Any Celebrity fans left in here?

[mickey89]

24 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Cruising the Med in July and surprised there was 7 ships there 😱

 

Not 'was',  "will be",  we are going in July 2024.  

There are now 6 ships there, 1 dropped out but increased passengers now potentially over 17,000

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/mykonosgreeceschedule-24jul2024.html

[the penguins]

22 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

I wouldn't have walked off the ship in Nassau....  

 

What kind of condition is Connie in?  We have always loved the M class ships, but it's been a long time since we've been on one.

No problems in Nassau. Arrange a private tour to the Primeval Forest (shows how the island was before tourism took over). About 30 minutes drive from the port initially on the highway to the airport then off put into the wilderness. Great guides at the reserve to show you around, easily walkable and very informative.  There were 3 or 4 ships in port when we visited and the Forest attracted just 20 people including our group of 6.

[SBLOK64]

My daughter and I are booked on Celebrity Equinox for a Med cruise in October.  I've taken 3 cruises on Royal Caribbean, all before 2019.  This is her 2nd cruise.  Her first was a disastrous 3 day cruise that she was awarded at work. She described it as a 3 day drunken frat party!  Here are my questions:

 

1). I recently read a Cruise Critic article saying that the food on RC and two other cruise lines is much worse than before the pandemic.  It didn't mention Celebrity.  So my question is "How is the food these days?"

2). We booked an Aqua Class stateroom.  I read that if you book Aqua class you get priority boarding.  I can't locate that info right now.  Is that the case?  Does it really save time?  Boarding was the most tiresome part of the RC cruises I went on.   

[the penguins]

13 minutes ago, SBLOK64 said:

My daughter and I are booked on Celebrity Equinox for a Med cruise in October.  I've taken 3 cruises on Royal Caribbean, all before 2019.  This is her 2nd cruise.  Her first was a disastrous 3 day cruise that she was awarded at work. She described it as a 3 day drunken frat party!  Here are my questions:

 

1). I recently read a Cruise Critic article saying that the food on RC and two other cruise lines is much worse than before the pandemic.  It didn't mention Celebrity.  So my question is "How is the food these days?"

2). We booked an Aqua Class stateroom.  I read that if you book Aqua class you get priority boarding.  I can't locate that info right now.  Is that the case?  Does it really save time?  Boarding was the most tiresome part of the RC cruises I went on.   

boarding: when check in opens you will be able to book a boarding time, book quickly for the best times. Arrive at the time you have chosen with all your documents in hand - we find it quicker with paper copies than with "virtual ones -  and boarding will be quick (much quicker than pre pandemic). Typical time less than 30 minutes from arrival to being onboard in you cabin - you now collect your room cards in your cabin so even if your room isn't completely  ready you can drop off your carry on bags.

[rmalbers]

After my last X cruise a year ago, I went on Viking Ocean and I don't think I'll be back on X.  I come back here to see how it's going.  I think what it boils down to is X is now just like RC without the kids and the stuff for kids to do, and smaller ships.  I've said before that people that were not on X before covid will not know what it used to be like so they don't have the old experience to compare.  Also, it is going to be interesting to see what happens to ports with more and more mega ships coming online.  I'm glad I got to most of the places I wanted to cruise to, because I think things are going to continue to change, big time.  

[markeb]

27 minutes ago, SBLOK64 said:

My daughter and I are booked on Celebrity Equinox for a Med cruise in October.  I've taken 3 cruises on Royal Caribbean, all before 2019.  This is her 2nd cruise.  Her first was a disastrous 3 day cruise that she was awarded at work. She described it as a 3 day drunken frat party!  Here are my questions:

 

1). I recently read a Cruise Critic article saying that the food on RC and two other cruise lines is much worse than before the pandemic.  It didn't mention Celebrity.  So my question is "How is the food these days?"

2). We booked an Aqua Class stateroom.  I read that if you book Aqua class you get priority boarding.  I can't locate that info right now.  Is that the case?  Does it really save time?  Boarding was the most tiresome part of the RC cruises I went on.   

 

Lot of questions there and they're going to get buried in this thread. I'd create a new thread if I were you. It'll be easier for people to find and give you feedback.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

27 minutes ago, SBLOK64 said:

My daughter and I are booked on Celebrity Equinox for a Med cruise in October.  I've taken 3 cruises on Royal Caribbean, all before 2019.  This is her 2nd cruise.  Her first was a disastrous 3 day cruise that she was awarded at work. She described it as a 3 day drunken frat party!  Here are my questions:

 

1). I recently read a Cruise Critic article saying that the food on RC and two other cruise lines is much worse than before the pandemic.  It didn't mention Celebrity.  So my question is "How is the food these days?"

