ECCruise

No, what many are asking (not demanding) is where is the decent New York strip steak that was on the menu for over 20 years? And yes, sirloin is definitely a cheaper cut than strip steak.

Celebrity is not the only cruise line that needs to stay in business. And yes, virtually all of the lines have had some sort of cost cutting measures in place. But, IMHO, they are the deepest cuts on =X= with absolutely the highest price appreciation of all the lines that we've sailed/considered. And that is spoken with 20 sailings deposited and booked (4 with =X=) in the next 22 months.

I agree. Which is why I wouldn't even consider booking at current pricing.

We aren't going in with any misconceptions. Specialty prices are nuts. We've dined in them probably 50 times since all 4 Ocean Liners on the M Class. Have never paid full price and never will. Either discounted with flash sale or discount onboard. We'll do Ocean View if we are in a salad mood, e.g. We will make do since we got good pricing on unique itineraries and that's why we sail.

True. We will make do on the 4 that we have scheduled because they were booked long ago at decent prices (there is zero chance that we would book at the prices today with the depreciated dining experience). Maybe more Specialties, maybe more Oceanview. From that point we will make decisions going forward whether to add new bookings or quietly stick with the other lines that we enjoy.

I think part of the disagreements here stem from the fact that some of us who have been sailing with Celebrity for a number of years (us, 30+ since 1998) have an established "mean" of what we have experienced in dining. Those who have only sailed recently or never on Celebrity have a different "mean" of what they have experienced. Neither is right nor wrong, but it is fairly obvious that the difference in experiences (and expectations) is pretty evident.

Ramasside Tours We were pleased with the experience from beginning to end.

Clearly a turn toward Limassol in the last hour or so.

When we were in Ashdod in May when conflicts had arisen, the ship made sure that they had the contact information for all pax not on ship shore excursions so that, if needed, they could be contacted.

Ours says the same. And boy, was she negative 6 months ago.

Having sailed a total of over 150 days since the restart with 3 of the lines he bashes (NCL, Princess and Azamara) I disagree with lots of what he says on all 3 lines. But since this is an Azamara board, I will only comment on his take there. 1) Have noticed not the slightest depreciation in onboard service rather than his "mixed." Overall experience nowhere near "under par." 2) I see some negative reviews, but nowhere near the "a lot" that he touts. I saw one long diatribe by what I could only describe as classic whiners and a couple of other sub-par takes. 3) Obviously the IT issues are legend (, but we've never had a "problems onboard" that he claims. 4) And as an aside, after having some problems with stateside customer service 6 months or so ago, the difference we've experienced in those interactions (and we've had quite a few) in the last couple of months is like night and day. Most of what he relates is culled from sitting at home and reading reviews. And maybe there is some aggregation value there, but that is about as subjective as you possibly can get.

The actual MONEY doesn't get transferred. Just the notification of the amount. Billing would occur at time of sailing.

Yes and yes.

You can likely settle all this in one phone call. We've done similar by phone a couple of times in the last month or so. If their accounting shows at least the OBC you think you have, go with it.

No. I am virtually certain that Azamara can see it (which is how it is applied to your account quickly onboard) but we cannot see it.

My TA has to transmit any OBC to Azamara prior to sailing, so they would know. Mine has already transmitted the info to them on sailings in 2024 and 2025.

Sailed every ship except Meridian from inception (Horizon to Reflection) to E Class and Flora, in which we have zero interest. Definitely a completely different cruise line today from what it was--not that is necessarily good or bad--and we have 4 sailings booked in the next year or so, but going in knowing that it no longer will have the feel of what hooked us 25 years ago.

Yes, Quest does seem to be the common denominator. We were on B2B in April and May. The first sailing had only one show but the second sailing had 2. Kept meaning to ask Amanda about it but kept forgetting to ask. All the shows were broadcast to the stateroom TVs.

Yes, that was definitely the case and it made sense at the time.

I've not heard of any of the others in upcoming months being cancelled, but would have to hear from folks on those sailings.

In our particular sailings, it just seems strange that the 2 evenings (in Valencia and Walvis Bay) that have been cancelled were literally been on the books for over 18 months, with specific notes on the venues, what would be seen there and bookable online a long time ago (prior to the migration, in fact). And then changed less than 60 days prior to departure. It will be interesting to see if the only AzAmazing night left, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (again, with very detailed descriptions of where and what will occur) survives.

We've had 2 AzAmazing Evenings changed out of 3 on our B2B2B in November/December (Valencia and the one quoted above in Walvis Bay, Namibia). Since one of those would likely be fairly easy to arrange (Arts and Sciences Center in Valencia) and one more difficult (a desert venue in Walvis Bay) it may be a combination of both expense and logistics. If you talk to anyone on the ship (especially the Shore Ex team who do much of the heavy lifting) it is a lot of very involved work. On our last 2 AzAmazing nights earlier this year (HCM City and Colombo) we remarked at both the huge amount of work to arrange, coordinate and bring to fruition it was PLUS the obviously huge expense.

Up to date simply means it shows your most current vax, whether it was yesterday or 10/22. But wow, having just been in Japan, facing my fate in Japan because I scrapbooked a tiny piece of paper would not be even a remote possibility for me, but YMMV.

I think a lot of discussion is superfluous. Doesn't matter what Carnival is doing or what other parts of the world are doing. The OP is going to Japan. Japan can change regulations in a drop of a hat, as we saw in May when regulations (not involving COVID vax) were changed overnight. And it is something as simple as taking an up-to-date COVID vax card. A no-brainer of all no-brainers.

Walgreens here stamped them yesterday.