LXA350

Celebrity is generally doing a great job in keepin it's older ships in shape also if they did not get yet the "Revolution" refurbishment, well I am taling about pre COVID until begining of 2020.

One thing I do have to note is the customer service of X and RCL, it's absolutely umprofessional and in case you have issues you need to push to get what you need if you even manage. Hence, yes the actual cruise experience once you are onboard is mostly excellent but this is not enough at the end. The whole epxerience must be that way, which starts alread at the booking phase.

Just now, LXA350 said:

Very likely not "Descend"

 

How about Celebrity Eden 😉

Very likely not "Descend"

How about Eden of the Seas 😉

I thought for Sushi on 5 you would get a dining credit, USD 40 -50 per person, in case it's fully included even better.

Anyone that has symptoms like soar thorat, runny nose etc should at least protect others and wear a mask when in public areas in addition to top notch hygiene (should not even be mentioned this should be done always).

I think Odyssey visited already in 2021 the port once or even several times but I might be wrong and that it only visited Limassol as part of technical stops for crew exchange, provisions and fueling.

It's a common issue currently in the hospitality industry. I guess for the cruiselines it's a cobination of  COVID cases, COVID protocols that make the process of getting crew member back lenghty and also former staff that decided not to come back as they have used COVID to work in different sectors. This is actually the main issue in the Hospitality sector currently, finding staff.

Looking that COVID hit travelers that were caucious before and during the curise by wearing masks etc the question needs to be raised again if the AC system on the ship is the problem and the virus can spread from a cabin with some having Covid to other cabins or to from venues. Hence, the whole concept with getting back to ships at full capacity does not work and in case a new serious variant will come this can end up in another desaster(s).

Not to forget Wonder is a brand new Ship, so I really hope it's not the AC system.

18 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Seems like a massive downgrade to me.  Royal, has amazing entertainment, and things to do, not to mention a FlowRider or two, and an IFly.  Celebrity has ping pong and decent entertainment.  Silver seas has, a bunch of rich old people in wheel chairs?  

 

I, am not judging, but I think you have it all wrong, people are paying a lot more on Silver seas and get a lot less.

 

I will probably concede service, just because the people on Silver Seas require it.  🤣

 

jc

It depends what you are looking for, yes on RCL you get all the additional entertainment and activities to do. On Silversea you get much higher service standards and better itinararies.

21 hours ago, sailor05 said:

Drink package included!

I could see them introducing a "basic" all included package eventually such as all soft drinks included + 2 speciality drinks worth up to USD 15 each per day and integrate this in increasing cruise fares by USD 150 per person for a 7 day cruise. Of course when it comes to drink vouchers D, D+ and P will get in addition their vouchers as well

6 hours ago, lola2013 said:

Also done on Celebrity.  Surprised RCCL didn't follow suit as the two lines are related.  Same with towel check out.

It has to do that Celebrity is presenting itself to be more premium tthan RCCL and towel checkout would not really be a premium feature.

5 hours ago, bananavan said:

I totally understand what you are saying. 
We have a driver who brings us to the port. 
There are many ways to become infected. 
My point is that it is extremely odd that people seem to test positive after about 6-8 days. 
We are at 40% capacity. 
We had no stops until yesterday. 
Neither my husband nor I have taken part in any activities other than attending the concerts while socially distancing. 
The where and how is tough to figure out. 

I know many don't like to hear it but wearing a mask in the taxi, at the airport, in the airplane etc helps a lot. Furher, self awareness is important as well, hence as you mentioned this caughing person should have done a COVID test before caughing her germs all over the place, unfortunately many people are selfish an are not thinking of others. I

3 minutes ago, Plum Happy said:

I brought that up when Celebrity rolled this out, but I don't see this part happening on Royal

True, it's at least for the timebeing not fitting to the RCL model, as this would mean that cruise fares would need to be increased as well. Hence, it's like with flying Economy Class, you get a seat but most other extras you want you need to buy them seperately. X is then more the Business Class experience 😉

They introduced it because a lot of crew members, such as Head Waiters that you didn't see all cruise but maybe on the last 2 evenings asking to give a 10.

That a crew member reminds us to do the survey is fully ok, as this is crucial for the company to know how they are doing, but if I am getting people to remind me on what I should score this is very irritating.

When it comes to the drink vouchers RCL just did the needed changes and they are here to stay. They removed the happy hour unlimited drinks in the Diamond Lounges to avoid those gatherings for people spending all the happy hour drinking non stop. Hence, with this they tackled as well the overcrowding of that venue and are also still saving costs. Hence, this voucher situation looks like a win win and will be here to stay.

Anyway, what we might see happn eventually is that we will see RCL also adapting the all inclusive model and integrate drink packages, at least a more basic one, into all cruise fares, simmilar to what X is doing.