2). We booked an Aqua Class stateroom.  I read that if you book Aqua class you get priority boarding.  I can't locate that info right now.  Is that the case?  Does it really save time?  Boarding was the most tiresome part of the RC cruises I went on.   

You cannot compare a 3 day cruise with 7 day cruise in October in the Med 

what a fantastic place and time to go ! 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, mickey89 said:

You were lucky.  

According to their tourist board 895 cruise ships visited their tiny Island in 2023 up from 608 the year previous - they describe it as a nightmare.  

We unfortunately booked a Celebrity cruise to discover that 7 cruise ships will be there the day we visit on Equinox in July (potentially over 15,000 passengers) which I would say is intolerable and not worthy of departing the ship by tender.

 

As I said earlier the Cruise Industry is destroying tourism and it's getting worse........

That is a  ridiculous  # of ships ! overwhelming!

 

Maybe head out to a beach excursion and skip town!  

[hcat]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

No problems in Nassau. Arrange a private tour to the Primeval Forest (shows how the island was before tourism took over). About 30 minutes drive from the port initially on the highway to the airport then off put into the wilderness. Great guides at the reserve to show you around, easily walkable and very informative.  There were 3 or 4 ships in port when we visited and the Forest attracted just 20 people including our group of 6.

sounds great.. will keep it in mind !  thanks  Do you have a tour  rec?

[SBLOK64]

47 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You cannot compare a 3 day cruise with 7 day cruise in October in the Med 

what a fantastic place and time to go ! 

I know but she has been leery of cruises ever since.  I'm hoping she enjoys the experience, hence my questions about the food and boarding. 

Edited January 24 by SBLOK64

[TeaBag]

16 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

Here:

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports

Thank you for the recommendation, Gracie.  There will be 5 ships in Rome when we embark!  That'll be a gong show!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, TeaBag said:

Thank you for the recommendation, Gracie.  There will be 5 ships in Rome when we embark!  That'll be a gong show!

We got on the Connie in Rome and there was the same amount of passengers and it was no problem 

We had shuttle to the port from Rome , just book it early to get a good price 

[Texed]

We are currently on Ascent.  The ship is beautiful. The food is very good. The service is the best in quite a few cruises. 😊

[rinshin]

On 1/16/2024 at 12:36 PM, Lastdance said:

Not a cheerleader at all, but just believe the hefty increases need to actually be worth it.  My December cruise on Beyond was worth the price for the Retreat, but other services were diminished, most likely due to it being a Caribbean cruise with a different demographic onboard resulting in my personal decision to never book another Caribbean cruise.  Also, I shop around and pay attention to prices from many different cruise lines, rather than just booking Celebrity.  I really like E-class ships and hope my cruise in May will be enjoyable, not to mention the other three I have booked into 2025, including another cruise line.

I’m with you on that.  Not interested in any Caribbean cruises due to what you mentioned.  They are cheaper and I have to think cruise lines adjust food choices, etc based on that and length of cruises. When we were still in our 30’s to early 40’s and working,  we were ok with it but not now. 

[360Guy]

We have been loyal for 15+ years.   Just finished a Best of Japan cruise in October 2023.   Great itinerary and hard working crew as always.  The MDR food was fine but limited.  Gone were many favorites.  Have not see the menu “revamp”.  Now booked on Azamara, Viking and Crystal.  The per diem on these are higher for sure.  But the same “Best of Japan” cruise in 2024 is 50% higher.  If Celebrity has an interesting itinerary we would likely book.  The cruise industry is imho trying to recover their COVID losses and have massive debt to service.  The ships are full and prices are way up.  If people are not happy then try another cruise line….they would all love to have you and I think Celebrity corporate hasn’t figured it out.  Staffing is very tight.  Our Millenium crew worked very hard and were fantastic.  So….despite our Elite Plus status we are going to see if the grass is greener….

[rinshin]

11 minutes ago, 360Guy said:

We have been loyal for 15+ years.   Just finished a Best of Japan cruise in October 2023.   Great itinerary and hard working crew as always.  The MDR food was fine but limited.  Gone were many favorites.  Have not see the menu “revamp”.  Now booked on Azamara, Viking and Crystal.  The per diem on these are higher for sure.  But the same “Best of Japan” cruise in 2024 is 50% higher.  If Celebrity has an interesting itinerary we would likely book.  The cruise industry is imho trying to recover their COVID losses and have massive debt to service.  The ships are full and prices are way up.  If people are not happy then try another cruise line….they would all love to have you and I think Celebrity corporate hasn’t figured it out.  Staffing is very tight.  Our Millenium crew worked very hard and were fantastic.  So….despite our Elite Plus status we are going to see if the grass is greener….

