Whinenowine

U made it through Dry January...you're a better man than I! How is the bourbon selection on Grandeur? Do they also have premium choices for an upcharge?

Yeah, For years I've had a masseuse come to our house and give both DW and me massages for about the same as one massage on RSSC.

Wiser words were never uttered....and if they were, I must have missed it because I had been drinking all day! 😇🥂

Oh, no doubt about that--I completely disagreed with their comment as well (having often sailed in the Retreat with my kids)...but I don't think it's right to respond to one poster's comment by essentially saying "I'm glad they're screwing over everyone in a suite". I mean...the sins of the one are not the sins of the many.

So was it enjoyable? I'm curious because we've got this excursion booked when we're in Roatan on the Grandeur later this year. Looks nice enough, and happy to hear the horses seem to be well-treated.

Wait--you were offended by what one person said so in response you chose to offend everyone else on this thread (Retreat cruisers)? Whatever happened to 'when they go low, we go high'? Just sayin'..... 🥂

Regent, SilverSea and Viking have very few kids...and often cheaper pricing than X.

Who'd be sleeping on it, my teenagers had no problems on either, but preferred the pullout as it had an actual mattress rather than a hard(er) sofa cushion.

Too late--here I am, a Celebrity Retreat castoff! While prices everywhere have gone up, they've absolutely skyrocketed on X, while services/benefits offered have been reduced. In fact our upcoming Grandeur cruise in a Cat D cabin will be a good bit cheaper (all in) than a similar cruise in a smaller, less luxurious X Sky Suite. We've tried SilverSea to keep it in the RCL family, but now we're branching out to RSSC. Hello, everybody! 🥂

@kjbacon, I'm curious what the yellow emulsion is around the tartar? Also, thanks for all the detail. We're on the Grandeur later this year on this same itinerary, so I'm diligently taking mental notes. We're also booked on the barrier reef snorkel excursion (though I'm not sure how 'great' it is!). 😇

It's going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out over the next 1-2 years. How much of the old guard will leave X for greener lux pastures and how many of the new ('affluent and younger') cruisers will stick with Celebrity. Money is only part of the calculus for what line people chose...but I think that bad combo of 'paying more for less' will eventually catch up with X.

That's unfortunate. We were last on her in Alaska in August '22 and that was not the case for us. Yet another possible negative change (but hopefully not).

I was lucky that in my late 20's one of my childhood friends married a woman from Jalisco state in Mexico--the heart of tequila country. The wedding was outside of Guadalajara and the bride's uncle introduced us all to sipping tequila (after he chastised us all for shooting the first pour!). Ah...good times. 🥂

Having lived in an overseas cruise ship destination port for many years, I think this is true more often than not. There are negatives to be sure, but the boost to the local economy is huge from the cruise lines and tourist dollars.

Yeah we've enjoyed our X cruises, which have been on E and M class ships (alas, no S class). But I think the sweet spot for us is generally 55-70 tons. Captures the new Regent, SilverSea and Oceania ships. We sailed once on one of the smaller SilverSea ships (I think the Whisper), and while we enjoyed the itinerary, food and fellow passengers, the ship was just too small for us.

Sorry, @Dolebludger, our posts crossed in the ether. Yes, cannot forget the huge price increases in the Retreat, at least.

Yes it's the combo of the continuous removal of prior benefits/services simultaneous to large price increases. The August 2023 Edge cruise I took is 62% more expensive in August 2024! And 2024 doesn't include $320 of tips or $600 in OBC that I got in 2023. Factoring that in, current pricing is double last year's pricing.

Right now cruise lines are dealing with violence impacting Galapagos/Ecuador cruises. Some are just putting people on alert while others are rearranging part of their itinerary.

Thanks for the great info, @Jeremiah1212. I'd agree that mistakes happen and should usually be forgiven...but when you're constantly calibrating and recalibrating ad nauseum...then the root problem isn't the decisions themselves, but management's competence. btw--I got a kick out of this part: "They said the elusive more to come due to any major change taking a few months to implement." I laughed because last summer I booked a last minute cruise on the Edge a month ahead of sail date. Yet the announced change to SS butler service was announced and implemented in only 3weeks during that month. Didn't seem to take a few months to take it away! 😇

Indeed--I recall those pictures of the nice Zenith meal with Laura on the Edge during Jim/Iain's last cruise.

Correct, each card can only be coded for one room. However when we travel with our teenage kids we have X issue cards for both rooms. So you have to carry around 2 cards, which is a bit annoying, but you got access to both rooms. The extra card was only for room access, not for bars or other possible charges.

At the current Celebrity SS price point, if you like that layout (which I do as well), you might want to also consider a Superior/Concierge suite on one of the newer Regent ships.

We went to Tuscan 3x when last on the Millie and no visit was bad....just not great. Service was excellent (and got better each visit, as they remembered us). But the steaks were average at best; again, not bad but no better than we could get in Luminae.

It's 2 more people of any size. My kids are teens and are of the size that we either get them their own cabin or book a larger suite big enough for 4. But I recall my childhood days of my family of 4 somehow squeezing into a 180-200sqft cabin with one tiny bathroom. Ah, to each their own!

That's odd. I've been looking for 4 and on the Reflection for the Retreat generally a CS or above will hold 4+. Same on E-class, though on M-class only the RS and PH can hold 4+.