mnocket

Three things can be true at once.... Celebrity has made some significant cutbacks. Celebrity continues to offer a cruising experience that is enjoyable to many experience cruisers. Celebrity's cutbacks have caused many loyalists to start looking elsewhere. There is no right or wrong here - just different people, with different tastes, making different choices.

Interesting how everyone can see the same thing and come away with very different impressions. I've also been following the Celebrity board for many years and quite honestly I've never seen as much outrage and posting about declining food quality. Sure there have always been people complaining about cutbacks, but this level of disappointment I've never seen - not by a long shot. jmho

BEST FEATURE EVER!! Searched for cruises and there at the top of the results page I see MAP VIEW & PHOTO VIEW. MAP VIEW! Exactly what I've always wanted. I can visually scan the various itineraries much more efficiently by seeing all of the maps at once. Great feature I wish all cruise line websites had. Probably no one else really cares about this, but I've often vented about the poor design/quality of cruise line websites that I thought I'd give them kudos when they did something right - really right!

Did they give a reason for canceling Flam? Curious because I'm looking at a Fjord cruise in 2024 and Flam is one port I really want to include.

Interesting comments about the quality of the beef. One of the major complaints on the Celebrity board is that higher cuts of beef (and fish) have gone missing and what remains is of poor quality. Maybe corporate is tightening the screws fleet-wide?

Several year back I had a Bloody Mary on Celebrity and I thought it was so good I asked what mix they used. The bar tender showed me the bottle - it was Demitr's Bloody Mary Seasoning which is used in combination with tomato juice. When I got home I bought some on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B9P420/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the replies. Good to hear that standards are pretty much intact.

I'm considering my first Silversea cruise. The Celebrity Board is fuming about service cutbacks - particularly in food quality/selection. Having read several recent Silversea reviews, there seem to be a fair percentage that are now complaining about food quality. Some are HIGHLY critical and it has me wondering if RCL is forcing cutbacks across all of their cruise lines. I don't want to pay 2X Celebrity fares and still find the food lacking. Any thoughts from experienced Silversea cruisers who have recently sailed?

I'm looking at booking my first VO cruise. The impression I have is that the perks offered by TAs for Viking cruises are not as generous as for some other lines (e.g. less OBC offered). Is my impression off base or is the "penalty" for booking direct with VO less than for other lines?

Come on now.... a simple call to the cruise line will confirm whether they over-credited your account. You know what the right thing to do is - just do it.

I've been watching it as well. It's certainly priced as a Luxury line. I'll need to read some reviews before passing judgement.

Could be. Caribbean only as part of Panama Canal transit. The mad rush could well be a feature of shorter Caribbean cruises.

That would be very disappointing indeed! Truth be told, I've never had a problem booking the Sanctuary on boarding day. In fact, I haven't witnessed the "mad rush" to the sanctuary upon boarding so may talk about - not saying it doesn't happen, just hasn't been my experience.

It is interesting. However when I find my personal opinion so at odds with the analysts opinions I know it's time to look elsewhere for investment opportunities - even when the stock movement seems to validate the analysts.

As luck would have it, I just finished a post on this very topic in another thread. I'll repost it below... Judging by the recent stock performance, wall street seems to like the steps the cruise lines are taking to regain their financial footing. I do not, but I'm starting to think may be because of my parochial viewpoint. I've become so concerned by what I see as a "death spiral" of cruise lines raising prices while degrading service that I've begun unloading my cruise line stocks despite the rising stock prices. I acknowledge that this may be a mistake brought on by my personal focus on Premium cruise lines. I'm starting to think that the future of cruising will be safe with the mass market lines and, to a lesser extent, with the luxury lines. It's really only the Premium lines whose future is seriously in doubt. That said, I'm still getting out of cruise line stocks. I just think there are better industries to invest in whose futures are easier to forecast.

Nice summary of RCL earnings call. Judging by the recent stock performance, wall street seems to like the steps the cruise lines are taking to regain their financial footing. I do not, but I'm starting to think may be because of my parochial viewpoint. I've become so concerned by what I see as a "death spiral" of cruise lines raising prices while degrading service that I've begun unloading my cruise line stocks despite the rising stock prices. I acknowledge that this may be a mistake brought on by my personal focus on Premium cruise lines. I'm starting to think that the future of cruising will be safe with the mass market lines and, to a lesser extent, with the luxury lines. It's really only the Premium lines whose future is seriously in doubt. That said, I'm still getting out of cruise line stocks. I just think there are better industries to invest in whose futures are easier to forecast.

Whenever a government claims Emergency Powers, the citizens, and certainly the press, should be very wary. Unfortunately as we saw with Covid this is not the case. Blind adherence to whatever the government decreed was the only acceptable, and often allowable, behavior - enforced by the press and public alike. The result has been much unnecessary damage to the economy, small businesses and, perhaps most concerning, children.

I'm not familiar with the term "wind up" in this context, but I do always wonder why people post and then disappear. It seems to me that if one cares enough to make a post, one should care enough to join the resulting discussion. Obviously I'm mistaken as this sort of thing happens fairly frequently.

It's crazy. For the most part, Premium Economy is pretty much a joke for international flights. Way overpriced for what you get. It's a shame, because something that reasonably splits the difference comfort-wise between BC and Coach is sorely needed. I doubt it will happen - I recently read that PE seats are the most profitable for the airlines.

I've been considering a Norway cruise in 2024. If prices hold, the BC airfare will equal the cost of the cruise itself. I really struggle with the notion that airfare will be 50% of the cost of the entire vacation. I so wish I could tolerate long flights in coach, but my leg pain is torture in those cramped seats.

Exactly! Because you are a member of a group that tends to exhibit certain characteristics - we are going to treat you as having those characteristics. There may be cases where this is acceptable (necessary), but we should not simply accept that any discrimination that is not prohibited by law is acceptable. In the specific case you mention, wouldn't a better solution be to require anyone over a certain age to obtain a doctor's permission to engage in strenuous activities? Wouldn't that do a better job of protecting the interests of everyone involved?

This really surprises me. To clarify, we are talking about whether discrimination that is not illegal is always right? You seem to be saying that it is always morally acceptable? Because it's legal? Legal = Morally Acceptable?

I think we are much closer to agreement than we initially appeared to be. My answer to your question "who has the "right" to say it should not be done" is simply YOU DO. And yes I think you would have every right to announce to the world that you do not think it is right- some would say, depending on the nature of the issue, you have an obligation to do so (60's antiwar roots showing). Announcing to the world is essentially what the OP is doing here and I'm 100% in support of OP having done so.

My position is that it COULD BE depending on the specifics. The opposing position would be that it COULD NOT BE. That is, any age-based rule is considered moral if it is legal. In essence, since legalities change one would be delegating what is or isn't moral to the whims of politicians. My position distills down to legal does not necessarily mean moral.

I agree with everything you said. However, I'm not seeing how that relates to what I said. In your opinion would it be OK for cruise lines to expand their LEGAL discrimination beyond limiting the number of solo passengers to also include any other legal form of discrimination (e.g. like the age example I gave)? Sure it would be absurd to considered everyone who doesn't get their way to be a victim of discrimination. But I ask you - is discrimination that is not illegal always right?