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And one that makes their ACTUAL competition look very attractive. Curious if the actual plan is to run Celebrity into the ground and shutter it. Seems like they're headed in that direction at full speed.

Pretty sure DW and I saw all of the original Love Boat episodes, but know next to nothing about any new version. We're on our first Princess cruise right now and we're surprised at how hard they seem to be milking nostalgia for a cheesy 40-year old TV show. Heard the horns play the theme and looked at each other with "is that really a thing?" looks on our faces. We asked each other essentially what the OP asked. Is this endearing for Princess cruisers? Over the top? Cheesy? Interesting to read the perspectives, for sure.

I really wonder about demand when it comes to Celebrity. They're still sailing with partially-filled ships, aren't they? 60-75%? I didn't think X has had a full ship except for the holidays. On Princess right now and this thing is pert near full. Downright crowded compared to my Thanksgiving Celebrity sailing. Either Princess is doing a lot of things right, or X is doing them wrong. I'm guessing that small, fully refundable deposits are working in their favor as X has migrated to requiring quite a bit more as non-refundable.

$130? they're insane! X really needs to take a second look at their beverage package. It is wildly out of line. Consider that Princess charges $8 for a Woodford (premium package not required). Glenlivet is $8, Glenmorangie is $9. Pours are smaller than X, but it still takes some effort to hit their 14/day drink limit. I could drink 14 Woodfords on Princess for less than the X package that gives me the same. (The Princess wine selection is fairly dismal though.)

I wouldn't count on next week's online menu until it's actually THIS week's menu.

Celebrity's pizza is very good, and the oceanview cafe pizza is almost identical to the normal Princess pizza. Princess does step it up a notch with the pizza In Alfredo's, their pizza restaurant.

Which, as a customer I don't care about. Nor has X come out and stated such. Carnival is not exactly in a rosy debt situation, yet they have resisted such cutbacks.

Be sure to check out the ship's excursions to Sark in addition to the published Isle of Sark Shipping timetables. There is hopefully an excursion offering a return trip with biking on Sark. If not, there may be independent options for chartering a ride over. When are you visiting?

Perceived value is certainly a subjective matter. For us, we had a choice between a 7n Western on the Reflection or a 7n Eastern on Princess, with the Princess option saving us around $600-800 for a veranda room (all included vs princess plus). That alone was a no-brainer value proposition, even before the cuts. As we enjoy dining al fresco at the aft of the ship at least a couple of nights each cruise, with DW hitting the pasta bar and me getting some sort of steak, the value proposition gauge has swung even farther away from Celebrity with their cuts. Incidentally, while Celebrity was serving a worse buffet selection last night than my kid's college dorm served, Princess was slicing prime rib at their buffet. We're taking a hard look at Princess this week. Are the differences better or worse than X, and for those things where X is preferred, how important are they? (and vice versa)

Those celebrity prices are pretty much guaranteed to be an obstructed view balcony. Perhaps a better basis for comparison would be an aqua room if someone is cross-shopping Oceania. Looking at the 13N Apex sailing... the big box store isn't showing any AQ available, but a C1 with all-included is $9700. You're in a similar price range as that Oceania 13N.

While one can debate whether CC represents a typical crossed section of guests, having a product as divisive as an IV is far from an ideal businesses proposition. I have no reason to believe that CC is somehow biased in either direction regarding them. And when people who generally like your offerings (or used to before you started running the company into the ground) refuse to spend money on your latest and greatest product for very specific reasons, it should be a wake up call.

The first thing they should do is cancel or delay new builds. Especially X where a lot of people don't like them. Don't take out a loan for a new car when the old one is better.

The subject line of my email to the executive office was "good bye Celebrity"

I was waiting for that tie-in!

As a non-suite cruiser, I think Terminal 29 is far and away better than 25. The randomly-arranged disorganized organic seating areas in 25 are pure chaos, and the cavernous building is a huge echo chamber. Impossible to hear staff. 29 with the airport gate waiting area seating, while dated, is so wonderfully simple and organised. Have only had to use it once in 3 sailings out of 29 this past year. We usually walk right on and have had drinks in hand just after 11.

Give it time. Though it took them from the 9th to 11th to call me. Not a bad response time, really

And SO MANY people act as if that's perfectly acceptable. Boggles my mind.

As long as the peppers are added to the beans after they're thrown out, I'm good to go with that meal

I would be more than happy to do so if they were to provide the reasoning and data behind their decisions. Since we have nothing more than presumptions regarding the 'why' behind the changes, I feel it's most constructive to provide feedback on the big picture. Something like, "You're devaluing the X brand with changes while your prices have increased to be out of line with your competitors, so we're shopping elsewhere". I too received a call from the 'executive offices' this morning. Most of the discussion was the rep stating things like "thank you for your feedback... it's important to us...it's forwarded to the executive team...we understand your concerns... thank you...you've sailed a lot with us...you're important to us...etc" I was somewhat surprised that the call was presented as an opportunity for me to provide additional feedback beyond what was in my email, rather than an explanation/justification from them about the changes. No mention of inflation, fuel or food costs, labor, corporate debt, CEO salaries, or anything else that might have been touched on in this and other threads as catalysts for the changes. Purely an opportunity to tell them more.

So they removed a LOT from their advertised premium offerings. Macallan offerings way down. Woodford Double Oaked gone.

Actually not a bad idea!

No. Feed the crew. It makes that stop before becoming fish food. And "enough" is different than "desirable". Nobody is starving on a cruise, so nothing at all would be 'enough'.

Some of our most enjoyable dinners have been sitting out by the Sunset Bar with OVC food. Not a stir fry fan, but do enjoy the cooked-to-order steaks. Sadly, those were missing on the 2 nights we dined at OVC on the Infinity back in November (Thanksgiving). DW enjoyed the pasta bar though.

When I have been in contact with them in the past, they were very responsive with real people getting involved. Not necessarily to a satisfactory solution though (like when they cancelled a sailing and gave us a pittance of an offer to shift to another ship at prevailing prices...an offer that was bested by our travel agency talking to X).

I can hear the complaints when they catch something not published in the app menu before the cruise, even if it's better. Though not from me, as I'm not sure what exactly constitutes "better" when it comes to fish. They all fall into the dreaded "swimming food" category.