mnocket

I've got 300,000+ miles in my Chase Reserved account that can be transferred to a bunch of airline mileage accounts. My problem is the whole process of finding/booking F award travel seems overly complicated. I'm intrigued that you seem to have found a solution to this. Do you mind if I email you?

That would be my guess as well, but I've not seen any confirmation.

The Celebrity & Princess boards are overwhelmed with posters complaining about cutbacks and price increases. It seems the gap between Celebrity and RCL is narrowing as is the gap between Princess and Carnival. The concern is that these "premium" lines are no longer premium. So I'm looking for asylum with other cruise line(s). I've got my first cruise with RSSC booked for Dec'23. I'm sure it will be a very enjoyable experience. However, I can't afford to exclusively cruise on such expensive luxury lines - so I need to also find a new "Premium" line. I'm wondering if Oceania fits the bill. In reading this board, it seems that O has also adopted a strategy of cutbacks and price increases, but I also notice that posters here are much less upset about them. This leads me to believe that O's changes are far less severe than those of Celebrity/Princess and that O customers remain happy with the value offered and are not looking to jump ship (pun intended). Am I reading things correctly?

Thanks for the link. It explains the regulations, but I'm still left wondering why all of sudden this has become a problem.

This is what I'd like to know too. It seems all of a sudden we are hearing about a bunch of ships running into trouble. I wonder is it because.... There is a new outbreak? There is stepped up enforcement? There are fewer hull cleaning crews than there used to be? There is actually little increase biofouling/enforcement - there is simply an increase of press coverage? It just seems weird that all of a sudden we're reading so much about ships being turned away. Surely cruise companies would know of the hull cleaning requirements and would plan accordingly, so this leads me to believe that they are being taken by surprise. Why?

This is what I'm afraid of. "Seeing" the lights to me means seeing the spectacular display it is routinely shown to be. Seeing some faint white aberration that may or may not be the aurora would be a huge letdown as would having to use my camera to actually '"see" the lights. Also, is Sept a good time to see the lights? My impression has been that this is actually a poor time to try to see the lights. I may well be wrong. Can someone chime in on this? Thanks.

I've thought the same. It's not a judgement one way or the other. Some people want to feel "special" - others just want to feel well cared for. On a luxury line you will be well cared for, but you typically won't be treated differently than other passengers.

lol Well that certainly settles it then. Only pizza, salad, hot dogs on the dinner buffet - no hyperbole, no misinformation. Got it, my mistake.

I think perhaps you are just promoting another baseless rumor - unless it's actually true that the dinner buffet now consists of just pizza, salad, and hot dogs. I may be wrong, but I suspect this is just hyperbole and misinformation to bolster the seemingly popular rumor that dinner service is being eliminated. It's amazing how these things take on a life of their own.

So baseless rumor then. How do these threads take off?

Please save me the effort of reading through 433 posts....... Is it true that Oceanview will no longer be serving dinner or is this just a baseless rumor?

Seems every time I'm thinking about selling my stock a thread like this comes out and reassures me that Celebrity and other cruise lines can continue to reduce costs without risking losing many customers. Good for me as a stockholder - bad for me as a cruiser.

I feel like Casa Blanca should mean something to me, but it doesn't. Why is it noteworthy?

Is that a good reason that no one should get them in the future?

It's also surprising to me, but I guess those who feel loyalty perceive things differently than whose who don't.

My theory is that Celebrity (and others) are making these changes to reset the expectations of younger customers to a new, lower, standard. They know that these changes will anger some/many older (loyal) customers and that they may lose some of their business. I'm sure that is baked into their analysis. Those of us who question whether this "new standard" for mainstream cruising still offers a compelling vacation value will either move up to luxury lines (most owned by the same corporations as the mainstream lines, hence no revenue loss) or reduce/eliminate cruising in favor of other vacation options (an acceptable loss). Just as I know airline travel will never be the same - so do I know that mainstream cruising will never be the same. That's what I call an inconvenient truth.

I'm OK with this IF it is only for the Specialty restaurants. In fact I think it is a good idea and I wish they would enforce it. fwiw many restaurants in urban areas are already requiring deposits when making reservations.

Wow! You seem to have disturbed a hornets nest 🙃 I understand your willingness to pay for quality. I do hope you write a trip review. Satisfaction depends so heavily on reality meeting expectations, and Celebrity advertising does tend to set expectations on the high side - as do most cruise lines. Plus, unlike luxury lines, Retreat passengers do spend a lot of time in the non-Retreat parts of the ship (less so on port intensive itineraries). It will be interesting to hear your opinion once the cruise is completed.

Obviously this is highly subjective. I've watched with interest, across multiple mainstream cruise boards, how people have been reacting to cruise line cutbacks and pricing changes (i.e. service packages). What I have noticed is that there seem to be many people (a majority?) that are very accepting of these changes. They understand the financial factors that motivate these changes - accept the changes - and their future cruise plans are unaffected by them. On the other hand, there are (a lesser number?) of people who understand the financial factors that motivate these changes, but find the resulting product's value to be questionable when compared to other available options. I fall into the later category, but I can appreciate that there are many others who continue to see mainstream cruising's value as compelling.

drip - drip - drip Erosion has a way of destroying things.

I've come accept that the mainstream cruise lines are in the midst of resetting their customer experience. I'm guessing their calculus is that is it worth pissing off and losing some older (i.e. loyal) customers in order to establish a new service expectation for newer/younger customers. I'm afraid it's becoming an irresistible force - accept it or look elsewhere. Personally, I've decided to move upscale and take fewer cruises, but on luxury lines. I've also started to mix in more land-based vacations as well. I'm saddened, but not really angry, that mainstream cruise lines have decided on this direction. They have to do what they think is best for them....... and so do I. Edit: lol just noticed the next thread on the Celebrity board... Like I said - it's becoming an irresistible force in the industry.

I really enjoy Fleming's Steak House. Enjoy!

Agreed. A table for 2 is kind of a joke when you almost touch elbows with the person sitting at the next table 🥴

Take a look at Virgin Voyages. They target a younger demographic. Their onboard experience is quite different from other cruise lines. Check out their board here on Cruise Critic https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/826-virgin-voyages/

Good point. I suppose one could consider a bucket list to have sub-categories (e.g. Must See, Curious, If I get the chance, etc.) OR one could consider only Must See items to qualify. To be honest I'm not sure it's so cut-an-dry for me. For example 2 items from my Bucket List that I have planned for the near future are 1) Norwegian Fjords cruise and 2) Amazon cruise. Why? Simply because they are places so very different from home and I'd like to see them. Are these Must Do or just Couriousity? To be honest I don't really care. To me it's a distinction without a difference. Now another "Bucket List" item for me is to see the Northern Lights. I'd REALLY love to see them, however I can't say it's a Must Do item since I don't plan to make the attempt. My research left me with the impression that it can be quite expensive and that it's a hit-or-miss gamble with many reports of people spending a week or more in artic "resorts" going out every night at 1am to viewing areas in freezing conditions and never experiencing the Northern Lights. I chose to spend my remaining time and money on more "reliable" endeavors. So maybe, at least for me, there aren't really any Must Do items - that is things that I will do come hell or high water. I mean if seeing the Northern Lights were truly a Must Do item, I could book an artic excursion for a month or more and pretty much guarantee I'd see the lights. Ain't gonna do it. When I think about it..... is there really any experience that is Must Do for me in the sense that I'm 100% committed to doing it no mater what the cost, difficulty, danger, etc.....? It's easy to say something is Must Do when it's within your resources (financial, time, etc.), but much different when it's not.🙂