Convince me to upgrade to the Retreat

[canderson]

10 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

By the way, for the Connie, I always thought the old Michaels Club was a neat place to have a drink or so, and enjoy a cruise conversation...

As long as you didn't dis Judy!  That would lead to merciless retribution!😉

[bigbenboys]

32 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Are Sky Suites located in a specific area?  Looking ahead to a possible 2023 South America cruise where we want something stable.  It would probably be on the Infinity.

We have a sky suite on Infinity booked for 4 Apr 2023. Most of the sky suites are on deck 6 mid ship and aft. I like being just forward of the aft elevators. Luminae is just 2 decks down. The Retreat is more forward on deck 4. As Luminae was carved out of the MDR you can order off the MDR menu also.

[Eglesbrech]

7 hours ago, canderson said:

As long as you didn't dis Judy!  That would lead to merciless retribution!😉

And you were only allowed in if you lived in a gated community😀

 

Re the OPs question we don’t always book a suite, it depends to an extent on the cruise we are doing, how many ports etc as to how much need we have for extra cabin space / bigger balcony.
 

On a port intensive cruise where we are out and about all day almost every day I would not find it worth the extra cost. On a cruise where there are more seas days or shorter stops then having a quiet place for lunch and private deck space is more useful.

 

It does seem strange (and a little unfair) that X are packing the suites full while the rest of the ship is at less than half capacity. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Eglesbrech

[Roger88]

6 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

We have a sky suite on Infinity booked for 4 Apr 2023. Most of the sky suites are on deck 6 mid ship and aft. I like being just forward of the aft elevators. Luminae is just 2 decks down. The Retreat is more forward on deck 4. As Luminae was carved out of the MDR you can order off the MDR menu also.

Sjy Suites are very nice. I remember a friend of mine telling me about it. I wonder if there is a big number of them on the ship. Moreover, I doubt it will ever go down in price. This thing is quite expensive. 

[terrydtx]

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

It does seem strange (and a little unfair) that X are packing the suites full while the rest of the ship is at less than half capacity. 

What is strange or unfair? Since Celebrity is sailing at only 50% capacity, they want to maximize revenue per passenger by booking the higher end cabins at 100% first. If passengers in a suite are paying $500pp per day vs an inside cabin at $150pp per day, which cabins would you want to sell the most of?

[Eglesbrech]

21 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

What is strange or unfair? Since Celebrity is sailing at only 50% capacity, they want to maximize revenue per passenger by booking the higher end cabins at 100% first. If passengers in a suite are paying $500pp per day vs an inside cabin at $150pp per day, which cabins would you want to sell the most of?

It’s strange because when we booked we were promised social distancing on a ship running at a lesser capacity. If all the suites are sold and all the guests try to use the Retreat facilities then social distancing may not be possible?

 

I understand the economics of it perfectly well thank you but unfortunately the virus does not 😀

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

It’s strange because when we booked we were promised social distancing on a ship running at a lesser capacity. If all the suites are sold and all the guests try to use the Retreat facilities then social distancing may not be possible?

 

I understand the economics of it perfectly well thank you but unfortunately the virus does not 😀

I am sorry but you didn't explain it that way in your original post. Have a good day.

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

It’s strange because when we booked we were promised social distancing on a ship running at a lesser capacity. If all the suites are sold and all the guests try to use the Retreat facilities then social distancing may not be possible?

 

I understand the economics of it perfectly well thank you but unfortunately the virus does not 😀

If they are sailing at 50% capacity, regardless if guests are in suites or standard cabins, then Celebrity has met their promise to you.

[Eglesbrech]

15 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

If they are sailing at 50% capacity, regardless if guests are in suites or standard cabins, then Celebrity has met their promise to you.

Not in my opinion, please see the quote below. They are ( potentially) not providing more space if the same standard numbers are using one facility, the retreat. 

 

“We’re sailing at reduced capacity to provide more space”

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

Not in my opinion, please see the quote below. They are ( potentially) not providing more space if the same standard numbers are using one facility, the retreat. 

 

“We’re sailing at reduced capacity to provide more space”

I have not seen any reports from current or recent passengers about crowding in any venue on the few Celebrity ships cruising, that includes the Retreat faculties and Luminae. In fact, reports are that there is more space between tables in Luminae than pre Covid. If you are so concerned respectfully,  just stay home, the rest of us will enjoy our travels.

