Seriously now-how many of you are REALLY looking at other cruise lines because of the CEO's changes going on?

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

So, will it be only drinks and Wi-Fi or something else replacing tips?

The something else will be paying out of pocket for all gratuities. Nothing is replacing the tips and also if in the Retreat no more OBC for cruises booked after Oct 4th. Not sure where you have been over the last month or so, this has been extensively covered in CC.

Edited September 8, 2023 by terrydtx

[truckswain]

We started sailing RCCL 30 years ago and in the last two years moved over to X as we wanted something different and we very much enjoyed the two Apex cruises in an infinite veranda.  We are on the Beyond in a sky suite in November and have the Ascent booked for March and December next year.

 

We sailed Princess not that long ago.  A great cruise but in our opinion we enjoyed Apex better.  We have also done NCL Escape twice and were on the NCL Encore in April.  Pricing was very attractive on these cruises and we enjoyed them, but again just not at the level of X.

 

After reading several of these threads I looked at Oceania cruises to compare.  It was interesting that the pricing included a beverage package that was just at lunch and dinner and gratuities were not included.  I also read the Oceania boards and there are not great reviews on their older ships but a great deal of enthusiasm for their two newest ships.

 

I guess for us X still is the line of choice.

[horseymike]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:35 PM, George C said:

We sail suites last November got beyond for about 3k each all included with lots of OBC this November it’s more than 4K per, so I booked a rccl oasis class for 1500 per less, next November will most likely book oasis class grand suite again or MSc yacht club . We will do a music charter on celebrity because of the entertainment.

Hi George ,

Are the prices you paid for the cruise or the price for each person ?

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by horseymike
mistake

[George C]

3 minutes ago, horseymike said:

Hi George ,

Are the prices you paid for the cruise or the price for each person ?

 

We got a great rate for harmony it was about 2400 each for 7 days but no additional discount for diamond plus , November 2024 was about 2900 per .

[horseymike]

1 minute ago, George C said:

We got a great rate for harmony it was about 2400 each for 7 days but no additional discount for diamond plus , November 2024 was about 2900 per .

per person ?

[kirtihk]

25 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The something else will be paying out of pocket for all gratuities. Nothing is replacing the tips and also if in the Retreat no more OBC for cruises booked after Oct 4th. Not sure where you have been over the last month or so, this has been extensively covered in CC.

So, it appears as the past 10-15 years' Choose 1 or choose 2 or sometimes choose 3 from the list of 4 promotions.  Games, games, games.  The bottom line is to make a decision which cruise and with what cruise line to choose, as always, one needs to calculate the whole booking "picture" (price, included and not included extra items, potential OBC, itinerary, number of cruise days, cabin category, refund/OBC from TA, excursions prices, and such).

Edited September 8, 2023 by kirtihk

[George C]

2 minutes ago, horseymike said:

per person ?

Yes per person

[hapster85]

We're actually looking at taking our first Celebrity cruise next fall. Most of our 10 cruises have been on Royal Caribbean, but we've also sailed Princess and Carnival. All of the major lines seem to be making these kinds of changes. We don't consider ourselves "loyal" to any particular brand. After all, their loyalty begins and ends with your wallet. 😉

[Keys Kathy]

16 minutes ago, George C said:

Yes per person

What I miss, and we are not even close to the recent cutbacks.

 

What happened to the crafts? I learned decoupage, how to make a beaded lanyard (which I still have) scrapbooking, and more. Heck, I would be happy for classes in towel animals! Give my MIND something to do again!

 

We also made a list of other things that no longer exist.

 

Food wise, no more JVS meatballs, last sea day buffet.  In the Elite lounge, no more lox and bagels, champagne, or Bloody Marys, only pastry and coffee offered by an indifferent staff served on napkins or paper cups.  To be honest, we only went on disembarkation day, so maybe that was the reason.

 

 

No more Captain's Club gala celebration with the buffet. That event used to be jammed! I bet there weren't more than 60 people there on the Connie which had over 900 Elite members on board. There used to be all the entertainment at the Gala, I still get goosebumps when I remember Cassie singing with the Acapella group!

 

Entertainment- the lack of speakers who spoke on things like the gold standard and the contributions NASA made to the world, the lack of crafts as noted above, no more Mariachi's in Cozumel at 5:00 on the pool deck, no more A Capella groups

 

In Concierge class, no more Q-tips or cotton balls in a container. Just a box with wrappings you have to fight and there simply are not enough. No more flowers in the room until we received our CC rose.

