paulh84

It's totally up to you and your budget. It's a frivolous expense. I stick to the usual Swedish or deep tissue which are safe choices. It is relaxing but it is over $200 more than I pay at home.

Did they actually change the target or did many of the long timers just age out of whatever the target was? If your target is 40-55 eventually people in that segment are no longer in that segment....

Celebrity's approach seems to be anything for a dollar. If they will buy it we will sell it - of course at the direction of Royal Caribbean Group. But if you follow the money this is the crucial piece. From 2017 to 2019 their occupancy was at 108%, almost at 109%. Since COVID 2023 was understandably the highest number seen since 2019 with occupancy at 105.6%, i.e. full double occupancy is 100% and anything over double, so your 3+ people in a cabin push that number above 100%. A 2.5% difference seem nominal, right? No. Currently that equates to 1.17 million cruise days. They have a gross margin yield of around $99 per cruise day x 1.17 million cruise days from that 2.5%. There is absolutely no way they aren't under pressure to close that gap and push that 100%+ occupancy number as high as they can. With Celebrity the only way to do that is full the cabins to the brim. The easiest group to target is the one they currently lack...the kids. FWIW we did see a lot of ducks on our Ascent cruise. I can be a bit of a curmudgeon before coffee but that truly is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen 🤨

Very sure. You can see the wine, wine glasses, liquors not included in the WBC cocktails, etc. in this video. The updated menus also have wine and beer listed.

All of the World Class bars have offered a full bar since summer of 2022.

Are you looking at these sail dates? It should be the same for the GB site. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/Exciting_Deals/CEL_Exciting_Deals.pdf Infinity Feb 23, Mar 3, Mar 15, Mar 25 and April 4 are all on Exciting Deals. The qualifying cabins vary a little bit but they are all Guarantee rates and Cruise Only. If you select one of those guarantee cabins then add All Inclusive, the Exciting Deals discount is removed and you will see a larger spread between the Guarantee cabin and selecting a cabin yourself then adding All Included.

I always get a chuckle out of comments on other groups. It's not necessarily specific to Celebrity but you can usually find a few comments like "my kids favorite ship is ____! It was their best cruise ever." Then read later on the kid is 19 months old.

I've booked Yacht Club twice, gotten cold feet and cancelled, then rebooked with Celebrity. Every time we're in port next to a Sea-whatever ship I'm glad we canceled MSC. I just don't think it's for us. The chrome and sparkles and mirrors just don't appeal to me and the YC cabins also seem very dark and dated. In theory I do like the Thermal Spa access that comes with YC. It looks very nice. But if the space is used like people use the Celebrity Thermal Suite, which is to be expected on a Caribbean cruise, then it's not so much of a selling point.

I know people are very serious about their status but I think we've now completed our third cruise as Elite and the only perk I've used is the laundry discount one time. The pre-cruise discounts are usually better and the events don't interest us. There is very little benefit to any of the status levels for me.

In the past there is usually a caviar menu floating around the bar along with recommended vodkas by the bottle. I haven't been on an S class ship in a while so unsure if they are still there or not.

My TA was recently saying the average age for the Port Canaveral cruises is skewing way up there. Apparently lots of FL snowbirds and retirees that prefer to avoid the drive the South Florida eve though the itineraries are mediocre. It will be interesting to see if that skews the mix towards younger on Fort Lauderdale and Miami cruises. For us that have to fly anyway, have zero desire to visit the Orlando strip malls and want to avoid the commute from Orlando to the port...it makes no sense.

You will not go hungry in Luminae. I don't eat fish or seafood. I'm also not someone who is going to ask for special meals ahead of time. They will always offer a chicken, steak, which was mostly filet a few weeks ago, a pasta, or you can piece together appetizers for your entree if you want.

Also not squarely in the segment you're seeking, but I am also not quite 40. DINKS. My first Celebrity cruise was in my early 30's. We stay at resorts (not all inclusive) more often than cruise. We've done 8 Celebrity cruises both pre and post COVID. Also cruised on Royal Caribbean, NCL and Princess. NCL and Royal are not what I want out of a vacation. Princess was underwhelming. We have a slight preference to E Class ships over S class but our next two bookings are S Class ships. We were almost exclusively Retreat bookers until the Ascent a few week ago. Maybe we will return someday but not until Celebrity stops trying to scrape up an extra 50 cents everywhere they can. We've also taken a few friends on Celebrity over the years ranging from no cruising experience, to prior Carnival experience to a mix, but all of them have been first time Celebrity people. We've decided we won't take any more Europe/Mediterranean cruises and entertainment is not important to us as we rarely attend shows. We also don't book ship excursions so I have no specific feedback on those two areas. The consistent pros: Generally elevated and nicer/more refined experience over RCL or NCL Food in general Wine and alcohol offerings - especially from friends who are used to All Inclusive resort mystery alcohol Lack of kids Cabin layout (especially on E class) Celebrity has embarkation down. We haven't waited in any significant line in years Lack of needing to preplan and make a ton of reservations ahead of time The consistent cons: It can be sleepy after 10pm The 7-8 day Caribbean itineraries could use a mix up The spa/thermal suites are significantly lacking compared to other lines Entertainment in general is poor to cringy. The D list comedians need to go Pricing can be higher (but certainly not always) than NCL/RCL but you do generally get what you pay for

I’d pick Edge class 90% of the time. You can get on Beyond from Miami in Aqua with All Included for around $4k right now. SV is about $250 less. With today’s prices that’s hard to beat.

Chased away? What about replaced with new? Why were Jan-Feb E class cruises nearly sold out? Interested in the data behind that. If Celebrity did a 27/73 split or a 10/90 or 90/10 and occupancy is still above 100% the breakdown does not matter. It's still sold out and they will adjust the price upward as far as they can. There are 6 more E class Caribbean departures for the month of Feb. 2 of the 6 are totally sold out. The other 4 are very close to it.

I was able to snag one of the four standard balconies without the IV this week. There are still a few available.

You made up the "actually like it" part. No way to quantify that opinion aside from their capacity metrics which are still above 100%, so like it or not, they are sailing full.

There is not. You can usually find the scheduled time for the ship to arrive (which can change), but just because the ship is docked doesn't mean it's cleared to start disembarking.

It's not a few. 497 or 27% of the non-suite balconies on Icon an Infinite Verandas.

Fun fact. It seems like forever ago but the doors on Edge (and maybe Apex?) were not frosted when the ship first started sailing.

We would not hesitate to book an IV again. We take advantage of the additional cabin space more than the balcony. I would most likely choose an IV cabin over a Sunset Veranda.

On E Class even with a full ship if you can manage to avoid the buffet and the main pool area it will have a vastly different less crowded feel, especially with Retreat access. Take it one step further and avoid the Martini Bar/Grand Plaza area before and after nightly shows and it doesn’t feel crowded at all.

You're well past spring break at that point. A lot of schools and universities are nearing the end of the school year within a few weeks by then.

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/TheRetreat/02_06_24_FLY_Retreat_Privilege_Package.pdf

Am I missing something here? The purchase date on the Book Later certificate has always been used as the booking date once you selected a cruise regardless if the deposit was refundable or nonrefundable. That seems like a separate unrelated issue on the insurability.