D C

celebrityengagementcenter@celebrity.com

and this whole time, I thought KU was Kentucky.

I emailed them about the $10 burgers back when that debacle happened and received a phone call, not a canned reply. They'll be getting an earful about their current shortsightedness.

I recommend being the laggard in the group. Be dead last and take your time. Everyone else is rushing to get to a beach. Hang back, take pics enjoy the scenery, climb and wander around. You can't get lost... or it would be tough anyhow.

Yes. Or more if you like.

We did not the snorkel and baths excursion in November. Figured it was better to end up at the baths instead of the ferry terminal. The snorkeling was so-so at best, then we had to carry our snorkel equipment through the baths. The baths themselves were interesting, but way over-hyped thanks to all we had heard. We reached the beach and wondered where the rest of it was. Thankfully we had time to go back through without the line of people.

It's more $ for a far inferior product. We're sailing elsewhere after almost exclusively sailing on X (one Royal sailing snuck in).

You can bring as much as you can carry.

Have never seen any sort of special on drinks on Celebrity.

I would love to see the post-covid data. How many were already loyal vs how many were 'developing' and strung along with FCC? I suspect new-new cruisers are somewhat uncommon vs pre-covid

I know a B&B in Cozumel that's well under $100 per night in the peak season. Not ocean view, so perhaps not comparable to a veranda, but it's probably better than an IV. 😉 If tropical weather is the goal, it's not a bad option. Plus you get the inside scoop on non-tourist places to go

Loyal guests are easy revenue, but they're not ideal revenue. So you have loyalty programs to keep them coming back to fill rooms. You throw those people a bone to make them THINK you care. You don't HAVE to care about them at all. Those rooms are far better filled by new $

A 1 bedroom vs a veranda is perhaps not the best comparison. A studio or efficiency would be a better comparison.... or bump up to a suite room on the cruise.

Loyal guests are little more than a nuisance. Just ask Disney. Passholders come time and again, they don't spend $ on lots of extras and souvenirs. Very low revenue per guest. On top of that, they notice when you try to quietly degrade the product. So pesky! X is making cuts because they think they can get away with it and that the bottom line will benefit. Loyalty doesn't enter the equation on their behalf at all, or maybe as a footnote. So that elite guest goes elsewhere and is replaced with some new, unsuspecting customer. No bags of laundry or free cheap drinks to dole out. Sell some t-shirts or watches and lots of excursions. That's a win!

Our only 'experience' with MSC was talking to another couple back in 2019 while on the Summit. They had sailed on MSC and had concluded that MSC stood for "My S**tty Cruise". We haven't considered it based on their review.

Simply put, we are not suite quests. We don't need or desire the space, the attention of a butler, the private areas, or anything else that comes with it. For those who are, I do wonder what the Retreat area of X offers over similarly priced smaller luxury lines. We were berthed next to a small luxury line in Antigua back in November (racking my brain to remember which one) and thought that it looked awesome for whatever it must cost.

I'm surprised that X ended up cheaper. We're saving over $1000 by sailing with Princess in a normal balcony with Princess Plus compared to a basic non-obstructed balcony on X with similar perks. No couch in the room and a smaller balcony from what I understand, but our needs are met with that and the other offerings onboard. They have a "Sunset Bar" and even have a pool nearby. Throw in some good pizza and we're good to go.

You can look at it however you wish. As stated, this is the "starting price" look at a category. Plenty people will compare the entry price of suites, decide to book the cheaper option, tell other people people they stayed in a suite while saying it was cheaper than some other suite. Nothing incorrect about any of that. Likewise, they can look at the entry price of a Celebrity suite and conclude that it's not that much more to book a suite on an actual luxury line. Also very correct. Just like, "How much is a new vehicle?" Well, the Chevy Silverado starts at $38k, and the Corvette starts at $65k. Yup, a Silverado can be had for a bit more than half the price of a Corvette. If you want more detail than that, you'll have to build and price your own. And frankly, it's on Celebrity if they're advertising starting prices that are uncompetitive.

It's not skewed unless you're looking for something that isn't there. It's purely an "our starting price" for the suite category. Nothing more, nothing less. As far as balconies go, of course there are inherent differences between them. One might be obstructed, have a chair vs a couch, bigger vs smaller balcony, etc... The key takeaway is that in both broad categories, Celebrity is positioning themselves towards actual luxury lines and not among their competitors.

They had no Caribbean sailings in the search results. I was trying to do a popular location, popular duration, high season look. 7n Carib Jan-Mar

What will make us jump ship? This. I have no reason to believe that a balcony on Celebrity is worth a 40% premium over Princess. It's hello Princess for our cruising $$ at this point.

It's death by 1000 cuts, yet there are factions who actually try to shame those who are disappointed (or more) at the changes. Those would be the 'You should be happy you're on a ship' people when people mention that the premium beverage package provides a fraction of the sold bill of goods. Some cuts are not very deep while some are more than mere flesh wounds. It's easy to dismiss those minor items that don't affect you personally (like seriously, I have never tried an oatmeal raisin cookie on X), or to justify the reduced service/offerings that are apparent when significant portions of the buffet are not being used (e.g. the entire rear serving area and at least one 'island' on the Edge were unused...but that's fine because the ship isn't full, right?), or the room service charges, or the lobster charges, or the missing embarkation 'champagne', or.... Those cutbacks are more than a little tough to swallow when Celebrity is also massively increasing prices to where their balconies are priced at least 30-40% higher than Princess or Holland (or any other mainstream line), and when Suite prices are in the company of ACTUAL luxury lines. For the first time in almost 10 years, we don't have a single future cruise booked with Celebrity. Instead, we have multiple cruises booked on Princess. Sure, we're Princess virgins, and we might find that we overall prefer Celebrity, but I highly doubt we'll wish we had paid thousands more for X.

btw, those were the AVERAGE price tables. Here are the MEDIAN prices (without resorting the order). Even less favourable for X.

I was curious as to where X fell in the broad scheme of things relative to other lines, so I did a little searching on a popular vacation booking site. I pulled up ALL cruise lines for a 7n Caribbean sailing from Jan-Mar '24. Over 900 total hits. No sorting for itineraries or anything else. Just an "our starting price" look at things. Regular balconies are skewed by the luxury lines being all suites, and this site didn't differentiate. But they should otherwise be comparable as the lowest price, perk-free, probably lifeboat-view balconies for the other lines. Suites should be a more comparable comparison. This makes me wonder why more people don't sail on the other lines for the relatively small difference. TLDR: Celebrity is the most expensive non-luxury line with the exception of Disney.

Possibly, but it's a moot point right now as ships are able to dock at the privately owned Pier B