WesternBroncoCruiser

It is pretty hard to get to Zenith, I calculated that folks are spending close to 1 Million to get to the top tier on either line, So I look at it as "The Hard Way" no matter how you get there.

We are happy about this. I think it is great to bring all the brands together for status match. If someone want to cruise with grand kids and the whole family on Celebrity or Royal, then you will now have your status with those brands. I don't know if this has been posted in the thread yet as I didn't read all the way through, but I want point out how hard it is to earn Zenith with Celebrity: Tiers of Membership Preview: 0 club points Classic: 2 - 149 Club Points Select: 150 - 299 Club Points Elite: 300 - 749 Club Points Elite Plus: 750 - 2,999 Club Points Zenith: 3,000+ Club Points Club Points based on: The number of nights you sail and the stateroom category. The higher the stateroom category you select, the more Club Points you will earn each night. Inside and Ocean View: 2 Club Points earned per night Veranda: 3 Club Points earned per night Concierge Class and AquaClass: 5 Club Points earned per night Sky Class: 8 Club Points earned per night Celebrity, Signature, Royal and Sunset Suites: 12 Club Points earned per night Edge Villas, Reflection and Penthouse Suites: 18 Club Points earned per night Iconic Suite: 24 Club Points earned per night If a guest is sailing in a lowley inside or ocean view they would have to have 1500 days on Celebrity to Acheive Zenith. Even in Concierge or Aqua, they have to sail 600 days. And for folks that are spending big bucks on the highest level suite, yes they can fast track, but I have seen the Iconic suite priced for a 7 day sailing at $51K pp. So they are spending big bucks for the fast track. We cruise a lot now that I am retired, 15 or so cruises a year, and we choose different cruise lines for different reason. We did the Canandian and Greenland Arctic last year on Silversea which had such a unique itinerary and the great expedition experience, but also some of the best food we have ever had at sea. So nice to have RCI recognize our status across brands.

Hi LA 24, I am just having time to circle back to my post to read replies. I am wondering what lead you to believe that you would have to pay to get caught up to the ship or have your flights changed to another airline. We have had several times where we our selves or members of our traveling party had flights cancelled and Celebrity moved us/them on the spot to other fights on different airlines at no charge. That is one of the prime reasons we book with Flights by Celebrity. This is their language on the website, can you please cut and paste where you saw that guests are responsible for paying to get to the port? "Protection When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

Yep, we are still doing the shorter cruises on Celebrity with our Adult kids who can't take two weeks off of work, but to fly to florida for just 7 or 8 days seams like a wast, so we either do BTB on Celebrity or Combine our Celebrity cruise with another cruise experience. This year we are taking HAL through the Panama Canal to get to FLL, then we are doing back to back Celebrity. We are later taking a 28 Day HAL Trans Atlantic and Baltic cruise followed by a river cruise.

So interesting. The wife and I are late 50's early 60's and we took our first Celebirty cruise in 2003. 21 years ago. We take about 2-5 Celebrity cruises a year now. We have been doing longer cruises on other cruise line and taking Celebrity as a more affordable option with friends and family. Occasional it is just the two of us. I can say that I have never ever been board on a Celebrity cruise and we tend to be night owls. Love the music, bands and food, but also love that its is more centered around food and service than bells and whistles like NCL and Royal have. I still enjoy the MDR but am one that is glad that they are bringing back things that were cut from the menu. We sailed a few sailings in 2022 that were understaffed, but sailings in 2023 felt like they were fully staffed. We have 5 Celebrity cruises scheduled for 2024, but we have been changing it up a bit more in the last few years and doing Holland America, Azamara, Oceania, and some river cruises. We are even doing another Seabourn this year. We still feel like Celebrity delivers a quality product even with all the changes. Shoot when we first sailed Celebrity there was no drinks package and no buffet in the evenings. Good times then and now, but Celebrity doesn't have every itinerary or everything we want to do so we change things up a bit every now and then. Not that one is bad or one is good, but just that we want and expect different things from different cruise lines.

Interesting, I have a friend that is on the Constellation New Orleans Mardi Gras cruise right now and he said that it is mostly older folks. He's early 40's and has a 4 year old, said that he and his wife are on the younger side and son is one of 2 or 3 in the kids club. We cruise again in April on the Beyond back to back, and we do like that ship. Will be interesting to see the crowd on board.

Would love to hear your input. I am wondering if it is just those of us who have been cruising Celebrity for 20 years plus that are doing all the complaining. Not that we don't have a point, but if Celebrity is getting positive survey scores, us oldies with our nit picking may not mean much.

The scuttlebutt is that Celebrity is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, and that the customer survey cards from the guest who are new to Celebrity are extremely positive. This is despite all the changes that us old timers have been complaining about. If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands?

We are doing the Nov 25th Koeningsdam Sea of Cortez sailing and Holland America does not have an excursion to Espirito Santo Island that appeals to us. We are looking for an independent excursion but all seem to be out of La Paz which is a 30 minute drive from Pichilinque. Does anyone know if a company that will come to Pichilinque to star an excursion to Espirito Santo Island? or.... Does Holland America provide a shuttle to La Paz? Suggestions and thoughts appreciated.

We just booked the Westerdam in an Ocean View on deck 1, Port side, it is under the Gallery Bar maybe even the Casino. All the Ocean Views currently available seems to be under potential noisy area like the Galley or other areas where they would have music in the evening. Or they have connecting doors to another cabin. Does anyone have experience sailing in Ocean Views on the Westerdam? What was your experience. I need help to reassure the wife that we won't be bothered by noise. Is there a better choice I could have made besides upgrading to a balcony?

From what I understand concierge class lunch is not necessarily on the embarkation day. Is there anyone who sailed Infinity South America in Concierge class on Dec 31??? or Jan 14, that can tell me if the lunch was on the embarkation day and what hours it was open. Want to make sure I arrive on time to partake.

On the infinity, Constellation, Summit and Millennium all of the balcony and concierge cabins have the bed by the bath and the sofa by the balcony door. I am 99% sure of this. Can anyone else confirm?

We are visting Bermuda which might mean we still have to test.

What Oceania is sending me says that it needs to be a medically administered test, and yes still required on literature, but I am watching to see if there are updates. I have done the BinaxNOW Emed test probably 12 times in the last year for lots of cruise lines, but not Oceania. Technically it is self administered and medically monitored, and when I call reservations, they just read off the same PDF that I already have.

I called Oceania about our test requirements for our cruise and all they could tell me was that the test had to be medically administered. I specifically asked if I could use the Binax Now Emed test and the rep said that she was just reading off the script that it has to be medically administered. She could not tell me if they accept the E-med medically monitored test. We will be embarking in Montreal on 10/31.