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Everything posted by abbydancer2003
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Celebrity vs. Princess: A recent comparison
abbydancer2003 replied to AbbyCruiser45's topic in Celebrity Cruises
They both have soup spoons. -
Eliminating Butlers - Spoke to Celebrity. Here is conversation.
abbydancer2003 replied to LMHSRN's topic in Celebrity Cruises
We're not on X until December so we'll have plenty of information about the implementation. Of course, as I said in the original thread, on our last cruise, on about day 8 of 10, DH informed me that I'd been calling the lounge every morning for coffee. Apparently, they just accepted my order and called my butler to deliver. If that's what this will be, I guess I'm Ok with it. And to those who think that Luminae and lounge will be next - I think at that point there would have to be a major repricing, since all the room will be is a balcony with more space. Looking at a random cruise, it appears a sky suite is just under 2x the price of Aqua, and about 3.5x the price of a balcony. (Since I'm sure Blu can't handle all the Sky Suites and Aqua. Hmmm, maybe they make Aqua rooms concierge rooms and Sky Suites Aqua? I guess we'll see. -
We're using EZ air for the first time in about 4 weeks. Thanks to this, and other threads I watch the reservation on the United app daily - and today I had them email me a copy of the receipt so I can see that it's been ticketed. Hopefully nothing happens .
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Some observations from the Caribbean Princess
abbydancer2003 replied to Australia08's topic in Princess Cruises
We are too, with 2 days in Quebec before the cruise. I'd love to know any good food choices. Thanks. -
Celebrity vs. Princess: A recent comparison
abbydancer2003 replied to AbbyCruiser45's topic in Celebrity Cruises
I sail both Celebrity and Princess, and prefer Celebrity, but I book minisuites, and Celebrity has a better (and more expensive) product there. Last summer, I did 3 Alaska cruises (all moved from 2020 and 2021), two with X and one with Princess. The Princess one was a family cruise that my mom paid for. We selected Princess because of the itinerary and the overall Alaska product. Also, she had a suite and we had reserve class minisuites, and that worked out. We live in California, so will continue with Princess because they have more ships here, and if we want a short cruise, or to not fly far, Princess is a better option for us. For our longer and destination based cruises, it's X. -
Thanks for this. I'm on the Apex in the Caribbean in December, and then Norway next August, so a great read for me.
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Side by Side Celebrity to Princess Transportation
abbydancer2003 replied to Cruzinram's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Right, that's why I said YMMV (your mileage might vary). I thought I read about someone going from X to MSC and she said the shuttle made several stops at different piers. I might be misremembering though. -
Side by Side Celebrity to Princess Transportation
abbydancer2003 replied to Cruzinram's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Probably Ft. Lauderdale, since Princess uses terminal 2 and the Reflection is in the Caribbean. I have a side by side Royal and X, and on the Royal board they said to ask the staff (concierge for me, maybe guest services for others) about shuttles. I was told that they'd shuttle us. YMMV. -
Our first Celebrity cruise was in the Med, but in early September. I don't remember any kids, although I needed a vacation afterwards (10 days, very port intensive).
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Celebrity vs Princess ... Premium Drinks Packages
abbydancer2003 replied to gardengalaz's topic in Celebrity Cruises
It's about a year and a half from now, so we'll see. I'm curious about what you're resisting clarifying, though. I've done both before, although first time on both these ships. I'll do my first E class retreat experience this December, so far it's been M & S. On Princess, I often do Reserve (formerly club class) because I like the dining of it (most of the rest of the perks I get from status). Thanks -
And the concept also applies to airlines as well. You can't, for example, take a direct Air Canada flight from San Francisco to New York. When Virgin wanted to fly domestic US, he created Virgin America. Several years ago, a senior cruise critic member did a great post about all the kinds of ships. One example was you don't want some of those international ferry companies (the ones that have accidents on a not infrequent basis) running ferries across Puget Sound.
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Celebrity vs Princess ... Premium Drinks Packages
abbydancer2003 replied to gardengalaz's topic in Celebrity Cruises
Keep in mind the limit is only on alcoholic drinks per day. You can have as many non alcoholic as you want. I'm still not sure I ever get to 15 total, but I could get 10 small bottles of water to keep in my room, about 3 lattes, a soda at lunch and 3 drinks, and that would be fine. (For example only) -
You'll be fine. I've actually done this a few times on Princess on the west coast. We'd get on Ship A and sail a one night to Vancouver, spend the night, and then get on a different ship back to California the next day. This was possible as they moved ships out of Alaska in September to get around the PSVA and take passengers. Best was during a muster drill on the one day - the staff member running it asked if anyone was staying on for the next cruise and in unison almost the entire theater said "We can't".
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Celebrity vs Princess ... Premium Drinks Packages
abbydancer2003 replied to gardengalaz's topic in Celebrity Cruises
In January 2025, I have a week on the new Sun Princess, followed by a week on the new X Ascent. Mini suites on both, plus package on Princess. Princess, right now is about 2K less than X, both 7 day Caribbean. I'm in their "Reserve Collection Mini, so on both I do get a special restaurant, although I don't think I get a lounge on Princess. I get the premium drink package on X, basic on Princess (going up in value on Princess would for both of us cost about 280 dollars. I like the suite product on X better (we'll see what happens to their butler team concept by then), but the price difference is noticiable. -
I saw on the other site that someone reached out to X on Twitter (or something) and the response was that it was a name change and that a "retreat team" member would handle things. I guess if that's true, it would mean sky suites would call a number and instead of your dedicated butler a member of a team would take care of you. If that's the case, I'm OK with that - it turns out that on our last 10 cruise it was day 7 before DH told me that when I called for coffee every morning I was actually calling the retreat lounge and they were calling the butler for me. Oops.
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Ha. The first time my sister and I got a sky suite, we'd booked concierge (or Aqua) - and the prices dropped where a sky suite became close. I told her she'd get a butler. She asked what they do. I said they'd bring coffee in the morning. She said "you already have that". (on our first cruise she went swimming early while I slept in a little (Caribbean - she's from NY me from California so very early for me) and she brought me coffee on her way back every morning.
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We are on our first RC cruise in December. I'm in a Crown Loft suite, which is in the middle tier. I looked at a Junior suite, but I wanted the Lounge and dining room. I also looked at the rooms in the Star class rooms, but the price difference was a lot. We have diamond status, and 4 drinks a day is about what we'd drink, and the tips aren't that much. I also sail Princess, and have never had a butler there either.
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If they do this and start dropping the price of Sky and Celebrity suites, I'd be Ok with it. Mostly I use the butler for coffee in the morning, and laundry questions. I do mini suites on Princess too, and no butlers there, On the other hand I booked my several sky suite cruises with the expectation of a butler.
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Xfinity also uses the X logo. I'd think they might have a case with Twitter, or more likely than Celebrity.