The first step you took has been already spot on, as RCL is probably the best cruislines you can choose from the mass cruising market and from my persnal oppinion they have the best protocols in place, supposedly Disney can compete with them as well.

You also made the right decision for the Quantum Class of ships as these are in my oppinion handling crowds the best in the fleet. They also were built to handle the amount of people and unlike older class of ships such as the Voyager Class that had more and more cabins added at each dry dock, experience can be really terrible if the ship is full.

From a hygiene persepctive on the cleaness of the Cabins, dinning and ship in general, you will not find a place cleaner than the cruiseship. The problem is what people bring onboard and given you are in a closed space viruses etc can then spead much faster.

If you take some steps which you likely are doing aready by default such as frequently washing hands, disnfecting them this will help a lot. Further, I would avoid Windjammer or at least only eat itmes you don't need your hands. Always if you feel unconfortable in crowds wear masks, even if you might be the only ones, who cares what others think.

Alaska is a hit miss with the weather, it could have very nice and mild weather but you also have to be ready for mostly rainy and cold weather where using outdoor decks will be limited. I woud almost recomend you to do your first cruise to a warm weather destination where you will be sure to be outside all the time and ideally a short 3-4 day one just for you to try if this is the right thing for you. On the other hand as someone else mentioned already if someone dislikes cruising in general, Alaska would be the one destination they will have to do and they will not regret it.

Lastly, about sea sickness, even if the ship is large you will feel the ship and if sea conditions are not ideal even a Quantum Class ship will be rocking. Hence, very important to take preventative measures before boarding the ship as once you start having the first symptoms it's almost to late. I didn't check the itinarary but  I think at least half of the time you will not be sailing on open water hence for sea sickness this is also not the worst cruise to choose.

Don't you get charged less when you have 300+ or so points in C&A when booking solo?

17 hours ago, pinnacle_king2023 said:

rhapsody really needs a face lift 

I guess the remaining Vision Class ships will not get any refurbishment done anymore and will eventually leave the fleet within the next 2-3 years.

For Radiance, Voyager and Freedom Class and eventually Oasis and Allure it would be time to fully upgrade the cabins including new bathrooms, not something RCL has been strong about even before the pandemic. Depedning on whatever upgrades will be done, nothing major to be expected before the financial situation will not stabilize, hence I gues before 2024 we will not see any major refurbishments on existing ships both at RCL and X.

8 hours ago, SeaHunt said:

 

I was really impressed when they ordered an ambulance for her when she couldn't climb into the FLL transfer they arranged for her - and they told her no charge too! 

 

I felt bad when she said she didn't want to go on the Flowrider because she was afraid of getting hurt, and then ended up on the floor of the restroom in Coco Cay! And then had to maneuver pulling up her wet bathing suit while laying on the floor with a broken ankle yikes. 🙃

With those crazy laws, they could probably have sued RCL given it happend on their private island, although maybe that it didn't happen on US ground then not. Hence it's in the interest of th cruiselin to do everything possible and taking over the bill of the ambulance was the natural thing to do.

As long as you are fully vaccinated and comply with having a booster where applicable you will be able to move around Europe freely. Given you need to do a other COVID test before boarding the ship it's just the small probability to get stuck in the middle of your trip. If you are willing to take this risk and will not be worrying about it all the time which could let this holiday be more of a burden than fun better to wait with traveling to Europe, otherwise why not.

Who is currently the Captain and Hotel director onboard?

Looks amazing, enjoy your cruise. Is Raw on 5 included in the unlimited speciality dining package?

Quantum will feature again a Diamond Lounge the venue will be converted back from the Casino space. When Ovation was still sailing part of the year in China and the other part in Australia the venue was also serving as Diamond Lounge when based in Australia and as VIP casino when in China.

Anyway as mentioned above, now with the vouchers there are really much better venues to be used to enjoy the drinks. Only benefit is during the day the use of the Coffee machine but otherwise I could really do without it if they still added 2 extra drink vouchers per day for D, D+ and P.

Possibly the ship got chartered

7 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Seems to work on Edge Class

with the lessons learned that didn't go so well at RCL 😉

5 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I think self serve buffet has always been a mistake, given things that I’ve seen over all our cruises. And that’s only the things I’ve seen while I’m there, which tends to be not often given the things I’ve seen 😳

Why were there so many Noro outbreaks and during flu season other viruses as well, well go to the buffet to find your answers 😄 It's a absolute disgrace that RCL and also other cruiselines did not think of a smart, efficient and most important safe option to evolve the whole buffet experience getting rid of self serve permanently during the pandemic. Well at the end, a few ships returning back to port per year due to some kind of virus outbreak and the collective pr damage seem to be cheaper for them than to have invested into new concepts for tbe buffet mess.