[cangelmd]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

What is strange or unfair? Since Celebrity is sailing at only 50% capacity, they want to maximize revenue per passenger by booking the higher end cabins at 100% first. If passengers in a suite are paying $500pp per day vs an inside cabin at $150pp per day, which cabins would you want to sell the most of?

Rather than saying strange or unfair, I would use the words ironic and aggravating- pay the higher rates on the ship and get the highest risk of catching Covid.

 We didn’t feel overly at risk on our Aug 1 cruise, but there were a couple of times in the Retreat lounge where I felt the need to leave. 
Don’t know if it was better or worse in main dining, Luminae was rarely - first chic night, maybe, completely full, but the staff tried to sear everyone as close to the view as possible 

[Eglesbrech]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I have not seen any reports from current or recent passengers about crowding in any venue on the few Celebrity ships cruising, that includes the Retreat faculties and Luminae. In fact, reports are that there is more space between tables in Luminae than pre Covid. If you are so concerned respectfully,  just stay home, the rest of us will enjoy our travels.

I suggest you read the next post after yours. 

 

You will also find I have not and did not use inflammatory language like “crowding”, your words not mine. In fact I used the caveat “potentially” quite deliberately as it is not a given.

 

I also find your final statement anything but respectful. I am entitled to my opinion, as are you. You are not however entitled to tell me to just stay at home.

 

 

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Rather than saying strange or unfair, I would use the words ironic and aggravating- pay the higher rates on the ship and get the highest risk of catching Covid.

 We didn’t feel overly at risk on our Aug 1 cruise, but there were a couple of times in the Retreat lounge where I felt the need to leave. 
Don’t know if it was better or worse in main dining, Luminae was rarely - first chic night, maybe, completely full, but the staff tried to sear everyone as close to the view as possible 

Now that Celebrity is sailing 100% vaccinated for all passengers over 12 years old, the risk of catching Covid on board is much less than when you cruised in early August. I have a much much higher chance of getting Covid here at home where the un vaccinated are free to roam anywhere they want. We board the Equinox on Friday and my wife and I have limited our exposure outside of our home for the last 10 days. I have absolutely no fear of Covid while we cruise in our Sky Suite.

[cangelmd]

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Now that Celebrity is sailing 100% vaccinated for all passengers over 12 years old, the risk of catching Covid on board is much less than when you cruised in early August. I have a much much higher chance of getting Covid here at home where the un vaccinated are free to roam anywhere they want. We board the Equinox on Friday and my wife and I have limited our exposure outside of our home for the last 10 days. I have absolutely no fear of Covid while we cruise in our Sky Suite.

LOL, not at you. When we left on July 31 for FLL, it was from the county in the entire US with arguably the highest ongoing rate of transmission - no argument at all from me about where is safer, it’s that ship!

 I, though still work full time in healthcare and have always been very sensitive to the prospect of giving the virus inadvertently to someone, so some of my concerns are for others. 

The only squiggle of concern I had for myself was selfish - I know how those tests work, and I didn’t want a transient viremia and a positive test to ruin my vacation!

 

You are wise to control your exposure now and during your travel to the ship- the ship is pretty safe, the in between, not as much.

[zitsky]

This question is useful to people like myself who *might* book a suite and are looking for more information.  Knowing how crowded it is or is not, is very helpful in making a decision.  A Sky Suite might be double the price of an Aqua cabin so I'd like to know what to expect in the lounge and restaurant.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

This question is useful to people like myself who *might* book a suite and are looking for more information.  Knowing how crowded it is or is not, is very helpful in making a decision.  A Sky Suite might be double the price of an Aqua cabin so I'd like to know what to expect in the lounge and restaurant.

Then you have come to the right place.  Plenty of threads here from recent and current cruisers.  Lots of detail included, sounds quite safe to me from what they have posted.  

[bajathree]

8 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

And you were only allowed in if you lived in a gated community😀

 

Re the OPs question we don’t always book a suite, it depends to an extent on the cruise we are doing, how many ports etc as to how much need we have for extra cabin space / bigger balcony.
 

On a port intensive cruise where we are out and about all day almost every day I would not find it worth the extra cost. On a cruise where there are more seas days or shorter stops then having a quiet place for lunch and private deck space is more useful.

 

It does seem strange (and a little unfair) that X are packing the suites full while the rest of the ship is at less than half capacity. 

I have to agree. If they are sailing at say 50% they really should have that distributed pretty evenly through the categories....especially with suites and aqua where you have specialty dining and such attached. The whole idea of reduced capacity to is naturally have social distancing. Why have main dining at 50% but Blu and Luminae at 100%...makes no sense when you are reducing capacity for COVID safety protocols.

