Anyone in a Sky Suite thinking to go down a level?

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, Irishredhead21 said:

Ok you guys. @mac_tlc  @Lastdance Now I’m an official stalker!! Just booked the Vista TA in Fall 2025 as well. Prices look decent even for a solo like me with everything that is included.  I always deeply appreciate your very generous heads up! 

👏👏👏👏👏👏

 

Look forward to experiencing a new cruise line with some past cruising friends!!!

 

Now we need @Silkroad or @Mrs_Tiki to join us 😂.

 

mac_tlc

[NMTraveller]

8 hours ago, zitsky said:

Yes if you have multiple cruises with many sea days where having access to the Retreat is more useful.  Thanks for that helpful advice.

What?  Do I look like a sommelier?

I would go with the Domaine Carneros 2019 Estate Brut Rosé Sparkling.

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

👏👏👏👏👏👏

 

Look forward to experiencing a new cruise line with some past cruising friends!!!

 

Now we need @Silkroad or @Mrs_Tiki to join us 😂.

 

mac_tlc

You should also invite @Ipeeinthepools.  

[crusinthrough]

It's refreshing to read many others feel the same as I do regarding the current suite prices.  Prior to the pandemic I only sailed on S class ships and appreciated the lager suite room.  The bathroom was nothing speculator.  After restart there were some amazing prices on suites that included OBC and gratuities and I booked the Edge.  The bigger room, bigger bathroom with a vanity nook and Retreat area made everything worthwhile, and I was sold on suites on E class.  Half full ships was also a dream.

 

Fast forward to spring 2024... I booked a last minute suite on the Beyond when the price dropped.  I wasn't wowed over Luminae or the food overall.  The Retreat area was crowded on sea days and the pool seemed small with a full ship. Chair hogs were also alive and well with no enforcement.   A young obnoxious kid (maybe 7) splashing water and playing catch with a small football with his father didn't make the experience in the pool pleasant.  Several passengers got out because every time the ball was missed and fell in the water it made a splash.  I finally asked the father if he could be considerate to the others in the pool.  

 

I ordered a drink from the World Class Bar menu and it was a different color than the picture of the drink  in the menu book.  A woman bartender said the picture in the book was wrong.  The drink doesn't look that way.  I was on the Beyond again and ordered the same drink at the World Class bar.  This one looked like the picture.  Inadequate training I suppose was the culprit the first time around.

 

I don't care about the Butler.  I hardly order room service and can make my own reservations.  However, the overall diminished food quality and inconsistent service doesn't make Celebrity attractive to book anymore.  

 

I'm another one who prefers Michael's Club over the Retreat area.  MC was often a place to socialize in the evening after dinner.  There were always people sitting at the bar and talking.  It felt like a gather place.  The Retreat lounge is typically empty after dinner. It's a different vibe. 

 

Unfortunately, the degradation of Celebrity cruises is here to stay until bookings decline. I have a few cruises booked with old promotions that I will probably cancel and lose my NRD.  I can't see booking anything for 2025 or 2026.  Who knows what the product will look like then.

 

I had a fairly good deal on the Ascent for Dec 10th with the old elevate package.  I debated a long time before cancelling.  I'm glad I did.  I went on Virgin in Nov and absolutely loved it.  The food is night and day and VV still offers incentives to book such as a bar tab, although prices are starting to rise and booking incentives are being taken away like the 10% pay in full discount.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, crusinthrough said:

...I had a fairly good deal on the Ascent for Dec 10th with the old elevate package.  I debated a long time before cancelling.  I'm glad I did.  I went on Virgin in Nov and absolutely loved it.  The food is night and day and VV still offers incentives to book such as a bar tab, although prices are starting to rise and booking incentives are being taken away like the 10% pay in full discount.  

 

I noticed that vanished over the last few months too. I haven't yet pulled the trigger on booking with Virgin, and had to do a double take when I couldn't locate that discount recently while cruise shopping.

 

Tom

[zitsky]

11 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

What?  Do I look like a sommelier?

I would go with the Domaine Carneros 2019 Estate Brut Rosé Sparkling.

No problem.  I’ll be perfectly happy with the NM Gruet vintage 1982 sparkling for $12.

[zitsky]

On 11/25/2023 at 9:24 AM, someguyfl said:

MDR has a sit down lunch on sea days as well...

 

But yes, I've had the Luminae lunch, and it was great. If the MDR lunch isn't up to your standards, you can always do Murano for lunch even from an Inside cabin, and still save a fortune compared to suites.

