members would definitely cause some unhappiness.

It's a full ship charter so it's not just your group of individuals. The next steps and comp have been released to who you booked with. It is strange to do this so late but it also explains the extremely high prices on this itinerary that some people thought were a mistake. Assuming they had some delay in getting the charter buttoned up and sent prices way up to discourage bookings.

Probably right before the end of the year. But I would suspect this year may be slightly impacted by how soon Edge class #5 is ready to go on sale since it should be ready sometime in Q4 2025 (assuming they put #5 into the Caribbean for an inaugural season). Last year fall 2024/winter 2025 was released mid-December.

Adding some sort of reciprocity with Silversea will be challenging. The catalyst of their program being mostly a small monetary discounts versus freebie perks that Celebrity offers. You have to surpass 100 days onboard to get the 5% discount and OBC really isn't an incentive like it is on Celebrity. I imagine it would really irk some SS customers who have spent significantly more if someone who has mid-level Celebrity status with zero Silversea nights was getting near the same loyalty benefit they were.

This argument is tired. I'll be really blunt. People seem to miss this point. Celebrity has 4, soon to be 5, additional ships to fill since 2018. The people that started sailing 25-35 years ago don't have that much time left. You don't see many 90 and 100 year olds cruising. Someone has to fill the cabins, and then some, and that takes tapping some new customers.

They are not $60 pppd on average. These figures are actually a little low and calculated per person minus tax and fees on cruise only rates (excluding AQ and Retreat). Of all the itineraries including Perfect Day, the average Inside is $99, Oceanview $128, Veranda $151, CC $171, Aqua $255 and Retreat $477. Interior cabins are only 10% of S and E class cabins. Oceanview cabins are 5% on S class and 10% on E class.

My first hand experience suggests that the typical customer is absolutely nothing like this vocal group of <30 CC posters. Listen to her comments about trying to ride the line between familiarity and trying new things. There's this little faction of a group that drops a nuke with any change. If you want a real pulse of what is going on and what is working, the only real source of truth is here https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search-and-access.

I also recall people posting things that are factually incorrect as I myself witnessed first hand things like the Magic Carpet never moved on XYZ sailing despite having video if it in fact, moving, or they didn't host a Chef's Table when I was there, or such and such venue was never ever open, when again, I was there.... but if you believe everything you read on here good luck!

For a ship that comes out in ~24 months it seems awfully late to implement such drastic changes. Edge #5 (Vortex apparently) would go on sale in about a year if not a little sooner. The request went out at least twice. It wasn't an exclusive Zenith Q&A. Despite this being one of those more ridiculous dramatic episodes to hit social media, I can't recall ever seeing an actual verifiable fact that said they removed the other cookies. There is so much stuff posted that is an incorrect assumption, enhanced for drama, outright made up or just completely wrong it's nearly impossible to weed through.

If you need new or more customers you have to give them a shorter option. New to cruising and new to brand people almost always start with short cruises. That's been proven time and time again for years if not decades.

CC'ers lost their wits when they thought that giant plate of tepid rubbery fatty meat served with a big glob of even more fat was being eliminated. Some even claimed it was the reason a new CEO stepped in. The old menu just had a hot 'daily carved meat' selection that rotated. The rueben is missing off the Handhelds menu. I'm curious to see how similar the premium Spaniard Bocata is to the ham sandwich served in Le Grand Bistro. The tuna salad sandwich would also be duplicated. It almost seems as though the walk up deli sandwiches at Le Grand Bistro may be replaced by the Eden Cafe premium options. Every time we've grabbed them for lunch no one knew it was an option.

There has been an optional up charge lobster roll (The Porch) and a la carte sandwiches (Le Grand Bistro) offered for years.

There is not a blanket statement correct answer. It depends. TA OBC can be a mix of both depending on how the agency obtained the credit.

They pay it on Celebrity, on Royal Caribbean, on NCL.... Your comparison isn't really even a comparison though. Totally, totally different markets. Look at winter prices for resorts in St. Marteen, Los Cabos, Turks and Caicos, etc. there isn't a shortage of people willing to spend $25k (as an entry price point!) for a week in the Caribbean. The $10k cruise becomes the bargain.

If the rate you are seeing is on the Exciting Deals it is only available for new bookings. You should still be able to do a paid upgrade.

It may seem frivolous until you have a client that gives you an invalid credit card number, wrong cvv, closed the account, etc and has zero sense of urgency to return your calls and then is past the due date. But it’s still the TA’s fault. Just dealt with this earlier today on travel that was way more expensive than a cruise. 6 messages and 3 email follow ups and I’m still the bad guy.

There’s been no way to tell lately. It’s even been different ship to ship. Your e-docs will have a form toward the end or check when you board. The form they have online is 6 months to book for the OBC and a default refund if unused after 12 months. You can still book between month 6 and 12, you just lose out on the OBC.

No. If you had gratuity included originally they carry over. You only pay additionally if there is a difference in the gratuity rate between your original cabin and your new cabin. That has been the standard since MoveUp was introduced.

This has happened on direct bookings ever since tips were absorbed into the fare under various structures over the years. Leave it alone. You may be prolonging the issue by continually removing them.

For several years now tour busses are banned from the city/historical center. They have significant restrictions in a second ring around the city center which is why you'll see most of the touring coaches stopping outside of the city. That particular Crown Plaza is one of the closest locations they can reach.