Dolebludger

Well, I was asking about San Juan, not Anchorage, about a good pre cruise hotel to book. We booked our own in Anchorage in June (can’t recall which, but it was fine) and booked the train to Seward. But now I’m asking about a hotel in San Juan that is better than what Regent provides (the Caribe Hilton, which doesn’t rate well). Just looking for a place to spend a pre cruise night that has good plumbing, AC, and well maintained rooms. From my research, the Caribe Hilton isn’t it. And what I read on this board about Regent’s transfers from hotel to embarkation, that isn’t what we want either. Crowded busses that aren’t on time. Don’t put up with that at home, and certainly not on vacation. Not looking for a “resort”. We will get our “resort” onboard. I don’t blame Regent for this, as they must rely on local contractors for these services, and in many tourist locations, local service providers are now very deficient (see my post #21 above).

Well, yes, people could well have spread Covid at overcrowded airports or on overcrowded flights to and from the cruise, and not on the cruise. And I wish all a speedy recovery.

I’m sad that Covid is still a factor in choosing to cruise — or not. But, as I recall, non-Yacht Club accommodations on MSC are rather crowded and tight. Perfect storm for any disease spread. The YC was not that way at all when we cruised there. The experience was rather like that on Silversea or Regent. I’ve been following this thread, and I’m glad that otherwise the OP enjoyed the YC; in that Celebrity Retreat cruising has priced itself out of my market

And I must note that the travel rating sites do not speak favorably about the Caribe Hilton in San Juan. This coupled with reports of sub-mass market ground transportation via Regent have lead us to consider taking what little credit that is offered, and booking our own hotels, and paying our own cabs. I don’t blame Regent for problems with ground accommodations and transportation. We live in a Colorado tourist small city, and service personnel are difficult to find. When we were on the Explorer in June, 2023, we booked our own hotels and transportation from Anchorage to Seward, and all was great. Those who took Regent’s hotel and ground transportation have posted that it was horrible. I am certain that Regent is doing the best it can. But it is not able to service those who cruise Regent very well as to land accommodations and transportation.

This position by Virgin surprised me, because earlier in its existence NOTHING was included. Now, some things are. Drink packages weren’t even available for a price. But a number of cruise lines have gotten on the inclusive bandwagon, and it seems that Virgin is moving in that direction too. But, like others, I don’t like Virgin’s itineraries and small rooms.

We are booked on that cruise, and have no idea what hotel Regent will chose for us. How did you find out?

I like that. The lux lines already have tips included. Tips were included in the Retreat, which is now priced equal or above them. And, like you, we are getting sick of tip requests in transactions where tipping never happened a few short years ago.

I’m interested in this thread. We are historical Regent cruisers, but did go in the Retreat CS and RS in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and had great cruises. Also, we cruised in the MSC Yacht Club in 2015, and we liked that very much also. Both were much less expensive than Regent, but we’re almost as good. Now, cruises in the Retreat costs as much as Regent (or more) and there is a question about whether they include as much as then. The prices on MSC. Yacht Club now seem in line with what they have been in the past. So that is why I am interested in thus thread, and appreciate all information.

I didn’t see an answer about tips. Are they included in the fare? I recall they were when we were on the MSC Divinia in the YC in 2015, but that was a long time ago. Also, how is the atmosphere in the main part of the ship? I wouldn’t know as we were on two b to b music cruises headlined by the Moody Blues and Yes, and the average age onboard was around 60. Because of this, it was pretty refined.

Understandable. Celebrity has been removing inclusions and perks faster than many of us can keep up. If anyone wants to book with them in light if what us going on, they need a good TA to check what is (and isn’t) included as of the date if booking. It seems to change weekly. Sad.

Well, the way things are going with Celebrity and the Retreat, I’ll never be “E”. Yeah, I know that the Retreat is not a fully lux cruise, and never was. But it used to be priced enough lower than a true lux line that we liked it and could overlook some things for the savings. But no more. Now, the retreat is priced equal or higher than true lux lines, including Silversea. So we are not in a forgiving mood when inclusions are cut by Celebrity.

And Silversea has a great cruise product. Been there!

The trend in cruise lines at this time seems to be adding more inclusions, not fewer. Example: Oceania recently added included beer and wine at lunch and dinner in their base rate to keep up with Viking in the premium class, while still offering a true AI package at additional cost. For some reason, Celebrity seems to be going against the trend. Celebrity’s fare structure makes it complicated. We can book a 7 nighter in an inside room for much less than $1000 pp. Wouldn’t expect much included for that price. Or we could book a Retreat suite for several $thousand. (many $thousands for a larger suite on a newer ship). For that pricing, we would expect EVERYTHING to be included. But that is not quite the case — not at all the case next month when tips won’t even be included for new bookings. I don’t see how Celebrity can compete in this price range (the lux class) when all competitors in that class include tips in the fare, and some even include things like air and shore excursions. And isn’t it going to be an accounting nightmare next Spring when some guests have included tips and some don’t?

