Luvcrusn

That does seem a fair comparison. We took our grandkids to Disney the week before our last cruise. But Disney doesn't offer discounts through travel agents of 50%.

We only sail Aqua class when the price differential is small. We do enjoy the ambiance and service in Blu, but if the difference is large we'd rather eat in specialty restaurants a few nights and can certainly enjoy the MDR. The pricing lately has gone up exponentially so the nickel and diming makes no sense. All it does is antagonize long time loyal customers who are accustomed to a certain level of service and amenities from X. Charge for the product and stop playing pickpocket once we're aboard!!!

My DH also rented a scooter from Scootaround that was waiting at our stateroom. Good luck. If it goes as well as his did you'll be in good shape! We took a Lyft from our hotel and that made it easy to manage luggage.

I cannot speak to Constellation and Tampa, however last month my DH needed wheelchair assistance from curb to cabin and cabin to curb on Equinox in Ft. Lauderdale due to a back problem. It was absolutely flawless and we couldn't have asked for anything more. Good luck. Our experience was that X was very attuned to his needs (and mine).

We just got off Equinox a little under 3 weeks ago. The service was outstanding. The cuts, even before the new extra charge for a second lobster and the $9.95 + gratuity for room service for anything but continental breakfast were very apparent. The changes in pricing charged by X are off the charts high. The ONLY reason we booked another cruise was that our TA had a sale that made it worth it to us. We booked an Aqua class room that was less expensive than concierge or verandah on the slant for $3090 less than the same cabin would be to book with X. Both have drinks, tips, WIFI and $400 OBC from X and refundable deposit. BUT the TA offered another $375 in OBC-R. We are used to the TA being able to offer significantly better pricing and/or amenities, however over $3000 difference is absolutely ridiculous!!! That's another cruise!

Coffee is your friend!🤣

I'm sorry to ask this question and I apologize if it's already been answered (I admittedly haven't read through 11 pages of answers). If $9.95 is charge for a service charge, are they charging a gratuity on that? Isn't a service charge the same thing? Are they really charging a gratuity for service?!!!

Just got finished with YouTube. It's pretty simple actually. Thanks.

Thanks, I'll do that. I don't know why that didn't occur to me!

How do you side load? I checked the Google Play Store on my phone and the X app is there. When I checked on my tablet it is not offered. I currently have it installed on my tablet from when it was previously offered and it functions properly (both Samsung devices) but the app has not gotten the latest updates. The phone app has options that aren't offered on the the tablet app.

It does contain ice cream. X uses an ice cream mix like they do in a mudslide. I ask them to swirl chocolate around the glass too.

Not an oatmeal raisin cookie to be found on Equinox 12/12-12/22.😢

I get that, but why is a total mystery!

There were bags in our concierge cabin in December, albeit different ones than we'd received previously. They were heavy canvas with no zipper on top (more like a tote) and a matching zippered pouch inside.

We were aboard in Dec. 2022 and had Select dining with reservations. There were no charges on the nights we dined in specialty restaurants for the MDR.

I am a chronic over-packer, so the lack of bathroom amenities really didn't matter. Although oatmeal raisin cookies are our X favorite, they aren't a deal breaker. The lunch offerings in OVC, although fewer didn't affect us too much except for requiring us to walk around a bit more to find what we wanted. That walking was a bonus since we didn't make it to the gym. The tea offerings we did miss, but perhaps their absence contributed to a lower weight gain during the cruise. Once I told them how to make a Frozen Toasted Almond they managed to get it right. If they hadn't that might be another story.😜

We disembarked from Equinox on 12/26. The lobster tail that I was served on the first serving was so small that it literally was only 2 forkfuls. DH lobster tail was at least 2 1/2x the size. I make shrimp at home that are larger! If I received as a first serving a lobster tail like that as my dinner I would be most unhappy (not to say still hungry for dinner)! Also if I were charged $16.95 + gratuity for that sized lobster tail I'd be downright angry!

I just checked the Google Play Store on my phone and it shows up. I checked on my Samsung S7 tablet and it's not there. I don't know why they would do that!

We gave up booking cruise later. Our large online TA often offers group rates on cruises that interest us that are far less expensive than the published X fares and include more perks and refundable OBC in the amount of 10% of the cruise fare plus their loyalty OBC. The TA group rates are also refundable deposit. Those fares aren't combinable with the Cruise Later offerings, so we've had to get our deposits back from the onboard booking which proved to be a hassle.

If she has a Samsung phone with the app on it she could try Smart Switch from that.

I have a new S22 Ultra phone and the app works perfectly. I just checked and the menus show on both my Samsung tablet and phone.

Did your wife try using Samsung Smart Switch app when setting up her new tablet? That may alleviate the need to download the app from the Play Store. The app works fine on my Samsung S7 Tablet.

I checked just now on my app for a 2024 cruise. I clicked dining, main dining, Blu and then clicked menu at the top of the page and it displayed. FWIW this was on an android Samsung S22 Ultra.

We disembarked Equinox on 12/26 before the newest room service charge rolled out and before the new charge for a second lobster tail. We are long time X cruisers and fans of the line. We noticed quite a few changes that had occurred even before the rollout of the most recent ones since our last cruise. There were far fewer choices for lunch in the OVC and the daily choice of sliced meats offered were cheaper proteins. There were not a single oatmeal raisin cookie to be found the entire cruise. They did not put out late afternoon tea offerings that we'd enjoyed on previous cruises like tea sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, etc. The choices in the MDR were most nights heavy on chicken and port choices. There were fewer amenities in the bathroom of our cabin like shower cap, cotton swabs and cotton balls. No one knew how to make a Frozen Toasted Almond, my favorite drink treat unless I told them how to make it. I had never on all of our previous X cruises had anyone at any bar, theater or pool not know, even on our cruise on Equinox the previous year. It is available on the Classic package, so certainly not exotic! We'd gotten used to the welcome champagne not being there due to covid, but it's not back even though the Covid protocols have been dropped. All that being said, we just yesterday booked another X cruise for 2024.

We got off of Equinox on 12/26 at about 8 AM. My DH needed wheelchair assistance off the ship due to a recent back issue. I called for a Lyft XL once we were through customs. It arrived in under 5 minutes to take us to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a TON of luggage due to a week in Orlando pre-cruise and a week after the cruise of various visits along the way home. The driver loaded all of our luggage, took us to our hotel and loaded the luggage into our car. The total with a VERY generous custom tip was $30.