nanamobo

Glad you enjoyed your first cruise with Celebrity! We are doing a 4 night from Fort Lauderdale on Reflection 4/29/24. Haven’t been on Celebrity since 2019. We did Carnival from NY last year never again. The food wasn’t up to par. We have done Viking River and Ocean as we are both retired in our early 70’s. They include beer and wine with lunch/dinner and no up charge for their fabulous restaurants. We will eat all our meals in MDR and we shall see how good their food is. It was very good back in 2019. If not, we will cross Celebrity off our list. Will let you know…..

I did the upgrade for classic to premium when it was 25% off. I called Celebrity and received the 35% off plus the difference added to our on board credit!! Thanks for posting the flash sale. Can’t wait to board on April 29,

Germancruiser…loved the walk down memory lane. Our first RC cruise was Sovereign of the seas in 1988 and the 2 years later Song of America. We love that ship which was so intimate!!!

Thanks for the updates. We leave on December 31 and board on January 2, 2024. Let us know how warm or cool it is during the day. We have been on the Orion before which was only 1/2 full but the ship is beautiful!! Enjoy your cruise. Maureen

Just heard from the Viking agent we booked for the Barcelona cruise that Viking is now doing final payment six months from sailing date. I had to speak with a supervisor when I wanted to change from 2025 to 2026 and was told my final payment would be November 2024. Now booked for 2026.

Thanks for the heads up. Does Viking give the maximum amount to the travel agent as a commission? Maybe that’s why they are only offering 100.00. If not I guess I should find another agent.

When I booked the Australia/New Zealand cruise Viking had a special of 250.00 p/p OBC. Spoke with my T/A yesterday and they gave us as a “gift” of 100.00 OBC and a bottle of wine. I’m thinking since Viking gave us the OBC up front our TA isn’t able to give us the 500.00 for 14 night cruise.

We have been on ocean and river cruises with Viking and we are not rich, wear fancy clothes, just retired construction laborer and office manager. Most people we met on the cruises are nice, easy to talk to and enjoy Viking staff and service. You won’t regret going with Viking!!

Thank you for the information. I sent my TA an email as I spoke with Viking today and there was no OBC applied from Viking. Only my vouchers and Viking’s OBC when I booked. Stay tune….

Do all travel agents get that much kickback from Viking? Our first ocean cruise was 30 days and the travel agent I use didn’t give any OBC. Our second river cruise was our 50th anniversary and received 200.00 OBC. I don’t know about our upcoming cruise as I haven’t seen and OBC in our MVJ. Do I need to ask our travel agent?

Like everything else if we all pay the up charge for better food why would they offer it in the MDR??? If you use your credit card in restaurants to pay for your food they add the 3%. This used to be part of doing business. Not since COVID, pass the cost to the consumer. The pandemic is over, but the 3% is still here.

Lobster tails and filet were offered for free in the MDR and if you wanted another tail you did receive it.

The last time we cruise with Celebrity was in 2022 on Eclipse. The food and service was excellent. We have also cruised on Viking river and ocean in the last year. Food was also excellent with no downgrade of quality. We just booked a 4 night out of Fort Lauderdale on the Reflection in for April 2024. We shall see how the food is and if not up to par we will cross Celebrity off our cruising list. We did Carnival this past July out of NY (was a few years since we cruised them) and we crossed them off our list. Food was terrible. Service was good. I know the cruise lines lost so much revenue for two years but cutting back on food quality will make customers turn to another cruise line. I do agree you don’t need a menu with 10 different line items. Keep it simple (as Viking does) and passengers will be happy with good quality food.

I hope you’re right. I remember back in 1990 RC introduced one specialty restaurant at 10.00 per person. Look now how many cruise lines have them. They are very profitable for the cruise line.

You are absolutely correct. The more you spend on specialty restaurants the MDR will become obsolete. Your cruise amount has now doubled for breakfast, lunch and dinner.