tserface

We haven’t been on an X cruise since last year and we were very surprised at how much the specialty restaurant prices have gone up for our May cruise. When we did Le Petit last time it was $45. In May it will be $70. I know there’s been some inflation, but… I miss some of the little things like bingo, and welcome champagne, and great room service for free, and a lot of selection in the buffet. I know they are trying to recover from the downtime, but Princess is seeming like a better deal these days.

Celebrity is not too picky about non-formal or formal nights any more, but some cruisers are very picky about it so you might get some looks if you are dressed too far from the code. I wear jeans on non-formal nights and nice slacks and a button shirt and tie on formal.

That’s a good point, but the base tips are sort of like a service charge these days. Your point is valid.

Not saying we won't cruise on Celebrity any longer, but the devaluing of loyalty program benefits, food changes, and service changes make us consider other lines, like Princess, more when we're choosing vacations. It's more than just the recent changes as well. Some other lines, I'll use Princess as an example again, have way better prices for specialty restaurants, drinks and drink packages, and Princess will not only do a lot of room service without an up charge, they will also deliver to you almost anywhere on the ship. And, while Princess's buffet for dinner has never been as good, it is way better than what Celebrity is moving to. We really miss all the special things Celebrity used to do to make it a premium experience. I understand that they need to make the bottom line, whatever that means, but we also have choices for cruise destinations. It used to be a no brainer for us, Celebrity or Royal, but now, not so much. It is what it is...

I wouldn't cut my tips (we always pre-pay), but I may not tip as much extra if the experience has been diminished, for whatever reason. The extra tips we give are discretionary.

It's quiet, fast, and there used to be lots of things to try. The MDR is often noisy and hectic. The buffet allows you to go at your own pace, sit where you want, and have a peaceful experience. It also allows you to show up when you want.

I confess we like the appetizer setup in the Diamond Club as well. We've been known to take a plate with us to another bar when there are no chairs available and they don't seem to mind. We miss talking with other cruise enthusiasts, but the snacks are kind of nice. We have to be careful not to eat too much on cruises these days and leave room for things we really want to eat. There is so much food available.

I think it's true, there are just too many DLs these days and when people pay so much for suites they deserve to have the perks. I think this will really cause the Diamond Club to be busier, but since they've starting giving us 5 drinks a day that we can use any time the Diamond Club, at happy hour, is not needed as much. I confess, I was excited when I saw the subject of the email. I thought it was going to be some fun new perk, but alas. They were just making official what was pretty much in practice anyway.

We’ve been on cruises where things have gone wrong, but never one we didn’t enjoy 🙂 i fully agree. Life is as good as you breathe. I plan to remember that one.

On our last couple of RCI cruises they did not let Diamond+ in the CL. I think they are really trying to protect suite privileges and I kind of don't blame them. If you pay as much as it costs for a suite you'd expect to not have to wait around for a drink or table in the CL while others not in suites take up space. It kind of makes sense to let Pinnacles in since there aren't as many and it eases the burden on the DC, but even then it seems like that should depend on how busy it is with actual suite guests.

We do this as well. We figure since we're not paying anything for the drinks (or water) it's super easy to add on an extra $1. Also, we've heard that the waiters get to keep this extra $1 cash. I'm not sure how they get paid from the loyalty program. When we used to go to the Diamond Club we would also pay $1 per drink and that usually bought us a regular waiter so we often tipped more at the end of the cruise. They always made it a fun experience. Unfortunately, the Diamond Club got very crowded and there were tons of people that would have one person from the group come early and save seats. So, we often just go in, grab some appetizers and go to another nearby bar. It's not as fun of an experience as talking with other regular cruisers, but it's still fun and they don't seem to mind if we get appetizers to go 🙂

On our last two Celebrity cruises they didn’t do the champagne greeting at boarding. We didn’t miss it much. Celebrity does have lots of great little touches.

Drink packages or Princess Plus including them, are super convenient. They are maybe not worth the money if you don't drink much, but if you drink 2 or 3 drinks a day and wine, bottled water, coffee, etc. they make it very easy. I often tip like $1 per drink extra. I know the tips are included, but the servers never seem to mind 🙂 It's very convenient to get wine with dinner or a drink during a game show or whatever.

The Discovery is a really nice new ship and larger than Summit. We love Celebrity and Princess and mostly base our trips on itinerary, but given the choice I love the newer bigger ships with all the new stuff. We also found the Summit to be cumbersome to get around. There are times where you're going down a hallway of rooms to get to a specialty restaurant and some hallways end up in dead ends when you think they might get you through. All that said, Summit has Martini Bar 🙂 The pool facilities are much nicer on Discovery. To me, the food, service, etc. are all pretty similar so you really can't lose if you don't mind the older ship. Enjoy the time with your daughter. The times together are precious.

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There used to be fun Elite parties pre-COVID and we enjoyed them, but these days the free happy hour at any bar has kind of taken it's place. With the advent of All Inclusive the happy hour is not really all that useful either. We like the lounge on RCL cruise. The coffee maker is nice, it's a nice quiet place to hang out and read or whatever, and the parties have way better appetizers (but, it's not like you can't find food on a cruise). Mostly, I really enjoy being able to make my own specialty coffee rather than having to wait so long in the Tuscan. The coffee is also better. I also like how RCL gives Diamond and above free drinks to use any time during the day instead of just during the happy hours. We use it for bottled water, coffee drinks, etc. on RCL. They keep saying they are going to update the benefits for Celebrity, but even with email today they are not that interesting considering that almost everything is included these days already.

There are some cruise lines that are already pushing the limits. We just learned we don't have to test (vaccinated) on our Princess cruise in October and it's 14 days. So far Royal and Celebrity have only relaxed things on some cruises fewer than 6 days, but it wouldn't surprise me if they extend it... depending on how it works out for Carnival and Princess. I totally don't get the reason why unvaccinated guests need to be tested, but vaccinated ones don't. It's not like you can't be contagious if your vaccinated (it may be less likely). It's also way easier to not know you you have COVID when you're vaccinated since you may not even have symptoms. We'll see where it all goes... I think it will be really hard on the cruise industry if there's a big break out for unvaccinated guests on a cruise.

We had the "glitch" you mentioned on our Millennium cruise earlier this year. It was very annoying and, thankfully, they had another table they could move us to. I think it was just normal ship jitteriness, but it was more noticeable because of the video. I also agree about the ravioli. So yummo. Also, the pea soup was the best I've ever had anywhere. The experience is so much fun.

Yes. My wife only sleeps with the sheet so she always checks when we go into the room (hotel or ship). They will always provide extra sheets, blankets, or pillows too if you want additional.