Celebrity attempts to offer cruises in every price range, all on the same ship. And until recently it has done a good job at it. But although we are from the USA, we feel that paying employees should be the responsibility of the employer, not the customers. Thus, we like having “tips included in the fare” which is really setting the fare at a level that will allow the employees to be paid fairly. Also, having WiFi has really become a necessity for most, so it should be included I all fares. Recently, our small city in the Colorado mountains installed WiFi covering the historic downtown, which is a tourist area. No charge for anybody, and no tax increase. We aren’t familiar with technical issues of providing this service at sea, but my city is very remote too.

I certainly agree. Tipping has gone over the rails in the US. I had a need for a tow truck last week as my SUV went dead on my own property. It was towed to my auto service garage, which is the nearest, and I paid by AmEx on a hand held. It came up with tipping options. My problem was that tipping a tow truck driver us not traditional — even in the US. I told the driver that, and he said he wasn’t getting the tips, so check “no tip” if I wished, and I did. Now, the people at the repair facility brought out a code reader and found the SUV had gone into security mode, whatever that is, and with the code reader, the SUV started and ran fine. Now the service garage guy had spent about 1/4 hour on this, so I offered to pay. They refused, saying “come back for your repair needs” which I’ve been doing for 11 years and will continue to do. And certainly no mention of a tip. Back in the 1990s, we used to cruise Royal. You could brings drinks of any sort on board. But we brought on only soda and beer, as they sold spirits you could drink in your room for much less than onshore prices. Tips were confined to the envelopes we were furnished that stated “for my room steward and for my waiter. Back then , you had the same table and waiters for the whole cruise so we were tipping two people.well,who are we tipping now? Now with :included tipping” which a guest thatmcan opt out of any tip, how dies he now who he is cutting out/? Maydr]e dont servive he wouoj=l

All this comes at a most when most are sick of the attempts to expand tipping into transactions where it is not traditional.

I think you are going to like true all included cruising. The majority of the time we book on Regent and Scenic river. Both are fully AI during the cruise. The Retreat used to offer close to the same experience. Now I don’t know anymore, and I don’t feel lucky.

We all could avoid the uncertainty by booking before Oct 4, couldn’t we?

Just a question. Tips have been included for guests in the Retreat. Is this being stopped also?

As one who has posted critical comments about the current situation in the Retreat, let me clarify. The Retreat experience has experienced some relatively minor negative changes. The changes wouldn’t have prompted such a firestorm, had they not been accompanied by rather large fare increases for bookings made now. If you booked in the past at a price satisfactory to you, you can expect a great cruise. I predict the the reduction in services and such will be scarcely notable to you. My critical comments, and those of many others, mainly concerned the opinion that the Retreat is not worth the fares in effect today. But it is certainly worth the lower fares charged in the past.

There are guests that only want to book a basic balcony, ocean view, or even an inside. We haven’t cruised that way for about 35 years, when we decided if we didn’t have the money to do better, we’d stay home, which we often did., so I can’t comment about Celebrity’s current fare for such, except they don’t look that bad at a glance. Now as very senior citizens, we have cruised Celebrity only in the Retreat, when it was a lower cost option to Regent, Silversea, and Seabourn. It isn’t that anymore, and has reduced perks and inclusions so that it isn’t an option anymore. Further, the Retreat is at higher fare than these “big three” lux lines. Celebrity may still be a player in the more basic booking classes. I wouldn’t know. But it is no longer a player in the lux market.

Yes, more exotic itineraries are great. We did all of that before we got so old! Now, that and the difficulties flying keep us out of the far away itineraries. Our next one is in the E.Caribbean with only one plane change each way. We have always comparison shopped for cruises. And we have been put off by price increases since 2004. But now the price of the Retreat is exceeding that of true lux lines, so the problem is comparative pricing.

There are many reasons why we shouldn’t compare land-based resorts with cruises. One is that cruise lines compete with other cruise lines — not land resorts. The other is that some (but not all) land resorts are notorious rip-offs. Celebrity has to compete with at least 15 lines. And while there is some common ownership among most, there still is competition. When comparing cost and value among cruise lines, I imagine few have considered land resorts — and have chosen one. But in our recent comparison, we considered Celebrity Retreat and Silversea (common ownership) among others. Between those two, Silversea looks darn good!

It’s actually nothing more than doing what many have always done. We want a cruise at at a certain range of dates to certain locations. We have certain needs and wants. And perhaps we have certain lines we wouldn’t cruise if they were free! And with these personal factors, we search for the best deal, all things considered. Several years ago, Celebrity was winning this process for us. Now it is not. It is not a matter of Celebrity being bad. It is just that, for our needs and wants, it is not the best deal for us. Perhaps for others, with different criteria, it still is.

Here is something I’d like to know. What was the number of staff performing “butler service” in the old system, compared to the number performing these services now? If there is been a significant decrease (which I suspect) there will be a corresponding decrease in service quality.