paulh84

I just booked one at a 19% difference when you take into account drinks, gratuities and not paying a premium of $821 for the refundable deposit. It also has $490 in OBC that Celebrity wasn't offering.

My edocs (issued prior to 1/1/24) said the same thing. However Future Cruise Desk and the form they have available there say it's nonrefundable after 1/1/24. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/2023.07_BookLater_TCC_Flex Also matches what I received onboard.

The deposit on the Book Later certificate is now nonrefundable if you let it expire. Find a travel agency with a group rate and you don't have to pay the premium for the refundable deposit.

The biggest swindle of all is Decoy somehow becoming the benchmark for 'premium' wine. Our Luminae wine person was adamant on pouring $9 Chateau Souverain as the cab unless you specifically asked for something better. Aside from that, the bartenders on Ascent two weeks ago admitted all of the price changes were confusing. Half the time if you asked for an upcharge wine they just didn't charge or they charge one glass then pour freely after that. Decoy was definitely covered. Mer Soliel was covered and available at the Retreat sundeck and Sunset Bar for no upcharge. It's also pretty foul, but ymmv.

There is a reason there are so few kids on board. With the addition of Royal Caribbean's golden child at CoCo Cay to Celebrity's itineraries, the more recent Kids Sail Free (or as they call it "third and fourth guests!") that may shift but there still isn't much of anything tailored for kids aside from the kids and teens clubs. Speaking from experience with my own extended family with tweens and teens it would turn into a week of them glued to their phones.

Cons for the suite: Price (unless you aren't concerned about $4k) The product in the Sky Suite seems very inconsistent right now Being so port intensive you may not make much use of the suite facilites Pros: Extra space, Retreat areas, Luminae, etc. I would not pay full price for a suite right now. At minimum a MoveUp bid would cost you $2000+. I would consider taking the gamble on the MoveUp for a near minimum bid but would be content with a regular concierge cabin if I didn't win.

You save a matter of minutes, as in less than ~5, by waiting in line at 6:30am versus just waiting until the line clears about 7:15. Half the time if you’re walking along deck 5 crew will have a side door open they will direct you to use too. Then you just have to dodge the confused and dismayed people that walked off at 7am without bags who are shocked to find their bags with tag #30 aren’t available yet.

If you book All Included you do not get the Captain's Club discount on the initial drink package or WiFi that is part of your cruise fare. You would get Classic drinks and Basic WiFi which you could upgrade to Premium drinks and faster WiFi. The Cruise Planner discount is occasionally more than the Captain's Club discount so choose the one that makes the most sense. If you book Aqua the 10% discount only applies to spa services. If you book Cruise Only, you can only buy Premium WiFi which is around $24.99 for one device or $43.00 for two devices, per day. Drinks are $60.99 for Classic and $72.99 for Premium (plus 20%). Did you mean the All Included vs Cruise Only is $1,400 more for two? If you shop around you can get a Cruise Only group rate through a travel agent for around $5,200 for either Jan 2025 sail date.

That document is from 2021. This link shows no specialties included on page 171. https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/476ee3e8#/476ee3e8/171

It's the unknown. Every reference I can find mentioning this in the past was initiated by an upper suite customer via the shoreside concierge not any suite. It's also different than the very few suites connected to non-suite cabins. If they start actively marketing this to all suites that could be a very different situation.

On a seven night cruise you aren't getting a MoveUp from non-Retreat to Retreat for $100/pp a day. Based on my experience and the tracker here, a MoveUp from IV or AQ to Sky Suite almost always starts at $1000/pp. The next cruise I am interested in the difference between AQ and Sky Suite is $3673 to $4728 depending on the Cruise Only or All Included fare. Bump that down and bring in your Inside cabin guests to Retreat and the difference is $6002 to $7019 for two.

It used to be $99 per person per day and only available to upper suites. At today's suite prices it would be very strange for a non-suite cabin to be priced at less than $99 per person per day. There is no price published for today but since they are opening it up to anyone in a suite it will undoubtedly get used more. At the prices they want today if you want the grandkids to join you for dinner, booking accordingly and pay like the rest of us.

Another misstep. I'm supposed to pay almost $10k for the cheapest suite on E class for a week in the Caribbean so someone else can give their friends and kids suite access for a few hundred dollars?

https://celebritybedcollection.com/product/celebrity-cashmere-mattress/ It's the same manufacturer but could be a different mattress. We enjoyed the firmer bed on Ascent. I hate sinking down into a squishy bed almost as much as those nasty egg crate toppers. But obviously they can't cater to the mattress preference of 3,200 individual guests.

