tfred

We are also looking at a SS sailing - Venice to Rome 2024. The cost of the 10 day SS is actually the same as a 10 day X cruise in The Retreat. Also, the SS cruise includes transport from home to airport via limo and a variety of included excursions. We like Retreat but the SS is a better fit on a port intensive itin. Royal Caribbean Group should do a better job at showing pax that there is a path for different stages of cruise vacation experiences. Kids? Royal. Adults? Celebrity. Adults with money? SS. Talking with SS, there is no reciprocity with X or RC in any way. There isn't too much that SS could offer as it is all inclusive, but some X points would be great. It would be a natural that RCG would steer upper level pax looking for the next step to SS instead of wandering off to Seabourne, Regent et al..

We are booking our first SS cruise. May 2024 Venice to Rome 10 nights We have been cruising Celebrity Retreat (suite) rooms after we retired and like it. The Med cruise on SS was actually the same price as a Celebrity Med Retreat 10 nighter, the bonus was that SS had excursions and airport transport included. The Celebrity port choice was also the bigger ports with all the big port hassles of bus rides and more people Some questions We are probably going to book direct (as we normally do - also no real relationship with a TA. We have a neighbor that does it but I dont know the advantage to us - other than him getting the commission ) Any disadvantage booking direct? We would book Classic Veranda. Any advantage booking next level up? The flight program wasn't available for some reason. We would spend a few weeks before and after anyway. My concern in general is weird routings - has that been an issue on SS? Its a year off so I dont have an issue finding flights on my own Prices ever go down or special promotions that I would be protected on? Sport coat needed? Acceptable? on this route General quality of the included excursions on SS? Thanks

the Trek review is also about the onboard experience outside the cabin - the staffing is the big issue. Various waits for requests and no one paying attention to the deck experience. That doesnt seem to be room dependent. running a hotel is not the same as a ship. Rc knows that and FourSeasons will soon discover that even with the management that FS has on top interested to see what your experience is dvalentine........

Absolutely. X wants people 50 and up that have money and don’t mind spending money on vacation. These people are coming from full service land resorts that are pricey 90 % of what is complained about here never comes up at a land resort. they don’t complain about where is my prime rib every night, free elite cocktails and trying to game the system. X doesn’t make money on that clientele so why bend over backwards

interesting start. Looking at RC for a cruise next year and am interested if it is 'worth the money" for such a new cruise line how did you book the cruise - TA or direct? Did RC offer any OBC?

Baltic cruise even without St Petersburg. We did this is 2022 and loved it. Ports are great and a different vibe than the Mediterranean Got any money? Book a suite.

Maybe. Don’t count on it. They always have baked chicken, steak or salmon. Also kid meals which a few adults order. that said, half the reason to go Aqua class is Blu. If that menu doesn’t appeal to anyone you are on the wrong place

The Blu menu has morphed into creative and drifted away from spa like over the years. We like it but it isn’t for the “I like what I like” eaters

Generally the answer is on on Apex especially since there are 4 MDR rooms to choose from. If you don’t like the Blu menu then go to the MDR that you like that night. the Blu menu isn’t weird but there is an edge to it so that word makes you nervous then maybe AQ isn’t the right choice.

Luminae is a good choice. We have eaten there twice and always found something good. Depends on your eating style as Luminae is not a meat and potatoes type of restaurant. I would call it inventive. If that word concerns you then maybe a night or two in a specialty is warranted

I don’t know but I could believe it. I worked professionally with the outside concessionaire group a while ago. The guarantee minimum that they had to pay X was high and they also had to give X 70% of the gross per week. Hard to make a profit we were on Apex a few week ago and there no no embarking photos and limited while on board. Green screen and photo studio was just about it. x would just use the space for something else by the photo kiosks that actually makes money.

not all airlines have that no change fee option. Southwest is one thing but Delta and most legacy carriers dont allow it without some penalty

many land based resorts do this already. Sometimes it is "you have 3 days to cancel" after you make the reservations. other cruise lines will follow after some initial dithering. No business is looking for this type of late minute cancel customer

we will use your numbers. $500 (with tax) x 6 nights = $3,000. Meals (2 people) and a few drinks are $250/day x 6 = $1,500 (its actually more than that realistically) Total $4,500 Beaches Ocho Rios is $4600 for a week Both of these are standard rooms - not suites Just a look at an X week cruise same time frame was $4700 for IV on Apex in March There is a whole range of AI land resorts out there - some are great many are so so. People choose a faction spot not just it is in the Caribbean

you get get all of that on smaller ship cruise lines. Those prices are not "reasonable" either, although there are values to be had per day. We have looked and sailed on those lines - Oceania, Seabourne. For some people those lines create another problem depending on how adventuresome they are of how much time they have . The small line ships generally dont have weekly roundtrips from an easy to get to part. Many of them are more than 7 days (not good if you are not retired) or are one way from different ports (airfare gets expensive and multiple legs) . The appeal of cruising for many is the simplicity of flying someplace easy to get to the night before, sail on Saturday and fly home the next Saturday . X (and others like MSC) have figured out that there are enough well off.non-retired people out there that are now going to expensive land resorts that are potential X customers

it isn't a defense, it is X reacting to resort pricing in the non-cruise market. If various land based resorts can get that kind of pricing then certainly X will react to that. There are no shortage of land resorts that get those kind of rates. You can get some lower priced, second tier hotels in resort areas but the total package isn't there Even in the latest X TV commercials they refer to themselves as a "resort" and not (necessarily) a cruise line

in general, 1/3 of the pax never get off the ship in any port. In Bahamas it is higher, which is really pissing off Bahamian port officials many people cruise because it is a floating resort that happens to stop along the way The itinerary is becoming secondary to the ship experience. Cruise lines want this as they can sail almost anywhere that can accommodate a big ship and not have to reinvent the trip every year

the prices are what they are because of the cut taken by the cruise line from the onboard concessionaire. At on time the cruise line cut was 75% of the sale, So with a $20 picture, $15 went to the cruise line and only $5 went to the photo company Photo used to be a big moneymaker, now, not so much. The trend is digital files, not hard copy prints. That is true in any photography these days Hard copy is basically gone.

they can both be ridiculous, but it does show what X is looking at for competition pricing. It isn't only HAL or Princess. It also isn't the inside cabin crowd looking for their free Elite drinks either. X believes they can lure/poach the land resort crowd that is looking for a quality product at sea aka "floating resort." That quality doesn't mean prime rib or a lobster tail every night - no one at a land based resort cares about that - they just want a good variety of food People stay at Marriott Marco Island (et al) since it is a quality product (I've stayed there), absolutely no surprises and any legitimate guest issues are quickly resolved.

JW Marriott Marco Island Florida at the beginning of March is $1200/night for a standard room - $8000 for the week That price doesnt include food, booze or shows. It will sell out Still think the X price is ridiculous ?

plenty of hot food there.

sorry - not X that runs it. They use an outside vendor to run it and give X a major cut of the gross

no one is going to work 18 hour days and eat reheated food. They have a separate crew mess and it is its own cost center

dont count on the app being correct for your particular cruise. It may or may not be the right menu. There are also 4 different MDRs on Beyond so look at all of them.

the CAD exchange rate isn't helping you vs USD X charges what they think enough people will pay