 

Aqua Class, no more lip balm, face spray etc.

 

Then they made the RECENT changes......

 

[PTC DAWG]

Re land based AI’s in the Caribbean, everyone I have been to I find to be middle of the road at best re Liquor selections, unless you are looking for Rum. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by PTC DAWG

[villauk]

On 9/6/2023 at 11:45 PM, Gracie115 said:

Yes, they are making changes, but they just don't seem as cavalier as X,

 

Princess did not grandfather in those pax who had already paid for the Plus/Premier packages prior to Dec, even though many had paid for their cruises, in full, months before the new changes! They also never informed pax until they boarded that there were new exclusions - not a pleasant feeling, very cavalier in fact. So, they are all it, not just X.

[zip01002]

2 hours ago, kirtihk said:

Where is the gratuities not shown anymore?  I still see them today in the "All Include" rate on the Celebrity web site:

 

Get our most popular amenities—drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips—prepackaged when you add All Included.

It's the change announced by Celebrity for new bookings after October 3.  Have you somehow missed this?  It's been all over Cruisecritic, Facebook, and most "cruise news" websites.

[kirtihk]

6 minutes ago, zip01002 said:

It's the change announced by Celebrity for new bookings after October 3.  Have you somehow missed this?  It's been all over Cruisecritic, Facebook, and most "cruise news" websites.

I came back from a cruise a few days ago.  I always look at the source web site for an actual information.  I've just saw this thread, looked on the Celebrity web site, and I don't see "the change announced by Celebrity for new bookings after October 3" there.

[MamaFej]

2 hours ago, Whinenowine said:

Yes, this is exactly right:  to each their own.  X is doing what it thinks it needs to to do (whether we all agree or disagree with that strategy), and we're all doing the same.  Where those two views intersect we'll book with X, otherwise we'll book elsewhere.  

 

Agreed. The thing is, Celebrity used to be the first place I'd look. It no longer is, so I may have already found somehting that meets my needs at a price I'm willing to play before I even get round to looing at X. 

 

I don't think I'm alone in this. 

[zip01002]

16 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

I came back from a cruise a few days ago.  I always look at the source web site for an actual information.  I've just saw this thread, looked on the Celebrity web site, and I don't see "the change announced by Celebrity for new bookings after October 3" there.

 

16 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

I came back from a cruise a few days ago.  I always look at the source web site for an actual information.  I've just saw this thread, looked on the Celebrity web site, and I don't see "the change announced by Celebrity for new bookings after October 3" there.

 

I tried to attach the relevant image that was posted on Facebook on August 29.  If you can see it here, it's exactly what I and others on this topic have been noting.  You can also reference this article on Cruisecritic.com explaining this and other recent changes at Celebrity at this link: Upcoming Changes in Celebrity Cruises Spark Debate (cruisecritic.com)

 

Maybe Celebrity's new management team hasn't added this impending change to their website to more clearly announce it as they may not be particularly eager to stir the pot any more than they already have.  It may also be yet another IT shortcoming which would not exactly be very surprising to many of us. 

 

Unless they reverse this ill-conceived plan, it appears that it will be in effect for new bookings made after October 3.  That would probably be w/o any further details from them about how it will impact the reduced "All Included" package w/o the gratuities and/or how they will be handled for people booking new cruises after October 3.

 

[zip01002]

48 minutes ago, zip01002 said:

It's the change announced by Celebrity for new bookings after October 3.  Have you somehow missed this?  It's been all over Cruisecritic, Facebook, and most "cruise news" websites.

Please refer to my comments in posting #276.  Thanks.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

We have recently booked on Uniworld (river) and Regent to see what all included cruises might really look like.  We would never have considered either before recent changes to the Celebrity Program.  We are Elite Plus and will never make Zenith so there are really no enticements to stay with Celebrity.  We feel like it is an excellent time to look outside the usual.

[Dolebludger]

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.

[kirtihk]

9 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

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.

The Retreat is not (and wan not) close, because (as I say) on Regent the entire ship is for your dispose regardless of a cabin category, and it has the highest "ship passenger to space" ratio.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, Keys Kathy said:

What I miss, and we are not even close to the recent cutbacks.

 

What happened to the crafts? I learned decoupage, how to make a beaded lanyard (which I still have) scrapbooking, and more. Heck, I would be happy for classes in towel animals! Give my MIND something to do again!

 

We also made a list of other things that no longer exist.