They type of customer they are after is the luxury land resort customer that will spend the $22 on a cocktail, $300 for lunch by the pool and $1,200 for a chef to come to your villa to make breakfast. All Inclusive (even the ones that claim the are luxury...are not) and someone who actually spends at a lux resort property are two different types of people. These people are not the ones chasing the best deal or maximizing value for the dollar. Jason Liberty has said for months they are trying to close the gap between the cruiser value and land resort prices by raising the cruise price. When the two options are more comparable in price they need to grab some of those Four Seasons, Montage, One and Only, Grace Bay Club type customers who are dropping $50k for week stays.

I do not have the right answer to solve the problem but if that's the intent it just seems to be creating more inconsistency and frustration. Our cabin neighbors did not know of the butler changes and were not very pleased. Her last cruise was when Butlers had been renamed Personal Retreat Host. On day 1 she was wondering why the Retreat Host was dressed so casually then learned they were really just the Cabin Attendant. They have gone from Butler to Personal Retreat Host to Retreat Host to Head Butler now (maybe?) back to Butler but only for some people. More communication and a clear expectation of who does what role is sorely needed. Until then it's back to the cheap rooms for us and I'll save my $800 per day.

Ours was Singh so there were definitely at least 3 based on the specific names noted here.

To continue to beat a dead horse - we had a card for a head butler whose name I do not remember (Singh?) who we never met. We did see him a few times but most of his time was spent chatting with what appeared to be a very needy couple. Our stateroom attendant, who now wear the Retreat Host name tag, was also friendly and adequate but did nothing beyond what a Cabin Attendant working an inside cabin would have done. Two other couples with us staying outside of the Retreat had more attentive service from their Cabin Attendant than we did our Retreat Host. It feels very convoluted now with Cabin Attendants wearing Retreat Host name badges, how many "Head Butlers" (?), Retreat Concierge, Retreat Manager and I may be missing a few. Whoever it is that works the desk and answers phones in the Retreat Lounge were almost always on the phone or talking with other employees. We were happy with many of the other aspects of the cruise but on our next booking on S class with no real Retreat facilities it would feel absolutely foolish to pay 160% (equating to $800 more per night) more for a Sky Suite than a V1 veranda. We won't write off Celebrity but their experimentation with all of the Retreat changes has encouraged me to spend substantially less on future cruises instead of more. Overall - will continue to cruise Celebrity and particularly the E class ships but suite bookings and what I am willing to spend will be reduced significantly.

I can only judge based off traveling with my own family members, but absolutely not. That's a wide age range to satisfy. What was the appeal for a 12 year old? The kids program is about their only option.

Generally people do not pay attention to the time. If there is a backup you may be asked to wait. Or you may not. No rhyme or reason to how they do it at times. The validity to complain about waiting if you show up at 10:30am with a 1pm time slot is however removed.

Reflection does the short 3 and 4 night Caribbean cruises in summer of 2024. There is no ship doing those itineraries for 2025 so I imagine it will be doing similar routes. New cruises are being released the week of February 5.

So it's safe to say that no one truly knows. We've all heard varying interpretations. The times we've left a sizable tip to a bartender or waiter I'm not sure if they are just awkward or quickly scoop it up so no one sees it but it seems to make them a little uncomfortable at first. If I'm tipping a favorite bartender $50 cash I'll typically wrap the larger bill in a $1 bill then hand it off. If another employees sees and they are supposed to be pooling I will let them sort it out.

You booking date should have determined which policy was in place. The truly non-refundable element for the NRD changed for booking after March 2, 2023. I ran into a similar issue but finally convinced them to review their own policy dates.

We also do Book Later since there is no benefit to sitting there at the Future Cruise desk to secure a date when I can do that on my own in a matter of minutes. If Book Later certs require a nonrefundable deposit they are just making it more work since I would then pick a sail date at a refundable rate and potentially change multiple times. Also unclear what would happen since I typically transfer to a group rate which is by default refundable. I do understand group rates have changed to less favorable terms also. I'll lose out on the OBC but next time I will probably forego booking this way until there is more clarity.

There are plenty of regular passengers partaking too. It's not necessarily all negative but it does highlight some of the sheer ridiculousness of some of the passengers.