I think it would be greener on Azamara, Viking, Crystal etc.  Our last cruise was with Azamara and saw differences easily.  But, we have not cruised in almost 9 years mostly spending a month in Japan annually instead but wanted to see some areas of Scandinavia and Celebrity offered the best ports for us in late spring-late summer timeframe. This may be our last cruise with Celebrity if we are not satisfied.  We are hoping for the best though. 

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

sounds great.. will keep it in mind !  thanks  Do you have a tour  rec?

Hi,

We arranged it in 2 parts:

Tour of the Forest: direct with the Park Ranger, Kristoff Francois, turned out he was the boss.

Contact details:

email: kfrancois@bnt.bs

Tel: 1 242 437 3862

The cost was $10 per person for the guided tour of around an hour - payable in cash on the day.

Transport: in a mini van (we were a group of 6). We booked with Sharand Bastian who was absolutely great. We had tried numerous firms who all refused saying they had never heard of the Forest.

On the day it turned out Sharand had never heard of it either, he refused to accept it existed but agreed to try and take us based on the address we had. In the end he phoned Francois as were driving and Francois gave him turn by turn directions to get us there.

Sharand was so delighted with the forest he said he would be offering tours there.

Pick up at the port was 10.00 back around 12.30. The cost included a rum punch or soft drink each.

If you contact either of them they may remember the crazy Brits with their American companions particularly if you remind Sharand of the problems he had finding the place.

Good luck.

 

 

 

[jelayne]

33 minutes ago, Texed said:

We are currently on Ascent.  The ship is beautiful. The food is very good. The service is the best in quite a few cruises. 😊

Absolutely agree. We have nothing booked beyond our 4 remaining sailing this year.   We are now contemplating where we would like to go in 2025.

[Texed]

26 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Absolutely agree. We have nothing booked beyond our 4 remaining sailing this year.   We are now contemplating where we would like to go in 2025.

The only cruise we have booked for 2025 is Hawaii to Sydney. 😊 

[jelayne]

14 minutes ago, Texed said:

The only cruise we have booked for 2025 is Hawaii to Sydney. 😊 

We are going the other way (Sydney to Hawaii) in April.

[tserface]

We used to be huge Celebrity fans and advocates, but in the last couple of years they've jacked the prices, lowered the value, etc. so now we're looking more at Princess when making decisions.  We don't even get the drink packages any more since they are so expensive they don't add much value for us.  On our last cruise we went to the Eden Restaurant, but left early because the food was just not that good and it was taking forever.  The price was like $75 each so we expected it to be a "wow" experience.  Alas.

We will still cruise on Celebrity and don't hate it by any means, it's just not our first choice any longer.

The only Elite perk we use is a couple of drinks during happy hour and a bag of laundry so that's not much of a benefit.

We just booked a Princess cruise where the same cruise (5 days fewer) was over $1K more on Celebrity without the AI package.  Princess Plus still includes gratuities and some other things that still make it a reasonable value.  So, almost the same itinerary was $1K more for fewer days and less amenities.  Also, Princess specialty restaurants are almost 1/2 the price of Celebrity.

That said, we really love Celebrity ships and crews.  We're just not sure it's as good of a value these days.

[SBLOK64]

6 hours ago, the penguins said:

boarding: when check in opens you will be able to book a boarding time, book quickly for the best times. Arrive at the time you have chosen with all your documents in hand - we find it quicker with paper copies than with "virtual ones -  and boarding will be quick (much quicker than pre pandemic). Typical time less than 30 minutes from arrival to being onboard in you cabin - you now collect your room cards in your cabin so even if your room isn't completely  ready you can drop off your carry on bags.

Thanks for the info!

[Lastdance]

Safe travels on your choice of ship and itinerary!

Edited January 25 by Lastdance

[The Fun Researcher]

These cuts to quality and increases in upcharges is across the entire cruise industry, not unique to Celebrity.  We've experienced it on Royal too.   However, the problem is, the changes at Celebrity are bringing it down and removing it's "upscale" separation compared to 3-4 years ago.

[TeaBag]

23 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We got on the Connie in Rome and there was the same amount of passengers and it was no problem 

We had shuttle to the port from Rome , just book it early to get a good price 

Thank you.  We will do that.