@someguyfl Does the MDR lunch take 2 hours as suggested by some posters?  Do people enjoy it?  (Eclipse)

 

Does Murano do lunch on every sea day or just one or two days?  Any idea of price?  I don’t see it in the planner yet.  Cruise is in 2 weeks.

[NMTraveller]

59 minutes ago, zitsky said:

No problem.  I’ll be perfectly happy with the NM Gruet vintage 1982 sparkling for $12.

I had a glass of the Gruet last week and a glass of the Domaine Carneros yesterday.  The Domaine Carneros is listed as being available at the Sunset bar.  Definitely worth a try.  I think that it compares favorably with French champagnes.  I will visit their winery for a tasting.

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming 🙂 

Edited December 3, 2023 by NMTraveller

[someguyfl]

41 minutes ago, zitsky said:

@someguyfl Does the MDR lunch take 2 hours as suggested by some posters?  Do people enjoy it?  (Eclipse)

 

Does Murano do lunch on every sea day or just one or two days?  Any idea of price?  I don’t see it in the planner yet.  Cruise is in 2 weeks.

I haven’t had the MDR lunch in a long while… my last cruise was in a suite, and the one before, I forgot it was available. In Luminae, the lunch is certainly not “fast”, and I’d assume the same is true at MDR or Murano.

 

AFAIK, Murano lunch is every sea day except day 1. 
 

also, I’m on the same cruise as you… I’m doing Valparaiso to Buenos Aires, and then Buenos Aires to Antarctica. 

[samplecd02]

I have been on 6 cruises with 2 of them Celebrity with one in 2021 and one scheduled for July 2024.
In my 1st celebrity I was in an Edge Villa on the Apex, this was 11k per person for 10 night British Isles with 800 OBC with prepaid grats. While on the ship I was very impressed, the butler answered the phone when I called, provided whatever I needed within the hour (though I only called him a few times over the 10 days), had twice a day room cleaning, was treated like royalty and was even walked to my dinner reservation  by the  butler most nights. 
This type of treatment led me to rebook again in Edge Villa on the Beyond for July 2024. I didnt know it at the time of booking but I booked it before the Oct change, which means I got  600 OBC and prepaid grats. It is costing almost 9k per person.
I am hopeful that being in an "upper suite" means that my previous experience will not change in any noticeable ways, but I can say that if it does, I will not be booking a EV and probably not a suite again.
I just checked the available rooms for my sailing, there is only the Celebrity Suites left at 6k per person, does not include prepaid grats, OBC or any of the speciality restaurants like what is included in the EV. I do not believe that the Celebrity suite is not worth only a 3k per person difference. Celebrity's pricing for suites have definetly gone in the stratosphere.

Edited December 3, 2023 by samplecd02

[dam64]

We have a sky suite booked on a newer build and thinking of cancelling. This would be our first Celebrity cruise but not new to cruising.I love the size of the room in a sky suite but cant justify paying almost 20K for a cruise! Too many cutbacks from what Im reading and negative reviews. I want to downgrade to a veranda or aqua or concierge but i find the rooms look very narrow and small and dont like the looks of the IV. We booked a non refundable deposit so Im debating if I should just cancel all together or downgrade. Final payment is coming up in a few weeks.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

19 minutes ago, dam64 said:

We have a sky suite booked on a newer build and thinking of cancelling. This would be our first Celebrity cruise but not new to cruising.I love the size of the room in a sky suite but cant justify paying almost 20K for a cruise! Too many cutbacks from what Im reading and negative reviews. I want to downgrade to a veranda or aqua or concierge but i find the rooms look very narrow and small and dont like the looks of the IV. We booked a non refundable deposit so Im debating if I should just cancel all together or downgrade. Final payment is coming up in a few weeks.

With a non refundable, can you downgrade without losing your deposit? 

[NMTraveller]

11 hours ago, zitsky said:

@someguyfl Does the MDR lunch take 2 hours as suggested by some posters?  Do people enjoy it?  (Eclipse)

 

Not in my experience.  Perhaps an hour or 1.5 hours.  But YMMV.

[zitsky]

3 hours ago, dam64 said:

We have a sky suite booked on a newer build and thinking of cancelling. This would be our first Celebrity cruise but not new to cruising.I love the size of the room in a sky suite but cant justify paying almost 20K for a cruise! Too many cutbacks from what Im reading and negative reviews. I want to downgrade to a veranda or aqua or concierge but i find the rooms look very narrow and small and dont like the looks of the IV. We booked a non refundable deposit so Im debating if I should just cancel all together or downgrade. Final payment is coming up in a few weeks.

20k for a sky suite?  How long is the cruise?

