mnocket

Wow! I never knew that. Thanks.

Thank you all for the replies. It never occurred to me to make two bookings and cancel the veranda if the ocean view came through. Duh

I'm looking at an Artic cruise 18 months from now. Since it's a cold weather cruise I really don't think I'll need a veranda, so I'm looking at ocean view cabins. Unfortunately, the ocean view cabins are show as Wait List. So two questions..... 1) How does Wait List work? 2) With 18 months to go Is there a realistic chance that a wait listed booking will come through? Thanks

I don't think is a definitive classification scale. Yours is as good as anything and like all others will evoke arguments over specific placements. That said, I think the gap between X and RCI is continuing to narrow - and at an accelerating pace. Soon the Mainstream and Premium classifications may become a distinction without a difference.

Wow, I don't even know how to respond to someone like you. Here's $100 kid, now go away and be happy.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say NO he didn't know. He got a phone call telling him that he won a prize. I think it's unfairly presumptuous to assume he made the connection to the drawing or, if he did, that he recognized the phone call was a mistake because he withdrew - maybe he thought he wasn't withdrawn after all. He's a child! If your child was told he/she won a prize and to be somewhere at a specific time to claim it, do you really believe that they will employ critical thinking to mentally validate it? Perhaps your child is special, but in my experience when a child is told something special is going to happen to them, they believe it. Period.

A heartbroken child isn't going to feel better because someone gave them a token monetary "reward". The issue here is the child's crushing disappointment. Princess offering $100 is the easiest and most tone-deaf response they could offer. It shows that they really don't understand the problem they caused and/or how to deal with a child's emotions. I gave a suggestion of perhaps a trip to the bridge to meet the captain? Instead of money, perhaps a gift that makes the child feel special? Maybe the presentation of a "Good Sport" award? If your child came home emotionally devastated from an incident at school, would you respond by giving him/her $100 and sayin "now go away and be happy"?

It's amazing how many posters here completely misunderstand what the OPs complaint is. My sympathy to @17tangerine for first being misunderstood by Princess and now by so many CC members. it had NOTHING to do with not being eligible. It has everything to do with how Princess' mishandling of the situation - their mistake - devastated their son and how Princess failed to acknowledge this. I don't think OPs expectation was/is that their son should have been awarded the money. I think all OP was looking for from Princess was empathy, a sincere apology, and a gesture to try to cheer up their son - perhaps a trip to the bridge to meet the captain?

Good input. I've pretty much decided my next booking is going to be with O. Input like yours helps to counter the mistake of setting expectations too high. At the end of the day the only real way to determine if something is for you is to try it yourself. I have been encouraged by the tone of the O board posters regarding recent cutbacks and pricing - with the exception of their new go-slow green initiative which really seems to anger people - for good reason. Thanks for the giving your thoughts.👍

Perhaps. That would be troubling though. Call me old fashioned, but I expect the experience I pay for to be the same regardless of how many passengers are onboard. However it would explain the variation.

Thanks for the report 👍 This is why it's so difficult to get a handle on what is what is true and what is rumor. Report from one ship says one thing and report from another ship say near opposite. I have no doubt that these reports are all in good faith. Perhaps the differences are a matter of personal perceptions (glass half full/empty)? Perhaps Celebrity is inconsistent across its fleet. It's going to take time to sort this whole thing out. Reports like yours will help us get there. Thanks.

You're right. It was listed under "Bread Station" and I missed it.

Much appreciate this. I'd like to see more such reports - hopefully with pictures. There must be a bunch of empty buffet stations.

Thanks for the report. No pizza, hamburgers, curry, sandwiches, or grilled meat or fish other than the Tilapia? If possible could you make observations for a few more nights and also confirm whether there are many unused buffet stations (sounds like about half of them must be)? Finally, could you give an estimate of the lunch offerings vs the dinner? If Lunch is 100% would you say Dinner offerings are 50%, 40%, 30%? Thanks!

Sorry, but this sounds like the verbal equivalent of a canned email response. What are they going to say?? "You made poor points and we are going to ignore them"?

Wow, that's discouraging😕

Thanks for the tip. I will.

There's certainly truth to what you say. It's hard to find the sweet spot, but I much prefer overcommunication to under.

I was wondering about this, so earlier today I actually posted a query on the Oceania board. It seems that they have also experienced some cutbacks and price increases, but the posters there still seem to be happy overall with Oceania. This may change of course, but for now it's a very different tone than the Celebrity and Princess boards.

Thanks for the video. What's that between the 2-top tables in the restaurants???? Oh, yeah - space! Haven't seen that in ages 😃

Must say, I completely agree with this post of yours. It's funny, I'm one of those who is willing to pay more for an improved flying experience - and yet it is only grudgingly that I pony up the money.

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.