Jeremiah1212

Celebrity is finally rolling out Captain's Club discounts built in to the Cruise Planner. This will only appear when the Captain's Club discount is greater than whatever Cruiser Planner sail is taking place, i.e. it's going to show you the price with the largest discount. It's a little inconsistent from cruise to cruise right now but it is slowly showing up where it is applicable.

Only one Celebrity ship in port that day also so it would be very surprising if they did not use T25.

It's the only ship in port that day and no E Class ship to compete with so it's almost certain to be T25.

RCG isn’t pulling it back. She retired from Celebrity in May. There is no tie between RCG and Azamara anymore however Azamara’s leadership definitely has some crossover. Their new CFO came from Virgin Voyages it prior to that had several roles at RCG.

Already posted on the Azamara boards. Dondra Ritzenthaler, former SVP of Sales at Celebrity, is appointed as CEO of Azamara. Dan Hanrahan, current chairman and former Celebrity CEO will lead the transition. There are some fairly unhappy Azamara cruisers that want change (not surprising). It will be interesting to see what kind of Celebrity influences seep into Azamara in the coming months. They are also naming a new CFO who has significant ties to RCG. Even though the brand is gone from the RCG portfolio it seems like the ties may be strong…

They outline food costs and food cost as a percentage of revenue in all of their earnings filings. 2023 noted a $163.4 million increase in food expense. You'd have to compare pre-COVID to get an idea but even with the purported cutbacks I would still imagine their cost is close to flat or increased.

The Exciting Deals are about as discounted as you will see under normal circumstances. They hover around final payment date but right now there are a few into March. Taking advantage of MoveUp bids seems to be the preferred route versus fire sale prices very close to the sail date.

There's no way this won't eventually flow over into Celebrity. The new Celebrity President has an extensive background in Shared Services. Jay Schneider is a Royal Caribbean Group employee, not Royal Caribbean International employee. If this drives more revenue by providing easier to use Dining Packages it will happen. Just like the websites and Cruise Planners continue to look more similar among the two cruise lines, things like this will apply to both brands as well.

The new itineraries are scheduled to publish on Tuesday of the weeks mentioned in the flyer except for Europe which should be Thursday 11/16.

Also looks like there are a handful of 2025 cruises planned. Expect a roughly 50% premium for the 12/21 and 12/28 Holiday sailings. 11/18/25 11/23/25 11/30/25 12/7/25 12/14/25 12/21/25 12/28/25

A little more insight to the cabin makeup compared to Ascent/Beyond: 24 more Sky Suites 6 more Celebrity Suites 31 more Aqua Class cabins 21 less Concierge Class cabins 62 less Infinite Verandas (E1/E2/E3/ES) 6 more Standard Veranda (SV/P1/P2 and the four new V1 cabins) 4 less Ocean View cabins 6 more Inside Cabins

Officially from Celebrity Xcel has 1640 cabins at 3248 pax at double occupancy. Ascent and Beyond are 1646 cabins at 3260 pax.

It's the first season with a late fall/winter maiden voyage. They weren't sending a brand new ship to do winter Meditteranean. Caribbean is the key market with the most passengers. Pretty much a guarantee it will do the Med/Europe for summer 2026.

The name is dumb, the logo is ugly, blue and orange aren't my favorite colors, orange is ugly, it's an eye sore, it's not classic enough, people will confuse a cruse ship with a Microsoft product or Twitter, the itineraries are too short, the itineraries are too boring, the music in the intro video was too loud, the video was too short, the prices are too high, there are too many suites, there are no real balconies, it's tacky, it's jarring, the website should look different, Celebrity is trash.... Exhausting.

The orange has been around since Project Edge was announced nearly 9 years ago.

Cabin details aren't available yet but that's what they have published. If someone wants to take the time to count cabins, go for it.

Appears to be the same size. No additional deck. Double occupancy is actually 12 passengers less than Ascent and Beyond.

This week is probably one of the busiest weeks of the year for them. New ship handover, new ship announcement and right in the middle of a new deployment. If your comments were actually actionable items or something that needs immediate attention you may have a different response than just sending a laundry list of your thoughts and complaints.

It looks like there will be some slight changes coming to the branding on the hull and funnel with this one as well.

What are you considering a perk? If you mean the Cruise Only rate vs All Included rate which comes with a drink package and WiFi then yes, a Guarantee cabin can potentially have an option to choose between the two rates. Verify what you are booking beforehand if you are unsure.

You will switch you to prevailing rate so be mindful of potential loss of OBC and gratuities you may have had under your old rate.

Well I stand by my comment that there is confusion around how onboard bookings work. Still waiting for something that shows these lock in inclusions but I’m not holding my breath. By that logic you could just buy an open booking, book Cruise Only and get All Included for free 🤷🏼‍♂️

Agree to disagree? That’s not how they work. I’d still be interested in seeing the document that outlines your interpretation.

There’s some misunderstanding here. There are 2 choices. You either pick a specific cruise or do an open booking/book later where you choose a cruise later. You never were able to lock in inclusions or the “best rates” on a booking that doesn’t exist yet. You can also use the open booking on All Included or Cruise Only rates, they are not All Included by default. The open booking is always subject to prevailing rates and promotions at the time you select a cruise. I think you may be confusing some of the features of a group rate with the onboard booking.