[terrydtx]

17 minutes ago, zitsky said:

This question is useful to people like myself who *might* book a suite and are looking for more information.  Knowing how crowded it is or is not, is very helpful in making a decision.  A Sky Suite might be double the price of an Aqua cabin so I'd like to know what to expect in the lounge and restaurant.

Our Sky Suite when we booked was not quite double the Aqua price, it is now, but we had a 125% FCC that allowed us to upgrade. With 4 sea days out of 10, we decide the extra room would be nice when we just didn't want to roam the ship. If our cruise had been port intensive we would have booked Aqua.  Our Oceania cruise next year of the Baltics has 10 ports in 10 days so we would never consider booking a suite.

 

I will try to post back on this thread while on our Equinox cruise about our first hand view of crowding or lack of in the Retreat facilities.

Edited August 22, 2021 by terrydtx

[TeeRick]

33 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Rather than saying strange or unfair, I would use the words ironic and aggravating- pay the higher rates on the ship and get the highest risk of catching Covid.

 We didn’t feel overly at risk on our Aug 1 cruise, but there were a couple of times in the Retreat lounge where I felt the need to leave. 
Don’t know if it was better or worse in main dining, Luminae was rarely - first chic night, maybe, completely full, but the staff tried to sear everyone as close to the view as possible 

There is a common sense factor to all of this.  Glad you have it!😀

[GeorgiaPeach51]

If you don’t go first class, your kids will.  🤔😉😃

 

Somewhat facetious, but with some truth in it, for us, at least.  After saving and pinching pennies our entire marriage of 44 years, we now find ourselves in the blessed position to treat ourselves occasionally.  We take daily care of 5 year old twin grands and have since they were born and we retired.  A definite labor of love, but also like a full time job.  So, we reward ourselves sometimes when we travel.  Having said that, we have only done sky suites twice on Celebrity, and both were for cruises with many sea days.  
 

We travel more if we spend less on each trip, but sometimes a splurge is just fabulous and totally worth it.
 

We probably would not do a sky suite for a port intensive cruise.  So, our willingness to spend for a suite, which we LOVED, is decided by the parameters only we establish, and only when we feel we will get our own definition of value from it.

 

I’m willing to bet that most of us make similar decisions.  It is no different from the person who loves cars spending big bucks for a top of the line Mercedes or Jaguar or Tesla, and the person who just wants reliable transportation being happy with a Toyota.

 

It’s pretty easy.  Try it once.  It’s a one time investment in yourself.  If you don’t like it, go back to whatever you did before.  It’s not like buying that big monthly payment car and being stuck with it for 60 months.  It’s one cruise!  Call it research!

 

Joanie

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

I suggest you read the next post after yours. 

 

You will also find I have not and did not use inflammatory language like “crowding”, your words not mine. In fact I used the caveat “potentially” quite deliberately as it is not a given.

 

I also find your final statement anything but respectful. I am entitled to my opinion, as are you. You are not however entitled to tell me to just stay at home.

 

 

You left out the part where prior to "just stay home", he also said, "If you are so concerned, respectfully..." 

[Eglesbrech]

54 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

You left out the part where prior to "just stay home", he also said, "If you are so concerned, respectfully..." 

Did I say I was so concerned, why do you feel the need to intervene?

 

Fact Celebrity are advertising cruises sailing at well below normal capacity so space is allowed for distancing.

 

Fact most sailings are at or near 100% for suites (and possibly aqua as well).

 

This may or may not impact on the space available. It is however a perfectly legitimate question surely.

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Eglesbrech

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I will try to post back on this thread while on our Equinox cruise about our first hand view of crowding or lack of in the Retreat facilities.

That would be extremely helpful, thank you.

[LGW59]

13 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Did I say I was so concerned, why do you feel the need to intervene?

 

Fact Celebrity are advertising cruises sailing at well below normal capacity so space is allowed for distancing.

 

Fact most sailings are at or near 100% for suites (and possibly aqua as well).

 

This may or may not impact on the space available. It is however a perfectly legitimate question surely.

 

I bet if I agreed with you, you’d not think I was intervening.  It’s an open forum, opinions vary. 

[Eglesbrech]

5 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

I bet if I agreed with you, you’d not think I was intervening.  It’s an open forum, opinions vary. 

Indeed they do. I defend your right to your opinion.

 

And facts are chiels that winna ding!

Edited August 22, 2021 by Eglesbrech