 

Food wise, no more JVS meatballs, last sea day buffet.  In the Elite lounge, no more lox and bagels, champagne, or Bloody Marys, only pastry and coffee offered by an indifferent staff served on napkins or paper cups.  To be honest, we only went on disembarkation day, so maybe that was the reason.

 

 

No more Captain's Club gala celebration with the buffet. That event used to be jammed! I bet there weren't more than 60 people there on the Connie which had over 900 Elite members on board. There used to be all the entertainment at the Gala, I still get goosebumps when I remember Cassie singing with the Acapella group!

 

Entertainment- the lack of speakers who spoke on things like the gold standard and the contributions NASA made to the world, the lack of crafts as noted above, no more Mariachi's in Cozumel at 5:00 on the pool deck, no more A Capella groups

 

In Concierge class, no more Q-tips or cotton balls in a container. Just a box with wrappings you have to fight and there simply are not enough. No more flowers in the room until we received our CC rose.

 

Aqua Class, no more lip balm, face spray etc.

 

Then they made the RECENT changes......

 

Our sailings in the past year had art classes and and our 12N had another craft activity in addition to a couple of painting classes.

 

The Elite breakfast doesn't exist on debarkation day, it is a spot for Elite and above to wait to for their luggage tags to be called.  Juice, coffee and pastries are all we have every seen.  On the other mornings there were fruit plates, lox, bagels, cold cuts, pastries, mimosas, bloody mary's, lattes, etc lots of choices.

 

We have had speakers on our longer cruises this year and on the 7N ones I didn't really pay attention to what was offered.

 

I agree that I haven't seen any A capella groups in recent years and as for the mariachi bands, glad they are gone.

 

Over the years a lot of things have changed and some just ran their course.  The Captains Club celebration is one that was fun when we first started going but over the years, addition of drink packages and it seemed to keep getting smaller although the number of Elites and above had grown.  

[the penguins]

2 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Our sailings in the past year had art classes and and our 12N had another craft activity in addition to a couple of painting classes.

 

The Elite breakfast doesn't exist on debarkation day, it is a spot for Elite and above to wait to for their luggage tags to be called.  Juice, coffee and pastries are all we have every seen.  On the other mornings there were fruit plates, lox, bagels, cold cuts, pastries, mimosas, bloody mary's, lattes, etc lots of choices.

 

We have had speakers on our longer cruises this year and on the 7N ones I didn't really pay attention to what was offered.

 

I agree that I haven't seen any A capella groups in recent years and as for the mariachi bands, glad they are gone.

 

Over the years a lot of things have changed and some just ran their course.  The Captains Club celebration is one that was fun when we first started going but over the years, addition of drink packages and it seemed to keep getting smaller although the number of Elites and above had grown.  

The A capella groups were discontinued in 2013 - we still miss them.

[tnm6217]

Three months ago, I had 8 cruises booked on Celebrity through 2024 in Aqua Class and Sky Suites. The changes over the last few months have absolutely caused me to change course. As of today, I have 3 Celebrity cruises booked (the final one will be in February 2024), 2 on Crystal, and 8 with Silversea through 2026. I will find the joy in my last three Celebrity sailings in the upcoming months, but I will no longer look to Celebrity for future cruises. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by tnm6217

[Cruise till you drop]

11 minutes ago, jelayne said:

I agree that I haven't seen any A capella groups in recent years and as for the mariachi bands, glad they are gone.

5 minutes ago, the penguins said:

The A capella groups were discontinued in 2013 - we still miss them.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone remember seeing Here Comes Treble from Cornell.  They were awesome 🤩 

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[CulverCityCruisers]

We will see what happens next month while on Eclipse as far as the additional cuts that X has made.  MDR was a huge disappointment on Summit earlier this year with so many items no longer available, and quality below what X standards have always been. Now the menus look even worse.  Sorry but carrot sticks, broccoli and mashed potatoes that supplement the entrees every night does not cut it for us.

 

Are we looking at other lines, most definitely.  Have booked 2 cruises on Windstar so far with another one that might replace our B2B Caribbean on X in 2024.  We have been sailing with Royal and X since 1982 and the most recent changes have brought us to the decision that Loyalty to them mean nothing other than us accepting the increase in fares with significant decline in quality of food served throughout the ship, and servers running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

 

As a share holder, I like to see the bottom line be positive, but as a consumer of the product I do not like to see what they have done to their product in a market that offers so many other options. 

[the penguins]

57 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

 

 

 

 

Does anyone remember seeing Here Comes Treble from Cornell.  They were awesome 🤩 

 

Sorry never heard of them