[DaKahuna]

44 minutes ago, zitsky said:

20k for a sky suite?  How long is the cruise?

That is close to what we are paying for 13-night Best of Japan cruise. 

[Ipeeinthepools]

On 12/2/2023 at 9:18 PM, NMTraveller said:

You should also invite @Ipeeinthepools.  

 

I don't have anything booked for Fall 2025, I'll take a look.  Do we know if they have a salt-water pool?

[zitsky]

2 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I don't have anything booked for Fall 2025, I'll take a look.  Do we know if they have a salt-water pool?

What is this snobbery?  So now you only pee in salt water pools?  🥸

[TeeRick]

On 12/2/2023 at 9:51 AM, zitsky said:

What service if any do you get on Symphony?  Anything like a butler that will tuck me in at night?  How much cheaper than X?

 

I’m trying to identify specific itineraries on specific lines either suite and/or butler then going to my TA for prices that are hopefully cheaper than X.  Haven’t spent much time on it yet.

No butler as this is a mid-level (Sky Class) suite on RCCL.  Only the premium suites (Star Class) gets a butler (Royal Genie).  We don't really care about butlers.   The Crown Loft suite (2 levels, 2 baths) was priced cheaper than a Sky Suite on Celebrity (Reflection or Equinox) for a similar 8 night Southern Caribbean itinerary out of FLL.  We usually do a CS on Celebrity  (a mid level suite) and the CS was far more expensive than the CL suite on RCCL. 

 

Here is a list of suite benefits on RCCL.  It is sometimes dependent on the ship class.  Not all ships have Coastal Kitchen. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-royal-suite-class

[dam64]

13 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

With a non refundable, can you downgrade without losing your deposit? 

Yes you can before final payment.

[dam64]

10 hours ago, zitsky said:

20k for a sky suite?  How long is the cruise?

That's in Canadian dollars and its a Southern 11 night cruise.

[RichYak]

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

That is close to what we are paying for 13-night Best of Japan cruise. 

Wow, there's no way I would pay that for a Sky Suite, even before the changes. I can say that with certainty because that's about what X wanted for my August Bayonne to Iceland itinerary. No thanks, I booked a standard veranda instead. Right after final payment, a few SS cabins became available and the fare dropped by 33%. Only then did I snap one up.

[DaKahuna]

17 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Wow, there's no way I would pay that for a Sky Suite, even before the changes. I can say that with certainty because that's about what X wanted for my August Bayonne to Iceland itinerary. No thanks, I booked a standard veranda instead. Right after final payment, a few SS cabins became available and the fare dropped by 33%. Only then did I snap one up.

 

 I was late booking this cruise and there were only two cabin choices available - Aqua Sky Suite or Penthouse and I choked on the price of the Penthouse.  There were less expensive sailings but they did not fit our schedule.  

 

 This is the first time since 2009 that I have not had at least one Celebrity and one Royal Caribbean cruise scheduled.  Whether we sail Celebrity again will depend on my DW but if we do it will most likely be Aqua or Concierge, I am pretty sure that, unless price concessions occur to make Celebrity more price competitive, we will not be in a quite.  I'll know more after our MSC YC sailing in February.

 

[dam64]

22 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Wow, there's no way I would pay that for a Sky Suite, even before the changes. I can say that with certainty because that's about what X wanted for my August Bayonne to Iceland itinerary. No thanks, I booked a standard veranda instead. Right after final payment, a few SS cabins became available and the fare dropped by 33%. Only then did I snap one up.

Yeah most likely downgrading to an aqua class veranda so we at least get to eat in blu daily and if its crazy busy we have the spa area. Its half the price!

[Team Stag]

On 12/3/2023 at 5:33 AM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I noticed that vanished over the last few months too. I haven't yet pulled the trigger on booking with Virgin, and had to do a double take when I couldn't locate that discount recently while cruise shopping.

 

Tom

VV installed a new CEO in September (when the previous one retired).  In some of his early interviews, he shared his focus will be transitioning from launching a new cruise line to profitability.  Since then, I have also seen a reduction of discounts and booking promotions.  I'm guessing some more changes are headed down the line for VV.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Team Stag

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

8 minutes ago, Team Stag said:

VV installed a new CEO in September (when the previous one retired).  In some of his early interviews, he shared his focus will be transitioning from launching a new cruise line to profitability.  Since then, I have also seen a reduction of discounts and booking promotions.  I'm guessing some more changes are headed down the line for VV.

 

That wasn't a very long tenure - probably had a nice retirement package/incentive !

 

"Profitability"... we all know what that means !  😉

 

Tom